1. #1

    DK tanking weapon

    Hi, my guild are 8/8 and we're going to start Heroics this week and I was wondering as a DK tank what weapon I should use? I've been using Gurthalak with Fallen Crusader on the normal modes because I take practically no damage and the DPS can be helpful, but I'm guessing that will change in H modes. Should I continue with Gurthalak and just change to Swordshattering or should I use the 2 hander off Yor'sahj?

  2. #2
    Probably better for DK board where more experienced can ask. I would assume Gurth is a terrible weapon for DK tanking since it has no mastery or any stats for that matter.

  3. #3
    Deleted
    Experimental Slicer is the way to go (Yors 2h)

    Reforge the Crit to Dodge and you are sorted

  4. #4
    http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...us/Kole/simple is the armory of one my of guild's in his tanking gear. He nearly never dies and is a tank four three of the four heroic bosses we have down. We are a 25 man guild.

  5. #5
    The Lightbringer
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    Since it has no mastery it would be a bad weapon to use, I remember our DK talking about it. However, he did still use it time to time. As Taronar said, Experimental Slicer (if it drops) is your best bet. Before that probably Shannox HC Axe if you could get your hands on it

  6. #6
    Experimental Slicer from Yor'sahj it only weapon for blood DK. Gurthalak is OK only if you didn't get Slicer yet.

  7. #7
    Slicer from Yor. Gurth won't do anything for you in terms of survivability.

  8. #8
    The axe form Yor'Sahj is by far BiS for you in terms of survivability.
    If that one refuses to drop (Like it has for me) the axe from Shannox hc is still a good weapon, the mace from ragnaros is decent as well.

    Gurth is still a weapon I would keep around tho, for fights where DPS is more important then survivability having Gurth with Fallen Crusader on it can be great.
    Personally I use Gurth for fights like Ultraxion, where the tankdamage is negligible.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Sepein View Post
    Slicer from Yor. Gurth won't do anything for you in terms of survivability.
    Strength = Parry

  10. #10
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Tehterokkar View Post
    Strength = Parry
    Strength = 27% Parry (I think)
    By using HC Gurth over Slicer you gain 52 Strength which equals to 14,04 parry rating.
    Talking from a total tank gain pov (ignoring weapon damage and dps things):

    Gurth
    15 parry (generous) and 47 stamina

    vs.

    Slicer
    347 Mastery, 1 Red Gem Slot and ~145 of either parry or dodge (reforged crit).

    In terms of surviveability Slicer is strongest, also normal mode versions. Normal slicer is argueably even stronger than HC Gurth for surviveability.
    Last edited by mmoc8b393fc574; 2012-04-10 at 03:40 PM.

  11. #11
    use gurth only on fights where damage is negligible or where mastery drops in value.
    I use Gurth on Morchok (due to own survivability), Ultrax (to make damage higher; tank damage is low), and Yor'sahj (as most of the damage you take is magical, which means that mastery is fairly useless and stamina becomes more valuable; [for this fight use spell shattering on it until it is no longer an issue])

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by sidenorna View Post
    http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...us/Kole/simple is the armory of one my of guild's in his tanking gear. He nearly never dies and is a tank four three of the four heroic bosses we have down. We are a 25 man guild.
    So that obviously means he is right in using that weapon?? GG... I like to cross the road without looking right and left, since I never died it means I'm doing it right!!
    I smell better healers than tank :P



    ANW, its ok if you use it on easy bosses to speed up the fight. You can go with some DPS pieces of gear in some fights even...
    Still "IN PROGRESSION" you should take the best mitigation possible to help out healers. Respect your healers and help them out. With a 15% nerf you don't really wipe for lacking DPS anymore... It's always lack of focus or skill.

    So to answer the question of OP:
    The only DK Tank weapon is "Experimental Specimen Slicer", the "Gurthalak, Voice of the Deeps" is a DPS weapon you can use to boost your dps or like most ppl, your item level epeen...
    Last edited by elderamy; 2012-04-10 at 07:41 PM.

  13. #13
    Use specimen slicer until you get them on farm. Then you can start using dps weapons and knocking out tank gear for dps gear. Eventually you'll be able to go down to having only your 4p tank gear on and the rest dps but you need to get everything on farm and get everyone (healers esp) geared up to handle it.

    Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.

  14. #14
    gurth for blood isn't great anyway. it's so great for UH dks because the tentacle's mind flay scales with unholy dk mastery

    i'd take ESS over gurth all day. if you don't need the heals then tell your healers to dps, your job is to minimize damage taken while doing dps. losing all that mastery for what amounts to 1% more dps with gurth is pointless

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by fizzbob View Post
    gurth for blood isn't great anyway.
    I would definitely beg to differ. While the argument that ESS is better for Survivability is definitely sound, Gurthalak is an insane weapon as far as damage output goes for Blood Dks, especially when dealing with encounters where DRW has a huge impact (Ultraxion for one,) or where Heart strike can hit multiple targets and proc more tentacles consistently.

  16. #16
    Good argument for using Gurth is that the damage one does the quicker the boss and thus the less damage taken overall and less need for that damage to be healed up.

    Case and point this tier is most definitely heroic ultraxion. My tank partner during our ultraxion progression, pre-nerf, was a dk using Gurth. DPS races are helped when both tanks can do 25k+ dps.

  17. #17
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Byzet View Post
    Good argument for using Gurth is that the damage one does the quicker the boss and thus the less damage taken overall and less need for that damage to be healed up.

    Case and point this tier is most definitely heroic ultraxion. My tank partner during our ultraxion progression, pre-nerf, was a dk using Gurth. DPS races are helped when both tanks can do 25k+ dps.
    Ultrax is the only fight where I'd see that as an option, for the rest I don't think DK tank weapon will actually make anywhere near a noticeable difference.

    Perhaps Madness... just maybe. But then again Madness actually hits somewhat hard on tanks when it does hit them and DKs rely heavily on their shield so mastery is important there too.

  18. #18
    Should use stoneskin gargoyle enchant for DS heroic progression.

    I tanked with a mastery weap + stoneskin for progression HMs up until Spine. For Spine+Madness I switched Gurth with Fallen Crusader for the extra dps.

    Now that we have it on farm for a few weeks now + nerfs I just use FC enchant for all bosses.

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