1. #1

    Offspec for tank?

    Hello, I am a Blood tank for my guild, and I'm looking into an offspec for one-tank fights.

    I was wondering what the community might suggest as the most appropriate off spec. Note I will not have BiS gear by any means, so gear scaling(or lack of a dependency on gear) will be a factor.
    After looking around, the best I can come up with is...
    DW Frost because:
    -Different weapons(won't have to run back to the runeforge)
    -Mastery is much better for this spec/playstyle than Unholy/2HFrost, which I may be heavy on being a tank(at least for the pieces for which I don't have a DPS item)
    -Current highest sim
    HOWEVER
    Is DW frost in a situation that it sims best because it scales much better with gear, meaning that in low gear, it isn't great?
    Is there a spec(for this discussion, I'm including DW and 2H frost as different "specs") that does not rely much on gear?
    Is there a spec that is "easier", meaning someone who only uses it as an offspec will have an easier time picking it up(learning curve)?
    What other factors influencing this decision might I be missing?

    Any input from more experienced Death Knights, on both ends of the PvE spectrum(Tank <-> DPS) is much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

  2. #2
    Last I checked, DW Frost wasn't simming the highest, but then I don't really believe in playing the game by what simmed runs say. SimulationCraft seems to suggest this has changed now though.

    I personally would go with 2h Frost if you're going to DPS in tank gear. Obliterate crits will hit harder and, whilst not as good as DW, Frost Strike, Icy Touch and Howling Blast still benefits from the mastery. The upside to this approach is that each time you replace your weapon, you can reforge your previous weapon into a DPS weapon, whilst DW just doesn't have that flexibility.
    Last edited by DarkAxius; 2012-10-31 at 06:50 PM.

  3. #3
    Simming only matters for .5% of the population.

    Personally, I have a plethora of weapons to switch back and forth between dw and 2h frost as well as unholy and I just use reforgelight to change all my reforges where appropriate.

    In a PvE setting, I tend to go dual wielding frost. For PvP, i've always prefered the 2h playstyle of frost (again for pvp.)

    To get to your questions of playstyles: both version of frost are similar. Priority rotation with lots of procs going on. You'll have a lot more procs of killing machine with DW than you will with a 2h. If you go unholy, you get a similar amount of procs (sudden doom) and you'll have a pet to manage.

    As far as going between Blood and DPS, going to a 2h requires less "gear" simply because you can use the same weapon. Frost also benefits more from mastery than unholy.

    To sum up: Just try them out. LFR exists so you can just go in and play whatever you want and experiment in a raid situation.

  4. #4
    If you get 1h weapons from your raids, tank gear would be most suited for DW frost. Mastery, your #1 blood stat, is the lowest priority for both 2h frost and unholy. DW frost will probably scale a bit better with gear though, where the weapon dps matters less in comparison. Using slightly subpar 1h's wont hurt as much as using a lower 2h weapon.

  5. #5
    I've been liking dw frost as my offspec other than feeling a little bit rune starved but this is all in heroics Monday I'll get to use it on spirit kings and have a better answer then
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  6. #6
    If you're in a 10 man, and you have nobody else rolling on 1h weapons, I'd suggest that you go dw frost. All of the specs to close enough dps that your offspec shouldn't make the huge difference. If you have no 2h weapon user besides yourself, you can always just shoot for 2 of the same 2h weapon.

    If you run 25s, you should eventually get enough loot that it doesn't matter very much.

    Just base it on your raid comp's gearing. Dw frost if your raid has no 1h users and either 2h frost or unholy if you have no 2h users.


    In terms of ease.... you just have to try them out. I know some people fine frost easier because of no pet, others find managing the pet cake and its frost's rng that is frustrating. (Me personally)

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