Who's "better" for soloing?

[PerryTP]

Orc or a Blood Elf? Was thinking about racial spells but couldn't make my mind

[Zargul]

In soloing it generally won't make much of a difference, I don't think.

I'd pick the one whose animations or appearance you prefer.

Orcs get stun reduction, 2% pet damage (unholy only), 1% expertise with axes (about 340 rating), and an extra, fairly small, AP buff. This means orcs would be faster at killing stuff, but only marginally so. When soloing, fights rarely last long enough for that 2-3% extra damage to change the length of a fight.

Blood Elves get arcane magic damage reduction, a profession bonus, and an AoE silence on a cooldown, and a minor runic power gain. None of these help you kill things faster, but having an AoE silence does give you options for fighting some enemies that you otherwise wouldn't be able to consider. This is a 5-man dungeon anecdote, but Arcane Torrent silence makes the snake channeler priests in Zul'Gurub completely trivial. It also helps with the alemental packs in Stormstout Brewery.

So I guess technically Orcs are better fighters than Blood Elves, which isn't really news to anyone I don't think, but racials really don't make that much of a difference. Blood Elves have the most "interesting" racial in Arcane Torrent, but for standing fights, Orcs have more ways to squeeze out a bit of extra damage.

[Acelius]

Orcs have more ways to squeeze out a bit of extra damage.

That extra damage from Blood Fury will increase the healing from Death Strike as well. I would go for orc over blood elf any day. You already have enough interrupts in Mind Freeze and Strangulate, and if you run into a situation where you cant interrupt, you can always AMS.

[Krisppo]

That extra damage from Blood Fury will increase the healing from Death Strike as well. I would go for orc over blood elf any day. You already have enough interrupts in Mind Freeze and Strangulate, and if you run into a situation where you cant interrupt, you can always AMS.

Death Strike healing is not based on damage done, and has not been for a while...

[Kraeth]

Death Strike healing is not based on damage done, and has not been for a while...

This so much. I can't believe people still think DS healing is based on damage done. It hasn't been that way at least since Cata, maybe even from late WotLK.

[Skarssen]

Be nice if is still worked that way though, particularly with vengeance increasing active mitigation of every other tank spec.

[Hilltopperpete]

Be nice if is still worked that way though, particularly with vengeance increasing active mitigation of every other tank spec.

Why? Death strike healing already increased based on the damage you take, it just bypasses the vengeance mechanic. More incoming damage = enhanced active mitigation. Blood DK is the model that all the other tank classes are loosely based on now.

[Kraeth]

Why? Death strike healing already increased based on the damage you take, it just bypasses the vengeance mechanic. More incoming damage = enhanced active mitigation. Blood DK is the model that all the other tank classes are loosely based on now.

Vengeance grats WAY more consistency vs. actual damage taken. Malkorok is a good example why vengeance is a better model for mitigation.

[Skarssen]

Why? Death strike healing already increased based on the damage you take, it just bypasses the vengeance mechanic. More incoming damage = enhanced active mitigation. Blood DK is the model that all the other tank classes are loosely based on now.

And it is capped. Compare what happens to a prot paladins healing and damage when he has 200k AP to that of a DK.

[Skarssen]

Completely agree about vengeance, and I hope it goes away. It just isn't nice being the outlier on the wrong side.

[Kraeth]

Malkorok is not an good example at all, it just means absorbed damage taken should count. And, quite frankly, I can't find a single reason as to why it doesn't. A Priest giving me a PW:S reduces my mitigation abilities, but does nothing for every other tank - why ?

That was my point, I phrased it wrong. DK mitigation worked 'well' in Cata (pre-DS not that well, in DS almost absurdly strong.) We're currently an oddity since all other tanks scale their mitigation by AP. That creates some problems from design PoV since we're the only one based on actual damage taken.

[Zargul]

That extra damage from Blood Fury will increase the healing from Death Strike as well. I would go for orc over blood elf any day. You already have enough interrupts in Mind Freeze and Strangulate, and if you run into a situation where you cant interrupt, you can always AMS.

I like arcane torrent not because it's an extra interrupt, but because it's an AoE interrupt. I guess this is slightly less important for, say, warriors, with their talented AoE interrupt. Also, for soloing, being able to interrupt is less about stopping the (usually not that dangerous) spellcasts and more about being able to group up mobs quickly for cleaving/AoEing.

[pmdawnie]

Orc, why orc? because they have muscles

[Pierstopher]

Orc is definitely where it's at. Stun reduction and extra AP is pretty useful, especially if you spike it with a Fallen Crusader proc.

[Trubo]

That was my point, I phrased it wrong. DK mitigation worked 'well' in Cata (pre-DS not that well, in DS almost absurdly strong.) We're currently an oddity since all other tanks scale their mitigation by AP. That creates some problems from design PoV since we're the only one based on actual damage taken.

Eh, not so much Guardians since they don't have any spammable absorb mechanics which puts an upper limit on how useful Frenzied Regeneration can be.