The State of Dk Tanking

[Cerebes]

God it is mind numbing boring. Yes I said it why is it that now dk tanking just sucks, and in wrath it was so good and fun. Blood currently is pretty boring, now a lot of people will say no its not boring its fun. Now the reason I say its boring is because there is no choice, I dont wanna go blood only. In wrath I loved frost tanking, dual wield was the shit net. IN wrath as a dk tank in blood spec I had a ghoul as my personal off tank. I could dual wield tank, as unholy a sick ass ghoul.

So do you think dk tanking rocks now or did it rock in wrath?

Edit: should have added a poll.

[siver]

I was a blood tank in wrath and never changed, I did try frost it was a good aoe tanking but it didnt really suit my playstyle. when cata hit I dont find blood tanking anyless boring or fun then it was in wotlk. It still feels the same for me.

[Deleted]

Since cata, I haven't seen any dk tank. They finally buried the spec. Now I'm sure some ppl find it fun and it looks good on GC's paper but frankly I don't give a shit. If ppl aren't play it, and I'm not refering to the 0.000001% who find it good, then something is wrong and something needs fixing.

[Deleted]

its better now imo, i find it more fun to play and its easier to balance for blizz now( we lagged behind during some points in wrath due having talents to much scattered around)

[grayscale-warfare]

My favorite part of DK's in wrath was their ability to tank in any spec. Now that that is gone, it sucks.

They also completely ruined blood spec with all of the changes they made

[Deleted]

The problem i always found in wrath was that when shite hit the fan, my runes were always on cooldown when i wanted or needed something.

The changes to rune generation certainly seem to make it more forgiving rotation wise, espcially seeing how i havent even bothered to find out if im doing it right or wrong. (its my alt yes)

In terms of boring?

possibly less so than before, but that to me could be down to less concentration needed, As a Pala main. Tanking went from retardedly easy in wrath, to LOLbored in cata.

Only nice thing i like about dk is the tonnes of small cooldowns you can use. just seems nice to me.
Also Pala + DK self healing actually feels like your contributing to keeping yourself alive. while my bear its just meatshield.

[c4tuna]

Yeah, it's bullshit that I can't tank as any DK spec. Why should I be limited to one spec per role? What do I look like, a warrior, paladin, druid, priest, or shaman?

[frownface2000]

I didnt like blood tanking at first either, but now that i've gotten used to it, I really enjoy it.

In order to make it fun, however, I do NOT run diseaseless, and I also run with the Lichborne spec.

Even though I may be sacrificing some minor survivability overall, I cannot count the number of times Lichborne has saved me from certain death.

I also LOVE the insane number of cooldowns we have, especially Vampiric Blood, Bone Shield, and (sometimes) Dancing Runic Weapon.

The 1 minute (and 1.5 on Dancing) cooldown on Vamp Blood makes it a great CD to use on trash packs if you're running with an inexperienced/ungeared healer, or if someone screws up.

Overall, DK tanking is VERY different from what it was like in wrath, but it's still really fun.

---------- Post added 2011-02-06 at 05:10 PM ----------

Since cata, I haven't seen any dk tank. They finally buried the spec. Now I'm sure some ppl find it fun and it looks good on GC's paper but frankly I don't give a shit. If ppl aren't play it, and I'm not refering to the 0.000001% who find it good, then something is wrong and something needs fixing.

We are out there. And, honestly, I'm happy about what they're done to Deathknights. Because the reputation we got as a class in Wrath was terrible because every one and their mother was playing one, and far too many people didnt know how to play the class.

MOST of the people you still see playing their DKs today actually know what they're doing.
It's much better this way.

[Herrenos]

Yeah if you think DK tanking is boring then you would really hate paladin and druid tanking (I have no experience as a warrior).

DKs have 2x the abilities to manage compared to these classes and have a lot more cooldowns to juggle. If anything DKs are the most active, involved, skill-dependent tanking class.

[fangless]

The grass is always greener...

[Chompie]

I dunno, man. I rather like DK tanking. There's the base rhythm of it- making sure you can time each Death Strike right, and then there's the reactive, pressing-buttons-to-keep-yourself-alive part of it. I just don't feel the same tanking on my Warrior or Paladin- I find myself looking for minor situational cooldowns that just aren't there.

What I'm saying is, it's not the basic tanking rotation that makes me like Blood. It's everything else about tanking with it.

[Deleted]

Yeah if you think DK tanking is boring then you would really hate paladin and druid tanking (I have no experience as a warrior).

DKs have 2x the abilities to manage compared to these classes and have a lot more cooldowns to juggle. If anything DKs are the most active, involved, skill-dependent tanking class.

I played all tanks. Warrior is the most fun, followed by paladin. Druid is boresville and dk is...let's just say dangerous.

[Xunae]

i feel like im staring at my runes too much and not whats going on around me because im trying to time that BB/HS right to make sure i don't miss that split second before the 1st blood rune goes off cooldown and checking to see when ive got a death strike available

[Valius]

You were a bad DK Tank in wrath then sadly, also it's better now that we have a Talent tree for tanking specificity so now we don't feel like some half ass'd hard to heal hybrid random haggard spec.

Also Blood now compared to Blood in WoTLK is amazing, it's not just some shit threat rotation spec it actually requires thought and reaction.

[shetty30]

dk tanking is boss.

[Affectionate]

druid tanking is ungodly boring this xpac, they literally got 1 new button, and they get to hit mangle when something procs instead of just waiting for its CD


DK tanking is in a better place now that it has ever been, and I love all the tricks and ways we can do things other tanks couldnt dream about with our short CDs and things like AMS and DS heals

[Deleted]

Yeah, it's bullshit that I can't tank as any DK spec. Why should I be limited to one spec per role? What do I look like, a warrior, paladin, druid, priest, or shaman?

I agree! And why can't we heal dammit! I want to heal as frost!
Damn blizzard!

[Deleted]

Yeah if you think DK tanking is boring then you would really hate paladin and druid tanking (I have no experience as a warrior).

DKs have 2x the abilities to manage compared to these classes and have a lot more cooldowns to juggle. If anything DKs are the most active, involved, skill-dependent tanking class.

I think you should try a warrior before declaring DK's as needing the most skill to play

[reemi]

i have fun dk tanking but i prefer to tank with my warrior.

also have a paly tank and its 10 times more boring...

[Deleted]

God it is mind numbing boring. Yes I said it why is it that now dk tanking just sucks, and in wrath it was so good and fun. Blood currently is pretty boring, now a lot of people will say no its not boring its fun. Now the reason I say its boring is because there is no choice, I dont wanna go blood only. In wrath I loved frost tanking, dual wield was the shit net. IN wrath as a dk tank in blood spec I had a ghoul as my personal off tank. I could dual wield tank, as unholy a sick ass ghoul.

So do you think dk tanking rocks now or did it rock in wrath?

Edit: should have added a poll.

you do realize that the "all specs can tank dps and pvp" bullshit has led to more problems than solutions during wrath?
it implemented stuff like the hybrid specs madness in 3.0 (IT machine gun anyone?) it created abominations like DW tanking, yes, your beloved DW tanking, it was a fail, it is a fail, and it pains me to see some morons still trying to make it work and blaming be because the first spell after i waited 10 seconds gets me aggro. Worst of everything, it created Icy Slam tanking in ICC, where you could just spec frost and spam IT and solo tank Lady Deathwhisper HC without threat issues

no, the change to the blood tree has been the godsent present any decent DK tank has been waiting for half wrath, finally we have a dedicated tanking tree, we have a real chance to be balanced, and we have out very unique playstyle compared to other tanks.
Plus, if you play it right, it is really challenging at the moment, you have to keep up 3 debuffs, each requiring his own spell to be refreshed, you have to keep track of your blade barrier (not hard on most bosses, but challenging sometimes) and your Death strike, to be sure you maximise the healing potential AND you don't waste your shield reapplying it when it's already up (this is sadly going away next patch)
Plus, we are probably the tanking class with the most defensive cooldowns among all, making us really easy to heal if you menage to use everything correctly at the right moment

yes, Dk tanking rocks, it rocks really hard, and if you don't think so you are probably doing it really really really wrong