Blood DK Warlords of Draenor Patch 6.2 Guide (Long but has TLDR Version)

[Milocow]

Do taunts still have the hidden +200% threat for next 3 seconds thingy?

[Saiyendra]

Do you have any specific suggestions for use of Gift of the Naaru, or is it okay to just macro it into Vampiric Blood?

[Life-Binder]

noob DK question here

- Necrotic Plague says it replaces Blood Plague
- the Crimson Scourge proc tooltip states that it can proc when you hit a target affected by Blood Plague

.. does this mean that after taking NP, your Crimson Scourge procs are now dependant on your target having NP instead of Blood Plague ?



thx

[Troxism]

Do taunts still have the hidden +200% threat for next 3 seconds thingy?

Not really hidden it's in the tooltip.

- - - Updated - - -

Do you have any specific suggestions for use of Gift of the Naaru, or is it okay to just macro it into Vampiric Blood?

It's a Hot, so as long as it doesn't overheal it doesn't matter. I wouldn't personally ever macro something like that, but honestly it's not that big of a deal.

- - - Updated - - -

noob DK question here

- Necrotic Plague says it replaces Blood Plague
- the Crimson Scourge proc tooltip states that it can proc when you hit a target affected by Blood Plague

.. does this mean that after taking NP, your Crimson Scourge procs are now dependant on your target having NP instead of Blood Plague ?



thx

Yes they are, but NP isn't worth taking ATM in any situation for Blood PvE.

[Deleted]

Starting HC tomorrow, we cleared normals first. Didn't get a single loot from normal. On a scale from 1-10, how "okay" will I be able to do? I am used to be tanking at progression with gear that's "too bad" for it, and have been doing so since.. forever.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...llion/advanced

On another note; people keep commenting that Multistrike is nice and all. I agree, the numbers and math do add up. Slootbag said that DK's are horrible atm, almost like they're not even worth having as tanks as of now. He was gearing Multistrike. However, as I've experienced it anyway, Mastery is the way to go with these low gear levels. Later, maybe already after Blackrock Foundry, when we can be at 60-80% mastery without really, really gearing for it, Multistrike will be the way to go.

But as of now, I advice all progression DK tanks to gear towards Mastery.
Thoughts?

[Troxism]

Starting HC tomorrow, we cleared normals first. Didn't get a single loot from normal. On a scale from 1-10, how "okay" will I be able to do? I am used to be tanking at progression with gear that's "too bad" for it, and have been doing so since.. forever.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...llion/advanced

On another note; people keep commenting that Multistrike is nice and all. I agree, the numbers and math do add up. Slootbag said that DK's are horrible atm, almost like they're not even worth having as tanks as of now. He was gearing Multistrike. However, as I've experienced it anyway, Mastery is the way to go with these low gear levels. Later, maybe already after Blackrock Foundry, when we can be at 60-80% mastery without really, really gearing for it, Multistrike will be the way to go.

But as of now, I advice all progression DK tanks to gear towards Mastery.
Thoughts?

You should be fine: We have done heroic with ilvl 635ish DK alts, and it was really really easy honestly (I was massively disappointed in the bosses damage output, they should all be buffed back to beta levels on Heroic tbh).

What you gear towards is less important then how you play. I ran MS on main and alt, and it really didn't matter, it was still really easy to tank Heroic even with lower ilvl. Sloot doesn't play DK well, and honestly I am shocked he even comments on the class at all. His issues had nothing to do with gearing, it was just terrible play from him (trying to play DK like a Paladin, thinking 'smoothing' for a DK means much). People in my guild think DK is the strongest tank much for the same reasons he thinks Paladin is amazing and DK is shit; it's because neither party has a balanced perspective on the issue.

Ultimately yes Mastery is a survival stat and MS is a DPS stat, as stated in the guide. There really isn't any 'secret' or discussion to be had about it. I guess I am just not sure what your point/question is?

Also there is no threshold for Mastery that you 'need'. It's not like there is some magical breakpoint at 60% or whatever where you 'dont need more'. It's completely individual.

[Isadora]

You should be fine: We have done heroic with ilvl 635ish DK alts, and it was really really easy honestly (I was massively disappointed in the bosses damage output, they should all be buffed back to beta levels on Heroic tbh).

What you gear towards is less important then how you play. I ran MS on main and alt, and it really didn't matter, it was still really easy to tank Heroic even with lower ilvl. Sloot doesn't play DK well, and honestly I am shocked he even comments on the class at all. His issues had nothing to do with gearing, it was just terrible play from him (trying to play DK like a Paladin, thinking 'smoothing' for a DK means much). People in my guild think DK is the strongest tank much for the same reasons he thinks Paladin is amazing and DK is shit; it's because neither party has a balanced perspective on the issue.

I'm not sure whether this question has asked before, so sorry in advance if it has already been answered, but:

Are there any streams you could recommend? I've started playing DK about 2,5 months ago and I would love to see somebody tank who really knows what he's doing. I think I somewhat understand what I'm supposed to do and I've heard no complains from my guild so far, but reading this thread I think there's a lot of room for improvements. I would like to see in more detail how people actually tank, how they use their global cooldowns, how often they actually save blood tap charges, when they death strike (and more importantly: when not), how they cycle through their mitigation cooldowns and in what order on what boss, stuff like that.

Is there a source for that? A stream you could recommend or some video (with 6.0.3 in mind, not some old 5.4 gameplay)?

[Troxism]

I'm not sure whether this question has asked before, so sorry in advance if it has already been answered, but:

Are there any streams you could recommend? I've started playing DK about 2,5 months ago and I would love to see somebody tank who really knows what he's doing. I think I somewhat understand what I'm supposed to do and I've heard no complains from my guild so far, but reading this thread I think there's a lot of room for improvements. I would like to see in more detail how people actually tank, how they use their global cooldowns, how often they actually save blood tap charges, when they death strike (and more importantly: when not), how they cycle through their mitigation cooldowns and in what order on what boss, stuff like that.

Is there a source for that? A stream you could recommend or some video (with 6.0.3 in mind, not some old 5.4 gameplay)?

I stream on and off (my internet is not the best), but this isn't really the place to advertise it (although it's on twitch, and you can probably guess the name). I also will be uploading videos of boss kills on Mythic on my youtube (again, this isn't really the place to advertise it, and the channel name is not obvious).

I wish I did more, but like I say in the next part, I am really busy with progression ATM so it's kind of hard to do things in a timely fashion.

- - - Updated - - -

Guide Updates Dec 7th:

No changes to the Basic guide, but lots to the Advanced Guide.

-Slightly updated BoS Section (the way the damage is split was a little different then what I said, but it doesn't really change anything)

-Slightly updated NP Section; before it implied that NP was possibly worth picking in some cases. I was foolish to say that, the talent is just completely terrible ATM, and the section is now more accurate.

-Trimmed the pre-raid gearing section (removed information about crafting that should be known now that the game is released, plus a few other tweaks)

-Updated Trinket recommendations: they basically didn't change (even with all the nerfs/buffs), but the Knight's Badge is actually worth getting now (which is basically the only change).

-Added a CM section: general advice, and a breakdown of one instance pull by pull (Auchindoun). I will add more later, but frankly that takes a while to write and I barely have any time right now as progression is starting up.

Honestly I am not happy with the rate of updates, but I just don't have the time to spend on this guide right now as this is about the limit of my ability to update. Sadly I am mostly able to answer 5 min questions, anything longer then that I just don't have time for (and I am sorry for anyone's question I just skipped over because the answer would be too long).

Just too goddamn tired today to do more, and honestly people stealing my work for the own doesn't give me much encouragement to do all the fucking work.

[Kalshen]

Well I appreciate everything you do =D. Makes first time DK tanks not look awful. I decided to switch to tank so my guild would have a tank that is willing to put in the time to actually learn how to do it properly and not just survive. I must say that the DK is def the tank for me. I was torn between dk warrior and brm and after reading this guide i absolutely love my DK. In short thanks for your hard work =D

[Isadora]

I stream on and off (my internet is not the best), but this isn't really the place to advertise it (although it's on twitch, and you can probably guess the name). I also will be uploading videos of boss kills on Mythic on my youtube (again, this isn't really the place to advertise it, and the channel name is not obvious).

I wish I did more, but like I say in the next part, I am really busy with progression ATM so it's kind of hard to do things in a timely fashion.

Thank you so much! Exactly what I've been looking for!

[Cryopathy]

A couple notes regarding trinkets:
-In CMs, Knight's Badge goes to 209 Bonus Armor and 1272 Crit (averages to 1272*20/115 = 212 crit), whereas most other 630 trinkets are 159/159, so it's probably the best choice for CMs
-If you are lucky, you can get an ilvl 630 follower mission for a 645 trinket. Grandiose Carnage is what you get if you create it with a DPS loot spec, and Grandiose Resistance is what you get if you create with Blood as your loot spec.

[Life-Binder]

am I even supposed to be using Icy Touch as Blood in PvE ? it deals so little damage and the only thing it basically does is apply Frost Fever .. I figure:

1) against regular questing mobs they die so fast that Frost Fever never has time to deal any meaningful damage
2) in a group my job is to tank and mitigate damage .. Frost Fever doesn't help me with either as far as I can see

I feel I'd rather put something more useful on Icy Touches bind


am I missing something ? still very new to DKs

[FurtyIRL]

am I even supposed to be using Icy Touch as Blood in PvE ? it deals so little damage and the only thing it basically does is apply Frost Fever .. I figure:

1) against regular questing mobs they die so fast that Frost Fever never has time to deal any meaningful damage
2) in a group my job is to tank and mitigate damage .. Frost Fever doesn't help me with either as far as I can see

I feel I'd rather put something more useful on Icy Touches bind


am I missing something ? still very new to DKs

Well generally you're going to play Outbreak glyph/Plague Leech in a raid setting so you'll rarely use it, but personally I would still have a bind for it. Sometimes you may be forced to play Icy Touch glyph etc. for a specific mechanic, or if you don't play Outbreak glyph you'll have to manually apply diseases on new packs when Outbreak is down in 5 mans, CMs, etc.

[Colors]

Hey Trox,

Just wanted to say keep up the good work with the guide. I know it's discouraging having other people steal your shit, but this compendium of information is invaluable for newer, as well as more established players. I personally check it every few days to see if there's something that I've missed, and I've been playing MS Blood for years.

[Midoree]

I have restarted playing for about 2 months know, thanks for the guide its been helpful. Question what happen to stuns, it appears that tanks don't have stuns anymore?

[Krisppo]

I have restarted playing for about 2 months know, thanks for the guide its been helpful. Question what happen to stuns, it appears that tanks don't have stuns anymore?

Our stuns come in the form of talents (asphyxiate and remorseless winter)

[dr_AllCOM3]

Temporary buffs that increase Critical Strike should now correctly increase Parry through Riposte for tanking specializations.

But I still don't think those trinkets are good for tanking anyway.

[Troxism]

Temporary buffs that increase Critical Strike should now correctly increase Parry through Riposte for tanking specializations.

But I still don't think those trinkets are good for tanking anyway.

Unlikely to change anything, it's not even the reason the Crit trinkets suck. Just makes them a little better if you happen to have them.

I'll look at it more later, but frankly the reason you get Pol's + Eidolon in Highmaul is they are well designed, not because crit doesn't give parry. And I don't even think there is a crit proc in Foundry that I can remember.

Just makes the Knight's Badge better, but it still doesn't beat raid trinkets, unless it's 3/3 upgraded, and Mythic trinkets still outpace it handily.

[Dizzzzzzzzz]

Have you thought of adding arena gear from CQ points into the gearing section? Easy to get 660 ilvl, just got a neck today from an RBG weekly reward that gave bonus armor/mastery and theres a lot of other well-itemized pieces

[Midoree]

Do you guys have any suggestions for Blood addons.