Death Knight tanking guide

[ChildeRoland]

After a long time as leecher I thought it was my time to contribute with something here on the forums.
After a couple of searches, the only Death Knight guides I saw on the forums was spec&glyph or gear guides.

Death Knight tanking is no simple thing. It takes a couple of steps, but when you know them it's the simplest things in the world.

Step One
As most people know, Death Knights can tank in each spec.
The common rule is to base the spec on 5/5/5 or 5/5/8. Myself I'm using a 14/5/52 spec. Information about glyphs can be found in the end of the post.


Step Two
Gear is important when raiding, but this guide is for every one, so will start with something a little more easy to get than 30k hp and defcap.
ALWAYS start with NORMAL instances. If you pick up tank gear while leveling you might have around 500 def and 22-23k hp when u reach 80. You should have about 24-25k hp and ~530 defense before entering heroics.
The so-called def-cap is reached with 540 defense, so that is the ultimate target. 540 is no cap, but it's where the main effect ends. Bosses' chance to get a critical hit on you is reduced to zero with 540 def. Crushing blows might still occur, and there is no way to remove those. (Normal hit: 1x damage, Crushing Blow. 1.5x damage, Critical Hit 2x damage (or something like that))

Step Three
At first when you start raiding off-tank is a good position. OTs usually got pretty relaxing tactics and no stress, so it's a nice spot to be in.
Before you start raiding, your defense should really be minimum 540. It's sad getting one shotted by a boss.
To get defcap, a good choice is a nice two handed weapon (anything with stamina) and Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle as weapon enchant.

Step Four
The rotation!
Death Knights have only 1 effective spell that gives extra aggro, and that is Death and Decay. This is why you should have 5/5/8 as a base for your spec.
Having reduced cooldown on Death and Decay is extremely important while tanking!
Also, Death Knights have two taunts. This is required, since DKs don't have any AoE taunt. Using one of your taunts at the right place is enough to sometimes save a raid.

Step Five
The normal rotation is Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Death and Decay and then Blood Strike/Heart Strike. Then Obliterate/Scourge Strike/Death Strike/Howling Blast. Repeat, and have a RP (Runic Power) dump with Death Coil, Unholy Blight or Death Coil.
Rotation is very dependent on gamestyle, but as long as you keep spamming Death and Decay at all opportunities and at the same time keep DoTs up at all times tanking is really easy. Also: VERY IMPORTANT: If you are unholy spec, always keep up Unholy Blight at ALL times! Also, no need to spam, just do it once each 18-20 second.

Myself I do Death and Decay, Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Scourge Strike, Blood Strike x2. I keep diseases and Unholy Blight up at all times, and uses Scourge Strike as often as possible. I'm slacking a little with the Death and Decay unless it is a big chance I'll loose aggro to good dps. Each time all runes is on cooldown I do a Runic Power dump, and each time available I use Rune Strike.


Hope this might help people. This is my first thread, and if you got anything to add, feel welcome to post or pm me.

A little information about glyphs:
Major Glyphs:
[All specs]
Glyph of Anti Magic Shield. This is useful in many situations, since Anti Magic shield helps a lot, as well as giving inhuman amounts of RP in some circumstances.
Glyph of Death and Decay. 20% extra dmg is a nice amount of threat.
Glyph of Disease. Be ware, this glyph is completely useless if your defense depends on Sigil of the Unfaltering Knight
[Unholy spec]
Glyph of Bone shield. Sometimes pretty useful with 2 extra instances of damage reduction.
Glyph of Unholy Blight. 10 seconds increased duration on Unholy Blight makes it easier to keep up.
[Frost Spec]
Glyph of Frost Strike. Frost Strike is your RP dump while in Frost spec, and you can throw more of them to get even more aggro with this glyph.
Glyph of Unbreakable Armor: Very useful in tight situations.
[Blood Spec]
Glyph of Vampiric Blood. 10 secs more Last Stand.
Glyph of Death Strike. More damage= More aggro.

Note: Some people use Glyph of Dark Command (8% more success chance with taunt), but I find this glyph a waste. In my broad tanking experience I have never missed with taunt.


Also watch for information about gear:
http://www.mmowned.com/forums/wow-gu...-part-1-a.html
and
http://www.mmowned.com/forums/wow-gu...ear-guide.html

See also my DPS guide: http://www.mmowned.com/forums/wow-gu...ml#post1530258

[Rynos]

nice mate...ive just lvled my DK to 79 and have been asked to offtank/tank in my guild this helps me +rep if i could give :P

[Thidan]

Maybe add some info on what gear to get etc while levelling.
Add some colors!

And of, the most IMPORTANT thing of them all:
"Death knight tanking is like a cheap prostitute. She runs up and gets the attention of all the guys, spreads around some diseases. Finally she loots them and moves on when she is done with them."

[ChildeRoland]

"Death knight tanking is like a cheap prostitute. She runs up and gets the attention of all the guys, spreads around some diseases. Finally she loots them and moves on when she is done with them."

Thanx, just got myself a signature ^^

Thx for replies, will edit post after naxx

[schappi]

Nice guide, I'd use it if I'd got a DK!

EDIT: Nice colors

[ChildeRoland]

Edit on main post:
Added colors and a tiny description about the links in the bottom.

[Damare0]

I've been DK tanking now and its not a bad guide. You might want to review the rotations, and add the information on glyphs as you said.
Otherwise nice work

[Erase]

To the tanking spec:
When will a tank ever need a pet that will die in 1-hit anyways?

[Hasselhoff]

Yeah If you want a pure tank spec, Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
is a little better. Here's why:

More RP Dump with Gargoyle. It's a great threat booster and some nice damage when you fill up on RP. Your Ghoul will die quickly to AoE so it's not neeeded.

You don't need On a Pale Horse. You shouldn't really be getting feared or stunned if you're the tank...

Imp DG is not needed. Unless you cant keep something on you and have to constantly taunt it back w/ that.

You want Vicious strikes. More Damage + more crit = more threat.

In blood go for the 4% more damage and extra RP over 4% crit.

And just a personal thing. I hate when people say 540 D is the cap. It's not. There is no cap. Thats the... umm... floor? bottom? It's the minimum you should have, no the most possible. Just a pet peeve

Besides that I guess it's an ok guide..

[ChildeRoland]

Sorry hassel, I'll change the "cap" to "minimum" ^^
Well, I don't use the ghoul in combat, but ghou mastery reduces cooldown on Raise Dead, which is nice for sacrifice, which is a solid heal. And also, I don't loose aggro with this spec. Ever.
Thx for replies

[Joelmale]

Nice guide i'll try tanking on my dk's dual spec now

[Dream]

Nice guide man.

Good information.

[ChildeRoland]

Thanks a lot for positive replies. I'll update with things I didnt remember or think about when I wrote it yesterday, as macros, useful keybinds, etc..

[andy..]

Some glyphs I use for tanking (I tank as frost) is:

Major
Glyph of Dark Command - Item - World of Warcraft - Never had it resist in raids yet
Glyph of Icy Touch - Item - World of Warcraft - Extra runic power is great at the begining of a fight
Glyph of Obliterate - Item - World of Warcraft - More dmg = more threat

Minor
Glyph of Blood Tap - Item - World of Warcraft - So you don't take 2k + damage when you use Blood Tap
Glyph of Raise Dead - Item - World of Warcraft - Free ghoul if I need an instant heal
Glyph of Horn of Winter - Item - World of Warcraft - 1 minute longer is better even though i usually spam it when I have my runes on CD and no runic power, if I don't have this glyph I can't spam it if some other DK has just used horn of winter.

After 1 or 2 offtanking naxx runs you should be capable of maintanking it considering you looted some gear anyway.

[spleen]

Just my opinion here, I seemed to get much better overall AoE and ST threat as a Blood Spec, 52 / 7 / 12. Then basically your rotation is:

AoE:
DnD -> BB (once all mobs are there) -> IT -> PS -> BB/PEST -> Corpse Explosion -> Repeat from BB.
It's sort of hard to describe the rotation but it does work much better in practice.

Similar for Single Target:
IT -> PS -> HS -> HS -> RP Dump -> Repeat

You should have death runes available, it's been a while since I've played my DK but that worked fine for me

In heroics you shouldn't need to use death strike if you have a healer so you can cut that out and opt in for and extra IT and PS which gives you much more threat, obliterate is only good if you have annihalation, otherwise that should be removed from the rotation unless you have a few runes spare to stick your diseases up again.