How to Play a DK (Tanking)

[s_e_a_n_66]

I guess I need to rephrase a little. Im not saying DK tanks are BAD, I'm just saying that it is much more DIFFICULT to be a GOOD DK tank, than say a good pally tank. Where pally puts face on keyboard and rolls around, the DK has to more closely monitor aggro / CDs / RP. And I think you are right about me not seeing a good DK tank on my server(There is only 1 in a top guild on my server)

[JimmyTheGoat]

How are they bottom of the chain? Many end game tanks are in fact DK's Keebzz - Malfurion did ICC10 Heroic as a DK tank and tankspot uses DK tanks, they are 100% viable and are equal in all ways, I am not saying you are wrong you probally have just yet to see a good DK tank. There are soooooooooooooooooo many fail dk tanks i can not even imagine and I hope this helps some to learn how to play there class. Thanks for the rep you have your opinion and I have mine.

I think I've read somewhere that they are the best tank in high-end enviroment due to that they scale better than the other classes, maybe equaled by paladins but not sure.

Also you didn't reply to my first post so I'll make a tl:dr version here
Expertise dont have a static value
It have close to twice the value of hit when below the dogde cap
It have ~ equal to hit when above the dogde cap
taunt is running of the spellhit table make sure you inform that
So taunt need 18%hit 10% with your glyph 7% with a boonkin/sp in the raid 6% if there is also a draenie present
Alot of high end tanks(to my experience) skip! the taunt glyph because it's really not that needed

Anyways hope you care to reply this time around

[Jakewoods]

I think I've read somewhere that they are the best tank in high-end enviroment due to that they scale better than the other classes, maybe equaled by paladins but not sure.

Also you didn't reply to my first post so I'll make a tl:dr version here
Expertise dont have a static value
It have close to twice the value of hit when below the dogde cap
It have ~ equal to hit when above the dogde cap
taunt is running of the spellhit table make sure you inform that
So taunt need 18%hit 10% with your glyph 7% with a boonkin/sp in the raid 6% if there is also a draenie present
Alot of high end tanks(to my experience) skip! the taunt glyph because it's really not that needed

Anyways hope you care to reply this time around

Originally this was the case until the changes to Icy Touch came into play, before the taunt glyph you would use the Disease glyph just because it was so handy, but with the giant increase in threat it is worth the 1 extra rune cost. For the rest you are completely right. =)

[JimmyTheGoat]

I actually still see alot of dk tanks skipping it for the dearthstrike glyph :P blood tanks that is ofc

[Crabelgigante]

First - Read the Dark Command glyph [Increases chance for it to successfully work by 8%]
taunts dont miss or dodge like spells or abilities they immune, you need 18% for it to work, 10% with glyph 7% with boomkin 6% with draeni (however you spell them) so 6% is easily acquired to make un-immunable

Hello Jakewoods! I am gonna help you understand the exact numbers of a Death Knights hit rating needs(all other melee for that matter) and also explain to you why you are completely wrong in this quote.

Let me start with the taunt thing you say over here. Your claim is - That for your taunt to hit, you must have 18% hit? Ok this is totally wrong. You can have 100% hit, and still fail to taunt a immune boss/add. Because, well it is immune. Such as Lady Deathwisper Hardmode 10/25, she cannot be taunted on heroic. So, you can have all the hit in the world, and she still won't be tauntable. Ok?

Now, a DK's hit cap is 8% with a two-handed weapon at level 80.
This is a hit rating of 262.

For Death Coil, Icy Touch, Taunt and Howling Blast, the cap is 17% hit or 445.91 hit rating.
This can be decreased with Virulence (a first-tier Unholy talent) by 3% or 78.69 hit rating, and again by Misery (from a Shadow Priest) or Improved Faerie Fire (from a Balance Druid) by an additional 3%.

So, you need 17% hit for your taunt spell to not be 'RESISTED' and not as you claim un-immuneable. (is that even a word? hehe)

Anyways, I hope this helped you understand it, when creating a guide it sure helps to atleast have the facts straight


./Crab

[jmulhern345]

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
That is the tank spec you should use if you have threat probs... you will be spamming IT to keep aggro and have no fun if theirs a 15k dps Feral Druid or a 12k dps frost DK...
Spec you provide is very low threat and is not viable if you are in a guild where everyone is 12k+ dps and you are below there gear or even equal gear.
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
This is the common spec for when Blood tanking. Theres a one point left. Put it in Sudden Death for threat. Hysteria to be able to boost dps. Or Rune weapon if you like to have a high damage cooldown. This is for tanking for people with your gear level. Rune Tap is highly unneeded if you have healers that know how to heal.

NOTE-Hit cap is 263 for DK not 262

[Crabelgigante]

Hit needed for special attack hit cap at level 80:
9% (special attack base miss chance) needed, or 9 x 32.79 = 295.11 rating, Draenei DK's need 262,32 or any other alliance DK with a Draenei in group.

As for Spell Hit, only Icy Touch, Howling Blast and Death Coil use Spell Hit cap to check if they will miss or not. If you pick up Virulence from Unholy, the spell hit will be attained by simply being Special Attack capped (assuming you have Misery)
17% (base miss chance) - 3% (Misery) - 3% (Virulence) = 11% needed from gear, or 11 x 26.23 = 288.53 rating.

Virulence is worth 78.69 Hit. So you need 367.22 Hit rating to be capped with spells if you are not specced for Virulence. It's another 78.69 Hit if you are missing Misery.
If you're guaranteed a Draenei in your group, you can gear/gem for 1% (32.79 Rating for melee, 26.23 Rating for Spells) less hit.

In other words, Hit-Cap for DK's with a two-handed weapon is 262, NOT 263

[jmulhern345]

Hmm. 8% im quite sure not 9%. 262.blah blah blah...........ya you'll miss if you end up swinging and the blah blah blah kicks in. therfore you want to round it to 263.
In other words, Hit-Cap for DK's with a two-handed weapon is 263, NOT 262...take that .32 into consideration.

[Jadd]

How to Play a DK (Tanking) - The Proper Way:

1. Punch keyboard with your face.
2. ???
3. Profit.
4. Take your pants off.

[ohmaigawd]

How to Play a DK (Tanking) - The Proper Way:

1. Punch keyboard with your face.
2. ???
3. Profit.
4. Take your pants off.

True for paladins, NOT true for dks... I play a paladin (prot/holy) and a tanking dk. Paladin tanking equals mindless spamming of few buttons and DK tanking requires you to closely monitor all cooldowns/runes etc.

Also paladins taunts(3 target taunt on 8 sec cooldown) > dks taunts (1 target taunt on 35 sec cooldown)

[jmulhern345]

True for paladins, NOT true for dks... I play a paladin (prot/holy) and a tanking dk. Paladin tanking equals mindless spamming of few buttons and DK tanking requires you to closely monitor all cooldowns/runes etc.

Also paladins taunts(3 target taunt on 8 sec cooldown) > dks taunts (1 target taunt on 35 sec cooldown)

TRU FAX....DK tanking especially bloos for Multi Target tanking could be bothersome.
Its a false fact that DK tanking is easy...Boss tanking might be.......IT IT then u got all the aggro u could want...but multi target...we dont got no consecrate bro.

[Gorgonite]

O.O WTF?!?!??! Yes, this is a working in progress it is not even close to being finished.
First - Read the Dark Command glyph [Increases chance for it to successfully work by 8%]
taunts dont miss or dodge like spells or abilities they immune, you need 18% for it to work, 10% with glyph 7% with boomkin 6% with draeni (however you spell them) so 6% is easily acquired to make un-immunable

Next thing - If you are reeling on your healers so dam much and think your getting constant heals? you dont there is another 24 people in the raid and they all take damage. Rune tap is amazing DRW is terrible, you do get the threat but it is better spent somewhere else.
What I mean by DSx3 is that use your Unholy and Frost runes for DS 3 times before you use them for your diseases. Also if you could read I said maximizing your heals, for example 2 healers and are down and 1 is left you should be able to take minimal heals will maximizing your own and still live.
DONT CAST HYSTERIA ON YOURSELF, you should never have threat issues if so have a pally Salvation them or just taunt boss taunting puts you 10% higher then the person with the most threat. 10k-12k dps isn't that much threat, in blood queen you are fighting with 20k dps and I easily keep threat. If you have threat problems use your death runes for Heart Strike or Icy touch.
Agility is better from tanking view I never said threat, one more thing you hypocrite you said strength is better from the parry when you just said it isn't good cause of diminishing returns parry is the same as the dodge returns, parry is equal to dodge but parry is better cause you take no damage and return a attack right back at them. Hit cap is more important then extra defense because there is so much dam defense on everything, I have 570 or something defense that is 30 over cap.

---------- Post added at 02:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 PM ----------


Don't Troll.

funny how u say that u keep ur TPS up on 20k dpsers on BQ, have you ever checked out what the buff does additionally to the dmg buff? Oh yeah it removes 100%of threat the dps does....>.>