http://threepanelsoul.com/images/wal..._1920x1200.jpg
Intro :
Hello to all my blood lovers (gosh this sounds so wrong). My name is Kiryuu and I created this guide for all the persons that wanted to play as a blood tank but never had the chance to do so because of outdated guides.
Many players asked me about advices, tips, etc. so I thought that I should make a guide to make things simpler. I won't go into complicated calculations and I will keep things as simple as they can be. This was created originally for the players of the guild < Severance > (Deathwing,Horde) and now is updated for the guild <Solace>(Deathwing, Alliance). This sums up my tanking experience from the past year. During this time I tanked mostly ICC 25hc as OT and RS25hc as the inferno tank in both Severance and Solace.
All my thanks goes to Gastlyy, Sheksy and Heraxion which taught me all the advanced things of the blood tank, to Daellon and Zababoon which taught me the very basics of tanking and to all my tank friends, Paperz, Diemtee, Lagbert and to the guild Severance which formed me and to the guild Solace which defined me.
Also, this is not the "best" or "ultimate" blood tank guide since I'm not the best and I don't know everything. This is simply based on my playstyle and on my experience. Feel free to look for other guide if you don't agree with my playstyle.
Contents :
*Intro
*Abreviations
*Starting and motivation
*Basics
*Rotation
*Defensives
*Glyphs
*Talents
*Stats
*Gems
*End-game Gear
*Professions
*Addons
*Videos
*F.A.Q.
*Final word
Abreviations :
IT - Icy touch
PS - Plague strike
RS - rune strike
DS - death strike
HS - heart strike
VB - vampiric blood
RT - rune tap
BT - blood tap
IBF - Icebound fortitude
AMS - anti magic shell
SFF - sindragosa's flawless fang( basically it gives you another defensive)
AOD - army of the dead
CD - cooldown
DMR - diminishing return
STM - stamina
DND - death and decay
BB - blood boil
Starting and motivation:
So, why Blood tank ? Because it's a survival spec which can solo so many things which makes the healers job easier. But let's see the ups and downs.
Ups : - best class for tanking magical(spell) bosses
- has more avoidance than any other class due to Forceful deflection
- self healing which can make you the best self healer which is crucial in fights like halion 25hc or sindragosa 25hc.
- raid support; with buffs like Abomination's might, Hysteria or Improved Icy Talons
Downs: - worst multiple target threat( you just can't tank more than 5 adds without the help of hunters)
- Not as needed as paladins. You won't see an ICC raid 25hc without paladin tanks. So, we have to fight with druids and even other paladins to get a spot as 2nd tank in raids. WeÔÇÖre almost everytime OTs because paladins take less damage than us.
Basics :
*This is meant for the players which never tanked at all. Some things may sound obvious to you but to other people maybe it isn't that way.
1.You should wear full plate and 2h swords/axes/maces.
2.Always and forever use the Frost Presence. You may need to switch to Unholly presence sometimes but don't do it if you don't have frost runes up.
3.Don't ever rush in to clear mobs or to start the encounter if you have no support ( heal/dps). If you die while doing that it is your own fault.
4.Don't face the mobs/boss to the raid and don't turn your back to the mobs. You can't parry or dodge attacks from behind.
5.Use hysteria on the top physical dps but use it on yourself if you have big problems in threat.
6.Heal yourself as much as you can so you won't depend on healers.
7.DonÔÇÖt panic if you see your HP going down. Use your defensives in a clever way.
8.Don't ever spam the keyboard. Use the rotation I designed or come up with your own rotation.
9.Always remember that the mistakes of the tanks can wipe the raids in an instant. You are in no position to afk or to slack.
10.Make sure you have more threat than the rest of the players.
Rotation :
Tanks normally don't have a rotation(they have a "priority list") but I will give you what I usually use. Please note that there are 2 types: healing rotation and threat rotation.
*Threat rotation(single target) : BT -> 3 x IT -> PS -> 2 x HS -> refresh dots with pestilence -> repeat. You do all this while spamming the RS button. I don't suggest to macro rune strike because macro's are buggy.
*Healing : BT -> IT -> PS-> spam DS -> refresh dots with pestilence -> again
*Aoe threat : BT -> DND -> 2 x BB -> pray a hunter puts MD on you and does Aoe attacks(really, because from this point on you can't do nothing at all)
**Please note that I didn't include the use of defensives in a rotation because they should not be used like that.
Defensives :
You have to manage your defensives in a wise way because you will surely need one when you least expect it. So, be sure to use them accordingly to the encounter but be clever and keep one or two for unexpected things(e.g. : healer dies => you have to survive a few seconds on your own).
I will explain each and every defensive and I will suggest you the cases when a particular defensive is needed. I grouped the defensives in 3 groups so it can be easier to keep track of them.
* Healing defs :
VB- gives you extra health and increases the healing through spells and effects. This def should be used when you're dipping very low and you need lots of heals to stay alive.
Raise ghoul + death pact - personally I don't use this very much because it uses a lot of runic power and because of the big CD. But it can save your life when you're out of defensives.
Mark of blood ÔÇô gives you 20 dots of 4% of your HP which means 80% of HP. But this isnÔÇÖt so good because it takes time to apply. I keep it only for the VDW encounter.
* Magical defs :
AMS - this is the best magical defensive. This is heavily used in Halion encounter, Sindragosa encounter and Lady Death Whisper encounter. You can also use it when you are in fire( at LM or at Halion).
SFF - actually this is a trinket but it's a must have which gives a great defensive. It's basically your 2nd magical defensive which can save you when AMS is on CD.
* Damage defs :
BT - It's the t10 4 pieces bonus. This should be used the most because of it's small CD.
IBF - The best defensive you have but with the biggest CD. This should be used in extreme situations. I use it as a last resort.
AOD - This is the very last resort. It has a 10min CD which makes it unrealiable but it can save you in really desperate situations where you have no defensive left.
**Healing Spell : RT - heals you for 10% of your health pool. I usually keep it for near-death situations because I can heal myself with DS's instead of using this defensive.
Glyphs :
*** You can use whatever you want here but this is what I recommend you to use.
*Major : - Disease + Dark Command + Vampiric Blood
*Minor : - Horn + blood tap/death's embrace + pestilence
Talents :
*What you use it's up to you. You should experiment with talents and see what's best for you. At this very moment I use survival talents because I'm 5.5kgs after reset and I can't afford to go raid support. In this spec there's only one raid buff and you might have issues with threat, but this is the very best spec for survival that I can think off.
http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/r...psuuznmm5m.png
Stats :
In end-game BiS gear your stats should look like this.
Defense - The cap is 540. Once you got that it is enough for any raid. But, in end-game gear you will have around 580-600 defense which can only help you since AOTD and IBF will be stronger because of that. But don't forget, never gem for more defense unless you donÔÇÖt meet the cap.
Hit - You need %3 spell hit rating so you won't miss with the spells but I recommend you to play with around 6% for better threat.
Expertise - The soft cap is 20-22 and the hard cap is 26. But keep in mind that parry haste is kinda bugged on Molten so you don't need it as much. But, I recommend you to play with at least 13 expertise for proper threat.
Parry and Dodge - Not our main stats since the DMR fix so you don't have to worry about it that much.
Armor - This is our most valuable stat after the DMR fix which makes parry stackers a distant memory. You should have around 38k-39k unbuffed. The hard cap is 75%.
Stamina - This is the stat we're looking for besides the armor. In almost BiS gear you will have around 4500 stamina.
Gems :
Basically we stack +30 stamina (solid majestic zircon) in all our sockets. We use just 1 red gem ( take exp + stamina or whatever) because we need to activate our meta.
Our Meta Gem is Austere Earthsiege Diamond.
BiS list( + enchants) :
Thanks to Severance and Solace IÔÇÖve reached full bis and I can assure you that this list is accurate. I will mention extra items which would be good to have in your inventory if you want to experiment on things.
Head - T10 HC + Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector
Neck ÔÇô Noose of malachite HC
Shoulders - T10 HC + 30 stm/15 resilience
Back - Royal crymson cloak HC +225 armor
Chest - T10 HC + 225 HP
Wrist - Bracers of dark reckoning HC + 40 STM
Weapon - Glorenzelg HC + stoneskin gargoyle
Sigil - Sigil of bone gryphon or Sigil of insolence
Hands - T10 HC +885 armor(from engineering) or +2% threat
Waist - Belt of broken bones HC + eternal belt buckle
Pants ÔÇô Legguards of lost hope + 55 stamina
Boots - Treads of impending resurrection HC + 15 STM/ minor speed increase
Ring 1 ÔÇô Juggernaut band HC
Ring 2 - Devium's eternally cold ring HC
Trinket 1 - Petrified Twilight Scale HC
Trinket 2 - Sindragosa's flawless fang HC
Extra items :
Neck - Bile-encrusted medallion HC ÔÇô armor alternative
Back - Sentinel winter's cloak ÔÇô armor alternative
Wrist - Gargoyle spit bracers HC ÔÇô armor alternative
Weapon - Cryptmaker HC + stoneskin gargoyle ÔÇô hit alternative
Waist - Verdigris chain belt ÔÇô armor alternative
Pants - Pillars of might + 55 STM/22 agility ÔÇôarmor alterntive or Sanctified Scourgelord Legguards ÔÇôexpertise alternative
Trinket - Juggernaut's vitality HC ÔÇô HP alternative
Professions :
You can have whatever profession you desire but I will suggest you the best 2 choices:
1.Mining = gives you 60 stamina + Engineering = gives you 885 armor(hand enchant)
2.Blacksmith = gives you 2 extra socket slots + jewelcrafting = gives you 63 stamina
Addons :
* You can use whatever you like. But here are some suggestions:
CLC DK - this addon shows the runes in a better way and it suggests you the next spell/skill you should use.
DBM or BigWigs - Each and every one of us should use it.
Omen Threat meter
Bartender or Dominos - allows you modify your UI
Grid - shows your raid in a tiny box which allows you to select any player easily
*As an example here is my current UI.
Videos :
RS 25hc OT(Inferno tank) POV : http://youtu.be/EwUpz2GRtr4
F.A.Q. :
Q : You didn't mention mind freeze/strangulate/etc. at all. It's that because you don't use them at all ?
A : Mind freeze and strangulate are used to stop attacks/casts. Keep in mind that those don't work on bosses. But, you have to use them a lot in VDW encounter to silence adds.
Q : What about Death Coil ?
A : Death coil uses too much runic power and I use it only to collect Dark Nucleus in BPC encounter. But, you can use it whenever you have 100 runic power and the runes are on CD.
Q : What race should I choose ?
A : Blood elf is the best choice because of the magical resistence(2% chance to resist spells) for horde and for alliance I would choose Night Elf because of 2% reduced chance to be hit + shadowmeld.
Q : But the Tauren has increased HP. So, why isn't that the best ?
A : They have 500 more HP. Not so much if you compare it with the magical resistance(of the blood elf). Also, it is too big.
Q : In the "bis list" you included 2 weapons. Why is that ?
A : Because the DK blood tank(and every tank in general) has to change different parts of gear based on the encounter. If you think we are using only one gear then you should stop tanking and you should go DPS.
Q : Also, you included 2 sigils. So, what should we choose ?
A : It's based on playstyle to be honest. You can go with either one.
Final word :
Please bear in mind that this guide is meant to help starters. When you'll reach my level of experience you will be above all guides and from that moment forward you will have to improve by yourself.
I really hope that this guide will help those in need. Good luck and see you in game.
