1 - Introduction to Blood DKs
2 - Introduction to runes
3 - Abbilities
4 - Race
5 - Talent Tree
6 - Glyphs
7 - Stats priority
8 - Professions
9 - Gems
10 - Enchants
11 - Reforging
12 - Macros
13 - The gear any PvP blood DK wants
14 - Addons
1 - Introduction to Blood DKs
Blood is the tanking spec for DKs. In PvP, you'll be the flag carrier of your WSG, and that annoying guy the paladin wants to kill but cannot in the AV. If you want to be the flag carrier, tank bosses in BGs, and be kind of 'support' by holding out a few enemies for awhile, then blood is for you!
2 - Introduction to runes
Runes are the resource used by DKs to cast many of his spells. You'll want a good amount of haste to make your rune regeneration faster, and cast more Death Strikes.
3 - Abbilties
3.1 - Passive
Blood Shield - It's your best weapon against rogues and warriors. In this patch, we'll be sacrificing a portion of our blood shield to make us stronger against casters. They are the real problem here.
Blood Rites - Every time you cast Death Strike , the runes you spent to cast these abbilities will turn into Death Runes. It's kind of helpful against casters.-
Vengeance - Increases your attack power based on the damage the enemy dealt to you. You really don't want to stack vengeance on this patch, you really don't.
Runic Empowerment - After casting Death Coil you have 45% chance to restore a random rune.
3.2 - Presences
Unholy Presence - Do not use. Our Dark Succor powers have been removed in this patch.
Blood Presence - It's the presence we're using this patch. It increases your health and your resistance. And, the best, it makes your rune regeneration faster.
Frost Presence: - Do not use.
3.3 - Other abbilities
3.3.1 - Blood
Blood Boil - You'll only use this to find players who went invisible. It's an AoE damage. If you're lucky, you'll hit the enemy.
Blood Strike - Ignore this ability.
Blood Tap - Turns one of your blood runes into Death Runes. Everytime you want to cast a spell other than Heart Strike and Death Strike, use this ability, so that you won't have to sacrifice a death strike.
Dancing Rune Weapon - Increases parry chance by 20%. Costs 60 Runic Power. Should only be used against MDPS, to counter their bursts a little.
Dark Command - Taunting abbility. Not useful for PvP.
Dark Simulacrum - Allows you to copy a spell that the enemy casted. Very useful to counter healing/imparing effects. Costs 20 Runic Power.
Death Pact - Sacrifices one of your minions to restore your health by 25%. Very useful if the enemy is bursting and he can take your health down. It costs 20 Runic Power. If you can, activate Vampiric Blood before casting it.
Death Strike - It's your most important ability. It heals you, gives you a shield, and deals damage to the enemy.
Heart Strike - When you need to deal damage, spend your blood runes on it. You can always sacrifice a Heart Strike with another ability, by using Blood Tap before.
Pestilience - Spreads diseases. Use it when there are many enemies around, and make sure at least one has diseases!
Rune Tap - Heals yourself by 10% at a cost of a blood rune.
Strangulate - Silence an enemy for 5 seconds. You can use it against casters to survive longer, or against healers if you can survive without it.
Vampiric Blood - Increases your health by 15% and increases your self healings by 25% for a few seconds. Always activate it when you're about to do a healing burst.
Bone Shield - Keep it active when you can. You can use a blood tap to activate it without sacrificing Death Strikes.
3.3.2 - Frost
Chains of Ice - If the enemy is running, activate Blood Tap then use Chains of Ice. I'd not sacrifice a Death Strike for that.
Empower Rune Weapon - Activate all your runes. Use it for healing bursts. It has a long cooldown, so make good use of it!
Festering Strike - Useless.
Horn of Winter - It should always be active to increase your damage by a little. You can also use this to gain runic power, in case your abilities are on cooldown.
Icebound Fortitude - Decreases all damage taken by 50% and makes you immune to stun effecs. Use it when your health is falling too fast.
Icy Touch - If there's an enemy with low health, and he's running, you can use it to finish him. It deals low damage, but may be enough to kill your target.
Lichborne - Makes you immune to fear/charm/sleep. It also can be used as a self-healing spell if used with Death Coils. Check the macros at section 10 to see how.
Mind Freeze - Silencing spell. It costs runic power. Can be used against casters to keep you alive for more time, or against healers if you think you can kill them.
Obliterate - Useless.
Path of Frost - Turns you into Jesus.
Rune Strike - Always use this when available, if you're not trying to save runic power. It deals damage to the enemy. It's one of the most important abilities you have.
3.3.3 - Unholy
Anti-Magic Shell - Very useful against casters. Reduces damage taken and makes you immune to certain spells.
Army of the Dead - Creates an army of ghouls. If you're being attacked by someone, do not use it, or it will be a waste of a death strike.
Death and Decay - If your enemy went invisible, you may use this to try finding him.
Death Coil - Do not use this for damage unless your enemy is at low health running, or if your Rune Strike isn't available for use. This may also be used as a self-healing spell. Check the macros at section 10 to see how you heal yourself with that.
Death Grip - Pulls your enemy to your position.
Necrotic Strike - Do not use it unless there's nobody attacking you. It makes your enemy unable to be healed, and decreases all casting speed by 30% while the shield is activated. You can use it against healers or bursting casters, as long as there's nobody attacking you.
Outbreak - Applies diseases to your target. Always use it when available.
Plague Stirke - If you sacrificed a Frost Rune and there's an unholy rune ready for use, you may use this to refresh one of your diseases at your enemy. Do not sacrifice death strikes for this ability!
Raise Ally - Revives an ally. Useful in world PvP and in BGs. But, it costs runic power!
Raise Dead - Summons a ghoul to fight for you. You can sacrifice the ghoul to use Death Pact and heal yourself.
4 - Race
The best race for blood DKs is human, for the racial trinket. If you're horde, you may want to go Tauren.
5 - Talent tree
http://imageshack.us/a/img812/5966/6t66.png
This is the talent tree we're using this patch. If you want, you may take the 3 points from 'Bladed Armor' and put two of these in Butchery, and the last point in Hand of Doom. I for one, prefer Bladed Armor talent.
6 - Glyphs
6.1 - Prime Glyphs
Glyph of Heart Strike - Increases Heart Strike's damage by 30%.
Glyph of Death Coil - Increases damage and healing from Death Coil by 15%.
Glyph of Rune Strike - Increases the critical chance of Rune Strike by 10%.
6.2 - Major Glyphs
Glyph oh Anti-magic Shell - Increases the duration of your Anti-Magic Shell by 2 seconds.
Glyph of Bone Shield - Increases movement speed by 15% when Bone Shield is active. Since you'll want your Bone Shield active the most you can, this is useful.
Glyph of Death Grip - Increases the range of Death Grip by 5yds.
6.3 - Minor Glyphs
Glyph of Death's Embrace - Death coil will refund 20 runic power if used on an ally unit. This glyph is very good when you use Death Coil to heal yourself.
Glyph of Blood Tap - Blood tap will no longer damage you.
Glyph of Horn of Winter - Increases the duration of Horn of Winter by 1 minute.
7 - Stats priority
In this patch, in order to be strong against casters while still being abble to hold out warriors, we'll have the following:
Stamina > Resilience > Hit/expertise cap > Haste > Critical rating > Mastery > Strength
We are taking critical strike over mastery due our focus against casters. An increase to our damage means it should be easier to kill your enemy.
This is only for 1v1 against casters, though. If you're a battleground blood DK, and you feel bad about rogues, Mastery is the way to go. You should never have problems against warriors in 1v1. Really.
8 - Professions
Leatherworking still is the best profession as of 4.3.4, as the amount of stamina it gives is bigger than any other profession. As for the second profession, we may take any that gives 120 stamina. I for one, have chosen mining, as it is the easiest to level.
9 - Gems
The important sockets are Stamina, Haste, Mastery, Resilience, Hit rating and Expertise (until capped). All other sockets bonus can be ignored, and you can put a +60 stamina gem instead.
Blue - Solid Ocean Sapphire +60 stamina
Yellow - Steady Dream Emerald - +30 stamina and +20 resilience rating.
Red - Guardian's Demonseye +20 expertise and + 30 stamina
Meta - Effulgent Shadowspirit Diamond +81 stamina and reduces spell damage taken by 2%
10 - Enchants
Head - 90 stamina and 35 dodge rating - Arcanum of the Earthen Ring
Cloak - 65 critical strike - Enchant Cloak - Greater Critical Strike
Chest - 75 stamina - Enchant Chest - Greater Stamina
Boots - 44 stamina - Heavy Savage Armor Kit
Gloves - 44 stamina - Heavy Savage Armor Kit
-If your mastery does less than 95% from Death Strikes, then get Enchant Gloves - Greater Mastery instead.
Legs - 145 stamina and 55 agility - Charscale Leg Armor
Shoulder - 75 stamina and 25 dodge rating - Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz
Bracer - 195 stamina from Leatherworking - Draconic Embossment - Stamina
- If you don't have Leatherworking then get 40 stamina - Enchant Bracer - Major Stamina
Weapon - Increases stamina by 2% and armor by 4% - Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle
-Sometimes when your damage is too low may be useful to take Rune of the Fallen Crusader
11 - Reforging
We're aiming for haste this patch. The more haste, the faster your runes will regenerate, and the more death strikes you will cast.
Haste > Hit/Expertise cap > Mastery. Yes, mastery is the most useless you can get in this patch. If you aim for mastery, you'll be stronger against warriors and rogues, but, you will lose power against casters.
12 - Macros
This macros is to heal yourself with death coils and to be immune to fear/charm/sleep. It's also useful when healing burst.Quote:
#showtooltip Death Coil
/cast Lichborne
/cast [target=player] Death Coil
13 - The gear any PvP blood DK wants
Basically, as resilience is more important than any stats (but Stamina), we're getting full PvP gear. Only the trinkets we'll either donate for, or work hard for it.
Trinket 1:
Indomitable Pride - The best trinket ever. If you want to donate for something, donate for this first.
Trinket 2:
Soulshifter Vortex - It not only gives a vast amount of stamina, but it also gives mastery when it activates. It's overpowerd, specially against rogues. This is your second option of donate.
These are other trinket options, in case you cannot donate, or you can't farm it normally:
Option 1:
Scales of Life (heroic version). This item can be found at AH sometimes. You may also turn it into the heroic version, but you'll have to work hard in the firelands.
Option 2:
Veil of Lies. Dropped from Archbishop Benedictu in Hour of Twilight.
The basic trinket still is Leaden Despair if you have trinkets missing. It's the easiest to obtain.
14 - Addons
Blood Shield Tracker - Shows the remaining amount of Blood Shield you have, and how much time left your Blood Shield has.
