Death Knight TANK PvE Guide [3.3.5a]

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February 1, 2019
Wateo

Alright... Then why were people telling me I don't need that much hit... As apparently I really DO need 17 %, either 17% like I almost have now again, or 17 % with glyph. And seeing how I don't like the glyph, I can just put few of the gems and be capped, and it's gg.

Edit: After thinking about the glyphs, there's basically only 4 major glyphs to consider as a Blood DK:
1) Glyph of Vampiric Blood - because it gives you more hp and better receiving heals for additional 5 seconds
2) Glyph of Rune Tap - additional 10 % of recovered hp to you and your party
3) Glyph of Dark Command - 8% to not miss the taunt
4) Glyph of Disease - refreshes your diseases on the main target

The 1) is mandatory, it's simply too good to not pick up. 4) is really, really convinient, because that way you'd have to use runes to refresh, which means less Hearth Strikes. 2) is nice, as it gives more recovered HP, and the 3) makes your taunt unmissable no matter what high end gear you basically have.

If Gnimo says so too, that you need 17 % spell rating (either with glyph or not), then I'll switch my Rune Tap glyph for that Dark Command. Because with 12 % spell rating + glyph which is 8 % more, so that makes it 20 %. It's 3 % more than needed for the cap. That's what's been bothering me, why he mentioned those 12 %.
February 1, 2019
Beanlord

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wateo

Alright... Then why were people telling me I don't need that much hit... As apparently I really DO need 17 %, either 17% like I almost have now again, or 17 % with glyph. And seeing how I don't like the glyph, I can just put few of the gems and be capped, and it's gg.

I've no idea what people tell you. What I'm saying is that the cap is 17% and how you calculate it for your current gear setup so that you don't gem/enchant/eat food with hit when it's redundant.
February 1, 2019
Wateo

Yeah, I'm waiting for Gnimo to tell me what he meant by "11.66% spell hit is MORE than enough anyway".
February 2, 2019
Gnimo

You DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT need more than 8% MELEE HIT.
I will say it one more time, you DO NOT want to go more than 263 hit rating (ofc its fine if you get to a point where you have 269 hit and u cant get lower than that, but DO NOT go more intentionaly).

11.66% spell hit was a number u would have with your old gear (the one u linked first) without using any hit gems. U had A LOT of hit on your tanking items, so by combining all of them and not using any gems u would be on a 11.66% spell hit points, i just added the hit u had on your gear and told u what was that number without gems and enchants.
FORGET ABOUT 11.66% number.

Only numbers you care about are 263 hit and 6-26 expertise (56 expertise for Sindragosa and Halion, but you can tank them perfectly fine even without that much).

So, one more time, when it comed to gems:
10hit15stamina goes in every item that will give you +9 stamina in return by matching a yellow socket (unless that item has 2 yellow sockets and you are already at 263 hit rating, in that case u go 2x 30stamina in those 2 yellow sockets),
10expertise15stamina in every item that will give you +9 stamina in return by matching a red socket (same goes for 2 red gem items as for 2 yellow gem items).
The only good reason someone can have to gem 10hit15stamina and 10expertise15stamina gems in +6 items is if they lack 10-30 hit/expertise to reach a 8% melee hit cap or 26 expertise dodge cap.
(I personaly gem into +6 stamina items in case 1x 10expertise15stamina gem will give me 2 expertise in return, if im at 17 or w/e expertise number before the cap).

One more time:
263 hit is a number YOU DONT WANT TO GO ABOVE.
You need 6-26 expertise only, DO NOT USE 20 EXPERTISE OR 10HIT10EXPERTISE GEMS TO REACH 26. If you can get extra expertise from gear, get, if not, dont gem it.

Perfect item examples for where you always want to match yellow and red sockets with 10hit15stamina and 10expertise15stamina gems are:
T10 chest, T10 legs,
Emblems of Frost Belt, VDW Feet...

Do not go more than 263 hit.
Do not use 20 hit gems.
Do not use 10expertise10hit gems.
Do not use 20 expertise gems.
6-26 expertise is fine.

If you have T10 helm, shoulders, chest, gloves and u have a EoF belt, you would gem 10expertise15stamina in Helm, Chest, and Belt, which with talents would be 9 expertise. Getting 2 more 10expertise15stamina gems in any +6 item would get you at 12 expertise.
50 / 8.1975 = 6.09
50 is the expertise rating you would have from the gems.
8.1975 is how much expertise rating you need to get 1 expertise.
6.09 is expertise number u get from that rating.
If you have 6.9999 expertise from 57 expertise rating, sadly you will have only 6 on ur stat window, but if you get 10 expertise more, you will be at 8.
(THIS WAS JUST AN EXAMPLE HOW EXPERTISE RATING WORKS, DO NOT TRY TO COPY PASTE THESE NUMBERS ONTO YOUR CHAR)
April 18, 2019
Spamcho

Hi,

Do you still recommend going for https://wotlk.evowow.com/?talent#j0E...bobsoZhxbxmMhk when you are freshly geared? I managed to farm up some gold and got the BoE items (still got some trash items which need changing). I tried the "Unholy God-Tank" - it's fun, but getting boring sometimes getting almost insta-gibbed w/o bone shield.
I do have Gloren btw, currently at 4,5k GS.
April 19, 2019
Gnimo

Those talents are best at any point of the game, if your focus is raiding.
The only downside of it is AoE threat, especially in dungeons when u que in with a DPS that overgears you by a lot.

Use those talents for raids, and use offspec for some kind of a RDFque spec so you can handle that i guess.
If you are good enough to handle threat with that spec in dungeons aswell (which you could do if you know how to play and talk with your RDF group members a bit), than you dont need a offspec tbh.
April 19, 2019
Spamcho

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gnimo

Those talents are best at any point of the game, if your focus is raiding.
The only downside of it is AoE threat, especially in dungeons when u que in with a DPS that overgears you by a lot.

Use those talents for raids, and use offspec for some kind of a RDFque spec so you can handle that i guess.
If you are good enough to handle threat with that spec in dungeons aswell (which you could do if you know how to play and talk with your RDF group members a bit), than you dont need a offspec tbh.

Thank you!
I'm guessing i should stick to the "dungeon hero" spec then for the time being? Especially when low geared. I'm currently mainly doing RDFs so i can get all T9 pieces and some random offpieces.
April 24, 2019
Aranguard

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wateo

Yeah, I'm waiting for Gnimo to tell me what he meant by "11.66% spell hit is MORE than enough anyway".

Try to reach your hit rating between 290-300.As DK you main aggro resource IT so its need to hit as much as possible if you miss 2 times in a row specially BL parts of fight you gonna loose aggro ( i m talking about end game raiding) And even that point if you run HC raid and not geting %3 spell hit buff from raid eat hit rating food.In that way you also no need to use that taunt glyph your taunt never miss.Also that refresh disease glyph useless as tank (its my opinion) couse you need to spam IT as much as you can. Dont think like apply diseases at start and refresh them to use more DS.You gonna loose aggro in that way and When you need to spam IT that glyph gonna be trash.Its good for dps DK.
April 24, 2019
Gnimo

You dont need more than 263 hit (269 hit is also ok, since some of the item combos wont allow u to go for less).

You have Taunt, Death Grip, not to mention GCD reduction on Icy Touch when its BL/Hero part of the fight.

With 263 hit and 0/3 virulence chances that you will miss 3 ITs in a row and also miss DG and Taunt are equal to 0. On the plus side, you should have some sort of MD or Tricks on you, so yea...

If you are so afraid of losing aggro you can always pop DnD, taunt, spam IT and if it misses, be ready to Death Grip instantly while still spamming IT and also use Blood Tap and ERW in case you need some extra ITs.

Again, you dont need more than 263 (269) hit rating.
26 expertise is also optional. I personaly like it, but i know a lot of great DKs that dont bother to go for more than 6 expertise from talents and they are doing a great job anyway.
May 30, 2019
Lerzej

Hey Gnimo, nice guide man, this made me decide to make a Dk tank. I just have a question, what gears would u recommend to buy on the store ? I have about 200 coins to spare.
May 31, 2019
ClassicPls

Do you have updated talent specs for these? The links seem to be dead.
June 1, 2019
Gnimo

Sorry for the late answer, life is hard on me nowadays...

@Larzej
When it comes to COINS, if u didnt spend them already, there is no need to spend them on Tanking gear if u ask me (just save them for now since they wont lose value over time).
The only thing worth getting for start naked DK tank is weapon: Glorenzelg, and maybe Stamina Trinkets (TOGC > Sindra would be the prio, since you will be doing ICC regularly, while TOGC is not a happy place).

And thats it. Rest of the items will be yours as soon as they drop anyway, so you are not in a hurry.
There is nice crafted gear and BoEs that can serve you well untill u start doing HCs, and the things that make the most difference in surviving something are the 3 i mentioned: weapon, trinket 1, trinket 2.

If you hate farming 10m ICC HC, you could maybe coin out DBS wrist. Or, if you dont see yourself killing Halion on 25m hc any time soon, you could maybe get feet, but Blacksmithing tanking one, and VDW feet are just as good if you ask me.

@ClassicPls
Talent links are working in a place where they should be working, as said in the guide:
IN THE FIRST COMMENT OF THE GUIDE PAGE!
June 2, 2019
LordMoon

@Gnimo I just hit 80 and got like 5 pieces from NM Fos/Pos I've been switching specs around and not sure where I should land. So far my favorite has been frost double aura avoidance spec with all the death runes and Switch Target+IT spam but I still find my DPS prying away some of the trash mobs. Which spec would you recommend I use to grind out NM/HC dungeons for the next few days? Also might be a dumb question but this is my first tank as well as my first dk but I should always be in frost prescence no matter what, right?

Thanks again, great guide.
June 6, 2019
Narixxus

hello, a frost dk tank is possible right?
Rotation is same if your frost/blood/unholy:
IT IT IT > PLAGUE > DEATH STRIKE.
people harass me of being frost, but I am sure that frost is awesome/excellent if you know how to play it (blood for starter), and better than blood
June 6, 2019
angrylol

Quote:

Originally Posted by LordMoon

but I still find my DPS prying away some of the trash mobs. Also might be a dumb question but this is my first tank as well as my first dk but I should always be in frost prescence no matter what, right?

TAB TAB TAB, find the mobs and IT/rune strike them, taunt back lost ones - dps guy has already switched target.. if not you are not obliged to save every suicidal guy out there(let him learn by dying)

And yes, frost presence or you will not be able to generate trheat. Obviously you can move faster with unholy and switch to Blood in situations like having 9 stacks on fester.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Narixxus

hello, a frost dk tank is possible right?
Rotation is same if your frost/blood/unholy:
IT IT IT > PLAGUE > DEATH STRIKE.
people harass me of being frost, but I am sure that frost is awesome/excellent if you know how to play it (blood for starter), and better than blood

Yes, possible. You can tank all the stuff, however you will be a strain on your healers to some extent as you don't have good stuff that scales up as stronger you gear - like blood. Your stuff will just get weaker and more irrelevant(Unbrakeable armor), longer duration on icebound is really meh too. And acclimation, sure can be really epic to reach some insane resistance caps, but that is only specific bosses and you can reach easily 20% min guaranteed resists with blood which is more than enough as passive reduction.

For frost death strike is not rune converter, its 5% less healing and best used only after dmg spike if even needed. And you want those Rimes from Obliterate, so you don't spam it, just when you need it. Long time ago there was a kiting spec with Chillblains+howling blast glyph on halion and vdw, but its been years since its obsolete.

But don't despair, I have tanked some of halions and LKs with frost and healed some of frost tanks on those bosses, it can be done. Tough it's far from "excellent", usually after people try it they just switch back to blood because there was nothing amazing there.

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