Viability of dk tanks on lordaeron?

[MardestyGS]

I played a frost tank on wotlk retail, to this day it's the most fun I've ever had in wow and I rolled this server specifically to play a frost tank.

However... I'm seeing some very discouraging things basically indicating that dk tanks aren't viable on this server because of the buffs to raid boss damage and broken dk mechanics.

If I rolled a dk when I hit 55, would I be doomed to dps and Nothing more? Or are the concerns about dk tanking overblown? I know that if a dk tank isn't exactly equal to a warr or pala then people will blow it out of proportion and call them unviable, but is this the case? Or are they really just unfit under server conditions?

Also, if I roll a dk and I'm unable to tank, I'm likely rolling blood dps, what mechanic bugs would I face in blood spec?

Thanks!

[mosat3]

Well, Frost Tank for this buffed content isn' t viable, however blood tank is fine. Bosses hit pretty hard and Will of Necropolis will help you survive (bosses often hit for more than 3/4 hp). As blood I go for def cap and than full stam. That's about tanking.

As a DPS you don't want to go blood, because his dmg comes from physical damage for what you need to cap ARP. There is no chance to cap ARP at this content.

So if you want to go tank, go blood. If you prefer going dps, take frost or unholy.

[Yodarion]

Is there any HL guild who are using DK tank (as main tank, not OT) ?

[mosat3]

I'm not sure, but I've been main tanking most bosses in this Uld including general and didn't have any problem with survivability.

[Yodarion]

It's good to know, i was afraid that my dk will be useless once 80. What build do you advise ?

[mosat3]

I've found this fine for either tanking 5mans or tanking raid bosses

http://wotlk.openwow.com/talent#j0EMqI0IsbodssZhxZ0gh

Unspent talents you can move to whichever talents you find best for dmg increase

[dike]

I've found this fine for either tanking 5mans or tanking raid bosses

http://wotlk.openwow.com/talent#j0EMqI0IsbodssZhxZ0gh

Unspent talents you can move to whichever talents you find best for dmg increase

just remove tp from sudden doom(****ing useless talent on tank) and place it in scent of blood

and i repeat again Virulence is THE MUST HAVE talent for any tank spec

[Handepsilon]

I'm not sure about raiding, but I've seen a couple of DK tanks in Heroics in Lordaeron. Most of them, including myself, have problems holding the aggro. There was also some reports about Death and Decay incapable of generating the high amount of threat as the tooltip suggests. I even suffered constant aggro loss in non-heroic when the mobs are under diseases + Death and Decay (although Icy Touch temporarily solve the problem for a single mob or two, provided the runes are recharged)

Blood DKs seem to hold the aggro easier, however, and survive.

[dike]

im just curious, why u all keep struggling with bdk instead of respeccing to avoidance uh? ****ing lol

[mosat3]

I guess you are not playing on Lord... Who cares of avoidance, you just need tons of health and with that unholy won't help you.

[kolas]

Hello! i am a dk tank on lordaeron in <hiraeth>. i used to MT early naxx with **** gear as deep blood until we recruited a really good prot pala that we have as MT now. Im still OT and MT sometimes though!

In early naxx we started at anub and he hit me for around 22-26k when i had 36-39k raidbuffed with flask, so yea 1 hit almost emptied my bar. Usage of runetap + and kill ghoul when i was below 25k hp was really needed so i could take one more hit before healers filled me up.

Ive used different talent builds over my time on lordaeron and ive tried frost / unholy / dual aura / and ofcourse full blood.

This is what i use today, its a dual aura build mainly focus on blood talents and highest avoidance.
http://wotlk.openwow.com/talent#j0E0...boZGgcx0MhzZMx
Ive run alot of 10mans with this and it helps with raidsetup with the melee haste and ap buff so you can skip hunter/enhance sham and when you have 1 shaman in raid he can put down spellcaster totems instead.

And this is my unholy build that i maxed avoidance for when i maintanked sartharion 3d ( let prot pala take small drakes and warrtank take whelps/elementals)
http://wotlk.openwow.com/talent#j0xZ...fgGh00bxc0t0uc
It's alot of fillers but you can argue over not having wandering plague but im just a meat tank absorbing every breath, and with glyph of boneshield.

About threat... Yes DK threat is rumoured to be crap i know and it is, especially on aoe or more then 2 targets since every ability does like 2/10 of a icy touch threat. However Frost is pretty good if you save howling for packs.
A single death and decay plus bloodboil on a pack is not much threat, a warrior can just whirlwind and he crits the mobs and they are on him.

You can whisper me here or ingame alliance dkolas if you got some more questions!
And yes ofcourse we dont have that unbalanced protpala talent AD but we have ALOT of more cooldowns to use to make it easier for the healers.

[MardestyGS]

Hello! i am a dk tank on lordaeron in <hiraeth>. i used to MT early naxx with **** gear as deep blood until we recruited a really good prot pala that we have as MT now. Im still OT and MT sometimes though!

In early naxx we started at anub and he hit me for around 22-26k when i had 36-39k raidbuffed with flask, so yea 1 hit almost emptied my bar. Usage of runetap + and kill ghoul when i was below 25k hp was really needed so i could take one more hit before healers filled me up.

Ive used different talent builds over my time on lordaeron and ive tried frost / unholy / dual aura / and ofcourse full blood.

This is what i use today, its a dual aura build mainly focus on blood talents and highest avoidance.
http://wotlk.openwow.com/talent#j0E0...boZGgcx0MhzZMx
Ive run alot of 10mans with this and it helps with raidsetup with the melee haste and ap buff so you can skip hunter/enhance sham and when you have 1 shaman in raid he can put down spellcaster totems instead.

And this is my unholy build that i maxed avoidance for when i maintanked sartharion 3d ( let prot pala take small drakes and warrtank take whelps/elementals)
http://wotlk.openwow.com/talent#j0xZ...fgGh00bxc0t0uc
It's alot of fillers but you can argue over not having wandering plague but im just a meat tank absorbing every breath, and with glyph of boneshield.

About threat... Yes DK threat is rumoured to be crap i know and it is, especially on aoe or more then 2 targets since every ability does like 2/10 of a icy touch threat. However Frost is pretty good if you save howling for packs.
A single death and decay plus bloodboil on a pack is not much threat, a warrior can just whirlwind and he crits the mobs and they are on him.

You can whisper me here or ingame alliance dkolas if you got some more questions!
And yes ofcourse we dont have that unbalanced protpala talent AD but we have ALOT of more cooldowns to use to make it easier for the healers.

wow thanks! this was a lot of help. so is this to say that it is legit that only blood tanks are viable due to the tuning of boss fights? i just find it strange that frost tanks with their extra armor and UA cant survive and that WotN is the only tank ability that keeps dk's alive. is there any possibility that fights are re-tuned and specific dk mechanics and talents are fixed to make all 3 specs viable? or are the raids staying highly tuned to the point that DKs may never be viable here?