DW Hybrid Tank - Ready for 25 man MT?

[darthmorta]

DEATH KNIGHT DW HYBRID

The World of Warcraft Armory (http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Executus&n=Darthmorta)

Hi,
I've been reading this forum for a few weeks now getting tips for tanking and this site has be extremely useful. I think I'm at a point now where I'm confident in my gear and abilities as a tank, but I'm unsure if it's good enough to MT 25 man content.

I've been OT quite a few times for 25's and MT'd for 10 man Naxx without any problems. I know that DW tanking is sometimes frowned upon, but I like the playstyle better than 2H tanking. And it's seems viable with the content I've been tanking up to now. I actually started as an Unholy 2H tank, but just didn't enjoy the style. (I have Death's Bite - Item - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39417) as my 2H)

With my current gear, I've tried to balance a mix of dodge/parry/defense/hit. I would like more expertise, but at this point I'm just using food buffs.

First, with my current gear, is there anything I should do different regarding gemming or enchanting? I'm still working on my Hodir rep so I don't have my shoulder enchant yet.

Secondly, what items should I be aiming to get first and what stat should I be looking for at this point?

I'm still unsure how important expertise is with my current build. And as an avoidance tank I've been leaning towards getting as much dodge as possible. My thinking is that a dodge % of 28-30 unbuffed and 27-28K HP is a good amount to aim for, but I could be wrong.

As for "easy" upgrades. I will be farming heroic OK for Bracers of the Herald - Item - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=37620), which has refused to drop for the last few weeks. I'm still debating between enchanting for stamina or expertise on my bracers.

For my ring, should I get Signet of the Accord - Item - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40426) or Signet of the Impregnable Fortress - Item - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40718?) I'm not sure which would be a better combination between 2 I current have and those two.

For boots, I intend to get Kyzoc's Ground Stompers - Item - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40743) in the next 2 weeks.

I'm also leveling my JC to craft a Figurine - Monarch Crab - Item - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44063) and gem it with +41 stam and +24 stam gems.

Thanks in advance.

[elrusoloco]

While you're only soliciting feedback on gear, I wanted to comment on your spec. It seems like it'd produce a ton of threat, but I think it lacks mitigation, since you haven't picked up any "oh, crap" talents (my DW spec includes Rune Tap and Improved Rune Tap from Blood - a 5k heal every 30 seconds has saved my life time and time again, including letting me tank and kill the last boss in H AN for the last 25k of his life while the rest of the group was dead) like Rune Tap, Bone Shield, or Unbreakable Armor.

On the other hand, if your healers aren't complaining, and you're not dying.......more power to you. I imagine you outthreat and outdamage other tanks handily.

[Inaara]

DW tanking is fine but it really only starts to shine when you have the gear to support it. Expertise is a very important stat for DW tanking and with the best gear it is more than possible to cap it while sacrificing some hit. Being a JC gives you an advantage with the option to gem 27 expertise. The 2 rings you mentioned are the ones that you should be using and will boost your expertise even more. Your minimal expertise goal is 26 which will remove boss dodge off the table and also reduce dodge parry by 6.5%

Quite honestly I think that you should be using your Death's Bite but if you don't like the feel of it then you're obviously not going to tank with it. After all this game is all about having fun right?

The main issue I see with your gear is the lack of defense. I would suggest trying your best for Repelling Charge - Item - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39292) out of Naxx 10 as that would allow you to replace alot of gems.

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=j0EZGxez0ebMhoVosx0gh0z) would be my DW build. Virulence is a must since your main attack is HB. I don't think the cookie cutter approach is the best for DW and skipping out on alot of the later talents that increase your frost damage and overall melee damage like Guile of Gorefiend and Tundra Stalker while taking talents like Necrosis and Blood-Caked Blade is very counter-productive.

[darthmorta]

While you're only soliciting feedback on gear, I wanted to comment on your spec. It seems like it'd produce a ton of threat, but I think it lacks mitigation, since you haven't picked up any "oh, crap" talents (my DW spec includes Rune Tap and Improved Rune Tap from Blood - a 5k heal every 30 seconds has saved my life time and time again, including letting me tank and kill the last boss in H AN for the last 25k of his life while the rest of the group was dead) like Rune Tap, Bone Shield, or Unbreakable Armor.

On the other hand, if your healers aren't complaining, and you're not dying.......more power to you. I imagine you outthreat and outdamage other tanks handily.

Thanks for the feedback. I only posted about my gear, but I'm more than open for comments regarding my spec or anything else that might help. To be honest, I picked this spec from Elitist Jerks from a poster that showed very high threat for Naxx. I was worried about not being able to generate enough.

I've used this spec for a week now and no healers have complained, I haven't died because of too much unmitigated damage, and I really haven't taken as much spikey damage as I though I would. I do have Unbreakable armor and my trinket for times when I feel I'm taking too much damage. That was work out for now.

I will definitely see if I can tweak my spec some more taking damage becomes a problem.




DW tanking is fine but it really only starts to shine when you have the gear to support it. Expertise is a very important stat for DW tanking and with the best gear it is more than possible to cap it while sacrificing some hit. Being a JC gives you an advantage with the option to gem 27 expertise. The 2 rings you mentioned are the ones that you should be using and will boost your expertise even more. Your minimal expertise goal is 26 which will remove boss dodge off the table and also reduce dodge parry by 6.5%

Quite honestly I think that you should be using your Death's Bite but if you don't like the feel of it then you're obviously not going to tank with it. After all this game is all about having fun right?

The main issue I see with your gear is the lack of defense. I would suggest trying your best for Repelling Charge - Item - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39292) out of Naxx 10 as that would allow you to replace alot of gems.

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=j0EZGxez0ebMhoVosx0gh0z) would be my DW build. Virulence is a must since your main attack is HB. I don't think the cookie cutter approach is the best for DW and skipping out on alot of the later talents that increase your frost damage and overall melee damage like Guile of Gorefiend and Tundra Stalker while taking talents like Necrosis and Blood-Caked Blade is very counter-productive.

Thanks for the feedback. I will aim to get the other 2 rings. I don't have them yet, so I can swap what I have.

As for expertise, I understand I need to cap my expertise to get the most out of DW tanking. Does that mean I should regem for expertise though? I'll grab exerptise gear as it drops, but with what I have now, I'm not sure if regemming would be worth it or not.

My defense hits the 540 cap (the sigil is a 100% proc). I will get more as I can. I'll get more with the shoulder enchant.

I found an Unholy DW tanking spec that I may try later this week. What do you think of this one?

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deathknight=0055000000000000000000000002050030000 000000000000000000235000035103104240050003103051&glyph=091214010502


Thanks again for all the feeback so far.