Satorri
05-14-2009, 06:29 AM
I wanted to start a compilation and discussion of some of the smart team-ups, strong synergies, and other clever tricks that healer/tank teams have come up with. If you are a tank and do not communicate with your healers, or vice versa, you are operating well below what you are likely capable of.
Each tank class (and spec for DKs) have their own specific nuances that suit them well, and each healing class/spec has their characteristic skills and abilities.
I put it to the tanks out there who are working with their healers, what tricks, synergies, and tools have you made best use of?
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I'll kick it off. I have been Blood spec'd DK for tanking since 3.1. Blood spec is characterized by using a very high health pool with self-heals and protection talents/abilities that are based off a % of total health. The tree's principle CD is based on improving total health while buffing all incoming heals. Even focusing heavily on health DKs always collect a healthy amount of avoidance, slightly above that of Warriors or Pallies. CD's are not as significant as they used to be, but they are still important and can make a world of difference on damage taken. DK's as a class characteristic are the one class that do not have to ever take damage to buff threat. Taking swings is important for RS threat (just as Revenge for warriors), but they gain nothing at all in taking damage.
Synergies:
Disc Priests = The one heal class that focuses significantly on damage reduction/avoidance over straight healing. This is a smart combo since as stated above, not taking large portions of damage doesn't hurt the DK at all.
Holy Priest = this is one I've been blown away by greatly, lately. One of my main healers is a holy priest and she just picked up Glyph of Guardian Spirit. For those not familiar, Guardian Spirit increases all incoming heals on the target by 40% for 10 sec. If the target reaches 0 health while under this effect, the buff is consumed and the target is bumped up to 50% health. Normally it has a 3 min CD. With the glyph, if the effect lasts its duration without proc'ing the life saving, the CD is reset to 1 min. Because a significant proportion of my survival is based on self-healing rather than just mitigation, this is a MAJOR buff. This means that 10 sec per minute all my self heals (along with all my incoming heals from healers) are increased by 40%. This has been terribly valuable in the last week we've been using it.
Ability Stacking:
One of the most powerful tricks that have been used are largely based around my and my Holy Priest's abilities to buff incoming heals. Vamp Blood gives me +35% for 30 sec every 2 min, and glyphed Guardian Spirit is another +40% for 10 sec out of every minute (it rarely procs the life save). These effects stack. Let me say that again. These effects stack! I have Rune Tapped myself for over 18k when the two overlapped. This can be used very smartly with on-next-hit heal mechanics. Earth Shield, Prayer of Mending, and Living Seed are very hefty values with this build, as I actually take more damage than a mitigation-based tank would. When these effects trigger they have a higher effectiveness.
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What's your class/spec? What healers do you run with? And what tricks have you discovered that work well for your team?
Each tank class (and spec for DKs) have their own specific nuances that suit them well, and each healing class/spec has their characteristic skills and abilities.
I put it to the tanks out there who are working with their healers, what tricks, synergies, and tools have you made best use of?
================================================== =
I'll kick it off. I have been Blood spec'd DK for tanking since 3.1. Blood spec is characterized by using a very high health pool with self-heals and protection talents/abilities that are based off a % of total health. The tree's principle CD is based on improving total health while buffing all incoming heals. Even focusing heavily on health DKs always collect a healthy amount of avoidance, slightly above that of Warriors or Pallies. CD's are not as significant as they used to be, but they are still important and can make a world of difference on damage taken. DK's as a class characteristic are the one class that do not have to ever take damage to buff threat. Taking swings is important for RS threat (just as Revenge for warriors), but they gain nothing at all in taking damage.
Synergies:
Disc Priests = The one heal class that focuses significantly on damage reduction/avoidance over straight healing. This is a smart combo since as stated above, not taking large portions of damage doesn't hurt the DK at all.
Holy Priest = this is one I've been blown away by greatly, lately. One of my main healers is a holy priest and she just picked up Glyph of Guardian Spirit. For those not familiar, Guardian Spirit increases all incoming heals on the target by 40% for 10 sec. If the target reaches 0 health while under this effect, the buff is consumed and the target is bumped up to 50% health. Normally it has a 3 min CD. With the glyph, if the effect lasts its duration without proc'ing the life saving, the CD is reset to 1 min. Because a significant proportion of my survival is based on self-healing rather than just mitigation, this is a MAJOR buff. This means that 10 sec per minute all my self heals (along with all my incoming heals from healers) are increased by 40%. This has been terribly valuable in the last week we've been using it.
Ability Stacking:
One of the most powerful tricks that have been used are largely based around my and my Holy Priest's abilities to buff incoming heals. Vamp Blood gives me +35% for 30 sec every 2 min, and glyphed Guardian Spirit is another +40% for 10 sec out of every minute (it rarely procs the life save). These effects stack. Let me say that again. These effects stack! I have Rune Tapped myself for over 18k when the two overlapped. This can be used very smartly with on-next-hit heal mechanics. Earth Shield, Prayer of Mending, and Living Seed are very hefty values with this build, as I actually take more damage than a mitigation-based tank would. When these effects trigger they have a higher effectiveness.
==================================================
What's your class/spec? What healers do you run with? And what tricks have you discovered that work well for your team?