New DK Tank, be gentle please

[Savagemonkey]

Hi, I've recently dusted of my DK and stepped into the limelight that is the role of a Tank.

Here's my current armory http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/ghostlands/overiord/simple (http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/ghostlands/overiord/simple)

Firstly you'll notice I'm not fully Tank geared. I've not Tanked a HC yet as I've been gearing up towards this. I don't see it as fair on the other players (healer especially) to have to 'carry' me through a Dungeon. However, this leads me to my first question...Am I close to, or at the gear levels needed to be viable in a HC dungeon? I don't have issue's with trash/boss tactics (save for Ozruk maybe:confused:), which is half the battle I believe.

I don't seem to have had any problems at all with threat generation or being squishy on trash or bosses in normal 5 mans. I keep Diseases up, Blade Barrier, as well as Blood Shield, to help mitigate the incoming damage as much as possible, which seems to work fine. I'm considering re-speccing to pick up Lichborne, as I've read elsewhere (EJ) that the self heals from it are really mandatory of a DK to use (providing you don't need the Rune Strike threat that is).

Secondly, you'll notice I've gemmed Stam/Mastery heavy. Is this the right way of thinking with the whole Avoidance vs Mastery debate still waging?

All advice/criticism is welcomed with open ears.

Thanks for your time.

[Michultradk]

Go ahead and reforge some Expertise to Mastery. Your gems look good though I would change from Stam to Mastery for bigger BS heals, I think you will like that better. I like using pure Mastery, Mastery/Parry or Mastery/Dodge gems. This keeps you from completely neglecting one stat.
Keep the Shattering until you enter Heroic raids, but remember during big trash pulls where you break CC don't forget to pop CD's, this is crucial in surviving larger pulls. Learn to manage your CD's and use them.


Long story short, you're are plenty ready to tank Heroics, we were tanking them in much lower gear than this. Of course you can wait until you get better gear, but I tihnk it's important to struggle a little and not completely over gear something.

The LB spec is definitely a good spec, you don't really need it in 5 mans and the points can be better spent on other things but it's fun to use so try it out some you can always change back. Chances are you hardly ever use it, things move pretty fast in 5 mans, there really are no marathon fights but there's always the exception and learning to use it is important imho.

Check out Satorri's guide here on Tank Spot.

[Savagemonkey]

Thanks Michultradk,

You've given me a ray of confidence.

Silly question coming up...is there a minimum HP to aim at? I was looking last night and I'm at 144k. Now I know as my gear levels improve, this number will rise purely from the stats on the armor. If this is excessive (perhaps not the correct word to use) for HC's I'll definately re-gem those straight Stam gems for Stam/Mastery.

Either way, I'll persuade my GM to come and heal me through a HC, I'm sure he could heal me through a dungeon naked (I'd leave my sock's on for the sake of my dignaty of course!).

[Michultradk]

There is no *real* HP cap. With that being said there is a lot of talk about a possible soft cap for 5man HC and normal mode raids. What that means to me is Mastery and avoidance are neck and neck together for importance, with certain fights favoring one or the other.

As you stated your Stam will grow naturaly with gear upgrades and gems with Stam/XXXX so you will not completely neglect it along the way. I would recommend dropping your Stam Chimera's eyes for pure Mastery gems because it will help your healer conserve mana. Instead of having a huge health pool for your healer to fill up, think about having more avoidance/self heals to help your healer save mana for the bigger hits and even party healing when DPS don't move.

Run some heroic dungeons and see how you do, I can assure you the gear won't hold you back. During bigger trash pulls you will have to pop some CD's, especially if you have a lower geared healer. With your current set up on single boss fights your healer should get bored with CD and Blood Shield use, you really can avoid and mitigate lots of damage.

[Savagemonkey]

Quick update...

What the hell was I worrying about?

Having persuaded (read bribed) some guildies to come and run some HC's, the feedback from my healer was "Healing you is a piece of p*** tbh". Popping a CD when heavy damage was expected on trash worked a treat, sound advice.

I was quite suprised to the smoothness of the damage intake. My biggest worry was being really spikey, and panicking the healers, but no worries there. With my new found confidence I ran a 10man BH, and again, no problems at all (even got some loot ^_^).

Long story short, My Boomkin is now the one gathering dust.

On to my next challenge, a PuG HC.