[blancawolfcc]

I will hopefully be joining a new guild soon and they might require me to use my tanking set more but my current spec just is not working out. I'm currently frost and I was debating on switching to something like this:

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft


If anyone has any recommendation on specs (even from other trees) or ways to maximize threat I'm all ears (or eyes in this case).

[Tarigar]

I wouldn't go for gargoyle as a tank spec... I would do something like this...
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

[Insahnity]

Unholy is much harder to master than frost. I would look into something other than spec (gear, rotation, etc.) to figure out what is wrong. Failing that, consider blood.

Consider this if you are determined to be unholy as well

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

For tanking you need a LOT of runepower to fuel your Runestrike, IBF, AMS, and as unholy UB/CE. Thats why you need Dirge.

Bladed armor IMO isn't as good as 2h specialization for talent points spent, and is much cheaper.

[Tarigar]

Go with Inshanity as my Dk knowledge is minimal.

[blancawolfcc]

It probably is my rotation, I thought unholy might be easier because I've been been dpsing as unholy but If frost is easier then I'd appreciate specs of any sort. What specs do you guys like as far as balancing mitigation and threat?

[Molohk]

I do disagree on Bladed Armor being inferior to 2H spec, for tanks, 2 points in bladed armor are frequently better than 2H spec. If you don't have someone doing Thunder Clap for you, imp Icy Touch is a must. Corpse Explosion is fun, but it's useless in a lot of places where mobs are mechanical or elemental.

For unholy, I would suggest something like: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...0&version=9767 . Even without wandering plague, you'll have more AoE power than you need.

[Tarigar]

Most DK's in my guild are Frost Tanks. I have one Blood tank... But they prefer unholy more for mitigation, Nice aoe and single target threat, and just overall cool toys .

[Molohk]

The basic frost spec looks like this: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...0&version=9757 . You can move the 2 points in Epidemic to other talents like 2H spec or any utility you want.

Your rotations as frost spec depend on whether you chose to take the glyph or Howling Blast. Without the glyph, on single target you'd do something like IT-PS-(Deathchill)OB-BS-BS-(Blood Tap)BS-(RP dump with FS) -OB-OB-OB... The most important thing with frost spec is to keep FF up at all times and be watchful for Killing Machine and Rime procs, use Frost Strike for KM procs, and HB for Rime procs.

For any spec, you should macro Rune Strike into all your abilities, it will give you a huge chunk of threat. And use your RP dumps only when you have more than 50ish RP, to ensure you always have enough RP for RS.

I wouldn't really say any of the trees is considerably easier or harder. IMO you should chose your tree depending on which play-style you like the most, and maybe on which buff you want to bring to your raid.

Edit: This EJ thread has very good info on the differences between the 3 trees for tanking: Suno's Fireside Chat - DK Endgame Tanking (Updated) - Elitist Jerks

[keeprock]

I just read an Ensidia Tank's thoughts on Frost and I think I'm going to pick up Scent of Blood as they recommend in this frost spec:

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

Their guide is here:

Death Knight - Part 2 - Tanking - Ensidia

Don't forget to create a Rune Strike macro for every spell you cast and I'm sure you'll be fine.

[blancawolfcc]

Thank you guys ur all awesome.

[Jaeden]

Branching into frost is recommended only if you have T8 quaility gear. Otherwise you should sub spec blood.

Check my spec for your basic cookie cutter unholy spec. You don't want pet, gargoyle or Blood Caked Blade. You can use those points better else where.

Post your armory and I can see if you might have gear/gems out of place.

[Esch]

Source: Molohk For any spec, you should macro Rune Strike into all your abilities, it will give you a huge chunk of threat. And use your RP dumps only when you have more than 50ish RP, to ensure you always have enough RP for RS.

Quoted for emphasis. How well you utilize Rune Strike (macro'ing, having RP to spend on it, etc.) is vital in any tanking set up.

I am curious though if anyone has compared Black Ice against Bladed Armor for purposes of tanking. There is a point where BI is superior to Bladed Armor, but at what attack power (and talents like Impurity) that shift occurs.

[blancawolfcc]

My armory has me in my dps gear. my tanking gear is shoddy at best. It's a compilation of 10 and 25 naxx gear that I happened to win off spec rolls on. Case in point is the tanking belt off 10 raz with shield block lol.