[Armstrong]

*** Note: as of July 2009 I very rarely play WoW and currently have no plans to run new tests as subsequent patches are released. ***


Death Knight threat values

Last updated 2/01/09 (patch 3.0.8.9506)



Important: See Satrina's 3.0 Threat Values post for threat basics and method used to find values in-game. Many thanks Satrina for writing your Threat addon and making it available for testing.



Modifiers

Frost Presence _______________________  × 2.0735
Blood / Unholy Presence ______________  × 0.80
Blood / Unholy with 3/3 Subversion ___  × 0.55

Abilities (presence modifiers apply unless otherwise noted)

Anti-Magic Shell ___________________  0
Anti-Magic Shell RP gain ___________  5 per RP (approx), unaffected by presence.  See * below.
Anti-Magic Zone ____________________  0
Abomination's Might ________________  0
Blood Aura _________________________  0
Blade Barrier ______________________  20, split between all mobs
Blood Boil _________________________  damage
Blood Caked Blade __________________  damage
Blood Plague _______________________  damage
Blood Presence reactive healing ____  0
Blood Strike _______________________  damage
Blood Tap __________________________  0
Bloody Vengeance ___________________  0
Bloodworms _________________________  0 The DK gains no threat from BW's damage or healing.  See ** below.
Bone Shield ________________________  0
Butchery RP gains on kills _________  5 per RP, unaffected by presence
Chains of Ice ______________________  226
Chilblains (all ranks) _____________  2
Chill of the Grave RP gains ________  5 per RP, unaffected by presence
Corpse Explosion ___________________  damage
Crypt Fever ________________________  0
Dancing Rune Weapon ________________  0
Death and Decay ____________________  damage × 1.90
Deathchill _________________________  55, split between all mobs
Death Coil _________________________  damage
Death Coil healing _________________  healing × 0.5 × presence, split between all mobs
Death Grip _________________________  110
Death Pact _________________________  0
Death Strike _______________________  damage
Death Strike healing _______________  healing × 0.5 × presence, split between all mobs
Desecration ________________________  0
Dirge RP gains _____________________  5 per RP, unaffected by presence
Ebon Plaguebringer _________________  0
Empower Rune Weapon ________________  0
Frost Fever ________________________  damage
Frost Strike _______________________  damage
Heart Strike _______________________  damage
Horn of Winter _____________________  75 ÷ number of units buffed, split between mobs
Howling Blast ______________________  damage
Hungering Cold _____________________  112, split between all mobs affected
Hysteria ___________________________  55 (the DK gains the threat, not the target)
Icebound Fortitude _________________  0
Icy Talons _________________________  0
Improved Icy Talons ________________  0
Icy Touch __________________________  damage
Killing Maching ____________________  0
Lichborne __________________________  110, split between all mobs
Mark of Blood ______________________  0
Mind Freeze ________________________  0
Obliterate _________________________  damage
Pestilence _________________________  damage + (100 split between all mobs hit)
Plague Strike ______________________  damage
Raise Dead _________________________  57, split between mobs
Rime _______________________________  0
Rune Strike ________________________  damage × 1.5
Rune Tap ___________________________  healing × 0.5 + 55, split between all mobs
Scent of Blood _____________________  0
Scent of Blood RP gains ____________  0
Scourge Strike _____________________  damage + 120
Strangulate ________________________  158 on application, damage at the end
Unholy Blight ______________________  damage
Unholy Strength ____________________  healing × 0.5 × presence, split between all mobs
Unbreakable Armor __________________  0
Vampiric Blood _____________________  0
Vendetta healing ___________________  0
Wandering Plague ___________________  damage

Abilities in italics are listed with threat values from patch 3.0.3 (WotLK release).

*
I'm still not clear exactly how Anti-Magic Shell threat is calculated. It definitely seems to be based on the standard RP gain rule, but always ends up being a tiny bit above that by different amounts. If you can figure it out please let me know.

**
Bloodworms generate threat for themselves from the damage they deal. Their damage is really low, but they will aggro and get killed if you let them attack a target that you haven't built threat on. Their healing on the other hand generates no threat for themselves, so they will not aggro an add that they are not attacking.



Power gains

Runic Power gained from Butchery, Chill of the Grave and Dirge generates 5 threat per point of RP gained. This threat is divided between all mobs who have you on their threat list.

RP gained from normal use of rune abilities generates no threat, neither does passive RP gains from Butchery.



Healing

Threat from DK heal effects is all over the place right now. Self healing from Blood Presence generates no threat, so don't count on Blood tanks getting an edge on threat. Some on-demand heals generate threat (Death Pact), others don't (Rune Tap). Fallen Crusader not being affected by presences is probably a bug.



A few notable finds

• Rune Strike is possibly the only ability of any tank class that generates less threat than it does damage. I've reported this as a bug on the beta forums. - Edit: as of build 9095 Rune Strike damage and threat have been fixed. The "white" swing is now replaced by the Rune Strike (same mechanic as Heroic Strike) and threat now equals damage dealt modified by presence.
  Edit 2: As of 3.0.8, Rune Strike generates threat equal to damage × 1.5, as advertised in the patch notes.
• Scourge Strike and Pestilence (edit: still as of 3.0.8) have flat innate threat modifiers. I'm not sure if this is intended.

Changes in 3.0.8.9506

• Death Coil Healing now generates normal healing threat (it generated no threat as of WotLK launch)
• Death Pact healing no longer generates threat
  (Perhaps I just mixed up the two abilities the first time around)
• Desecration no longer generates threat (it used to generate 25 split between mobs in the Desecration area at the time it was cast, not affected by presence)
• Rune Strike threat is now damage × 1.5
• Rune Tap now generates normal healing threat and 55 added threat, split between mobs, all affected by presence (the ability generated no threat at all as of 3.0.3.9155)
• Unholy Strength healing is now affected by presence

To-do list

• Clarify Anti-Magic Shell mechanics
• Glyph of Chains of Ice
• More Runeforging enchants

[Ciderhelm]

Armstrong, I'm going to news this in ~2 days. I'm going to be putting up a 3.0 outline in a little bit here and I don't want to bump this right down as a result.

[Armstrong]

Heh I didn't really expect this to be newsworthy anyway. Just save it for a slow day.

[Urrick]

Good information Armstrong. Also looks like Rune Strike is a bug so it should get a nice bump when fixed.

[Armstrong]

As of build 9095 Rune Strike damage and threat have been fixed.

Scourge Strike and Pestilence still generate extra threat.

[Armstrong]

With the beta now over, this list is as complete as it will get before Wrath goes live. Should I re-post in the "public" Library forums or should an admin move the thread? The DK Attack Power coefficients post is also "final" as far as I'm concerned.

[Zoft]

Possible reason AMS does a bit more threat then expected is that tiny bit of threat you get for applyng a buff? IDK, havn't played one. But it may be worth checking.

[Satorri]

Would someone like to revisit this? A lot of this seems a bit shakey to me currently, and I'd love to see this info updated for current values.

[Armstrong]

I've re-tested the whole list, short of a few exceptions (in italics), and added a few oddball items that I had left out last time. I've found no significant changes compared with the values I obtained towards the end of Beta, except for Rune Strike (as expected). The handful of minor differences are noted under "Changes in 3.0.8.9506" at the bottom of the original post. Let me know if you find any mistakes or have any questions.

Source: Zoft Possible reason AMS does a bit more threat then expected is that tiny bit of threat you get for applyng a buff? IDK, havn't played one. But it may be worth checking.

The buff itself generates no threat. This can be tested by having your ghoul (set on passive) body-pull a mob (which puts you in combat with the mob) and popping AMS. The mob will stay on the ghoul and the server will report its threat towards you as being zero.

Another strange thing is that even though AMS doesn't absorb physical damage, it does generates Runic Power (and associated threat) based on physical damage you take while it's active, which looks like a bug to me. It's been that way since Beta and I suspect the strange threat values are not quite the intended effect either.

Source: Satorri Would someone like to revisit this? A lot of this seems a bit shakey to me currently, and I'd love to see this info updated for current values.

What exactly did you find "shakey"? Let me know if there's anything that I can clarify or maybe re-test under specific conditions.

[Satorri]

Thank you much for updating this stuff. I'll likely do some number crunching on threat values and share them with other folks. Hopefully this will help confirm this data and provide some basis for other folks on how they measure out their priorities and design their specs.

[eain]

A couple questions...

This is my first tank character, and so I'm still a little uncertain about some of the terms, so I just want to make sure this is accurate:

Given that "Frost Presence.... x207.35" and "Icy Touch.... Damage", does that mean that if I'm in Frost Precence, and I hit with Icy Touch for 1000 damage, I'm actually generating two hundred and seven thousand threat with that one hit?

[marcloker]

Source: Armstrong Death Strike healing _______________ healing × 0.5 × presence, split between all mobs

what does it mean?
split between which mobs?
what if there is only one mob? for example 1 boss? will he get the whole heal aggro then?

Source: eain A couple questions... This is my first tank character, and so I'm still a little uncertain about some of the terms, so I just want to make sure this is accurate: Given that "Frost Presence.... x207.35" and "Icy Touch.... Damage", does that mean that if I'm in Frost Precence, and I hit with Icy Touch for 1000 damage, I'm actually generating two hundred and seven thousand threat with that one hit?

as i understand, yes

[eain]

Actually, looking at it again, it has to be 207.35 PERCENT. Not just x207.35.

[Darksend]

nope, it is *207.35, is that so surprising?

you are generating 4-5K TPS or more on most bosses, that means each global needs to do 7500 threat at 1.5 second gcds (obviously this does not count things like rune strike, heroic strike, and maul) but it gives you the general idea

[marcloker]

Source: marcloker what does it mean? split between which mobs? what if there is only one mob? for example 1 boss? will he get the whole heal aggro then?

what about this?

[Darksend]

Split between all mobs you are in combat with

[marcloker]

ok, thx.... exapmle sartharion. if i tank sartharion and i use ds, the healaggro slit on the other drakes, the lavadds and sartharion. right?
and if there is no add and no lavadd, sartharion is getting the whole healaggro, also right?

[Armstrong]

Sorry for not noticing the questions sooner. Here's a few replies.

Source: eain Given that "Frost Presence.... x207.35" and "Icy Touch.... Damage", does that mean that if I'm in Frost Precence, and I hit with Icy Touch for 1000 damage, I'm actually generating two hundred and seven thousand threat with that one hit?

Yes, 207350 threat in what I like to call "Blizzard Threat", that is, the actual numerical value that the server communicates to your client. I included a link (in bold) near the top of the post sending you to Satrina's more extensive explanation of threat mechanics. Here it is again. Here's the section that explains the stance / presence modifiers. Pay attention to the last sentence (in bold, yay!):

Source: Satrina Modifiers Battle Stance ______________________ x 80 Berserker Stance ___________________ x 80 Tactical Mastery ___________________ x 121/142/163 Defensive Stance ___________________ x 207.35 Note that in the original threat estimations (that we used in WoW 2.0), we equated 1 damage to 1 threat, and used 1.495 to represent the stance+defiance multiplier. We see that Blizzard's method is to use the multiplier without decimals, so in 2.x it would've been x149 (maybe x149.5); it is x207 (maybe 207.3) in 3.0. I expect that this is to allow the transport of integer values instead of decimal values across the Internet for efficiency. It appears that threat values are multiplied by 207.35 at the server, then rounded. If you still want to use the 1 damage = 1 threat method, the stance modifiers are 0.8 and 2.0735, etc.

Source: Darksend nope, it is *207.35, is that so surprising? you are generating 4-5K TPS or more on most bosses, that means each global needs to do 7500 threat at 1.5 second gcds (obviously this does not count things like rune strike, heroic strike, and maul) but it gives you the general idea

No. "4-5k TPS" figures pulled from Omen are based on the "1 damage = 1 threat" system. Omen basically divides "Blizzard Threat" by 100.

Source: marcloker ok, thx.... exapmle sartharion. if i tank sartharion and i use ds, the healaggro slit on the other drakes, the lavadds and sartharion. right? and if there is no add and no lavadd, sartharion is getting the whole healaggro, also right?

Correct.

[Armstrong]

I'm starting to think I'll just convert everything to the "1 damage = 1 threat" convention when I find some time. I've been looking at some of the linkbacks and it seems that the extra two digits are are just majorly confusing for most people.

[Janana]

Tested the new Scent of blood RP gain from it still = to 0 threat.

made a post on the WoW tanking forums.
World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> Scent of Blood Threat per RP gain = /drumroll