Blood DK Tank: Not FAT Enough...?

Hello there wise sages of Tankspot, another quick question here:

I've been gearing up more and more, but I still can't seem to catch up to my guild's MT, and it is getting rather frustrating seeing that I can't get nearly as fat as he is. Of course, I understand that since my guild's MT is a bear, he is supposed to have a sickly large pool of hit points. But I'd like to ask whether or not I'm gearing/gemming incorrectly. I already know a few of my bigger flaws, and I'll list them out below:

My armory is here:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...&cn=Zinjanbabi

I don't have the correct gem in my helm, I'm thinking of instead placing a 10 exp/15 stam gem in there.
My glyph of indominability should be replaced with my black heart. I just don't have it equipped just yet.
I am way under hit cap. I'm still scouring for hit gear.
My cape is a PvP cape. It works for now but I will be getting the Frost Cape.

My current plans for new gear consist of getting primordial saronite to get the Boots of Kingly Upheaval. Do you guys have any suggestions? Thanks!

(Festergut still hits pretty damn hard. It's scary)

Except for the helm, your gemming is fine. The badge belt and cloak will be good upgrades. You need to replace the neck too. Other than that, normal gear progression will improve your stam.

Bear druids in 25 man raids with a good number of 264 pieces can reach 109k health with procs and all cool downs used, it's just that simple because bear tanks need more health due to their squishy factor and that they are designed for tanking based on avoidance, not mitigating the damage done by raid bosses which is what I think Blizzard tried to do with death knights and failed miserably too because they are in my opinion by far and away the worst of the 4 tanking classes in the game that I have had to raid with from a threat generation perspective.

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Originally Posted by Rennadrel

... because they are in my opinion by far and away the worst of the 4 tanking classes in the game that I have had to raid with from a threat generation perspective.

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My Blood DK alt would like to disagree. It's alt, nowhere near as well geared as my warrior main but she's doing her job very well, both on survival and in threat generation (ok aoe threat is downright bad, burst initial threat is shaky, but once it's there, it's there for good).

To the OP: I would also change the gem in the shoulders & grab the +9 stam socket bonus. +9 stam is a good bonus to grab imo. Dont worry about dropping a little bit below 26 exp, there's always expertise food to catch up.

I would also NOT change to Black Heart. The Glyph is an amazing trinket. If you really really want more stam, Satrinas from Totc25 is a good alternative, otherwise you're good to go.

When you look at your health, remember that as a blood dk, you have AMAZING selfhealing that can translate into some serious extra hp. Even with a lower hp level, you can easily survive a lot longer than a higher hp tank.

Festergut is a fight of chaining cooldowns correctly, not one of getting enough stam. Last night my warrior was sitting on 60.8K hp & 36K armor and i still got nuked pretty fast when i slipped in chaining my cooldowns.

The stam loss from Black Heart is worth it to swap over to Glyph? I had the notion that the on use function for Glyph was pretty bad in ICC due to the zonewide debuff.

Moreover, since I'm way under Hit Cap, I've read online that I shouldn't worry about it and make sure my expertise was high enough. Im worried about this because when I've been tanking recently, I've been doing well on threat, but my rotations get very, very annoying. Having to reapply IT and PS because they've missed or been parried is getting too frustrating.

The armor from Glyph is superior to the stamina from BH for EH. The on use function for Glyph is the same in ICC as in ToC. It's 10% more dodge. I prefer the on demand nature of on use cooldowns that procs. I consider using the glyph over unidentified organ on some fights because I can count on the on use effect more than the stamina stacking.

Your expertise and hit are fine. Keep them above 20 and 200 respectively and you shouldn't have major problems with threat. Increasing hit/expertise to keep from reapplying them is as quality of life decision. If it bugs you, get the axe from DBS-10. It has tons of expertise and the same EH as Bryntroll.

Your hit is plenty good. Expertise could stand to be a bit higher, but I wouldn't sweat it if you're not having threat problems.

Count me as another vote in favor the the Glyph of Indomitability over and above The Black Heart.

But to address your original post: If you think you're going to catch a bear in health at equal gear levels... I point my finger at you and laugh. :p Gear the best you can for your class & spec and go with your strengths. The bear is Mr. Hugehealthpool. You are Mr. Cooldown and have them on shorter timers (as is your interrupt).

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Originally Posted by Rennadrel

because they are in my opinion by far and away the worst of the 4 tanking classes in the game that I have had to raid with from a threat generation perspective.

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Opinions are like noses, everyone has one, and I beg to differ with yours.

Expect bears to have 20% more health than you on equal gear.

hello there, i'm not really good with dk's i used to played mine during naxx-ulduar period but as far your gear and enchants based on my tanking knowledge,
if the sockets give 9 or 12 stamina i usually went for getting the socket bonus,
you might need to change your gloves enchant arms men is not a really good choice, you can get 18 stamina on those gloves.
definetly use Glyph of Indomitability over Black Heart.
go for the badge cloak and the craft able boots, they will negate the hit and you'll gain good armor and avoidance from them.
second aim for the belt, it's really good upgrade for you.
and you can get easy upgrades for your necklace and bracers from icc10. (1st and 4th boss)

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(Festergut still hits pretty damn hard. It's scary)

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use glyph at festergut and drink armor pots it will reduce the damage taken alot.

good luck :)

Thanks for the awesome feedback guys.

I'm convinced on using Glyph of Indomitability over the Black Heart in future fights now. Makes more sense, and I'll have another cooldown to pop when those big hits from the big berthas in ICC.

I'm assuming I shouldn't gem any hit in the Sentinel's Winter Cloak (badge cape) to make up for the loss of hit by swapping out my atrocious PvP cape. But if I do swap it out, then the craftable boots will take me back to the ~200 hit rating. I still feel like it's too low, as having to recast spells in my rotation really gets my timing off with my cooldown timing.

Moreover, should I aim for trying to buy the 264 BoE tank ring Harbinger's Bone Band (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50447#comments) or would the extra hit on the Lootship10 ring be more effective?

Thanks Tankspot Users :-)

200 hit rating is fine. The Harbinger's Bone Band is better than the Abom Blood Ring. The hit rating difference is insignificant over the course of a fight.

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Originally Posted by Zinjanbabi

I am way under hit cap. I'm still scouring for hit gear.

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Don't bother. Just macro Rune Strike to everything and use Glyph of Dark Command on fights where taunting is required.

RS does 40% - 50% of our threat and it can't miss, so unless you're really having threat problems, you can get away with low hit rating. Mine's at like 100 right now and I have no problems.

I carry a stack of Glyph of Dark Command to switch b/t fights (though in ICC I tend to leave it in all the time since about half the bosses there require taunt switching b/t tanks.

Expertise on the other hand needs to be kept at 26 min, though that's not hard w/ all the exp on ICC gear.