Death Knight AOE Spec, MT Spec and Rotations

[Lich]

In regards to Unholy Blight however. I remember before it used to be a disease and was really really powerful for AE tanking...now, however, it doesn't seem that great for tanking. It really doesn't seem all that great. Has anyone tested the dps and tps on this?

[Merko]

I tested it...let me check my Screenshots... if i remember correctly post-nerf it still did a majority of my dps on 3 test dummies...well worth it still... just not as much benefit on single target raid boss tanking

found the SS...incoming

ImageShack - Hosting :: unholyaoedpstk8.jpg

[Lich]

Awesome thanks. I just remember pre-nerf UB essentially made a DK AE tank. Also are there any mods that you guys used during the beta that you would recommend for live?

[Merko]

you will probably want a good rune / disease management mod.. the one i am using in the SS is runewatch

[Lich]

Awesome, thanks a ton. I've learned a lot from you, and hopefully I can use this knowledge to help other up coming DK's tank. I do like the way your mod looks in that screenshot, but better than looking up.

[Satorri]

I used Runewatch as well, it's a very well crafted mod.

At last meter at 80, UB is independantly worth about 50 or so dps, so in Frost Presence it'll be worth about 75 TPS. It sounds a bit small, but add that to your list of aoe threat tools and factor in the various buffs from your Unholy build and you'll get some really great aoe threat from it. Just be careful around those sheep, last time I tanked as unholy it did not ignore cc, and you can break stuff just by getting close with UB.

mmmm, my DK is so close I can taste it. Hmm, that sounds wrong...

[evilfirey]

i was playing around with the idea of having a frost spec that could do well in dps and tank as weel kinda of an OT spec heres wat i did id love comments on it i never actually played for real a dk its all theories at this point on my part so plz you can be mean and point out any small details why you think its wrong XD. I took this from trying to combine the best of both world basing it on this post and on the Death Knight DPS Compendium - Elitist Jerks dps spread sheet for dk. that is wihout gimping the tanking as a main focus. Basicly this is an OT spec with decent dps potential but wihout ever trying to pass this as a top damage spec.

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

[Merko]

Very nice build... i can see you have definately put in the time to research even tho you have not played the class yet. As an OT i would remove your points from frost aura and acclimation since they are extremely situational for an OT. This will free up a couple points so you can max out bladed armor. This leaves you with 2 points to use for maxing your dps. I haven't put in the time on researching dps specs yet but based on obliterate being a staple in your rotation for frost you would probably benefit most tanking(threat) and dps by going 2/3 subversion with those points.

The build with last 2 points out

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

[Urrick]

I'd go with this
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
for frost dps.

Khaene on beta (had one of the highest dps numbers on Patchwork) did it with this spec...
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...00000000000000

[Satorri]

Merko's got it right, though I'd also sooner put 2 points in Chill of the Grave over Epidemic, the RP generation translates into a lot of Frost Strike love, and at that the reduced duration of Frost Fever means you IT more which means more RP for more Frost Strikes. Also depending on your gear (i.e. if you're in tank gear) Killing Machine could be much less valuable. If you're in tanking gear with a 4% crit chance, that will translate into very little additional threat/dps. Though if you're OT'ing in dps gear it'd be quite nice.

[evilfirey]

thhx for the answers i was putting in acclimation in cause i though since DK seems to be a strong magic damage abosorption tank would probly tank mostly magic heavy encounters as its OT role. I wasnt trying to build a pure dps spec. this is the pure dps frost spec i think i would use:
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft one thing is if the dual specs work out as intended and you can respec during raids i think a hybryd tank/dps spec would be useless since you could just switch from pure dps to tank when needed. Iam looking at frost atm because iam curently enhance shaman and theres no one to replace myself in raids atm since iam rolling dk and imp icy talons seems like a must wihout an enhance in the raid.

witht he last 2 point i thhink i would go with glacier rot Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

[Satorri]

Imp Icy Talons and Horn of Winter give you two major buffs to replace an Enchance Shaman, not the whole package, but you're right about that.

That's your dps spec though? With Anticipation, Frigid Dreadplate, Blade Barrier, and Lichborne?

I love Frost for DPSing, and I'll share my usual spec of choice, though I want to make it clear I don't think this is the only way, far from it, just my preference. This is my 2-hander spec:
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
I should say, some of those points I move around, when I'm running 5-mans I like having Hungering Cold for emergency utility, and sometimes for a cheap spread of Frost Fever. I sometimes also take Icy Reach to expand the footprint on my Howling Blasts, but that's less common. I can't imagine leaving off Dark Conviction, since it's great value to Frost, good synergy with Killing Machine as well. With this build I find I can Frost Strike constantly as well to great effect.

[Rime]

Has a hybrid bone shield spec been discounted for single-target tanks? I was under the impression a blade barrier/frigid dreadplate/bone shield spec was seen as the most effective single-target mitigation spec, despite sacrificing some threat. In a 25-man raid setting you'll already have a strong lead over the dps, and you'll be chained with enough tricks of the trade and misdirections that threat should really not be an issue. The spec is less useful the smaller the scale of the zone, of course.

Assuming a moderate amount of avoidance in a 25-man setting, bone shield has 1/3 or greater uptime - that's a lot of mitigation. It can also be tailored to specific fight mechanics such as enrages, acting as a functionally similar but drastically more effective barkskin.

Figured it might bear mentioning. Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft is a sample spec, though the only talents which are assumed are speccing into barrier/frigid/bshield. Feel free to change the rest of my noob spec, it's unrelated to the theory of the spec

[evilfirey]

if you look closer at my post youll notice i put up my pure dps sprc wich is the same as youres the other one was a theory about an OT spec but with dual specs they are putting in its not gonna be worth it to make a special all situation spec you can just switch back and forth depending on need. the onyl enhance buff left out is 10% ap unleashed rage i already run with a marks hunters so it gets overridden by hunter aura. if i had another enahce in my group i would probly go deep unholy spec or maybe blood.

[Merko]

-Rime

(Unbreakable Armor + Guille of Gorefiend + 5 Expertise + More Threat) vs. (Bone Armor)... your call but I'd go with a normal frost build personally


***edit - sorry for not explaining better but see below what satorri said ... a little tired today

[Satorri]

Bone Shield is a fine move, though I don't think it's a total game winner. If you had the glyph giving you 5 bones and the CD on consumption were (a generous) 3 sec, that'd be 15 sec of 40% damage reduction per minute, or 25% up-time. That would be the most generous guess. Chances are you'll see 5 bones drop in 12 sec, unglyphed in less. That's just my guess though I haven't charted the CD.

I miss the expertise that comes with the 10th tier talents, that's good survival value. For all intents and purposes it's hard to really say Bone Armor is better than Unbreakable Armor (and if you want the pure survival value, glyph that for +10% parry for 20 sec per minute on top of the 25% armor buff), or Vampiric Blood for that matter.

Like Merko pointed out, Guile of Gorefiend also gives you 18 sec of IBF per minute, which, added to Unbreakable Armor is ~65% coverage if you rotate.

I wouldn't say your build is no good, but I wouldn't say it's the best either.

[evilfirey]

iam not sure i understand frost presence and its mechanics it says increase raid resistance by 1 now it cant be 1 poit of resist causse that would just be retarded can someone explain it to me? my first guess as been watver resist the dk as hes gonna give out to the rest of the raid if thats the case the potential for resist fights with this is huge but that sounds way too OP to be the case.

[Satorri]

It's actually 1 point per level, but the calculator doesn't know your level.

So, 1 pt in Frost Aura gives everyone 40 resist at 80, 2 points gives 80 resist. To compare Pally auras will give 130 to a single element at 80, where as the DK aura gives resistance to everything.

[evilfirey]

ahhhhhh why didnt i think of that duh. i only played a warlock for 2 years pre bc. does it stack with pally aura? if not its gonna be totally useless unless you have multiple resist fights.

[Nerlth]

Could Unholy possibly be a MT build? I will definitely use it in Heroic Dungeons. Well, I guess it won't really matter with Dual-Builds; however, it would just be nice to know.