DK tank build (loooking for improvement)

[shadowslyr]

So have been tanking as a DK for quite some time now and the biggest problem i have is that nothing is ever good enough (a personal issue i know lol). i spend countless hours trying to find a way to make my tank better, looking at gear, specs, tanking videos to work on my actual skill at it,etc. my question is this: my current spec, is it good? i am able to hold aggro against DPS pushing 5-6k but they are right on my ass (especially warlocks...)

The World of Warcraft Armory

also plz ignore my off spec lol i have a brother who... well... likes to mess with my s*** lol

[Marzim]

Hi there are a few things that I would change about your spec.

1. Remove all points from Subversion, this more of a DPS talent and you do not need that extra crit for tanking (maybe if you go blood but I have no idea about that :P Frost ftw)

2. Remove the point you put in Merciless Combat, this too is more of a DPS talent imo, some people may argue that it is nice to get a little more TPS on those last 35% when you maybe bloodlust and dps start to focus more, but i feel that points can be better spent.

3. Put 3/3 in Scent of Blood, it will proc on Parry and dodge (and taking dmg ofc) as does Runic Strike (is it called that, can never remember) and that is a great attack for tanks as I'm sure you know (a big + if you have the sigil from Razorscale in Uld 25)

4. Put 1/1 in Deathchill, this is a great ability (again imo) for when you are going to tank multiple mobs from the start.

5. You have put 2/2 in Two-Handed Weapon Specialization which is a nice talent as it will help you keep TPS a bit higher, I prefer to have 2/2 in Epidemic instead as it gives me more runes to use on other attacks that deal more dmg. This is totally optional (as most of the other changes i mentioned ofc ) and it depends on what you prefer. If you are not sure you might want to try both and see what feels best.

The next thing I want to mention is your Glyphs.
Atm you have Unbreakable Armor, Icy Touch and Death Strike as your major glyphs.
Glyph of Icy Touch is (as far as i know) mainly a PvP glyph and you might want to change this to Glyph of Howling Blast. This will almost fully remove IT from your spell rotation (as HB now adds Frost Fever), IT is still nice when pulling a single target because of that it's ranged and you might not want to take aggro on all mobs if you are in a raid with other tanks.
Second Glyph of Death Strike is (again imo) a DPS glyph, but as they "fixed" Glyph of Ice Bound Fortitude, there really isn't a third must have glyph for (frost)tanks, i went with Glyph of DnD (this too is also more of a DPS glyph) to help with my AoE tanking.

I am at the moment thinking about changing DnD to AMS as I have the 4 piece t8 bonus, if you do too (armory is apparently down so I can't check your gear) it might be worth considering.

Good luck with the tanking

PS. Here is a link to my armory The World of Warcraft Armory

[shadowslyr]

thx for your post i actually do have the sigil from razorscale (awesome imo) the reson i went with the 1 point in merciless combat was i needed another point spent to get farther down the tree, i hated wasting that point though, ill have to look at that again. also the three points in subvertion (and other talents in frost tree) make my crit chance for obliterate insanly high for a tank (thus my logic is it generates more threat) basically i went with frost becouse i like the extra avoidance/mitigation of the tree (it feels solid... not squishy like blood does imo) but im finding it harder and harder to keep up with the dps in terms of tps. they are riding up on me and its not that i think they will pull off me its that i have to keep my rotation perfect or there MAY be an issue. i like to have a little more of a buffer for a oh, wtf moment ya know? which is why im stacking more and more dps style things in my talents/glyphs (maybe more expertise/hit gems in the near future)

[shadowslyr]

also i know mostly all classes have some sort of threat dump but getting them to use it at times can me near imposible (i dont know why...) and it just makes things unneccessarily stressful

[shadowslyr]

marzim, i looked at your armory page and im really impressed how much tps do you generally generate?

[Marzim]

also i know mostly all classes have some sort of threat dump but getting them to use it at times can me near imposible (i dont know why...) and it just makes things unneccessarily stressful

Know that feeling seems like hunters have stoped using FD totaly and just keep it for a wipe so they can save a few gold on repairs

Don't know if you use it but Blood Boil is a great ability,

AoE tanking: DnD -> Deathchill -> HB -> BB = MASSIVE Threat

singel target tanking i tend to use IT (when pulling) -> PS -> HB -> Obl (if Rime procs)

after that it tends to be messed up with hitting anything that i can do HB over Obl a few BB a PS now and then etc :P

I don't usually lose agro (except when ppl start dpsing too soon :P) or i miss my first attacks

[Marzim]

Not sure how much my TPS is acctually, can check next raid (thursday)

[shadowslyr]

i keep yelling to the warlock "soul shatter!" lol it doesnt happen though :/

[shadowslyr]

i love frost tanking but as of 3.2 they are rolling out more nerfs that to me seem to be targeting DK tanks (frost especially) would you say that blood is even worth considering? i really like that insanly OP talent (veteran of the third war) have you tried blood at all?

[Marzim]

it feels solid... not squishy like blood does imo

Blood may look Squishy but we acctually use a Blood DK as MT (might change now after 3.2 DK nerfs though)

If you want to take a look at a blood spec i suggest looking at this

The World of Warcraft Armory

rly need to get back to work now :P

[shadowslyr]

thank you for all your help as soon as the servers come up ill test out your advice last question lol is there any kind of threat meter that will work when attacking the training dummy (i know dummies are lame but im not really into the idea of trying a new spec on a raid boss lol that could be really bad if it doesnt work out the way i want it )

[Marzim]

don't know, i've been using Omen since start of BC when KTM was outdated and working out a good rotation and cheking TPS on dummies is a rly good idea imo