Any tanking tips?

[Toxin]

Ok, so lately things havnt been going as well as what i initially thought tanking was going to. Im a frost DK, and have a lot of problem with threat. I wondered if anyone could give me advice on rotations, builds, even gear. I have linked my armory so you can see what im currently sitting on.

Great, armory now isnt working.

Im a 7/53/11 2H Tank. Improved Frost pressence, Howling Blast, Imp Icy talons, 2H weapon specialisation & Morbidity.

I am Defence Capped, 29,097 hp unbuffed, with 61.91% damage reduction. Is this any good?

Im fine with single target tanking, but as soon as groups come i D&D and lay diseases & pestilence, then 5 secs later ive lost aggro of all but one. Im constantly trying to hold aggro with deathgrip, dark command, D&D and howling blast. My DPS can be real low if put in certain groups, for example sometimes im reaching as much as 2k DPS, other times im as low as 800.

To cut a long story short, it is now getting to the point where i cant really be bothered playing it anymore as the fun has vanished due to people slating my gear/spec/skills, but a part of me still wants to secretly tank again.

Any thoughts will be much appreciated. Sorry i cant link my armory due to it being down at the moment, but if you want to have a nose at it in your own time;

Toxin, Tauren, Trollbane, In Blood We Stand.

Thankyou.

[Silveronfire]

Your AOE rotation is more of the Unholy tanking one. As frost your AOE rotation should not involve either pestilence or PS.

Instead glyph for howling blast (so it inflicts those hit with FF), DnD and BB to pop that last blood rune for Blade Barrier. At this point, burn your RP as Frost strikes. (assuming thus far you are macroing in RS to all your abilities)

A good hit with HB is around 2k...can crit for much higher. In short this ability is some serious snap threat and since it adds FF (with glyph) it can power up your BB so it lays out about 700-1k damage per target.

PS is *maybe* nice for single target threat, but not so great for Multitarget threat as a frost tank.

[Toxin]

Thankyou, RS being Rune Strike i guess? My howling blast is basic attack at about 1.8k. And with the glyph you speak of, i would no longer need to use icy touch because howling blast will lay frost fever? This sounds wonderful, thankyou for your advice it is much helpful, now off to try and farm some HC's and see if any improvement.

[Blackshirt]

If you're tanking Heroics your multi-target rotation should be something like DnD, HB (with the HB glyph for the FF and extra threat from BB), BB, then RP dump. Don't worry about Blood Plague in multi-target situations unless you're beating a tough guy while holding aggro on lessor mobs at the same time.

If that's not getting you enough threat then it's a stat problem and you need more expertise (26 for cap) or hit (268 for cap). And don't duel wield because the expertise cap is insanely hard to hit (15% as opposed to 8%).

[Toxin]

Thanks Blackshirt, that too was very helpfull. I loved the idea of dual-wielding with the 1h axes from Argent Tournement, but just not possible.

[Martie]

Okay, multi-target tanking can be tricky.

First of all, realize that you are still learning, and accept this. In groups, demand group leader for marking, and tell people to kill the skull first. That should give you 5-10 seconds to build up a threat lead, and often, that's all you need.

Secondly, realize that it can be the DPS's fault. Once you lose your first mob, your rotation will get screwed up, and the chance of losing more grows. Raid marks are your friends. When fighting mobs, always have a skull up so your dps knows what to focus on. If they still singletarget the wrong one, it's their fault, not yours.

[Miagorme]

Here's something to note: in a lot of cases, people will knock you because they need to do something different than what they're used to. Maybe they're used to Paladins in Heroics being able to hold threat on everything and take very little damage due to shield + everything hitting for ~2k to ~5k. Going from healing/dpsing off of that to healing/dpsing off of a(n inexperienced?) DK Tank can be frustrating -- for them. The healers will have to do their job more often, and the DPS will have to actually assist off of you and not go crazy with AOE the second you pull. Lots of people are very ignorant and don't care about anything as long as their job is easy. Don't worry about them -- if you get snap aggro on everything in the pull and nothing is on your healers, you're doing fine. Just remember to keep enough AOE aggro to keep threat from the healers.

Now, with the "it's not always your fault" explanation out of the way, you also need to remember that sometimes it will be your fault, and those times will come. Simply learn from them and move on. Take the advice you've been given above and practice at your own pace, it'd be pretty crappy to be chased away from tanking due to something like that. If you enjoy tanking, keep at it and keep looking for ways to improve. You'll get there.

[Vlad]

[quote=Toxin;251897]a frost DK, and have a lot of problem with threat.quote]


Try a blood spec.

[Keza]

I tank as frost and aoe rotation is DnD, it, ps, pest, bb, hb, repeat.

[Toxin]

Thankyou all, Espesh Martie & Mia you have helped a lot. Vlad, yes i tried blood and got slated for my Tank spec, anded up a laughing stock on trollbane. Frost seems to be working out well now, and with the glyph of howling blast its much much easier. I still seem to take a lot of damage compared to other tanks around, and im still only sitting on 29.7k hp.

Ive been working up BS & JC for the socket slots unique to blacksmithers, and the JC Only gems to put in them so this should bumper up my HP a tad.

Im now using a rotation of HB, PS, BB BB Oblit then repeat with DND on the first pull. Im holding aggro a lot better. I put a lot of my damage takings down to using skills & trinkets unwisely but i guess thats something each tank has to work out by themselves.