Why do I die so easily in HC's?

[blondedeath]

Can someone tell me what is happening, I've tanked a few HC's now to get my skills up and get some better gear, I am still waiting for the essence to drop in AN HC. So far in every single HC I tank the healer (and some are Ulduar 25 healers) say I drain too quick.

Blondedeath armoury link for you to have a look at. Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Molohk]

Your gear is more than good enough for heroics. You should be fine as long as you observe the basics: don't let the enemy hit you from behind, don't sit down, don't over-pull, use Unbreakable Armor and Icebound Fortitude generously (and AMZ if there's casters around), make sure IT is up on all your targets. Keep stacking health and upgrading gear, it gets easier very quickly.

Sometimes healers complain about tank damage when they're undergeared or used to overgeared tanks. Nothing you can do to fix this though, maybe chugg a flask and get a food buff. DKs can take spiky damage (that's just the way they are), which may freak out a slowish healer.

[blondedeath]

Cheers for the confidence boost Molohk, I feel happier now running HC's, I was starting to shy away from them. Although I have to admit I do not (untill now) IT all targets at the same time!

[Reichsadler]

Definately geared enough for heroics though your avoidance seems pretty low. If you could swap out some of the hit/expertise items with dodge/parry on runs you are not sure of your healer it will probably make for a smoother run. I was just on my paly healing a DK that had low avoidance and found I had to be on the ball on all the trash pulls. On Bosses the incoming damage was easy to heal but he was getting pummled pretty hard by the trash packs so it made for a heroic where I actually had to focus on healing for a change... made it alot less boring on my end at least

[gabbu]

The only advice I can add here (the reason I say this is DK's specially when you are fresh 80 take a ton TON of damage on trash) is burn IBF as early during a trashpull as you can, this way first you will not take as much damage and IBF will be ready by the time you get to 2nd trash pull.

Try this.

[Masto]

Your ready for Naxx mate. Don't even stress. Get some enchants on your gear, and once you get that Goss trink, go for a Naxx10 and get some t7/200 ilvl gear =D

Oh and replace Glyph of Death and Decay for Glyph of Howling Blast as that will allow you to keep up Frost Fever on all your mobs. It's basically a must-do for Frost tanks. That said, a quick AoE rotation for Frost that relies on Glyph of HB:

DnD-HB-BB wait for runes BB-BB-OB-HB-RP DUMP either with RS or FS / rinse repeat

You'll notice the initial HB on the pack will allow you to then use BB through Frost Fever, saving you the trouble of IT then Pest. Then it's just a matter of BB'ing and HB when its off CD. OB when its on CD, but be aware of HB at all times.

[blondedeath]

Thanks for some top advice, gonna get my trinket and some of the parry/dodge stuff and get me some patchwerk action. I'll keep you posted on how it pans out.

[Martie]

Tip for patchwerk: Use avoidance trinkets. They help a lot against hateful strikes, I've been told.

[Viridios]

Tip for patchwerk: Use avoidance trinkets. They help a lot against hateful strikes, I've been told.

This applies to druids and DK's equally I'd guess: Stam first, then avoidance. Avoiding 1/2 of the hatefuls is all well and good, but when two in a row hit you better be able to survive. Personally I like knowing my healers can fail a little bit, especially when you have that one paladin that just won't quit using Holy Light only..

[blondedeath]

Well I finally got my Essence of Gossamer (still not sure if thats how its spelt), managed to get a guildie to make me the glyph of HB and huge thanks to Masto been given massive praise for my "awesome tanking" and "wow dk's really can tank" after using your rotation.

Hopefully going to run Naxx 10 tomorrow see how it goes.