The Blood Tank - A discussion of my Experiences

[Eint]

I wrote this guide and posted it over on WorldofDeathKnightCraft.com originally. Figured it would be good to post it here for benefit to the community at Tankspot as well. The original guide can be viewed at this location (WorldofDeathKnightCraft.com Forums • View topic - Guide: The Blood Tank).

Guide: The Blood Tank
Author: Nathan "Eint" McIntyre
Version: 1.1
Last Updated: 11.23.2009
Updated to: Patch 3.2.2

Fair Use Policy:
This guide is written specifically for WorldofDeathKnightCraft.com. The author, Nathan "Eint" McIntyre, hereby authorizes this guide to be re-posted and redistributed to other guild forums, sites, or any other location seen fit by the reader so long as the original work remains unchanged and this notice is also posted with it. Thank you for your support and I hope it is of benefit tot he Death Knight community.

Introduction:
Personally the Blood Death Knight Tank is my favorite play style. Not only is the Blood Death Knight very resilient against both magic and physical damage, but it also brings a number of helpful raid buffs to the raid in the form of Hysteria and Abomination's Might. One of the downsides of the Blood Tank is due to it's expectation on solid gearing. This also just happens to be why it excels, since the abilities scale very well with your gear upgrades. Due to this, it is probably a better idea to stick with a Frost Tank build while gearing up in heroics and eventually transition toward the Blood Tank build once your gear is better.

This guide is intended to be an introduction and overview of the current most effective Blood Death Knight tank builds. In general, this guide assumes at least a basic understanding of tanking mechanics and is not intended to be a "How to Tank as a Death Knight" guide. For general tanking information please refer to a myriad of other guides and sites to familiarize yourself with the core mechanics. With this in mind, this guide also intentionally does not discuss specific gearing strategies. Once again, there are a ton of resources for finding what is the best gear to tank with. If in doubt, remember that it is always best to gear for Stamina as a tank while also maintaining a good balance between Hit Rating and Expertise to ensure a high amount of threat.

Acronyms & Definitions:
TPS: Threat Per Second
DPS: Damage Per Second
Build / Spec: Shorthand for describing a given selection of talents and glyphs as a set.


Talents & Glyphs:
Option 1: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#jMEGV...xZ0gh0L:GdiVmM
Option 2: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#j0EGV...xhxZ0gh:GdiVmM

While both talent builds are definitely viable, I personally prefer to use Option 1 since it is designed to maximize threat generation while still maintaining a high general survivability. As with all classes, there are a few core talents that are required but either of these builds are very viable.

Weapon Enchantment: Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle
Even if you don't need the raw 25 Defense the 2% bonus to total Stamina still makes this enchantment wildly better than anything else available. This probably also goes without saying, but as a Blood Tank you will ALWAYS be using a big slow two-handed weapon. If you have the desire to dual-wield tank, then you shouldn't be reading this guide and instead be looking into a Frost Tank build.

Rune Rotations:
Single Target
1st Rotation = Icy Touch > Plague Strike > Heart Strike > Heart Strike > Death Strike > Dump Runic Power (Death Coil)
2nd Rotation = Death Strike > Heart Strike > Heart Strike > Heart Strike > Heart Strike > Dump Runic Power (Death Coil)

AoE
1st Rotation = Death and Decay > Icy Touch > Plague Strike > Pestilence > Dump Runic Power (Death Coil)
2nd Rotation = Blood Boil > Death Strike > Blood Boil > Death Strike > Dump Runic Power (Death Coil)
Notes: Further Rotations: For the most part, I have found that no AoE pull ever survives long enough to warrant running this rotation more than for just the first set. Once AoE is not necessary I tend to go back to my Single Target Rotation and improvise with a few Blood Boils or a Death and Decay if needed. Generally speaking, after the first set of this AoE rotation simply use your head and you will find a good transition that works for you.

Overall, it is best to only use these rune rotations as a model for what you should do in an ideal situation. As we are all aware, ideal situations are not where we always find ourselves and thus the ability to think quick on our feet is always advised over sticking to a set rotation. I often find myself sometimes using two Death Runes for an extra Death Strike to help out with heals if my health is sitting at a point lower than I am comfortable with.

One of the real ways to separate yourself from other Death Knight tanks and really stand out is to make sure that you are always managing your Runic Power intelligently and with good flexibility. This means that you should make sure that you are maximizing the use of your runic power while also ensuring that you have enough runic power at any given time to use Rune Strike, Anti-Magic Shell, and Icebound Fortitude whenever they are available. The strategy that I have found to work out well is to maintain about 20 runic power at all times to ensure that I never miss an opportunity to use Rune Strike. This is a great way to maximize your TPS and make sure that as your DPS is getting new gear and thus dealing more damage, they aren't at risk for pulling threat. One of the core goals of a tank is to make it so the DPS never have to worry about pulling threat which allows for faster kills and thus also makes it easier on your healers since they don't have to worry about conserving mana. Generally speaking, it's always good when you can kill a boss faster.

To summarize, always use your head when you are tanking and keep track of what is going on and adjust your rune rotations accordingly. If you happen to get into an off rotation due to encounter mechanics or a poorly timed stun, a handy trick that can be employed is to spam all your abilities until all runes (or nearly all) are on cooldown and then use Empowered Rune Weapon. At this point you will have dumped a good deal of DPS on the boss and now have a fresh slate to restart your rotation.

General Strategy:
Frost Presence: This is the ONLY presence that you should ever use as a Death Knight tank period! Not only will it be impossible to keep aggro in Blood or Unholy presences, but you will also lose out on the impressive 6% free stamina, 8% damage reduction and 60% bonus contribution to armor.

Rune Strike: I cannot stress enough how important it is to make sure that you are using this ability EVERY time it is available. With the benefit that it receives from Glyph of Rune Strike as well as the 20% bonus from Necrosis (assuming you use Option 1 talent build), Rune Strike provides a massive amount of threat. Contrary to what you may have heard, Necrosis DOES provide benefit to Rune Strike.

Anti-Magic Shell: Perhaps one of the most under used abilities by both Tank and DPS Death Knights, Anti-Magic Shell is amazing at mitigation incoming magic damage and can also be used as an excellent source of free runic power. With a super low 20 Runic Power cost and a short 45-second cooldown, this ability should be worked into your ability rotation as often as it is available with the exception of specific encounters where you might want to save it, such as Emalon in VoA.

Death and Decay: With out a doubt, Death and Decay should almost always be dropped at the start of every boss encounter before you pull. As a general strategy you should try to make sure that you start your pulls by placing Death and Decay and then letting your runes start their cooldown before using Death Grip to begin the encounter. This way you get the benefit of the massive threat generated by Death and Decay for building aggro at the beginning of the fight as well as making it so that your rune cooldowns will have already started, allowing you to start your rotation earlier.

Vampiric Blood: Serving as the unique talent for Blood Tanks, Vampiric Blood should be used early and used often. By often I mean that the only reason not to use Vampiric Blood right when it is up, would be if you are fighting an encounter or boss that has a known ability which you are saving it for. The extra 15% hit points and 35% healing, coupled by the extended duration due to Glyph of Vampiric Blood makes this perhaps the most impressive ability available to the Blood Tank.

Death Grip: Not only is Death Grip a class defining ability with it's super cool graphic, it also happens to be the ONLY ability you should ever use when pulling mobs and bosses. This is not only due to the fact that it pulls your target directly to you (bosses and some mobs excluded), but guarantees that the target will attack you for 3-seconds making it impossible for silly DPS to pull aggro while you are getting the boss into position. Start EVERY fight with this ability to generate initial aggro.

Tips and Tricks:
Raise Dead: With the minor Glyph of Raise Dead and a relatively short cooldown of 3-minutes, the smart Death Knight will make sure to use this ability often. Not only will your ghoul minion add to the overall DPS of the raid, but with a 1-minute maximum up-time, a Death Knight tank can make use of Death Pact as an extra cooldown to get out of sticky situations when your hit points are lower than desired.

Anti-Magic Shell: By now you should already know that Anti-Magic Shell is a handy method for mitigating spell damage as a Death Knight tank, but you might not be familiar with it's use as an early fight threat generation ability. One of the areas where Death Knights can run into trouble is if your attacks and Rune Strikes miss a lot early in the fight due to the nature of random numbers. This is why Anti-Magic Shell should always be used at the start of the fight as well since it also grants free runic power based on damage taken. In a boss encounter, this roughly equates to a free bar of runic power per hit allowing you to spam Death Coil in-between rune abilities and thus generating extra threat at the start of the fight to lock aggro against your DPS raid members.

Hysteria: One of the benefits of using a Blood Death Knight Tank comes in the DPS bonus' that are provided to melee DPS. One of the key abilities is Hysteria which will increase all physical damage by 20% for 30-seconds. As a Blood Death Knight you should take note of your top raid melee DPS and expect cast Hysteria on them at key points where they can maximize the DPS benefit. Often I try to make sure that my use of Hysteria can coincide with abilities like Bloodlust, Icehowl's massive crash stun, or Valkyr's empowerment for some examples.

Please leave a reply with thoughts comments and feedback. You can also contact WorldofDeathKnightCraft.com by clicking here and submitting the contact form. Thank you in advance!

Change History:
11.23.2009 - Modified talent builds and minor changes to wording of the guide plus Tip's and Tricks for Hysteria.

[Edgewalker]

One of the downsides of the Blood Tank is due to it's expectation on solid gearing. This also just happens to be why it excels, since the abilities scale very well with your gear upgrades. Due to this, it is probably a better idea to stick with a Frost Tank build while gearing up in heroics and eventually transition toward the Blood Tank build once your gear is better.


Rune Rotations:
Single Target
1st Rotation = Icy Touch > Plague Strike > Heart Strike > Heart Strike > Death Strike > Dump Runic Power (Death Coil)
2nd Rotation = Death Strike > Heart Strike > Heart Strike > Heart Strike > Heart Strike > Dump Runic Power (Death Coil)

AoE
1st Rotation = Death and Decay > Icy Touch > Plague Strike > Pestilence > Dump Runic Power (Death Coil)
2nd Rotation = Blood Boil > Death Strike > Blood Boil > Death Strike > Dump Runic Power (Death Coil)
Notes: Further Rotations: For the most part, I have found that no AoE pull ever survives long enough to warrant running this rotation more than for just the first set. Once AoE is not necessary I tend to go back to my Single Target Rotation and improvise with a few Blood Boils or a Death and Decay if needed. Generally speaking, after the first set of this AoE rotation simply use your head and you will find a good transition that works for you.

In addition as a Blood Tank you should have taken the Improved Blood Presence talent which makes it so that you will also still receive self-healing with every attack you make.

Death and Decay: With out a doubt, Death and Decay should almost always be dropped at the start of every boss encounter before you pull. As a general strategy you should try to make sure that you start your pulls by placing Death and Decay and then letting your runes start their cooldown before using Death Grip to begin the encounter. This way you get the benefit of the massive threat generated by Death and Decay for building aggro at the beginning of the fight as well as making it so that your rune cooldowns will have already started, allowing you to start your rotation earlier.

Vampiric Blood: Serving as the unique talent for Blood Tanks, Vampiric Blood should be used early and used often. By often I mean that the only reason not to use Vampiric Blood right when it is up, would be if you are fighting an encounter or boss that has a known ability which you are saving it for. The extra 15% hit points and 35% healing, coupled by the extended duration due to Glyph of Vampiric Blood makes this perhaps the most impressive ability available to the Blood Tank.

Death Grip: Not only is Death Grip a class defining ability with it's super cool graphic, it also happens to be the ONLY ability you should ever use when pulling mobs and bosses. This is not only due to the fact that it pulls your target directly to you (bosses and some mobs excluded), but guarantees that the target will attack you for 3-seconds making it impossible for silly DPS to pull aggro while you are getting the boss into position. Start EVERY fight with this ability to generate initial aggro.

Anti-Magic Shell: By now you should already know that Anti-Magic Shell is a handy method for mitigating spell damage as a Death Knight tank, but you might not be familiar with it's use as an early fight threat generation ability. One of the areas where Death Knights can run into trouble is if your attacks and Rune Strikes get parried or dodged a lot early in the fight due to the nature of random numbers. This is why Anti-Magic Shell should always be used at the start of the fight as well since it also grants free runic power based on damage taken. In a boss encounter, this roughly equates to a free bar of runic power per hit allowing you to spam Death Coil in-between rune abilities and thus generating extra threat at the start of the fight to lock aggro against your DPS raid members.

Please leave a reply with thoughts comments and feedback. You can also contact WorldofDeathKnightCraft.com by clicking here and submitting the contact form. Thank you in advance!

Those specs are poorly thought out.
Imp. Blood Presence is NOT, and never will be, a tanking talent. You use it and Scent of Blood over Subversion/Mark of Blood/Sudden Doom in a threat based tanking spec. That's not a good idea.

Your second AoE rotation doesn't make sense. The best rotation for a fast clear is DnD - Blood Boil - Icy Touch - Plague Strike - Blood Tap - Pestilence - Alternate DnD/Blood Boil. Death Striking twice is counter productive.

Death and Decay is not optimal for single target boss pulls.

Death Grip doesn't create agro, it works like a mocking blow. If anything, Death Gripping at the start of the pull puts a useful ability on cooldown for no reason. It also prevents you from sucking casters into your AoE.

Rune Strike can NOT NOT NOT NOT get parried or dodged. You make a lot of references to it needed expertise, which is 100% untrue.

Vampiric Blood is the best reactive tanking talent we have as death knights, it's counter productive to use it without necessity.

The different specs requiring different levels of gearing is a pretty large myth, especially with the UA change.

[Eint]

The talent builds I have posted are very capable of handling heroic mode. I also agree with you that DnD is not optimal for single target threat, but it does allow you to ink more out of your runes because it can tick while runes are on CD and thus you get more bang for your buck.

I agree with you that imp blood presence is hardly necessary, but I have found it to be a decent addition. The other option would be to put the extra 2 points into spell deflection.

[wazdaa]

Death Grip doesn't create agro, it works like a mocking blow. If anything, Death Gripping at the start of the pull puts a useful ability on cooldown for no reason. It also prevents you from sucking casters into your AoE.

*death grip works like a normal taunt, not like mocking blow.

for the rest i agree with you deathgripping or any taunt at pull is stupid. if you need to taunt at pull, maybe it's time to talk with your dps that it isn't helpfull to start full nuke at 0 seconds in the fight or to your rogues to trick you at start rather then eachother for some extra dps, same with the hunters ofc.


and well to op, your builds might do their job, but in my eyes they are far from optimal.

*SoB, is highly unneeded especially 3/3. on hc 25 lord jaraxxus i interupt boss, have rune strike on cd, and death coil on every free gcd and all that with 0/3 SoB. between your rp created by skills, revitalise from druid hots and the talent from disc priest on breaking shield (and maybe i'm even missing some) you are swimming in rp, i even find myself capped out on rp several times during a fight.

*Even in your survival build you take abomination's might over rune tap or spell deflection(i'm not a fan of this skill, but whatever) you can't believe yourself that 2% strenght grants you more survibility then a well placed rune tap or a lucky spell deflection (and don't come with the argument that's it a chance, bc strenght gives parry and guess what, that's a chance to avoid melee dmg then aswell). and i can't believe you don't have any blood dps/enh shaman/mm hunter in your raid. that you bringing the buff is vital.

*i don't believe in imp BP, it helps the healers where it isn't needed (sustained healing) and does jack where they do need help (burst healing) once again i believe rune tap is better here. it helps with burst healing and subbing a hs with a rune tap is no threat loss unless it's mostly overheal or you are engaged in combat with several mobs.


Edit: ow and i'm flabbergasted about your AMS comment, unless you still working with 4pt8 it only works on spell dmg, so popping it right at start would only help if the boss actually did spell dmg else it be a waste of both rp and a cd that might prove usefull in the next 45seconds. if you have rp issues at start let a druid with revitalise roll hots on you for a min and you can start with 100rp, can have a disc priest put a shield on you so that as soon as it breaks you have 30(?)rp. really rp isn't an issue at start of fight. (actually it never is)

[Edgewalker]

*death grip works like a normal taunt, not like mocking blow.
)

Er I meant in that scenario, it would make a mob with 0 threat push up to 0 threat and solely force it to attack you for 3 seconds.

[Frenzy165]

I'm definitely not a fan of either of those builds, i use THIS build and find it gives me the bang for my buck. I prefer glyph of disease over glyph of RS, it affords me an extra death strike every other rotation, assuming i'm on top of things (not always possible.. as im sure we all know). I could switch up and add necrosis, but it would cost me too much.
Rune tap is quite valuable to me, its an extra 7-8k hp heal when i need it. I like survival abilities.

Sent of blood, i used to have.. but i have the good fortune of running with a resto druid and/or disc priest almost all the time.. so 'swimming' is an understatement in my RP generation. Since i never really have threat problems, i can only assume that filling Subversion is a definite help in that area. All in all, the guide is decent, but I disagree with the builds... besides, WOTN is free damage reduction, why wouldn't you take it?

[Satorri]

Truth be told I'm not a big fan of your specs, but if they're working for you that's good (and a testament to the flexibility possible in spec'ing for all available current content). My personal nitpicks to add to the list:

If nothing else, I'd NEVER prioritize SoB over Subversion. It may be nice to DC more, but you don't actually need SoB at all to interrupt, or IBF while spamming RS until you get into avoidances in the high 60's-low 70's, then you might not get as much RP as you want.

Imp BP is not worthless, it's just weak by comparison to the options. Even poorly used, you can get more healing value, and much more effective healing value out of Rune Tap (which I am otherwise a proponent of, though you are clearly not =D). If you're after survival, there are better spends, and if you are after threat, there are MUCH better spends in your threat build.

I happen to agree with you that Vamp Blood can and should be used more often than most tanks probably do, but I do *not* think it should be used simply on CD. Both Vamp Blood and AMS are very powerful reactive abilities, used deliberately to counter effects, potential or expected. Getting stuck with it on CD when you may actually really want it would be a bigger problem than not using it enough.

Two items about starting pulls:
1.) Death Grip at the start isn't a bad idea, it does guarantee you 2 GCD's to get diseases up. That said, if you have problems with dps pulling off you at that point, you need to sit your dps down and have a talk about letting the tank touch stuff before popping cooldowns (or, possibly, you need to improve your threat, but I'm more than willing to give the benefit of the doubt for the former being the issue as it is pretty common).

2.) Death and Decay is *not* a gain on a boss. It consumes half your runes for your opening? Yes it ticks while they are on cooldown, but it is not valuable in two ways. First, the threat you gain has to be compared to the threat generated by a DS plus a HS, and considering that you will generate 10 less RP for using DnD instead of the pair. At best DnD will likely be comparable to the threat of those combined (assuming Morbidity, not necessarily glyph) if the healing of DS isn't 100% effective, but the other aspect is timing. DnD will deliver the threat over 10 sec where as each of those moves will deliver a single spike of threat. In the mechanics of working against dps opening up on the target, the spike will generally insure a smoother start than if you're waiting for DnD to tick out. Does it work? Yes. Is it necessary? No. You can make either work, but in theory, I'd prefer to IT/PS, and start slamming HS's and DS's straight away.

(We've covered that RS cannot be dodged or parried)



Welcome to the TS forums, you might like to read:
http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f14/5...d-tanking.html
=)

[nethervoid]

"Vampiric Blood is the best reactive tanking talent we have as death knights, it's counter productive to use it without necessity."

Was thinking this when I read it myself. Warriors get two of these sweet EH 'oh crap' buttons. Save them for an 'oh crap' or when an 'oh crap' is likely to happen. E.G. phase 3 Ony hits the ground at the entrance, you need to pull her to the other side, and she fears everyone: I pop zerk rage to get out of fear, and then probably shield wall or maybe both of my 'oh crap's.

I use taunt on the pull if a boss is 'materializing' or otherwise not really chargable. It can't hurt to let DPS open up right away, and the taunt protects against a huge lucky crit right off the bat by a DPS. Generally I charge in and shield slam, but in some cases (DPS races) it can help to taunt on pull.

[wazdaa]

Two items about starting pulls:
1.) Death Grip at the start isn't a bad idea, it does guarantee you 2 GCD's to get diseases up. That said, if you have problems with dps pulling off you at that point, you need to sit your dps down and have a talk about letting the tank touch stuff before popping cooldowns (or, possibly, you need to improve your threat, but I'm more than willing to give the benefit of the doubt for the former being the issue as it is pretty common).

i disagree with this, either you keep aggro right away or the boss will get lose after the taunt and you won't have a backup taunt if your normal taunt misses.

also if you read how he proposes to use it it's basicly to use it from a distance to pull it to you. in other words by the time the boss get's to him the fixate effect will have worn out. it's just a waste of a taunt.

[Eint]

On a side note, I do appreciate the feedback and information. Will make it much easier for me when revamping the guide for a new version. I actually am going to run a few different talent builds over the next few days more along the lines with your suggestions. Should be interesting to compare some metrics and get a feel for which is providing the most benefit.

I personally have stayed away from Sudden Doom because it just doesn't seem to have a good enough chance to hit and when it does, your Death Coil will be a very small amount of damage due to not being Unholy (my guess is around 2-3k tops).

Anyhow, thanks for the replies and conversation. Learning and discussion is never a bad thing.

[Eint]

"Vampiric Blood is the best reactive tanking talent we have as death knights, it's counter productive to use it without necessity."

Was thinking this when I read it myself. Warriors get two of these sweet EH 'oh crap' buttons. Save them for an 'oh crap' or when an 'oh crap' is likely to happen. E.G. phase 3 Ony hits the ground at the entrance, you need to pull her to the other side, and she fears everyone: I pop zerk rage to get out of fear, and then probably shield wall or maybe both of my 'oh crap's.

I use taunt on the pull if a boss is 'materializing' or otherwise not really chargable. It can't hurt to let DPS open up right away, and the taunt protects against a huge lucky crit right off the bat by a DPS. Generally I charge in and shield slam, but in some cases (DPS races) it can help to taunt on pull.

Death Knights also have two great "oh shit" buttons in Vampiric Blood and Icebound Fortitude. Also if you know that it's going to be a magic attack AMS is a massive benefit as well. Additionally, if you are using Heart of Iron you have yet another 2min avoidance ability for dealing with heavy hitting melee.

What I was going for with that point was that with a full 4-set bonus and glyph you get Vamp Blood for an extended time on a 50second rotation. So by using Vamp Blood as the first "oh shit" button and IBF as your second, odds are that by the time you need another one, Vamp Blood is already available.

[Satorri]

i disagree with this, either you keep aggro right away or the boss will get lose after the taunt and you won't have a backup taunt if your normal taunt misses.

also if you read how he proposes to use it it's basicly to use it from a distance to pull it to you. in other words by the time the boss get's to him the fixate effect will have worn out. it's just a waste of a taunt.

I don't use this on bosses, but that doesn't mean it will always be wasted. I'm not trying to support him, defame him, or anyone else, just appreciate the gray area in between. =)

[Eint]

Edit: ow and i'm flabbergasted about your AMS comment, unless you still working with 4pt8 it only works on spell dmg, so popping it right at start would only help if the boss actually did spell dmg else it be a waste of both rp and a cd that might prove usefull in the next 45seconds. if you have rp issues at start let a druid with revitalise roll hots on you for a min and you can start with 100rp, can have a disc priest put a shield on you so that as soon as it breaks you have 30(?)rp. really rp isn't an issue at start of fight. (actually it never is)

The reason that I have suggested using AMS at the start of a fight isn't to mitigate damage but rather to get TONS of free Runic Power. Since it is on such a short cooldown you can easily have it available shortly after it's first use. The nice part of AMS is that when that boss hits you for a pile of damage you get full runic power bar and can dump Death Coils and Rune Strikes accordingly. I normally am able to get free 2-3 full bars of Runic Power using this strategy depending on how fast the boss swings.

[Edgewalker]

The reason that I have suggested using AMS at the start of a fight isn't to mitigate damage but rather to get TONS of free Runic Power. Since it is on such a short cooldown you can easily have it available shortly after it's first use. The nice part of AMS is that when that boss hits you for a pile of damage you get full runic power bar and can dump Death Coils and Rune Strikes accordingly. I normally am able to get free 2-3 full bars of Runic Power using this strategy depending on how fast the boss swings.

I don't think you understand how AMS works. I honestly can't think of a boss that does magical damage off the pull.
It doesn't give RP for all the damage you take. Just magical damage.

[Eint]

Maybe I am smoking something really special, or it is just bugged right now then. But I used it early in the Gormok fight last night in 25 TotC and my RP went straight to 100, and this was before even 1 impale (which I don't think is magic damage either).

[lyd]

I think you would have to post a video to convince us of this, Eint. Otherwise, I suspect you may be mistaking another mechanic or combination of mechanics for AMS. the tool-tip for AMS is very clear:

Anti-Magic Shell - Spell - World of Warcraft

Surrounds the Death Knight in an Anti-Magic Shell, absorbing 75% of the damage dealt by harmful spells (up to a maximum of 50% of the Death Knight's health) and preventing application of harmful magical effects. Damage absorbed by Anti-Magic Shell energizes the Death Knight with additional runic power. Lasts 5 sec.

it only absorbs magic damage, and only damage absorbed gets converted to runic power. melee attacks and white damage are unaffected and therefore generate no RP.

[Satorri]

On Gormok, his first Thunderstompy thing (wow, I'm blanking on the name) is spell damage and will give you RP if it hits with AMS up. It's not true of every boss, and even that doesn't come the moment he pulls (haven't clocked it, maybe as early as 10-15 sec in?).

So, I'd wager that by the time you have the RP to cast it, he's about ready to do the stomp.


That said, a 20 RP cast early on would be fairly inadvisable since that's the same cost of an RS early on, which is fantastic for ramping up your threat. If you were guaranteed to get that kind of return though (100, even getting more than break-even) the logic is sound. There's just no reason to expect it from most any fight.

[Splug]

Gormok's snowbolds throw fire bombs, which are absorbable magic damage.

I'm not sure if the stomp is magic as well, but there's an area-attack he uses frequently to interrupt. EDIT: Sounds like it is.

-Splug

[Satorri]

Staggering Stomp - Spell - World of Warcraft

Interesting, I looked it up because I wasn't sure. I could've sworn my SCT flagged it as spell damage, but the tooltip reads physical. In fact, the Fire patches are the only source of magic damage in the fight.

If it is a bug, you should make a nice video, Eint, I'd love to see it. That'd be a helpful trick!

[Splug]

Rapture could also have played a part.

-Splug