Death knght play style question.

[Dethyx]

Ok, I have a question about rotations for death knights; err, more like the lack of rotation. What I do with my dk (blood) is have more of a priority system than a "set" rotation. I will set diseases, pestilence, then I will use death strike and heart strikes (x3) till I'm out of runes (blood tap). This will leave me with 2 blood and 4 death runes. At the point, I will rattle off heart strikes and use pestilence when needed (glyph of disease is great for blood because of a crapload of death runes. And usng 1 rune instead of 3 to refresh diseaes). Then for the duration of the fight I will use HS for my blood/death runes, and DS for my frost/unholy pairs.

Now, I have had other death knights say that I suck because I don't use a "rotation". I think that this way is superior to standard rotations becaue it is extremely versatile in fight where there's a lot of stopping and going. And that there is not a lot of downtime for attacks.

All thoughts on this are appreciated.

Thanks!

[Optimoos]

You're doing it right... with GoD, there is no real 'rotation' for Blood, it's priorities like you said. Setup, keep your diseases up with pestilence, turn f/u to death with DS, and the rest of the time hs.

[Eisen]

Just curious..if you're 3/3 Annhiliation, would it be a better choice to use Oblit instead of DS?

[Valquirie]

Just curious..if you're 3/3 Annhiliation, would it be a better choice to use Oblit instead of DS?

I'd say, "it depends".

Death Rune Mastery needs either of the two to create Death Runes, and the main purpose of Annihilation (3/3) is to use Obliterate more than once before refreshing diseases...or so I believe.

Death Strike heals you though, so it's better for tanks, in that regard to use it every now and then, if not as a major attack (unless spec'd Frost with Annihilation for Obliterate).

Death Strike also deals significantly less damage.

[Eisen]

I'd say yes. Death Rune Mastery needs either of the two to create Death Runes, and the sole purpose of Annihilation (3/3) is to use Obliterate more than once before refreshing diseases...or so I believe.

Death Strike heals you though, so it's better for tanks, in that regard to use it every now and then, if not as a major attack (unless spec'd Frost with Annihilation for Obliterate).

Death Strike also deals significantly less damage.

True, I was looking at it from a DPS perspective. DS would be smarter for tanking. But then I'd take DS-improving talents and not annhilation for the same reasons if I were tanking.

[Satorri]

I don't use a static rotation and I do pretty alright.


Heck I even wrote a book about it, you can find it in my signature. =)

[Wars]

Always plugging the book. You need to play to the strength of the situation. You tank long enough, and you'll figure out what that means

[GBF]

A rotation implies that you'll get to a point where your abilities will repeat in the same manner as they did before. In that sense, almost all DKs use a rotation. For example:

IT-PS-HS-HS-DS-Dump
DS-HS-HS-HS-HS-Dump

And it will repeat itself. If what you're doing doesn't at some point repeat in the same way as it did before, your reaction time, or the fact that you're playing a priority system will mean that you're not maximizing the number of attacks you could be making. It's not a huge difference but on longer fights it can add up, especially if you play a damage role. Tanks, not as big a problem. The threat game is pretty easy, even against the best DPS, especially with the 3.3 buff to Rune Strike.

[Satorri]

Ha ha, yes, Wars. I took the time to write all the information that I'd been re-iterating to every repeat question into one compilation work on DK tanking, so now I only have to quote and link!

The TL;DR (from the book) for you Dethyx is that the Rune System and moves for DKs, doubly so while tanking, are not directly ideal to a static rotation like a caster would use. Each power system has different nuances (I've been contemplating a post on the matter). Mana is usually now just a matter of using the most powerful weapon or the most essential wind-up utility on each GCD, and that can form into a consistent pattern of ABCCCBCCC, etc.

For runes though, we manage 6 individual 10 second CDs, blackouts when no runes are available, runes that can be swapped to wild card runes, and abilities to refresh runes early.

Generally speaking across the specs, the strong DKs will be using the best choice of tools from the runes as they become available and learning how to fill the blackouts. The best DKs will even understand patience and see the runes that are about to become available, knowing when to wait an extra beat to use a different move, or anticipate the need of what's about to happen.

Usually though people will talk about rotations, and they're generally referring to the straight stretches where you can cycle through rune-costing abilities.

[Vrekgar]

I agree with Satorri quite heartily. DK's trying to focus on a strict rotation are looseing out.

I try and break my combat style down into Phases so that at a glance i can tell what i need to be doing and focusing on at the time.

Phase1: Disease application / Initial Encounter
Apply diseases and position myself correctly for either Tanking or Behind the mob for DPS.

Phase2: Rune Dump
Use abilities that consume runes such as Deathstrike. This is a good time to use abilities that generate death runes.

Phase3: Power Dump
Deathcoil, Frost strike, Rune Strike. Que abilities that use Runic power.

Phase4: Upkeep
Burn Horn of Winter for extra RP. Check diseases for how long they have until they need to be reapplied. If diseases have >4-5 seconds left then ill fire off more Rune useing strikes makeing sure the last 2 runes go to Applying my diseases again.