DK Tank Frost in ICC

[Nalfryn]

Hi,

Well, I'm here to expose you some of my problems, concerning DK's ability to tank in ICC. I've red many threads talking about dk tanking and that we are unable to tank as well as any other class. I didn't trust that, I was perfectly tanking till Festergut last night. Here my spec&stuff : There.
I've seen by my own eyes that I can't tank him, even on 10-man. Whatever I did, I was definitely impotent. Maybe my stuff isn't as good as we need to tank in good conditions on Festergut, that would probably reassure me. Or maybe the DK is definitely unable to be a good tank with an average stuff.

I'm interrested on your opinions, advice or whatever you want to share concerning tanking.

[mangaart1st]

Well, I recently got to Festergut in my guilds 2nd ICC10 on my DW frost dk, and was able to successfully tank it without horrible trouble.

From my experience in 10 man you should have one full inhale and blight, then around 2 more inhales by the time the fight is over or you have hit enrage.

With this thinking I simple made sure I tanked first. I don't have nearly the same gear as you /jealousy so by starting the fight tanking I would have to hold him through the first two inhales, so up to the +60% dmg and attk speed increase. By then I am at 8 debuffs and the pally OT tanks him through the last inhale and the 90% increase phase till the blight.

This really increased my survivability and reduced the healing difficulty my healers where having keeping me up.

Hope that helps, it is definately doable though.

[Vanthus]

I tanked him last week through the toughest part without issue.
When I first taunt him, I immediately used Icebound Fortitude as a buffer to make sure the healers switched over correctly.
After the last inhale, I immediately used Vampiric Blood. I am sure you could use Unbreakable Armor at that point as a buffer.
I had to taunt him again right at the end of the fight, but his damage was not that high during that point.

[poopuu]

Hm, with your gear and spec you should not have any problem tanking Festergut. It should not be any harder then any other tank. Just save your big defensive cooldowns (icebound fortitude) for the third inhale and use the vampiric blood/unbreakable armor/trinkets etc on other damage spikes (inhales).

I have tanked Festergut (25-man) twice successfully as Blood and Unholy. Both worked just fine.

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[Nurasha]

I've tanked both ugly retards with my 2h frost spec. I actually find the exact opposite - Unholy and Frost DK tanks are the best for Rotface because of the amount and durations of the cooldowns possible. Unholy has about 20 sec 20% dmg reduction and frost has an extra 6 seconds IBF + 20 sec noticeable physical damage reduction. I honestly don't appreciate the vampiric blood on this fight, because he hits so fast and so hard, I'd rather reduce the damage taken than increase healing taken since healers don't really get much slack.. He'll take you from 100%-0% between the heals anyways if unlucky or healers not paying attention.

With that said, of course blood tanks can do him I just prefer either other.

[Proletaria]

Blood is great for fester. Wotn can and will save you on unlucky streaks. VB generally provides more than enough cushion for your healers to catch up if they miss a beat, and between phases you're death-strike healing just about any damage you take. I'll admit I like frost for the encounter too, and you're correct in saying mitigating damage feels safter at times, but the reality is that both specs perform well. Also, if you're getting 20seconds of uptime on bone-shield, i'd like to see a log because I've never even come close to that in ICC per my own testing.

[Tank]

Hi,

Well, I'm here to expose you some of my problems, concerning DK's ability to tank in ICC. I've red many threads talking about dk tanking and that we are unable to tank as well as any other class. I didn't trust that, I was perfectly tanking till Festergut last night. Here my spec&stuff : There.
I've seen by my own eyes that I can't tank him, even on 10-man. Whatever I did, I was definitely impotent. Maybe my stuff isn't as good as we need to tank in good conditions on Festergut, that would probably reassure me. Or maybe the DK is definitely unable to be a good tank with an average stuff.

I'm interrested on your opinions, advice or whatever you want to share concerning tanking.

Hi Nalfryn, Festergut requires both your cd and healer cd arrangement.
When Festergut has 3 stack of inheale, he will hit like a truck. What i can suggest is to plan and check the cd that you and your healer have.
Let them know the sequence of your cd plan and have them to plan theirs as well so that you will not use both at the same time.
Start rotating your cd on 2 stacks and on 3 stacks, you can start off with IBF, 20sec later your healer can cast another cd on you to cover the entire period till another tank taunt.

[Kurtosis]

I tanked him for the first time last night on 10man as Blood, and found the tank healers really have to be on the ball for VB to be an effective cd on that fight. Constant stream of crit heals have to be incoming b/f the dmg hits.

However, he does so much dmg I'm not sure Unbreakable Armor is that great of a cd either, especially if you're near the Armor DR cap (75%?). Just how effective is UA these days anyway, when ICC tanks are very near the armor DR cap (aside from the additional parry UA gives)?

[Proletaria]

I tanked him for the first time last night on 10man as Blood, and found the tank healers really have to be on the ball for VB to be an effective cd on that fight. Constant stream of crit heals have to be incoming b/f the dmg hits.

However, he does so much dmg I'm not sure Unbreakable Armor is that great of a cd either, especially if you're near the Armor DR cap (75%?). Just how effective is UA these days anyway, when ICC tanks are very near the armor DR cap (aside from the additional parry UA gives)?

Sigh. Will this myth ever die? Or am i just the best blood dk tank with the greatest healers of all time?

[templar34]

My quick $0.02 on DKs tanking in ICC: we're just fine for it.

I've co-tanked both 25 man and 10 man as Blood first, and now Frost. Our threat is fine, and survivability is fine. In regards to Festergut, I have to say, I do find Frost to be a safer bet than Blood, due to the 18 second IBF, followed by armour-capping with UBA/armour pots and trinkets (usually Glyph/Satrina's). It just feels smoother, which is always the contrast to VB. Your mileage may vary, but being able to handle the 3-inhale phase without external cooldowns makes life a bit easier for the healers.

[Proletaria]

Plz close this anecdotal thread.