The State of DPS in 3.3.3

The gang over at elitistjerks has sim'd all the specs for 3.3.3, and the reports are surprising...

DW Frost seems to have taken the lead for DK DPS Specs, followed by Unholy/Frost.

Always wanting to be the best possible DPS for our raids, I went DW again to check it out for myself. I have a couple of ilvl 251 axes I've accumulated from the gunship--so I respec'd, re-glyphed, equipped the axes and went to work in ICC. I'm at 11% hit with a trink equipped, and have played DW before (pre-nerf), so the semi rotation/priority system is still familiar with me.

In T10/ 251 gear, Rime and Killing Machine proc a shit ton. It makes trash epic fun, but with no threat reduction, definitely makes you pop CD's and death pact to survive. On single targets, though, I was less than impressed. Hit and expertise capped, I expected more damage. ToT didn't seem to be procc'ing nearly as much as it should be, and frost strike didn't seem to be critting very often with KM up--so it felt kinda wasted. As DW I'm at 34% crit unbuffed--so I don't know if something was wrong with the way things were working out, or if it was just a bad RNG night.

*** I've since respec'd and gone into ICC as Unholy, and the same goofy mechanics seem to be happening; on some attempts I'm critting a ton, and others none at all. It's almost as if there's something screwy with close quarter combat. I'm gonna keep looking into this...***

After a night playing DW Frost, I had to go back to Unholy-- So I spec'd into the reapingless Unholy/Frost
build that elitist has deemed to be the most bang for the buck. And it is.

DK Tanking, Frost Style

This one's for you, Amorgan...

First things first--there are really only 2 successful ways to spec as a DK tank: Blood or Frost. While Blood has some general benefits against single targets (ie. raid bosses), for everyday tanking, Frost is my spec of choice. It has some nice burst threat generation, bonus armor and great cooldowns to use on a consistent basis.

Thing #2-- Forget about DW tanking. Yes. You heard that right. I don't care how cool it looks, or that you're swinging faster and thereby generating more threat, or yada yada yada. I've played it. 2H weapons are better itemized for DK tanking--making it easier to hit and expertise cap. And, once these criteria are met, that big 2H wep should be hittin hard enough to make up for the faster swings of DW.

Peep the spec: FROST TANK

You have 3 utility points here. Personally, I'd take 3 points from Scent of Blood and trade for Morbidity for faster DnD cooldown. However, the added runic power means more runestrikes and froststrikes...so it's gonna mean a difference of single target vs. AoE threat...

Rotation(s):
Single Target Rotation - IT-PS-OB-BS-BS IT-PS-OB-OB RPDUMP = RS/FS
Multi-Target Rotation - DnD-IT-PS-Pest then TAB-HB/Pest/BloodBoil RPDUMP = RS/FS




Now that the niceties are over, let's get down to business. DK's aren't Pally's. We can't pull threat then go afk to make a sandwich. We don't have a swipe or cleave, and can't tab-sunder. Tanking is work, and we are a workhorse.

As dps gear increases, you'll find that holding threat on multiple mobs will be a chore. Technically, as dps gear increases, their dps output should increase linearly as well, allowing them to kill shit before it becomes an actual problem.

How to hold threat:
Apply diseases to everything. IT, PS, Pest. This, on top of a DnD is a good start. After the initial pull, pop Empower Rune Weapon to free up some abilities, or Blood Tap to use a Blood Boil. Utilize whatever abilities you have that affect multiple targets. The idea here is, the more damage you do to everything, the more threat you hold on everything. Keep an eye on diseases, and dont refresh until they're about to fall off. Runewatch is an excellent addon that will help you watch disease times...
And if you find yourself in a GCD situation with extra runic power, tab-Frost Strike to spread the love =)

Proc's: For extra burst threat, make sure to Howling Blast whenever you see Freezing Fog and Killing Machine up. This is a FREE Crit on everything in range. If you want to make attending to these buffs easy, pickup an addon called "needtoknow." It's a little bar timer that pops up for whatever buffs you tell it to, and counts em down till they expire. Put these two in, and when you see em pop up, HB without thinking.

Macro's: Rune Strike is your friend. Macro that shit to all of your abilities, and put em all on your bar. Its free damage and free threat.

#showtooltip SomeAbility

/cast SomeAbility

/cast !Rune Strike

This macro will cast your ability and then queue up runestrike. It's money.


Survivability: I like to tell new DK's to get used to using your taunt instead of Deathgripping. Taunt, lay DnD, and then apply diseases. This way, if one of your over-zealous dps pulls a mob off you, you can DG it back (which is like giving em the finger and a big F-U). This method basically just gives you some added utility if something goes bad. Also-- you have cooldowns for a reason. Anti-Magic Shell, Icebound Fortitude, Trinks, Unbreakable Armor...these are all at your disposal. Use them consistently, and use them often. They're all on relatively short cooldowns, so unless you're waiting for a fusion punch to the face, make the healers life a little easier and pop em at will.

Other things to note: Gem for stam. Always. Our healthpools are noticeably lower than the other tank classes, and while added parry and dodge are nice, gemming for stam will allow you to live through that one extra hit...

Remember, DK's are about all damage, all the time. Maximizing it is the key to holding threat, and our CD's are paramount for our survivability. Do these things and you will succeed.

If you build it, they will come.

There is NO Muthafucking SANTA CLAUS

I was wondering why I wasn't seeing bigger numbers. I coulda swore that shit was better tues night....I'm going back Blood.

Death Knight Forums via Ghostcrawler

Reasons behind the Scourge Strike nerf:
Players have made several requests for more explanation on the Scourge Strike nerf. I tried to find a post to respond to, but the ones I found were very angry and I didn't feel like a response in there was going to do anything to discourage more angry posts. So I'll just do it here.We initially started mucking around with Scourge Strike based on numerous requests and complaints from Unholy DKs that their talented strike wasn't very appealing. At the time a lot of Unholy DKs were just using Obliterate instead, especially in PvE. Their logic made a lot of sense. It's obvious that the tree is built around Scourge Strike to some extent. There are many talents that are less interesting without Scourge Strike.

Side note 1: *You* personally may have been happy with Scourge Strike as it was. We don't take a public vote on these things. When players make a lot of sense, the designers sit down and discuss whether we agree with them and whether than warrants any changes. In this case we thought it did.

Side note 2: We have a design law around the office, named for one of the designers here, that anything overpowered is fun. There was a time when Scourge Strike hit for silly numbers. Many DKs knew it did too much damage. Others were nostalgic for that day, perhaps even subconsciously. I've read several times before something else that makes a lot of sense: too many DKs want a class that hits as often as a rogue but hits as hard as a warrior. You can see the problem there. As long as DKs do so much spell and disease damage, their strikes can't hit for really big numbers. (If you don't care about spells and disease damage, then you're probably playing the wrong class.)

In any event, we tried a lot of different things with the talent. You can probably find my old posts. There were many, which makes these claims that DKs were ignored ring a little hollow. We couldn't make it just hit as hard as a physical swing since it completely ignored armor. The problem was that in a raid environment in which armor was routinely sundered / exposed or otherwise bypassed, Scourge Strike's smaller base damage fell short. Again, you can find more detail in older posts.

That's why we came upon the answer of letting Scourge Strike do half physical damage. Half of the attack would respect armor (and therefore sundered armor as well) but the other half could still benefit from all of the DK abilities that improve Shadow damage. As a side bonus, this made the armor penetration on so much of the dps plate slightly more attractive to Unholy DKs. Players argued that this made the ability less interesting or even compromised. We understood the logic there, so we tried to let the physical and Shadow portions crit separately. We knew there was a risk of it feeling too RNG, and some players brought up that risk. But remember we were still trying to solve two other problems (SS needs to hit hard and not be boring) so we decided to try it anyway.

The parses that came out of the PTR weren't too bad. There were some big hits of course, but they didn't happen too often and in PvP the damage didn't seem out of control. Remember though, our PTRs are voluntary. We get some great players trying things out and sending feedback, which is awesome and much appreciated. We have great internal testers who beat on the raid encounters over and over again before they're ready to go public. But none of that testing compares to the flood of data we get the day something goes live. The handful of Icecrown raid parses grew by thousands over night, and many of those had Unholy DKs doing much higher damage than was warranted. Go check out any parse by a decent guild for the Icecrown raid. Once you skip over all the Mutilate rogues, there are all the Unholy DKs.Maybe in retrospect we made a mistake messing with Scourge Strike at all. Maybe a superior solution would have been to let some Unholy DKs just migrate over to Obliterate or whatever. Just remember as passionately as you feel about things now, many DKs felt just as passionately back then when they urged us to reconsider Scourge Strike. As another designer commented recently "You rarely see indifferent players come to the forums to post their indifference.

"Will it stay this way for long? It's too early to tell. This implementation has a chance of working out, but we also want to see the Icecrown hard modes start up as well as the new Arena season kick in.

Drumroll Please.... 3.3 DK DPS Spec's

(Revised just for Ari=)

With 3.3 around the corner, I thought I'd lay this out for all you DK's out there. Scourge strike is back with a vengeance, and the new loot in 3.3 will make it easier than ever to make sure you're stat-weighted the way you want it =)

Let's dive in, shall we?

Unholy 17/0/54
This is a good time for us guys...so make me proud =p
Keep your 4 pc of T9 until you've accumulated 2 pc T10.
Pop your army 2x as much, watch boneshield at that 5 min mark.

Single Target:
PS-IT-BS-BS-SS-DC-HoW
SS-DC-SS-SS-DC
(Repeat!)

Stat weights (after hit/expertise cap): Str>Crit>ArP


Blood 51/0/20-- Same as 3.2

Single Target:
PS-IT-HS-HS-DS-Dump
DS-HSx4

Stat weights (after hit/expertise cap): Str>ArP

The Death Knight: Back to Basics

I've been wanting to write one of these for a while, now. A night or so ago, a fellow DK in a friends guild asked for a bit of help improving his dps--after a few other random whispers from others on the realm, it finally pushed me to delve into this thing, head first.

So let's begin at the beginning.

Runic System: The Basics
Unlike other classes that use mana, or generate rage, DK's have Runes. 6 to be exact:
2-Frost, 2-Unholy, and 2-Blood. Each of these runes has its own specific cool down, and each of our abilities (strikes) needs one rune, or a combination of runes to work. Upon using these abilities, we are filled with Runic Power (which is used to power other abilities).

Because our runes have an ICD (internal cooldown), the consensus is that in order to maximize our potential for damage, we need utilize our runes in a way that makes use of all of them in a determined amount of time.


Diseases
Another staple mechanic of DK damage is disease. Diseases, when applied act as a DoT (damage over time) effect on the target. When applied to one target, the damage done by diseases is nice. However, when facing multiple targets, the spreading of these DoT's will help maximize dps (and threat if you're a tank).

The two main diseases are Blood Plague and Frost Fever. Blood Plague is applied using Plague Strike, and Frost Fever is applied using Icy Touch.


Talent Tree Independant Abilities
All Deathknights have abilities that are independant of the talent tree they choose to spec themselves into. These abilites are single rune abilities (with the exception of Death and Decay), and I generally categorize them into two groups: Single Target Abilities, and AoE(Area of Effect, or multiple mob) Abilites.

Single Target Abilities: Icy Touch*, Plague Strike*, Blood Strike

Multiple Mob Abilities: Pestilence, Blood Boil, Death and decay

***Icy Touch and Plague Strike, while single abilities, may be spread to
multiple targets using Pestilence***

Talent Tree Dependant Abilities
So you've got down the basic Death Knight abilities up top, now let's talk about what makes each tree unique. The talent trees are broken down and categorized just like the runes we have: Blood, Frost, and Unholy. The talents in each tree are designed so that they boost stats, or damage, or develop synergy between certain abilities. However, each Tree also utilizes a specific Strike, native to that particular tree.

Blood has Death Strike
Frost has Obliterate
Unholy has Scourge Strike

If you notice, all of these abilites have one thing in common: they all require a frost and unholy rune to use...


Rotation Rotation Rotation
A rotation is basically a list of abilities that can be used sequentially to produce the maximum amount of damage (or from a tanks perspective, produce the max amount of threat)
Rotations are created while keeping a number of factors in mind: applying diseases, using our hardest hitting abilities, and making use of all of our runes in such a way that when the rotation is finished, our runes are available again to use. A rotation may also potentially fill us with enough runic power to open up some of our other abilities to use.


Runic Powered Abilities
Some of our abilities don't require the use of our runes. These abilities are instead, fueled by runic power (RP). Some are designed to deal damage, and others to mitigate it. RP damage dealing abilities are generally used at the completion of a rotation, when it is at its max level, however they can be used at any time you have enough RP to fire off an RP ability. The basic DK damage dealing RP ability is Death Coil, however there are others that are talent tree dependant, such as Frost Strike, Gargoyle, and Dancing Rune Weapon.


Putting it All Together
Putting it all together can be daunting, so I'll simplify it the best I can.

1. Spec
2. Rotation
3. Stat Weighting
4. Practice

The first thing you need to do is decide which tree you like playing, and create a spec that fits your needs. You'll find cookie cutter dps specs here on my blog, and in the DK threads over at the EJ forums. I always recommend looking at these first, due to the extent at which they have been tested. The links you'll find should come complete with optimal glyph choices as well. I like to compare sticking to a widely accepted Spec and glyph combo with building a solid foundation to a house: its not just the ingredients that make a foundation strong. It's the synergy between the ingredients...

Along with the spec/glyph combo, you'll find a rotation of abilities that has been optimized either for single target dps, or multiple mob (AoE) dps. Again, these abilities have been proven to do the maximum amount of damage, and should be learned inside and out. Completing a rotation is very easy on stagnant fights, but you'll need to know your abilities inside and out on movement fights, and fights when you'll need to pop damage mitigating cool downs to survive. Spend some time on a practice dummy practicing your rotation--run around, get a feel for it. Run out by Ebon Watch and practice on one of those gigantic skeletons...knowing a rotation like the back of your hand, and how your abilities work together, will allow you to get back on track if something gets borked for some reason.

Now that you've got your spec and rotation mapped out. Let's take a look at your stats. More importantly, are you hit capped? Expertise capped? Hit cap ensures that you can hit your target, and expertise ensures that your opponent doesn't dodge or parry them.

Hit Cap is currently 8% (on mouse hover) or 262.3 Rating
Expertise Cap is 26

If you've already obtained these stats, then you really want to fill your gem slots with Strength gems...

You'll notice other stats on your gear though: critical strike rating, haste, armor penetration, etc. To learn more about those, and how they affect your spec click HERE. =) You'll find that each tree benefits from stats differently, so I highly recommend you give it a glance. Oh, and if you're looking for a list of gems and gear enchants: HERE.

***Note: the previous page hasn't been updated to reflect epic gems***

Wheeeeeew!!!

Now that you've got the basics down, time to put them to practice. Run some heroics, some 10 mans, some 25 mans, and then evaluate yourself. What are you doing well? What can you do better? Is the stat weighting on your gear optimized for the spec your playing? Or has it shifted to benefit another? When you think you're ready to explore the finer details and nuances of the Death Knight, head on over to elitistjerks and delve into the class forums there. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Resurrecting Scourge Strike: Unholy 3.3

Its almost upon us! What's that you say??? Cataclysm? Fuck no! Who cares about Cataclysm when mothereffin Scourge Strike is coming back!!!

News and numbers keep rolling in from the PTR regarding scourge strike; its fully functional--and constantly being tested by the fine folks over at the EJ forums. Word on the street is that it's goooood. Unless you've been hiding under a rock these last few patches, you undoubtedly know that the unholy strike was nerfed beyond all repair (to compensate for arena). First we had to gear ArP and use obliterate, then with 4 pc. T9 our diseases helped roll us to the top of the charts again--but no more shenanigans, my friends. Scourge Strike is making its way back into our arsenal.




Essentially, scourge strike has been redesigned so that its damage is split between two (2) parts: physical and shadow.

Physical
Scourge Strike's physical damage portion hits like any other physical strike.

Shadow

"The shadow portion of the attack does double dip into certain buffs/talents
(Blood Presence, Desolation, Two Handed Weapon Specialization, Bone Shield,
Ferocious Inspiration, Subversion, Vicious Strikes, Dark Conviction) and it does
benefit from shadow/magical damage specific modifiers (Ebon Plague, Black Ice).
It can crit separately from the physical portion (although if the physical
portion crits, the shadow portion will have its damage increased accordingly,
whether or not it crits - which means when both parts crit, your SS can do
ridiculous numbers). The shadow portion cannot be dodged or parried, nor can it
miss. It can be partially resisted. " -credited to Consider over @ EJ

What this basically means, is that scourge strike will be buffed significantly, and we'll get to see some insanely high crits like we used to... =)

3.3 Spec and Rotation

17/0/54

This proposed spec is very reminiscent of the 17/0/54 of old. However, it does drop IUP due to the unholy tree changes over the last few patches. And, the rotation's gonna play slightly different because of disease rolling:

(1a) PS- IT- BS- BS- SS- DC- HoW- DC
(2a) PS- IT- SS- SS- DC- DC

These will be the opening rotations to get deathrunes activated, and trinket procs to roll high AP diseases. Once you've got the AP where you want it:

(1b) SS- Pest- BS- SS- DC- HoW- DC
(2b) SS- DC- SS- SS- DC

Keep in mind that even though SS is fully functioning on the PTR, it is still subject to change at any time. Keep your fingers crossed, though =)

Unholy, Oh How I've Missed You...

I'm a perfectionist. I'm constantly in search of new raid strategies, DPS theories, pretty much anything that will help me (or my team) edge out the competition. Back when Tier 7 was in full swing, I was an unholy DK--out deepsing some of our servers best DK's (still have some screenies to prove it) and...it...was...AWESOME.

But, since the Great Scourge Strike nerfing (of 3.2?), the spec just hasn't been the same. I recently tried it a few weeks ago, if you recall, and reported that it sucked balls. I jumped the gun.

ElitistJerks reports that Blood out-deeps' Unholy when it comes to single target dps. The margine may be narrow, but these peeps sure know their math on the subject, so I trust their calls. What I have forgotten, lately, is that these guys sim-out BiS gear. Which I definitely do not have. I am, however, rocking 4 pieces of T9, which gives a nice chance to crit my disease ticks--and as I'm looking at the top DK's on the server (I'm #16 currently), I'm noticing that most are unholy. This got me thinking...

So I go crawling back to my old flame (Unholy), last night; head in hands, a bottle of wine and some Barry White...and she accepts me with welcomed arms.

Top the charts in VoA-25, and then again in Ony-10 (hit close to 11k during welp phase). Even against a single target, the triple disease-critting ticks are too much even for Bloods ample cooldowns. Oh how I've missed unholy...

I still don't recommend the spec if you don't have the 4 piece bonus from T9, but damn, it's so worth it if you do.

3.2.2 DK DPS Specs

Patch Day! Which means another day of respeccing or rotation tweaking for all of us DK's out there. Here are the most optimal DPS specs for 3.2.2:

Unholy 2H 17/0/54
Glyphs:
Ghoul
Dark Death
Icy Touch

PS- IT- SS- BS- BS- DC- HoW- DC
PS- IT- SS- BS- BS- DC- DC

*Trust me on the Icy touch here...you need the added Runic Power to fire off Deathcoils, as this will be one of the harder hitting abilites for unholy. Haste in 3.2.2 has also been found to be the next highest weighted (secondary) stat, after hit>expertise>str.


Blood 2H 51/0/20
Glyphs:
Dark Death
Dancing Rune Weapon
Death Strike

*Blood dps has pretty much remained unscathed during the patch process--still hits hard as ever, with the exception of the nerf to heartstrike's cleave, which now hits the second target for 50% damage. What is notable to watch out for, is whether or not Blizz added deathstrike into the Sigil of Virulence, which would quickly make it favorable for blood.

DW Frost is still the same as ever, though I didn't list it here, cause, frankly, obtaining the hit needed to successfully utilize it is a bit out of my reach-- and I really haven't seen anyone on the server (personally) gear it to a successful end. With BiS gear, or the right wep's with hit rating trink(s), DW is very nice. Having to gem for hit though just took away too much AP for me...


***UPDATE 09/25/2009***
I tinkered around with unholy the last few days, and I can say that I am thoroughly dissatisfied. It is consistently lower on raid boss dps (single target) than blood--Running with 2 pc/T8 and 2pc/T9 gear. That will definitely change after receiving the 4pc T9 set bonus, but until then, it is still very lackluster. Even with the nerf to ArP, blood is still able to edge it out.

DW Tanking, and Why it SUCKS

I can't take it anymore!!!!

Everywhere I look, DK's are trying to DW tank, and it makes no frickin sense! So much potential lost on stupidity...

Let's examine the basic principles of DK tanking, and why DW sucks ass. I'll try to esplain the best I can.


Why Anyone would want to DW Tank: Myths/Beliefs
1.) It Looks Cool
2.) Stats are better on 2x 1H's vs. 2H
3.) Greater TPS (threat generation)


Ok--so now you have some reasoning behind actually equipping 2x 1-handers to tank. Now, for some edu-muh-cation:

Threat:
A DK's threat (other than DnD) is based on damage. The higher the damage, the higher the TPS (threat per second). A DK's strike damage (as well as all other classes) is normalized, and based on weapon speed. Melee weapons are broken down into 3 categories: 1.7, 2.4, and 3.3--the slower the weapon, the greater the damage, thus the more threat is generated.

Now, with the inclusion of Threat of Thessarian into the Frost tree, it is semi-plausable to create a DW tank-spec. I say semi plausable, because maximizing DW costs an additional 4 points vs. its 2H predecessor. 4 points that would have to be removed from either Bladed Armor, or other beneficial points in the unholy tree. With Nerves of Cold steel, and Threat of Thessarian maxed, theoretically, strike damage would be up to par with a 2H build.

Now, there are 2 problems with this:
1.) Hit Cap
2.) Strike Normalization

Obtaining 8% hit cap for a 2H tanking build is easy. DW is another story. At 13% hit rating, DW still misses a large chunk of the time. Missing causes problems, not only with rotations and runes, but also for generating threat (especially since all Tanking 1H's are fast, thus the damage created is on par with daggers). DW tanks also need a solid amount of expertise to avoid parry-gibs. The expertise cap for DW is 64 skill (500 rating)--obtaining this number is quite difficult. If not capped, then DW tanking with 2x 1.6 speed weapons actually increases the chance of being parry-gibbed by 3.75x...

On average, dual wielding tanking weapons add an extra 2% avoidance (but lose out on AP stats like strength, which translates into damage), however, the amount of attacks more than doubles, thus increasing the chance to be parried as such. Boss parry-haste can stack multiple times, therefore attacks against you have the chance to come faster and faster. This causes more damage more quickly, and places added stress on the healers; in endgame it can ultimately cause a wipe (think steelbreaker).

Conclusion
Trading out a strong 2-hander for 2x 1-handers may lead to additional defense skill and avoidance, but really neglects the basic principles of DK tanking. Be able to hit the boss, be able to hit the boss hard (TPS), and don't be parried. DW tanking begins at a disadvantage in all of these areas. So while it may look cool, and may be functional for trivial things like heroics and SM runs (at lvl 80), it is not at all acceptable for endgame raiding.

Everyone knows you don't go full retard.

Blood DPS Revisited

Yesterday afternoon, I spent a good amount of time catching up with DK dps spec's; both current and PTR configurations. I've been playing unholy 12/05/59 with the same set-up for so long, I wanted to revisit blood 51/0/20 to see how it compared. I deleted my tank spec for the time being, glyphed for blood, and headed into Naxx 25 with the El Veritas crowd.

The overall boost to damage with blood is awesome. Veteran of the Third War added about 100 Str, which translates into a sizable AP boost--and +400 to overall damage. The stat increase alone was enough to make me swoon...now to put it to use.

Starting in Arachnid Quarter, dps on Anub was ok. I ended up in top spot just a couple hundred dps above everyone else. Not too bad. Faerlina was a tough battle, ended up in the top 3 for overall dmg, but was about 4th in actual dps. We AoE'd all the adds achievement style, and even with Heart Strike's free cleave, I just couldnt cut it.


When I changed back to unholy, the next couple of fights I out dps'd the group by 1000. /0.o

Now, I've seen the WWS stats and spreadsheets to know that blood has awesome potential. I just don't think that its my style anymore...


Cool Downs

CD management for blood kinda sucks. With unholy, my ghoul is up 100% of the time, and can live through just about anything. Gargoyle is a button press, and requires no effort, really. Diseases refresh with Glyph of Scourge Strike, so the only real boost that needs managing is bone-shield.

Blood, on the other hand, requires more...you have to self cast hysteria, then DRW (and if they're macro'd together, you have to make sure that theyre both off CD), and these are short lived, so in between popping these CD's, you have a short term ghoul to mess with. The CD's are so short, that half the fight is popping CD's--and then DRW requires that you are constantly attacking; its not free dps like gargoyle is.

Sooooo.....

No matter how simple the rotation is, this DK will take diseases anyday. CD management in blood just seems a bit too messy for me--especially on fights that are movement intensive. I'm just too unholy at heart to want to switch. =)

Death Knights: 3.2 Changes URGENT

Lots of changes.... Frost tree and DW building, DPS CD's like DRW and Gargoyle...

So much that I'm just gonna link, and expound later.

Will definitely be on the PTR this go around.

Read all about the Changes in 3.2 Here.

DW is Coming Back, Baby!!!

I Like swords.
BIG, masculine, 2 handers with larger than life damage...

But anyone playing pre-patch will tell you that DW was the way to go--insane dps, awesome TPS...
(DRUMROLL)

in a forum post:


2009-05-20 22:41:50
Re: Please dont write off DW DKs
Next major patch.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ghostcrawler
Lead Systems Designer

You read that right!
DW is coming back, baby!

ShysteChris....failtank

So I've been wanting to branch out my role in the guild, and be able to MT or OT when needed. As more and more people join, I think it will be beneficial to be able to successfully run 2, 10-man groups to get players some gear. The thing is, I've never tanked any Heroic Dungeons...

Last night I attempted to tank.
And those of you that actually know me, know how much of a hardcore DPSer I am. The 2 really don't mix. My tank set mainly consists of blues that I've picked up from heroics, and a couple of epics that I was able to get with Hero Badges... but no dual-spec for me...so I was still in DPS Unholy; needless to say, H UP was quite a disaster. I guess it didn't help that I was spec'd into Subversion. =(

So....my goal as of late is to collect the few hundred more gold I need to dual spec--and run with a more TPS tank build.

When I do, I'll probably try out:


Tank Spec: 12/51 /8


If I find that I can live w/out the CD of DnD from Morbidity...I'll prob move 3 points into Acclimation for the resistance.

How to be a Better Player

I read an interesting post today from a Guild Leader/MT that was titled, "How to be an Ensidia player."

For those of you that don't know-Ensidia is the #1 Raiding Guild in the world. They took the honors of world-first Yogg Saron kill, and have some of the greatest players the game has ever seen. Anyone that raids, or is interested in end-game, would generally jump at the chance to play with the best. Sadly, many of us are not quite on that level. So this post dedicated to each of us finding our way there:

How to be a Better Player

1. Research. Research. Research.-- Find a site you can trust, with members that are interested in bettering themselves. Where methods are tried and tested, and where members have accomplished information to share.

2. Ask for Criticism-- And be able to handle it. Do you know a better (DK, Mage, Hunter, Pally [insert class here])? What are they doing different? What are they doing the same? Keep an open mind, and listen to what they have to say. See if what they're telling you matches up to #1 (above).

3. Be the Best [insert class here]--This doesn't mean acting like the best, or holding a few hundred dps over someone's head. It means knowing your class inside and out. Can you re-spec without looking at a cheatsheet? Do you know why/how your talents compliment eachother the way they do? Learn all the fights, be able to take control of your situation. Being the best doesn't just mean spamming buttons for a spec and rotation that someone else has laid out for you. The best players know why their rotations work, and are able to improvise during fast fights and unexpected situations.

Blood DPS

So for those of you DK's that like dps'ing in blood, here are the builds for 3.1

For new DK raiders, Blood will be a definite improvement to dps, as well as be more forgiving in the survivability area.

The Specs:
DRW Build: 51/2/18
UB Build: 50/0/21

The Rotation:
(1) DS-IT-PS-HS-HS-DCx2
(2) HSx2-DS-HSx2-DCx2


Notes on builds:
There's not much difference between builds. DRW for short bursty fights, UB for sustained DPS and AoE. There's a reason why these builds are cookie cutter, so I wouldn't play with the talents really. No bloodworms because they eat AoE heals...
T8 gear is an upgrade for blood over T7.5 (4 pc.)

Unholy DPS

I haven't always been an Unholy DK. Truth be told, i actually used to hate it. I levelled in frost, and then dps'd in blood after dinging 80. I only went Unholy a couple months back for the perma-ghoul, and the raid buff...but after doing so, I can't imagine going back.

Unholy has some major advantages in PvE DPS. Perma-ghoul, shadow damage, and the scaling is ridiculous after 3.1--we actually got buffed. And, until the frost tree gets a makeover, Unholy spec has been tested to be the highest DPS output over Blood (but only slightly).


The Spec: 12/0/59

Major Glyphs: Glyph of Ghoul, Scourge Strike, Dark Death
Minor Glyphs: Horn or Winter, Raise Dead, Pestilence

Rotation:
(1) IT-PS-BS-BS-SS- RP (Runic Pwr Dump) UB/DC
(2) SS-SS-SS- RP(DCx2)

Unholy is about a proiority list of attacks. Diseases should be up always. Unholy Blight should be refreshed every 20 seconds, and if using an attack will put you over the Runic power cap, fire off a Death Coil first.

Now, because SS glyph can refresh diseases, a third rotation is possible
(1A) SS-BS-BS-SS - RP

If you're having problems keeping track of diseases, I recommend Runewatch... =)

Remember: Keep diseases tickin, and don't go over RP. /FTW


*Side Note*
Currently, T7.5 is best in slot for Unholy... that may change with updates, but for now, keep that 4pc bonus.