#0 - Jan. 13, 2010, 6:13 a.m.
This guide is not meant for end game raid tanking, but for those who're levelling/tanking as they go - and so I'll be recommending some things which are not used at 80, but will help both the levelling process and tanking in dungeons on the way up. Some builds posted will not be standard cookie cutter builds but will be there to hopefully make mine and other peoples jobs as a healer (on my levelling alts easier) if the new tanks read this and learn from it. This is a primer for tanking, and will discuss some very basic principles, so don't expect a super advanced read.
Contents:
Introduction.
Specs.
Pulling - a how to.
Threat generation and the art of gluing mobs to you.
Your cooldowns and you.
Spell interrupts and the art of not dying to magic.
Gearing for tanking.
Will of Iron.
Conclusion.
Introduction:
The goal of this guide - is not to tell you how to raid tank at 80, or even tank HC's at 80, but to give you the foundations of tanking as a Death Knight to build upon while you get there. Each of the tanks in my guild do things their own ways, and each way is different, but - the groundings of each playstyle are identical. Simply put, there's a few very very important things to get right - and once you've got them right, how you go about the rest is down to you.
So, what makes a tank.. a tank?
Well, firstly and foremost - you're the lunkhead who takes hits in the head for the team. You're the one who's meant to get pounded by the bad guys first and hardest and still have them wailing on you as they scream their last. How can you achieve this well...
1: Survivability
2: Threat Generation
Those two things above are the keys to beating dungeons. It's a small list really, but critical you get both right.
But - you're there thinking, that *can't* be all there is to tanking.. well, not quite no. You, as the tank are also the pace setter for the group, and frequently the unofficial leader of the group. In short - you set the tempo, and the burden and responsibility for wipes will generally sit squarely on your shoulders. It's a crap deal to be frank with you, but it's the price you pay for being a tank, with that said though, tanking is a lot of fun, and I think it's the most enjoyable role in the game too.
And if you're reading this, and still aren't put off, then the role of tank is hopefully one you can enjoy.
Tank Specs:
There are 3 trees which are all good to use while levelling up as a Death Knight, however - some do things better and worse than the other two trees. I'll explain the basics of the tank specs, and key talents for you to pick/choose as you go along (note that some of these will become stronger/weaker as you progress as a tank, and some will eventually fall out of use).
Firstly, the key talents you must get as a tank are the 5/5/5 split in the trees. The talents: Blade Barrier (Blood tree),
Toughness (Frost) and Anticipation (Unholy). These are the founding talents for your tank, as they give you increased armour and avoidance which buff both your survival and threat generation (will be explained further later on).
How do you pick which tree you want to be?
Frost tanking is a Dual Wield spec, and probably the easiest and most forgiving to play. You get incredible snap AoE threat, some very good utility tools, and well.. it is by far the easiest to play. Even at 80, if I need to be aware of whats around me more than the mob in front of me, Frost is my preferred spec for that situation assuming I can survive the confrontation as Frost.
Blood is a very strong tank spec, giving the best self healing, as well as the best health of all the trees, and the buffs you get are just brilliant. Hysteria is just awesome if you cast it on a fellow party member against bosses.
Unholy is my preferred levelling spec, for On a Pale Horse, and has the incredible Ebon Plague, which will increase the dps of all magic users in your group, as well as increasing the damage you do from diseases.
As an Unholy tank, at 61 I'd recommend something akin to this:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#j0xZ0xZ0ghbxbbx0uxzuzo:oVZ0m
You have some unusual talents and a glyph that I cannot say are good for tanking, but will help the levelling process outside of being a tank in instances, because it's silly to expect a player levelling to only tank. These are:
"On a Pale Horse" Probably the best single levelling talent in my not so humble opinion. The move speed increase is just awesome for questing, and you'll still be doing a lot of that.
"Night of the Dead" Sequence of talents and Ravenous Dead. At 80, if you stick with being a UH tank, you won't have your ghoul out all the time, but for levelling it's a real boon to have, and adds to your personal dps when in dungeons.
As you level up, dump points into Rage of Rivendare/Ebon Plaguebringer and Wandering Plague, before moving into the other trees (Gargoyle can be taken, but it is a DPS tool, so it's up to you on this one).
As Frost DW tank at 61, I'd recommend this as a starting spec:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#jZhxe0AMu0c0fuzAo:ToZ0m
Note how as Frost DW tank spec I've ignored the trinity of 5/5/5 and gone straight for deep Frost spec. This is because Howling Blast (HB) is the key to making your life easier as a Frost Tank. It's basically a win button for Threat Generation, and combined with Death and Decay (DnD) will make all the mobs stick to you like glue. And I mean the proper stuff that stuck the pages of the book together in the Ebon Hold before we all went carebear and joined the light. Those avid readers among our ranks will probably already know the book I mean. Hur hur hur.
Once you've gone all the way to deep Frost, then branch into Anticipation and Blade Barrier.
A lot of people don't rate Lichbourne, saying it is a PvP only talent. I disagree, knowing that while you're getting to grips with tanking, a lot of players will be getting to grips with healing or their other roles, and won't necessarily be doing things like instinctively dropping a tremor totem if there's a fear coming up. I know, because Im guilty of it too (I'm not the best healer in the world), so learn to use it until you get with a guild that when you run with them, you don't need it any more.
As Blood tank at 61, I'd recommend this:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#j0EGVh0Icborssx:GoZ0m
Again, deep into Blood for the talents Will of the Necropolis and Blood Gorged, once you have these, go get Anticipation and Toughness. As a tank, I don't rate Dancing Rune Weapon. It's an amazing tool for dpsing, but you don't need it for general quests.
This spec has the most health available for a Death Knight, has the buffs Abominations Might and Hysteria which will help the enemys drop a lot faster.
With the base talent trees out of the way, I felt it good to share a few of the really solid talents that will make life easier:
There are a few really nice talents that you can pick up along the way, these include but are not limited to for the various specs:
Bladed Armour and Scent of Blood from the Blood tree. The synergy between Toughness, Frost Presence and Bladed Armour will increase your attack nicely, and therefore increase your threat generation. Scent of Blood will help you make more Rune Strikes post level 67, which as a tank will be one of your primary threat and damage tools.
Improved Icy Touch and Black Ice from the Frost tree. Improved Icy Touch increases damage and slows the enemy attack speed, and Black Ice is just solid damage increase.
Epidemic and Morbitidy in the Unholy Tree. Epidemic gives diseases longer to tick, so you can do more inbetween refreshing them and morbidity will help by reducing the cooldown on Death and Decay. While you may not end up relying on Death and Decay at level 80, and you will get to a point where you don't actually use it every pull, it's definately worth having early on to speed up pulls when you're starting out.
Meh talents that look good: Butchery, Runic Power Mastery, Unholy Command. As a tank, you shouldn't really need or want any of these. You won't be making killing blows a lot, shouldn't have a full Runic Power (RP) bar, and Death Grip shouldn't be used a lot for general pulls. Casters are the exception but I'll go into those shortly.
Pulling - a how to.
Now you've got your spec sorted for tanking, got your Frost Presence on, and are ready to go, you should get to grips with a few basics of pulling, with my personal do's and don'ts. Once you've got them down, and understand the why's of doing them, then you'll be able to adapt and change them to suit your own playstyle.
I have to state - pulling well is probably the most complicated part of tanking dungeons, and once you've mastered the art of pulling, you'll start to be remembered as a really good tank for dungeoning, even if you're not amazingly geared or overstatted, once you've got this one thing down, the rest of the tanking will fall into place. A good pull is half the work you have to do in a fight.
Pulling isn't just about Death Gripping a mob and letting them run to you. Or charging up to a pack of mobs and dropping Death and Decay down and hoping they'll all hit you and not the healer. You need to be aware of your surroundings, what mobs are nearby, are there any mobs that patrol, do the mobs flee, does the healer have enough mana, are there players missing, etc? Mostly, unless you know the dungeon intimately from a tanking perspective, these are things which will come with experience, and so - to minimise your wipes, take it slowly. To quote Rick Mears "To finish first, you must first finish."
