DK F.A.Q.

What is the best race for a Death Knight?

While others may have their own opinions, I’m a firm believer in race choice being purely aesthetic. Some races may have racial skills that may suit tanking or DPS better than others, but when it comes down to it, you’re going to be staring at your character’s behind for a good portion of your time playing Warcraft. At least make it one you can stand to look at. For those that want useful racial skills for tanking, here’s a run down –

Draenai – Gift of the Naaru (Heals the target 50 + 15/Level over 15 sec – 40 yd range – 1.5 sec cast – 3 min cooldown. The amount healed is increased based on the caster’s Spell Power or Attack Power. This ability does not lose casting time from taking damage) and Heroic Presence (Increases chance to hit with all spells and attacks by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards). A free HoT and extra hit rating is nothing to sneeze at, whether you’re soloing or in a group. Gift of the Naaru is particularly attractive to Unholy and Frost specs, which aren’t centered around self-healing as Blood is.

Dwarves – Stoneform (While active, grants immunity to Bleed, Poison, and Disease effects. In addition, Armor increases by 10%. Lasts 8 sec). Nice defensive boost with Stoneform, though the rest of the dwarven racial abilities are mediocre at an exaggerated best. Frost resistance is nice, but nothing special. Gun specialization and Find Treasure are useless to the tanking DK.

Gnomes – Escape Artist (Instant cast, 1.75 min cooldown. Escape the effects of any immobilization or movement speed reduction effect). One of the best racials around, for both PvE and even more for PvP. The downside is you have to be a troll’s snack to utilize this great racial.

Humans – Sword and Mace Specialization (Expertise with Swords, Maces, Two-handed Swords, and Two-handed Maces increased by 3) and Every Man for Himself (Removes all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your character. This effect shares a cooldown with other similar effects). The expertise is wonderful to a tanking DK, which reduces the chance your attacks will be dodged, blocked, or parried. The parry reduction is especially great to a tank, as whenever a mob parries, his swing timer is reset, which means you get smacked in the face faster. Every Man for Himself is another great racial, similar to the Gnomes’ Escape Artist.

Night Elves – Quickness (Reduces the chance that melee and ranged attackers will hit you by 2%). Extra dodge rating isn’t something any tank should pass up.

Blood Elves – Arcane Torrent (Silences all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec and restores 15 Runic Power). Great ability, in both PvE and PvP. The downside is that by picking a Blood Elf, you’ll make trolls cry. True story.

Orc – Blood Fury (2 min cooldown, Increases attack power by (Level*4)+2 per character level (322 at 80). Lasts 15 sec), Hardiness (Duration of Stun effects reduced by an additional 15%), Command (Damage dealt by Death Knight, Hunter and Warlock pets increased by 5%), and Axe Specialization (Expertise with Axes and Two-handed Axes increased by 5). Orcs are one of the only races who don’t have a single racial trait not suitable for tanking. Command may really only be decent for Unholy DKs, but it’s still worth mentioning as many Unholy DK choose the tanking route. If you want to tank, an Orc would be an excellent choice.

Tauren – War Stomp (2 min cooldown, 0.5 sec cast time. Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 2 sec) and Endurance (Base health increased by 5%). War Stomping at a critical time can buy healers enough time to get a crucial heal off and save your fuzzy behind if you choose to go Tauren. Endurance, I think, is arguably the best tanking racial out of all of them, but some would rather be a gnome than listen to everyone moo at you all day.

Trolls – Da Voodoo Shuffle (Reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 15%). You can’t tank what you can’t get to if you’re snared or rooted. I chose not to include the Berserking racial (Increases your attack speed by 10% to 30%. At full health the speed increase is 10% with a greater effect up to 30% if you are badly hurt when you activate Berserking. Lasts 10 sec) as I as a troll DK tank have yet to use it in any tanking situation. It’s mildly helpful while soloing, but since it’s real power comes when you’re already half dead, it usually doesn’t make buy you much time. The troll’s increased Regeneration is all right, but nothing great. The best thing about choosing a troll though, is that you’re a troll! Do a /laugh, /cry, /laugh, /cry, /train emote chain one time, see how well it flows together, and you’ll realize you’ve picked the perfect race.

Undead – Will of the Forsaken (2 min cooldown, Removes any Charm, Fear and Sleep effect). Another PvP trinket-esque type ability. Great for if you get charmed by a boss and start beating on your healer. I chose not to include Cannibalization because if your healer is doing their job, you’ll rarely use it in group situations. Can be quite handy for soloing, however.

Are Death Knights an “anti-Paladin?”

I’ve been asked this question numerous times, and the answer isn’t what people think at first. No, Death Knights are not the “anti-paladin” class. In many respects, DKs and Pallies are quite similar, especially in AE tanking ability. However, I pity the poor DK who gets it into his head that he is the PvP “Anti-Paladin” and pops Lichborne against the first Pally he comes across. Lichborne turns you undead, and we all know what happens when paladins are faced with undead opponents. They tear through Unholy DK pets, Frost DKs in Lichborne, heal through our attacks, and cleanse our DoTs. I’ll include a DK vs. Pally PvP guide a bit later on, but the short answer is “No. DKs are in no way, PvE or PvP, the anti-Pally.”

What is the best spec for tanking?

There is no real “tank” spec for a DK. All three talent trees were designed to be able to tank or DPS. What I look for in a DK tank when I’m not playing Sharvhan is 5/5 Blade Barrier from Blood, 5/5 Toughness from Frost, and 5/5 Anticipation in Unholy then points in any tree (that’s not completely boneheaded) and decent tank gear. Once you have those three talents maxed, you’re golden. The rest is simply up to your personal play style. I enjoy the AE aspect and Frost abilities, so that’s the reason why I chose Frost. Self healing of Blood didn’t appeal to me, and I already have a hunter for a pet class, so I didn’t go Unholy.

Should I dual-wield or use two-handers when tanking?

A touchy subject for most DKs, the Elitist Jerks forums will tell you DW tanking is completely unviable due to mob parry haste. However. I believe DW tanking to be viable as long as you are aware that you will be at a disadvantage if not properly geared. By dual wielding, the mobs you will be tanking will have an increased chance to parry your attacks, as you will be hitting more often. When a mob parries your attacks, their swing timer is reset, causing them to hit you sooner than they would had they not parried your attack. This can cause you to be a mana drain on your healers if you are not careful. Paying attention to your expertise rating will lower the chance your attacks will be parried, so I (as a DW tank myself) make sure to rate expertise as high as parry and dodge rating on gear.

Two-handers aren’t without their share of downsides. Slower swing times make missing even one swing seem like an eternity between hits, which means loss of DPS, which then leads to a loss of threat output. Hit rating is as important for two-handed tanking as it is for DW tanking because of this. The slower swing time means you’ll be relying less on white damage to generate threat and relying more on your special abilities, so you need to be on your game with rotations.

I personally believe that like spec, DW vs Two-handers is a stylistic preference. Both have their upsides and downsides, and both have to be specced for DW/Two-handers to be viable in their own right. Look for a more detailed post with hard DPS and TPS (threat per second) numbers in the future on this subject.