Death Knight ThoughtsFollow

So I thought one of the first threads on this forumshould be what you are waiting to do, hoping for,etc. once DK hits WoW.

I'm curious as to how a "tanking class that uses two-handed weapons" is going to work out. I see it as better for DPS, obviously, which given the current game mechanics would make it excel at 5-man groups when equipped with better gear (right now tanks need to downgrade their tank gear when go back to 5-mans so they can keep up with aggro generation, especially when survivability isn't all that important).

Agreeing with the former Admiral, they must have some kind of new mechanic using the runes that will increase their avoidance. Somehow I doubt "Death Rune of the Monkey" is going to be the name, but it might be something similar that simply adds a set amount of dodge.

Seeing as there are (three?) rune types, they might have it be something like the forms of the Shivaan Assassin; ice will be the tanking, with some snares and mitigation, shadow is the recovery, and fire is the cleansing/DPS form. If that happens, then using a combination of frost/shadow (death?) runes will be for the tanking form.

Basically, we have no idea, but it's fun to post in a new forum :)

Perhaps a huge increase in parry rate?

I'm sure it will be balanced that a DK will not have the armor of a prot warrior and dps of an arms warrior. I doubt blizzard would make that big of a mistake... *knocks on wood*. I'm guessing the 3 talent trees will be 1 dps tree for spells and CC, 1 pure dps tree, and 1 tanking tree.

As to the OP I'm really interested in seeing them as tanks and how that works out with the rune system. I imagine that you'll be using most of your rune cooldowns as mitigation or threat enhancement abilities if you're tanking. If not tanking then rune cooldowns used as dps or threat reduction abilities. I can see how having a high parry chance would be amazing for them especially if tanking with a big slow 2 hander.

We'll have to see how it works especially since its an entirely new system. All the current tanks generate a lot more threat when they are being hit. Warriors/Druids gain rage by being hit which is used on abilities, Palys **** things off when things hit their shield and their mana is recharged through healing. As to DK no one really knows yet. I assume that DK's will tank slightly differently just like warriors, druids, palys tank and that some encounters will favor certain tanking styles.

Edited, Apr 14th 2008 1:08am by Mehdik

True Placeholder shield block does work nicely in the crush formula for warriors and palys. However, Druids tank without shield block OR PARRY. Their advantages are a really high dodge, max armor, and high Hitpoints.

I imagine that if DK's are viable tanks Bliz will have to make up for the lack of a shield in some other way. This could be done through traditional ways like higher dodge+parry on par with a druid dodge, more armor bonuses, or more hitpoints. It could also be done through non-traditional ways like life regen/leeching abilities.

But they are a hero class...shouldn't they be OP?

Without a shield, they will have no where near as much armor as a prot warrior. Unless it is a telent spec.....hmmmmmm....

i still can't get past the fact everyone and their mother will be making one, and everyone of them will want to be playing theirs.

Im going to make one for sure, too inviting since you get to skip the majority of azeroth, its just not going to be that extraordinary. Unless they decide to make the prereq quest insanely tough, i would appreciate that though, even if it meant i couldnt make one.

I will remain the pessimist until i see it in action. that way i wont be disappointed.

You won't get a reference, because that poster read the article wrong. Death Knights will not be able to use shields, and the reasoning behind it is what he quoted. Blizzard also specifically said they will be a DW or 2H tank.

I'm looking forward to skipping 50 levels on an alt more then anything else.

I'm a bit tired of my mage and rogue, but I'm sick to death of the 1-30 level ranges that I have done at least 20 times by now. I wish the option to start a character at higher level was available to every class, but I'll settle with DK.

Oh, and I hear he can tank and dps. That should be cool.

I know it is way too soon to speculate on this but I am thinking paladins will have a new areana buddy. I may be off base but a plate wearing healer and a plate wearing DPS sounds like a good combo in 2V2.

My entirely uneducated guess as far as how tanking with this thing will work... I doubt Blizz will introuduce another AoE/Porcupine tank to the game (one given to more passive multi-mob tanking). Or rather, as a Prot Warrior, I hope they dont.

I think the DK's tanking mechanics will involve a fair number of instant and counter attacks and a lot of Debuffs that sacrifice damage for bonus threat.

For example... an ability (perhaps requiring a specific rune) that, when you parry/dodge an attack instantly hits the mob (or like Revenge, activates an ability) with an attack that does 50% damage but slows attack speed by 10% for 10 seconds and does a significant amount of bonus threat. This debuff could stack up to 3x. Kindof a single-target TC with different casting mechanics.

That kind of thing would give DK a reason to stack avoidance (to offset the loss of a shield), and mitigate a significant amount of incoming damage.

I also think there will need to be some ability or talent to mitigate the slower weapon speeds and increased miss rate inherant to 2H weapons. Maybe talents increasing Haste Rating and/or Hit. Or a 'Follow Through' ability that gives 10/20/30/40/50% chance at gaining an instant extra-swing when a mob is missed. That'd keep threat generation more consistant and less spikey.

ice shield, perhaps?