Unholy Tanking BuildFollow

Hmm, what about using DnD on aoe pulls for that extra oomph in threat?

Not trying to be picky or anything,I just didnt see it in your rotation anywhere, and as a frost DK, I find myself using it very often.

Honestly, I like it!

And with the Unholy foundation, it makes a viable PvP build too.

Rateup.

desecration is supposedly only up 60% in an optimal rotation, and on top of that you have to be inside the field. while tanking thats usually not the case as there is a lot of movement, and PS isnt something you want to be using often.

personally i say dont get desecration.

as for DnD vs other things.

If you are unholy, you get some really nice damage boosts from ebon plaguebringer. combine that with DnD's bonus 190% threat, and the ~209% threat from frost presence, and you have something that can generate well over 10k threat over 10 seconds. on trash w/more then 2 mobs i'll be using DnD almost every time its up.

If you might need those runes for something, then consider empower rune weapon's cooldown, as you can still burn runes then use that to continue the fight. obviously you cant do it every pull but its still a very considerable background threat option.



Edited, Nov 28th 2008 10:51am by EnthalpyTheBurninator

I hit 70 and started running around in Northrend just yesterday. My main was a druid(currently 72) who happened to tank every single instance all the way to 70, then all the way through ZA before respecing through resto and balance to mess around(guild had a bunch of extra tanks and I acquired several sets so I switched out). So I definitely have some experience with tanking.

I tanked UK last night and decided with a group who was all 72-74, that I needed the extra threat. I dropped DnD before I pulled on each pull, then used IT > PS > Pestilence > if enough RP, then UB, if not, IT then UB to solidify my AoE tanking threat on all of them. I never had a problem with leaving the desecration area due to the large threat put off by DnD and 3 diseases being on each target. the extra 5% damage helped me stay well above the dps as they nuked away.

I've decided that using DnD only stops me from using Blood Boil at the end of the rotation. The threat from DnD obviously trumps that so I'll continue to use it as I tank. Even in starter tank gear (The entire Cobalt set(damn greens!)) I was doing about 700 dps and maintaining a pretty good threat lead most of the time.

I also ended up moving my talents around to pick up the must have tanking talents and start working towards my tank build for 80. I still do great dps soloing so it's not an issue.

Alessan

Edited: updated sig

Edited, Dec 1st 2008 10:14am by Galenmoon

Take my advice, get the Death and Decay Glyph as soon as you possibly can.

In any non-Undead encounter, it boosts your AoE tanking in ways you can't imagine. You take far less damage than before, even slacker healers should be able to keep you topped off when at any given time, half of a pack are Feared. It also interrupts spellcasting...

Personally I haven't had much, if any, problems coming from the healers I've run with. I've run nexus probably 7-8 times now with anything from a 70 pally who used to be prot to an 80 resto druid. None of them every complained and I only died twice, both times on the last dragon boss. (Healer didn't know the fight both times)

I picked up the entire Cobalt set to start with and have been replacing it with drops/quest rewards as I go.

I'm sitting around 13.5k hp, 15.8k armor, 18.2% dodge, 18.18% parry(Rune of Swordshattering) and 473 def at the moment.

Haven't had any problems holding aggro either. Unless someone is pointedly hitting something out of the kill order and going all out on it, they stay stuck to me like no other.

DnD > IT > PS > Pest > IT > UB > BB then switch targets and refresh diseases/pestilence as needed.

Current tank gear and spec(subject to change soon, still testing)(Also logged in blood presence for some reason so you don't see hp and armor bonuses)

Alessan

EDIT: Also just to note. I start each pull with Bone shield up. I usually pop IBF 15-20 seconds in unless I'm getting hit super hard for some reason, then I'll pop it sooner. I'll pop my dodge trinket too if it gets really bad.

With a 1 min cd on both Bone Shield and IBF, there is no reason not to use it on almost every multi pull, if only to save your healer some stress and mana.



Edited, Dec 4th 2008 2:47pm by Galenmoon

Death and Decay is great, especially when you have the Glyph (20% chance of basically a 2 sec stun every sec). It specifically states that it generates high threat, which makes it safer for group pulls to be AoE'd down.

I start group pulls with IT/PS/Pest/DnD (usually Death Grip the first one so I have diseases on him for Pestilence when the others get to my location).

I don't use Desecration, maybe if it was a 5% buff to everyone's damage I would, but I think it's more of a PvP talent.

This is my build at 75, I've PuG tanked UK/Nexus/Anh'kahet/etc (basically the dungeons I'm high enough for).
I'm going to max out Blade Armor next, probably try a deep Frost spec once I hit 80. If I stick with UH tanking at 80, I'll probably shift a few points around to get rid of Wandering Plague/BcB/Master of Ghouls and pick up Unholy Aura/Virulence/a few points of Impurity or 2h wpn spec (Wandering Plague is pretty mediocre with my tanking set's crit chance).

Edited, Dec 5th 2008 12:40pm by angryempath

I played around with a talent calculator abit and found what seems to be a good tank build.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/deathknight/talents.html?tal=0055021203330310220200000000050000000000000000000000000005011323023113050101000000000

Get the good heals from blood, the armor from frost, and the anti magic shell and constant pet from unholy.