frost tanking: 2h vs DWFollow

Hey there,

Now I got my DK geared, and got both DW and 2h frost tank spec, but now I'm wondering whats best?
I've been told that 2h > DW cuz you take more dmg as DW, cant remember why but it was something like when a boss parry you get an extra hit = more dmg - not sure if this make any sence?

Anyway, just wanna know whats best cuz cant seem to find ppl who agree cuz some says DW is best, others says 2h and some says they're equal.

Thanks in advance

Thanks a lot for the detailed answer :)

The only reason I ask is that I was confused, and wondering what's best, and was just DW cuz I love the look of wearing 2 1handers :p
guess I'm going back to 2h then.

btw, do you know whats the best PvE race for DK (horde) tank-wise? :)

First of all, understand that the differences are small. Pick what you like the most. Only let racials choose your race if you just CAN'T decide which you like best (and at least narrow your list down as small as you can before you think about them).

FOR PVE:

Orc is the strongest. After that is Blood Elf/Troll. Then Tauren/Undead.

Blood Fury gives you 322 AP for 15 seconds every 2 minutes. Which is decent. They also get some Stun reduction, which is marginally useful. If you every try Unholy DpS, the increased pet damage isn't bad. But they also get 5 expertise when using axes. Helps gearing, and gives you an additional bonus as a tank. Of course, you'd have to use an Axe to get it though. This is easier to do with DW, since you can always hold on to a slightly inferior weapon for the Exp bonus. Upgrades tend to be much smaller than with 2-handers, so it is more likely that you'll be able to benefit from it. Orcs make very strong Unholy DKs, especially, as Blood Fury+Gargoyle is 129 additional damage to each of its strikes. If you have no haste, this is still 64.5 more DpS.

Blood Elves and Trolls are a matter of taste and spec. Personally, I'd say BEs are definitely better (and I do think I'm right). But I can see arguments for why Trolls could *potentially* perform more ably. So, to be safe and fair, I'm putting them equal with BEs in the order. Blood Elves get Arcane Torrent, which will give them 15 RP every 2 minutes. Nothing awesome, but it never hurts. Assuming you aren't RP capped, and this won't make you capped, it is 3/4 of a Rune Strike or almost 1/2 of a Frost Strike. So it will give you decent damage. But, again, only if it doesn't lead to RP capping. It also has a silence affect. It is rare that I need a third silence, but there are cases when I would have loved one. The best part, though, is that it does NOT trigger the GCD, so you can use it whenever you need it and not worry.

Blood Elves also get a 2% chance to be missed by spells. However, this only counts for direct damage ones, and most magic damage in Wrath is in the form of auras, DoTs, fire/zones and such. And, it is perfectly possible that not all direct spells can miss. But there are certain spells in the game that make 2% chance to miss seem VERY attractive.

Trolls get Berserking, which increases your attack speed by 20% for 10 seconds every 3 minutes. Decent as an Unholy DK, if you use it then cast your Garg (there's a chance it may be a larger DpS boost for him than Blood Frenzy for Orcs). However, haste isn't that amazing for DKs. It isn't BAD of course. And DW gets more from it than other specs. It just isn't awesome. So, in the long run, Blood Frenzy is better. I'd still use this every 3 minutes anyway, because it doesn't trigger the GCD. And a DpS boost is a DpS boost. But it is MUCH better for many other classes than for DKs. But, they DO get 5% damage to beasts. While there aren't a ton of them in end-game instances now, who knows what Cata will bring. They get 10% of their health regeneration at all times, but this amounts to a PITIFUL amount. If it has ever been the difference between a wipe and a victory, I'd be amazed. It is literally, for my DK, 6.05 Health every second. I have, unbuffed, 32750 health... And in parties I get heals, which result in overhealing... RIDICULOUSLY bad racial. Trolls also get 15% reduction to movement-impairing effects. Like I said, I think BEs are definitely better. But if Cata brings some beast mobs/bosses, that could change.

Then again, Cata will see a complete revamp of racials, supposedly...

Okay, so on to Tauren. You will get a 5% buff to your base health. I'm pretty sure base health is the same for all races, so using my Human as a guide, that would mean a 507 health boost. Not bad, no. But not the most impressive racial. This used to buff your TOTAL health, which is why Tauren were the only endgame tanks for a long while... You also have a 2% higher chance to be missed by Nature Spells (noticeably worse than the BE racial). War Stomp is very situationally useful (in that it mostly isn't). You have a 2-second Stun on a 2 minute cooldown with a .5 second cast time. MANY, if not most, dungeon mobs are immune to stuns. ALL bosses are. And, while casting, you have no avoidance. So... Enjoy?

Last comes the poor Undead, though not by much. 2% chance to be missed by Shadow Spells, which is currently better than the Tauren version, but worse than the BE version. Cannibalize is useless in combat, and of marginal help after fights. Will of the Forsaken is decent, because a decent amount of mobs use fear. But very few use Charm or sleep. If you don't have a Priest in the group, then they are probably better than Tauren. If you do, they're equal~ish. This will help on Paletress and the musician dude in Forge of Souls, but I think that's it. 2 minute CD as well, so you will only use it once on those fights (unless your group SUCKS but has a great healer).

So... there's your rundown of the races. But Orcs aren't that much better than Forsaken. Not nearly enough to not go Forsaken if you prefer them AT ALL. Seriously, if you like Orcs, but like Undead slightly more, then go Undead. If you planned to Unholy DpS, I would maybe say go Orc if they were just slightly behind in preference. But, for tanking, it doesn't matter.

The primary benefit of the new runeforges are that you can get away with 2 high-median damage "DPS" weapons rather than 2 defense weapons (which often have a low median damage which produces less threat). Assuming of course that you can remain crit-immune by armor and runeforges.

That was meant to be part of a narrative, not taken as fact. Which is why I go straight into a lengthy explanation of why taking them would result in much lower threat.

Sorry if that wasn't clear.