State of the Death Knight, Two Months In
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Project Lore Editor on Thursday, January 22, 2009 - 36 Comments Tags: DPS, Death Knight, deathknight.info, deathtard, kenzi, rune, tank, two months in, wrath of the lich king
Project Lore Editor on Thursday, January 22, 2009 - 36 Comments Tags: DPS, Death Knight, deathknight.info, deathtard, kenzi, rune, tank, two months in, wrath of the lich king 
Kenzi from DeathKnight.info has been running one of the most amazing Death Knight sites since long before Wrath of the Lich King launched. In case you decided not to make a Death Knight your new main or if you just haven't been paying a ton of attention, here he tells us how things have been going with WoW's first Hero class.Two months have passed since the release of Wrath of the Lich King! The initial rush to roll a Death Knight has come and gone. Many have leveled their "free" level 55 for a bit then went back to their mains while tons have benched everyone for their new DK. However you fall into the two categories, one thing is for sure; everyone has had an experience with a Death Knight.
Getting past Deathtard.
So, are Death Knights the new Huntard? With the ease of availability and thought of being overpowered, many a tard has made their way to managing rune cooldowns and trying to tank. Has that put good DK's in a questionable position? I don't think so. In all actuality I found that those outside of the DK community were more oblivious to Death Knight capabilities then the ones actually playing them. How many of you tanking DK's got asked if you where "frost" before entering a pug? Was it really a mainstream opinion that tanking Death Knights had to be Frost and that Frost was -the- tanking build? Better yet, how many of you tanks got asked.."uh, hey man...where is your shield?"
Luckily the above scenarios didn't last long after launch and some of the more stupid events happened a little less often. Or...is it still common to see a Death Knight in spellpower gear?
Finding our place taking it in the face!
Once most people learned that Death Knight's could seriously tank...without a shield...it became easier to find our way into groups and raids. Tanking problems still existed though. Many tanks found it hard to get and stay defense capped. Most of the preraid gear was from crafted blues that are really high in defense, but low in other avoidance stats. In order for a tanking DK to stay defense capped they usually have to put tier 7 epic upgrades in their bags because the lower defense rating caused them to drop below the cap. Unless you are lucky enough to get your hands on certain pieces of gear, getting and staying capped is a struggle.
To help that struggle, Blizzard announced that with the release of patch 3.0.8 Death Knights would be getting a new "tanking" runeforge enchant that gives 25 defense skill along with a new tanking sigil that procs a 55 defense rating buff. Notice the runeforge has 25 skill, not 25 rating, which means Death Knights can easily afford to lose 154 points of defense rating via gems and enchants and still stay defense capped. The thought behind it was because DKs can't use shields they miss out on a huge opportunity for more defense rating, which has lead to many topics about gemming and enchanting post 3.0.8.
Single target threat has also been an issue for tanking Death Knights. Some have experienced problems with their threat scaling with their raids gear improvements. As the DPS in raids gets better and higher, holding threat becomes harder and harder. It was announced that a bug with Frost Presence was keeping the skill from properly resetting after a death, meaning when the DK died the presence was removed, but the server thought he still had it. That bug was hotfixed and it was also announced that with 3.0.8 Runestrike would be adjusted to be the proper tanking skill it was meant to be. The damage will be lower and the threat increased, which will make for even easier single target threat.
You mean I need two runeweapons to melt faces?
Enough tank talk, lets pew pew! It's been known for a while that Death Knights could dual wield as well as swing a big two hander and for the most part it was widely accepted that duel wielding was the inferior choice for DPSing. Wrong. Many smart people played around with and stuck with dual wield enough to finally find those right talent choices to make it work. And make it work they did. Now it seems almost all of the high DPS numbers we see today are from the dual runesword wielding Death Knights.
So, do you think Blizzard is happy their first hero class, the fabled Death Knight who is famous for the two hander, is forcing people to go DW to DPS? The short answer is no, Blizzard will be changing some DW talents to bring DW DPS "back in line" with two handed DPS. Soon you will get a legitimate choice between one and two handed weapons without gimping your DPS.
This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.
PvP is still pretty open for debate. The new WotLK season 5 is still somewhat fresh. Most of the complaints about Death Knights stem from just the lack of understanding of what they can do and how to deal with them. One can argue though, that many of the PvE nerfs stem largely from PvP overpowerness. Take Anti-Magic Zone for example. The duration is being reduced to 10 seconds in 3.0.8, down from 30 seconds now. Runestrike's damage being reduced also came from some complaints that argued that a high damaging Runestrike combined with a Scourge Strike, Obliterate or other attack in quick succession made it nearly impossible to stay alive long enough to kill a DK.
All valid complaints, but it tends to rub people that wrong way when an ability is nerfed on one side of the fence because it is overpowered on the other. Maybe one day there can be balance between PvE and PvP.
Moving on without the Lich King...
So here we are, two months in, patiently waiting our first round of "balancing". Our class is starting to take a nice shape. We still have to battle against prejudice and thoughts that we are the new love of Blizzard. Yes we are called a "hero" class, but hero is nothing more than a fancy title for "you start at level 55". Wer're still going to see nerfs, get buffed and share that same car on the balancing roller coaster as everyone else.
Reader Comments (36)
im not zand or how its spelled, just coppied hes name.
i desided to do a death knight and lvl it up to 80 befor i start lvling my warrior, i can just say i love the new class its the best thing that has happened to wow in a while. i wonder why they didnt do a 1 h version of the new rune though.
from sweden so dont judge my english please
My main is a level 80 pally with now fairly good gear, and I'm finally starting to level my death knight I made awhile back. He's currently sitting at level 65 as blood spec and I'm having a lot of fun with him. The whole defense thing has been talked about a lot on my server with many DK's talking about how hard it is to get and stay capped so this tanking rune seems to be a great idea. I plan on making my death knight a tank when he hits 80, and hopefully I can learn from all those who came before me.
i had a deathkinght at lvl 60 i did a couple of instances bit of pvp and left him for ages. Then my brother deleted him so he could make one, now im so annoyed that he couldent have waited till 3.0.8. Oh cool Fourth :D
Tbh I h8 dk. Because of lthe way they are pamperd from 55 to 80
I love playing my DK. It's currently my alt. When I'm not raiding or doing dailies with my priest, I play with my level 70 DK. It's a great way to mix things up. I go from healing people one minute from a ways back to pulling people to me and smashing them with a giant axe (current weapon I'm using). Can't complain about them at all.
love um myself i pretty much do the same thing as Rob i have a 80 lock and when im not bringing down the flames of hell on some boss im running around smashing people with my undead minion : ) love it
I love the death knight class, i do agree with the comments about defense. the new runeforge is great though, and i cant wait to get my new sigil.
Churchill lvl 80 human death knight, Bronzebeard
My main is a mage, so being on the other side of the fence and playing a melee class is a lot of fun just for the simple fact that it is the total opposite from what I'm use to.
I'm a hybrid blood/unholy and feel my place is more DPS than tanking. I tried the tanking role, but the defense cap was hard for me to manage. But people in PUG's still ask the "tank" DK if they are frost spec (even though they are running around with DPS gear) - like a spec will make up for the wrong gear....
I also don't think that they are too overpowered in PVE, haven't played too much PVP to comment on that part. I think they main thing is that they can take a punch and after a tough fight keep on going. It's nice to see some balancing on DK's, so people don't continue with the wrong impression of the class.
I'd be much more excited about the DK's if we played them since level one. For some reason, I just can't get into the class because everything is handed to them right off the bat. Sure, they do a few quests, get 2-4 talent points, but where's the earn? I like to get my feet wet with the class until level 10 then adjust each skill as they come.
"i wonder why they didnt do a 1 h version of the new rune though."
I can tell you exactly why... blizzard devs have said again and again that if one handers became the predominate build for dps or tanking they would buff two handers to compensate. Why? Besides the fact that they designed dks to preferably use two handers, lore wise a death knight using anything less than a two hander is just.... heresy. The ONLY reason dual wield is even an option is to throw a bone to the ones who cry for viability in all ways shapes and forms, not that there is anything wrong with that i suppose. Dual wield just isnt what they had in mind(and yes theyve SAID so) for the class in specific.
I love my DK - I am one of my guilds MT and I have tanked everything Wrath has to offer from Naxx 10 to Satharion 25 with 3 drakes up.
It annoys me as a PvE player that some of our core abilities are getting toned down because PvPers cry about them but I don't think 3.0.8 was that harsh to DK's, Bone Shield needed to be toned down but Anti Magic Zone is a bit over nerfed know - it takes 6 talent points to get it so it comes at a high cost and dropping it down to 10 seconds duration just seems a bit too much of a nerfing for my liking.
Overall though I love my DK - I used to play a rogue pre wrath in a guild that cleard sunwell - all be it after the nerf patch - and my rogue still sits at 70 because I just cant seem to enjoy any other class at the moment.
www.deathknight.info is a fantastic site with a wonderful community and I would suggest to anyone playing a DK or considering it to go there and read and digest the information provided within those pages.
To the OP. 25 defense skill is 123 defense rating, not 154. 25 x 4.92.
"How many of you tanking DK’s got asked if you where “frost” before entering a pug?"
Welcome to the life of a retribution pally, every day its either:
Need a healer for naxx, you up for it? or
Tank or heals?
my response is usually, id love to... if i was holy/prot =D
I rolled a death knight when Wrath came out, but I pretty much have left her sitting at 63. I'll admit they're pretty cool. However, I just don't feel any real attachment to that class like I do for my shaman or priest.
Can't really say why... :|
DKs are most certainly the new huntard and heres ten resons why (well 8). One- everyone has one, why? well they start at level 55 thats why thats an easy alt right there. Two- everyone who rolls one normally is a noob (sorry to say but it happens alot). Three- they still suck at tanking, no joke they do no argueing. Four- if you unholy and you have a ghoul, sorry but its still getting one hit and well its takeing up pet space. Five- You can just cry while i t-bag your stupied corpse. Six- that last one wasnt a very good example sorry! Seven-well there decent inpvp so not much to say there. Eight- i hate Dks that are blood or unholy and for some reason think they need defense gear and dodge... HELLO your a dps spec you freakin need crit chance, crit rateing, and mabye even hit chance! Not defense though! Nine- Steal gear from alot of other class's and just ticks me off. Ten- did i mention my guilds filled with DK alts or "mains".. yeah its said i dont think we even have any healers left! Well hope you enjoyed my DK wrap up.
“How many of you tanking DK’s got asked if you where “frost” before entering a pug?”
Well Deidare, you have proven the point of that question right. Blood and Unholy are not DPS specs. Blizzard has specificly stated that they designed DK's to be tanks, and they wanted to design it so that you could tank regardless of what spec you choose. The last thing they wanted was another warrior class (in regards to spec).
They have made it viable to tank regardless of what spec you are, as each spec is more tailored around your play style, that's why blood offers parry chance and life regen, and unholy offers dodge, bone shield, and pets.
i think its cool starting a character at 55, doing all those fun little quests then heading to outland, but you never get to "know" your character. I like experiencing things from the starting zone up to NR. Then at 80 it feels like they're finally growing up from being a little baby lv1. Kinda like adopting a 55 year old..? ha
"Eight- i hate Dks that are blood or unholy and for some reason think they need defense gear and dodge… HELLO your a dps spec you freakin need crit chance, crit rateing, and mabye even hit chance! Not defense though!"
You sir show an abysmal ignorance of death knights. Blizz has stated out right, so as to shut your mouth of such an ignorant rant, that EVERY talent tree is given the capability to tank. This is the brilliance behind the class and this is why no matter the spec you CAN tank...and yes to shot back at the "stealing gear", if youre gonna tank a DK DOES need the defense and parry/or dodge. Why on elunes green earth do you think they would be coming out with defense sigils and a defense rune enchant? More brain, less drivel posts plz.
@- Sunalar
Hmmm really i didnt notice that blizzard mention this, but still sadly enough blood and unholy doesnt have near enough tlents increase defense an what not still makeing them much more of dps spec, however if you try to make an uholy tank your going to wind up specing half way into the frost tree. You see what im getting at? Even though they have some abilities there really dps not tanking, and still if they'd tank anything i'd never be a raid not at the level there at mabye a normal instance if anything. Although i am begining to realize the power of a frost DK and am learing to accept thier "abilitie" to "tank" However the DK is still an epic fail at tanking even though i've heard reports of storys of them "main tanking" Naxx and what not it could be a lie or the truth in which i dont believe because i'd have to see it to believe it. This is my wrap up of DK tanking.
@-Nebula
read my response to sunalar and you'll see why i must see it to believe it and some stupied fake youtube vid.
not some* sorry
@-Nebula
You and sunalar are most certainly correct. i made a rough err... "tanking" Unholy DK, I'd have to see someone tank as unholy to believe it still. But you two also missed what i said earlyer. I said that 'DKs are most certainly the new huntard' and that meaning that not everyones going to relize that DKs can tank any spec or for that matter make a spec thats capable of "tanking". Just like in the old days in which no one new how to spec a hunter or how to tame the pets to get better moves (see how DKs dont do that its just speccing one). This is why i said DKs are the new huntard because not many people make a DK main and if they do there not as smart as you two *grin*, meaning most DKs are alts and who really blogs for there alts (well i do but i know alot of people dont)? Meaning they no nothing about DKs, sorta like i did comeing from my veiw of a DK and by the way what i meant by 'i hate Dks that are blood or unholy and for some reason think they need defense gear and dodge… HELLO your a dps spec you freakin need crit chance, crit rateing, and mabye even hit chance! Not defense though!' i meant they'd steal gear more meaning full to a pally or a warrior now if it has block or something and they take it thats just wrong, still haveing this other tank class isnt so bad now om not going out to test it but hopefully one of my guildys will and will post his results.
every1 DK spec can tank and dps just frost is best at tanking out of all of them and unholy/blood are best at dps .
i've been an unholy tank before for raiding and I love it. In fact for a while it was considered the tanking spec by those who were serious about there death knights. why do you think the nerf to the boneshield came around? Also I'm currently now rocking the damage meters as a frost dps and loving it. hope this helps you realize that you can do anything (except heal) in any spec as a dk