How To: Blood DK

[Lazurianis]

Blood Death Knight is not a very simple class as most people make it seem, it's one of the most complex classes in the game right now, even over Warrior. So I am going to teach you how to be an epic Blood DK without being a noob. As many of you may have seen the name Raegwynsolo on Anasterian (US) PTR Servers. I will give you some of my tips and tricks on how to be an invincible Blood DK.

What to Do: (Gems and Enchants) --
A Blood DKs primary stats are (in Order)
Mastery
Stamina
Armor (Enchant)
Hit & Expertise

I see a lot of Blood DKs stacking Strength or Stamina. It's an often misconception that Blood DKs need damage. But in reality, the only thing they need is to keep themselves alive. A Blood DKs main purpose is to hold aggro and be a damage sponge. If you are pulling Top DPS as a Blood DK there is something wrong with your gear or group.

What to Do: (Talents) --
You want the following:
Unholy Blight (To hold Agro, and to Spread Diseases quickly and efficiently)
Conversion (This is an ABSOLUTE MUST! YOU CANNOT GO WITHOUT THIS! Blood DKs often times dont utilize their Runic Power, so it stacks up to the point to where this is put to excellent use.)
Purgatory (THIS IS A MUST. If you are killing a boss that is DPSing you down faster than you can keep up with. Purgatory will save you!)
Asphyxiate (This is to stun an annoying Trash Mob or to Silence it. This is great because if the target is immune to Stuns, it will silence them and it's ranged, more so than Mind Freeze.)
Blood Tap (This will restore Death Runes so you can get off more Death Strikes without worrying about using too many Runes.)
Desecrated Ground (This acts like a second Icebound Fortitude. So you do not get any effects that cause loss of control of your Death Knight.)

What to Do: (Glyphs) --
You want the following:
Major -
Glyph of Anti-Magic Shell (This acts as a HUGE Sponge. Blood DK's worst nightmare is a spell caster flinging all they got at them, especially a Raid Boss. You want this if you are in a Enrage or a lot of AoEs and cannot get out of it.)
Glyph of Death and Decay (This acts as a snare if you have a runner, this is not necessarily a requirement but it's very helpful if you have squirmy raid trash or a player is trying to run from you.)
Glyph of Death Coil (This acts like an instant panic button if your healer is being pounded and they are having trouble keeping themselves alive.)

Minor -
Glyph of Resilient Grip (This is the only true required Minor Glyph. I highly recommend this if your target is immune to Death Grip, you turn around and its not a Wasted CD. It just goes off CD and if you need it again, its there.)

What to Do: Gear --

I cannot stress this enough. PVE Raid Gear! Everyone thinks because Resilience is what reduces damage, nobody can use PVE Gear. That is where they are wrong. And you cannot AT ALL go into a PVE Content in PVP Gear. You are losing valuable stats to Resilience. Its a misconception that Tanks use Resilience gear in PVP but what they fail to realize is THEY ARE TANKS. They can eat the damage and spit it back up.

What to Do: Rotation --

Death Strike, Rune Tap, and Conversion are your Main Abilities. Use any ability that gains runic power but does not take away from Death Strike Runes (Such as Heart Strike or Blood Strike.) Do NOT use Death and Decay without getting the Proc. It's a waste of Runes unless you are opening up in a fight. Then it's okay because you have a period of time for your Runes to Regenerate. Only use Death and Decay if you are losing Aggro and Unholy Blight and Outbreak are on CD.

FAQ:

"Stamina gems? Really? Why not Strength?"
Because Conversion is a % based ability. The more HP you have, the more survivability you have. You cannot rely on Stregnth as a Tank. Like I stated before, Tanks do not worry about damage as much as DPS do.

"What if I want to use Purple, Green, Orange, gems?"
No. Do not do this, Healers and DPS usually do this. As a tank, you want the Set Bonus while gaining the full benefit of the Stat. On my Death Knight I used 3 Chimaera's Eye in straight Stamina Gems. And I got the Socket Bonus still. Only use Multicolored Gems if its absolutely necessary (If you aren't hit / expertise capped)

"Why do I want to Stamina Stack as a Blood DK?"
As stated before, Conversion is a % based ability. The more HP. The better survivability.

"How do we know PVE Raid Gear is best in a PVP Environment as a tank?"
Despite Resilience is a very nice attribute in a PVP Environment, you are losing Stats still. So if you have a pocket healer, it's okay to go with PVE Raid Gear. As a Blood DK I carried the Flag in Twin Peaks in full PVE Firelands 378 Gear (not the HOT Heroic Gear) with 10 stacks and at one point went to the EFR (Enemy Flag Room) and killed the EFC (Enemy Flag Carrier) myself with 10 stacks. I went 10.1M Damage and 12.3M Healing Done in that BG with 0 Deaths and I held the flag the entire time.

Questions? Ask them in the comments below, I will answer them ASAP.

[Shade]

Oho, thanks for this post, I'll copy it over to my best friend (I cannot for some reason copy a forum link over to her, they don't work for some reason.) She started a blood DK to level with my mid-range priest, but stopped because she wasn't sure what she was doing or how to use it-and I didn't push because my shadow priest was getting tossed against a bunch of undead mobs in dungeons, doing dismal DPS and pissing me off in general as I am DPS hog.

*snort*

This might help her give it another try.

[Lazurianis]

Good luck! Blood DK is not simple as most people make it out to be, hopefully you guys can work something out!

[Celi]

And if you know how to tank it right, you out heal the resto shaman in your raid group. I love being a dk main tank.

[Lazurianis]

Yeah that's usually how it works Celi lol