Death Knights will tank as Blood in Cataclysm

[Adam-Savage]

We're doing our Cataclysm preview on the death knight changes later this week, but we knew one change risked overshadowing all the others, so we figured we'd go ahead and drop the proverbial Blood bomb today.

In Cataclysm, death knights will have a dedicated tanking tree, much like the other three tank classes. That tree will be Blood.

We’ll go into more detail in the upcoming preview, but we wanted to take the opportunity to explain the reasoning for such a big change.

The Source

[Palladiamorsdeus]

To be honest, I feel this was the best move they could make. While I think they succeeded in having all three trees be viable tanks, I think they spread themselves to thin, and also inadverdently made the DPS variations of said trees to hard to kill. This way I think and HOPE the DPS tree's will get better talents to fill in the holes that'll be left by the tanking abilities going bye bye.

[Ryai]

But.. Frost was the main tanking tree wasn't it? Sure you can tank as Blood or Unholy too, but wasn't Frost said to be 'the tanking tree?'

So now what? >_>

[Bulletdance]

aw I liked being able to leap into piles of enemies as Frost in pvp and last a good amount of time. But who knows if they changed their minds once they may again we'll know more later this week.

[Anansi]

But.. Frost was the main tanking tree wasn't it? Sure you can tank as Blood or Unholy too, but wasn't Frost said to be 'the tanking tree?'

So now what? >_>

They just buffed Frost majorly for dual wield DPS. So Frost is the dedicated dual wield DPS spec, Unholy is two-hander DPS and Blood is now tank.

[Gimlion]

BAH! I loved having an option on my DK as to what I could or couldn't do... >.<

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Not really, Ryai. That was kind of the original intention, but they drifted from that a long time ago. The 'best tanking tree' for Death knights has always been flavor of the month. Most likely the roulette just happened to stop on blood. That or, more likely, they want the other two trees to be a DW and a two hander tree.

[Ryai]

Well it's just Frost always sounded like the tanking tree, mean you chill you're blood, you freeze the enemies, etc etc.. I always expected Blood and Unholy to be the dps trees really, mean yeah you can tank in all aspects but..

Eh if it makes things better then I guess Vaek will be my next tank. Not getting the hang of Feral tanking or War tanking atm. I could always try learning for mah DK.

CAN NEVER HAVE TO MANY TANKS D:

[Rhyela]

So basically DKs will be a reflection of our current warriors?

Blood = Protection
Unholy = Arms
Frost = Fury

I don't see how that's a bad thing at all, to be honest. It may seem like homogenization but maybe that's why I always felt so overwhelmed when I tried to play a DK, it's like I wanted something of everything. Having a more narrow scope for each tree would help someone like me out a lot.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

I think it'll also help cut down on the bad death knight tanks, maybe just a little. Hopefully. Plus, that means they can put all the tanking talents into one tree, instead of kind of adding a few towards the bottom's of the trees. I think it'll be a good thing overall, it just kind of sucks for people who liked to DPS as blood.

[Ryai]

I think it'll also help cut down on the bad death knight tanks, maybe just a little. Hopefully. Plus, that means they can put all the tanking talents into one tree, instead of kind of adding a few towards the bottom's of the trees. I think it'll be a good thing overall, it just kind of sucks for people who liked to DPS as blood.

Yeah I loved blood untill I respecced unholy- mostly as I missed my ghoul and hated the damn bloodworms.

also hate them on Coal cause they eat up my Wild Growth spams :(

And also how does this sort presences out? I mean you tank in frost- does Blood become frost, Frost become blood, or does Unholy become blood and Frost become unholy..

just...

auuurg.


And doubt it'll cut down the bad tanks. Mean if I can face roll with ease on my paladin and I lack mad skeelz X_x afraid this will make it worse.

[Ryno]

Bleh, just when I decided I really enjoy unholy tanking... ah well, I'm sure with all the changes they make it won't feel TOO much like a prot warrior clone...

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Funny story, I just tanked Blood Furnace with my 63 frost specced death knight with my girlfriend. Now I KNOW she is completely capable as a boomkin, but I still out DPSed her and everyone else by a mile. It was amusing.

As for presences, I have NO idea.

[Ryno]

As for presences, I have NO idea.

Blood for DPS, Frost for tanking, and Unholy for... well, we don't really use unholy unless we're using it for the movement speed buff... we don't talk about it much... Blizz should make it so unholy presence gives a lot of resilience or something, for PvP... yeah that's it.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

*Laughs* I know that, Ryno, I mean I have no idea if they are going to stay the same, or change. After all, Frost is the tanking presence, but Blood is about to be the tanking tree. I mean personally, I see no reason to change anything ((Except to make Unholy better)) but meh.

[Gimlion]

I say Make UH presence increase Crit chance while Dual Wielding or something... Make it the DW dps presence.

[Ryai]

As for presences, I have NO idea.

Blood for DPS, Frost for tanking, and Unholy for... well, we don't really use unholy unless we're using it for the movement speed buff... we don't talk about it much... Blizz should make it so unholy presence gives a lot of resilience or something, for PvP... yeah that's it.

Doesn't that defeat the purpose then? A blood specced DK tanking in frost- yet Frost is now dps and unholy is pvp. It just. The mind boggles. I mean it's not like the presences are like a paladin's auras or a tank's stances, cause mean if you're a blood DK why would you need frost presence to then tank when frost is going to probably be turned into a DPS specc and just >_<

Note I would assume Unholy would become the pvp specc due to all the diseases and crap.



and guess I should remove imp unholy from Vaek then... I thought the faster CD was good..

[Ryno]

The mind boggles.

Note I would assume Unholy would become the pvp specc due to all the diseases and crap.



and guess I should remove imp unholy from Vaek then... I thought the faster CD was good..

Aye, it really is odd how they want to set it up, considering how presences work.

The improved unholy presence, from what I've read on forums, tells me that the only reason to take it is for the movement speed buff to get to hitting things faster. I think way back when, there was a frost/unholy hybrid build that did use unholy presence... but that was quite some time ago...

[Palladiamorsdeus]

It's not that unholy presence is bad per se, it's just not as GOOD as blood. Unholy causes you to all around hit faster, and is improved further by taking the improved talents. An added bonus to this is that your ghoul also hits faster. Blood makes you hit all around HARDER, and not just on your white swings, which is where the problem comes in. A great deal of your damage in ANY spec comes from your strikes, which are unaffected UNLESS you take the improved version. And even then, while that one second is nice, it isn't make or break. The only real downside to using blood over unholy is that your ghoul doesn't get a buff ((IF you are unholy specced, that is. If not then you have no reason to use unholy presence over blood.))

[Gimlion]

I never thought of UH as the 'new' pvp spec... Actually I see it as this: Blood = Tank (2h, or DW idk... maybe both?) Frost=DW dps/spells DPS, UH = Disease/2h DPS. Then, maybe rearranging the Presence names... Frost becomes Blood, Blood becomes UH, and UH becomes frost + a little extra zing to make it worth something. I feel this makes sense, b/c Frost = Tank presence. UH is a Haste boost, which would make sense for a DW DPSer. and Blood Increases over all Damage, Which I'd assume would be more helpful to 2handers such as UH.