Break The Death Knight Stereotype

In game I'm lucky, rarely do I experience any type of discrimination simply because I play a Death Knight.  Normally group members are just happy to get a tank and usually I surprise them because of their low standards for Death Knight tanks, according to the popular Death Knight Forums.  I've composed a list of a few things that we can do, as Death Knight Tanks to bust up the myth that we are all bad.

1. Be Honest - If this is your first run for a dungeon, especially one of the new ones, let the group know.  They can offer up advice and they can react on their toes a lot faster if they can expect a few short comings from a tank not familiar with a fight of a pull.
2. Be Prepared - This is taken right off of my Death Knight Tank Check List.  It'll alleviate stress on your healers and DPS if you come to the fight prepared for what you know.  This means have food buffs, potions, and elixirs.
3. Know Your Spec - Whether you are a Death Knight DPS or Tank, know the limitations and the strengths of your specific spec.  Don't pull ahead of your abilities and don't try to AOE dps on a single target dps strong spec.  Knowing your talents and abilities goes a long way to proving to the group  that you aren't a Deathtard.
4. Don't Death Grip - There are only a few instances when using Death Grip is warranted.  If you aren't a tank or the tank doesn't request it, then just remove it from your keybinds.  Furthermore, even tanks should only be using this in a good group or on mobs that break lose from your aggro table.
5. Don't Army Of Dead - Using this in specific circumstances lends itself  to item #3, knowing your spec and talents.  Generally speaking, just don't pop it unless you know it won't affect a fight.  For example, on a dragon boss that's going to be spinning around trying to hit your little mates, DON"T.  Popping AoD on trash or certain bosses is like wearing the retard Tabard.

That's all the tips I have for now, so how do you break the Deathtard mold?

Regarding Rolling

With the upcoming patch 3.3.3 there will no doubt be some roll changes to many servers.  The usual way to roll on items would be to Greed, but with changes to Frost Orbs being traded for mats, why shouldn't everyone roll Need?  But another discussion would be about Tanks rolling on DPS gear and vice versa.

I'm a firm believer in a few things, which have shaped my random dungeon runs and made them tolerable.  First of all, announce your intent at the beginning of the run.  If you will be rolling Need on Orbs, let it be known so that everyone has a fair shot at it.  Also, if you are a Tank looking for DPS gear, tell people up front, and likewise if you are a plate wearing DPS that you are looking for tank gear.

The only real issues crop up when it's a surprise and lack of communication develops bad attitudes.  Also, by announcing your intent to roll on certain loot you are giving others an option to drop if they don't like it.

The importance of establishing loot rules up front will become even more important the closer we get to Cataclysm and after Cataclysm is released.  Those that have been tanking the majority of the Lich King expansion will be wanting to grab some DPS gear out of the early Cata dungeons, so be prepared for drama over loot.

What tips do you have for rolling on gear in random dungeon runs?  And no, the answer is not always to just run with friends and guild mates. ;)

Death Knight Forums

The internet can be a vile and horrid place, full of misinformation.  Websites seemingly devoted to helping you improve your game can be a haven for those looking to troll and upset your actual abilities.  Keep this in mind as I provide the following links to Death Knight forums, most all information must be taken with a grain of salt.  Use this information found on these Death Knight forums wisely.

Official WoW Death Knight Class Forum - One of the larger offenders of providing misinformation.  Often these forums are trolled by others looking to spread incorrect information and strengthen the myth that all Death Knights are bads.  Only use these Death Knight forums as a last resort if the Death Knight information you are looking for cannot be found anywhere else.

Elitist Jerks Death Knight Forum - The EJ forums are some of the better place to find information, less the idiots looking to cause havoc.  However, with great power comes great confusion, so expect to comb through a lot of numbers and theory crafting to find the simple details.  Most information found on the Elitist Jerks Death Knight forum has been tested, retested, numbers crunched, and then made complicated and then throughly spread out over the course of 100+ pages.  If you can find what you are looking for then consider it golden.

WowHead Death Knight Class Forum - I would place the Wowhead forums one step above the official World of Warcraft forums, in regards to troll population.  More often than not there is a slew of idiot questions and not enough answers.  Furthermore this problem is compounded by having idiots spewing more misinformation, mainly those details that they found on the official WoW forums.  Garbage in, Garbage out.

DeathKnight.Info Forums - This can be a pretty good source of information and interaction within the Death Knight community, however it is not heavily traveled.  So, you may get all kinds of replies and feedback on general wow or Death Knight discussions, but specific information is generally copied and pasted from other sources.

MMO Champion Death Knight Forum - Pretty good mix of information and fun details mixed into one well designed Death Knight forum.  MMO Champion is also known for having the latest information on upcoming patches and behind the scenes information on Blue Posts from Blizzard.

Ten Ton Hammer Death Knight Forum - Again, pretty good forum for Death Knight information, but not one that is heavily traveled.  As of this post there were only a handful of threads that had even been updated in the past 15-30 days.  So, if you are looking for some general information it might work out, but for some patch sensitive info you might want to stick to some of the other options listed above.

Lastly, just a reminder, use all of these Death Knight forums as a tool.  A lot of the information surrounding Death Knights can be interpreted differently and should not 100% affect your play style.  Learn what you can, apply what you know, and test test test to see what works best for your Death Knight.  Have fun and beware of the forum trolls.

Make Money As A Death Knight

The upcoming patch 3.3.3 will have far reaching implications for everyone trying to make a little gold. Specifically there will be some very convenient changes to the way items are listed on the auction house, the availability of rare mats, and the removal of cool downs.

First of all the auction house changes, which will make listing a large number of items easier. The new World of Warcraft auction house will allow you to drag and drop entire stacks of an item into the window and then have the option to sell in smaller quantities. This removes the requirement to break down all your stacks to sell things like infinite dust. Much more efficient auction listing and management, without the need for add ons.

Next will be the Frost Orb exchange, which allows a 1 to 1 exchange for more expensive mats. For example, when patch 3.3.3 becomes live you will be able to exchange one Frost Orb for one Frost Lotus. No doubt this will drop prices on items like Flasks immediately, so start stocking up on those vendored orbs now.

Lastly, Patch 3.3.3 will remove global cool downs on abilities like Titan Steel Bars. Obviously this will help drive the price of craftable ilvl 200 gear down as well, making gearing up easier. There should be no reason to not hit defense cap immediately after hitting lvl 80 for Death Knight Tanks.

Makes me wish I would have been saving all those Frost Orbs, so keep an eye out on ninja's needing every time.

New Death Knight Tank Check List

It's intimidating learning how to tank and its even worse when learning to tank on a Death Knight. Throw in the fact that you are learning on Heroic level 80 dungeons and it makes for some heart pounding stress. But, if you like taking control, or if you are just sick and tired of DPSing from the cheap seats, jump right in.

The new LFG Tool makes joining dungeons a breeze and the fact that you will never see these people again should alleviate some of that noob tank stress. Every tank had to learn at some point, but not every tank who gloats in party chat had to learn in the circumstances surrounding Death Knights. Lastly, don't let that 2 button Druid Tank try to tell you how easy tanking is, it's much more complicated and involved to be a good Death Knight tank than a bear.

That being said, below is a check list I would recommend all Death Knights adhere to before jumping into your first Heroic tanking situation.

1. Reach Defense Cap - Yes, it is that important. Make sure you have at least 535 Defense before jumping into a Heroic Dungeon. I don't care that you've done it before without problems, you are a huge strain on your healer and a couple RNG crits will be the end of you and your group. So, go buy that cheap ilvl 200 tank gear, throw a Stoneskin Gargoyle Rune Forge on your weapon, and drink an Elixir of Mighty Defense if need be.
2. Watch A YouTube Video - I'm talking from experience, tanking an instance and dps'ing an instance are very different things. Watch a YouTube video of the fights in all of the Northrend Dungeons. You don't have to have them all memorized, but it will help in knowing the little tricks and odd mechanics of some of the boss fights from a tanking perspective.
3. Be Over Prepared - This means make sure you bring your own food buff, elixir, potion, or whatever. Minimum stats are just that, minimum requirements, be over prepared to alleviate healing and dps stress on others in your group. At this point, more often than not, your other party members will be over geared..so you should do everything you can to boost your stats.
4. Take Criticism - Even if you have a few flawless runs, ask at the end of the group what you could have done to improve. Most people are more tolerant of those willing to learn, than those that just assume they know everything. It also doesn't hurt to ask about an instance, if you have a question, while people are buffing at the beginning. And, don't get your feelings hurt if they point out your weaknesses during the run, use that input and take it all with a grain of salt. Knowledge is Power!

That's it for my checklist for now. It's important to not get discouraged and spread your tanking out over a few runs. If you see yourself starting to get angry, just step back, run as DPS for a few dungeons, and then come back to tackling the differences in tanking. It's ok to fail, despite what the WoW forums say.

Please chip in if you have any other tips for new Death Knight Tanks.

5 Reasons To Drop Group

The new LFG Tool Blizzard has implemented has been a godsend and an eyeopener to boot. Imagine wielding the ability to randomly run dungeons and be thrown into a group willing to do the same, without having to spam trade chat in the big cities. Well, that's what we got, well, that and a whole new type of headaches.

Below are 5 reasons to immediately drop group in a random Heroic Dungeon run.

1. DPS only uses capital letters in chat and frequently replaces letters with numbers.
2. Tank states he's close to Defense cap, but should be fine.
3. Healer asks who's tanking after the 2nd pull.
4. Oculus
5. You join a run in progress that's taken 15 mins to get to first boss.

Bracer Upgrade For Death Knight Tanks

If you are like me, you have been struggling to upgrade your tanking bracer. I don't get a lot of Raid time in on my DK, so I've had to rely on using the available PVP bracer, for the stamina boost and a little resilience. However, we now have access to crafted ilvl 245 Saronite Sword Breakers.

The Saronite Sword Breaker bracer recipe is a drop in ToC, so hopefully now that ICC has been out for awhile we'll see the prices start to drop. The mats for Saronite Sword Breakers are 4 Crusader Orbs, 20 Saronite Bars, and 8 Titansteel bars.

These are a must have upgrade for Death Knight tanks, especially if you don't see a lot of Raid time. Every little bit helps when power pulling through Heroics and everyone loves a properly itemized tank. Not to mention with the extra defense you might even be able to swap out the Rune Forge you have on your 2 handed tank weapon. ;)

Recommended Death Knight Macro's

You can be a good player without using Macro's, but to be the best you can be, you have to use Macro's. Without question a Death Knight rotation, especially that of a DK Tank, require the use of Macro's to properly run through a rotation. Below are a collection of Macro's recommended for Death Knights.

Army Of The Dead Speed Cast
/use speed potion
/cast Army of The Dead

Rune Strike Macro
#showtooltip
/cast someability
/cast !Rune Strike

The Rune Strike macro is probably the most important Macro in the arsenal of a Death Knight Tank. Rune Strike is one of your primary threat builders, next to your Death and Decay, and damage causing abilities. Therefore, it's important to automatically Rune Strike when available and by using the above Macro you can forget about the procs and focus on your rotation.

Elitist Jerks has a HUGE thread dedicated to what Macros other Death Knights are using. Please view the Elitist Jerk Death Knight macro thread here.