Latest 4.0.6 PTR Notes for Death Knights

The latest round of 4.0.6 PTR patch notes have been placed, which will be affecting all Death Knight talents and a single glyph.  Despite all the beta, it sure seems like we are having more changes and hotfixes than any other expansion I can remember.  Perhaps it's just the newness of it, but I'll be very thankful when things start remaining consistent for longer than a week at a time.


Blood

• Heart Strike now causes 175% weapon damage, up from 120%. Deals an additional 15% for each of your diseases present on the target, up from 10%.
• Improved Death Strike now increases the damage done by Death Strike by 30/60/90%, up from 15/30/45%. Still increases critical strike chance by 3/6/9% and amount healed by 15/30/45%.
• Scarlet Fever (Rank 2) now procs from Blood Plague. (Tooltip bugfix)

Frost

• Chilblains now also causes your Chains of Ice to immobilize targets for 1/3 sec.

Unholy

• Rage of Rivendare now increases damage of Plague Strike, Scourge Strike, and Festering Strike by 12/24/36%, down from 15/30/45%.
• Shadow Infusion now increases the damage dealt by your Ghoul by 8%, down from 10%.

Glyphs

• Inscription: Glyph of Dark Succor now causes your Death Strike ability to always restore at least 15% (down from 20%) of your maximum health when used while in Frost or Unholy Presence.

Again, these patch changes are not on live servers yet and are still undergoing testing on the Public Test Realm.  Looks like the Blood buffs will help with some aggro, Frost gets a barely noticable CC buff and Unholy is left to be nerfed.

See ya in Azeroth!

Blood Tank Reforging

Personally, I'd wait until you start gearing at 85 before reforging.  I noticed during leveling from 80 to 85 that I was swapping gear out constantly, weapons, shoulders, everything just seemed to be constantly replaced.  This is expected, so don't worry about min/maxing just yet.  Although, the cost is low enough, if you are struggling with tanking some dungeons, go ahead, throw a reforge on there to get used to it.

Mastery is a great stat for Blood tanks and generally speaking this would be the stat I would reforge into.  However, you must first be to the Hit and Expertise soft cap.  This will become an issue as you struggle more and more for aggro as your DPS starts gearing and becoming more of an issue.  After hitting the mob is no longer a worry, start putting some points into Mastery.

A Death Knight Tanks Mastery Rating will affect Blood Shield.  Blood Shield will proc off of your use of Death Strike, which will provide a 50% damage absorption of what you were healed for.  The percentage of damage absorption is directly affected by how many points you have in Mastery.  Each point in Mastery stats will increase the percentage of absorption by 6.25%

More Blood Shield information on Wowhead.com.

Death Knight Blood Tanking Nerfs

So, if it sounds like a nerf, acts like a nerf, and looks like a nerf, it's probably a nerf.  However, just because it's a nerf doesn't make us irrelevant or unable to complete content current or future within the World of Warcraft.  Unfortunately, a lot of people get worked up over a few set backs or tweaks within our class, so lets slow down and take a look at what is actually going on with the latest Blood Tank Spec nerf.

Blood Tank Nerf Gun

First of all, armor and stats are based off of existing equipment and gear.  Next week all of this will change and new gear will be on par with the talent trees Blizzard has imposed upon us.  Perhaps a new spec will be in order, something more optimal, or more cookie cutter.  Either way, Blizzard will not just allow a tank class to flop around on the ground, unable to complete dungeons or raids.

Now, I will agree that we aren't the flavor of the week, but guess what, no one is.  Every tank class has been nerfed in some way, where we may have been dinged hard on armor, others were dinged hard on threat, AOE abilities, and stamina.

Things will start to normalize, but not with a new expansion imminent and probably not until a few months after content is starting to be cleared.  Hunker down, take the nerfs on the chin, and let it make you a better tank and/or DPS.  It's not worth complaining about, but it is worth discussing in an open and constructive format.

Lastly, keep in mind situational abilities.  Perhaps its time to revisit our spell book and take a look at some spells that we perhaps didn't use as much before.  Change up some rotations, plan ahead, because Cataclysm will change the way 5-Man normal and heroic dungeons are ran.

Looking for a place to vent your concerns in a constructive manor?  Check out this thread over at MMO-Champion.

Rune Strike Issues With 4.0.1

Many people have been complaining about the new changes to Rune Strike, specifically it only becoming available after an avoidance move.  Some Death Knight tanks feel this modification in the 4.0.1 patch makes the rune regeneration modification even more convoluted.  It's virtually impossible to create a fluid and sustainable threat level, especially on single target.

Right now there is a 4 page thread in the Death Knight Forums calling out for a hot fix.  As of this post, no dice.

Consider the need for such a fix to RS in 4.0.1.  It's another casualty of the random number generator (RNG), that doesn't allow proper planning when coming up against tank changes, boss pickups, etc.  The issue of not being able to build agro with Rune Strike becomes an even larger threat barrier when coming up against caster bosses.

What do you think about the change to Rune Strike in 4.0.1?

4.0.1 Death Knight Blood Tank Talent Spec

Looking to hit the ground running with the all new 4.0.1 patch?  How about starting things off with this level 79 Blood Tank spec, which gets you the basics of a good build, at least what worked well on the public test realm.

This build also focuses on Rune Strike, which continues to be a primary threat builder moving into 4.0.1 and beyond.  However, if you are looking for a bit more of survivability and less on the threat scale, then perhaps consider putting some points into improved Blood Tap.

Blood Tank Spec for 4.0.1
WowHead Link - http://cata.wowhead.com/talent#jchr0srrusdZ0h:Rzosmac
WowTal Link - http://wowtal.com/#k=YfHoQ3t1.a5o.deathknight. (How to use WowTal.com to automatically update your talent spec in game.)