Death Knight Tank Reforge Gear Guide

With the introduction of 4.0.1, everyone has access to an NPC that will reforge your gear.  That is, reforging will allow you to take 40% of one stat and convert it to another stat not found on that particular piece of gear.  Reforging cannot affect gem slots or base stats, which means as a Death Knight tank you will typically only be attempting to reforge stats to reach cap on hit or expertise.

When choosing a stat to reforge, consider stealing from hit or expertise.  The reason for choosing these stats is because you are most likely over the cap for one or the other, if geared well.  Take the amount over cap and convert that stat into the one needed or into the new Mastery stat.

Basically the reforging process is a method to get rid of useless over cap stats and convert them into needed stats to reach cap.  Once caps are reached, spend excess stat points on the Mastery skill.

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. ;)

What Is An Update For The Titansteel Destroyer?

Death Knight tanks fight over weapons that may also be decent for other classes, like Druid's and Hunters. Luckily there are a few easily accessible weapons in the game that make replacing that craftable Titansteel Destroyer a little bit easier. We will stick to 2H Weapons, which will of course require the rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle for tanks.

Edge of Ruin - This is a great 2h Axe with lots of stamina and a plethora of strength, which us DK's eat up. Death Knight tanks appreciate the increase in strength to increase our damage and thus improve our threat.

The Edge of Ruin drops from the Champions Cache in Heroic Trial of the Champion.

Tyrannical Beheader - This 2h Axe is an ilvl 232 with lots of stamina and strength. Without question this is a big update from the Titansteel Destroyer, but may remain marginal when compared to the ilvl 219 Edge of Ruin. The main reason is because it contains haste, which is kind of a toss up stat for Death Knights. So, it's still an upgrade, so feel free to roll against those Hunters and Druids.

The Tyrannical Beheader drops from Heroic Pit of Saron on the last boss.

Death Knight Tank Elixir and Potions

I've become good friends with a couple of consumables that make my tanking easier. As mentioned previously, I'm new to tanking, so any help I can get I'm going to use. Consumables like potions and elixirs will be the first to come to mind, but don't forget the extra attack power and stamina boost from chowing down on your favorite food either.

Until defense capped I always used Elixir of Mighty Defense, which obviously can help you reach that cap to run Heroics or even Raids.

To help with threat generation I also down a Elixir of Mighty Strength. This is becoming increasingly important because most dps out gear me at this point and keeping threat on multiple mobs can be a challenge. Heck, even on single target tank'n spank bosses it can be an issue if maxed out warriors or warlocks decide to crit it up. Thank goodness Dark Command is on only an 8sec cool down.

To recap, new Death Knight tanks should always bring along Guardian Elixir's and Battle Elixir's. Only one of each can be active at any given time and they are inexpensive enough to keep plenty in your bags, just in case of wipes.

Lastly, as a side note, your healer may request you use Elixir of Mighty Fortitude. This has been a helpful elixir before I had a larger stamina pool or if my healer wasn't equipped to the teeth.

Happy Tanking.

Death Knight Tanking Gear List BoE Ring

A good friend pointed out to me last night that there is a Bind on Equip (BoE) tank ring that is perfect for a Death Knight. Also, if you are like me, my rings were some of the lowest and least effective tanking gear I owned. So I was happy to dish out a few hundred gold to replace one of the weakest links in this Death Knights chain.

The Titanium Earthguard Ring provides a nice boost in stamina, defense, and doge. The tank ring is an iLevel 200 gear piece and is easily obtainable if you know a friendly crafter. For some reason the ring was never on the auction house, so I HAD to make friends. ;)

My Must Have Head Enchant

Time to start grinding out some reputation to get certain rewards and enchants that will make my Death Knight Tanking life a little easier. Currently I'm setting at 500 defense and it' recommended to be 535 defense capped for heroic dungeons. To get there I will need some lucky drops in regular ToC and enchants. The Argent Crusade will provide me with my first tanking head slot enchant.

At revered the Argent Crusade rep vendor will sell you Arcanum of The Stalwart Protector. This head enchant will add 37 Stamina and 20 Defense rating to any head slot item. It's a must have and fairly easy to obtain, considering it's only a revered requirement.

To start getting reputation for the Argent Crusade, simply do quests in Zul'Drak and Ice Crown. There are a few long quest chains that help in getting at least a boost to your reputation. Just completing the one Ice Crown alone got me to Honored.

More on enchants for Death Knight Tanks coming later. Also, be sure to read other posts related to Death Knight Tanking Gear.

Death Knight Tanking Gear List Trinkets

There are some seriously nice tanking Trinkets for Death Knights available once you start raiding Heroic Naxx and Ulduar. However, this post will focus on building your tanking set before entering Raids.

The two tanking trinkets most easily accessible will be Seal of Pantheon (WoW Head Link), which is an iLevel 200 Rare piece and Essence of Gossamer (WoW Head Link), which is an iLevel 200 Rare Piece as well.

The Seal of Pantheon drops off of Loken in regular Halls of Lightning and the Essence of Gossamer drops off of Hadronox in Heroic Azjol-Nerub. While these aren't the easiest instances to be learning to tank in, with a good healer they are possible to run. Also, the experience in these more difficult instances will prep you for things to come.