Doing it wrong. Like Craig!

So, what’re y’all getting for Christmas?

Secret Project is a go! I’ve been wanting to write an RP story for awhile, and decided that for our 10k views that I will post it! Without further adieu, here’s part 1 of Bloodied Fantasy!

You know when you dream of something magnificent? Love? Wealth? Power? . . .

“Blood Knights, to your battle stations, we need to be on the move IMMEDIATELY!” Announced the Captain of the Blood Knights.

Whatever your insignificant heart desires and then you remember. . .

“Damn it men, move it, we need to make it to Kael’thas before they are ambushed! MOVE damn it!” Screamed an irritated Captain to our squad of men.

. . .that they were merely dreams to begin with. . .

“HOLD YOUR GROUND MEN!” Was the last thing our leader said before he was pierced by a rain of arrows.

. . . and you come to realize that. . .

“There’s too many of them, we need to fall back. ELNORIAH WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?” Screamed my co-patriot Tyranis.

“Leave him Tyr, if he wants to attempt to take on the scourge let him, we need to get to Kael, that is our mission.” Said Alnya as she beat in the skull of a ghoul.

“We can’t afford another-”

“Hold your tongue, or I will have you arrested and executed for plotting against the Blood Elves.”

“Elno, why couldn’t you just use your head for once?”

“Blood Knights, those of you whom have the WILLPOWER to keep to our task, follow me. The rest can end up like Elnoriah over there.” States Alnya, pointing towards a smear of blood on the tree.

. . . they never mattered in the first place.

“ARGH!” Screams Elnoriah, gasping for air.

“Another survived, oh splendid! The King will be pleased his most-anticipated student has decided to join us.” Said the Necromancer sarcastically, as he fed another conscious body to the hungery ghouls.

I awoke from a deep sleep, there were multiple scars on my body. As I scanned my surroundings I noticed where I was. I was at Archerus, the Lich King’s newest secret project, said to raise these monstrosities called Death Knights.

“So, Death Knight, do you wish to serve the Lich King?”

Wait… no… not me.

“Yes, I am merely a tool in the hands of the Lich King. I live to serve, for that is my purpose, my ONLY purpose.” I said, reluctantly.

Upon further inspection, I have noticed that the walls are covered in blood. All around me are minions of the Lich King. And apparently, like I, are willing to die just so the Lich King can purge this world of everything righteous. You’ve gotten yourself into a mess Elno, and there is no Tyr to save your ass.

“Worthless… go to the Lich King, and do his bidding!”

As I walk through the forsaken halls of this slaughter house I notice a balcony. The view is horrendous, there are bodies strewn all over the ground below this floating castle in the sky. But where am I!?

“DEATH KNIGHT… IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO SERVE YOUR PURPOSE!” Howled the Lich King, a man bred of pure evil. His only purpose is to control the armies of the scourge, whom under his control could raze entire cities in a moment’s notice.

“What will you have me do, master?” I questioned.

“They say before your death 3 years ago that you single-handedly slaughtered 200 of my men. You may show some promise afterall. First, you are to report to Koltira Deathweaver whom is looking after some prisoners of ours. Then, you are to follow Deathweaver and lead a full-scale attack on Light’s Hope Chapel.”

“Your wish is my purpose, master.”

“Good, it would have been a shame for you to end up like your captain.”

Damn the accursed scourge. My squadron was my family, the only thing that I had left in my life, and they took it all away from me. Please, please say that the others escaped.

As I traveled on a mutilated, skeletal gryphon to my destination I could only see death and havoc. Millions of bodies were scattered throughout the land, which is now called the “Plaguelands”. How gruesomely fitting.

My destination nears, it is a chapel made of pure marble with some Human god’s statue on the outside of it. Magnificent, except for the fact that is burning. Seriously, this is one hell of a dream.

“Greetings scum, I am Koltira Deathweaver, the Lich King told me to have you execute our last prisoner. Get to work.” Said a handsomely dressed elf. Before his tragic death, he must have been a good man, for he had the essence of the rich about him.

Without hesitation I proceeded to the barn next to the chapel and noticed one sniveling elf in the corner. He donned the tabard of the Blood Knights, one that is only given to the elitist of the elite. One like that of which I am wearing blood-soaked scraps of.

“That face… those eyes… could it.. THAT TABARD!?” He gasped, and choaked, “take it off… monsters like you do not deserve to wear my friend’s tabard”.

“Right, look, I have no quarrel with you, but I am sentenced to kill you. Take it like a true Blood Knight, or I will be forced to enslave you.”

“You… you were always a bad liar… Elno…” As tears dropped from his eyes, and I raised my sword.

“Tyranis, I will give you a single chance. You have permission to retreat, take it.”

“There is no point. Alnya has corrupted the good name of the Blood Knights, she betrayed Kael and helped those horrible Humans. I deserve to die-”

“WHAT’S GOING ON! ELNORIAH, DO NOT FAIL ME, KILL THE WHELP!”

“Alright Deathweaver, just remember, it may be awkward explaining to Mograine why one of your pupils was MURDERED.” I bluffed with a sly grin smeared across my face.

There was an awkward silence outside of the barn, and the wind howled like a pack of wolves. Koltira

“End it Elno… it is good to see you are somewhat alive.”

And I lowered my sword and cut him in half. The barn was flooded in a crimson liquid, and my blue hair was stained by the scarlet water. It would have been sheer poetry, had it not been my friend…

From there, I hopped onto my steed and charged towards the designated meeting place. The offensive upon Light’s Hope Chapel was to begin within the next two hours.

Farmlands turned into ash and soot became blurs of color around my unliving eyes. The ground turned into a large plane of purple, black, and brown as I charged on into the dim sun set. My soul wept for the events that had taken place.

“No… I can’t let them know I have… a soul.” I thought valiantly. For if there was any way to repay Tyr’s untimely death at my hand, I would have to live on.

Upon the nearing horizon, there were a handful of smartly-dressed Death Knights. Their lifeless glare spotted me from miles away, staring me down until I finally reached the bottom of the valley.

“Your timing is perfect Death Knight, although, the next time you barely make it- will be your last.” Uttered a bearded Human in a sarcastic tone.

“Sorry sir, there were some pressing matters Deathweaver and I had to attend to-”

“What he meant to say is, that if he decides to make me late once again I will see to it that he is transported back to the Ebon Hold on a Meatwagon.” Sneered an unimpressed Koltira Deathweaver. His death-induced skin glowing with a tint of red rage as he emphasized the last 5 words of his ultimatum.

“RIDE ON DEATH KNIGHTS, ATTACK THE ARGENT DAWN HEAD-ON!” Screamed a Human behind a sleek suit of armor. He wielded the Ashbringer, a sword of immense power. Darion Mograine was his name, and he meant business.

I will save you the trouble of listening to my tale of our quick and intolerable defeat. The Argent Dawn skillfully defeated us and our ten thousand-strong army of scourge minions.

Because of this, Arthas appeared at the battle field, and revealed the truth about the Death Knights. We were merely cogs in the machine that was a suicide attempt at defeating Tirion Fordring.

Luckily, Darion, our righteous leader, decided that it would be best for us to break away from the Lich King. We are now servants to the war effort against the Lich King. Bound to our duty, and graciousness at the Argent Crusade for sparing our worthless lives that fateful day.

My name is Elnoriah Dawnstrider, and in a few short hours I became a founding member of the Knights of the Ebon Blade. Sadly, however, my story has yet to even begun.

“Elnoriah, you are dismissed. We can take care of the Ebon Hold, you however need to meet a correspondent of yours.”

“Thank you, Darion, I’ll stop by often to check up on the place.”

“Do you insult me with this fact that you are so self-centered that just YOU will be the link between us failing or succeeding?”

“No I- Well, I’d best be going, thank you for your-”

“Right, head through that portal, we tailored it to your people, not to the warcheif.”

“Why?” I asked innocently as Darion’s face turned into a twisted knot of agony.

“We already sent  someone more- qualified…”

I muttered a sigh of discontent, and with that I walked into the portal, traveling through the nether. The Ebon Hold shifted away into a new found light as I went through the worm hole, through time and space. The death, the sorrow, it was cleansed of my soul, I could live again!

I began to materialize with the world around me, my portal travel had stopped. Red and yellow as far as the eye could see. Men and women in conversation, practicing the lost art of Arcane magic. Children running through the street, shooting toy bows at the nearest cat or rabbit.

There I was, home at last, after my first of many long journeys. Silvermoon city in its absolute prime, after the war torn factions accepted my people under the leadership of the Warchief, Thrall.

Home…

We find our hero strolling the streets of Silvermoon City in the middle of the day. What a lovely scene…

Greetings pupils, what a wonderful day for your next lesson in the art of Death Knight Tanking! Today is a fairly simplistic lesson, it is how to gem correctly.

For a Tank, this is a fairly simple process, however, getting the most out of your gems is CRUCIAL if you wish to succeed.

Before we start this particular lesson, there is one simple evaluation you need to complete based on your performance. Be as critical as possible as you evaluate yourself, there is NOTHING to be ashamed of!

What is it that I am lacking as a Tank?

If we break up Tanking as a whole there are two main sections on which we gear for. The first is survivability, which comes in stats such as Armor, Hit Points, Avoidance stats, and Defense Rating. The second is TPS (threat per second), which is increased by stats like Strength, Agility, Attack Power, Hit Rating, and Expertise.

Do you have more trouble with staying alive, and/or are do you healers have a hard time keeping you alive? Then you will want to gem for survivability!

Do you have trouble sustaining a healthy amount of TPS and/or keeping mobs and bosses off of your fellow raid members? Then you will obviously wish to gem for TPS.

How poorly are you lacking in the specific area?

These are the questions that need to be asked and answered honestly before you start gemming!

Gemming

Great, now that you have learned the major two parts to gemming as a Tank and what the basic stats are to improve upon them we can continue. Basically we need to evaluate your gear a tiny bit more.

Do you have 540 (or more) Defense?
Do you have at least 150 Hit Rating (bare minimum)?
Do you have 26-30 Expertise?

Basic caps such as these come in priority over most other gems (Defense cap, chiefly). For example, if you desperately need some more survivability and you are NOT Defense capped (540 for raids, 535 for Heroics) then that comes in priority over every other survivability gem.

That being said, let us delve deeper into the world of gems!

Survivability

Survivability-based gemming is the simplest out of the two types of stats. First of all, you will want to reach the Dcap. As I said earlier this is 540 total Defense Skill, which is extremely simple to do.

Defense Gemming l’essential!
Gems that you will be picking from should be either Thick King’s Amber or Thick Autumn’s Glow. They give about 5-4 Defense respectfully, which is certainly a healthy amount. Remember, reaching the Dcap takes priority over EVERY OTHER stat in the game for a Tank. So long as you are at 540, just make sure you stay there. Understood?

Stam, the OTHER white meat!
Alright, once you have successfully reached the Dcap with however many gems you need (most likely you will not need to considering we get 25 free Defense from our Runes) you will be gemming for the best survivability stat in the game. No, we can not gem for Armor, so we just settle for stacking Stamina!

As Death Knights, each point of STAM counts as 10.6 HP with our Frost Presence activated (10.9 for Blood). That being said, we can easily calculate how much HP the two STAM gems give us. Solid Majestic Zircon and Solid Sky Sapphire give a flat-rate of 30 or 24 STAM respectfully.

Just Frost Pres.                              Vet. of the 3rd War + Frost Pres.

HP = 30 * 10.6                                 HP = 30* 10.9
HP= 318                                              HP = 327

Just Frost Pres                              Vet. of the 3rd War + Frost Pres.

HP= 24 * 10.6                                HP = 24 * 10.9
HP= 254.4                                       HP = 261.6

There you have it, basic math done out for you with exactly what your HP gain is based upon your spec. The first was obviously the Solid Magestic Zircon, and the second being the Solid Sky Sapphire. Look at the difference between the two gems, it is quite a significant amount of survivability!

Avoidance- the absolute no!
In addition to HP, most players believe that Avoidance is also included in survivability. Yes, it is, and you can gem for it! But if you do, I will personally have a squad of assassins waiting to kill.

If avoidance comes on your gear as a stat, love it, praise it, demand more of it! For [insert diety's sakes] devour it and swear that you need a second helping, but do NOT willingly place an avoidance gem in your gear. No, I do not care if you are strapped to a chair and you will either gem for Avoidance or watch educational television. For the sake of your character do not do this!

WHY?
“Fourth wall… they just… broke the… fourth wall, man…”
Munch, do not go into musical theater, that was horrible!
“Maybe if… your handwriting… was legible…”
You leave my mother out of this!
“Friggen… elves…”

The reason that we do NOT gem for Avoidance is that it diminishes. The more Dodge you have on you at this moment, the less the 20 Dodge gem will actually give to you.

For example (these are not actual numbers, mind you): You have 500 Dodge rating right now, and have about 28% Dodge. Now, you put a 20 Dodge gem into your shoulders and you now have 28.05% Dodge. Your best friend just hit 80, and has absolutely no Dodge, he put the same 20 Dodge gem into his shoulder and receives 5% dodge.

The worth of Dodge and Parry diminishes depending upon the amount you have, unlike Stam/HP which is a static amount gained no matter what the circumstances are.

Jewelcrafters and their damn Hope Diamonds

Threat Generation

Lacking in TPS (threat per second) is a very serious problem. Sure, you could be rocking 40K HP and not take damage at all, but if you can not hold aggro then what the hell was the point of stacking all of that Stamina? There WASN’T, it was a waste!

Death Knight Tanks have a few strict guidelines to follow to ensure basic-hardcore awesome TPS.

1. 150 Hit Rating (minimum). This is the ability Hit Cap, meaning that your abilities will successfully hit the target. We do like to have the melee Hit Cap of 8% total, but this is suitable for decent TPS.
2. 26-30 Expertise. 26 Expertise ensures that Bosses/Mobs will not be able to Dodge your attacks, and 30 Expertise is generally what you will wish to aim for as a DW Tank. The more attacks that are not avoided = more attacks that hit, which in turn = more TPS.

Notice how I excluded AP/STR/Agi. Such as Avoidance, you have enough of these stats through buffs, consumables, talents, and gear alone. That being said, it is not as important for a Death Knight Tank to gem for STR than say Hit.

Hit Rating- Nature’s Pinata
The gift that keeps on giving until you hit 8% Melee Hit? Damn straight! Arguably, best way to increase your TPS is to get at LEAST 150 HR. The more successful attacks that land, the more Threat is generated, which directly increases your TPS. This means success, and of course cake!

However, like all good things, this gift of HR can become a curse. If you are over 8% Melee Hit there are two problems. The first being that, being over the Hit Cap is a bad thing. The second is that, because of you exceeding the HC, another one of your crucial stats are probably lacking. Balance is power!

Rigid King’s Amber and Rigid Autumn’s Glow are most certainly your friends. Just remember, like all friends you only want to hang around them a decent amount. If you spend every second of your lives together, Survivability will get pissed and leave you!

Expertise- the cool guy in High School that would hang out with you sometimes.
Expertise, although you can gem for it, I would honestly consider only doing so if completely necessary. Now, a great way to suit both your Hit Rating and Expertise needs is to combine the both of them into a super gem. Most people would call this an orange gem.

Accurate Ametrine or Accurate Monarch Topaz are their names, and they give 10 Exp/HR and 8 Exp/HR respectively. As far as Expertise goes, it takes roughly 8 Expertise Rating to receive 1 Expertise, so each of these gives about 1 Expertise per. The full Expertise gives 16, which is about 2 Expertise.

Why would I want to get Hit/Expertise instead of just Expertise? T9 (and the bit of T10 out now) is chalk-full of Expertise, for Tanking. It does however, lack a LOT of HR. This being said, if you are lacking in Expertise, you are in fact most likely either lacking, or not close to the HC, so why not kill 2 birds with 1 gem?

Other Essential Gemming Thoughts-

Awhile ago, I wrote a “The Death Knight Tank and You:” post about the red socket, explaining what the best gem is to activate your meta is. You may want to give this a read through to learn more about the meta gem for Tanking, as well as how to activate it.

Another thing- generally you will want to focus a bit more on the survivability aspect of gemming. The reason being is that you generally will NOT have that much trouble with TPS. Survivability always needs to be approved upon, however. If you do have a bit of a TPS problem, I would suggest only using about 1-2 gems max towards this. Trial and error, if you only need the 1 gem slot for a TPS gain, you don’t need to “waste” more!

As far as when to put an Epic Gem (+30 STAM, ect., ect.) in a piece of equipment is generally when you get an item that you will not be replacing for a good amount of time. These gems can be quite expensive, so unless you are planning on keeping that ilvl 200 blue chest for a long time, just throw a blue gem in it!

Conclusions

Hey, I told you it was simple, there is just a LOT of balancing and self-evaluation to be done in spite of this. Trust me, the time you spend gemming will make it worth it in the end, because let’s face it, there are a lot more stressful and less rewarding things to manage as a Tank than gemming.

Keep your cool rocket, just keep your cool!

Happy WoWing!
-Elno

The Arena, a place of gore, death, but most of all, glory. One must take everything, ‘lest he wishes to lose everything he has worked hard for in this life.  Do you have what it takes, Death Knight?

Last we met, you were just a whelpling, but wait! You still are! Alright, you found a spec that works for your specific play style, but you still are not ready to head into the Arena just yet. Just like PvE (Player verses Environment) PvP (Player verses Player) combat has a few set stats that are needed in order for a player to perform to their maximum capabilities.

Remember, there are some stats that weigh more heavy for a specific play style, as well as a few stats just having a suggested minimum rather than a “cap and just balance around this number”. Regardless, if it is suggested, you as a player really should determine trying to reach that amount.

Hit Cap
Worry not young-lings, the hit cap for successfully landing blows on your enemies is significantly less than is the hit cap for PvE. However, that does not make it any less important, and in actuality it should be at the very LEAST just as important. Being able to hit your enemies whom have a mind of their own, with the maximum potential of your abilities is crucial. As a potential member of a team, it is your duty to play at your maximum potential or else your Arena Team will suffer.

That being said, the hit cap for PvP is merely 5% Melee hit which comes out to around 163.95 total Hit Rating. It is quite a bit less than PvE, which makes it a hell of a lot easier to obtain. Figure it this way, you are still capable of gemming and enchanting for Hit Rating, but you also have an ace in the hole.

The gear from Winter Grasp, in addition to your weapon can give you a large edge in Hit. All of the WG-obtainable gear has +hit on it. So if you are not lucky and are already at the HC then go ahead and get the boots/belt/bracers (I’d be reluctant to get the chest/legs due to them being part of the actual set which has some nice bonuses on it).

Quit your damn whining and get the PvP hit cap, damn recruits and their whining.

Muchy! You said that out-loud!
So?…. What’s…. your point?… Damn pansy,,
What if one of them is a lawyer? They could sue our @#$#% off!
FIGHT… the machine!…

NOTICE: The bridge- where all good gladiators play tag.

Spell Penetration
No, I am not kidding you, Spell Penetration can be a very important stat for a Death Knight in PvP combat.

What Spell Penetration is-

Spellpen (Spell Penetration) reduces the chance that a spell can be resisted. The reason that this is practically useless in PvE is simply that most bosses do not have buffs/auras that increase their chances to resist your spells. Whereas, in the glory of the Arena there are multiple makeups of teams, and every single one of them could get bonuses to resisting your spells.

Paladins with their Frost/Shadow resistance auras, Druids with their Mark/Gift of the Wild, and Priests with their Shadow Protection. Most of these (excluding the Druid’s buff which is 54 resistance to ALL schools of magic) give +130 to resist a specific school of magic. Figure it this way, it is extremely common to have at LEAST one of these in any team makeup, so it is highly likely that you will have to deal with your opponents resisting your magic.

Every second you waste trying to put Plague Strike on your enemy is a second wasted doing more burst and helping out your allies, remember. So with that being said, Spellpen merely reduces the time that you need to waste by having a silence not working, or heavy-damaging spells doing absolutely no damage and wasting your time instead.

What the hell do you mean “CAN be a very important stat”?
Now that we know what spellpen is it should be easier to figure out how it helps us. Considering not all of our abilities are in fact spells, which ones are? Strickly speaking, anything that can be resisted is granted protection from being resisted. Spells such as our diseases, Howling Blast, Strangulate, Mind Freeze, Death Coil, and Frost Strike.

Notice, most of the spells are used heavily by Frost or Unholy specced Death Knights. I would recommend those of you who are said specs to stay and figure out how much Spellpen you actually will WANT. For Blood, it is important, but if you do not have a problem with spells being resisted, there is no point in trying to gem for it!

How much is enough?

It really does depend on what you are trying to do for PvP. Because of the vast possibilities of PvP, I will give you three different options to work with for Spell Power.

The Casual Battleground Player- None, 0, zip, zilch. You DO NOT NEED IT! Just because your strangulate missed a few times does not make you a horrible person. There are 9-39 other people in that battle ground, so the sheer numbers will kill your enemies, not that one strangulate that could have been.

Casual Arena Fanatic- You are a well balanced player. When you are not taking a stab at Arthas and his minions you like to que up with a few friends and smash some skulls in the arena. Hey, if you made it to the top 3, that’d be great, but you don’t quite expect much.

55-75 Spellpen is perfectly fine to be honest. Since you are not planning on being very hardcore with PvP there is no point to be that guy who’s spells can not be resisted. Just go out there and crack some skulls!

Relentless in a week- Raiding? Raiding is for those people who can’t do PvP motha#*&@%! My team has 3k rating in season 8, and that shit isn’t even out yet!

Right… well, for you I would recommend 75-130 Spellpen. It can knock out about a single resistance buff and the results will be seen immediately in the higher brackets. During the margin of time that you are waiting for your next match, maybe tutor yourself in English?

Where can I find this “Spell Penetration?”
No, it is not on any of the plate gear that you will be acquiring during your rise to fame so you are flat-out of luck there. However, it is in gems, and epic gems enchantments! Pick out a healthy combination of the two depending on how you would rate yourself as a PvPer (or how you wish to be as a PvPer).

See? It IS useful!

Resilience
Resilience is (for the most part) a PvP exclusive stat. With that being said, it is massively important as a Death Knight to stack this and hold it dear. It is very much responsible for our survivability in the Arena, so obviously its deliciousness is greeted with open arms.

Break it down
Resilience can be found on most of the gear that is offered for the price of either Winter Grasp tokens, Arena points, or even Honor from its respective vendors. Every 1% of resilience you acquire (82 rating), resilience gives -1% chance to be crit, -2.2% critical damage done to you, -1% total damage received, and -2.2% mana drain done to you.

The cap for resilience is 33% less chance to be crit, which equates to about 1414.5 rating. In actuality, it is damn near impossible to reach the cap without suffering major performance losses.

How much is enough?
When it comes to resilience there really is no set limit on which I would say for you to stop getting it all together. Personally, if you are just starting out and want to contest in the Arena and desire NOT to be carried then you will want 300-500 resilience minimum.

In actuality it is not that hard to get. Just get at least the PvP Trinket and the delicious 4set bonus on the purchasable PvP set. Will it be time-consuming and a living hell? Damn straight, but you will walk out of those BGs and WG games knowing a little bit more about yourself, your limits, and your class each time.

Conclusion

Excluding the hit cap, the caps for PvP are strangely different to that of the PvE. There is a cap, but it can vary between what your play-style is and how serious of a PvPer you are.

Just remember still, if you stack just one stat, you will suffer in everything else. Balance is key, even more so in PvP where the environment can change in an instant!

Happy WoWing!
-Elno

It has only been 6 months, can you believe it? Yes, the first post I’ve ever written was only about 6 months ago, and Plagued Candles has already reached 10k views.

An accomplishment? You bet! I did not think I would make it past a month, but luckily I was imaginative and got a damn good buddy/coauthor, Aifel to help out.

So, what’s in store for you as a reward for helping us reach 10k views? Well, this week my secret project will be posted, as well as a few guides and such. Hopefully we will have our 10th episode of PCP (Plagued Candles’ Podcast) up by the end of the week as well.

If we are feeling very productive we may put up our new Header/Theme, but there are no promises there.

Fun Facts About Plagued Candles

• This was supposed to be a Priest blog, and it looks like it has turned into the opposite.
• We don’t play Blood Elves because we want to, we play them because we HAVE to! (not really)
• Elnoriah was never meant to reach 80. I just made him as a joke.
• Aifel is a Rogue!
• No seriously, he is!
  

  Remember this!?

Thank You

Viewers- there is no point to writing if there is no one there to read it, eh?
Phil- for inspiring me to try my hardest, and not to give up!
Roz and Troutwort- It always helps having some friends to look up to, thanks guys!
Aifel- This would be impossible to do if it was just me, as would Raiding. Hell, I probably could not even Tank if it was not for you telling me how to do it! Thanks, bud!

We find our hero at the Ebon Hold talking to one of the trainers. Wait, what the hell!?…

Strangely enough, I was doing some of the new Heroics at the Ice Crown Citadel the other day, and I noticed that I was taking a lot more damage than usual. Yes, the 5+ mobs in a pull with increased damage should do that, but it seemed to be a bit excessive. I had not changed my gear (damn frickin ilvl 200 boots) and it’s not like I take damage like a truck all of the time.

In order to fix this I have decided to give Blood Tanking another try, and honestly, it is very fun. It took all the blandness that I was feeling with Frost, and made my class fun again! Honestly, I think this is a perfect reason why the Death Knight class is my favorite to Tank with, when something gets unbearably boring you can switch to ANY spec and be able to Tank. It is like playing a different class because each is so unique!

How about we compare both Frost and Blood just to get an idea of which has the “edge” where?

Survivability

Frost’s survivability is based on mitigating the damage, so think of it as taking the damage that you were supposed to have and throwing a chunk of it away. This is done through Talents and Armor. This sounds very good, right? It is, and it is quite effective. It is much easier to have to Heal something that can throw away large sections of damage. However, the damage that you can take can be pretty spiky, which can sometimes cause problems.

Blood is based solely on Self-Preservation and a lot of HP. Think of us as a psuedo-Bear Tank in terms of Survivability. We have a very large amount of HP so we can take some of the larger attacks easier than say Frost/Unholy. Instead of depending on mitigation ( it is there, just not the strongpoint of the spec) we will heal ourselves with attacks like Death Strike, or OH SHI- buttons like Vampiric Blood or Mark of Blood.  I swear to god, I heal myself for about 18%-20% total HP when I do a 2 Disease DS with more than 25 RP.  Since we have less mitigation than Frost, our damage is not as spiky, what you are hit for is practically what you get. Due to Self-Healing we are able to counteract this.

This game’s winner is… BLOOD!
As much as I regret saying this, Blood does have a bit of an edge, the Self-Preservation does REALLY help out Healers. Not to mention having the best OH SHI- buttons a Tank can get makes Blood the king of survivability!

This one's for the ladies! *flex*

AOE Threat

Frost is pretty simple to set up. Using or not using HB spec it is very powerful still. Basically all you have to do is do some delicious IT>PS>Pest.>HB (rune cool down) DnD>BB>HB and you have the bastards locked on you. (If you are HB spec go straight to HB>DnD>BB for even stronger AOE).  Either way, it is extremely easy to set up, with instant rewards. I never had a problem with AOE Threat as Frost.

Blood however is a little bit trickier to set up. I will generally go DND>IT>PS>Pest.>BB and it starts to get the mobs on top of me. By the second rotation I am fine and dandy, but it still is very, VERY annoying to not have mobs instantly on you like with Frost and it’s Rime + Killing Machine procs of deliciousness. Once I am all set up, I do seem to be a little bit stronger than the Frosties, but then again sometimes that is just far too late.

This game’s winner is… FROST
Honestly, the way you want to get AoE Threat is swiftly and efficiently. With HB+Killing Machine proc alone you can have mobs set on you. It takes absolutely no time to do so. Although the only problem that Frost will ever have is that its AOE Threat is pretty spiky, but it is still much better than Blood for sure.

Single Target Threat

Frost is a worthy adversary when it comes to Single Target Threat, with its simple rotation and the ability to kick ass in a short amount of time, it can be the ideal Tank at times. IB>PS>BS>BS>OB—-> OB>OB>OB is an extremely stable rotation, and with the added Killing Machine/Rime procs the Threat can be increased by even more! The Threat is still a little spiky, but generally people have a hard time pulling a boss off of me as a Frost Tank.

Blood, okay I will not lie, Blood’s strongpoint is Single Target Threat. With its powerful diseases and increased damage on attacks like Death Strike and Heart Strike, it really can not be beat. The rotation is pretty badass as well, with IT>PS>HS>HS>DS —-> DS>DS>HS, as you can see it adds its ridiculous amount of Self-Preservation, to its insane amount of Single Target Threat for the ultimate combo. One of which the god’s wish they could beat!

This game’s winner is.. BLOOD!
To be honest, it was not even a choice to begin with. My TPS against bosses has gone up by at least 1k TPS. It is not like I had a problem with Frost to begin with, but the added TPS just gives me that much more flexibility when it comes to the beginning of an encounter.

Super Spec # 1

Although I am a firm believer in play the spec that you want, I would have to say that Blood is a bit more desirable than Frost for me. I have not had a damage problem since speccing, and the rotation is just more enjoyable to play than Frost. I am Elnoriah and I went against my religion… and I like being an Arms Warrior Blood Tank!

Happy WoWing!
-Elno

Elnoriah, Hero of Time, Space, and the like, is at the Ebon hold behind a podium. I guess they left it up to him to rally the forces into battle against the Lich King…

Friends whom I have had the pleasure of Raiding with, enemies whom I’ve had the pleasure of killing, lend me your ears! Today the Lich King opens his doors, and soon we will take Frostmorne and shove it up his ass!
*cheers*

Now is the time to FARM SOME HEROICS!
*room is cleared except for Tanks*

Good, now that we got the DPSers out of the way we can crack down to business, students. First of all, let us take a look at some highlights of the patch notes in order to see what Blizzard decided to change on our abilities. Do remember, I am looking at the changes that will effect Death Knight Tanking as a whole. With that being said, there were actually relatively few changes class wide, and the same goes for Tanking.

Death Knight Tanking Changes

Patch Notes:

• Taunt Diminishing Returns: We’ve revised the system for diminishing returns on Taunt so that creatures do not become immune to Taunt until after 5 Taunts have landed. The duration of the effect will be reduced by 35% instead of 50% for each taunt landed. In addition, most creatures in the world will not be affected by the Taunt diminishing returns at all. Creatures will only have Taunt diminishing returns if they have been specifically flagged for that behavior based on the design of a given encounter.
• Rune of Stoneskin Gargoyle: There is now a 1-handed version of this rune in addition to the current 2-handed rune.
• Rune Strike: Threat generated by this ability increased by approximately 17%
  

As I said, there were relatively few changes to begin with, which means that we are practically balanced. Actually if I may be so bold as to say- we were one of the classes with the least amount of change.

Starting with the Taunt change, this is not Death Knight specific, but a change for all of the Tanks in the game. However, it does affect us (as well as the rest of the Tanks) heavily. Before, remember, after 5 Taunts from you or any other Tank in the Raid a boss would be immune to any Taunt spell (Death Grip/Dark Command). Now, however only specific encounters will have Taunt diminishing returns. Before, let us say we were engaged in Gormok the Impaler from ToC, we have 2 Tanks (you and another). Your off Tank has 3 stacks of impale, so you Taunt off of him, however, there is one problem. Gormok is immune to your Dark Command! Why!?
Taunt diminishing returns: each Taunt that is used on a boss (pre 3.3) would reduce the effectiveness of the next taunt by 50% until around 5 taunts in which it would be completely immune for a set amount of time. Now, however it will take much longer for a boss to become immune to taunts due to the fact that the effectivness is lowered by 35% rather than 50% on the set bosses. Simple, eh?

Let us take the new Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle, this is 1 handed specific Rune meaning that instead of just Rune of Swordbreaking you will be able to attach a 1h version of RotSG. Each rune is about half the strength of its 2h cousin, meaning that if you put 2 Runes on each of your 1H weapons you will get the effects of a full-blown RotSG. Basically, the DW Tanks do not have to balance Defense so frugally, they now have the ability to get 25 full points of Defense skill, rather than having to make up for it in gems and enchantments. Very nice, very nice indeed!

However, the best early Christmas present that Blizzard could give to a Death Knight class was saved for last- 17% more Threat generated by Rune Strike. Rune Strike to a Death Knight Tank is like the peanut butter on a PB&J sandwich, you have to have it because it is so damn good! Before 3.3 however, it was like chunky peanut butter, it is still peanut butter, but it sure as hell isn’t smooth! Now, we pull MUCH more TPS thanks to Blizz buffing our #1 Threat-generating ability. Very, very nice.

Do note: Unholy has possibly changed in terms of Threat generation due to the changes in Scourge Strike being improved!

I'mmah comin for you Arthas!

Purchasable Gear

Emblems of Frost: Because of course, there is a new Raid (Ice Crown Citadel) there will be  a new tier of Gear. As is usual with every other release of new tiers of gear, there are new emblems to collect to acquire the new gear. From the badge vendors you can buy new items ranging from the new Ilvls of gear (251 and 264), said gear can only be bought by using Emblems of Frost. I have my eyes on the new Cloak and Trinket, both are tailored directly to a Death Knight Tank’s needs, and as a bonus the cloak has a gem slot!

The emblems will only be acquired from the new Raid, daily Random Heroic, the chain quest through the 3 new Heroics, and of course the Weekly Raid. That being said, do your dailies and get some of this REALLY nice gear!

Reputation: The new faction which combines the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon blade, Ashen Verdict, presents us with a new Ring, as well as plans for your trade skills. The ring can be purchased once you get Friendly and/or Honored reputation. Rep can only be received by doing the Raid itself, and only by kiling mobs/bosses inside of the Ice Crown Citadel! Easy way to put something on your finger that is stylish AND deadly, eh?

To Be Continued?

As Aifel and I progress through 3.3 we will be sure to post new guides, and straegys to the new bosses that the patch provides. So for now, this is the only scrap of information that I can confidently give you as a Tank. So start farming some Heroics and take a whack at the 4 available bosses in the Ice Crown Citadel!

Oh yes, and I am back for good (hopefully). Real life has not completely cleared up, but this “old man” is back for quite awhile! Cheers friends!

Happy WoWing
-Elno

ALL ABOARD THE CAKE TRAIN BABEY.

We find our hero with DELICIOUS CAKE I MUST EAT IT.

So yeah, Craig’s 16 now. QUEUE COMMENT CHAIN OF AWESOME.

Friends, the world outside of Azeroth can be hard. As we battle various enemies and preserve our second homeland, Azeroth, the war in the real world has a tendency to smack us in the face for an allotted amount of time. No, I am not quitting, in fact I will be playing whenever possible on my server, Smolderthorn, and of course I will be available on Twitter whenever.

First of all I am turning 16 this upcoming Monday, Pearl Harbor day, so I have been doing a driver’s education class. My WoW time and of course, blogging time has been mutilated until the class is over on the 21st of this month. Definitely exciting, and it deserves my focus more than Azeroth does. Hell, we can afford to lose a DK Tank for a tiny window of time, right?

Most of all, my Grandfather needs my attention above everything else mentioned before. He has been in the hospital for 2 weeks and had a few procedures done on him within that time. The latest, although most successful, has not worked to the full potential we had hoped. That being said I am not sure of the outcome, or if he will ever leave that hospital.  I am very close to Grandpa, and it pains me severely to see him like this, but the time is upon me and there is nothing I can do. No OH SHI- button will save me now.

That being said I am in no mood or shape for blogging, and sadly I must end it, if just for a little while. Sure I am not the best source out there for WoW info, DK info, or any of that, but I expect myself to put out a legitimate post. If I can’t focus due to real life, I have no intentions of allowing you to read useless junk. Aifel will be in charge for the next week (maybe 2 depending on the situation), so expect some Raiding info, Melee DPS talk, and uncensored Rogue Rage.

Have a great time, and I will catch up with you all relativly soon.

Oh, and when I’m back I’ll make up for the lack of The Gladiators:, The Death Knight Tank and You:, and the weekly poll (unless Aifel beats me to the chase on that last one).

Happy WoWing
-Elno

Every Tuesday (from now on) me and Craig will be doing a post that is more personal than the typical diarrhea we spew out onto this blog every other post. It’ll have something to do with what we’ve done recently, usually, or might contain some helpful advice or whatnot. YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO READ THIS TO FIND OUT HEHEHE.

Alex: Joined a new raiding guild called   and they’re competent enough to meet my standards. We can do 25 ToC easy, though Anub puts up a bit of a struggle, as he should. Fuck, I’m getting tired of ToC. Can’t wait for ICC!

Been playing my previously neglected DK recently, and speed leveled him from 65 to 69 and a half in the span of 3 days. Fun shit, but one thing; after being hit capped on the Rogue for so long and not playing another DPS class, I’ve gotta say missing every 1 out of 4 Plague Strikes sucks huge, huge dick. Especially when Craig’s Mage crits for 4k and I’m expected to tank the damn thing.

Been also raiding on the Rogue, as I mentioned earlier. ToC is easy enough, though I haven’t gotten much in the ways of gear except for some random pieces of gear that weren’t huge upgrades. I’ve also been stuck with a slow offhand for way too long; I want a ToC 1.4 speed dagger! >:(

On a personal note: I found a rubber, small severed hand in my brother’s Halloween bag. In fact, the hand looks small enough to look like it belongs to a baby or something… Yeah. Canada ftw?

Real life has been fun; much better than Craig’s has been, the poor guy. And… That’s it.

Song of the week: Elephants, by Them Crooked Vultures.

Craig (Aka Elnoriah): I have not had as much time to do all the thing’s I’ve wanted to do lately on WoW. Mostly it has been either 2v2 with Bigblakbul, (slowly decreasing) Raiding, or leveling my Mage to 80.  Like Alex I also joined a new guild, well techincally a remake of an older guild, but they’re pretty good. They have great people, a social guild chat, available Raid times, and the majority of the Raiders are competent. We’ve had a bit of trouble on Anubs, and a little bit of a problem on Twins, but it has been pretty smooth thus far.

The Mage is fantastic. I still prefer to play Elno, but Crando is a perfect way to relax and PvP or just nuke the shit out of Instances. Ever since I stopped playing my Warlock (deleted at lvl 70 as he should have been, RIP) and retired my Priest (not deleting him, hell no!) I have not had a chance to DPS. Occasionally I will hop on the Priest to Heal for a friend, but very VERY rarely will I ever play Shadow. Crando, being a pure DPS class is easily welcomed into groups, and can ONLY DPS!

2v2 has been stagnant, we got to 1030 today (although hitting 1060 somehow lost it all in 2 games), but I haven’t actually gone “hardcore” with it yet. Next patch I will expect to, once my friend Nick gets his account back. It was banned because they “thought he was hacking” when he really just got a new IP address and transfrered his old Rogue to his brother in law’s account. /sigh

Real life has hit like a truck though, so you will probably be seeing a bit more of Alex/Aifel and a bit less of me soon. With 9 hours of driver’s Education each week until the 21st, and my upcoming Birthday there is not much time for me to get online. Oh god, don’t even remind me about my research paper. Damn! A paper and driver’s ed are easily tolerable, plus I get to hang around with some family friends for my birthday so it’s good, but the Hospital has become a very common word around my house lately.

I won’t get into details, but basically about a week ago my Grandpa (whom I’m very close to) was admitted and had a lot of blood in his head. That said and done these could be his final days, so any available time that the hospital allows us (his family) to see him we will usually go down and spend some time.

*shrug* Oh well, hopefully 3.3 comes out soon, I want to get back at Arthas for recoloring my hair…

Well maybe not, he did make me not level a Protadin…

Just kidding I love you Tankadangz. I just can’t tolerate playing one. Alex’s note: neither can I lolool.

And no 3.3. this week.