Should I Switch to a Blood Death Knight in Patch 8.3? - An Analysis

Live Posted 2019/12/27 at 4:18 PM by Mandl

About the AuthorsAcherusClaim #1: Blood Death Knights “scale better at the end of an expansion”Cataclysm: Late Firelands

Death Strike now heals the death knight whether or not the attack misses, or is dodged/parried. As a result of this change, Death Strike no longer refunds its rune cost if it fails to hit the target, as the death knight will still receive the healing effect.

Blood Presence now provides an armor bonus of 55%, up from 30%.

Blade Barrier has been redesigned. It now passively reduces damage taken.

Bone Shield now has 6 charges, up from 4.

imperativeDeath StrikeDeath Strikedev watercoolertells this story from a paladin PoVMists of Pandaria

Riposte is a new passive ability learned by Blood Death Knights at level 76. When the Death Knight dodges or parries any attack, they gain 75% of their Parry and Dodge as additional bonus to Critical Strike for 20 seconds.

Dancing Rune Weapon] no longer costs Runic Power.

Sanguine Fortitude no longer reduces the cost of Icebound Fortitude.

Scent of Blood now also has a chance to activate when the Death Knight dodges or parries a melee attack.

Death Strike

A 10N Council kill, from Throne of Thunder

A 25H Malkorok kill

5.0.5 hotfixes: +25% prot warrior damage, +50% prot paladin damage, +60% thrash damage (druid), +50% keg smash damage (monk), +100% swift reflexes damage (monk)

5.0.5 hotfixes: 7.5% Death Strike nerf, death siphon AP coefficient nerf (minor), 8.5% rune strike nerf, 8.5% heart strike nerf

5.1.0 hotfixes: Heart of Fear has a mind control, Death Strike now no longer takes into account PvP damage

5.2 Blood Parasite now summons Bloodworms with 15% of the Death Knight's health (was 18%) and Blood Burst now heals for 25% per stack of Blood Gorged (was 30% per stack).

Warlords of DraenorChains of SindragosaLegionextremelyDeath StrikeDeath StrikeClaim #2: “Blood Death Knights scale exponentially off stats”Critical StrikeRiposteMasteryHasteVersatility

Mastery, Haste and Versatility interact

Critical Strike has no real meaningful interaction with the rest of the kit beyond reducing DTPS

https://gist.github.com/emallson/677e2776725b7a48d270be3b9fd5fa3c

Rixxa Fluxflame, Mogul Razdunk (pure fire)

King Mechagon p1 (pure nature damage through Pulse Blast).

Prophet Skitra in the Ny’alotha raid

skewed nature of damage profiles in BfA raids

On fixed physical DTPS, the effect of haste and mastery on EHRPS are essentially equivalent

Haste does not “make you self-reliant”

What tank should I reroll to in Patch 8.3?the perception of a specialization has skewed the meta

Blood Death Knight

Vengeance Demon Hunter

Brewmaster Monk

Guardian Druid

Protection Paladin

Protection Warrior

12 3 4

Comment by DJPeaOther Tank Specs: "Am i a joke to you?"Comment by m2geekVeng DH FTW :)Comment by MandlAuthor here.

I missed out a crucial detail on the Legion memory lane, which is that Bone Shield back then worked as a pseudo-absorb (and therefore counted in the DS window calculations). This also led to a much stronger Death Strike than we know today, as it was also given the chance to "crit" for 8% extra DR (well, pseudo-absorb) via Skeletal Shattering and this could be doubled when playing Spectral Deflection, something which happened a lot in cutting edge content. All this damage that used to be a factor in the DS window is no longer present in BfA, and was not replaced in any way.Comment by Geigethis meme made by vdh gangComment by bloctoadI miss the old Frost/Blood tank tree and omnidirectional Howling Blast. Boss to slap? Howling Blast. Adds to kite? Howling Blast. Howling Blast? Howling Blast.Comment by Nockmanit doesnt matter what tank you play in raiding. idk why people think it does. all 6 tanks can clear mythic with ez. same for tanks in keys under like 24Comment by NatPaggleIsaPOSit doesnt matter what tank you play in raiding. idk why people think it does. all 6 tanks can clear mythic with ez. same for tanks in keys under like 24Comment by cEighteenit doesnt matter what tank you play in raiding. idk why people think it does. all 6 tanks can clear mythic with ez. same for tanks in keys under like 24Comment by Jerry235it doesnt matter what tank you play in raiding. idk why people think it does. all 6 tanks can clear mythic with ez. same for tanks in keys under like 24Comment by PotatosockRemovedComment by cEighteenit doesnt matter what tank you play in raiding. idk why people think it does. all 6 tanks can clear mythic with ez. same for tanks in keys under like 24Comment by nerdgirl1993Other Tank Specs: "Am i a joke to you?"Comment by sinangelusit doesnt matter what tank you play in raiding.Comment by Dereticusit doesnt matter what tank you play in raiding.Comment by CantralianAs someone who doesn't raid at all (or do anything else challenging) but does have a blood DK for tooling around the place and soloing stuff, this was absolutely fascinating. Thank you.Comment by Huurkait doesnt matter what tank you play in raiding.Comment by LadyJessathis doesnt mean anything to 99% of wow players, though, who will never push CE or 20+ keys

Any combination of tank/dps/heals is viable for all keys to 15, normal and heroic raids.

Let the nerds be nerds, rest of you, play what you enjoy!

90% of the people who bluster on about "viability" have never experienced harder content than heroic/10 keys anyway

its all a joke :)Comment by ColdariaAh yes, solo tanking Heroic Garrosh as BDK. Good times.Comment by Dhal
Name the guilds with non-BRM tanks that killed Azshara top 50.Comment by hotaru251Other Tank Specs: "Am i a joke to you?"

12 3 4