I've mained DK more or less since it came out. This is the first expansion where I'm not 100% sure it's going to be my main. My other 2 favorite tanks are DH and Paladin, and with the current tuning so close to release I almost feel like I will be gimping my M+ team if I stick with my DK. I'll still level it first, but I feel like I have to get my DH or Paladin up as well just in case my concerns turns out to be true. Especially when it comes to threat/dps. Blood is still my favorite tank spec, but I'm disappointed as well about how little attention we have gotten. Just look at Vengeance in comparison that has 2 very distinct builds to go with and Legendaries that synergize with those builds. Core issues remain unchanged, like Dancing Rune Weapon duration. Clearly Blizzard is aware of it since they "fixed" it with external systems again, adding a few seconds to the duration from a conduit. But it's still underwhelming. First of all it, it's basically a defensive cooldown so why is it still on the GCD? The offensive component is a joke. It's not a button you press and your damage suddenly skyrockets. With the current tuning it should have been on a 1min CD. As a 2min CD it needs some additional effects, maybe something like instantly maxing out bone shield stacks and giving you some runic power? But even if it was better defensively we still lack a proper dmg cooldown. All the other tanks have a button to press so they can keep up when dpsers pop their big 2-3min CDs. Yes, Swarming mists + Bonestorm will probably help a bit on AoE pulls, but one is borrowed power and the other is a talent and it's not on-demand burst in the sense that you need to build 100 runic power first and by then you have often lost aggro anyway.The dmg buffs we got recently doesn't really help much either. I mean 25% to DnD, our lowest dmg ability? Why not Blood Boil that actually helps with snap aggro on pulls?And of course we are still the most susceptible to getting trucked into the ground. We either need more baseline armor, or perhaps purgatory baseline.
good article, and so true , same like many class, they should work on core design.
what about the legendary for haste in Death and decay, and night fae with haste in death and decay? thats what I am aiming at, since that kind of haste have no cap from my understanding, compared to haste rating softcap.So from what I hope, you get some nice rune regen that ease out stuff. :o and I picked empowered-chrysalis, overheal not too uncommon as deathknight.Thats around 8%+12% haste (15+12 if you are frost)Adding the soulbind for damage on deaths due, combined with the talent that makes it tick faster is something I look on for that AOE damage/threat.If I want I can use the same things, but adding melee attack haste 15% from frost talent, and cold acceleration that gives empowered runic whatever haste as well.Having almost a bloodlust 10 seconds every 30 seconds. not sure if I want to add Rune of hysteria on top of that.Have anyone tried something similair or will all this just be garbage?
So I would have to choose between brutal grasp or Gnashing Chompers, I already understood the problemGood System LMOA
final verdict seems to be:Venthyr covenantSuperstain lego - for both extra dps and suvivability (has better RP gain what Bryndaor saves us )Rune of the Fallen Crusader.- runeforge enchantment still seems slightly better than 'Rune of Sanguination' (depends on how much exactly is that "Death Strike to deal increased damage based on the target's missing health" increased damage actually. Venthyr increases runeforge enchants by 20%; so for RotFC the str gain proc for 15 sec will be 15,3% up from 15% and the heal of 6% maximum health increased to 6.12%..The power inflation based on Ion's gearing strategy that they revealed during legion we get about 15-30% stronger each tier, but this time the secondary stats will have higher diminishing returns.. so to summ up the above - till we'd be able to unlock the 20% enchantment bonuses @Venthyr and early to the xpack 'Rune of Sanguination' might be the best choice since we'll be low on stats and it will might provide better survivability "When you fall below 35% health, you heal for 48% of your maximum health over 8 sec." - In general, the Blood Tap - Rune Tap addition is nice. giving experienced players some more room to play around instead the passive (up to) 10% hp increase from 'Foul Bulwark'. With blood tap we can always use one extra rune to incease DPS (&get more RP) and the other leave for emergency to be able to activate Rune Tap if needed.. or get even some more DPS when fighting trivial content when you know you wont use BT anyway.Osuary is also nice to have it as baseline. It was always the only viable option in any row since introduced.I kind of miss that we won't be able to stack runeforge procs by using multiple weapons.. as when you switch weapon you get a 30 sec debuff making unable to benefit from runeforge procs; at least they could have let use to switch between the movement speed and another one.
Helpful article. I need a tank/dps class. DK is out since blood and Frost don't look good. Druid is up there since guardian is in a good spot. Now if balance was more fun that would be great. Pally is the top choice. Ret isn't that bad and Prot looks great. Maybe warrior needs another look š¤
Imagine not going Necrolords as a DK
Removed
For every new expansion part of the hype is the new class changes, new possibilities to play the spec we like and how we can make good use of all the new perks to address the new content. Shame Bdk had horrible azerite traits for almost an entire expansion and now the story repeats itself in SL. I really don't understand how they can make such underwhelming conduits. At this point, I think that even if they buffed the Debilitating Malady conduit to increase the damage enemies take from Blood Plague to 33.3% stacking 3 times, we would still be on the low side of damage output tankwise. Why would they tie 3 Legendary powers out of 4 blood specific powers to defensive values and 2 of those for the same spell. The last one, the DRW power is also fairly underwhelming but that is probably because DRW is not the DPS CD we need. Can we get Soulflayer's corruption Legion Legendary?Our armor is still a problem, why don't we get more armor from each Bone Shield stacks? Can't we remove Tombstone and bring back Spectral Deflection so we can't die within a global in very high keys? Torghast is another missing opportunity, Bone Harvester is super fun for class fantasy but shouldn't be tied to Death Coil, makes no sense for Blood. It should be able to activate with Death Strike. Why do we have Monstrous Concoction as an option for blood? In order to gain the buff we have to use another 2mnt cd spell. I get it, Torghast is spec agnostic and for example, death coil is common for all 3 specs but that doesn't mean it's a fun spell to press for blood, let alone tie meaningful Torghast spells to it. In an expansion with so many ties to DK and with a class with so much class fantasy, its super disheartening to get to this point and seeing that this is the only thing they can come up with for our spec. I guess its time for the Blood DK class designer to pass the mantle to someone else with new ideas and new ambitions for the spec.
This really reads more like a critique if the SL borrowed power systems than a guide. I don't think I've learned anything about the spec from reading it. And it's funny to me that this is extremely negative about the state of Blood when by most metrics BDK is in a good spot for season 1 at least. I get being upset that you aren't seeing the changes you want, but there is still a lot of good things going for BDK. I'm genuinely just confused what the purpose of this article is. You didn't really offer feedback (you mention it was given, but it's not stated here), you didn't inform me, and frankly putting this kind of negative opinion piece out there so close to release just increases toxicity.I've read all of these guides both times around now, but this is by-far the most disappointing. I understand your anger and frustration, but it would nice if you could set that aside when trying to inform the playerbase.
Really disappointing article, the writer focused on complaining and being sarcastic over giving nuanced looks at each ability/conduit/legendary. How useful are the Abomination Limb pulls when tanking? How much CDR do you realistically get from Crimson Rune Weapon or Gorefiend's Domination? Blood looks like a great spec going into SL despite some of the new systems being undertuned.