Replace Pally with DK for tanking with 4 shaman?

[Lazzadorabcd]

Anyone tried out the deathknight and or gotten far enough along that he can tank?

I am not sure if DK can heal enough to make him better than a pally tank for 5 man MBing

Any thoughts?

[Coltimar]

When I'm bored of Northrend I'm gonna tank Strat with my DK and have my 70 DPS team with him. I'll let you know how that goes, lol.

[Gomotron]

Only played WotLK for 3 hours, but am planning on replacing the Pally in my 1P4S team with him. We'll see how that works.

With this in mind, I am speccing Unholy atm as there is a debuff that increases magic damage on targets, so that should be good for the shamen (unless my understanding of game mechanics is not just poor but horrendous). I think the AE tanking will be on par with Pallies, but what I am concerned about is the tanking powah... are they going to be able to take a hit as well as pallies? We'll see!

[Hor]

My 4 Shaman 1 DK team is 72 atm, and going well. The Shamans heal even if I'm using my Paladin. So ... no worries there. The DK holds aggro better than the Pali imo, because he does so much more damage. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the setup. And the Shamans are doing more damage thanks to the DK. And I don't have to use certain totems with the DK in the group. Overall, very effective. I'm working on a guide for boxing with DKs, so just give me a bit to work it out.

[algol]

The main thing that interests me is getting Ebon Plague up then having a little fun with Glyph of Pestilence. DKs are the only AoE magic% debuff - druids have to nuke them once, and even the warlock version requires an instant debuff per target.

Tempting to swap in a Paladin healer though. Blessings + auras, good efficiency...well, first thought of it because Blessing of Sanctuary would be really, really funny, but I don't know how well a Holy/Prot build would do. Off-tank in a pinch, I guess (though why would you want your healer tanking if you're in the situation of NEEDING an off-tank?), but the question in my mind is if the boost from "gain 20 runic power on block/parry/dodge" is worth slightly gimping the healer. I think it might be.

[Pikey]

I'm clearing Ramps and BF as a 60 DK + 4 shaman, now 62.

[Hor]

Honestly, I'm not having any trouble generating RP. I don't think I "need" the NoSanc, all it would do is give me more RP to dump with Death Coil. As for Mana Issues, all 4 Shamans have Improved Water Shield, all are dropping Mana Spring Totems, and all 4 have the Glyph that increases mana regen from Water Shield. I'm not seeing any mana problems and if they do start to lose some mana (which frankly right now I don't even see it move) but on boss fights if it starts to dip I just Thunderstorm for a quick boost. Losing the BoW on the Shamans has proven to be a pretty negligible hit. The DK doesn't NEED a dedicated healer, he lives just as well on 4 Lesser Healing Waves as he does with a Pali or anyone else healing him for that matter. As for offtanking, that's what your pet is for. He actually does it quite well even in instances. He might die if it's a high DPS mob and you're not attentive. But ... then he's still served his purpose, one less mob hitting the tank for a time, and he did some damage to it before ... I've actually had more problems with him killing the add before I got to it than him dying though.

[algol]

The DK doesn't NEED a dedicated healer, he lives just as well on 4 Lesser Healing Waves as he does with a Pali or anyone else healing him for that matter.I suspect that part won't hold true in Heroics.

[Maxion]

The DK doesn't NEED a dedicated healer, he lives just as well on 4 Lesser Healing Waves as he does with a Pali or anyone else healing him for that matter.I suspect that part won't hold true in Heroics.

4 lesser healing waves have been proven to keep any tank alive in heroics and kara alike.

[algol]

4 lesser healing waves have been proven to keep any tank alive in heroics and kara alike.Maybe it's "proven" to keep them alive, but only if you don't need to do it constantly, and only if the DPS loss doesn't mean you go OOM long before the boss goes OOH.

[heyaz]

How viable are DK's supposed to be for main tanks? Is blizzard committed to making them able to be a real tanking class, or more of a "can tank if you don't have a real one" like paladins/druids pre-tbc? I'd love to replace my Paladin, to be honest I have no interest in ever playing my paladin solo, whereas I would definitely take the DK out solo

[algol]

Is blizzard committed to making them able to be a real tanking class,On paper, yes. More than that, I would need a crystal ball for.

[slongz]

been using my 60 dk also I like it better then my pally ,I am unholy spec'd

Only thing missing unless I just havent found it is some kinda taunt so if you healer happens to pull aggro to soon you can get it back

[algol]

Frost Presence increases threat generated, Death Grip forces the mob to attack you for 3 sec.

[Hor]

Dark Command is our real taunt, you don't get it till 65. 8 Second Cooldown, commands the target to attack you. 20 yd range, and it doesn't cost anything.

[Hachoo]

Yep I think DKs will make GREAT multiboxer tanks. It will definitely be a little more micromanagement as you have to target with death and decay, and use a proper sequence the generate max threat (ie: put a couple diseases on a target, and then spread them with pestilence, etc). But, overall, I think it will work just as good as Death Knights are infinitely cooler than Paladins.

I'm seriously considering removing my main shaman completely and replacing with my Death Knight. I find Elemental Shamans to be boring as hell when played Solo, and so having a DK main instead of a shaman main means I can play solo with friends if I choose at any time.

Also as trivial as this is, DKs get a custom flying mount that looks awesome as hell :D

[slongz]

Frost Presence increases threat generated, Death Grip forces the mob to attack you for 3 sec.I tend to play to much with Death Grip but yea thats a good one

[Bigfish]

Death Knights make melee-multiboxing plausible.