Death Knight Boosting

[gankzer]

For those of you that have played them - how are they? Comparable to a Paladin for pulling large groups and AoE down?



thanks.

[algol]

They take more attention. Fun though. Dunno about boosting with one, try it and tell us.

[krum]

I'm able to take quite a bit larger pulls in ZF and SM Cath with my 64 Unholy DK than I was with my prot pally when she was level 65.

[sqeaky4100]

DKs are amazing AoE

If you can get Pestilence out sucessfully, you can easily just Death Strike your way through the entire fight, not to mention Icebound Fortitude, and other useful tanking spells.

They're AoE is also a lot more powerful than a pally's.


At 80 if I put my mind to it, I could easily take 15+ mobs at one time. Let alone way more lower levels.

[homerjunior]

I have a fairly geared DK, And can 1 pull ramparts with a lvl 56 healer

[Bigfish]

How does DK AOE work, as far as boosting goes?

[Multibocks]

I have a fairly geared DK, And can 1 pull ramparts with a lvl 56 healer

Uh how do you one pull ramparts?

[Spook]

For those of you that have played them - how are they? Comparable to a Paladin for pulling large groups and AoE down?


thanks.

For Multi-boxing, I still prefer a paladin tank, but the death knight sure has a lot going for it. They DO require a bit more attention than paladin tanks, but they have advantages too.

The following is my OPINION, subject to correction by FACTS that may make my opinions worthless: ;)

1. Paladin enhances mounted speed for the group, DK enhances run/walk speed for the group = Advantage DK, especially in instances.
2. Paladin can rez if the healer goes down, DK can't = Advantage paladin
3. Paladin shield blocking is more effective against hard hitting boss mobs = advantage paladin
4. Paladin suffers against ranged magic attackers, DK can safely ignore them or pull them into his anti-magic zone = advantage DK
5. DK does a lot more damage while tanking than paladin = advantage DK
6. From level 60 to nearly 70, the DK is likely to be better geared, but equals out by mid to late outlands = equal
7. The DK can cast a spell, even while mounted and moving, that allows the whole group to run/walk on water, even mounted = situational, but advantage = DK
8. At level 80, the DK can get a spell that is the best "oh darn" spell in the game for PVP or boss fights, which summons an entire army of gouls to swarm the victum = advantage DK


Bottom line: Paladins excel at tanking hard phyical hitting mobs, D-K's tend to be somewhat better dealing with magic attacks, but the D-K does a lot more damage than the paladin. Nealy equal overall, but they play much different. Since you asked about paladin vs D-K's, I didn't discuss warrior or druid.

[sqeaky4100]

For those of you that have played them - how are they? Comparable to a Paladin for pulling large groups and AoE down?


thanks.

For Multi-boxing, I still prefer a paladin tank, but the death knight sure has a lot going for it. They DO require a bit more attention than paladin tanks, but they have advantages too.

The following is my OPINION, subject to correction by FACTS that may make my opinions worthless: ;)

1. Paladin enhances mounted speed for the group, DK enhances run/walk speed for the group = Advantage DK, especially in instances.
2. Paladin can rez if the healer goes down, DK can't = Advantage paladin
3. Paladin shield blocking is more effective against hard hitting boss mobs = advantage paladin
4. Paladin suffers against ranged magic attackers, DK can safely ignore them or pull them into his anti-magic zone = advantage DK
5. DK does a lot more damage while tanking than paladin = advantage DK
6. From level 60 to nearly 70, the DK is likely to be better geared, but equals out by mid to late outlands = equal
7. The DK can cast a spell, even while mounted and moving, that allows the whole group to run/walk on water, even mounted = situational, but advantage = DK
8. At level 80, the DK can get a spell that is the best "oh darn" spell in the game for PVP or boss fights, which summons an entire army of gouls to swarm the victum = advantage DK


Bottom line: Paladins excel at tanking hard phyical hitting mobs, D-K's tend to be somewhat better dealing with magic attacks, but the D-K does a lot more damage than the paladin. Nealy equal overall, but they play much different. Since you asked about paladin vs D-K's, I didn't discuss warrior or druid.
If you have a shaman team with reincarnate + rez ... I couldn't see any reason why you would go pally.

[blast3r]

For those of you that have played them - how are they? Comparable to a Paladin for pulling large groups and AoE down?


thanks.

For Multi-boxing, I still prefer a paladin tank, but the death knight sure has a lot going for it. They DO require a bit more attention than paladin tanks, but they have advantages too.

The following is my OPINION, subject to correction by FACTS that may make my opinions worthless: ;)

1. Paladin enhances mounted speed for the group, DK enhances run/walk speed for the group = Advantage DK, especially in instances.
2. Paladin can rez if the healer goes down, DK can't = Advantage paladin
3. Paladin shield blocking is more effective against hard hitting boss mobs = advantage paladin
4. Paladin suffers against ranged magic attackers, DK can safely ignore them or pull them into his anti-magic zone = advantage DK
5. DK does a lot more damage while tanking than paladin = advantage DK
6. From level 60 to nearly 70, the DK is likely to be better geared, but equals out by mid to late outlands = equal
7. The DK can cast a spell, even while mounted and moving, that allows the whole group to run/walk on water, even mounted = situational, but advantage = DK
8. At level 80, the DK can get a spell that is the best "oh darn" spell in the game for PVP or boss fights, which summons an entire army of gouls to swarm the victum = advantage DK


Bottom line: Paladins excel at tanking hard phyical hitting mobs, D-K's tend to be somewhat better dealing with magic attacks, but the D-K does a lot more damage than the paladin. Nealy equal overall, but they play much different. Since you asked about paladin vs D-K's, I didn't discuss warrior or druid.
If you have a shaman team with reincarnate + rez ... I couldn't see any reason why you would go pally.

Just spent the last few days getting my pally from 60 to 68. You think a DK is a more viable tank than a pally? I plan on putting together a team of DKs down the road anyways.

[homerjunior]

I have a fairly geared DK, And can 1 pull ramparts with a lvl 56 healer

Uh how do you one pull ramparts?Pull it all DnD>IT>PS>Pes>HB for 6k+(If not dead wait for the second 6k+ HB)

[Spook]

[Giant Snip]
Bottom line: Paladins excel at tanking hard phyical hitting mobs, D-K's tend to be somewhat better dealing with magic attacks, but the D-K does a lot more damage than the paladin. Nealy equal overall, but they play much different. Since you asked about paladin vs D-K's, I didn't discuss warrior or druid.

If you have a shaman team with reincarnate + rez ... I couldn't see any reason why you would go pally.
Good point. I use a paladin tank with my paly-priest-3xMage team, fun and works well. I use a D-K on my DK-4XShaman team, fun and works well. I'm thinking of replacing my paly on my paly-priest-3xWarlock team with a D-K, mostly for the pet damage boost with the "fog horn" spell, not because it is overpowered or anything, I just like the sound! :)

I have several 60+ teams, and I usually prefer the one I'm playing at the time.

[Bigfish]

I have a fairly geared DK, And can 1 pull ramparts with a lvl 56 healer

Uh how do you one pull ramparts?Pull it all DnD>IT>PS>Pes>HB for 6k+(If not dead wait for the second 6k+ HB)

How are you getting Howling Blast to go off for 6k?

Oh, I see. Stacking all the stuff that affects Howling Blast adds up quite a bit. Interesting.

[Multibocks]

No I mean how do you pull all of ramparts? Do you run through the whole instance or is there a faster way?

edit: How can you tank that many mobs at once? Even SM can kill a level 70 paladin if you arent careful on a full pull.

[elsegundo]

I have a fairly geared DK, And can 1 pull ramparts with a lvl 56 healer

Uh how do you one pull ramparts?Pull it all DnD>IT>PS>Pes>HB for 6k+(If not dead wait for the second 6k+ HB)

How are you getting Howling Blast to go off for 6k?

Oh, I see. Stacking all the stuff that affects Howling Blast adds up quite a bit. Interesting.a video would be awesome.

[Bigfish]

I played around with this last night, and honestly, I'd like to see a SS of ramparts being done in a single pull. Howling Blast can get a ridiculous damage boost going to it (8.4 if EVERYTHING is up), but at the same time, not only do you have to survive tanking that many mobs, Howling Blast's damage is reduced for hitting so many mobs with an AOE.

[Multibocks]

Ya, figures it wouldnt escape the AE damage cap =(

[skwert]

Which sort of talent build is best to do for an instance boosting DK? I probably won't play mine much beyond boosting low levels at this point. I see a few talents in the unholy tree (Desecration, Wandering Plague, Corpse Explosion) that could be useful there. Then I see you mention Howling Blast and looked into that tree. The 8-second cooldown on it sounds powerful against mass mobs, and it can be modified with several other talents in the frost tree. So, does anyone have a sample build I can peruse?

[FunkStar]

I've got a good geared prot paladin and DK, and from my experience, i boost upto 55 with the paladin, and with the DK from that point. Simple reason for this is that below 55 I can't effectively get my diseases up on mobs, because they die before i did icy touch & plague strike, so i can't pestilence (could do just 1 disease, but meh). I only tried -55 in scholomance on DK though, and I often had close fights because I got silenced all the time, and couldnt keep my diseases up to be able to heal myself with plague strike.

Paladin has np with this with seal of light. Maybe at lower levels than scholo DK has enough healing from the 2% from blood aura. Haven't tested that yet. but beyond lvl 55 (aka ramparts time) DK is definitely my preferred choice. (dk is tanking blood spec btw)

[Lyonheart]

Paladin=easier
DK= harder to play while multiboxing ( until you get used to it) but way more fun!

Also, in the list of pros and cons, you forgot the best reason to use a DK in a team with caster dps>>>. EBON PLAGUE BRINGER=13% spell damage for your casters

[Catamer]

I agree is lion... a pally is just incredibly easy to play.
there is almost nothing to a pally including how the aoe concecrate drops where you stand.
/castrandom holy shield,
/castrandom all,other,pally,spells,you,want,to,use

the DK is going to take a little work to get that extra DPS out of it (finding the best castsequence,etc) , the aoe is click to cast.
it just depends on how much effort you want to put into it.
A pally is a great starter tank, a DK is more advanced tank that if played right can out produce a prot-pally for DPS and boost the teams DPS. ( and if played wrong it won't )
note: Ebon plaguebringer is a deep unholy talent while frost is supposed to be the true tanking spec for DKs. so many are comparing an unholy DK with a prot-pally instead of a more equivalent ret-pally.

[Kang]

I can't yet comment on the Pally, but I can say the DK as a booster works well. I just finished getting a mixed team to 60 with my 64 DK (started as 63 and dinged during the process)
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-talents.xml?r=Madoran&cn=Tanakh
I know this build is not optimal, but it worked pretty well [I was conflicted when making the build between DPS and tanking talents, so it came out as a mish-mash.] It had plenty of AE damage to take down large groups quickly and held aggro beautifully using frost presence. The bottom line is I found the DK pretty easy to work with.

[X-Ifist]

If you got a decent geared 80 DK 1-40 sucks since you wont manage to get dots up, 1 hit=dead, i ended up switching to a gray 1h to get Plague strike up
40 and up they are in my opinin way better than pally since they got alot of panic buttons do alot more dmg