DK Viability?

Hello, I've been 5 Boxing for a while now and as Wrath launches tommorow I've been wondering if the DK will be a good Tank for Multiboxing. Im currently using a pally but im wondering if the fact that DK's have diseases, some interesting Auras (I believe there auras anyways.) and DoT's, will make them better tanks,and since they use 2H's to Tank can sustain legitamit DPS in a both PvE and PvP environment? The main reason I care though is because im looking to do arena when i can at 80, and from past experiences Pallys arent an ideal class for arena/PvP. The DK's however look like they might be. Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions on this? or better yet anybody in beta who can answer this?

Nope, they will be difficult to use as well as a paladin. You are certainly welcome to try.

multibox a hunter using only melee (hunter because if you spec _____ for the ghoul pet). It's prolly about the same

I believe the spec is unholy for permanent pet, but I could be wrong.

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Originally Posted by 'Multibocks',index.php?page=Thread&postID=147119#p ost147119

I believe the spec is unholy for permanent pet, but I could be wrong.

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better guess then mine without having to look it up

Its not that the pally is difficult to use, its just not effective in PvP, Worst case scenario i will grant up a rogue/other cast dps to go with my shams. Im just curious if the DK will be usefull at all for multiboxing.

I think they're going to be about as good for boxing as a warrior. I am going to have one around just in case their tanking turns out to be pivotal for a boss at some point, or in case something added later on makes them more valuable. Their buffs could be alright, but nothing looks as useful as paladin buffs.

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Originally Posted by 'Multibocks',index.php?page=Thread&postID=147119#p ost147119

I believe the spec is unholy for permanent pet, but I could be wrong.

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Unholy for Ebon Plague (13% magic vulnerability) and AoE fun. I think unholy spec may have the potential to be an interesting alternative to Paladin, although probably one that requires more attention. Ebon Plague is nice, but you do give up blessings & auras. I'm kinda attached to crusader aura's 20% :D. OTOH one could always go Unholy DK + 3x Elem Sham + Holy Pally. There are loads of options.

I don't think it's going to displace Prot Pally + 3x Elem Shammy + Resto Shammy any time soon, though.

Paladins are great because so much of their tanking is innate or passive. DK has soooooooooooooooooo (a few more o's) abilities it's sick. A DK played well will be awesome, a DK that you don't (or can't) use every ability in a fight is subpar.

Those who try to utilize Melee in a multiboxed PvP setup are asking for frustration. Not saying it's not POSSIBLE, just prepare to pull your hair out.

Pallies are good as a PvP choice (PvE tank) because they can RESPEC to holy (i.e. NOT a melee class).


Think about this -- autoattack stops /follow. If your DK is on follow, he is targeting your "main". If he is autoattacking, he stops following and his target easily runs out of range.

Now if the DK is leading, what are the others doing? If you spread them out, they are immobile and easily line-of-sighted. If you have them /follow, they interrupt spellcasting every time they take a step (and the DK should be making steps to chase down that running opponent).


The reasons why Pallies or even Druids are preferred over Warrior and DK is because they can respec to be either ranged DPS (boomkin) or healer (resto/holy). It's not because of their leet tank DPS.

P.S. -- DK's aren't the only tank with decent dps these days.

I think he wanted to use the DK as a tank in pve... Like most of us.. would leave the 4 shammys or what ever at a point.. totem up there.. move in an pull with our tank.... I will get 1 DK to replace my druid as i was going as feral this way before but now just wanna have him as moonkin. So i will be able to chose if i want to go 5 dps.. or 4 dps+1tank.

Part of what makes 'fun' class to play is the interactivity. DKs have a lot of that going on.. keeping eye on your runes/diseases/runic power. When playing single player this makes DKs a lot of fun to play.. but as a boxer your attention is split between tanking/dps/heals/movement and it makes it more challenging. You can still do it but it's not as hands off as a pally. Generally once you get your rotations going, it goes ok but once you miss things or the diseases falloff it's when DKs effectiveness drops. That and I've heard some issues with disease immune bosses that could make your life harder. If you play one with a simpler rotation dps class like a shammy it will be a lot easier than if you play it with 3 (affliction) locks and a druid.

I personally really enjoy healing on my druid but for boxing I stick with either a priest or shammies. I can use my druid but his effectiveness drops as I can't manage as well stacking lifeblooms/hots while boxing. I do plan to roll a DK as I have 4 priest that are 55 so they're perfect to level with it. The setup will be fun but I'm not expecting it to be as easy as my pally/shammies setup.

boxing melee for pvp isn't all that difficult really.
try this out

/a focus
/f focus
/startattack
/castsequence reset=4 icy touch, plague strike, pestilence, blood boil, death strike, death coil

The trick is you just spam the crap out of this key. I bound mouse 5 to this task and it works wonders. It gets even easier w/ the DK's.

roundrobin

/a focus
/cast deathgrip
/cast gnaw

if you have your ghoul out this will pull the mob to your party and get stunned immediately.

DK viability for a PvE tank is just as good as a pally. Probably requires slightly more micromanagement but not that much more. If you spec unholy thats where its more like pally tanking. A consecration-like ability, plus an AoE disease transfering ability, plus a talent that makes your diseases autospread makes AoE threat management really easy. You also have a pet that actually can take some decent hits, and has a built in stun. Plus you have a bunch of oh-shit buttons (bone shield, icy fortitude or whatever its called, etc). I also feel that the DK actual has far more viability in PvP than the paladin. The utility of some of the abilities (anti-magic zone for AoE protection), death grip, gnaw, along with some better ranged abilities like the ranged ice move and death coil make for more usefulness in PvP IMO.

Plus, they look infinitely cooler.

Thanks for all the input guys, I think im gonna use my Pally in PvE and my DK in PvP as it seems to be great at helping me control my opponents (Death Grip FTW), and i use a mage, so with some of the frost talents+Unholy, i can get my mage critting more, and that anti-magic zone sounds like it could help, im curious if it would negate something like Physchic scream (havent acctually got the chance to use it, but I think it just reduces damage), and the pet is nice because it helps to keep up a consistent DPS, combined with the elemental I seem to get alot more time to Evoc and attempt shatters, or Huge chain combos. So thanks for all the help guys :thumbsup:

~Sin~

Granted my DK is only 58 right now, but that will change soon enough. What I've come up with is PURELY a PvE AoE tanking build which can be found here.

This spec does NOT make use of ghoul improvements as I've decided that even outside of a multiboxing environment, I don't want to bother with a pet while AoE tanking. Yes, there is a little more work involved here than a prot pally, but it seems pretty fun. Also, the rotations aren't that hard at 58 since the basic rotation starts off with applying diseases and then spreading them however you can (either by direct infection of surrounding targets, or simply using abilities that cause diseases on one target to damage surrounding targets) and then using Unholy Blight when you've got the Runic Power. Note that since UB is so expensive (but still, it does a LOT of damage), I've specialized just far enough down the Frost tree to increase my max. Runic Power by thirty so that I can save it up (since that seems to be what happens a LOT with Death Knights).

Just my thoughts. I'm almost at the point where my shadow priest / pally group is ready to drop the pally and pick up the Death Knight. Not that I hate the pally, it seems to do fine. I just think the DK might be more entertaining.

For Arena, I plan to run the Shamans with a Healer friend. And the DK I'll be doing arenas solo with friends. I never liked the idea of healing the shamans with my Paladin in arenas, because I felt too immobile. I also don't care for PVPing with my Paladin, all in all I've found the DK to be a welcome solution to the few issues I've had with my Paladin, the Pali isn't going away though, not by any means. He's simply tanking for my mixed team now. All in all, the DK is fairly comparable to the Paladin in PVE. With a bit more damage output. And honestly, I think a bit more threat. Overall, I'm pleased enough to bench my geared pali in favor of using the ungeared newb DK.