Let's come up with a new 5 man DK spec

[Multibocks]

You mean like this?

Unholy Aura was becoming mandatory as a raid buff. We considered giving it to other classes, but realized we would just be accepting all players moving faster all the time (which subsequently also makes some boot enchants look bad). Frost Aura was kind of lame, but I'm sure we could have come up with something better. Mostly, the mechanic was just a little awkward and hard to explain. We like the new one better.

Players often wish for a buff so awesome that it guarantees them a raid slot. But that is exactly the mentality we were trying to prevent with our big buff and debuff overhaul. In the Sunwell era, raid slots were already so precious that there is a good chance a DK might not have even earned a spot, and having more than one would be a total waste... unless we gave them two mandatory buffs, in which case the Retadin, Boomkin or dps warrior might have gotten the heave ho.

The new model is designed to let you get as many buffs as you want through several different configurations of classes and specs and still have some slots left over to bring who you want.

Sounds like blood DKs are screwed, however it didnt specifically mention blood aura above, so I hold out some small hope...

[Tombs]

My main concerns over the DK are more on a the class as it is played solo. With the changes to auras they are basically taking away the only unique buffs that DKs brought to a group. Horn of Winter is a Strength of Earth totem. Icy Talons is a Windfury Totem. The different auras gave you a reason to have more than one DK in a group. Unholy would bring a move speed buff without the stun. Blood brought healing for everyone. Frost, well frost took up another buff spot. What does a DK bring to a group now? Does a 25 man benefit from having more than one?

There are very few unique buffs left (Bloodlust, ?). DKs will still be topping the charts and be solid OTs with dual spec and that is appealing enough to get a raid spot. Just about every class/spec has this concern when it comes down to it cause someone else usually has the same buff. I wouldn't worry at all.

[Multibocks]

Actually DKs are very very solid MTs! I have seen some logs of DKs with 80% avoidance on boss mobs. Thats pushing ridiculous levels of avoidance.

edit: The more I read that quote the more I think they removed Blood Aura from affecting your group/raid which pretty much guarantees that it will no longer stack. This also means that all DK groups are pretty much done PvE wise. I look forward to being proved wrong though!

editx2: Read this thread if you are interested in how OP DK tanks are =)

[Souca]

thread[/url] if you are interested in how OP DK tanks are =)

The way I read it, is that there is no longer an aura. It is a player only buff that is built into your presences. Very similar to something like Survival of the Fittest for druids that improves their armor multiplier. It won't stack, because there is nothing for it to stack with. Taking the Imp presence talents will modify the existing presence bonus, not add a new one.

All DK groups are astill possible, but only because DKs have a strong self heal. The way you will pull it off will be more along the lines of having 5 characters that are designed to survive solo, not 5 characters that can survive because they are synergistically buffing each other. It will pretty much remove the benefit of only having DKs, as you won't lose anything by putting a Paly tank in there instead of one of the DKs.

DK MTs are great, I have one I love very much, I just felt out of place when I wasn't in a tanking role as I didn't have any buff aside from the aura that really helped the raid. Druids have battle rez, Pallys have auras, Warriors have shouts. I guess my thoughts are along the lines of if you have a DK, a Druid, a Pally, and a Warrior tank and one empty spot left, which of the tanks would you want an extra of? The answer to me is the pally or the druid, not the DK or the warrior.

- Souca -

[Pavavion]

anymore discussion on specs post 3.1 for the 5dk team no healer??

[Zerocool2024]

I'm working on them as we speak...

They died off a little bit because of the random nerfs and placements of said talents.
Right now, the best dps I am getting is with a Ghoul.

My Toon
Spec 1

With Test Dummies I am pulling around 1700 DPS.
This is of course low because all my gear is towards tanking and not DPS.

/use Seal of the Pantheon
/cast Dark Command
/castsequence reset=target Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Pestilence, Blood Strike, Obliterate, Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Ghoul Frenzy, Blood Boil, Blood Boil, Obliterate
/cast !Rune Strike
/cast !Blood Tap

That is me just playing around, currently getting the 1700 with this setup.
Still working on it to see if I can get any better out of it.

There are other specs I have been playing with, but nothing to boast about because I was only pulling like 1400DPS.

My next attempt is I know I lose Aura, but I might be able to make it work on one toon, and have the rest as the other spec.

Everything is still up in the air, but 5MAN DK teams are still usable.

[Multibocks]

Wait, you are using castsequence for that whole thing? Dont you get stuck when you are low on runepower? Which would lower your dps to just your white swings =(

[Zerocool2024]

Yeah, I've always done Castsequence...

I never use Rune attacks in my CS's because they will get hung up.

[ghonosyph and the moocrew]

Dk groups took a huge nerf, and that really sucks for all dk groups. I dont run all 5 dks, my setup is 3 dks and one feral druid, but i've grown acustom to using a very solid frost heavy/blood subspec that works very well for single target AND HUGE aoe dps/ plus the side bonus of having an AOE CC that you can spam on rotation (works great for stopping casters and other fun stuff)

Here is a link to the blizz talent calculator for the spec i use :thumbsup:
http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc...00000000000000

the glyphs i use are Rune tap(for the aoe healing capability this is so awesome is not funny), Obliterate(thinking of changing this out to either howling blast or hungering cold when those become available on my server) and frost strike. Minor glyphs i use are horn of winter, raise dead, pestilence.

This spec takes full advantage of stacking frost buffs, good haste, and the Aoe is spectacular, if you're good at timing and such you can fire off some incredibly large aoe crits knocking stuff out quickly! Use runetap on a cast rotation*(3 dks, 2 dks) and you can get a pretty large group heal off every 15 seconds its amazing in instances

Basic rotation for bosses is: Icy touch, plague strike, blood strike*2, Obliterate, then spam frost strike for big dmg. This generates all your runes as death runes, so your next rotation will be 2 obliterates then icy touch and plague strike again, then spamming out frost strikes

For aoe packs, i like to lead with this rotation: icy touch, plague strike, pestilence, howling blast**hungering cold to stop everything in its tracks cc style and let your diseases tick for a couple seconds, blood boil 2 times, hungering cold again on another dk, howling blast should be up again so fire it off, then refresh diseases or spam frost strikes on whatever might still be alive. I use taurens, so you can put warstomp in the middle there somewhere to alternate cc as if you warstomp after spreading diseases, then howling blast, then hunger cold you can keep mobs cc'd for a long time lol


As i see it, this is the MOST effective boxing spec to use, it keeps major aoe and has solid single target dps(though nothing comparable to shaman dps lol) and the survivability can be unmatched with the aoe heal in runetap and the cc of hungering cold

good luck guys

[ghonosyph and the moocrew]

edit** The Great part about this spec is its ability to stand back and dps from ranged in certain boss situations where being in melee would get you owned(ie heroic occulus frost mage boss, heroic nexus dwarf ww boss) i usually just set my guys up max cast range and dps from there with icy touch, howling blast and death coil, and death and decays(manually placing them from range
I'm lookin for a way to make a video as i'd love to show you guys how i do a couple of heroics with my guys