4xShaman plus ...

[Deekhay]

In my opinion and I passed from a well geared Paladin to a DK as MT without even hesitating:

DKs have higher DPS;
Aggro is about the same thing both AOE and single target;
They just have the best pull/taunt bringing mobs to them!;
If you make it a BE, they have 3 silences;
The 13% debuff is just awesome for magic DPS groups;
They cast walk on water without dismounting ^^;
They're fun to play .

This is just my opinion based on playing experience with both.

[Kicksome]

I found that I had to sit and drink way too much on my pally tank. That's one thing I hate about pally tanks, you are always OOM after a fight.

DKs have no down time, and having a ghoul pet with 24.1K hitpoints is pretty sweet too. Death Grip rocks for pulling mobs off one of your guys.

You lose out on having wisdom on your shamans, but if you use thunderstorm every time it's up (for mana regen) it's really not an issue IMO.

The 13% increased spell damage buff that a DK brings is what really makes it worth while though. You just do insane damage with 1DK and 4x shamans.

You have to remember, no pally buffs increase your damage. If your shamans are doing 3K dps average and you replace your pally tank with a DK, that's like adding another 1K to 1.3K dps to your group. Which means you kill things quicker and burn a lot less mana per fight. Which is far more efficient than having wisdom IMO.

The two negatives to a DK (and this is only if you want to solo-play it outside your own group):
1) There are a ton of DKs so if you want to solo play, it's a lot harder to get groups (until you get good gear)
2) It's harder to get gear since you can't really roll on plate tank items with shield block, so that means about 25% of the drops you can't roll on.

[Owltoid]

You have to remember, no pally buffs increase your damage.

I agree that shaman groups should run with a DK for the spell damage, but I think you're forgetting about Blessing of Kings... 10% increase to all stats is still a pretty damn nice buff, especially for a druid group who already has Earth and Moon.

[Hachoo]

I really really like my DK tank, but I have one gripe. I hate that I have to drop mana totems with my shaman team, no blessing of wisdom is a real annoying thing to deal with. I'm sure people here have ways of dealing, but I brought up my team with a paladin originally and I NEVER had to do anything to manage mana. That made the choice of how many healing totems real easy (all 4 healing.) However I enjoy tanking with my DK so much more that I put up with having to drink once in a while and remembering to use their thunderstorms as soon as they are up. It makes doing a timed Culling of Stratholme a real pain in the ass if your shaman dont get hit very often by the ghouls. I've seen it done by Hachoo, but after doing it a couple times I dont even bother anymore. It aint worth the extra Emblem.
So to recap: Paladin = easy boxing tank - low dps/boring, DK = more fun and more dps. Also DKs have more damage reduction abilities depending on your spec. They often save my DKs life =)

I don't seem to have this problem. I can finish an entire Timed Strat run without having to drink at all with a DK tank. I just drop mana totems as necessary and just remember to thunderstorm every time its up ( just hit my 4x thunderstorm key periodically while I'm running around) and mana is a non issue.

[Owltoid]

You have to remember, no pally buffs increase your damage.

Blessing of Kings? Minor buff... but still.

Use the search function for this thread to see that this was already pointed out!!! j/k :thumbsup:

[Multibocks]

I've seen it done by Hachoo

I don't seem to have this problem. I can finish an entire Timed Strat run without having to drink at all with a DK tank. I just drop mana totems as necessary and just remember to thunderstorm every time its up ( just hit my 4x thunderstorm key periodically while I'm running around) and mana is a non issue.

[Multibocks]

I found that I had to sit and drink way too much on my pally tank. That's one thing I hate about pally tanks, you are always OOM after a fight.

Not to sound wowforumsish, but you are doing it wrong if you are oom after a fight as a paladin. Use the +mana on heals glyph(forgot what its called) and use blessing of sanctuary. I was finding that I could go without BoS and be fine (using Kings instead).

[Hachoo]

I've seen it done by Hachoo

I don't seem to have this problem. I can finish an entire Timed Strat run without having to drink at all with a DK tank. I just drop mana totems as necessary and just remember to thunderstorm every time its up ( just hit my 4x thunderstorm key periodically while I'm running around) and mana is a non issue.

Ah I thought that was in reference to something else.

Once I got my 5 drakes I didn't go anymore either, its just too far away to be worth the bother.