Death Knight's Death Grip as crowd control
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 17th 2008 at 1:30PM
I haven't played a Death Knight on the live realms yet (I leveled one through the starting experience during the beta, and am only 79 so far on my main), but I have grouped with quite a few of them now, and the ability that real stands out to me and others seems to be Death Grip. A lot of the other Death Knight abilities are just new versions of other classes' spells, but Death Grip is a pretty new mechanic -- instead of charging or jumping away from a mob, you're bringing the mob to you. And with all new mechanics, players have found new ways to play with them. As you can see in the video above, Death Grip, when chained by a few Death Knights, can even be used as crowd control.
I've seen it used in a few other wild ways, too -- it works great as an interrupt, and when combined with a Hunter trap, it's finally a reliable way to trap ranged attackers and casters. And most of the Death Knights I've seen use it for pulling -- they suck the caster in from a group, and the rest of the mobs come with, and group right up for AoE. And I haven't even been to any PvP matches with Death Knights yet -- I imagine the uses there are even more hilarious, not to mention that I'd be yelling "Get over here!" every time I hit it. Very fun mechanic for the new Hero class.
Thanks, Michael!
Filed under: Fan stuff, PvP, Humor, Raiding, Classes, Buffs, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Daniel Whitcomb Dec 17th 2008 1:39PM
I don't yell "Get Over Here."
I have an addon that does it for me.
Ryan Dec 17th 2008 3:48PM
And I have a spam reporting feature to use against those annoying SOB's that say "Get Over Here" every time they use Death Grip.
Driphter Dec 17th 2008 4:51PM
And I believe he's referring to the addon the plays the scorpion sound effect that only he can hear.
~Driphter
Daniel Whitcomb Dec 17th 2008 4:57PM
Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. I don't do /yell Get Over Here! or anything. That immediately loses all novelty after the 1st time and becomes spam.
But hearing the sound play whenever I use it is pretty awesome.
Aimli Dec 17th 2008 6:58PM
What is the addon called?
Daniel Whitcomb Dec 17th 2008 7:03PM
Actually, I think it's literally called "Get Over Here!"
I found it on curse.
jrb Dec 17th 2008 7:42PM
it's just a speedier version of the hunter/lock
- change target on to escaping mod
- cast threat generating special ability
- change target on to one back in the group
- hit pet attack.
it's not a new mechanic at all, or rather, anyone with an ounce of ability in a crowd control class could achieve the same effect.
wyrd Dec 18th 2008 1:48PM
I want whatever jrb is smoking. That comment makes no sense. Casting a spell and sending a pet to attack is NOTHING like pulling a mob to you. But thanks for trying anyways.
Nizari Dec 17th 2008 1:39PM
I've run with DK's who have DG macro'd so they always say "Get Over Here!" with it
pinkybumbum Dec 17th 2008 1:41PM
i'd love it a whole lot more if i could turn the taunt off
Kirioth Dec 17th 2008 1:42PM
If I don't see a video of a massive chain of Death Knights Death Gripping a mob from one end of a zone to another, I'll lose all faith in the WoW community.
In fact, I'm going to start one right now just so I can try get people to do that.
darian Dec 17th 2008 6:20PM
Set up the DK chain on a PvP server and have it end at a sheer cliff. Add in an Elemental Shaman or Balance Druid for Typhoon/Thunderstorm and you have yourself a happy ending.
Shoomy Dec 17th 2008 1:44PM
Sadly for every 1 DK that knows how to properly use death grip....there are 50 that don't.
Brian Dec 17th 2008 1:46PM
Death grip is pretty funny in PVP as well. The first time I entered the BG on my DK I would wade right into the battle and get pwned hard. Eventually I decided to see what kind of fun I could have with Death Grip and I started sneaking around battles, pulling the healer out of the fight with Death Grip and proceed to do naughty things to him. It was fun but it got me hunted eventually :(
paper Dec 17th 2008 2:18PM
It works the other way around also. As a healer I get targeted by 98% of the players in whatever Battleground I'm running, and it's always nice to get harassed by a rogue only to have a competent death knight ally yoink the rogue off me and lay down some hurt.
Oddly enough, I have to admit a death knight has never actually killed me without a lot of help. Being a disc priest probably has something to do with my general survivability(though I've never had to use Disc-only spells), but as long as I kept spamming Dispel and Abolish Disease on myself I could effectively kite a DK around while ranged allies killed him off. He couldn't mind freeze me because all I'd use are instants, and without diseases up a lot of their abilities aren't very good.
I also like it when a death knight Death Grips me right into the middle of his ranged/caster allies and I get to fear them all. I call that a LOLgrip.
Brian Dec 17th 2008 2:34PM
Lolgrip nice. I was doing it to Druids and shamans mostly and yah you take away a dks diseases and you effectively de-claw them. They're tons of fun to me I have an affinity for dks and paladins, but they are by no means THE class.
Jim Dec 17th 2008 2:35PM
I have seen the opposite a lot, too. I have been pulled out of focus fire by a greedy DK a couple of times, and I have seen probably a dozen times where a Flag Carrier is pulled AHEAD of focus fire and down the field by a greedy/dumb DK.
Brian Dec 17th 2008 2:48PM
If you're not solo 99.9% of the time it is inappropriate to use death grip. I see dks misuse it every day on instance runs. Just because you can pull with death grip doesn't mean you should.
Spazmoosifer Dec 17th 2008 6:30PM
I was thinking that it would be fun to team a DK with a lock/spriest. Have the DK pull them w/ DG, and then fear them away. Rinse and repeat.
Even more fun, do the same thing for a 5v5 arena team. Have 2 DKs, a lock, & 2 priests. I would suggest doing it to their ranged, so it knocks them out of combat for a little bit.
SnippyMcPhail Dec 17th 2008 1:48PM
Anyone else slightly "disturbed" by the music....