Lichborne: Patch 4.2 raid gear for the death knight tank
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Aug 2nd 2011 at 1:00PM
As far as raid content goes, Firelands does feel a little short, in theory, with only seven bosses. That said, there's still enough gear to make it just difficult enough to figure out exactly what to wear. This week, we'll check out the various ilevel 378 tank gear you can pull out of Firelands, then figure out exactly how it all fits together and what pieces you should be aiming for.
Head
Helm of Blazing Glory drops from Baleroc, and it is certainly the best-itemized tank helm this tier for death knights, with parry and mastery, our two primary secondary tanking stats. You'll want to get the tier four-piece bonus, of course, but if you can get the other four pieces, you may strongly want to consider taking this helm over the tier helm.
Elementium Deathplate Faceguard is our tier 12 helm and requires a token off of Ragnaros. Unfortunately, the expertise on this piece makes it a lot less desirable than it might otherwise be, and you probably won't take this over the Helm of Blazing Glory unless you need it to keep your four-piece tier bonus (or said other helm refuses to drop).
Neck
Stoneheart Necklace is your VP option this tier, and with parry and mastery, it's very well itemized. It's probably a good bet to pick it up.
Firebound Gorget is the zone drop option from Firelands. There's some debate over whether it's better than the VP necklace. While it does have a lot more mastery (thanks in part to the fact that it doesn't waste itemization on strength), it also has expertise, which is as usual a lot less useful for death knights and often a deal breaker.
Shoulders
Elementium Deathplate Shoulderguards are your tier 12 shoulders. While they do have the dreaded hit rating (again, not incredibly useful for a death knight tank), you will probably want these if only so you make the four-piece bonus, especially if you're using Helm of Blazing Glory. On the plus side, they do have the most mastery of any option this tier. You can get these via a token off of Staghelm.
Spaulders of Recurring Flame drop from Alysrazor and balance dodge and parry rating relatively well. Still, you are probably going to need the tier shoulders for the bonus.
While Pauldrons of Roaring Flame do have both dodge and mastery, the itemization balances more toward dodge than mastery, making them not as awesome as they could be. Still, if you get these off Ragnaros before your tier token drops, they're a decent stopgap.
Chest
The Elementium Deathplate Chestguard, which can be purchased with VP, has a nice little balance of dodge and parry. You'll want to get it, if only for the tier bonus.
The Carapace of Imbibed Flame off of Beth'tilac is arguably better itemized than the tier chest, since it has mastery and some dodge rating, but you need that tier bonus, so you'll probably want to pass on this one.
Back
Durable Flamewrath Greatcloak can be purchased at friendly reputation with the Avengers of Hyjal, the Firelands raid reputation. While it does have yucky hit rating, it's all the only cloak you can pull out of a raid this tier. Buy it and use it ASAP.
Wrist
Bracers of Regal Force are your VP option, with lots of dodge rating and a bit of parry rating. At only 1,250 VP, they're a bargain, especially since they're BOE, which means you can have one of your alts buy them for you.
Bracers of the Fiery Path drop off of Majordomo Staghelm. While mastery and parry is a juicy combination, these bracers waste a lot of itemization budget on strength. Therefore, even with all that delicious mastery, Bracers of Regal Force will probably edge them out on pure mitigation.
Gigantiform Bracers are the VP DPS bracers, but hit rating and mastery rating are both technically tank stats as well. Still, hit rating isn't great for a tank DK, so pass on these for tanking and spend your VP on other options.
Hands
Elementium Deathplate Handguards have mastery and dodge in copious amounts and only cost 1,650 VP. Even if they weren't a tier set piece, they'd be a no-brainer. Pick these up.
Fireskin Gauntlets, off Lord Rhyolith, have mastery, but they also have hit rating, which almost immediately makes them less desirable. Stick with tier.
If you're still saving up for tier, you may be able to grab a set of Flickering Handguards from Baleroc in the meantime. They come in various flavors, with some combination of dodge, mastery, and parry rating. Still, you will be replacing them with tier gear eventually, if only for the set bonuses.
Belt
Girdle of the Indomitable Flame can be purchased once you are honored with the Avengers of Hyjal. It's another piece with a nice balance of dodge and parry, and it's certainly worth taking, since everyone needs a little avoidance.
Uncrushable Belt of Fury drops from Shannox, but alas, it wastes a good portion of its itemization on expertise. Therefore, despite its rather large bit of mastery, the reputation belt above will still edge in out in most cases.
Legs
Elementium Deathplate Legguards are your VP-purchased tier option, and with copious amounts of both mastery and parry rating, they are also very well-itemized. Buy them for the stats; keep them for the set bonus.
Lavaworm Legplates drop off of Alysrazor, but with way too much hit rating, they just aren't even close to worth it compared to tier leggings even without taking set bonuses into account.
Legplates of Frenzied Devotion drop off Shannox and have dodge and parry rating. They're not horrible, but again, you want your set bonuses and the tier legs are very well-itemized.
Feet
Mirrored Boots are created with one of the blacksmithing patterns that drops in Firelands. With parry and mastery rating, they are just about perfect for a death knight tank, and you'll definitely want to get a set made.
Cracked Obsidian Stompers drop from Lord Rhyolith. They have a nice huge chunk of dodge rating, but the expertise on them definitely makes them inferior to the Mirrored Boots.
Fingers
Adamantine Signet of the Avengers can be purchased at exalted with the Avengers of Hyjal. It does have hit rating, but it has a gem slot that can help make up for that.
Deflecting Brimstone Band is your VP option. With dodge and mastery rating, it's pretty solidly itemized and definitely worth picking up.
Theck's Emberseal is a raid drop option, but considering both your other options have better stats and are easy to get, you're better off selling this drop for gold and grabbing the other two.
Trinket
Stay of Execution can be purchased at revered with Avengers of Hyjal. The chunk of dodge is definitely nice and worth it. What you will want to watch out for, though, is proper use of the on-use ability. Essentially, you'll want to save it for a big incoming spike of damage on a boss. Once the spike is over, you will take more damage, but the basic idea is that your healers should be able to heal through a little easier than if you'd take all the damage during the damage spike phase.
Spidersilk Spindle drops from Beth'tilac, as the name suggests. Not only does it have that nice, precious mastery, but it offers a quick damage shield when your health drops low.
Scales of Life is a Firelands zone drop, and there is some debate about how good it is. The proc is surprisingly compatible with death knight tanking. You can grab the healing charges from overhealing with Death Strike, and when you use it, the healing does get benefits from such abilities as Vampiric Blood. Unfortunately, since it has stamina, there's some argument that it isn't as good as the other two trinket options. Generally, I'd say you're best off using this one if you can't get the hang of use Stay of Execution's ability well, or if you prefer to have a nice little extra self-heal waiting in the wings.
Relic
Deathclutch Figurine remains your only tanking relic option. Luckily, it's relatively decent and doesn't cost that much VP.
Weapon
Sulfuras, The Extinguished Hand may be your best bet for a tanking weapon. It has a good chunk of mastery, some gem slots, and higher DPS than any other two-handed melee weapon in game at the moment. You will have to down Ragnaros to get it, however, so it may take a while to grab.
Skullstealer Greataxe is another decent tank weapon. It also has mastery, and the haste isn't a completely worthless stat for tanks either, though certainly less valuable than others. It drops off Shannox, so you have a decent chance of grabbing it early.
Zoid's Firelit Greatsword is another option here, but it doesn't really have any stats that specifically scream tank. You can grab it if you just need the extra threat of a new weapon, but the other two weapons will edge it out for tanking purposes.
Learn the ropes of endgame play with WoW Insider's DK 101 guide. Make yourself invaluable to your raid group with Mind Freeze and other interrupts, gear up with pre-heroic DPS gear or pre-heroic tank gear, and plot your path to tier 11/valor point DPS gear.Filed under: Death Knight, (Death Knight) Lichborne
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Snack Aug 2nd 2011 1:23PM
I'm confused on some of the points you recommend here for Death Knight tanking.
Hit and Expertise become as anathema to the point where you would refuse the upgrade because of their existence? For tanking, hit/expertise capping is proving to not be as important as it has been in the past, yes, but you're also purposefully hindering yourself in regards to Death Strike - which is why Mastery is so valuable to a raiding DK tank to begin with!
If you cannot hit with Death Strike, you aren't building the shields to smooth out the spikes of damage.
While our plate brethren have a giant slab of sheet metal to put in front of their faces, we really only have dodge and parry until we can stack up enough of a blood shield to absorb - so wouldn't we carry a heavier emphasis on hit/expertise? What numbers would you recommend people sitting about? Where's your comfort zone in DK tanking?
DeathPaladin Aug 2nd 2011 3:07PM
You shouldn't avoid hit and expertise completely, but you should not seek them out the way Frost needs to. Sure, hit and expertise will have your Death Strike connect more often, but it is not a good idea to stack them instead of stamina, mastery, dodge, and parry.
Sure, not getting to hit and expertise cap will cause some Death Strikes to miss, but missed strikes don't spend the runes, so you are just out a GCD. And it's rare for one GCD to mean the difference between life and death for a tank post-Cataclysm.
rapsam2003 Aug 6th 2011 3:25AM
I stack about 20 expertise, strictly because I currently have a 359 weapon and do not want to lose threat. I have 2% hit, but I've had 0% hit in Cata and been perfectly fine. Yes, you miss a Death Strike occasionally. However, it won't happen often enough to warrant worrying about hit at all. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about at all.
rapsam2003 Aug 6th 2011 3:27AM
Oh, I should mention that, once I get a 378 weapon, I'll be dropping my expertise down to 16-18, depending on how comfortable I feel with it.
teehodson Aug 2nd 2011 2:30PM
I have recently went from a heavy mastery build to the complete opposite. I was sitting at around 185K with 25 mastery or so, to 215K and 16 mastery, paired with an emphasis on dodge and parry. I have solo-tanked Baelroc with both builds. I know the thinking is that DS and the shield is our big equalizer as far as lacking an actual shield, but it seems to me that philosophy may not be written in stone. I found it easier tanking Majordomo with the avoidance build as well. The healers said they didn't notice any difference one build to the next, which really leads me to believe one may be just as effective as the other. If I had issues with death or healers going oom once I switched, I would have went back to the mastery build. I have not died unexpectedly on any boss over the past month using either build. If anything, I feel safer with the heavy avoidance build with more stamina as my big cd's heal for a % of health and I have a much larger buffer.
Hauterized Aug 2nd 2011 3:39PM
I have to agree with what teehodson mentioned in regards to going from a mastery to avoidance build.
I was in a ZA timed run with a DK and this tank had a pure avoidance build going on. He was chain pulling trash back to back to back and was barely taking any hits, and healing him was cake - in fact, he was probably one of the easiest tanks I've healed to this date. We even made it to the last boss for the timed run with plenty of time to spare.
I decided to armory him to see what he had going on (Grollix), and though he is expertise capped with a decent amount of hit, he seems to know whats going on with dk's.
I have always been hesitant to make a DK and have played a priest since the start, but seeing what this guy could do, it gave me an interest in trying one out. He stayed after the run was over and gave me alot of pointers on how to level, how to spec, etc etc - he was really cool about all my dumb noob questions and even let me real-id him if I needed any help.
I even found a site he is putting up while digging around for some dk resources showing some recent kills from the Firelands, and I can say its helped out our tanks a good bit. He recorded all of his kills from his tanking perspective and its pretty nice to see something different like that - it has definitely helped us get another kill.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Xillorg
You guys should check this guy out he is pretty beast - I've watched his bale'roc kill several times and I don't think he even got hit by decimation once - it's funny to watch a little goblin take on big bad boss like that.
Id recommend, from a healers perspective, to tell your fellow dk tank to go avoidance cause that seems to be the route a dk should go.
Just my 2 copper.
Matt Aug 2nd 2011 4:43PM
Once again no advice on how to deal with bosses, 3rd week in a row about gear. I'm sensing a lazy columnist here.
jill.slind Aug 2nd 2011 5:02PM
As a frequent reader of these columns (especially since my main is a DK tank), I'm rather disappointed to see another "gear guide" this week. After reading the first one, it seems pretty obvious to me how you want to push the gear - and great, it has helped me make informed decisions about gearing up with valor pieces, and what to replace with drops, what is worth dropping cash for in BoE epics, etc.
My problem with this is that I knew all of this after I had read the first one. We get it. DK tanks want mastery above all else. We want to time our Death Strikes to take advantage of this. We want to actually hit with Death Strike. Too much avoidance hurts the pro-mastery build, but keeping a healthy balance is OK. DPS DKs like Haste (with Strength and hitting certain soft caps taking priority). They like Haste after Haste, followed by more Haste. Mastery can come too. Crit rating itemization makes all DKs cry.
I understand that maybe pointing out the absolute best pieces per tier is good, it saves us the trouble of perusing wowhead/the dungeon journal/etc for the data ourselves. But this comes at a loss in terms of actual content for performing as a DK tank, such as specific strategies for certain bosses, etc. There are plenty of topics to talk about, besides gear. For example, did you know Frost DPS DKs can solo certain FL trash? Granted, it takes quite a few minutes to take down some mobs, but it can be done. Sometimes, that is a lot faster than actually waiting for a trash group to form! So if you have a raid lockout, you can make a raid group with another person and keep coming back to farm for rep/BoEs (regardless of whether or not that person comes).
As another topic, are there any raid bosses out there that we have to be sure to keep our runes available to time a specific death strike to gain a massive shield/heal?
There are also the tanking misconceptions for DKs, especially in PuGs. Like, for example "Ooooooo, a Death of Decay? That means you must have INFINITE AGGRO ON ALL MOBS IN THE AREA LETS IGNORE KILL ORDER!!!!!!!!1111eleventyone!". That gets annoying after a while. >.<
So, please. While the first set of gear guides has definitely been informative and helpful, the third has become rather redundant. Is it possible to move on to something else?
Thanks!
Jaq Aug 2nd 2011 6:14PM
Kind of agree with this. DK tanks are getting a bad rep for Firelands, which suggests to me the bosses might not favor our style. I'd like to know how to handle bosses if I have to work doubly hard to accomplish what a pally or a warrior can.
Zan Aug 2nd 2011 6:19PM
I love my new DK. I am about 30% into lvl 84. I have been exclusively pugging as a tank since about lvl 74 or so (which was my first time tanking ever, I was quite nervous to say the least). Except for a few dungeons where I didn't realize my stupid Blood Presence wasn't on after dinging 78 (that was an embarrassing revelation), I have had a lot of success as a tank. Granted, I have yet to tank a heroic dungeon and will be quite nervous about doing that as well.
I would love some advise on tanking. I usually pull with my curses and maybe pop Dark Command just to establish some aggro and just pound away with Death Strike and Heart Strike as available, popping Rune Strike when others on cool down or I need a little more aggro.
In AOE situations I will drop Death and Decay as available and spam Blood Boil as much as possible (I will even hit Blood Tap to get more out) to solidify aggro and then focus on a strategic mob, drop my curses and pop Pestilence to tag the group.
This method has generally proved to work. I will use our survival abilities (Icebound Fortitude, Rune Tap and sometimes even Death Pact) when things get hairy. Though I admit I need to think of Vampiric Blood more often, and I am sure there are other strategies I do not use and should.
Any advice on heroics or to be more effective in general?
Squid Aug 2nd 2011 7:27PM
TL;DR incoming, sorry.
Pretty much, the way you'll want to pull is with Outbreak, unless you're trying to pull a caster- then Death Grip, otherwise they'll just stand at range at cast at you (if Death Grip is on cooldown, you can also Strangulate and Icy Touch to get them to run at you). I generally pull from a fair distance and toss a Death and Decay with me at the very far edge, so they have to run through it to get to me. That gives it an extra tick or two. If you're in an AoE situation, hit Pestilence to spread the diseases around for the debuffs and threat. Dark Command shouldn't be used to pull, because you'll want that available if something goes running for the healer. Dark Command won't help you if you're already established aggro.
Blood Boil only if there are more than three things, since it's mainly only good for threat and hits like a wet noodle. Otherwise, Heart Strike, since it cleaves up to three things (the positioning is that they have to be in front of you, but this isn't hard). The cleave from Heart Strike is generally enough to hold something unless the DPS is going berserk and just attacking a target other than your main one. If you absolutely only have to hit one thing, blood strike, but I don't have to use it too often.
The thing you want to do is keep your blood runes on cooldown so you get the Blade Barrier buff (6% damage reduction). If you can, use Rune Tap when you're below 90% health to spend one of those runes. There's no real incentive to not use Rune Tap when you're below 90%, as the cooldown will reset and the tap will be free when you hit 35% health if you talented into Will of the Necropolis (and if you didn't go do so now it is an amazing talent). I also generally hit Bone Shield before each pull and then again if there's heavy damage going out and my Blood Shields are getting torn through too fast.
From there, Death Strike for healing and a shield, and Rune Strike if you need threat or if your runic power is getting high. Once you get into the swing of the fight, the rest is just juggling survival cooldowns as needed in addition to spending blood runes and Death Striking. Anti-Magic Shell is fantastic and will also generally save you from standing in bad (it's hilarious on Argaloth. I rarely have to move much). Bone Shield, again, for heavy damage phases. I use Vampiric Blood when my health dips a bit low, as the cooldown is fairly short, and try to time it before I hit Rune Tap, as the additional healing applies to that, death strikes, and pretty much any healing source (even bandages. >_>).
Horn of Winter no longer gives additional dodge, but it will give parry because of the increased strength. That, and it will also help your group down things faster.
I also spec into Endless Winter just so I can mind freeze when I need it. Interrupts are definitely a thing, and I rarely trust a PuG to handle them. I'd rather be able to do it myself if need be. XD If you're okay with pooling Runic Power, I'd suggest speccing into Lichborne, and making a macro button for Lichborne and Death Coiling yourself.
And when you get into heroics, don't be afraid of CC. Using it is faster than wiping on trash because you didn't. When you first get started, you'll generally need it, but as your avoidance and mastery go up you can start using less and less. Too many tanks (even fully T11 ones) waltz into a dungeon and decide not to use CC and then die really fast. Less damage on your means you're less likely to die from damage, and also less of a chance the healer will go OOM trying to spam expensive heals to keep you up.
And the healer is your friend (90% of the time). Their blue bar is your green bar- always keep that in mind.
Otherwise, stats are up to you. Do you rather have mastery, or avoidance? Both are generally equally as good, but if you go with mastery, you'll want a little bit of hit and expertise. Not hitting the 8% cap, but I find that hanging at around 4-5% usually works. Because of Veteran of the Third War, you can generally reforge most of your expertise and still wind up with a good number.
And always use a strength two-handed weapon. One with Mastery is best (even if you don't stack it). There are one-handed tanking runeforges in there. But those do not exist to you now.
OKAY I AM SORRY THAT IS A LOT. And you probably already know a lot of that, but. D: That's how I do things. I also /flex a lot, because that's a very important buff to bring with you (I've specced into Abomination's Might and that talent will forever look like a flexing dude to me).
Zan Aug 2nd 2011 7:56PM
Awesome info! Thanks!
I have a lot to learn. lol I didn't even realize Heart Strike was multi-target skill :(
I copied your post to refer to later.
rapsam2003 Aug 6th 2011 3:33AM
No, no, no! Never pull with Outbreak. Tanking is about threat. Pull with one of your two taunts. Then, immediately slam an Icy Touch on that mob. When they get in range, do your thing. But NEVER pull with Outbreak.
It's a very bad habit that a lot of lazy DK tanks get into. Don't do it.
thesaxxter Aug 2nd 2011 6:49PM
Indeed everyone's frustration is pointing to not enough resources or help for DK tanking properly and as I stated earlier I was lucky to run into one of the few good ones in a timed ZA run and he tanked it like it was no one's business.
Seriously check him out and if anything, drop a question on his page i'm pretty sure he keeps tabs on it every few days; he is supposed to be adding some additional tank guide vid's for the Firelands bosses soon as well based on the bulletin. I'm not sure if he is aiming all his content directly to DKs only, but if so, it'll be a good asset to see developed.
Seriously go check him out. I'm not saying he is the #1 or absolute god of DKs, but from my experience healing him, he was just owning everything...I'm telling you this guy will most likely not have an issue helping out. I've asked him some dumb questions via real-id and he simply answers with a to-the-point answer with no huss or fuss.
Here is the link again from my previous post:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Xillorg
He seems to care about the DK community cause I know alot of guilds aren't even using DK tanks right now due to the fact that they don't have as much passive mitigation like shield tanks have.
Drop a line to him or something and see what he kicks back. He's been helping me out so far and i'm enjoying my new level 57 DK :).
thesaxxter Aug 2nd 2011 6:55PM
Hauterized was my first post - Im new to this WoWindiser commenting so pardon if my name header reverted to my user id thingy. Reading for years - new to commenting (yeah im a noob).
Porror Aug 3rd 2011 9:04AM
Just to make sure: if you say expertise & hit rating are unnecessary. What is the hit cap & expertise cap you propose? Thank you.
Squid Aug 3rd 2011 12:55PM
Not the author, but, this is what I've found.
I've gone both ways with it- capping to 8%/26, and then down to about 2%/9 (I'm a draenei, so I get 1%). I found that with the second setup I died too much and too easily, and with the first, I had threat problems with other tanks.
About 4-5% seems to be good for hit, and I have like 20 expertise right now, which is way high but I can't reforge enough of it off. I'd suggest about 13 expertise or so?
This is for a mastery-heavy DK, though. Avoidance builds will want different values.
rapsam2003 Aug 6th 2011 3:39AM
No, you don't need hit at all. Don't even bother with it. However, you do need some expertise. I recommend 16-20 expertise. If you really have threat issues (and it's not your gear or your rotation), then get your expertise up to cape. Do not cap hit. Do not reforge for hit. If your gear has hit, whatever. It's not bad, just who cares? If it doesn't, again...who cares? With zero percent hit, you WILL do fine. I know it's counter-intuitive to many people, but this is not Wrath; no tank (of any class) cares about hit. If you need threat, up your expertise.
dodgeballer2005 Aug 6th 2011 12:41AM
What about the cloak from the Thrall questline, the Mantle of patience? It seems much better than the friendly cloak, you get it for free, and the stats are better.
iowaguy57 Aug 17th 2011 8:26PM
what is the other taunt besides dark command?