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Blood Death Knight Tank Easy Mode in Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.0.1

Last updated on Sep 24, 2018 at 01:54 by Volstatsz 43 comments

Table of Contents

About Our Author

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Volstatsz who raids in Eternal Kingdom. He is a Blood Death Knight theorycrafter and moderator for the Acherus Death Knight community. You can follow him on Twitter.

1. Foreword

This page is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous subtleties and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.

2. The Basics of Blood Death Knights

Blood Death Knights are highly reliant on self-healing. They take more damage than other tanks, but heal more to make up for this.

Your main goal throughout fights will be to maximize your Runic Power generation, and then use this Runic Power on Death Strike Icon Death Strike to heal yourself (as well as to apply the damage absorption shield it provides thanks to your Mastery: Blood Shield Icon Mastery: Blood Shield).

3. Talent Choice for Blood Death Knights

These choices are optimized for ease of use. That said, only viable talents are suggested and the gains in survivability and DPS from choosing only the "best" talents are not game-breaking.

4. Stat Choice for Blood Death Knights

Other than trinkets and jewelry, prioritize item level over second stat itemization. Prioritize stats as follows:

  1. Item Level;
  2. Versatility;
  3. Haste;
  4. Mastery;
  5. Critical Strike.

5. Basic Rotation for Blood Death Knights

The basic rotation as a Blood Death Knight is based on this priority. It includes both single target and AoE recommendations.

  1. Use Marrowrend Icon Marrowrend if your Bone Shield Icon Bone Shield is about to expire.
  2. Use Death Strike Icon Death Strike if your Blood Shield Icon Blood Shield is about to expire, or if your health is low, or to avoid capping Runic Power.
  3. Use Blooddrinker Icon Blooddrinker.
  4. Use Blood Boil Icon Blood Boil if any nearby enemies do not have your Blood Plague Icon Blood Plague disease, or you have 2 charges of Blood Boil.
  5. Use Marrowrend Icon Marrowrend if you have 6 or fewer stacks of Bone Shield Icon Bone Shield.
  6. Use Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay if you are fighting 3 or more enemies.
  7. Use Heart Strike Icon Heart Strike if you have 3 or more Runes.
  8. Use Blood Boil Icon Blood Boil.

6. Active Mitigation and Cooldowns for Blood Death Knights

You have 2 active mitigation abilities that you need to use to keep yourself alive, although simply making use of the above priority will ensure you are doing this to a great degree.

Death Strike Icon Death Strike is your primary means of keeping yourself alive, and you should use it whenever you can benefit from the healing it provides, particularly after you have sustained high damage (since its healing is based on the amount of damage taken in the preceding 5 seconds).

Bone Shield Icon Bone Shield (applied by your Marrowrend Icon Marrowrend) should be kept above 5 stacks at all times.

In addition to the active mitigation abilities, you must also use your defensive cooldowns as necessary.

  • Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell absorbs up to 30% of your maximum health in magic damage over 5 seconds, and should be used to mitigate magic damage and generate Runic Power.
  • Vampiric Blood Icon Vampiric Blood increases your maximum health and the amount of healing you receive by 30% for 10 seconds. It should be used either proactively in anticipation for high amounts of damage, or reactively when low on health and in danger of dying.
  • Icebound Fortitude Icon Icebound Fortitude reduces all damage taken by 30% for 8 seconds. It should mostly be used proactively when you anticipate taking high damage, such as from specific boss abilities.
  • Dancing Rune Weapon Icon Dancing Rune Weapon increases your Parry chance by 40%, and also increases your damage dealt and resource generation significantly. You should use it on the pull, and then generally as soon as its available, provided you are actively tanking and will benefit from the increased Parry.
⋘Introduction
Spell Summary⋙

7. Changelog

  • 24 Sep. 2018: Updated stat priority.
  • 24 Aug. 2018: Clarified stat/upgrade priority.
  • 13 Aug. 2018: Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
  • 04 Aug. 2018: Updated Rotation to include new optimizations.
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