Blood Death Knight Tank Easy Mode

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 4. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 5. Contents
  • 6. ChangeLog
• ×Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. Active Mitigation and Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Main Resource
  • 3. Basic Abilities
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. Active Mitigation
  • 6. Defensive Cooldowns
  • 7. Offensive Cooldown
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Tier 1 (Level 56) Talents
  • 3. Tier 2 (Level 57) Talents
  • 4. Tier 3 (Level 58) Talents
  • 5. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 9. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression
  • 2. Relic Choice
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice
  • 2. Path Choices
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Rotation
  • 2. Taunting
  • 3. Survival Cooldowns
  • 4. Optional Read: Mastering Your Blood Death Knight
    • 4.1. Runes and Runic Power
      • 4.1.1. Runes
      • 4.1.2. Runic Power
    • 4.2. Artifact Ability
    • 4.3. Detailed Cooldown Usage
      • 4.3.1. Anti-Magic Shell
      • 4.3.2. Dancing Rune Weapon
      • 4.3.3. Vampiric Blood
      • 4.3.4. Icebound Fortitude
      • 4.3.5. Tier 6 Talents
    • 4.4. Death Strike and Blood Shield
    • 4.5. Bone Shield
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
    • 1.1. Survivability
    • 1.2. DPS-oriented
    • 1.3. Balanced (Recommended)
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Death Knights
      • 1.1.1. Raise Ally
      • 1.1.2. Mind Freeze
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Blood Death Knights
      • 1.2.1. Gorefiend's Grasp
      • 1.2.2. Death and Decay
      • 1.2.3. Blessing of Protection Cancelaura Macro
      • 1.2.4. Gorefiend's Grasp Self-Grip Macro
  • 2. Addons
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Death Knights
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.3. GTFO
      • 2.1.4. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 2.1.5. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.6. Recount / Skada / Details!
      • 2.1.7. mRunes
      • 2.1.8. Omen Threat Meter
      • 2.1.9. Grid and GridClickSets (Optional)
      • 2.1.10. Compact Runes
    • 2.2. Specific Addons for Blood Death Knights
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Best in Slot List
  • 2. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 3. Legendary Items
    • 3.1. Tier 1 Legendaries
    • 3.2. Tier 2 Legendaries
    • 3.3. Tier 3 Legendaries
  • 4. Loot Competition
  • 5. ChangeLog

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 specialisation without being overwhelmed by the numerous subtleties and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.

1. The Basics

Blood Death Knights are the most self-healing-reliant tanking class in the game. They take more damage than other tanks, but heal more to make up for this.

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

2. Talent Choice

These choices are optimised 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 gamebreaking.

• Level 56: Blooddrinker
• Level 57: Rapid Decomposition
• Level 58: Ossuary
• Level 60: Red Thirst
• Level 75: March of the Damned
• Level 90: Foul Bulwark
• Level 100: Purgatory

3. Stat Choice

Currently, you will want to prioritise secondary stats as follows:

1. Haste;
2. Versatility;
3. Mastery;
4. Critical Strike.

4. Basic Rotation

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

1. Use Marrowrend if your Bone Shield is about to expire.
2. Use Blood Boil if any nearby enemies do not have your Blood Plague disease.
3. Use Death Strike when your health is low, or right after taking a big hit.
4. Use Death and Decay when you have a Crimson Scourge proc.
5. Use Death Strike to avoid capping Runic Power.
6. Use Marrowrend if you have 6 or fewer stacks of Bone Shield.
7. Use Death and Decay when you have 3 or more Runes.
8. Use Heart Strike if you have 3 or more Runes, or if you need to quickly build Runic Power for Death Strike.
   • Always make sure you do not leave yourself unable to use Marrowrend to keep Bone Shield from falling off (or falling below 5 stacks with the Ossuary talent).
9. Use Consumption (your Artifact ability).
10. Use Blood Boil.

5. Active Mitigation and Cooldowns

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 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 (applied by your Marrowrend) should be kept up at all times.

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

• 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 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 reduces all damage taken by 20% for 8 seconds. It should mostly be used proactively when you anticipate taking high damage, such as from specific boss abilities.

Moreover, Dancing Rune Weapon increases your chance to Parry, as well as your damage done. It is typically used to boost damage, but you can use it defensively if necessary.

About Our Reviewer

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Volstatsz, a Blood Death Knight theorycrafter and moderator for the Acherus Death Knight community. You can follow him on Twitter.

6. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 28 Aug. 2017: Updated the rotation and talent recommendations slightly.
• 12 Jun. 2017: Updated rotation slightly and corrected the damage reduction provided by Icebound Fortitude.
• 07 Feb. 2017: Updated tier 6 talent recommendation to Foul Bulwark.
• 11 Jan. 2017: Added Blooddrinker to tier 1 talent recommendation.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Changed tier 6 talent recommendation and stat priority.
• 16 Dec. 2016: Fixed an error referring to tier 7 talents being available at level 110, instead of 100.
• 08 Dec. 2016: Added easy mode page.