The Death Knight:
Can't Raid Tank Worth a Shit
Can't Raid Tank Worth a Shit
Obviously since there are no raids implemented yet, this is all pure speculation. However it's me, so it's awesome speculation.
You might be asking yourself, "Larry, why would anyone think the next "tanking class" wouldn't be viable as a raid tank?" Well, Larry, how about you shut the fuck up and listen. Through tanking philosophy, I present to you the 3 core elements of a tank - Staying alive, holding aggro and not being a total fuck up. While holding aggro is not in any way shape or form an issue for the DK currently, and not being a total fuck up is based on the kind of skill you have, I will skip both of these and head directly to the problem at hand: Survival.
Survival for a raid tank requires three things: Large health pool, large AC value and a lot of avoidance. While each class may have more of one than another, all 3 of these are a necessity for tanking end-game material. While Blizzard some how thinks that the DK will excel at a couple of these aspect, they do not. The DK lacks a large health pool and avoidance as they are lacking a shield. While Druid tanks are capable as end-game tanks with less avoidance than Warriors and Tankadins, the DK does not have a rediculously large health pool and AC value like the Druid tank does. Let's compare, shall we? Numbers don't lie, mainly because I punch them in the fucking nose if they try to. I will give the numbers present in beta:
Stamina Values:
Warrior:
(Protection) Vitality - Increases Stamina by 5%
While previously, Warriors were able to stack Stamina to a rediculous degree thanks to Shield Block providing 75% block chance, Warriors always had a very large health pool. Now that the New Shield Block seems immenent - Warriors health pools might be brought back down to earth.
Paladin:
(Protection) Sacred Duty - Increases Stamina by 6%
(Protection) Combat Expertise - Increases Stamina by 10%
Druid:
(Feral) Survival of the Fittest - Increases all attributes by 6%
(Feral) Heart of the Wild - While in Bear and Dire Bear form, your Stamina increased by 20%
(Feral) Dire Bear Form - Increases Stamina by 25%
Death Knight:
(Unholy) Shadow of Death - Increases Stamina by 2%
(Blood) Veteran of the Third War - Increases Stamina by 3%
While the DK gets 5% Stamina increase just like the Warrior, the Warrior has one dedicated tree for his tanking job, and thus doesn't have to work to reach those points. The DK on the other hand has to travel pretty far down the Blood tree to get that 3%, and in its current form, Blood is the worst tanking tree by a mile. The furthest plans for Blood talents for tanking are stopped at Spell Deflection, and that is if you're looking at a lot of caster-tanking, which may or may not be the case. In any case, the grueling task of reaching 5% Stamina increase will require 39 talent points, leaving you with only 32 points left to struggle getting other talents. In other words, you can fucking forget it at this point. Moving on.
Avoidance(wtf buttons not included):
Warrior:
(Protection) Shield Specialization - 5% Block chance
(Protection) Anticipation - 5% Dodge chance
(Arms) Deflection - 5% Parry
Paladin:
(Protection) Redoubt - (While passive, is a CoBH and therefor not always active, but the proc chance is 10% which is pretty hefty as a tank) "Damaging melee and ranged attacks against you have a 10% chance to increase your chance to block by 30%. Lasts 10 sec or 5 blocks."
(Protection) Anticipation - 5% Dodge chance
(Protection) Holy Shield - 30% Block for 10secs, with 8sec CD(Duration > CD = Spammable)
(Retribution) Deflection - 5% Parry
Druid:
(Feral) Feral Swiftness - 4% Dodge
(Feral) Natural Reaction - 6% Dodge
(Feral) Predatory Instincts - 15% AE avoidance chance
Death Knight:
(Passive) Forceful Deflection - Increased Parry rating by 25% of STR
(Blood) Blade Barrier - (While it's possible to spam this proc, it probably won't always be up due to needing runes open at uncertain times) "Whenever you have no Runes active, your Parry chance increases by 10% for the next 8 sec."
(Unholy) Anticipation - 5% Dodge chance
These numbers seem a little more even in my opinion. Everyone seems to get at least 10% pure avoidance with no strings attached. To make an estimate for end-game on a DK tank, we'll say he/she has 800 STR. Here is how that would work out:
800 STR * .25 = 200 Parry rating
200 PR /23.6538461538462 = ~8.46% Parry chance.
A parry and dodge rating like that seems fair in comparison to the Druid tanks, if their health pools and armor values matched up closely. This isn't the case, however. So, how does Blizzard plan to deal with this penis-size contest? WTF-Buttons.. WTF-Buttons out the WAAAZOOOO!
The Death Knight as a tank is nothing but a fucking wtf-button bonanza. Let's write this out shall we?
WTF-Buttons(without improvements):
Warrior:
Shield Wall - 60% dmg reduction - 4min CD
Last Stand - +30% HP - 5min CD
Shield Block - 100% block chance/value - 1min CD
Paladin:
Lay on Hands - 100% Health restored - 40min CD
Divine Protection - 50% dmg reduction - 5min CD
Druid:
Berserk - + 30% HP - 5min CD
Frenzied Regeneration - "Converts up to 10 rage per second into health for 10 sec. Each point of rage is converted into 0.3% of max health." - 3min CD
Death Knight:
Ice Bound Fortitude - 50% dmg redcution - 1min CD
Anti-magic Shell - 75% Magic dmg reduction - 15s CD
Rune Tap - +10% HP - 30sec CD
Lichborne - +25% miss chance - 3min CD
Unbreakable Armor - +25% armor, +10% Str, +5% Parry - 1m CD
Bone Shield - 40% dmg reduction, 4 charges - 1m CD
Anti-Magic Zone - 75% party Magic dmg redution - 2m CD
As you can see, and this is just for avoidance wtf-buttons, the DK has 7. While in second place, the Warrior, has 3.. While I'm sure this is Blizzard's solution to "fun tanking", this isn't solid and leaves the class with some contradictions. Blade Barrier being the most obvious; to keep Blade Barrier up, you need to keep your Runes down. But with so many wtf-buttons, how are you supposed to be reserving these button's costs for dire needs all the whilst attempting to keep Blade Barrier up? That's a good question, one that has yet to be answered.
Case in point is that the DK is not by any means a solid tanking class. The whole thing feels very thrown together and wishy-washy. This is, of course, beta. Everything I've typed here could be irrelevant tomorrow. However, Blizzard has been on the fast train to Quick-solutionsville, and I'm not liking the direction things are going. On top of the problems with this "tanking" class, the other tanking classes are being stripped of what made a tank, a tank in this game. IE; time, calculations, planning and skill. The DK itself feels like a hit-random-buttons class, and I fear the other tanks are headed in the same direction... Direction! That's what Blizzard needs.
You might be asking yourself, "Larry, why would anyone think the next "tanking class" wouldn't be viable as a raid tank?" Well, Larry, how about you shut the fuck up and listen. Through tanking philosophy, I present to you the 3 core elements of a tank - Staying alive, holding aggro and not being a total fuck up. While holding aggro is not in any way shape or form an issue for the DK currently, and not being a total fuck up is based on the kind of skill you have, I will skip both of these and head directly to the problem at hand: Survival.
Survival for a raid tank requires three things: Large health pool, large AC value and a lot of avoidance. While each class may have more of one than another, all 3 of these are a necessity for tanking end-game material. While Blizzard some how thinks that the DK will excel at a couple of these aspect, they do not. The DK lacks a large health pool and avoidance as they are lacking a shield. While Druid tanks are capable as end-game tanks with less avoidance than Warriors and Tankadins, the DK does not have a rediculously large health pool and AC value like the Druid tank does. Let's compare, shall we? Numbers don't lie, mainly because I punch them in the fucking nose if they try to. I will give the numbers present in beta:
Stamina Values:
Warrior:
(Protection) Vitality - Increases Stamina by 5%
While previously, Warriors were able to stack Stamina to a rediculous degree thanks to Shield Block providing 75% block chance, Warriors always had a very large health pool. Now that the New Shield Block seems immenent - Warriors health pools might be brought back down to earth.
Paladin:
(Protection) Sacred Duty - Increases Stamina by 6%
(Protection) Combat Expertise - Increases Stamina by 10%
Druid:
(Feral) Survival of the Fittest - Increases all attributes by 6%
(Feral) Heart of the Wild - While in Bear and Dire Bear form, your Stamina increased by 20%
(Feral) Dire Bear Form - Increases Stamina by 25%
Death Knight:
(Unholy) Shadow of Death - Increases Stamina by 2%
(Blood) Veteran of the Third War - Increases Stamina by 3%
While the DK gets 5% Stamina increase just like the Warrior, the Warrior has one dedicated tree for his tanking job, and thus doesn't have to work to reach those points. The DK on the other hand has to travel pretty far down the Blood tree to get that 3%, and in its current form, Blood is the worst tanking tree by a mile. The furthest plans for Blood talents for tanking are stopped at Spell Deflection, and that is if you're looking at a lot of caster-tanking, which may or may not be the case. In any case, the grueling task of reaching 5% Stamina increase will require 39 talent points, leaving you with only 32 points left to struggle getting other talents. In other words, you can fucking forget it at this point. Moving on.
Avoidance(wtf buttons not included):
Warrior:
(Protection) Shield Specialization - 5% Block chance
(Protection) Anticipation - 5% Dodge chance
(Arms) Deflection - 5% Parry
Paladin:
(Protection) Redoubt - (While passive, is a CoBH and therefor not always active, but the proc chance is 10% which is pretty hefty as a tank) "Damaging melee and ranged attacks against you have a 10% chance to increase your chance to block by 30%. Lasts 10 sec or 5 blocks."
(Protection) Anticipation - 5% Dodge chance
(Protection) Holy Shield - 30% Block for 10secs, with 8sec CD(Duration > CD = Spammable)
(Retribution) Deflection - 5% Parry
Druid:
(Feral) Feral Swiftness - 4% Dodge
(Feral) Natural Reaction - 6% Dodge
(Feral) Predatory Instincts - 15% AE avoidance chance
Death Knight:
(Passive) Forceful Deflection - Increased Parry rating by 25% of STR
(Blood) Blade Barrier - (While it's possible to spam this proc, it probably won't always be up due to needing runes open at uncertain times) "Whenever you have no Runes active, your Parry chance increases by 10% for the next 8 sec."
(Unholy) Anticipation - 5% Dodge chance
These numbers seem a little more even in my opinion. Everyone seems to get at least 10% pure avoidance with no strings attached. To make an estimate for end-game on a DK tank, we'll say he/she has 800 STR. Here is how that would work out:
800 STR * .25 = 200 Parry rating
200 PR /23.6538461538462 = ~8.46% Parry chance.
A parry and dodge rating like that seems fair in comparison to the Druid tanks, if their health pools and armor values matched up closely. This isn't the case, however. So, how does Blizzard plan to deal with this penis-size contest? WTF-Buttons.. WTF-Buttons out the WAAAZOOOO!
The Death Knight as a tank is nothing but a fucking wtf-button bonanza. Let's write this out shall we?
WTF-Buttons(without improvements):
Warrior:
Shield Wall - 60% dmg reduction - 4min CD
Last Stand - +30% HP - 5min CD
Shield Block - 100% block chance/value - 1min CD
Paladin:
Lay on Hands - 100% Health restored - 40min CD
Divine Protection - 50% dmg reduction - 5min CD
Druid:
Berserk - + 30% HP - 5min CD
Frenzied Regeneration - "Converts up to 10 rage per second into health for 10 sec. Each point of rage is converted into 0.3% of max health." - 3min CD
Death Knight:
Ice Bound Fortitude - 50% dmg redcution - 1min CD
Anti-magic Shell - 75% Magic dmg reduction - 15s CD
Rune Tap - +10% HP - 30sec CD
Lichborne - +25% miss chance - 3min CD
Unbreakable Armor - +25% armor, +10% Str, +5% Parry - 1m CD
Bone Shield - 40% dmg reduction, 4 charges - 1m CD
Anti-Magic Zone - 75% party Magic dmg redution - 2m CD
As you can see, and this is just for avoidance wtf-buttons, the DK has 7. While in second place, the Warrior, has 3.. While I'm sure this is Blizzard's solution to "fun tanking", this isn't solid and leaves the class with some contradictions. Blade Barrier being the most obvious; to keep Blade Barrier up, you need to keep your Runes down. But with so many wtf-buttons, how are you supposed to be reserving these button's costs for dire needs all the whilst attempting to keep Blade Barrier up? That's a good question, one that has yet to be answered.
Case in point is that the DK is not by any means a solid tanking class. The whole thing feels very thrown together and wishy-washy. This is, of course, beta. Everything I've typed here could be irrelevant tomorrow. However, Blizzard has been on the fast train to Quick-solutionsville, and I'm not liking the direction things are going. On top of the problems with this "tanking" class, the other tanking classes are being stripped of what made a tank, a tank in this game. IE; time, calculations, planning and skill. The DK itself feels like a hit-random-buttons class, and I fear the other tanks are headed in the same direction... Direction! That's what Blizzard needs.
