Flex ready Blood Tank -- Absolutely terrible dps... please help.

[hrbngr 0]

Hello,

 

I am beginning to run Flexes in the new 5.4.2 patch, but my dps is terrible--generally anywhere from about 50-70k--note, I am primarily off tanking with already geared normal/flex tanks at this point.

 

Here is my armory (avg ilvl 536):

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/eonar/Damacles/simple

 

I need a new strategy to improve my dps as much as possible--also, so far I have not been able to get the Tank trinket from Malk nor Skeer's Talisman for the crit increase--I have easily spent 30 WF seals trying to get those drops.

 

Please recommend a gemming strategy for every color along with a reforge strategy that will allow me to maximize my dps w/out crippling my survivability.

 

Currently I am focused on gear w/mastery/dodge/parry, I am also aware that my dps is significantly reduced as I am not getting the vengeance/AP buff the Main tank would be getting.

 

*edit*My single target rotation is Taunt, DS, Outbreak, DS, HS, HS, BB procs, Rune Strikes (rp dump), Emp RW, more DS, DS, HS, HS, DRW--4 piece proc for 2x DS--that's about it.

 

 

I am willing to regem/enchant everything and if there are certain pieces of gear that are helpful for this goal, so please let me know--I also read the recent stat thread about weights of Crit/haste for dps, but wanted to confirm with someone who is successfully using haste as primary reforge before going in that direction as the Guide here states.  I am considering going Dodge/Parry/Crit (in that order) for the extra crit from Riposte.

Edited December 12, 2013 by hrbngr

[Storm 426]

Unfortunately the largest component of tank dps is vengeance. And it's an extreme difference. I'm at 577 ilvl and I still only do 75k dps on heroic immersius if I'm add tanking, but I do over 200k if I'm the boss tank.

 

Parry and Dodge are the best way for a main tank Blood DK to increase their dps right now, but the problem is, Riposte will only benefit you if you're actively tanking something at least once every 20 seconds. You'll see a small increase in your dps if you change all of your red gems to pure parry gems, and put parry gems in your blacksmithing sockets. You could also reforge into parry on every piece of gear you can.

 

But if you aren't a MT now, then reforging more of your mastery into parry isn't going to make you a stronger candidate for MT material. In my opinion what you need to do is run LFR's religiously to complete your legendary quests. Get the tank meta, get the tank cloak, and show groups they're you're an uber self healing machine. Then you'll be the MT, and you'll steal all the threat and get all the vengeance, and you'll do 200k dps and make all the flex mages cry.

[hrbngr 0]

Storm,

 

thanks for the feedback. I'd like to ask you some follow-up questions.

 

1. Parry vs Dodge - You mentioned to gem for Parry, so should i reforge for Dodge to get to a certain ratio of Parry to Dodge to avoid diminishing returns?

 

2. Ok, +320 Parry gems in all red and meta sockets, so what to do about yellow and blue sockets?  The guide calls for +320 Mastery in yellow and Mastery/Stam in blue.

 

3. Gear preferences? Dodge/Parry gear, or Mastery w/haste or crit? Of course, I will still meet the 7.5% hit/exp minimum.  I guess my question is if anyone is having luck gemming for haste or crit, or should all the crit bonus be generate via dodge/parry Riposte action?

 

4. Enchants: Any reason to choose non-mastery enchants?

 

thanks!

[Storm 426]

A lot of it really depends on how things are working out for you. Some people favor more mastery, some are have a lot of success with heavy dodge/parry builds (what I'm currently playing) and some people 'scumbag it' (I think Reniat was the first one I heard use the term to refer to blood DK's that are still stacking Haste/Crit gear, but I like it so I'm borrowing it).

 

To answer your questions directly

1. dr's on dodge will start to kick in around 10%. so up to that point Parry and Dodge are pretty much equal. After that though you will want to get as much parry as you can while avoiding any more dodge. Eventually your dodge will go well over 10% on it's own if you get a lot of dodge/parry gear. When that happens basically just reforge dodge into parry wherever you can, or reforge dodge into hit/exp for cap instead of reforging other stats.

 

2.) If you're trying to min/max your dps through riposte then you'll want:

Red: Parry

Yellow: Dodge + Parry

Blue: Parry + Stam, or Parry + Hit

 

3.) From a tank dps perspective Dodge/Parry > Parry/Mastery > Dodge/Mastery > Crit/Mastery = Haste/Mastery.

- Haste/Crit gear will technically give you the largest dps increase, and it's ok if you have a few pieces if they happen to be your highest ilvl piece also, but your goal shouldn't be to tank in full haste/crit gear.

- I say Crit/Mastery and Haste/Mastery are equal, but it really depends on some break points. Crit is technically the better stat overall, but the extra rune regen from Haste makes it very strong for the first 2000-3000 rating.

 

4.) You could consider Dodge for bracers since it will contribute to riposte, and str for gloves which will give you additional parry as well, but won't add to riposte. But those are the only two enchants I would do differently from the standard tank enchants. Still use 200 stam on your cloak, 300 stam for chest, stam for shoulders and legs, and pandaren step for boots.

[SlippyCheeze 2]

Storm,

 

thanks for the feedback. I'd like to ask you some follow-up questions.

 

1. Parry vs Dodge - You mentioned to gem for Parry, so should i reforge for Dodge to get to a certain ratio of Parry to Dodge to avoid diminishing returns?

No: the slight loss to diminishing returns is worth less than the gain in SoB procs and white attacks from parry-haste. You might consider reforging out of dodge into parry, in fact.

 

3. Gear preferences? Dodge/Parry gear, or Mastery w/haste or crit? Of course, I will still meet the 7.5% hit/exp minimum.  I guess my question is if anyone is having luck gemming for haste or crit, or should all the crit bonus be generate via dodge/parry Riposte action?

I am at about ilvl 550, and get ~ 100kDPS with 15k or less vengeance through the fight. (eg: timeless mobs, etc). Generally, if you are actually fighting something you get more DPS out of pure crit, but better overall value out of parry and riposte -- crit increases your DPS by the exact amount of crit you have, while parry/riposte give you 75 percent of the DPS of the ranking, decreased to the amount of time you have the buff up. (If you actively tank anything, that is approximately 100 percent though. Check your World of Logs or meters for your numbers.)

Haste won't add too much benefit while tanking, or to survivability, compared to the alternatives -- but it does benefit you more for DPS while you don't have vengeance or attacks to parry. How much is hard to quantify, but probably not enough to bother if you have tank-swaps in the fights.

 

4. Enchants: Any reason to choose non-mastery enchants?

Well, strength, crit, and haste enchants bring their value to the table, but I would overall aim to get "enough" mastery > hit/exp > parry > crit > haste out of the whole thing. If you get enough mastery without the enchants, pick something else.

[hrbngr 0]

Storm/SlippyCheeze,

 

Thanks for all the tips, I am going to re-gem/re-forge and then see how it goes today. I do think that the Skeer's Talisman and that tank trinket might also help my dps, but I won't be able to test them until I can get those drops.

 

Storm,

If I want to mess with haste, you are recommend something between 2000-3000 to see how it works?

[Storm 426]

Ya, I wouldn't recommend much more than 3000. especially for a high avoidance build since you will generate a lot of extra runic power from scent of blood.

 

Once you're resource capped (meaning you never run out of runes and runic power at the same time) then any more haste is a worthless.

[hrbngr 0]

So, I did a quick LFR and on Paramours, Korven had my number, killed me 2x while shield bashed. I was building up much bigger blood shields w/a mastery build, so I will have to watch my timers a little more closely now and use CDs before that attack. I also reforged back any mastery that was parry back to mastery to see if it would help.

 

currently at:  (unbuffed)

Dodge 8.47%

Parry 33.33%

Mastery 140.67%

Crit 10.18%

Haste 1.46% ( would like to buff this a little, might switch to the master/haste polearm vs mastery/crit axe to see if I notice the difference.)

[potatoewow 2]

Seems like good advice.

 

Matches mmoc nicely.

 

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1359489-Blood-tanking-Wanting-more-DPS

 

Feel free to get a little more mastery if you need it.

I think I read 140%-180% unbuffed.

 

Oh, that, and Riposte does not benefit from the parry on the parry runeforge (Swordshattering).

 

Fallen Crusader is perhaps slightly better (it's up to preference) because the strength contributes to damage and parry (but not riposte) and has a little self heal (maybe 1-3% of your overall healing).

 

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1419452-How-much-DPS-does-ROTFC-really-add-for-a-Blood-DK

Edited December 13, 2013 by potatoewow