Death knights as tanks Death Knight tanks work very differently from other tanking classes , because their dedicated tanking spec , , is a spec that allows for consistent and reliable self - healing , instead of the typical damage reduction and avoidance seen in other tanking classes ' talents . How others see you as a Tank . In PuGs , especially LFD groups , Death Knights often have the stigma of being poor and inexperienced tanks . In general , this stigma dissipates at higher levels and is mainly prominent in early Outland dungeons , because this is where some people who play Death Knights queue as tanks to get faster dungeons , but where those with no idea how to tank , are concentrated . Once they get to higher levels , such people are usually told off by frustrated party members , so if you actually are a good Death Knight tank , you will not suffer this prejudice in Northrend . At Wrath of the Lich King end - game content , Death Knights are considered one of the stronger tank classes . Many high end raiding guilds have DKs as Main tank s and Off tank s , because of their flexibility and high effective health . In the current challenge mode dungeons , they are considered to be one of the strongest tanks because of their versitility . Tanking Basics . Tanks have 3 roles in an effective raid or group . Firstly , to hold Aggro by maintaining the highest Threat on all enemies . Second is Survivability , which is the tank ' s ability to mitigate and avoid incoming damage , and to increase the total damage they can receive . Third is Raid awareness and functionality , and what is meant by this is boss placement ( both location and direction ) . A tank must generate enough Threat to hold Aggro off of the DPS and Healer s in the raid or group . Threat is a number based system in which each individual Mob or Raid boss keeps track of the damage and high threat attacks caused to them , and focus their attention at the highest threat player or NPC in the vicinity . Threat comes in two types , Area of Effect based threat ( usually associated with Trash ( mob ) s ) and Single target threat ( usually on Raid Bosses and Strong Trash ( mob ) s ) . In general , survivability is a tanks ability to stay alive through mitigation and avoidance of incoming damage . Mitigation is the lessening of damage per hit , and is generally seen as the most effective tank method of increasing survivability . Mitigation mostly involves the rotation of tank - based Cooldown s , as well as static Armor . Avoidance , which is seen to be finicky and unreliable survivability stats , involve Miss Dodge , Parry and Block ( DKs do not use shields , and cannot block ) . Finally , total Stamina is extremely important , as it increases total health pool and gives the healers more reaction time to heal you , as well as helps absorb chained non - avoided attacks . In current end - game content , it is generally agreed upon that " Effective Health " is the most important stat for a tank . Effective health is the total health pool of a tank , multiplied by the static physical damage mitigation from armor . In other words , Tanks ' most effective method of increasing their survivability is to increase the total damage they can take before dying by increasing armor , static damage reductions and Health . This however does not mean that a tank should rely solely on stamina as a source of survivability . Mastery especially is important because of the blood shield effect , which essentially puts a bubble that will absorb incoming damage . this is considered to be the most effective way to mitigate damage . Certainly , every raid member should be aware of their surroundings and know their role in it , and tanks have a very key and central role in almost every fight in end - game content . Most fights require bosses to be placed in a certain location and faced in a certain direction . An example of this would by Onyxia , a Dragon who cannot by faced towards the raid ( because of Flame Breath ) and cannot be faced directly away from the raid ( Tail Swipes ) ; she also must be tanked with the tank ' s back against a wall , or he will constantly be knocked back by wing buffets . Some fights require a boss to be kited , or moved , from specific location to another area . An example of this would be Professor Putricide , who must be kited back and forth through the room at every add spawn , kited out of goo , ooze and Choking gas bombs . Many fights also have Add s that spawn , and must be picked up by an Off - Tank , and placed in a certain location . An example of this would be Anub ' arak , who spawns Nerubian Adds who must be picked up and placed on patches of ice , so they will not burrow . Remember : Every boss encounter is different , and everyone will expect you to know exactly what you ' re doing . Research the fight before attempting tanking it , and if you still don ' t feel comfortable , do the fight a couple times as a DPS until you get the hang of it . Generating Threat and Holding Aggro . Death Knights are unique in their methods of threat generation . Unlike Druid s , Warrior s and Paladin s , Death Knights use much the same rotation as a Wrath - era DPS Death Knight would , with a few small variations . Death Knights have a 200 % Threat Multiplier while in , which triples the threat caused by the damage put out by that Death Knight . Other moves have multipliers as well , in order to generate threat and give structure to DK Tank rotation : Significance : The dynamic allows a DK to tank without a shield ( similar to a Druid ’ s Bear form ) . Because a DK can achieve moderate armor without a shield through Blood Presence DKs can equip two - handed weapons ( and are balanced around using them ) . When opening combat on a group of multiple enemies , the easiest way is to walk in close and , just as they start to attack you , lay down Death and Decay at your feet . Diseases may be spread via Outbreak - > Pestilence , but manual reapplication of diseases should be avoided as it costs you short - term survivability ( runes compete with Death Strike ) . All Unholy , Frost and Death runes should be spent on Death Strikes , while Blood runes should be spent on Heart Strike . If facing a very large number of enemies , or to grab a small amount of snap aggro , Blood Boil may be substituted for Heart Strike . Even on pulls larger than three mobs , tabbing and using Heart Strike and Death Strike will produce much more overall threat and damage than using Blood Boil . Alternatively , you can lay down a Death and Decay at your feet , and then use Death Grip to pull an enemy to you - if the rest of the mobs are melee , they will run into your waiting AoE . When using this method , obviously pick out the caster ( s ) in the group for Death Grip . Then continue the rotation as above . Death and Decay , if you watch your runes , can be extremely helpful if you have a problem with sustained AoE threat ( or new adds ) - 2 / 2 Morbidity is a great talent to help this . However , your AoE are likely to hold threat without extra uses of D & D in something such as a heroic . For opening attacks on a single target , you should use Outbreak from a distance . You should not use Death and Decay . Once in melee range , make sure to use Death Strike to gain a blood shield and try to keep your Blood runes down to maintain Blade Barrier . Like all other tanks , Death Knight tanks should specialize in Mastery . After Mastery , DK tanks should focus on stamina and avoidance ( dodge and parry ) . Expertise and Hit are also useful for additional threat , but not as essential , as Parry Hasting has been all but removed from the game . Taunts and off - GCD interrupts are no longer able to miss . There are a few other abilities important to tanks : Horn of Winter is a typical part of most Death Knight DPS rotations , and has a place in tanking rotations as well . The buff to agility and strength amount to significant dodge and parry increases as well as providing free runic power . This ability should be used whenever you have a free global cooldown ( not that often ) . Runeforging . Death knight tanks use a two - handed weapon . There are three two - handed runeforge options for a death knight tank : Survivability . A DK needs to survive in order to do his / her job of holding aggro . Not dying is always a plus , and since a tank earns his / her pay by getting beat up , let ’ s take a look at how a DK can best mitigate damage . All DKs ( regardless of spec ) have some abilities that help survival : Each of these abilities helps the DK to survive in one way or another , either to reduce the damage that he / she sustains , or to replenish some of the health that the DK has lost . DK ’ s combine the mitigation / avoidance with health replenishment in their survivability mechanisms . Tanking Talents . Tanks are asked to work in one of two potential scenarios – tanking trash and tanking bosses . The player will need to decide where he / she would like to specialize , because the three specs emphasize different aspects of tanking . Blood abilities . As of , Blood is the only death knight tank spec . The Blood tree specializes in increasing healing done to the tank ( you ) , self healing and effective health . Tank - specific blood tree talents are : The Blood Tree is filled with Health increasing and Self - Healing talents . Because threat should not be a problem for any DK Tank in 3 . 3 . 3 or above , there is no reason to waste potential mitigation and survivability opportunities on increasing already adequate threat . Hysteria , 1 / 1 would also be a good option for a raid buff for a feral druid , combat rogue or warrior DPS in your raid . A Blood DK Tank , with the 4 - set T10 Bonus ( 12 % damage reduction for 10 seconds after using Blood Tap ) , should have enough CD ' s to rotate for any given length of a fight . The only CDs that should not be used on CD to maintain a constant tanking cooldown , are Anti - Magic shell ( Save for large burst of magic damage ) and Icebound Fortitude ( An Oh SH * * moment button , also useful for a large spike of damage , such as the Lich King ' s soul reaper ability ) . As a Blood Tank , your normal Attack should be Heart Strike , as it strikes a target and its ally , increasing your AoE threat on mobs . Make sure to put points into Death Rune Mastery to convert your Frost and Unholy Runes to Death Runes after a Death Strike . Icy Touch can also be used for snap threat and weak threat tanks . Most tanks spec some into Frost and Unholy , for increased Frost Damage and Icy Touch Damage ( Largest increase to overall threat ) as well as Unholy for Spell Hit and Dodge . Glyphs . Depending on your spec and gear as a tank , the best glyph choices for you will vary . The 2 piece Tier 10 set bonus for Death Knight tanks provides the same effect as , so if you have 2 pieces of Tier 10 already , this glyph is generally unnecessary . It is also unnecessary if you are not having trouble with AoE threat without the glyph . However , it should be noted that it does stack , and if combined with a Howling Blast or an Unholy Spec , the AoE is very high , and if Blood specced , it can provide the AoE threat that that tree somewhat lacks . Every Death Knight talent tree has a 1 minute tanking cooldown in it . For Blood tanks , this ability is Vampiric Blood . For Frost tanks , this is Unbreakable Armor . For Unholy tanks , this is Bone Shield . In general , glyphing whichever of these three abilities you have is worthwhile . However , it should be noted that the Unbreakable Armor glyph is only useful for sub - Icecrown geared tanks , as it will only waste more armor over the Armor Cap ( 49 , 900 Armor ) . The Vampiric Blood glyph is espsecially important because it will cause your Vampiric Blood to last longer than it takes for runes to cool down , allowing at least one Death Strike heal to be increased by 35 % . Other worthwhile tanking glyph choices include , and . Note that is a bad glyph for tanks because at the defense cap , the damage reduction provided by it is already greater than 40 % . Gems . Death knight tanks will look for Mastery first . Parry , Dodge , and Stamina will be secondary options depending on the type of slot . For example , it may be preferable to fill a red gem slot with an orange gem like the to fulfill the gem slot requirements for a bonus .