Death Knight Tanks: They are not a Myth I have /seen them!

Well I am the brother that Kadav spoke of. My name is Oldscratch and I am what would be considered a true Hybrid player. I naturally gravitate towards toons with completely different play types/abilities depending on the spec. The 2 toons that I have brought to Level 80 are a Shaman: Oldscratch (Currently Elemental) and a Paladin: Maginot (Protection), I am also leveling up my Druid: Divinewrath (Feral) but he is still a ways away from dinging 80. You might be asking yourself at this point “self… Why is a guy who only runs toons where the biggest DoTs are Flame Shock, Consecrate, and Moonfire writing on Connect the DoTs.?” Well let me tell you. While I do not play a DoTer, I have run with them, won with them, laughed with them, and died with them, and feel that observations from someone who has interactions with your strange and mysterious kind can be some what beneficial if not comical.

The first issue that I would like to post about on Kadav’s blog is a matter that I am very much struggling with on both my main toons and that is of the Death Knight tanks. Thus I begin my article:

Death Knight Tanks: They are not a Myth I have /seen them!

Now of course I am not talking about those brave souls that feel as if any person with a Def cap and a 2 handed sword can walk into Naxx, bang their head on the keyboard and walk away with Betrayer of Humanity. NO no no. I refer to those Death Knights such as Kadav who understand a very simple principle that we all learned from G.I Joe (if you are a child of the 80s that is) all those years ago…. “Knowing is half the battle”. The difference of Wipe or Win is in the knowledge. I have seen so many DKs fail time and time again not because they are under geared or under healed, but because of knowledge of the fight. Running UK for hours because the DK did not know which mobs were ranged and which melee, which healed and which AOE. It is because of this that given the tanking choice of DK or Paladin…most pugs will take the Paladin. I think it is due to the simple fact that DKs don’t have the experience of tanking BC or Vanilla and it hurts their server rep.

I tip my hat to those DK tanks (and I'm willing to put a lot of money down that they were tanks on other toons) who know the fights, plan the pulls and hold aggro like crazy. Whenever I run a heroic and the DK tank is on the ball I stare in amazement. It is such a beautiful thing to watch, the grace and fluidity that the DK brings to the tanking table is awe inspiring.

With more experience comes better tanks and so I say to the DKs out there, please do not start your first instance tanking on a Heroic. Go to Reg VH or Reg HoL instances that are not easy but help you get used to the idea of blocking with your face with out spending hours upon hours on clearing trash. Get the finger skill up and then step into heroics with a vengeance, impress the world (of Warcraft) with the might that is the Death Knight.