Tank Triage: Healing Death Knights

This guide is an installment in a four part series designed to educate healers about the different tanking classes.  Rather than attempt to research the tanking classes myself in order to write about them (a ghastly undertaking that I would undoubtedly make a butchery of), I reached out to the tanks themselves and asked them to help.  Each tank was sent a set of identical questions and asked to respond to them.  The questions were designed to give healers uninitiated into the mechanics of a given tanking class an overview of how the class works, what their strengths and weaknesses are, when they are most vulnerable and in need of heals, and how they feel about being healed by Restoration Druids, in particular.  My thought was that knowing more about my healing targets would only make me a better healer, and that it might be a service to the healing community to pass the information along.  I hope that you find it helpful.

While I wrote the questions and compiled the answers, the vast majority of work on these guides was done by the tanks, all very gracious people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude.

Tank Triage:  Healing Warriors
Tank Triage:  Healing Paladins
Tank Triage:  Healing Druids

Can you give an overview of the tanking style and abilities of your class? How do you get the job done?

Shopshopshop, from Runeforge Gossip

Since I tank as Frost, I’ll give a run down of the most tanking-relevant abilities the spec uses. First there’s DnD, the bread and butter of DK tanking in any spec. The spell is cast like hurricane, giving you one of those targeting cursor things to click onto the ground. This ability has an increased threat modifier (though I’m not sure what the number is). Unlike consecrate, the cooldown is longer than the duration, so it won’t always be up. Mainly used as a way to pull multiple mobs to you and for AoE tanking, waste of runes in a single-target fight.

Next up is Rune Strike, another core ability for all specs. Like paladins, who get a lot of threat from damage return on blocks, this attack only works when something is hitting you, and activates when you dodge or parry. It’s an “on-next-melee” attack, like heroic strike.

All the other frost abilities, Howling Blast, Icy Touch, Obliterate, Frost Strike, etc. all rely on getting Frost Fever up, through the Howling Blast Glyph or casting Icy Touch and pestilencing it around.

The DK resource system is also a bit different than rage/mana. We start off any fight with full runes, but on fights with lots of adds coming, it’s important for healers and other DPSers to be mindful to stay close to Death and Decay (if it’s down) incase no runes are currently available. They all have 10s CDs.

Frost also has a different defensive cooldown compared to other classes: Unbreakable Armour, which reduces incoming damage by an amount that scales with armour, around 1200ish (unglyphed) and ~1600 (glyphed) for 20s.

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Durithim, from Rhin’s Blogspot

DKs are very versatile as tanks; we have both AoE and single target tools for the job.  In general, I try to stick with reasonable pulls, between 2-4 mobs at a time, usually opening with either a Taunt or Death Grip, to draw the first mobs in.  This I follow immediately with several AoE abilities, such as Death and Decay and Howling Blast.  They are my main AoE tools, after which I will go into tanking the individual mobs in marked sequence, popping a Howling Blast in between so my healer doesn’t agro the mobs lower in the sequence.

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Eeggor

Dont know that there is a particular style. Dk has the ability to control burst damage to a minimium in a couple of ways. Some which get nerfed daily it seems. Depending on spec, you will or should always have 3 damage modifiers waiting to be used. Icebound fort, magic shield and either bone armor or unbreakable armor.

What are your class’s strengths in comparison to other tanking classes in your opinion? Your weaknesses?

Shopshopshop, from Runeforge Gossip

The strength of the DK class lies in the ability to produce excellent AoE threat through DnD, Howling Blast, Pestilence and Blood Boil as well as having cooldowns like Icebound Fortitude (20% damage reduction, scales with defense to around 50% at 540 defense) and Anti-Magic Shell, which will absorb around 75% (max of 15-18k) magic damage (50% of the DK’s health). No other tank class has the ability to get this much damage reduction with such short a cooldown. AMS has a 45s CD while IBF has a 1min CD. Frost also has increased uptime on IBF (6 extra secs) which means that it can be active a lot. In Ulduar this usually means popping it on things like Mimiron’s Plasma Blast and Steelbreaker’s Fusion Punches, while other tanks would have to rely more on healer’s cooldowns (pain suppression, guardian spirit, blessing of sacrifice, etc).

One weakness is snap aggro. The first attack a DK does is always going to be a little bit weak since diseases aren’t up yet, be it Icy Touch or Plague Strike, or one-2 DnD ticks. So while a warrior can charge, bloodrage and heroic strike/something else, a paladin can wings/captain america and a druid can do that enrage-y ability (can’t remember the name, whatever the thing is that generates rage in bear form) and maul/mangle/lacerate right off the bat.

On the other hand, a DK will never be rage-starved or run out of mana. There are a few off-GCD abilities like Blood Tap and Empower Rune Weapon which refresh runes/give runic power. We also have a few ways to heal, through Death Pact (requires summoning a ghoul first), Rune
Tap (very few specs use this, however) and Death Strike, which will usually heal only for 1.5-2k depending on how many diseases you have up on the target.

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Durithim, from Rhin’s Blogspot

My greatest lament is the lack of a useful AoE taunt, like bear druids have.  When properly specced, I can use D&D, Taunt, and Death Grip all three to pull my mobs, but in a fight with lots of adds running in different directions, I am at a great disadvantage to both druids and warriors.  One such fight is Sartharion when on add duty, because the number of mobs far exceeds my capabilty to pull, even when specced and glyphed to maximum.

Another weakness I feel hinders me is the slow TPS [Threat Per Second].  A proper paladin or druid can often over agro me and in fights like Archavon or Gluth it can be a pain when I should try to catch up to the other tank, in order to get or recapture the agro.  This is heightened if they are better geared than I, making it hard, often having me to ask them to slow down.

Not a weakness per se, but ranks close, is also the lack of a shield.  A death knight’s threat is tied exclusively to the damage we deal.  This is why a two-hander is the weapon of choice for us and why our DPS is  generally much higher than that of a warrior’s.  However, this comes at the price of missing the added defense of block and shield.  Some healers say this is why healing a death knight is erratic, with the incoming damage varying and difficult to predict.

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Eeggor

The Dk strength is damage mitigation on burst damage. With the listed talents above it gives the healer a larger ceiling to keep the tank up to finish off your boss. The weakness in my opinion is there is no aoe taunt and Death and Decay. The D&D cooldown isnt quick enough to maintain a area aoe much like a pali does.

How would you characterize your own relationship with your healers during game play?

Shopshopshop, from Runeforge Gossip

Usually the extent of healer/tank communication is in saying “so and so, heal shopshopshop.” I go into each fight assuming that a healer or multiple healers have me covered, and I do my best to avoid taking more damage than necessary while grabbing incoming adds. The most important healer-tank communication is the post-mortem one, when somebody asks “wha happened?” Whether it was someone’s fault, the healer’s for getting locked out by a flame jets or the tank’s for
standing in something he wasn’t supposed to, it’s important to know what went wrong and how best to solve the problem. Sometimes this means asking DPS why as well, since tanks can get parry gibbed/boss can successfully cast a spell that wasn’t interrupted, or something like that, but most of the time a tank dies for 3 reasons: 1) fluke, 2) tank screwed up, 3) healer screwed up.

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Durithim, from Rhin’s Blogspot

Vital is the first word that comes to mind.  For me, it is important that I know the kind of a player is sitting at the other end, when they are responsible for keeping me alive.  If I do not know the healer very well, I usually go slow, talk them up, and get to know them and what they can do.  If I see that they are comfortable with the pace, I let it continue, and if it is the opposite I will happily pick up some momentum.

For me, the results are best when the tank and healer work seamlessly together; I need to be able to trust them to heal through on a tight pinch, and vice versa, they need to have faith in my tanking.  In the ideal situation, you both know each other well enough to know each other’s boundaries.  That is when a group becomes its best.

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Eeggor

Im blessed in my guild to have some very talented healers. One of which is Syll the writer of this site. We have a very good relationship which starts really simply as we ask each other alot of questions.

Under what circumstances should healers be paying special attention to your class? When are you most vulnerable? (i.e. if a certain tanking ability fails, during melee/spell damage spikes, etc.)

Shopshopshop, from Runeforge Gossip

Healers should monitor a DK tank’s cooldown use. If IBF is active, the DK will need less healing. If all available cooldowns are down, be on alert. DK’s are more able to defend against predictable damage spikes like Fusion Punch and Frozen Blows (on Hodir) than persistent high damage because there will always be a time when cooldowns aren’t available.

To be honest, whether or not I feel vulnerable, depends on the variables
that hinders my healer’s performance. Loken of Halls of Lightning and
Loatheb of Naxxramas are fights that depend heavily on the healer being on
top of their game, and whenever I have a new healer that I am not familiar
with, I get nervous, usually eyeballing my health meter as the fight goes
on.

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Eeggor

The dk have no huge weakness as far as being healed. We absorb damage rather well. The biggest pit fall for the dk is aoe pick up. (If howling blast is down) If not and killing maching or Deathchill is up its not a huge issue.

What is your experience with being healed by Restoration Druids? Is it a healing class that you enjoy working with? Why or why not?

Shopshopshop, from Runeforge Gossip

Resto Druids have Revitalize, which is rather nice for generating extra RP for us. Since Frost DKs use both Frost Strike and Rune Strike, runic power is the best source of threat for us and any extra bit helps. Aside from this, I can’t say that I feel any difference whether my healers are paladins, priests, shamans or druids. Each class has the capability to tank heal, and as long as I’m alive at the end of the fight it works for me. 

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Durithim, from Rhin’s Blogspot 

Overall I do not practice favoritism for any specific healer type. In 5-man
dungeons, heroics or otherwise, any healer can heal through an encounter. If they fail, it is more a question of gear or skill. Aye, some encounters are
harder for some classes but that simply cannot be helped. In general, I enjoy working with restoration druids just as much as any other.

Can you give one strong piece of advice for a healer in your group or raid?

Eeggor

Ask questions… take advice and don’t always assume you’re always right or that your way is the only way.  That goes for all classes, not just healers.

How deep is your understanding of how different healing classes work? Do you think it would help your game play if you knew more?

Shopshopshop, from Runeforge Gossip

I’ve only played a Resto Druid in any depth (most of vanilla WoW, early BC raids, early WotLK raids), but I feel like I have a decent understanding of the other classes. I try to keep up with changes in new patches as well as the general mechanics of each class. I also really enjoy things like discussing talent points, specs, and abilities with people of other classes because that complexity is part of what I love about WoW.

If I had the time and the energy, I’d try to read the EJ threads on all the healing classes to get a sense of what they were up to and what they did in fights. It would take forever, but the more information you have, the more you’ll be able to plan fight strategies and craft effective healer/tank setups (such as who’s healing who, who tanks what, etc).

Is there anything you’d like to add?

Shopshopshop, from Runeforge Gossip

 I like banana pancakes. And peanut butter fudge.

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Durithim, from Rhin’s Blogspot

Not much, except thank you for the interview. It was plenty of fun answering these questions

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Eeggor

Wanna thank syll for asking me to help her out here. Thank you to all those who come to this site and other sites for helping Syll out you have no idea how happy and excited that you have made her in helping her with her project!!!  Our guild witnesses it. Finally if your not sure just ask. Talk to guildies. Visit rollinghots often, Syll will keep ya  updated and linked I’m
sure to other sites with great info. Happy healing.