Unholy Tanking Rotation

[Convertabull]

whats a good rotation for aoe threat holding and dps?

whats a good rotation for single target threat holding and dps?

[sevink]

I'm pretty sure the single target DPS and tank rotation is the same.

I use Icy -> Plague -> Blood -> Blood -> Scourge -> Runic Dump

I'm not 100% sure but that should be good enough to hold aggro on mutiple.

On aoe

D&D -> Icy -> Plague -> Pest -> Runic Dump -> Blood Boil

You should be able to figure it from there, but thats a pretty good starting point. Just remember to refresh D&D and spread your Icy and plague.

[Cindy]

I run with 2...

Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Blood Strike, Blood Strike, Scourge Strike, Unholy Blight

and

Death Strike, Death Strike, Blood Strike, Blood Strike, Unholy Blight


Unholy Blight is key and works for both situations.


The second one is a healing rotation and assumes you've already Icy'd and Plagued. You can always bind the first rotation to 1 and the second to 2, and then just got 1,1,2,2,2,2,2,1,1,etc.

[Convertabull]

thanx guys, coming from a mage and going to melee, and especially to tanking, is a big change that im still getting used to

what about rune strike? does that fit in somewhere?

[Aramathis]

Hmm... I actually would go with something a bit different; My armory page and personal website will show I've recently switched to my PvP spec, but I typically run a 5/15/51 DW AOE Tanking build and usually I run with the following rotation for mass AOE aggro:

Icy > Plague > Pest (to transfer) > D&D > Blood > UnBlight > Death...

Then keep using your main taunt (DkCommand) when its available and keep either D&D or UB running for the aoe. Blood/Death are your primary runic builders at this point... The healers should be keeping you up, but you should also be helping!

Remember to switch to a secondary target every 10 secs to pestilence and keep your main targed diseased (along with all the others). Don't think I need to state this but; Always run in Frost Presence.

This seems to put me well above everyone on the threat meter... Nothing ever jumps off unless it's a mob that wipes the threat table or is meant to jump the aggro table by design.

[sevink]

be aware that DW tanking has a big disadvantage compared to 2 handed.

In raids you are way more likely to get Parried by a boss. When said parry happens his next auto attack is somewhat faster. This percent never leaves, so as you get parried more the boss will hit you faster. This puts a lot more strain on the Healers. I'm NOT saying don't DW tank, but this is a major drawback to DW tanking.

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by Convertabull

what about rune strike? does that fit in somewhere?

It does indeed. But if you create a 1 macro for the attack rotation well, it gets lost. My suggestion... don't use any of the normal attacks and replace them with macros.

Example, death strike.
Icon ?
#showtooltip
/startattack
/cast death strike
/cast rune strike

Just hit the space bar a couple times in the macro's title so you just see the icon not a macro name (neat trick.)

Make one for each strike. Rune strike will auto cast after the button press. This is good for soloing or when you're just dpsing but screws up 1 button pound macros if you do a /castsequence macro.



Leave the rune strike button itself on the toolbar so when you're in a raid or worrying about cooldown management, you can trigger it on it's own.



I'll also make the following suggestions.


Replace your Death Grip with this macro..

Icon ?
/petautocastoff Leap
/cast Death Grip

This macro will turn off the ghouls leap so he doesn't leap after whatever you just Death Grip. He'll still attack it, but he won't make any accidental pulls.

Just add /petautocaston Leap to whatever your regular attack macro is so that you don't forget to turn it back on. Smart right?

and..

Replace your Death Pact with this macro..

Icon ?
#showtooltip
/castsequence Death Pact, Raise Dead

2 press macro. Press one Death Pact, press two Raise Dead. Should be obvious what it does. (Get the glyph that lets you raise a ghoul without dust!)

[Convertabull]

project lore forums make me a happy panda lol

so many nice people willing to help others

thank you so much guys

[LuntiX]

For single target I found that using Death Grip helped since it counts as a taunt on enemies. For AoE (mobs, groups, whatever) that unholy blight, corpse explosion, Death and Decay and Diseases w/ Pest help a bit as well.


As for rotations, don't ask me, I just know holding aggro

[Aramathis]

Originally Posted by sevink

be aware that DW tanking has a big disadvantage compared to 2 handed.

In raids you are way more likely to get Parried by a boss. When said parry happens his next auto attack is somewhat faster. This percent never leaves, so as you get parried more the boss will hit you faster. This puts a lot more strain on the Healers. I'm NOT saying don't DW tank, but this is a major drawback to DW tanking.

Sevink, I didn't know about that mechanic! While I do get to play regularly, I still consider myself a fairly casual player as in the 4 years I have been playing, I have never really been able to raid given time constraints (though WotLK seems a godsend to a player like myself).

While I would obviously tweak the build I linked earlier to go 2h instead... I still feel my rotation for AOE tanking is acceptable. D&D (especially with the lowered timer talent) seems to generate tons of threat and paired with UB, DKs seem to be aoe tanking machines.

I think I'm going to toss up a couple separate thread questions about raid progression and gear...

Thanks,