Whats best blood dk tanking race

what would be the best dk blood tanking race and what would be good proffesions

Moved to the off-spec forum.

same as any other tanking class
they all have perks
basically choose the race you like and go with it

as far as proffesions, well same as any other tank
typically JC/BS is the strongest combo
ring enchants from enchanting,
trinket (maybe) from alch and engineering (along with tinkers)
leg armor and wrist enchants from LW
the only ones i would steer away from are tailoring and herbalism

***Please note, some or all of these might change for the xpac. This especially holds true for professions.***

If you base it on racials:

Humans - Expertise w/Swords & Maces; Everyman for Himself (can be useful occasionally for stuns and such)
Dwarves - Stoneform (is this any good anymore?); Expertise w/Maces
Draenei - Gift of the Naaru (limited use, but better than nothing); Hit
Gnomes - Escape Artist (very limited use)
Worgen - Sprint; Crit
Nightelf - Dodge; Shadowmeld (might be useful for tank swaps?)

Orcs - Blood Fury; pet damage (both useful for more damage, but nothing "tanky")
Trolls - Berserk (again, better for increased dps); Da Voodoo Shuffle (reduced snares)
Tauren - Warstomp (AoE stun); HP
Forsaken - Will of the Forsaken (weaker Everyman)
Blood Elves - Arcane Torrent (AoE silence/interrupt w/built in RP boost); Magic Resist
Goblins - Haste; Rocket boots/bombs

I know this isn't every racial, but it's the ones I could potentially see useful for a DK. If I've misremembered any, please feel free to correct me, as I'm currently at work and unable to look up an exhaustive list.

As for professions, bldavis pretty much covered that. JC/BS gives the most versatility and with Epic gems, BS pulls ahead a little stat-wise.

dwarves also get expir with maces, gnomes get it with swords (though i think it is one hand only so its not that useful for tanking)

Yeah, I had thought there was something else for Dwarves, and I left out the Gnome racial, since it isn't useable by DK tanks (though would be good for War tanks.)

Skye1013 wrote:Yeah, I had thought there was something else for Dwarves, and I left out the Gnome racial, since it isn't useable by DK tanks (though would be good for War tanks.)

AND PALAD...oh wait....

as far as stoneform, it is nice and i treat it as another minor cooldown on my dwarf pally

Draenei get +1% hit, which I believe they're keeping for Mists. Not sure if DK tanks will need to be hit capped, but if they do it's a nice perk because it also benefits you if you run a DPS off-spec.

Hm... yes, I tend to forget about that since it doesn't show anywhere except your stat sheet (well... perhaps the General tab in the spellbook, but who even looks at that anymore?)

Skye1013 wrote:Hm... yes, I tend to forget about that since it doesn't show anywhere except your stat sheet (well... perhaps the General tab in the spellbook, but who even looks at that anymore?)

there is a general page?

tbh, i forgot about it too, and my warrior is a draenei

i got distracted by tail waggle?

I will tell you what I have been telling most people. Unless you are pushing the very bleeding edge of progression, There is no racial that will make or break progression.

You also forgot Da Voodoo Shuffle on trolls, which reduces the effect of movement impairing effects by 15%. not huge, but still a nice little bonus.


For me, I started out as an NE DK Tank, because I wanted to prove to myself I could level an NE Fem and not gouge my eyes out from the bouncing in place. When I moved my DK to my horde server, I chose troll, because you didn't see many Troll DKs.

I never ran bleeding edge content (pushing for world / server first), but I never heard my healers tell me that they wished I was a cow for more HP
I never ran bleeding edge content (pushing for world / server first), but I never heard my DPSers tell me that they wished I was an Orc / Goblin for easier threat (prior to the threat nerf).
I never ran bleeding edge content (pushing for world / server first), and I never heard my raiders tell me that they wished I was a hot or ugly chick for rounding up groups of casters easier.
I never ran bleeding edge content (pushing for world / server first), and I never heard my raiders tell me that they wished I was a zombie for WotF.

While I was an Alliance player I did raid Ulduar briefly, and I never heard anyone say "THANK GOD YOU HAD 1% MORE AVOIDANCE!"


On the other hand,
I did hear my healers applaud me for my ease to heal, because I made sure to spec, gem, gear, and enchant to make their jobs easier.
I did hear my DPS applaud me (when threat was 'srs bznss') for knowing how to balance out when to push more DPS as tank.
I did hear my raiders say "WOW THAT WAS SO COOL WHEN YOU USED "insert skill here" TO DO THAT!"

At the level of progression that most Maintankadiners are at, racials are a nice perk, but they aren't needed, and they wont be a "make or break" type of thing. Focus on finding the class that suits you, a race that you don't mind staring at, and learn the class. Knowing the little things about your class will do FAR MORE to improve your raiding experience than anything else.

I still think an extra 10% physical damage reduction cooldown (Stoneform) beats most of the others, but, well, 10% isn't all that much, and it's a shorter duration than class cooldowns.

@Shoju: I don't disagree. I was just pointing out the racials that could be beneficial towards the stated goal of DK tanking. That being said, the OP hasn't commented since the start, so this thread is probably moot anyway.

KysenMurrin wrote:I still think an extra 10% physical damage reduction cooldown (Stoneform) beats most of the others, but, well, 10% isn't all that much, and it's a shorter duration than class cooldowns.

Oh, I would agree. If I were still playing, and thinking about making a tanking DK, Dwarf would probably top the list, because of the cooldown. It may not be a lot, but it's another tool in the toolbox.

Skye1013 wrote:@Shoju: I don't disagree. I was just pointing out the racials that could be beneficial towards the stated goal of DK tanking. That being said, the OP hasn't commented since the start, so this thread is probably moot anyway.

I know. I was just adding my .02$ on it, hopefully in a way that conveyed my real point (if you have to ask, it probably doesn't matter to your progression) without sounding like a giant jerk.

There is a problem, that I have found, with goblins, gnomes and dwarves. Mostly it's a case of PuG's and LFR denizens being bad but it's still there, in a giant pile of adds it's hard to see the shorter races.... Just something to consider if you're alt doesn't have a regular run.... This isn't preventing me from doubling down on drunkenness and rolling a dwarven brewmaster....

Unless you're trying to target them with your mouse or follow them (which can usually be solved by marking them) I've never seen the big issue with having a tiny tank.

Funny story - the guild on my old realm blamed the outrageous time they were blocked on Al'ar on the fact that all of their tanks were Gnomes, and apparently they were having issues healing the tanks on the ledges from downstairs because of LoS.

The more likely explanation is that those tanks were just really bad at Ledge boss, since none of the other guilds had any problems with Gnomes, but it WAS hilarious.

bldavis wrote:typically JC/BS is the strongest combo

As a note on these professions in MoP:

Blacksmithing is stronger than ever now that you can get double the itemization points on secondary stat gems.

Jewelcrafting is actually one of the weakest professions now, since you are required to use a primary stat gem to get the most out of your perk.