Heya guys!!  So what does that picture have to do with anything DK related?  No idea!!  BUT IT SHOULD!!!  How awesome is that thing?!  I’m looking to replace Ratkiller with one of these babies.  PURE WIN!!

So, it’s time for Questions and Answers again.  So SJ is here to answer YOUR questions!!

I’m wondering how viable the deep unholy spec you mentioned is compared to the frost/blood dps specs you’ve been posting about more recently, or is it simply going to stay tit for tat the almost exact same?

So nice to get questions covering the broad range of the class itself.  In the end, anything said about any spec for 3.1 must be taken with a grain of salt.  PTR is limited and does not allow for a greater player base to test everything in ideal circumstances.  That said however, the outlook is that Unholy > Blood > Frost.  Unholy and Blood should actually be very close to each other.

Now the odd part though is that the latest version of Frost gains more from gear than any other spec.  Potentially in full T8.5 Frost will outperform both Blood and Unholy, but that remains to be seen. 

Anyways, to my questions: in 25 man NAX, with my current gear set (xxxxxxxx) I still only do about xxxx dps. I can’t figure out if this is good, given my gear, or whether I am missing something.

The most important question any DK should always ask before anything else is whether or not they are getting all potential buffs?  Are you using a flask, buff food, and fully utilizing your Trade Skills (TS) for dps buffs?  Also, are you getting all raid buffs?  Might, Kings, GoW, Unleashed Rage, Windfury, Rampage, Leader of the Pack, Misery, etc…  That stuff matters.  A lot.  Did you melee hit cap and get at least 15 Expertise minimum? 

DPS is more than the right spec and rotation.  It’s having the right gear, the right buffs, knowing the fight (read strats), and being able to quickly react and move.  You have to be on top of a target hitting it right away without stealing threat.  Keeping on top of a boss as much as possible even when movement is required.  Etc…  You have to evaluate all of the factots involved.  Not just spec and gear.

My main concern is that I see other DK’s without being hit capd or expertise capd some not even as geared as I am pulling out higher DPS on patchwerk.

A lot of these types of questions directly relate to the one asked just a second ago.  But you get to add in one other factor.  Player skill.  As much as it may bruise your ego to hear this, but some people are just better than you.  I’ve met a few people who were better than me (which is rare) and it was a crushing blow to my ego.  Heh.    But I got better!  And here we are now.  Comparing yourself to other players is never good unless you wish to be competitive and push yourself to be better than they are (you as well for that matter).

Hey I know you are busy and all but if you could take alook at my toon it would be greatly appreciated. If you got any gear advice or just any advice at all about what you see it would be awesome.

These are the worst questions ever guys.  I’m not gonna answer it.  If you have a specific question I can answer I will, but the majority of questions that ask someone to look at your gear are irrelevant.  I can’t know what gear you can get, or will get.  What’s possible, or impossible for you.  I have the BISI page for specific gear rankings to help you guys gear out properly just for those kind of questions. 

As to specs, I have a multitude of specs listed on this site for raiding.  If you want a non-raiding spec, then telling me specifically what the spec should accomplish is the best way to go.  A WoW Head or MMO Champion talent link is solid.  Just make sure you say what the spec is supposed to do.

However, I was wondering if you had a few minutes to take a look at my DK and see where I may be coming up short and maybe some advice on where I may need to spend time balancing items.

Balancing itemization is actually very important.  First off, reading my post about Hit and Expertise is the best place to start.  Realistically the goal of a starting DK should be to get 8% hit (melee hit cap) and roughly 15 Expertise (with talents).  After that focus on gaining Strength.  Haste, Crit, and Armor Pen will come with the gear.  It’s really that easy.

Hello my name is xxxxxx and I’m in danger of losing my raid spot if I can’t up my dps.

Well, sometimes people actually have all the right answers to dps.  They have the gear, the spec, the rotation, and the buffs.  So then this is where we get into the questions revolving around player skill and tactics/strategy.  A lot of the time you have to really sit there and ask yourself if you are doing everything possible to maximize your dps.  Luckily you have training dummies.

Now a dummy is not there for a dps comparison.  You will have random debuffs on them from time to time, and other factors that will result in skewed dps results.  But, for the purposes of practicing, that dummy is the perfect little bubble to live in.  Use your rotations, change them up, experiment, etc…  And run a damage meter like Recount (linked on the right side of my page under addons) so you can compare fight to fight.  Also make sure you look at your dps before you run away.  DoT’s will continue to tick and lower the “dps” number while you wait to go out of combat.

Lastly there are the strategies.  A lot of times people don’t really understand what the strats are, but go into the fights anyways.  Sometimes that means you will not be able to truly perform.  If you don’t know exactly when or how a boss will move, or when is the most optimal time to have pets out for Heroism, then your dps will suffer.  Learn the strats.

But atm this is what I have for single targets I can get a stable 9k TPS. But my problem is. Next patch it get nerfed horrible ( 3.1.0 ) so I quite need a new spec for tanking.

Well, the bad news is that we’re getting screwed for TPS.  Since our avoidance has been cut down by 10%+, we will not proc as many Rune Strikes.  Which means that our TPS is going down.  Blizzard, in their infinite wisdom, thinks we’ll be fine since some DK’s say they’re fine.  And will address the issue later if needed…  Basically this means we need to follow the rules that most tanks do.  You need to grab gear with Hit and Expertise as well as mitigation and avoidance.

 I was reading your site looking for info on stuff I can help him with.  Any suggestions?  I started with bags and some gold which I would expect to help any character starting on a new server, but is there anything DK specific?

Well, you can go buy any of these items to start, whether it be for gear or quest exp.  Also you can give lowbie DK’s enchants/kits (leg, wrist, chest, helm, gloves), gold, and 18/20 slot bags.  Keep searching the AH every day for LK release green 2H weapons as well.  They are light years ahead of anything you can get your hands on, and start at level 67 I believe.

I’m still a noob when it comes to DK’s and what their favored leveling specs are, so I have a question. What’s the best leveling spec for a DK at my level?  P.S. What do you mean by DW?

DW means Dual Wield, or using two 1H (one handed) weapons instead of a 2H (two handed) weapon.  As to good leveling specs, go check out Geistig’s posts on the matter!!

I would like your help and suggestions on breaking the 3K barrier and maintaining a good DPS rate.

Something that a lot of people forget is that there are basically 7 attacks possible per 10 second rotation in Blood Presence.  Basically 1 attack is 1 GCD (Global Cool Down), which is 1.5 seconds.  7 of these done in successive order takes up 10.5 seconds.  When you add in the 2SR (2 second rule) and latency/lag, this pretty much caps you out at potential dps.  Many people often will push other attacks back however instead of just moving on to the new rotation.

Always fire off attacks as soon as possible while trying to never hit your RP cap.  Spend it before you loose it, when possible.  Make sure your rotation, with RP dump included, doesn’t exceed 7 attacks per 10 second rotation as well.

Moar Questions!?!?

Yes there are more, but that’s where we’re calling it for today!!  As always, good luck out there guys!!  Always remember my Questions category already has a butt ton of questions already answered.  You can direct other questions to me here:

Skeleton.Jack@hotmail.com

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters.

Tags: Questions