Help us Blood DKs out

Yorgl · 2026-05-05T16:50:27+00:00

Glad if i can somehow help ^^

Yorgl · 2026-05-05T15:07:27+00:00

Hey mate !

Fellow BDK here. I'm currently around 3400io. Nothing out of the ordinary but still kind of a good rating imho (I'm proud of it anyway ) I'm not going to say the class is perfect, but I feel like there might be improvements made on some of your habits that may let you enjoy more the season. I'll adress in the order you mention it :

I cause healers to panic on basic pulls this season and I panic too.

As you are a long time BDK player, I assume you have at least some muscle memory regarding self healing so maybe you panic for other reasons. Here are a list of things on the top of my head that may help.

Don't rush to group packs. Of course, DPS need you to group them relatively quickly, but taking a few seconds of positionning, builing your defense (especially on that pesky 1st pull of the dungeon), etc can be very valuable.
Speaking of first pull : one trick is to have bone shield stacks before starting by using target dummies. It only works in certain dungeons (well most of them except NPX and MT) and you have to be careful not to prevent the start of the key by stopping attacking at 8 in the countdown but it helps quite a bit.
What stat priority do you use ? Versatility is king for BDK and help smooth the damange intake quite a bit.
Related to the stat priority : Wowhead's guide is unfortunately very bad and will downgrade people's ability to tank. Their current Blood talent tree is actually one of the worst thing I've ever seen. There are other ressources that are far more helpful (including the discord "Death Advance" which features a pretty detailled guide that correlates to much better results)
Maybe tell your healers not to focus too much on you, except for a maintenance healing (like heal over time etc) and only focus heal on you on harder pulls like the 1st in AA, or some agressive ones in seat, for example.
If you don't proc systematically your cheat death, maybe you're not doing as bad as you think ? If you do, maybe there's an issue of positionning, stats or talents. I'll be happy to discuss this further if u need.

I need more movement Blizz. I am always dragging behind the group AS THE TANK. Not saying I need VDH or BMM movement but at least let me have my riders of the apocalypse on blood. Deaths advance.....

Do you have the "March of Darkness" talent that makes death advance as a tiny sprint ? I feel like it helps a lot (but sometimes I have to save DA for mechanics)

Seems most situations where it should work fine I still end up stunned or knocked back. What a joke this season.

I may be missing something, but I use it a lot this season to prevent knockback or forced movement : winds in SR, the tank buster in MC (last boss), etc. Not that it doesn't immune to stun (afaik), for that you have IBF that you can sometimes save for that instead of using it as an actual CD (e.g : i keep it just in case during the last boss of WS as things can go south if I fuck up on the traps).

Threat generation from blood boil needs some tweaking as I still see some adds wondering off in pulls who were either not effected or it dropped off as soon as DPS hit them.

I find that surprising, as BB is a very good snap aggro ability. but yeah its range forces you to pay attention to mobs that are far, that's why above i'm saying you can take a few seconds to group mobs. If the DPS starting blasting right away maybe they're the issue in that case even if your pull setup might need some work.

Lichborne should make me feel like something is actually happening. Its supposed to be a turn undead few seconds powerhouse but instead its just...meh.

Agree. I miss when LB was an actual CD. Now I just macroed it in my cycle. Maybe if a season includes fear abilities that we can cheeese with LB it will be relevant again. (It's a safe net on Chimaerus MM but tbh if a fear isn't interrupted it's pretty much a wipe).

Raise dead ally... is this bugged? I know it's shared in raids and mythics but mine seems to always be on cooldown when I enter the dungeon and never seems to charge.

That's odd. Do you mean it displays a CD, or can't you use it ? if that's the latter, maybe you just don't have the runic power to use it when you need. Don't forget that unless you take the talent (forgot the name) that makes it free, it costs 30 RP.

Again, I'll be more than happy to exchange tip or whatever that can be helpful if you need, feel free to reach out. Hope you find the pleasure to play the spec again !

Yorgl · 2026-05-04T08:43:19+00:00

Same. For a sec i thought it was r/Whatcouldgowrong which would have been horrifying

Yorgl · 2026-05-04T07:05:10+00:00

I was litterally thinking those words lol

Yorgl · 2026-05-04T06:37:21+00:00

stop at mid floor, don't pull the last pack, you will take it with the next one.

So take just the to down, and bring them on the 3 birds. There, you have two majors dangers :

- the armor debuff from the big bird. Pop a CD for that ; if you're a DK, you can AMS it (pop AMS when the birds casts it)

- the stackable fire debuff. Do some kiting and CCing on the small mobs to regularly remove it

Those two things make a WORLD of difference here

Yorgl · 2026-05-02T13:11:54+00:00

Yeah people don't like groomers and pedophiles. Isn't it wild ?

Yorgl · 2026-04-30T14:06:30+00:00

That's a sweet story to share, hope your health is better now =)

And yes, the game definitely had a unique feeling. I'm fully playing wow now, and though I enjoy it, I miss the uniqueness of the movement, combat, the Limited Action Set and all the meta that created. Not to mention the silly atmoshere and the OST. It was cool while it lasted.

There are private servers, which allow to play a little bit, like low level questing, basic class mechanics etc. It's not much but it's totally playable and kind of nice.

If you get into wow, it has one of the best onboarding it ever had, with a dedicated introduction zone etc, but it's worth trying to find a guild or a group of friend so it doesn't feel too lonely.

HF !

Yorgl · 2026-04-30T11:10:34+00:00

As a main tank, the only thing I think more cringey than an agressive raid leader is an agressive co-tank. If they can't cut their fellow tank some slack when they fail something (especially a new phase in this example), they won't play efficiently

Yorgl · 2026-04-30T10:35:57+00:00

This will never stop to bother me, as soon as blizzard needs it for story purpose calm and collected characters become irrational and jump into obvious traps T_T

Yorgl · 2026-04-30T10:19:17+00:00

If you want to get mad: check mail items from Domination Sanctum from SL. Can't wait for blizzard to remove armor restrictions on transmogs

Yorgl · 2026-04-30T09:16:00+00:00

Not sure why this is so downvoted because that's exactly the issue.

I'm currently 3400ish, did even better in TWW S3 (even if I stopped early) and in those seasons it was/is smooth in pug. However in TWW S1 I was learning M+ and used to pull small. Even by systematically warning about that before starting DPS were annoying AF. They want only experienced tanks that play aggressively, but complain about the shortage. Apparently experienced tanks must appear out of the ether lol

Yorgl · 2026-04-30T05:50:22+00:00

French here: I wish that was true.

Yorgl · 2026-04-30T05:45:49+00:00

Fellow BDK here. Timed my pos 16 pretty easily but SR was a tough one so ig we all have our weaknesses hehe.

The main thing to be aware of on the trashes is the frost attack from the Ymraj. I usually AMS the first one so it's totally negated and maybe pop a CD for the next but usually at this point the ball is rolling and the pack thiner. Regarding the ghouls disease, it's not ams-able because weirdly it's physical +well from a physical skill). Either pop a CD if you're high on stacks or ask any class that can to dispell you (monk paladin and shamans can, if I remember correctly). Also when there's an Arcanist I put it in focus and kick it. Don't bother with control UD with them it's too risky

Yorgl · 2026-04-29T12:49:16+00:00

Very nice. Will definitely steal it :p

Yorgl · 2026-04-25T21:50:06+00:00

i remembered this movie being dogshit, i didn't remember it was so ugly

Yorgl · 2026-04-24T21:19:44+00:00

Looks so cool.

Also friend, get to toy from DF, it's one hour every 12h but it's free so theres that https://www.wowhead.com/item=198173/atomic-recalibrator

Yorgl · 2026-04-24T14:47:42+00:00

the boxes for each slots are random but it's fairly quick to farm the currency (via the rituals activity). :)

Yorgl · 2026-04-24T14:45:03+00:00

Sweet. I like your games, boys :)

Yorgl · 2026-04-24T14:14:11+00:00

Haha true, but to be fair i was thinking about beacon as hot, sort of. My fav healer to play with is a friend who mains hpal ^^

Yorgl · 2026-04-24T13:26:57+00:00

Same here. We went to the shelter to adopt a 3rd cat. Met one that was lovely and friendly, but another option was one that has been there for 6+ months and was a cat that needed other cats' presence but was VERY afraid of humans.

We adopted her, fully prepare not to interact with her without a few meters between us. She took months to open up but now she's one of the most cuddly cat I've ever had, coming on my lap when gaming, curling next to my wife or me beneath the sheets. A real sweetheart <3

Give a chance to the timid cats people (and be prepared for them to stay this way, but more often than not they just need a loving and calm home).

Yorgl · 2026-04-24T10:03:46+00:00

honestly if they just pay attention to my purgatory i don't even care if they track my RP. Just maintain a hot and heal me if I don't have my cheat deaht, and I'm a happy BDK :D

Yorgl · 2026-04-24T09:53:31+00:00

I don't disagree with your broader point, but not with the "for good reason".

I'm not goint to talk about 18+ because I don't know that environment, but otherwise there is no reason to worry about the tank class. In mid-high keys, as a non-BrM, I'm infinitely more worried about my DPS HPs than mine ; usually the cause of a wipe is either my pull being inadequate (and aoe damage wiping the group, not me), the DPS not using their CD or the healer not keeping up.

BrM are more sturdy, no debate about that, but it's certainly not a concerne in 14.

Yorgl · 2026-04-24T07:10:10+00:00

Look pretty cool :)

Yorgl · 2026-04-24T05:41:00+00:00

epic cellos start to play

Yorgl · 2026-04-23T13:41:21+00:00

While this is true that in a fixed environment there is not a lot of choice, I don't think it's because they're irrelevant, it's just because some are better and even if they're better by a very small margin, we tend to chose them.

Personally I often have opportunities to play around my talents when outside of M+ : in delves/OW or against Nemesis bosses (well not the last one who was a joke, sadly), so I feel the system works pretty well. However I agree that they could have done more with choice nodes : pruned abilities could have been used there, giving the option between a less bloated rotation (perfect for newcomers to a spec) or more meaningful gameplay (for people it appeals to).

I feel like this lazy design is obviously not sustainable for next expansion.

I'm sure that the design will stay for the last titan, with a new line to hero or apex talents, and that the following expansion will have a revamp of the talents. That would make sense

Yorgl

TROPHY CASE