I've noticed some DK hate going around lately, and while I recognise it's mostly for the lulz, there are a few things that do need to be said so that peole understand exactly why dps DK's seem to pull aggro and/or die more than other classes.
First off, DK's have no aggro drop. No feint, no feign death, no soul shatter, no wind shear. If they pull aggro, they have to basically soak it and hope the tank gets it back.
Secondly, pulling extra aoe aggro is built into virtualy every spec's basic rotation. Since most specs take Glyph of Disease so they can refresh diseases on a target using one cooldown and rune instead of two, the byproduct is that diseases are being spread to all adds in the vicinity by said Pestilence. This means cc getting broken, or adds that we and the tank aren't focusing on taking damage. If the tank isn't on his a-game with aoe aggro, chances are we're going to pull aggro. Furthermore, each spec has key dps talents that contribute to this. Blood's basic nuke is Heart Strike, which is a cleave hitting two target. Nothing we can do about that. Frost utilizes Howling Blast, which combined with Killing Machine and Rime procs, is a major contributor to our single target dps. The caveat here is that a KM-Rime proc HB is going to mean an automatic crit to everything in the near vicinity. Lastly, Unholy. Kinda obvious here, this is the king spec of aoe. Wandering Plague, massive DnD's, and again Glyph of Disease being a key compnent to the playstyle and rotation. As you can see, a DK can't help but spread arounda little love. Unlike other classes that can decide when they want to do aoe and when they want to focus on single target nuking. Now factor in the inherent danger of being in melee range constantly AND doing constant aoe damage and it becomes a little clearer to see why DK's tend to pull loose aggro more often than anyone else.
We counterbalance that with damage mitigation cooldowns. Or rather, we're supposed to. In fact, you may even notice some DK's purposefully activating antimagic shell and standing in the fire for a second or two to charge up Runic Power. Do not panic. He's not being noob, for DK standing in the fire is actually a good thing. If they know what they're doing. See, we have abilities like bone shield and death pact to save the healer(s) some work. The problem is that many DK's use these cooldowns offensively rather than defensively, as for example Unbreakable Armor boosts our strength, not just our armour, by a significant amount for a short time. Or they'll summon their ghoul for some extra dps in the beginning of a fight, but when they need to sac it later for a quick health buff it'll be dead and on cd. Odds are that our 'defensive' cooldowns will be on cooldown when we need it to save our hiney. Don't blame us, blame the game, blame the 'be at the top of the dps meters or be a loser' mentality that everyone seems to share these days.
Now, not saying that there aren't noob DK's. Because clearly there are many. Like any class. But before going on a crusade against class x or y or whatever, it's a good idea to see things from that point of view.
First off, DK's have no aggro drop. No feint, no feign death, no soul shatter, no wind shear. If they pull aggro, they have to basically soak it and hope the tank gets it back.
Secondly, pulling extra aoe aggro is built into virtualy every spec's basic rotation. Since most specs take Glyph of Disease so they can refresh diseases on a target using one cooldown and rune instead of two, the byproduct is that diseases are being spread to all adds in the vicinity by said Pestilence. This means cc getting broken, or adds that we and the tank aren't focusing on taking damage. If the tank isn't on his a-game with aoe aggro, chances are we're going to pull aggro. Furthermore, each spec has key dps talents that contribute to this. Blood's basic nuke is Heart Strike, which is a cleave hitting two target. Nothing we can do about that. Frost utilizes Howling Blast, which combined with Killing Machine and Rime procs, is a major contributor to our single target dps. The caveat here is that a KM-Rime proc HB is going to mean an automatic crit to everything in the near vicinity. Lastly, Unholy. Kinda obvious here, this is the king spec of aoe. Wandering Plague, massive DnD's, and again Glyph of Disease being a key compnent to the playstyle and rotation. As you can see, a DK can't help but spread arounda little love. Unlike other classes that can decide when they want to do aoe and when they want to focus on single target nuking. Now factor in the inherent danger of being in melee range constantly AND doing constant aoe damage and it becomes a little clearer to see why DK's tend to pull loose aggro more often than anyone else.
We counterbalance that with damage mitigation cooldowns. Or rather, we're supposed to. In fact, you may even notice some DK's purposefully activating antimagic shell and standing in the fire for a second or two to charge up Runic Power. Do not panic. He's not being noob, for DK standing in the fire is actually a good thing. If they know what they're doing. See, we have abilities like bone shield and death pact to save the healer(s) some work. The problem is that many DK's use these cooldowns offensively rather than defensively, as for example Unbreakable Armor boosts our strength, not just our armour, by a significant amount for a short time. Or they'll summon their ghoul for some extra dps in the beginning of a fight, but when they need to sac it later for a quick health buff it'll be dead and on cd. Odds are that our 'defensive' cooldowns will be on cooldown when we need it to save our hiney. Don't blame us, blame the game, blame the 'be at the top of the dps meters or be a loser' mentality that everyone seems to share these days.
Now, not saying that there aren't noob DK's. Because clearly there are many. Like any class. But before going on a crusade against class x or y or whatever, it's a good idea to see things from that point of view.
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And also their aoe is pure awesomeness. Our 1 unholy dk pulls 12-13k Dps on twins lol.
I wonder how most other people got to the same common consensus. That DK tanks currently suck.