official World of Warcraft

[xWhiplash]

Stacking strength is pretty much all I have been doing since cata zones. What about my gear makes it all over the place? Sorry if I seem like a noob still. It is only my second character. Its a learning process right? I had only 5,400 attack power when I went to Mount Hijal, now it is at 6,583 so I think I did a pretty good jump there. It could be more though. What do you recommend?

That is probably why I like blood so much since it seems I am low on strength. With blood I get all the healing abilities.

Maybe if I fix my gear, the unholy spec will become useful again? Like I said, I am still fairly new to all of this. This guy is only my second character so I apologize for asking dumb stuff. What do you mean by reforging gear to make them stronger?

Would frost be better than unholy?

[the evn show]

Stacking strength is pretty much all I have been doing since cata zones. What about my gear makes it all over the place?

You've got pieces with every possible melee stat. After strength (which you can't do much about apart from gem/enchant) you're going to scale best with one or two stats so it's best to focus on those. In my example of frost haste is the ideal secondary stat so whenever you encounter a piece with crit or mastery - converting that to haste is the best course of action (which you can do by reforging).

Would frost be better than unholy?

My argument for frost is based on increased movement speed and strong runic power generatino which reduces your dependence on disease (which you can't really make good use of due to the speed you should be able to kill things. One simple reason I'd avoid unholy is for the few seconds ou have to wait while the ghoul spawns every time you dismount, and the penalty to your DPS if you use it for dark pact.

Ultimately leveling is pretty much idiot proof - I'd bet the difference between an ideal grind spec and the worst possible one is a couple of hours at worst.

What do you mean by reforging gear to make them stronger?

Talk to a guard in a major city, near the enchanting trainer you'll find a reforge vendor. It allows you to convert 60% of a secondary stat (anything but strength, int, stamina, agility) into another.

For example if you had a piece of gear with

350 stamina
200 strength
100 mastery
100 critical strike

and if you were frost you might reforge it to be

350 stamina
200 strength
100 mastery
40 critical strike
60 haste

Because haste is noticably better than crit for a frost DK you end up being more powerful.

[xWhiplash]

I know some of the stuff I have is Equip: Increase critical strike rating by 75 or something like that. But it also had + on strength. Should I ignore all + strength if the equip or use is not related?

Yeah I am not a fan of the diseases, and the unholy pet does not seem to do a whole lot of damage. Do you think it is worth it to spend money to switch to frost? If I can get 8K on blood spec, what kind of dps would I be looking at if frost is used properly?

Thanks for the info on reforging. I feel like a noob sometimes lol.

[the evn show]

I know some of the stuff I have is Equip: Increase critical strike rating by 75 or something like that. But it also had + on strength. Should I ignore all + strength if the equip or use is not related?

There are two kinds of stats: primary and secondary. Primary stats are Strength, Stamina, Intellect and Agility, Secondary stats are Critical Strike, Hit, Haste, Expertise, Dodge, Block, Parry, Mastery, Spirit, and Resilience.

All classes and specs scale best with one primary stat, in the case of all plate-wearng DPS that's strength. A rough guide is to assume that your primary stat is twice as powerful as any secondary stat and three times as powerful as any primary stat that isn't yours. Strength is twice as good as hit, crit, and haste, and three times better than agility. Some stats are absolutely worthless to you, but following the above guide should make it damn near impossible to screw up your gear choices.

For a death knight: all gear you select should have strength on it: that rule might break down at lower levels, but you're high enough (and have good enough gear) that it won't.

Everything from this point on assumes level 85, PVE content of some sort: pre-level cap solo content is completely irrelevant because it only lasts a couple of hours -- see my early discussion of leveling spec/priorities: DPS was less important than minimizing downtime. I'm also deliberately ignoring expertise and hit for the sake of simplicity

Once you've got primary stats sorted out you look at secondary stats. Typically one secondary stat is better than all others by a sizable margin. In the case of a frost death knight using a 2 handed weapon: Mastery is roughly twice as any powerful as any other secondary stat so whenever possible you'll select gear with strength and mastery on it. If you can't get gear with mastery on it then you'll prefer something with crit which you will then reforge into mastery if possible, and haste if not.

Yeah I am not a fan of the diseases, and the unholy pet does not seem to do a whole lot of damage. Do you think it is worth it to spend money to switch to frost?

A respec is 66 gold - given how quickly the money comes in while leveling there's no reason not to. My preference for frost for leveling is based primarily on diseases being inconvenient and the pet being somewhat annoying to use effectively while questing. It also heavily favors the movement speed increase and the options to help minimize down time. My talent choices are obviously very different for level content but that's not what we're talking about now.

If I can get 8K on blood spec, what kind of dps would I be looking at if frost is used properly?

It's difficult to say -- I compared your current spec and gear to a basic 2h frost spec with gear appropriately reforged in simcraft and it should a dramatic increase (70%) but that doesn't seem reasonable. The difficulty is that it treats blood as a tanking spec and so it prioritizes abilities based around "not getting killed" and not "do more damage" so the comparison isn't really valid.

Our frost DK (who I'd consider "average" in skill for a raider) pulled around 10,000 DPS all the way through the leveling content and I think competent play should be able to match that. The difference between ~8000 and 10,000 DPS seems much more in line with what I'd expect to see if I could make simcraft behave.

[xWhiplash]

Okay so I will respec my unholy and change it to frost. I still like to keep blood active when questing since I seem to stay at full health a lot longer. From this point on, what do you think I should look for on gear? Equip anything that has any + strength (even if the usage on that gear like a trinket is for crit or something else)? That is what I have been doing, but it seems my gear is not right? I have not equipped anything that had - strength, so what am I doing wrong on the gear?

[the evn show]

Okay so I will respec my unholy and change it to frost. I still like to keep blood active when questing since I seem to stay at full health a lot longer. From this point on, what do you think I should look for on gear? Equip anything that has any + strength (even if the usage on that gear like a trinket is for crit or something else)? That is what I have been doing, but it seems my gear is not right? I have not equipped anything that had - strength, so what am I doing wrong on the gear?

In the long run it doesn't matter: just grab any plate gear you can so long as it has strength and hit, crit, haste, expertise, or mastery. Try to avoid pieces with dodge, parry, block, if at all possible. There's plenty of time to worry about gear when you start doing level-cap content. You're probably not going to be jumping into raids or heroics the day you hit 85 so it's not a big deal.

[xWhiplash]

Okay I will keep that in mind. Thank you so much for the tips :)

Edit: Should I be concerned with hit rating at all? Can I sacrifice that for haste always?

[xWhiplash]

I was able to get through soloing all three heroic's in hellfire peninsula with ease while on blood, but when I try on frost I cannot even get passed one of them. I still only do 3-4K in frost vs 7-8K in blood even after reforging my items to what you said.

Edit: I meant to edit the post above, sorry! It seems that if I can get a group of more than 3 people, I can get up to 9K in DPS while in frost. However, if I only get a small group I can only get to about 5K max.

[firey]

I was able to get through soloing all three heroic's in hellfire peninsula with ease while on blood, but when I try on frost I cannot even get passed one of them. I still only do 3-4K in frost vs 7-8K in blood even after reforging my items to what you said.

Not to sound mean.. but being able to run BC Dungeons means nothing.. my disc priest.. a healer.. could solo them. They are a horrible bench for anything. It'all about rotation, proper speccing, glyphs, gear. I've seen a lock that had full epic raid gear, get out dps'd by a pally in greens, purely because the lock didn't know her spells, and how to use them.

Start running Cata dungeons, then start looking at dps, dps means **** for leveling, it is really only important in dungeons and raids. Also a leveling spec != raid/dungeon spec, so you can't even compare them.

Edit: Why do you not have ANY glyphs at all in your Frost Spec?? And an empty Prismatic Socket in your relic.

Looking at your frost spec, I would based on what I see, and going purely from a DPS standpoint.. this spec: I made it myself, random, haven't played a DK in well over a year. http://www.wowhead.com/talent#jbhZGcRMfuMzbuc

[the evn show]

What is it you hope to accomplish by doing outdated content?

[xWhiplash]

And the fact that I keep on dying while on frost spec on a BC dungeon tells you I need some more help. I can solo it on blood, get around 4K more DPS, and do not need to heal once. I can handle a group of 30 guys on normal, 15-20 and a boss on heroic all attacking me at once. Yet on Frost, I still seem to be struggling with the DPS part somehow.

And the reason I do not have any glyphs is because I just activated it and I always forget to add them. Thanks for pointing them out :)

The fact that I get on average about 3,500 DPS does not mean anything?! I get killed by other level 80 characters that are just starting in cata if I am NOT in blood, My DPS drops so low it is almost useless to use anything but blood.

Being able to run BC dungeons might be easy for those that play this all the time, and it is a simple task for me to do on blood spec. I am just using this to give you what I cannot do on any other spec and asking for advice as to why. So no, I cannot use my other spec in any cata area or else I die with 2-3 beasts attacking me. I have to heal every time I attack one. I am using a fairly simple dungeon on heroic that I can solo. Fairly simple meaning that I run past a lot of guys until I have about 15-20 attacking me and then I go crazy. I learn faster that way.

Now that all of this is out of the way, I got up to 18K DPS with some rearranging and modifications of my stats/gear.

I am not a hardcore player so I will probably never do any raids or anything, I just want to understand what I am doing wrong so I can get better on specs other than blood.

[Shaun N.]

You die because you are getting aggro :D - frost DK's have that problem - give the tank a few seconds as your first ability will probably get aggro

[xWhiplash]

I am soloing the dungeons, so it is only me attacking the guys.

evn and firey: What is the latest dungeon that I can solo on heroic? Some Wrath ones?

[treemonster]

my advice?

level with whatever spec you think works for you the best, then look for help on an end game spec for w/e activities and roles you want to play.

PS tbc dungeons don't give worthwhile exp or gear after 70. wotlk dungeons don't either after 80.

[xWhiplash]

I am not looking for exp since I use this character to level with a friend. What is the best heroic dungeon I can solo. One that gives me a lot of money is always good.

[firey]

my advice?

level with whatever spec you think works for you the best, then look for help on an end game spec for w/e activities and roles you want to play.

PS tbc dungeons don't give worthwhile exp or gear after 70. wotlk dungeons don't either after 80.

I think that's all he can do. We can't really provide help as what he wants is still un clear. He wants high DPS, with the Survivability of a Tank. Like, I know ya wanna be the very best, like no one ever was... but you are still leveling man. Hit 85 using whatever spec tickles your fancy, when you hit 85, pick if you want to be a tank or dps, spec that. Start running dungeons, if your dps is still low as a dps (Frost / Unholy) or you die too fast as a tank (Blood), then come back.

We can't help you out telling ya what heroics to go solo..that will really do ya no good. I think our work here is at an end.. there really isn't anything else we can say...

As for money.. quest dude.. questing will give you way more money than a level 70 heroic.

And as for dying with 2-3 beasts on you.. have you thought of maybe NOT attacking 3? And doing one at a time. I leveled a shadow priest to 85.. im a clothie, I get hit for a LOT.. and no my heals aren't strong while leveling. Yet I managed, and I know you will too.

[xWhiplash]

I cannot quest during the week, I quest with a friend on the weekends so I cannot go passed him.

So you are saying there is nothing I can do at the moment? I am stuck with probably the worst DPS for a level 83 to where I can barely do cata quests on my own without healing after one beast?

I am not looking for survivability as a tank, I am just saying it should not be this horrible to lose 4K DPS on average, and can only attack one guy at a time and still need to heal after every fight. What I want: to get higher DPS on frost.

[firey]

I cannot quest during the week, I quest with a friend on the weekends so I cannot go passed him.

So you are saying there is nothing I can do at the moment? I am stuck with probably the worst DPS for a level 83 to where I can barely do cata quests on my own without healing after one beast?

I am not looking for survivability as a tank, I am just saying it should not be this horrible to lose 4K DPS on average, and can only attack one guy at a time and still need to heal after every fight. What I want: to get higher DPS on frost.

Thing is man, higher DPS == Lower Survivabilty against attacks. You sacrfice armor bonus for dps bonus. Just.. make sure you glyph up, follow the right rotation. And dude.. seriously... let your friend catch up, or quest in another zone, then go back and help him, why waste your time cuz someone else can't play?

When I did 70 -> 80, I started at 70 with my buddy, he started having less play time, I kept playing, he was 72 when I hit 80, I went back and helped him out while doing dungeons and such.

[xWhiplash]

What type of DPS should you expect from a level 83? Everybody I talk to says I should never get below 8K, and even then that is horrible. But here I am sitting at 3.5-5K. People always complain when I do dungeons.

[firey]

What type of DPS should you expect from a level 83? Everybody I talk to says I should never get below 8K, and even then that is horrible. But here I am sitting at 3.5-5K. People always complain when I do dungeons.

Well, what's your rotation? Are you attacking from behind? I see DPS all over, from 3K -> 14k As Disc in my current gear, because of how I heal and rotation, I carry a 2k DPS value. So if someone is below me in a fight....

[xWhiplash]

I follow the elitistjerks rotation pretty well, but I am still learning frost. Do you think once I use it a lot I will be able to do more DPS, or is my gear absolutely horrible and the reason I am doing bad?

Sorry about all of this. When somebody tells you you should be playing if you get below 8K DPS and others complain too, and here I am with 3-5K makes me think something is going on. But is 3-5K okay for 83?

[firey]

I follow the elitistjerks rotation pretty well, but I am still learning frost. Do you think once I use it a lot I will be able to do more DPS, or is my gear absolutely horrible and the reason I am doing bad?

Sorry about all of this. When somebody tells you you should be playing if you get below 8K DPS and others complain too, and here I am with 3-5K makes me think something is going on. But is 3-5K okay for 83?

As your gear gets better, as you become used to your rotation, and learn the DK Class, bonuses , etc.. you will do better. Chillax brah, it's just a game.

[xWhiplash]

It seems other people take it too seriously, I sometimes get kicked out of dungeons for low dps :( Thanks for all the help you guys, I know it was probably frustrating to deal with me.

[firey]

It seems other people take it too seriously, I sometimes get kicked out of dungeons for low dps :( Thanks for all the help you guys, I know it was probably frustrating to deal with me.

Honestly, I didn't do a single dungeon till I hit 85. Till i knew my spec as best as I could, and was comfortable being with others. It's harder for me as a healer as I am a major support, whereas there are 3 of you (if you DPS). Just be comfortable, don't stress, follow rotation, and gear setups. Enchant stuff, etc, etc. There is lots you can do, just gotta do it right.

[xWhiplash]

I will probably wait until I am 85 then, because once I hit that level that and dailies are all I will be doing right (since I do not plan to raid)?

Time for me to be a noob again sorry, how do you enchant stuff? I learned about reforging from evn and that seemed to help out a little, would enchanting help out a lot?