I have decided that I’m going to level my 110 DK. I want to tank with it so I want to level in blood spec. Any tips or advice in doing so would be greatly appreciated.
The only tip would be get a Snickers. It’s slow. Unholy is faster and actually fun.
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To each their own, but I leveled as blood and tore through it like Grant through Richmond. Like all tank classes, the key is grouping mobs and taking them down together, but for quests. Concentrate on kill x mobs quests. Using Gorfiend’s Grasp, you are a god among tank classes. Also your self-heals are amazing.
Taking down rares or named mobs is a chore though.
You shouldn’t die unless you fall or drown.
If this is an alt and you have done/have tanked dungeons then those are a solid way to go though IEs, ive been told, are more efficient.
If its your main, do the quests as well as IEs.
Boy oh boy, Blood is ruthlessly slow and plodding. Successful though. You will be a pillar of strength and everything around you will die… eventually.
Unholy is a little fragile by comparison but does more damage in general. You can make unholy more survivable if you want to, but that will also drop the damage a little closer to Blood.
So, you can be blood and guarantee a win at the cost of lots of time invested. or you can take a chance on getting pwnt from time to time but drop some more DPS on your foes.
Notably, as you level as unholy or blood, you will get more stuff and gear that increases the space between the one you are playing and the other. So, which ever one you choose will get better faster while the other will not get better as quickly.
So, plan to stick with the one you choose to make it even more effective as you level.
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Wow that was fast. 55 to 110 in 28 minutes. You went Blood, didn’t ya?
Slow going, but you’ll never die.
I see a lot of people saying unholy, but I found even that slow.
I’ve never had a problem leveling any of my DK’s as frost, and that is with mass pulls, not just a mob or two at a time.
Same. Level as frost, and do IE as Blood. Pretty fast way to level.
Its weird, but in the 10 or so years I’ve had my DK I have NEVER actually played him as UH, other than some artifact business in the last xpac.
I’ve done this a half dozen times
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Island Expeditions
These provide 2x to 3x as much XP as a dungeon run in half to 1/3rd the time. Easily the fastest leveling option. If you have rested XP bonus, it’s even faster. Goal is to kill mobs non-stop. -
Dungeons
Tanking dungeons was an extreme cake-walk to 120, so take advantage of that. Instant queues, easy content.
What I’ve read about incursions is that they are not useful in the big picture and probably far less speedy as those 2 options.
Well those are my 2 methods, I don’t quest at all and I have 6 120s now with more on the way.
Unholy and blood work well. Unholy is much much funner!
Make sure to enjoy your instiques and getting into any group you want
The core of leveling as Blood (or any tank spec for that matter) is pulling groups. You can survive it so don’t bother taking on only a couple at a time.
As others have said IE’s are also a great way to level, they provide a lot of exp for minimal time investment. As Blood you don’t really have anything to worry about there, just hunt rares and pull large groups, you’ll have to screw up in some fashion to be at risk of dying.
Sure I’ve played Blood Death Knight for years now. I would advise using a gaming mouse because it gives you the ability to create a large variety of macros which can improve and empower you to do a lot. One of the macros I use for example is my Death and Decay macro which allows me to drop DnD.
Also I’m considering making specific macros for defensive vs offensive rotations. It’s really amazing just how much you can emulate with the software. I’d advise before you make the macros timing out the GCD on your computer so you can have them run flawlessly and go through all the binds.
Not having to focus on your rotation constantly will open you up to being more aware.
DK is just a slow class. I enjoyed UH leveling and had a lot of fun with it, but it’s definitely a slower more deliberate playstyle. I felt a lot squishier as frost, but the playstyle is very fast and smooth. Leveling as blood was just… not fun at all to me. It’s just too slow. I only went blood for elite quests.