How good does Guardian self-healing rank in M15+ runs? Is Blood DK self healing really that much better? Ive noticed in my Mythic runs Im healing as much as our healer is usually. I find it hard to imagine Blood DK is doing much more?
Is this the best-to-worse tank self healing list?
Blood DK
Guardian Druid
Prot Paladin
Veng DH
Brew Monk
Prot Warrior
Blood DK is a monster at self-healing. Last run I did i was at 11k overall while the heals were at 6k. BDK is really just one of those tanks (if played properly) the healer never touches.
Thanks. I’m considering swapping from Guardian to Blood.
Do you enjoy Blood rotation? The DK class as a whole just doesnt seem as fun as Druid with their limited mobility and such
Biggest thing about BDK is that their self healing IS their active mitigation.
Druids have multiple forms of healing and can be used when you screw up and need quick heals. BDKs, if you mismanage your Runic Power and blow your Death Strikes simply for damage, you’re going to find yourself taking a dirt nap.
BDK’s also require a healer that understand there’s going to be spikes and when to panic and use a big heal vs let the DK do it’s thing and throw heals where/when necessary.
If you’re fairly well off in the situational awareness area as a tank (understanding mob abilities, big boss damage spikes, etc etc), then you’ll be good with BDK. And their tier set is pretty insane as well.
I haven’t had problems with mobility at all. The only time you’ll notice it is when you’re in between packs in long corridors in indoor dungeons like DoS/ToP/SD when death’s advance is down.
Regarding their rotation it’s pretty fun. They have many utilities that you use proactively to either mitigate or heal back damage taken.
If you play as kyrian your rotation becomes similar to thrash in the sense that you continuously HS spam during shackles in AoE.
Necro is hella fun because of slappy hands and if you have dps with1/2 min CDs it’s so easy to control mobs with it.
Edit: Grizzle hit all the right points as well. Managing resources is an important part of BDK’s kit as if you’re caught with no Bone Shield stacks, RP, or runes you’re sol. Once you get it down though it’s ggs.
I may play my BDK wrong…but do we not spam Heartstrike in DnD as is? 
I don’t have any tier on the guy, but I run Heartbreaker talent for that reason alone
With 4 set you no longer run heartbreaker. You take tombstone since you’re overcapping from 4-set HS. Yeah, you also HS during DnD.
Is it because it’s pretty much Riposting a Heartstrike onto your attackers (similar to Paladins Judgement…that’s awfully coincidental that they’re nearly identical lol).
Do you run Tombtone? I’ve never even considered it before.
Try a Highmountain Tauren for extra mobility?
This is a consideration if you are PuGing, OP. BDK may heal itself for more, but a lot of PuG healers a) don’t know how BDKs work, or b) will probably spend the first several pulls freaking out anyway, because they don’t yet know if you are a good BDK or a bad BDK.
Yes, my experiences reflect the PuG life.
You’ll notice that a lot of healers don’t track power resources (Runes/runic power/rage/fury) and things along the way.
If a BDK is waging into a large group of mobs with over half his runic power bar filled…I don’t panic. When he wasted Runic Power on a Death Strike when he was at 80% HP and depleted his power bar going into the next pull, i’m cursing under my breath.
So DK’s used to scare me.
Then I made one and learned to tank with it. Its a very fun tank. Took me a while to get used to learning how to manage RP.
Like others have said, Health points is not the measure of worry. Runic Power. if their RP bar is move than 50%, a few HOTs is all they’ll need if that. If I know a big pull is coming up but their RP is low, I’ll pop ironbark on them at the start of the pull.
Now…a bad DK tank that doesn’t know the class. OMG, it can be painful. It is NOT a forgiving tank spec. I know the instant I’ve messed something up when tanking BDK. you lose the rhythm and flow and you are just off and hopefully you don’t go splat.
Both tanks I find I need little more than some HOTs on them.
Yes, you only run tombstone once you obtain your 4pc because heartbreaker is useless and you waste a lot of RP and tombstone counts towards CDR for CRW.