I’m a blood DK, and i’m having a hard time holding aggro against paladins and mages.
Mages tend to pull mobs right off of me, forcing me to taunt that mob and even then the mob has a tendency to go right back on the mage as soon as the taunt is over.
I don’t understand what i’m doing wrong? I’m opening with blood boil, laying down death and decay, than spamming heart strike. Of course with marrorend and death strike in between to keep myself alive.
I’ve looked up guides too, and they all show me what i’m already doing? AM I missing something important?
Just looking at your character sheet, I see two things. You’re haste is really low and you’re ilvl is on the low side.
I suggest try equipping items that only have haste on it for now. Once you get some gear, then you can pick and choose.
Also, it’s easy to rip aggro off tanks this expansion and that’s by design. If you look at which of your abilities is doing the most damage, #2 will probably be regular melee swings. That means if a DPS is attacking a target you’re not focusing, they’ll rip aggro. This is true even when your gear gets better.
So just get in the habit of spending time swinging at each mob. You’ll use both of your taunts a lot on a pull. Once your haste reaches 20% and higher, things will begin to feel better overall.
“Versatility and Haste are your two best secondary stats, with Versatility having an edge. It is fine to prioritize Haste over Versatility if you are having difficulty maintaining the rotation or timing Death Strike effectively.”
I want to also add that the more you can Death Strike, the more you’ll maintain your aggro on a particular target. DPS should be focusing down the target that you are on. That’s just basic dungeon etiquette. On skittish weeks, you’ll need to use your Grip, but also Taunt if Grip is on CD.
Open with Death and Decay. Dancing Rune Weapon (activate as close to pack as possible) while running into trash pack with Blood Boil. Immediately after, start your Marrowrend. You should be able to Death Strike at this point, so it’s just a matter of using 1 (2 if it’s a larger pack) Blood Boil, keeping Marrowrend roughly between 6-7 stacks, and using Heart Strike for Death Strike in order to receive hp, the shield it provides, and for doing a modest amount of damage. There is no true rotation other than making sure you have a Death Strike at the ready and maintaining stacks of Marrowrend.
For single target fights/boss fights, I always open with Grip. I’ll lay down D&D as the target is coming towards me. If they are a caster, I’ll usually grip as I get within striking distance. I’ll usually spin the target around so that DPS don’t catch any cleave damage from the boss, and so I can keep an eye on my healer and whatever else the DPS are doing. Finally, in case a DPS pulls aggro, the boss will flip around, alerting me immediately that I need to either Grip or Taunt back.
Aim for 17% haste. Push for 20 if you can. Look to try and obtain gear with both Haste and Versatility. It will take time. If you have a choice between a piece that has Haste and another with Versatility, always go for Haste unless it’s a 10+ ilvl improvement! Strength trumps all else in the end!
The two examples you used are Paladins and Mages; these classes have a tendency to do a high amount of threat to a single target during their burst. This will happens at times, just be ready to retaunt and build some threat (i still lose threat sometimes when a Paladin pops wings and crusade and goes ham on one target -_-)
Also, you are pretty undergeared. Don’t worry about stat priority; Item level above all for Blood DKs. I level>Vers>Haste>=Crit>Mastery
It’s not just dk. My lfd pally can’t even out-aggro my gf’s Hunter pet consistently. Always have to re-aggro after she sends it in and like every few seconds.
Honestly Hunter pets have way too much threat, but I think it’s intentional so that the Hunter isn’t being targeted much.
Maybe it’s a similar issue vs other classes because when you have more than 1 tank attacking same target, the threat should keep moving. Besides, the more a target moves back and forth, the more unreturned damage being dealt to them.
Haste is not a magical stat for us like it was in Legion. ilvl > everything as a BDK. Avoid BDK azerite traits, choose generic traits any time you can as they’re all better than BDK ones. Don’t ever take marrowrend azerite trait. It might increase your overall healing by 1 or 2% if you’re lucky. It’s absolute trash. Take generic traits whenever you can (on second ring) but for the rings where you must take a BDK trait generally 1 ERW is okay, 1 Bloodyrune blade is okay, BSG is good for reaping packs and general aggro in dungeons, Bones is okay but you only really need one and the Bloodboil trait is okay if you’re going to tab target as you’re hitting bloodboil. Long and short, none of the BDK azerite are actually good like they are for other tanks.
Keep 3 runes always on cooldown. Assuming you have 0 RP and 0 bone stacks your open should involve Marrowrend > DnD > Bloodboil > Marrowrend > Heart strike > Bloodboil or something similar to that. Use DRW before you open if it’s a boss, big pack or you know you’ll have it off CD before reaching a boss or big pack. You want your 3 runes on CD as quick as possible so they will start recharging and never let yourself cap your 2 charges of Bloodboil.
Don’t overcap on boneshield charges. Never press marrow rend unless it has 5 seconds or less before falling off, you’re not certain that you will have enough time to refresh between killing the last mob of a pack or a boss or a phase of a boss and don’t press it unless you have 7 stacks or less. This gives you more runes for Heartstrike for more aggro, more RP and more deathstrikes which is more damage, aggro and healing.
It’s not a bad thing to tab to targets and hit them with something individually especially during large packs to ensure your DnD Heartstrike cleave is hitting everyone. Taunt as needed. If you really need to you can create a taunt target of target macro for your party so as soon as someone rips aggro from you, you can insta grab them back with little thought.
Also on your first talent tier I would switch off of blood drinker. During DnD heartstrike will generate a ton of RP if you take heart breaker which again is more RP for more deathstrikes which is more damage, aggro and healing. I would almost never take blood drinker.
A tank’s job is not solely to generate threat and DPS. We still have to survive hits and the base BDK gameplay between expansions has not changed. More haste = more rune regen = more attacks = threat and mitigation. This is still the absolute truth.
He then goes on to talk about how crap BDK azerite traits are and this is the absolute truth too. But here’s the thing: azerite traits are not active casts. They are passive procs off of attacks. No matter what trait you take, you still have to wait for a proc or wait to cast the spell it’s tied to. Haste puts the more control in the players hands.
And of course higher ilvl is better than anything. Just don’t be dumb about it. Not every secondary stat is great for BDK. We’re not ret paladins.
But what do I know? I’ve only been playing the game since it launched and understand nuance and interactions, rather than one dimensional thinking. Of course you can still play with low haste. Personally, I can’t stand the slow gameplay
Almost certain she sets it to passive or defensive. I’m not sure how taunt comes in, i only ever see it so same 2 hits, however- I don’t mind, i can heal it like 3 different ways so if I keep him alive, we’re basically in a 3 person party lol