BDK is literally doing the max/hardest keys now… the only tank to time a +27 yet I still have a hard time getting keys in the 15-20 range… everyone wants a bear. I have a harder time getting invites on my BDK than any other tank.
Ugh bear is the most boring uneventful tank to play, only think I look forward to are occasional convoke opps
(Source: I have every tank at 230+)
Probably because they are scary to heal. Or people are dumb. Now that I think about it definitely the latter.
higher skill cap. People probably have a lot of bad experiences with blood dks. They’re a hit or miss tank. If they’re good, they’re really good. If they’re bad, they’re garbage. No in between
That BEARLY constitutes a M+ discrimination.
Don’t worry, the imbalance will not last FUREVER.
They probably had me in a group lol
I am trying to have fun with NF Blood but I just can’t seem to get it to work.
It can work fine I guess, I don’t know why you wouldn’t want swarming most or aboms limb they’re extremely fun abilities to use.
I only experience this in PvP. No issues in M+ or Raids. I do need damage (trying to do a better job Heartstriking in my DnD).
There are two things holding DK back in M+
One is a lack of experience with BDK, they inherently take more damage before healing it back. This leads to BDK hp bars spiking up and down to a much higher degree then other tanks which signals danger to the healer.
What they need to realise is that, even if DK just dropped from full to 20%, is that as long as they have 40 RP they can Death strike and heal it back. Healers who follow the RP bar and only focus heal while RP is low will have a much easier time.
Second, from above, because DK take more damage and are spikier, what happens when you hit a point where the damage is too much and kills you before you can Death strike vs Monk/Druid/War who’s stagger/armor and sheild trivilize otherwise lethal damage.
Not to say you cannot do High keys on DK, but it is a challenge that will require strong play and comminication with your group to succeed.
Reflective trinket off Guardian makes BDK very playable. The one from the new dungeon is also comparable, but relies too much on RNG, plus you only get one chance a week to get it, whereas you have at least two to get a Guardian trinket.
Scale off Hakkar is pretty much mandatory for M+ so if you don’t have one you’re going to be passed over for someone that does. It does so much damage for burst-threat which BDK lacks sorely and absorbs so much health its effectively a “cheat death” on its own right.
That’s basically your only two-point-five trinket choices if you want to play BDK safely. And yes, I am saying having those two trinkets is more meaningful than any piece of gear you’re wearing short of Legendary.
Shard of Kyr is also very nice due to the way absorbs prioritize for which one takes damage first. Not anywhere near as effective as the trinkets, but a nice buffer. Also you’re probably not going to upgrade it unless you already upgraded your unholy or blood gems anyway.
The top Blood DK on Raider.IO with the +27 used Splintered Heart and Shard so there goes that tank trinket theory for getting into a group or a meaningful requirement. Splinter is still the best option around survival as it gives you a free cheat death and allows you Red Thirst or Bonestorm. Not saying Scale isn’t a good trinket, that and Splinter are the best combo around survival you can have, but as it’s clearly been demonstrated Shard is very solid option, as are the reflect trinkets from Guardian and the new dungeon.
As a few people have said, the issue is most likely people have had bad experiences with previous Blood DK’s in group, as it punishes poor play far greater than something of a druid/monk/warrior etc.
I knew that dk seemed familiar 
I didn’t realize it at first because the name is in Chinese on r.i.o. website, but he has a YouTube channel named Qiao and I’ve been seeing his content for a while now. He definitely puts those naysayers to shame. The arcane mage in his group also does the same while also playing kyrian frost sometimes. With people’s mindsets of thinking blood dk and arcane is bad until a certain point, but then having groups like this just doing the content because they’re simply good is definitely good to see.
More people need to just start trying to do the content with different specs that some (even more well known players) tend to write off as not viable after a certain point instead of just taking their word for it and complaining.
Actually, as I was looking through the website, the best among everyone there seems to be people playing specs that even a lot of well known streamers tend to write off as not viable at these high levels (arcane mage and blood dk).
If that isn’t enough motivation for people to just keep on defying those viability claims then I don’t know what will. It should show that all isn’t what it seems when people say “x is bad” or “x can’t perform well here so use y”.
Spent two months beating my head against the wall as UH dk looking for groups higher then 13 at 1500-1700 IO during my climb. Finally after like 12 declines in a row I cake walked through an HOA 14 as blood last week. I’m not geared for it (vers 8%, wrong dom gems, etc.). I have so much control over trash it’s absurd. Ended up easily timing 3-4 keys in the 14-16 range in one evening with a couple healers commenting on ease of healing by rotating cds and kiting.
We have everything we need to compete. My Ilvl was 237 while queueing. None of those invites were my own keys.
Keep at it, we’re have great survival. Between DRW additional damage and swarming mist + bone storm alternating between packs I have very little threat issues. I use the DRW cd reduction leggo at 235.
That’s good to hear. I haven’t tanked tanked with any class since Cata, and that was a bdk. Just leveled mine to 60 and planning on doing keys as Blood and pvp as frost/unholy. I do love the control you have over the run. Planning on starting low keys tonight.
Leveling a DH and PLD made me miss the dnd slow and vent teleport sooooo much. Even being able to zip around as DH.
You can use control undead on certain trash packs in a few dungeons (top, wake, other side) to make those pulls easier or cheese inspiring.
I also use chains of ice liberally when I’ve established threat to reduce the amount of time mobs spend on me (dogs in hoa is an example).
Grip, interupt, and asphyxiate give you a ton of caster control without relying on racials.
The DS shield has really smoothed out the damage curve S2 with the higher health pools. I’m healing for larger numbers, granting a bigger shield, without having such a high % of health yo-yo effect. I honestly think dk scaling is going to be great going into 9.3.
hello! healer main here 
its cause alot of people either A. dont know how to play bdk or B. healers dont know how to heal bdk.
a earlier reply said it, when you heal a bdk, your just looking at the RP bar more than HP bar. but alot of healer dont use this method. they instead look at a spiking hp bar and PANIC. which i understand why, i remember popping my big cds when i first started healing dks.
B. no one knows how to play bdk, its very apparent and easy totell whos a pro at bdk and whose not
I suppose this can be said about almost every tank except bear in its current iteration, really. Monks don’t know how to properly utilize brews/stagger, DHs don’t know when to start kiting, warrs and pallys that face tank while letting sotr/SB fall off.
I suppose if we were to add BDKs to this list then they don’t know when to hold their globals. HS or MS when a DS is needed is kind of a big deal. It seems like such a small, simple thing when described like that though.
the main difference between all those classes tho. its alot more punishing for bdk. if you dont pop your death strikes properly you caan get two shotted easy
the bottom line is that DK tank is not a safe pick. yes, it can be good, but not better than other tanks. also why would i put in the extra effort to track their RP? i just pick another tank that is more straight forward to deal with. dont get me wrong i love BDK and i used to main it but its being a bit… special.
also their dmg output is just subpar
well, theres still a fun factor. blood dk is fun