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DK Cataclysm talent tree

Started by Vitandus, Thu, 2010-07-01 : 10:30

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Vitandus

http://www.wowtal.com/#k=3NXRYTpi1TU.9gq.deathknight

Lots of changes. More thoughts once I am done with this meeting :)

SoggyWaffles

Interesting, I switched my tank spec to blood a couple weeks ago to go ahead and get a feel for it, even if it is all changing soon.

Piller of frost looks like the old boneshield for dps, and not get knocked off bg's by shaman.

Vitandus

#2
Quick tank (Blood) tree thoughts follow.

Tier 1:
Blade Barrier looks the same. 5 ranks.
Butchery is the same leveling talent (IMO).
Exsanguinate is the former tier 4 Vendetta.

Tier 2:
Two-handed Weapon Specialization and Scent of Blood are the same.
Bladed Armor now increases attack power by 5 (from 1) for every 180 AP armor (edited for typo).

Tier 3:
Blood-caked Blade is moved from the Unholy tree. From this, I will assume that tanks may get more auto-attack swings between Rune cooldowns.
Bone Shield is moved from the Unholy tree. You get 3 bones, 20% damage reduction if you have one bone left, and 2% increased damage.
Might of Mograine leads to one of the most wicked new powers - the tier 6 Crimson Scourge. It used to be a Tier 9, 3 point talent.

Tier 4:
Spell Deflection - still a chance based on Parry for direct damage spells. Unsure about the viability. In Wrath most spell damage was AoE.
Toughness has been moved from Frost tier 1.

Tier 5:
Abomination's Might was moved down a tier.
Rune Tap was moved up a tier - I would guess to nest it firmly in the tanking tree.
Hemorrhagic Fever is wicked. Your Blood Boil inflicts the enemy with a disease reducing their physical damage output by 10% for 30s.

Tier 6:
Improved Rune Tap moved here.
Crimson Scourge increases damage done by your Blood Boil. Are you seeing a theme here?

Tier 7:
Improved Death Strike moved down a tier.
Vampiric Blood moved down a tier.
Improved Blood Presence (as with all presences) changed dramatically. This one will retain the 4% damage reduction while in other presences and will reduce chance of being critically hit by melee by 6% while in Blood Presence.

Tier 8:
Blood Parasite is the new Bloodworms and moved up a tier. It now spawns 1 worm, attacking until it bursts healing nearby allies. Gross and cool.
Sanguine Fortitude is an activated power that will increase damage reduction of IBF by 30% and cost no runic power. Nice.

Tier 9:
Will of the Necropolis is so much better. The trigger is now 30% of health, down from 35%, but you get a Blood Rune and Rune Tap is refreshed. This means the tank needs to pay attention to percentages and get ready to Rune Tap. I do this anyhow, but this gives me a free hit. Awesome!
Heart Strike now hits up to 3 targets, and does more damage.
Death Rune Mastery is moved from tier 3. The move tells me that we'll get more runes to play with in combat.

Tier 10:
Blood Swarm gives you a free Blood Boil if you hit a target with Plague Strike that already has Blood Fever.
Veteran of the Third War was moved from tier 5 and no longer gives a Strength bonus. Another change to mark the Blood tree as tank tree.

Tier 11:
Dancing Rune Weapon is now made of awesome for tanks. Along of mirroring the DK's attacks at 50% reduction, it now also adds 20% parry chance. The cooldown is also reduced to 1 minute.

I'm pretty excited about the changes in the Blood tree. I have not seen enough of the mechanic changes in Cataclysm to know how it affects the need for Rune Power and the impact on Rune cooldowns. I do think the addition of Blood Swarm and the number of Blood Boil powers means a dip into Unholy for Vicious Strikes and Corruption Strikes (new).

Vitandus

My thoughts on Unholy:

Tier 1:
Epidemic has been moved from tier 2.
Virulence now leads to Resilient Infection in tier 2.
Vicious Strikes now leads to Corrupting Strikes in tier 3.

Tier 2:
Resilient Infection is a PVP talent refunding disease cost if they are dispelled.
Unholy Command and Ravenous Dead are both unchanged.

Tier 3:
Corrupting Strikes increases Plague and Scourge strikes. I think the former bonus will be helpful for Blood tanks since it seems Plague Strike is a heavy part of the rotation with Fever clipping.
Unholy Frenzy is the new Hysteria. GIMME DA JUICE! It now boosts haste, and not physical damage, and the health loss is 3% of maximum.
Necrosis is the same.

Tier 4:
On a Pale Horse is unchanged.
Morbidity has been moved up the tiers. I gather this is to make it more costly for tanks?
Night of the Dead has had the AoE damage reduction removed. I think this is due to the global changes to pet AOE damage reduction.

Tier 5:
Unholy Blight, Impurity, and Dirge all unchanged. The first had so many changes in Wrath that the desire to keep it stable is not a surprise.

Tier 6:
Magic Suppression is changed. The 2% less damage is now changed to recharging the DK's runic power - much like AMS now. Makes me wonder what is changing with AMS.
Desecration is the same.
Master of Ghouls is unchanged. I don't think they could have done much with this.

Tier 7:
Desolation is unchanged. Not much they could have done, IMO.
Anti-magic Zone has its cooldown reduced to 45 seconds. This makes me wonder if we should expect more direct spell damage in Cataclysm, or if it is honed for PVP.
Improved Unholy Presence still gives the movement bonus, but now grants Haste and not reduced cooldowns. Very cool.
Ghoul Frenzy now heals the pet for 120% - not just 60%. This might make the talent worth getting.

Tier 8:
Crypt Fever is unchanged.
Reaping is moved up tiers. All trees have the same thing on the same tier - I gather this is to meet the Blizzard requirement that DKs always have something to do.

Tier 9:
Wandering Plague has had the damage reduced by half - maximum of 50% of disease damage versus the current 100%. This will have a dramatic effect on lowering AoE Unholy damage.
Ebon Plaguebringer is unchanged.
Scourge Strike now does 100% of weapon damage plus 340, changed from 70% and 560. This will scale a lot better with gear.

Tier 10:
Rage of Rivendare is unchanged.
Sudden Doom is where it belongs - in the Unholy tree. I always wondered why it was in the Blood tree.

Tier 11:
Summon Gargoyle now costs 1 Frost and 1 Unholy, and not 60 RP. This means you can blow RP elsewhere, and it makes Reaping well worth the points.