The Complete Blood Death Knight Guide | Cataclysm Classic

[@Riyaniwow]

Thanks for watching! This was definitely my largest undertaking so far with a ton of research, and days of script writing and editing. Feedback would definitely be appreciated whether you value longer content like this that goes over pretty much everything, compared to more condensed content that's a bit more fast-paced, but not as detailed. ❤

[@JasonGriffis-iv9ri]

Links to what we saw would be helpful... what you're using.

[@Riyaniwow]

@@JasonGriffis-iv9ri I have links to all the weakauras and macros in the description if that's what you're referring to-- added talents as well :)

[@ecutc3]

Name of the song or zone song you always use???

[@HolmarN92]

Alot of great information that have been forgotten with todays dks being more (retail). I have a question about your UI. Is there a possiblity to get the a UI Pack in the future? :)

[@ecutc3]

@@Riyaniwowname of song or zone song used in these videos?

[@Dalex19]

This was far and away an incredible guide. Although lengthier than your other vids, it's well made, doesn't bog down and is an enjoyable watch. I'm looking forward to my first raid as a blood dk tank. I'll keep this open. Appreciate it

[@Riyaniwow]

That's very kind-- thank you, friend, and good luck in the raids!

[@LetsLearnHow22]

Easily one of the best guides I’ve ever watched. Well done

[@Riyaniwow]

That's very kind ❤ Glad you liked it!

[@Cataphracts_History]

this channel is one of the most under rated channels !

[@Riyaniwow]

💕

[@Nerfmeh1]

As far as I have seen and tried myself in heroic raids/dungeons, the VB glyph does actually increase Death Strike healing, it just does not increase the Blood Shield with your increased Death Strike healing.

[@Riyaniwow]

That's true-- should've been more clear on that.

[@amrothinglorion]

Hey, amazing videos to start with. Are you going to do any vids on how to gear into the firelands raid? Cheers🎉

[@Riyaniwow]

Yes sir! But will wait with releasing it until we’ve tested things on the ptr

[@amrothinglorion]

@@Riyaniwow magic! Thanks!

[@chrisjohnson-bu4ez]

i feel like parry and dodge are negligible due to death strike healing and shielding more when you take damage i would recommend stam>hit cap>haste>exp soft cap>str>mastery>and dodge parry and crit at the bottom with this i can put out about the same hps as a healer on myself while also doing dps level damage. i prioritize hit haste pieces and haste mastery pieces and reforge where necessary to maintain my caps. also i gem str stam in reds where the socket bonus is 30 stam if the bonus is 10 str or anything else i gem pure stam and i have 2 haste stam gems for the tank meta gem, although with more gear i will most likely swap to the dps meta gem for parse set and use tank meta for only fights that arent on farm

[@Dayzard]

thanks a lot for the Vid. Do you have a spreadsheet of sorts for spending Valor? I'm seeing a lot of different takes.

[@Riyaniwow]

Don't have a spreadsheet for it, but my take is pretty much this: Planning to clear week 1? DPS legs and relic Planning to clear within a few weeks? DPS legs, gloves, chest, fill what Planning to clear within a few weeks but no BOE? Chest, gloves, dps legs, fill That's my opinion at least :D

[@Dayzard]

@@Riyaniwow cheers appreciate it and all the hard work.

[@oeheaven]

Great video! I was wondering when should I use Synapse Springs? On cd?

[@Riyaniwow]

Cheers bud- unless you have a dps on-use trinket, then it’s best to just macro it into DRW.

[@oeheaven]

@@Riyaniwow Thank you so much for answering! I know I am late to replying but hope you are enjoying Firelands!

[@michaelevans3287]

Anyone else not able to get the DK UI string to load in WeakAuras?

[@danielstevenson9593]

Very well put together and presented earned my sub

[@DrTournevis]

Hi dude, good content, may I ask you how to track external cds please ?

[@Riyaniwow]

Thanks, bud! I'm using Method Raid Tools

[@tinchant]

Once we can replace Engineering helmet for 372 one should we drop Engineering? Which would be the best option?

[@Riyaniwow]

No engineering is BIS still because of nitro boosts and synapse springs. The helm is just a bonus ☺️

[@okitansil5544]

The weakaura profiles just copy all the string to it ?

[@jonathanfiggins2445]

was wondering if you could list what addons youre using for your UI. trying to figure out how to move character portrait down where you have it, and a couple other UI things i see on your screen. trying to get mine to look almost exactly like yours

[@Riyaniwow]

Sure! I'm using rather lightweight addons to improve game performance, so it'll need a bit of customization to look like mine. Bartender4 BigWigs Details Masque Method Raid Tools Minimap Button Plater SexyMap Shadowed Unite Frames ThreatClassic2 WeakAuras Prat 3.0 The rest that I use are miscellaneous or things like ReforgeLite that doesn't have any combat functions.

[@jonfiggins]

Thanks!!

[@lalamoh1]

Love it. Brings exactly the missing details of information i was looking for ❤️

[@Riyaniwow]

Thank you, friend ❤

[@Combustibleporcupine]

Just started tanking and this guide took me from zero to hero

[@Riyaniwow]

You're my hero at least! Thanks for the kind words and glad that it helped.

[@samualwillingale7597]

Great guide! But for raise dead macro have you tried /cast [nopet] raise dead /cast death pact. Find it more reliable than a cast sequence macro.

[@Riyaniwow]

Thanks bud! Good call on the macro-- personally haven't had any issues with a sequence macro, but good to have both options.

[@zachgoines1806]

Do you know the hit/expertise cap numeric values? Percentages and actual numeric values

[@Wulfenst]

8% hit this makes out spells be 17% hit as well so thats covered, 6.5% exp for exp softcap. If youre using reforgelite it will set the minimums once you tell it to use them. I do not know the numeric values but you can find those elsewhere, everyone seems to use the % instead.

[@Riyaniwow]

What he said for percentages, and I'm pretty sure it's 961 hit rating for cap and 781 expertise rating for soft cap.

[@alexscholz8762]

That is accurate :)

[@StrategicLemon]

So this may be the noob in me talking, but as a blood DK i find it somewhat hard to hold aggro in low lvl dungeons such as BC dungeons mostly due to DND have a 30 CD. And once it's on CD i feel like i have to rely on my diseases to hold aggro, but since they take long to tick, i keep getting aggro stolen. i can hold aggro just fine on other classes, but on DK it's a chore. idk if this guide is made exclusively for lvl 85 DK's but hopefully this guide can work for lower lvl players.

[@Riyaniwow]

I find that whenever I don't have DND up, running in while using 1-2 heart strikes on my first globals usually takes care of it. But I agree that blood is a bit more clunky in dungeons because of the long DND cd.

[@hyperflux420]

Does troll berserking really snapshots with dancing rune? i dont think it does

[@guestingtoo3053]

I tried following your instructions for plater but it didn't work. I clicked the link and followed the instructions about unzipping the two folders to sharedmedia, but ingame, plater's modding section had nothing about it. Is there a step missing to get plater to acknowledge sharedmedia's folder?

[@Riyaniwow]

You should be able to just copy the string from the wago.io link and import it straight into your plater addon without any fancy downloading. It's plug-and-play ready.

[@yungrazz1749]

Doesnt the shield only heal u on meelehits? There is ton of magical dmg in cata

[@Riyaniwow]

That’s right! Hence why we generally prefer stamina

[@donkeymule2]

Can you gear for blood dk tank and then reforge into unholy offspec whenever or no?

[@steven301]

bro i love this guide, huge thanks to you great work.

[@Riyaniwow]

And huge thanks to you for your kind words!

[@123elais123]

Hello mate and thanks for a really great video! I would like to ask do you use Shadowed Unit Party frames and do you have some profile for that and would you like to share it? Your frames look so simply and nice so i would like to swap original wow frames similar like yours !:)

[@Riyaniwow]

Hey bud-- yes! I'm using SUF. Unfortunately they don't have exportable profiles to link, but you should be able to customize yours to look like mine pretty easily in the addon. Didn't take me more than 10 minutes.

[@123elais123]

Aa okay ☺️ i will try customize by my self ☺️ thanks for answer mate ☺️!

[@ВладМуви]

Спасибо, это видео было невероятно полезным! Удачи с прогрессом в рейдах.

[@menuchim9740]

Amazing vid! Thanks for creating it. I built my BDK around it and will test it out this second. 🙂

[@menuchim9740]

The build is awesome. Tanking heroics is of no issue and everything works fine. Thanks again!

[@Unknown_soju]

Super useful video thank you so much for your time and effort!

[@Scott-we5vi]

Can you throw your current gear in sixtyupgrades just kinda of a reference we the blood dks can check out when needed plz

[@Riyaniwow]

Oh sure, here’s a link to my current gear- should update as I get upgrades. sixtyupgrades.com/cata/armory/eu/gehennas/riyani

[@Scott-we5vi]

Thank you so much !!

[@Iggybart05]

you're fucking awesome. the biggest reason is you give actual REASONS for the choices made, not just "because i said so" which usually means they just read wowhead or some other guide and don't actually understand why they do things. edit to add: will you do frost and unholy guides, or just this one?

[@Riyaniwow]

Thanks for the feedback ❤ I'm primarily a tank, so all tank specs will come first, but may do a frost one down the line

[@Iggybart05]

@@Riyaniwow woooooo!!!!!

[@NorthernWalks]

Why is blood not a dps spec if its max damage well above the dps on the meters?

[@Riyaniwow]

You have to take damage to do good damage- but yeah, blood is pumping atm

[@pgazs]

Great guide, thank you for the time you put into this type of videos! Is it ok to swap scarlet fever and Aboms might in progression if we already have those raid buffs ? Maybe take 3/3 RPMastery and 3/3 Blood-Caked Blade. Also about the single target opener, isnt it more damage output to spam HS over DS on single target? I know we sacrifice a lot of survivability there but strictly speaking about damage. Or is DS better inside DRW since we can get better use of ERW. Thank you very much!

[@Riyaniwow]

Na wouldn't recommend dropping scarlet fever for prog-- even if you run with another blood DK, there are encounters where you won't be attacking the same target and he won't be spreading diseases to it. If you're running with a feral it's quite grief to ask him to go into bear to demo, haha. Strictly damage, maybe, I haven't tested that because, well, people shouldn't be playing like that until they are geared up the waazo and survivability is a non issue, haha! But death strike is still more damage, but heart strike only requires 1 rune. So basically, if GCD capped, death strike, if not GCD capped, heart strike.

[@pgazs]

@@Riyaniwow Thank you very much! Yeah my brain didnt think about tanks not hitting the same target, i should fix that asap, maybe remove aboms might then, since its the same buff as pally blessing. I agree on the types of playstyles, coming from retail is something hard to think about playing full defensive since it almost doesnt matter there if you play dk, agian, thanks for the advice, will keep looking forward for more of this guides!

[@ColonelDerpster]

Great video, thank you for the WAs, very useful

[@yaintwrong]

Is it worth using Army of the Dead pre-pull? I think the undead taunt which spins the boss and increases the amount of time needed for you to hit vengeance cap

[@Baldoora]

It's good to use for pre-pull for a bit of damage and won't taunt in raid, but you might as well save it as extra damage mitigator for fights youre familiar with.

[@pgazs]

Army does not taunt Raid bosses, but will taunt any adds that spawn, be careful with that and you will be ok.

[@Riyaniwow]

What the other people have said-- but yeah, if you're running heroics, then don't army pre-pull.

[@Wulfenst]

Got to grab a few of these weakauras, the DK discords locking WA behind a subscription paywall was a shitty thing to do.

[@Riyaniwow]

Ouff, that's a yikes right there

[@nononononegative]

What DK discords?

[@noob2gosu]

Where is that prot pala guide u promised?

[@Riyaniwow]

Working on it at the moment- should be out within the next few weeks

[@noob2gosu]

@@Riyaniwow awesome thanks, keep up the good work :)

[@Malahmadi2]

Thank you for the great guide, I really like your UI can you share it? and what addon?

[@Riyaniwow]

Cheers! I have my weakauras in the description, but nameplates are custom SUF plates and can't be exported. Planning to make a full UI vid at some point, so stay tuned for that and perhaps I can figure out a better way to share my UI.

[@frechsowas]

@@Riyaniwow Are you also using SUF for your raidframes. Would be nice to know how you made those raidframes look that good. Reminded me more of grid2

[@P3dd0r]

vor 0 Sekunden Hey Mate, Great&usefull Guide! Thanks :) One question i asked myself: why the Opener doesnt start with Outbreak before taunt? Ur both starting-heartstrikes will do significant more dmg? Outbreak is useable on Range and taunt is offGCD. So u could use it While Running onto the Boss ?

[@privatexiii2633]

The reason for this is building up runic power in order to use Dancing Rune Weapon + racials/trinkets to throw a buffed Outbreak on the target. For Dancing rune weapon you need runic power and the fasted way to buildup is following his opener. This opener allows for snap threath and a boost in dps (because of the buffed diseases on the target).

[@P3dd0r]

Perfect, that makes totally Sense. Ty

[@ericshun3331]

Great guide thanks for the vid! PS are you colourblind?

[@Riyaniwow]

Not that I'm aware, haha-- what made you ask that?

[@saidut.9777]

Thoughts on double pvp set? for the first raiding week? (365ers)

[@Riyaniwow]

Worth if you don’t have engi helmet (helm and gloves), but not worth without, imo.

[@jeev1ce]

Love this great video, but can u make for pally specially Prot paladin please 🙏

[@Riyaniwow]

Cheers bud-- Making one for all tanks, but unfortunately the pally will be the last one, so may be some time before that one comes out.

[@Icesteel100]

Oh my. Blood DK tank was once my mastery. Knew every single thing, what to go for and so on. That was...while ago. Now, since can enjoy Cata Classic, am a bit...uncertain. I do not want to feel rusty or out of grip of what once loved. And yes, I thought of how nice it would be to use LB+self casted Deathcoil 😂 Nice video, made me rethink few things. Hopefully I will not be just a mere shade of my former self 🙂

[@smith101ization]

Those alchemy bonuses stay after dropping it?

[@Riyaniwow]

No they don't

[@malikaruvan5209]

best blood dk guide out there

[@timhook8186]

Do you have a elvui profile that is shown at 11min 18 sec?

[@Riyaniwow]

It's actually not elvui, so unfortunately there's no easy export.

[@timhook8186]

@@Riyaniwow bummer

[@drewnation9905]

insane value, doing the lords work

[@ecutc3]

What zone song is this? Sounds like game of thrones lol @Riyaniwow

[@MrKabaman]

great Guide! I've noticed a mistake in the Macros: Deathgrip Macro reads "Death Drip" While being super cool, it wont work if copied directly ingame 😀

[@Riyaniwow]

Did you try equipping your gucci boots before copying the macro? Should work! Haha, thanks for the heads-up!

[@Scottiemn7]

How big is the gap between LW and BS? Seems like, especially once we get epic gems, the 80/100 extra mastery from two extra gems would be pretty significant edit: great video btw, the work behind it is clearly apparent and much appreciated!!

[@Riyaniwow]

Cheers bud! BS is fine, especially during dragon soul-- but since we ideally want to gem for stamina, the difference is 155 stam to 120 stamina during p1 & 2 and 155 to 150 stamina in p3. So LW is just better all the way through.

[@kelyus8113]

the death pact macro does not work for me. Otherwise, toptier guide

[@Riyaniwow]

I may or may not have linked the wrong macro, ouff. Here's the right one! #showtooltip /castsequence reset=50 Raise Dead, Death Pact

[@kelyus8113]

@@Riyaniwow This one worked perfectly, thank you!

[@vog5197]

didn't know I had to use synapse springs, mind blown

[@GianfrancoApath]

NAME OF SONG OR ZONE SONG@@!@!@>?????

[@Riyaniwow]

Kul Tiras Sky Night 6 from the BFA expansion

[@JL_fn]

mister i dont think the dk ui string of code works

[@Riyaniwow]

You need to install the Fojjicore addon to make it work

[@samhain3709]

What the actual fuck i literally do not know where to stuff all these buttons - its really fun that outbreak is a thing but still have to have the actual singular ones for certain situations so i need to find two new spots for outbreak and festering strike im running out of fingers and space this has never been a problem for me with 24 kb's and 8 extra keybindings and i play all 10 classes..

[@grift98]

you shouldn't need festering strike since the CD on outbreak is shorter than the disease timings

[@billwillette7558]

@@grift98 outbreak is on a 1 minute CD..im trying to find somehow to make it 30 seconds but not having any luck? could you point me in the right direction?

[@grift98]

@billwillette7558 in Blood Spec it's a passive where Outbreak has 30 second reduced CD. It's part of the Veteran of the Third War passive

[@ThatGuyKB32]

Use modifier macros lets you use the same macro for more than 1 move…and it’s only 2 more spells.

[@zombieoozaru9135]

Blood DK is op no guide needed lol

[@Rand_live_]

Ive been playing Blood since Cata release cause its my new main and we where doing BoT and I solo'd the 2 dragons down from 20% on 10m as blood the survivability you can have once you get decent at Blood is fuckin unbeatable

[@Riyaniwow]

It's insane

[@Shikaradin66]

Excellent info thanks

[@ThatGuyKB32]

Mastery gives offensive gains too it gives attack power

[@Riyaniwow]

Mastery doesn't give attack power until WOD

[@obnoxiousjumper279]

I use glyph of path of frost against elevator bosses

[@kwonderland89]

Thanks mate.

[@malikaruvan5209]

i prefer using heart strike over deathstrike in aoe situations fore more dmg. surviving is no problem mostly

[@Riyaniwow]

Yeah if you're not worried about survivability, then for sure!

[@DontDoItJimmy]

2/3 Scent of Blood and instead having 3/3 runic power mastery is the play for prog build.

[@Riyaniwow]

Why? DPS and HPS downgrade according to sims. I overcapped runic power like 3 times in prog today and gained a lot more through scent than I lost from overcapping.

[@PedroPaulo-if6pq]

Gave the secrets away

[@Riyaniwow]

More tanks that know what they're doing is always a net gain!

[@govindsundar]

I feel like bloodworms is a wasted talent. For the AOE spec wouldn’t 3/3 toughness be better than 2 points in bloodworms?

[@Riyaniwow]

Toughness is pretty meh defensively, but blood worms actually do more than you'd think. They're usually 1-3% off your overall damage, which already makes them worth the point, but the defensive utility of the aoe healing is nothing to scoff at either.

[@ahetzel9054]

I don't think I've seen a single non DK tank 😂

[@Riyaniwow]

A little feral off-tank and it’s like there’s no other tank 😅

[@lXmyl]

impossible to find guild as bdk. noone needs it.

[@Riyaniwow]

Yeah that's the struggle; I was already maining blood in wrath, so making the transition in the guild over to cata was not an issue for me. But people are bound to quit and new guilds form all the time-- keep an eye on your server discord and I'm sure you'll find something!

[@PerzyYT]

Thinking of making a blood dk after seeing some of these godmode top DPS tanks just breezing through dungeons; why does nobody need a bdk? I thought they were top tank class

[@Riyaniwow]

@@PerzyYT You don't have a hard time finding pugs, but joining guilds is difficult as guilds have their tanks sorted at this point in the expansion.

[@PerzyYT]

@@Riyaniwow Oh i see, so mainly for raids. Thanks for clarifying.

[@DonaldClark-p1h]

Robinson Jessica Lee Dorothy Jackson Betty

[@spaceorbison]

The way you talk.....

[@Riyaniwow]

Not a big fan, huh?

[@dobromir90]

Learn to play other tanks instead. I'm sick of seeing DKs everywhere

[@Riyaniwow]

Prot warrior guide is up to if you prefer

[@Sisonpyh]

Death Strike Heal Prediction does not work. there is a critical error. do you recommend any others?

[@Riyaniwow]

Only other one I know of is this one: wago.io/ROD0N3mey I personally don't like the visual, though.

[@HairyManlyMan]

You can make the whole video shorter, press death strike that's all

[@roaspeci]

great guide but this macro seems not to work: #showtooltip Death Pact /cast [target=pet, exists, nodead] Death Pact; Raise Dead

[@kylegiegerich6082]

i was also having trouble with this macro

[@Riyaniwow]

So, here's the thing... I may or may not have linked the wrong macro in the description. So give this one a shot instead! #showtooltip Raise Dead /castsequence reset=50 Raise Dead, Death Pact

[@squidribz4781]

STRENGHT

[@Riyaniwow]

Happens to the best of us