So I’ve learned that I don’t tank fast enough. I know I’m probably more of a conservative player, but even I know when I’m pulling packs of mobs at a decent pace… especially since the “Molsan Method” was named after yours truly. However, what I didn’t know was that PUGs formed by the glorious “Looking for Dungeon” tool expect an even more rapid pace. Chain pulling, zerging, and engaging bosses without mana are now standard.

Halls of Lightning – I Don’t Have All Day

In my last two random heroics, I was called out for my slow and lazy approach. In Halls of Lightning, I pulled the first group with Avenger’s Shield. While that was on cooldown, I pulled a stray mob with Exorcism. My tanking abilities were immediately questioned: “Why are we killing unnecessary mobs and pulling with Exorcism?” I stopped to think about this. Am I doing it wrong? While contemplating justifying my skills and approach to tanking to this complete stranger, the person decided to quit the group, leaving us with a “lol I don’t have all day. thanks. bye” parting shot.

Since they were DPS, they were replaced by my friend, LFD, in a matter of seconds with a new person. After we buffed the new guy up, I went ahead and pulled the next pack of mobs, General Bjarngrim, and his adds. We then continued on, skipping the other three corners of the platform, and breezed through the rest of the instance. We stacked up on Loken, took him down with no trouble, and disenchanted all of his loots. I apologized to the group for taking too long.

The Nexus – I Have a Raid Starting in a Minute

I figured that these kinds of people are few and far between… right? Wrong. In The Nexus, we were moving right along, having taken down the first three bosses with little effort. We had a great pace going; there were no deaths and lots of shards passed around (not by me, but by the aforementioned LFD). As I headed down the hallway towards Ormorok the Tree-Shaper, a player asked, “Can we please hurry it up?” I asked, “Why?” and the player responded with, “I have a raid starting in a minute.” Now, me being the literal person that I am figured, “Gee, no way we can finish this thing in under a minute. I hope he doesn’t bail on us… oh wait, he’s DPS, and there are probably fifty DPS players in line for a random.” I confidently told the group, “Ok, I’ll pick up the pace. Let’s go.”

I skipped a few Crystalline Frayers and let the rest of the party deal with them while I headed for the boss. I patiently stopped to tank the elites, and then moved right in on Ormorok. Without any trouble, he went down; we then proceeded into the tunnel, hopped down, and headed towards Keristrasza. We decided to stack up in front of Keristrasza, and we smacked her around regardless of how intense her Intense Cold was (it really wasn’t that intense). Before I could finish typing, “Sorry I took so long” for the second time, the hardcore raider rolled greed on everything, and quickly left the party. I’m going to setup a macro for my apology… I wonder what the macro syntax is for targeting the top whiner of the party? “/target QQ?”

Here is a general progression of chest pieces for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.

Starting out in Borean Tundra, you’ll want to focus on obtaining the Battle Leader’s Breastplate. This will carry you for three levels until you can hit Dragonblight for the Chestplate of the Ruby Champion.

Your first opportunity to pick up a rare item will be at level 76 with the Kalu’ak. If you’ve completed all of the quests for this faction in at least two out of the three zones where Kalu’ak quests exist, you should have no trouble reaching honored.

You can then run Gundrak for the Forlorn Breastplate of War from Moorabi, or hold off until 80 and complete the quest “Whatever it Takes!” in the Halls of Lightning. Although you can pick up this quest at level 77, you’re more likely to find a heroic HoL group at 80, then you are a regular HoL group at 77.

• Level 68 Mightstone Breastplate (1436)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – Bury Those Cockroaches! (Borean Tundra)
• Level 68 Battle Leader’s Breastplate (1601)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – What the Cold Wind Brings… (Borean Tundra)
• Level 71 Chestplate of the Ruby Champion (1815)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – On Ruby Wings (Dragonblight)
• Level 73 Carapace of the Fallen (1932)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – A Minor Substitution (Grizzly Hills)
• Level 74 Chestplate of the Altar (1971)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – Precious Elemental Fluids (Zul’Drak)
• Level 75 Links of the Terrified Deity (2001)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – Convocation at Zol’Heb (Zul’Drak)
• Level 76 Whalebone Carapace (2194)
  Obtained by: The Kalu’ak (Honored)
• Level 76 Forlorn Breastplate of War (2413)
  Obtained by: Moorabi (Gundrak)
• Level 77 Breastplate of Jagged Stone (2812)
  Obtained by: Quest Reward – Whatever it Takes! (Halls of Lightning)

Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).

Here is a general progression of gloves for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.

The glove itemization is fairly straight-forward, mainly because you don’t have a lot of options. Once you hit level 75, you’ll want to run The Violet Hold. The Plate Claws of the Dragon drop off the last boss, so you’ll have a consistent chance at a drop (rather than a random drop off of a random boss encounter in there).

If you pass on VH, there are two options at level 77 in the Storm Peaks. Hold on to those Astrid Riding Gloves until you have a chance to run Halls of Lightning for the Fists of Loken.

1. Level 68 Onyx Grips (1159)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Stop the Ascension! (Howling Fjord)
2. Level 71 Stonepath Gauntlets (1270)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – The Might of the Horde (Dragonblight)
3. Level 73 Spiked Cobalt Gauntlets (1409)
   Obtained by: Blacksmith or BoE (10 gold)
4. Level 75 Plate Claws of the Dragon (1604)
   Obtained by: Cyanigosa (The Violet Hold)
5. Level 77 Backhanded Grips (1473)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Krolmir, Hammer of Storms (The Storm Peaks)
6. Level 77 Astrid’s Riding Gloves (1525)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – Making a Harness (The Storm Peaks)
7. Level 78 Gauntlets of The Culling (1712)
   Obtained by: Quest Reward – A Royal Escort (The Culling of Stratholme)
8. Level 78 Fists of Loken (1923)
   Obtained by: Loken (Halls of Lightning)

Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).