PvE Blood Death Knight Tank Best in Slot (BiS) & Pre-Raid Gear - WotLK Classic - Warcraft Tavern (2024)

Fresh 80

Two-Handed

With the release of Phase 3 and its new features, we will now have access to stronger weapons during our first days as a fresh level 80. For a two-handed build, the best possible choice early on will be the Hammer of Crushing Whispers due to the massive amount of Hit Rating that it grants. Since most of our items will grant defense-oriented stats, Hit Rating will be a huge issue for our gearing process. This will result in a necessity to attain weapons with Hit Rating.

Luckily, the new Heroic ++ Dungeons grant us access to multiple Ulduar 10 items which focus on providing Hit Rating. The next-best alternative will be Stormedge followed up by Abaddon.

While none of the previously mentioned items grants defense-oriented stats, they grant us increased Strength which empowers our Parry Rating by 25% of all the Strength gained through the Forceful Deflection passive. For example, Hoperender is yet another former Ulduar 10 item that will empower your Hit Rating. However, it won’t empower the Forceful Deflection since it won’t provide any Strength.

Another valid alternative for increasing your Hit Rating and Parry Rating is Death’s Bite. This item maintains its spot as one of the most proficient weapons in the game, granting a great bonus to both Hit Rating, overall Stamina, and Strength.

Dual-Wield

For Dual-Wield builds, the best possible item will be 2 x Shiver as the item grants plenty of Weapon Damage, a considerable amount of Defense Rating, and a great amount of Hit Rating. Besides its Parry Rating, it also grants plenty of Strength, further enhancing our Parry Rating through the Forceful Deflection effect.

However, since it costs a considerable amount of Sidereal Essence, you will likely want to use the Stoneguard instead to boost your Hit Rating. If you already managed to gain Hit Rating from your other gear slots at the expense of Expertise Rating, you will want to use Legacy of Thunder instead of the Stoneguard or Shiver.

Lastly, the Peacekeeper Blade is an alternative to the Legacy of Thunder that works in the same fashion. It provides you with a decent amount of Expertise Rating and medium-high defense-oriented stats.

Pre-ToC/Onyxia’s Lair

Two-Handed

The best possible choice for the Pre-Toc gearing phase will be the Dark Edge of Depravity! This is mainly due to the high amount of Hit Rating it grants, paired up with the highest possible weapon damage. While there may be other weapons with higher weapon damage, the Hit Rating itself is crucial for our build. The Haste Rating will not impact your overall performance by a large amount, but it still reduces your global GCD and weapon swing timer, making it a decent addition. The Agility it grants won’t increase your overall Parry Rating since it does not synergize with Forceful Deflection, but it will grant you increased Armor and Dodge Rating!

The Hammer of Crushing Whispers works as the best possible alternative, granting you a similar amount of Hit Rating. The Critical Strike Chance granted by this item won’t be too beneficial, however, the increased Strength will also grant you Parry Rating through the Forceful Deflection passive.

Voldrethar, Dark Blade of Oblivion is another viable alternative, however, it reduces your overall Hit Rating by a considerable amount. The item will grant you high weapon damage and increased overall damage through Armor Penetration. However, the strong point is actually its high baseline stats which boost your Stamina and Strength by a considerable amount.

Dual-Wield

The dual-wield specialization shows some promising options, with the strongest possible option being Sorthalis, Hammer of the Watchers. Due to the overall high stats the item grants, using 2 x Sorthalis, Hammer of the Watchers will allow you to modify other item slots, especially since you will receive a large amount of Expertise Rating.

The best alternative if you wish to also enhance your Defense Rating will be Shiver. This item is also great since it enhances your overall Hit Rating. If you can’t gain Shiver yet, you will want to use Titanguard, as it grants a decently high amount of Hit Rating.

If you already have plenty of Defense Rating and Hit Rating, a proper alternative to the first two options would be the Caress of Insanity. However, this option is highly contested by DPS players, making it a proper choice only in cases where the first two options are completely unavailable.

Vulmir, the Northern Tempest can be considered the middle ground, offering you plenty of Hit Rating and Expertise Rating, at the cost of Defense Rating. Once again, this item is highly contested by DPS players, making it a temporary choice until you can find the first two options.

Best-in-Slot

Two-Handed

For a Two-Handed build, your “BiS” will depend entirely on the current amount of Hit Rating that you have. In our current setup, you will want to focus on a Hit Rating item such as Decimation/Fleshrender. While the item doesn’t grant any Strength, it grants a large amount of Stamina and Hit Rating, resulting in the best possible survivability in our current setup.

The next-best alternative for increasing your overall Hit Rating will be Lothar’s Edge/Mor’kosh, the Bloodreaver. The only difference between this item and the actual BiS is that it grants Strength instead of Agility while having lower overall stats. Due to the Strength increase, you will gain a higher overall Parry Rating thanks to Forceful Deflection.

If you can’t find any of those two items and still require Hit Rating, either one of the Dark Edge of Depravity or the Hammer of Crushing Whispers from the previous phase of the expansion will still prove to be extremely valuable.

However, if you somehow manage to add Hit Rating to your build and lack Expertise Rating instead, you actual BiS will be Catastrophe/Grievance. This is due to the massive amount of Expertise Rating that it grants, besides a large quantity of Stamina, Strength, and 2 gem sockets. Since we gain a large quantity of Strength Rating, we will also gain Parry Rating through the Forceful Deflection passive effect.

Since ToC doesn’t have any other viable Expertise Rating alternatives, you will have to look towards Onyxia’s Lair for the Sharpened Obsidian Edged Blade or the Keen Obsidian Edged Blade. Both items grant a great amount of Expertise Rating and Strength, with the former item being stronger due to the Ilvl and sheer stat spread.

Dual-Wield

For a Dual-Wield build, your “BiS” will work the same as with the Two-Handed build, being based largely on the rest of your build and your current Hit Rating/Expertise Rating.

For builds that already have plenty of Hit Rating and Expertise Rating, the “BiS” option will be Silverwing Defender/Orgrim’s Deflector. This item is purely defense-oriented, granting you with large amounts of Defense Rating, Parry Rating, and Dodge Rating.

The next-best alternative will be the Honor of the Fallen/Blood and Glory as it is the exact same type of stats as the Silverwing Defender/Orgrim’s Deflector. The only difference between the two items is the sheer amount of stats that each item gives, with the Silverwing Defender/Orgrim’s Deflector being stronger due to better overall stats.

Since we have major issues with Hit Rating due to its scarcity, most of the time you will opt for theStormpike Cleaver/Hellscream Sliceras it helps us reach as close as possible to the Soft Hit Cap. While the other option provides great defense-oriented stats, our overall Avoidance is already high from our other gear slots. Naturally, the best alternative to it will be its 245 Ilvl version, the Stormpike Cleaver/Hellscream Slicer, as it grants the same types of stats in lower overall amounts.

If you still don’t have enough Hit Rating and can’t gain any version of the Stormpike Cleaver/Hellscream Slicer, you can use either one of Shiver or Titanguard as a valid alternative from the previous phase of the expansion as they both grant decently high amounts of Hit Rating.

If your build has enough Hit Rating but lacks Expertise Rating, the best possible choice will be 2 x Sorthalis, Hammer of the Watchers. This is the BiS option for the Dual-Wield build from the last phase of the expansion which grants a massive amount of defense-oriented stats paired up with a high amount of Expertise Rating. As far as Expertise Rating items go, there is no other better option in this current phase of the expansion!