Jdotb BFA Q&A #6 - Blood DKs in the Tank Meta, Arcane Torrent and Faction Imbalance

Method Jdotb Q&A #6So it’s finally happened: Blizzard has admitted that Blood DKs are overpowered. Do you expect the leaderboards on Raider.IO to drastically change when/if they do nerf Blood DKs and how could that affect teams that are continuing into the next MDI season?

Before discussing the potential impacts of a Blood DK nerf, I’d like to address the M+ tank status quo. I’ve been vocal on my stream recently about the state of DKs and tried to draw attention to the disparity between DKs and the rest of the tanks when it comes to high level keys. Using raider.io to view the representation of tanks in M+ at various difficulties, you can see a progressive trend towards using DK tanks as keys get higher and higher. When looking at all M+ runs, DKs account for 23.5% of the unique tank population, which makes it the most-played tank but only barely (paladins clock in at 22.1% and DH is a bit behind at 18.4%). When you move to keys above +10, DK representation jumps to 36.3%. At +15 and above, DKs account for 59.4% of the unique tank population. The next closest tank is DH at 17.5%, meaning DKs show up more than three times as often as the next-most-played tank. A quick glance at the top 50 runs shows just two keys from non-DK tanks. To say that the meta is utterly dominated by DKs is actually an understatement.

Why is this? A few reasons, but first I’d like to explore one of the common responses to this tank meta. I’ve seen several people suggest that DK representation is high because DKs were incredibly good in Legion so most of the good tanks in the game had already switched to DK, and seeing no reason to swap classes in BFA, they’ve simply stayed on their DK. I can understand this line of reasoning and might even buy into somewhat were it not significantly refuted by the current healer meta. Paladins and druids accounted for 95% (!!) of all keys done above +26 in 7.3.5, so saying that “everyone played played pally or druid” in Legion is almost literally true. Both of those specs are still strong in M+ in BFA, and if you wanted to be competitive in M+ there is no reason to swap off those classes currently. And yet what has happened to paladin and druid representation? Combined they now account for roughly 37% of keys +15 and above. Disc is now the most-played spec in +15 and above keys, and Mistweaver has a healthy showing at 15.5%. The healer meta shows very clearly that even if a class stayed strong between Legion and BFA, people were willing to switch to another class in large numbers. And yet DK has remained the titan of tanks. So whatever it is that’s keeping tanks on their DKs, it isn’t class inertia.

So if it isn’t class inertia, what is it? DKs are almost custom-built for big pulls. Their toolkit is incredibly good at it, and it’s good at it in ways that other tanks simply can’t replicate. Gorefiend’s Grasp is the premiere tank utility spell. I’d wager that if you took every tank class, stripped them of their abilities and placed all those abilities into one big pool and then allowed each tank to take turns picking from that pool of abilities (a la a tank fantasy draft), Grasp would be the first ability off the board every time. It’s just so good at facilitating big pulls and simplifies an otherwise time-intensive process (trying to group mobs up). Only one other tank has anything similar (DH’s Sigil of Chains), and Grasp’s 15 yard radius gives it roughly 3.5x more area coverage than DH’s 8 yard radius. The ability to go fast in M+ will always be governed by a group’s ability to pull big, and no tank can pull bigger more easily than a DK.

So once the DK has the mobs, then what? Lots of groups can pull big, but now you have to survive the pull. It just so happens that DKs got a pretty big buff in BFA to a once-worthless talent called Bonestorm. Bonestorm is an ability that causes DKs to heal for 3% of their max health every second for each mob near them. In essence, Bonestorm becomes an infinitely scaling healing cooldown. Bonestorm lasts up to 10 seconds (1 second per 10 runic power used), and while Bonestorm is up about the only way a DK is going to die is by being literally one-shot. So a DK can use Grasp to gather the mobs, probably call for an AoE CC like Solar Beam or Leg Sweep, and then when the mobs start hitting back pop Bonestorm and be virtually invincible for 10 seconds. Bonestorm also sports a very friendly one minute cooldown, so it’s almost always up when you’re getting ready for a big pull. Add in cooldowns like Vampiric Blood and Dancing Rune Weapon, and a DK has a lot of ways to stay alive. Most people that follow M+ even casually have probably seen the video making the rounds this week of five Blood DKs doing a +12 key. And while a +12 key isn’t the pinnacle of difficulty, it’s a telling indicator of the state of Blood DKs and their ability to self-sustain.

Which brings me to another common refrain from the community: DKs are fine, just buff the rest of the tanks. And while I understand the sentiment (and don’t necessarily disagree), DKs exist in clear contrast to Blizzard’s stated objective for BFA tanking which is that tanks should require healing. Blizzard made very conscious and specific changes to each tank class to try to remove their ability to operate independent of a healer (as was the norm for several tank classes in Legion), and Blizzard succeeded with all tanks but one. DK can still more-or-less do its thing without much help from a healer, and that’s not how tanks are supposed to work in BFA. So even though I know a lot of tanks want and enjoy that freedom, it’s simply not how Blizzard wants tanks to work. If you want that to change, that’s a separate discussion.

So how are DK nerfs likely to affect the leaderboards? It’s impossible to say until we see the actual nerfs. Blood DKs also got nerfed considerably coming out of Legion (as most classes did), and much of the community was quick to call it the death of DKs. Obviously that wasn’t the case, and so long as Grasp exists unchanged, DKs will have strong utility in M+. And while I do think DKs are noticeably better than other tanks at the moment, it is true that there are a lot of exceptional tanks playing DK right now that I’m sure will try to continue playing the class unless the nerfs are gargantuan. So I doubt we’ll see DK representation fall off a cliff.

As for the MDI, I think we’d all just like to see a tank meta that’s diversified. Healer balance (in terms of representation) is really good right now, as good as it’s ever been in the history of M+, and I think you’d be likely to see four of the six healing specs see meaningful play time if there was an MDI today. Conversely, outside of some niche circumstances, DK would be the only tank played in MDI, just like it was the only tank played in the last MDI. That isn’t healthy for the game, and it leaves every non-DK tank feeling hopeless and irrelevant.

Hopefully Blizzard can strike the right balance with DK nerfs because the M+ scene is a lot more exciting when every VOD of a high key isn’t just another montage of mass grips.

In BFA people are expressing that there is a big disparity between Horde and Alliance, such as Horde being able to just bring Blood Elves to mass purge small fearing mobs from Kings Rest and Zul in Uldir. The difference is also apparent in Siege of Boralus due to the different paths/mobs/graveyards you take depending on your faction; the majority of opinions say that Horde are highly favourable. Do you agree with this?

I’ll start by saying that I haven’t played Alliance (ever, because they are scum and deserved Teldrassil) so most of my knowledge of the discrepancies between Horde and Alliance owes just to hearing what the community is saying and looking at things on paper rather than experiencing it firsthand.

Let’s address Blood Elves first. There was much rejoicing from Alliance players when Arcane Torrent got “nerfed” by having its silence effect removed, and a lot of players assumed it suddenly became a bad racial. And in the context of Legion, it probably would be a bad racial. There weren’t many scenarios in Legion dungeons where a mass purge spell would’ve been particularly helpful. But BFA dungeons have a few pulls where a mass dispel is at least helpful and sometimes (in the case of Minions of Zul) borderline necessary. For those that aren’t familiar with the mobs in question, King’s Rest has a couple pulls at the start of the dungeon where a group of mobs have a big shield as their health bar, and once the shield is removed they die. Dispelling them will instantly kill them. If the mobs get within melee range of you, they will fear instantly. So having a way to instantly dispel the group of mobs is highly advantageous, and not having a way to dispel them all simultaneously (or at all) makes the pack tremendously tedious. If you have Arcane Torrent (or Mass Dispel from a priest), the pull is very quick and non-threatening.

It feels like Blizzard actually put those mobs into King’s Rest specifically to placate Blood Elf players who felt like their racial had become worthless, and while I appreciate the “look, your racial still has some value!” effort, the Minions of Zul probably swung too far in the other direction. Not many classes have spammable purges, and one of those classes (shaman) is one of the least played classes in M+. The difference between having a mass dispel and not having a dispel on the Minion pack is night and day, and Blood Elves are common enough as a Horde race that you can count on having at least one in your party virtually all the time. So while Arcane Torrent isn’t nearly as commonly useful as it was in Legion, it makes a big difference when it is. As much as I don’t relish the idea of dealing with the Zul packs, Torrent probably either needs a target cap that forces Horde groups to have to handle at least a few of the Minions (gulp), or the Zul packs need to be redesigned so as not to punish groups without a dispel as heavily.

As for Siege of Boralus, this stands as perhaps the best example when I say that Blizzard has not really taken M+ into consideration when designing dungeons. Along with the mini games in Temple and randomized routes in Waycrest, having meaningfully different starting areas for Horde and Alliance in the same dungeon is hard to justify from a M+ perspective. When dungeons have timers, you need to make sure that dungeons feel fair, and BFA dungeons in many ways don’t feel consistently fair. This particular aspect is one that obviously favors Horde, and Alliance players are right to feel spurned, and I don’t really understand the design choice. Was it for roleplaying/story purposes? Was that so important that it warranted different dungeon paths for each faction? Usually I can at least understand (if not agree with) a design choice, but this one just doesn’t seem to have much going for it in the “Pros” column and a few really obvious “Cons”.

This expansion seems to have a clear bias in favor of Horde (at least from a M+ perspective). How large that bias is is debatable, but its existence isn’t. And these imbalances seem like missteps that have been made in the past and should be avoidable by now. Hopefully there is some effort made to bring the factions closer together.

Comments on Week of October 16 AffixesDungeons Most Affected by Fortified

King’s Rest - The mini bosses following the Golden Serpent (Queen Patlaa, Queen Wasi, King Rahu’ai and King A’akul) are all scary without buffs, so giving them more health and damage makes this room uncomfortable at best. Spectral Berserkers leave a nasty physical DoT on the tank that stacks, and it can quickly get out of control on Fortified weeks. Watch out for Spectral Beastmaster’s Poison Barrage as it can easily wipe a group if it hits multiple party members. Shadow of Zul will deal a lot of damage to the tank, so make sure to have cooldowns ready.

Waycrest Manor - The Heartsbane witches and Bewitched Captains do tremendous damage to the tank, and the Matrons have a lot of health. The confined quarters of the manor don’t leave much room for kiting, either. The Gloom Horrors before the final boss do a lot of damage when they jump, so you will want to be careful about which party member is standing furthest out (which is what determines who gets leapt on).

The Underrot - You will want to handle Tick packs carefully as they can easily wipe a group if they all explode simultaneously. Be careful on packs with Headhunters (who root) and Blood Matrons (who charge and cleave) as you can get one-shot by this combination. Bloodswarmers will be at the very least incredibly annoying and potentially lethal if their Sonic Scream interrupts healers. Pay very close attention to the Spirit Drain Totem from Bloodsworn Defilers. Fetid Maggot’s Rotten Bile can quickly kill a ranged player if it isn’t interrupted.

The MOTHERLODE!! - Be sure to interrupt Hired Assassins as their Toxic Blades / Hail of Flechettes combo can easily wipe a group. Mine Rats target random players with Throw Rock, so be careful not to pull too many and risk bad RNG on who gets targeted. Taskmaster Askari wrecks tanks, so make sure to have cooldowns ready for him. Watch out for Mastermind’s Energy Lash as it hurts quite a bit, and don’t let Feckless Assistants finish their Transfiguration Serum cast or they will turn into Grotesque Experiments which are much more difficult. Be vigilant with Crawler Mines on the way to Mogul as they will do quite a bit of damage if they explode on a player.

Dungeons Most Affected by Sanguine

Waycrest Manor - Most of Waycrest takes place indoors in tight hallways, so the potential for a misplay where you drop Sanguine pools in a bad spot is high. Try to engage trash mobs in rooms that are more open so you have room to move when the mobs start dying. Pay special attention to the trash outside Raal’s room as the hallways are narrow and there are lots of mobs in each pull.

Tol Dagor - As you’d expect of most prisons, this place is cramped. You spend a little bit of time outdoors at the start of the dungeon, but the bulk of your time will be in close quarters without much room for kiting. Be especially careful about killing mobs in doorways (which is easy to do), as it can make it almost lethal to try to move into the next room until the pools disappear. Be mindful of the trash around Jes Howlis as he will run back through the cell block and might potentially stop for a few seconds in a recent Sanguine pool.

Shrine of the Storm - Shrine isn’t terribly constricted, but it does feature lots of big packs that have the potential to drop tons of Sanguine. The mini bosses (Windspeaker Heldis, Runecarver Sorn and Elemental Guardian) all have a tendency to stand still and cast uninterruptible spells, so be especially careful where you drop Sanguine pools around them.

Dungeons Most Affected by Grievous

Temple of Sethraliss - The first two bosses might will be somewhat annoying with Grievous, but the real threats are the last two bosses, Galvazzt and Avatar. Galvazzt will constantly be dealing damage to various group members making it difficult to ever get anyone topped off and will be doing considerable tank damage at the same time. Avatar is a long fight that strains healer mana even with Grievous, and Grievous will make Pulse ticks continuously put players into Grievous range.

Waycrest Manor - Waycrest has several AoE-intensive boss fights that will cause Grievous to be an issue. Each Triad sister has her own thing that makes Grievous dangerous: Solena has a 50% healing debuff from Aura of Apathy; Malady has Unstable Runic Mark and Aura of Dread that deal damage to the group constantly; Briar has Aura of Thorns which hurts and Jagged Nettles which can already be difficult to heal off. Resetting Soulbound Goliath’s stacks will put a group deep into Grievous. Lady Waycrest periodically casts Wracking Chord which will drop players below 90%, and the tank will be getting smacked hard the whole fight as well. Gorak Tul’s Dread Essence will give everyone Grievous stacks as well.

Shrine of the Storm - Tidesage Council puts a lot of pressure on the tank already and will likely keep Grievous up frequently. If your group is sloppy with interrupts, Galecaller Faye’s Slicing Blasts will put Grievous stacks on the whole party. Lord Stormsong’s Ancient Mindbender and Mind Rend abilities will put players into deep Grievous territory. The real problem with Shrine on Grievous week, though, is Vol’zith whose Whispers of Power debuff reduces the max health of players for each stack. As soon as you have one stack, your health will drop to 90% (Grievous range), and you will unavoidably gain Grievous stacks for as long as you hold onto the debuff. The debuff will eventually drop your max health to 10%, so it will be a wild ride with five stacks of Grievous.

Dungeons Most Affected by This Week’s Affixes

Waycrest Manor - The cramped confines of Waycrest will make Sanguine a chore to deal with. Most of the bosses in Waycrest feature mechanics that will proc Grievous, so healers need to be prepared to use a lot of mana. The trash in Waycrest also has a tendency to hit party members as well as the tank, so Grievous might become an issue on big trash pulls as well.

Shrine of the Storm - Lots of the trash pulls in Shrine are unavoidably big, so you’ll need to be very mindful about where you’re dropping your Sanguine pools. There are also a lot of caster mobs, so you may need quick interrupts to get a mob to move out of Sanguine. The first three bosses in Shrine won’t be awful with Grievous, but Vol’zith becomes a completely different fight. If you take the safe route and dispel Whispers, the fight will take considerably longer, but leaving the debuff on yourself or other group members is extremely risky.

Temple of Sethraliss - This place will give healers nightmares on Grievous week. Most of the bosses in here feature unavoidable group damage mechanics, and even some of the trash (like Static-charged Dervishes) will be a headache. Avatar especially will be a fight where healer mana is a real issue, and it’s probably a safe bet to bring an off-healer this week to help with healing Avatar up.

Dungeons Least Affected by This Week’s Affixes

Atal’Dazar - The dungeon is spacious enough that Sanguine shouldn’t be a huge deal, and Rezan and Priestess are almost all avoidable damage. Vol’kaal (and Yazma to a lesser extent) will be rough with Grievous because of the heavy movement, but it’s Fortified week so the fights shouldn’t take too long.

Siege of Boralus - Lots of space to drop Sanguine safely, though the trash packs can be kind of big. The first two bosses shouldn’t be an issue at all with Grievous. Hadal’s Break Water will drop the group low, but it’s the only real damage on the fight. Viq’Goth will be annoying with the constant Putrid Waters, but the rest of the damage is avoidable.

Freehold - Of the bosses, only Harlen features any kind of real AoE damage for the group so Grievous shouldn’t be too much of a struggle. Freehold has plenty of room to manage Sanguine.

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