Tank Gear

Death Knights do have one major difference from Warriors when it comes to tanking itemization: they can’t use shields. That means, of course, that you don’t want gear with shield block value or block rating stats. Strength will be rather important though, not just for gaining threat, but for conversion to parry rating. High armor and high parry seem to be the statistics of choice (besides the obvious) for the Death Knight tank.

It is, though, a bit difficult to properly guess what our final itemization will look like on tanking. Once we’re 80 and we’ve seen what level 80 dungeon drops and first tier raiding gear looks like, we’ll probably have a better idea of what to expect.

Weapon of Choice

The two choices open to Death Knights are dual wielding and 2-handers. I admit, I’m a 2 handed man all the way. It just feels right to me, especially since all the classic scourge Death Knights also use two-handers. I admit that I’m also pulled toward the need for less hit rating. In addition, many of the skills and talents of the Death Knight class are just biased toward the high damage of a 2-handed weapon. Still, there is a small but dedicated dual wielding Death Knight contingent out there, and there’s a few solid dual wielding builds circulating, so it’s probably here to stay in some capacity, even if that capacity is red-headed stepchild.

For 2-handers, the itemization is pretty straightforward. Get yourself a big slow 2-handed weapon with a high end damage so that you can take advantage of all the melee strikes and talent procs that work off weapon damage.

For dual wielding, you’ll want a slow main hander for all the weapon damage strikes, but general consensus so far is that a faster offhander is best. Not only do none of the strikes thus far “hit with both weapons,” but it means you’re getting in more chances to proc talents such as Killing Machine, should you have them — and many dual wielding builds do.