Crunchie - Death Knight DPS

Name: Crunchie
• Class: Death Knight
• Spec (and offspec if you have one): Blood DPS/ Unholy DPS
• Professions/level: Mining/BS, 150/160, recently dropped Herb/Scribe which were 400+
• Current Server: Aman'thul.

Please provide any additional information about your character that you think would be beneficial:

My goal on my Death Knight is too progress as far as I possibly can and too enjoy doing so, even too maybe revisit some older content( Ulduar, EoE etc ) for a bit of nostalgia and hard modes. My opinion on Hard Modes is that they're great, it makes the fight alot more interesting, requires more coordination and a sense of what not only you yourself are doing, but everyone around you aswell .

Tell us about your gems, enchants, and spec, why you've chosen them, and how they are beneficial in a raid environment:

SPEC AND GLYPHS:
My current blood spec (51/0/20) is the optimal DPS spec for the most damage output possible as blood. Being blood you have 1 'optional' point you have too place to go to the high tiers , and I decided to spend that point in Imp. Blood presence for the passive increased healing received. My current glyph choice is :
Glyph of Dark Death - 15% increased damage with death coil, which is used for runic power dumps and works great with sudden doom
Glyph of Dancing Rune Weapon - Increases the uptime of my DRW by 5 seconds giving me alot more damage output from the ability
Glyph of Death Strike - Giving one of the primary damage abilities in my rotation a 25% damage increase.

GEMS:
Red: I use Bold gems, purely for the increased strength too boost my DPS

Yellow: If even under hit cap, I will use a +20 hit rating gem, but if not, I will socket this slot with +20 STR unless I get a largely beneficial socket bonus.

Blue: My meta requires 2 blue gems for activation, so I use Sovereign gems ( 10 STR 15 STAM ) and place them accordingly with socket bonuses too not miss out on too much strength, and the stamina is more optimal than Spirit/MP5/Spell Pen.

Meta: My meta gem is currently Chaotic ( 21 crit rating, 3% increased crit damage ) it being the most optimal for close too every Damage Dealer par ones that use agility.

ENCHANTS:
I am currently using all the best and most optimal enchants on all my gear , par my helmet and shoulders since im not revered with sons of hodir yet, so im using the PvP ones, which means I miss out on ~35 crit rating in exchange for resillience.

Are you running a stable internet connection, or do you have any problems with graphic intensive fights?

My connection is almost 99% of the time perfect out of peak hours ( 6-8pm ST ) and I recently reduced my latency alot thanks to an easy trick ( from 500-600ms too 200-30 0 average ). My computer is great and can easily handle all fights on WoW.

Do you have Ventrilo, and do you have a mic that doesn't break eardrums?

My mic is fine, it works perfectly, I ain't going to be breaking anyone's eardrums anytime soon.. unfortunately

What are you looking for in a 10man raiding guild, and what are your goals with regards to raiding?

My goals with raiding is too progress through as much 10-man content as possible while still being in a relaxed atmosphere.

Tell us a little about yourself outside WoW:

My name is Tyler, i'm a guy who likes too play basketball and skateboard. I recently moved too the Gold Coast down from Brisbane so I don't have many good friends nearby, but the friendly chicks next door invite me to parties etc so it ain't too bad

Are you available to raid regularly on Wed/Thu 11 - 2:30am? How many other nights per week would you usually be online at those times?

Yup, those times should be fine. and im online at those times probably 3/7 days.

Any additional comments you'd like to add?

I think that covers it.

Hiya Crunchie, first up I'd like to say im very impressed with the care you've taken to write your application, and I'd also like to ask a couple moarrr questions!

First up, I'll admit that I don't understand DK specs that well as i don't play a DK, but i thought atm Unholy was the top dps spec atm? Where have you done your research, or why do you feel blood is currently doing better?

Secondly, your meta gem (21crit 3%) is fine i guess, but have you considered using Relentless Earthsiege Diamond (21agi 3%) instead? Because it takes one of each colour, it can easily be activated through a Nightmare tear, which leaves another socket to put some tasty 20 str in, and the crit gain from 21agi (+ the added agi through kings) is quite close to 21 crit rating anyway.

Other than these two minor things, I'm really happy with your level of experience with regards to raiding, and would like to invite you to a Trial ICC10 Wednesday night at the normal raid times So be around then!

First up, I'll admit that I don't understand DK specs that well as i don't play a DK, but i thought atm Unholy was the top dps spec atm? Where have you done your research, or why do you feel blood is currently doing better?

I don't feel in any way that blood might be doing better, its just that I've played blood since WotLK release, giving me really good knowledge of the spec and how to use it in certain situations to increase my DPS where unholy can't. I often switch back and forth from unholy, on Lord Marrowgar I would go blood, since there is no adds, and simply and easy target switch giving me maximum time just beating the boss up, where as unholy I use more so for fights with alot of moving around, adds switching or fights which would majorly benefit more from magical spells ( e.g Twin Val'Kyr , Lady Deathwhisper, Thaddius , Razorscale ) . On Saurfang, just single target smashing his face, I did 6k DPS as unholy and 7k DPS as blood, so I think it just shows if you've been playing a spec since as long as it has came out that its going to perform well because of your experience.

Secondly, your meta gem (21crit 3%) is fine i guess, but have you considered using Relentless Earthsiege Diamond (21agi 3%) instead? Because it takes one of each colour, it can easily be activated through a Nightmare tear, which leaves another socket to put some tasty 20 str in, and the crit gain from 21agi (+ the added agi through kings) is quite close to 21 crit rating anyway.

The way i've gemmed, I miss out on +8 STR, but I gain 30 stamina. If I were to use a nightmare tear I would only lose 4 STR but I would lose a significant amount of stamina, and 200 HP has meant my survival so many times on so many occasions, and its suggested that if the socket bonus is a +5 STR or more bonus, too get it.

Other than these two minor things, I'm really happy with your level of experience with regards to raiding, and would like to invite you to a Trial ICC10 Wednesday night at the normal raid times So be around then

Will do

Hmm, just did 25 vaults and pulled 8k DPS on Koralon and 7.3k on emalon as unholy.. I might stick too it

Hiya!

Gems Gems Gems.

Well I simply can not get behind geming for survivability as DPS, you do provide a valid argument, such as it is. "But Nysha, dead DPS do zero DPS Don'tchaknow" Alas, get out of the bad ^^.

None the less however, it does seem you have put some thought into it, and did fallow the +6 STR rule-of-thumb. So happy days! I prefer to raid with folks that can make sound arguments for why they did/do something when asked as opposed to ones that just roll over, props to you sir.

Clicky!

For more advanced thoughts on gems, if you cared to wish to see.

I look forward to raiding with you later today, and in the future, if all goes according to the master's plan.

PS: Congo-Rats on Bryntroll!