So, about Death Knight...

[Maguspk]

I'm loving leveling up as a Death Knight, everything is extremely easy but I just thought ahead a bit and got depressed.

DKs make up about 25% of the population on the server and have a very bad rep for 'sucking' since there are so many. Of course, this makes it feel like more DKs suck compared to other classes, but that's a different story. Anyway, what I'm worried about is whether I should just stop leveling it and invest the gold I have saved for Epic/Cold Weather Flying onto my Warlock. The reason I ask is because I know for a fact that when I hit 80 I'll be wearing greens and blues and it'll be hard as fuck to get into a guild like that especially considering every other DK is probably in the same situation. I figure maybe I can do Heroics and stuff and PVP to get some nice gear to eventually raid in. Even then though, every other DK is probably thinking the same thing and it may not be easier at all at that point.

tldr; Is trying to gear out a DK seriously, a hopeless endeavor? Do I stop now and just level my warlock instead?

Also I am really shitty when it comes to deciding what gear to wear. It feels like whenever I get a choice of gear from quests the shit they offer is worse and worse. It feels like it's either high health gear with 'armor penetration' (doesn't even seem that useful tbh) or like zero stam, 1-2% crit chance and some parry/dodge. I full time whatever gets my crit the highest, my health is around 11.2k with Blood Presence up and with my horn I rest at 31% crit chance which I think is nice and really speeds up fights. When I switch to my Health gear I have about 14.2k but my crit drops to like 21% with horn up. I never felt a struggle to decide what to wear leveling my mage, it was always a clear cut, welp this has more spell power/stam let's get it, kind of deal.

Link to Character

Man, I feel like a fucking noob but I guess this is the only way to learn. BTW this will be my first 80 if I continue leveling it, and I have almost no raiding experience. I joined a guild that's just getting off the ground hoping that I'll be one of the few DKs but there's no telling how well it'll go, currently like 5 75+ members even in the guild the rest are 50 and below.

[Jodwahh]

Honestly it's hard to say really chap. When I leveled my dk to 80 I was looking to tank with it so I just took every quest reward that was a blue tank item I got along the way. My first day @ 80 I had never tanked before, was barely def capped and only had 22k health. Just reeled in guildies to be my heroic bitches and now about 2 weeks later I'm sitting @ 29k health with solid parry/dodge and nice def/armour. If you're looking to be a tank then it's always easy to get a group and get gear as you're always the only tank in a heroic. As a dps I really couldn't say to be brutally honest with you. For leveling I always just worse whatever would give me a dps increase and balls to my health :D

[Correction]

quest reward gear is always weirdly itemized with too much stam and low-return stats like Armor Penetration, so don't worry about the quality of that gear being on your toon. Worry later when level 80 heroics open up for you and you can start gathering gear with proper stats on them, like strength/hit/crit, etc.

But yeah, gear yourself as a tank, it's the only way to get proper invites as a DK these days. Even with the flood of DKs on my realm it's a chore to find one willing/capable of tanking a heroic. Gotta love joining a shaman/DK + my rogue as a pug and listening to the leader whine about not finding a tank/healer.

[fantasticdan]

If you're worried about getting easy invites or raid spots as a DK, you'll probably want to tank. There's a huge overpopulation of dps dks on most servers, not much to say.

Nothing wrong with your spec for leveling other than the fact that you didn't spec unholy aura for some reason. It's probably the best exp rate per talent point you can get.

[Korietsu]

DK tanking is a cakewalk, and gearing as a tank and leveling is pretty easy to do, as the tanking gear is almost itemized better than the DPS gear to DPS with as a DK.

If you tank well, you'll be picked up quickly and will be in full tanking epics np. If you go the DPS route, its going to be much harder to get initially geared up.

UH DK is so retarded for tanking I can solo tank 3+ packs of trash with 2 heals, and hold aggro on everything.

[Maguspk]

I've never tanked in WoW but it always seemed easy. I have no problems tanking either as long as even in tank gear I can pvp well too. The replies have encouraged me to stick to it, so I'll be buying my epic/cold feather sometime Tuesday most likely.

What do you all recommend for running for gear? I spoke to a few DKs on my server and they mention there is usually at least one good tanking piece from the heroics. But I want to get good gear fast, so I don't suck for too long, so I figure maybe a MH/OH or just a 2H MH (don't know if DW is how you tank at 80) and chest/legs are my priority? Where can I look up this sort of thing so I know what I need to run, what rep I need to grind, what pvp grounds I need to do, etc.

[shinoniken]

Wyrmrest and argent crusade are the two important reps. Tank with a two hander, stick stoneskin gargoyle on it. If you're def capped, you can start offtanking naxx. Unholy is fine for a while, but if you're MTing you'll eventually want to switch for threat.

[Guitarman]

Ebon blade first. You want the boots.

DK is hard to find a guild with, i'll admit. I went all the way to 80 without a guild. But one day, i seeked for random heroic, and joined 4 others from a guild. My dps stank; i was just out of quests and did around 1100 dps, but i knew what i was doing, i was kind and friendly, and that got a 2nd glance from them. They took me into the guild, and since then has nonstop ran heroics and given me just about everything you can get from 5-mans. Now, im pushing over 2300dps+ (not zomg awesome, but very solid), and we run 10 man naxx and OS every saturday.

So yeah, it's possible. Just present yourself as intelligent and friendly and the invites will come. I never spam any channels, i don't act retarded and i'm always open to suggestions and improving myself. Separate yourself from the pack of 13 year olds and you'll stand out.

[Ramor]

I'm not in a guild that raids, and through legit pubbing (with lots and LOTS of shitty guilds etc) I'm now pushing out around 4k~ in Hero Naxx (usually anyway) and around 3~3500 in regular naxx when I pub with people, I generally beat out ever other DPS in my raids (not surprising since the guilds have to Pub people).

It's really not bad, if you can manage to distinguish yourself from the other DKs on your server as one who knows what they're doing you should be fine. I'm living proof you don't really need a solid guild to have decent gear/dps (though I can imagine it'd sure as hell help a lot). It's really not bad to get an invite to a guild, DK is quite nice to have in Malygos especially if they're good, just have to actually show you have the capabilities to not be a retard.

Unholy is fine for a while, but if you're MTing you'll eventually want to switch for threat.

Unholy is actually better past a certain avoidance % (I can't remember it offhand) but with Glyphed SS/Bone Armor etc you'd be pushing out more threat and overall damage mitigation. Not to mention Unholy has some pretty crazy aoe threat.

edit: for stats, you'll mostly be wanting STR/AP/Crit then Haste (maybe AGI) then armor pen, haste and armor pen are somewhat 'misaligned' stats for DKs, although with the upcoming changes to blood i'd imagine they'll have more weight to them but still relatively insignifigant compared to STR/AP/Crit.

[Dezzimal]

Ebon blade first. You want the boots.

Get Ebon blade first, but don't go to exalted. Buy Spiked Titansteel boots instead, they're much better. Get to revered for the head enchant. Also, buy a spiked titansteel helm if you can too.

[Kurp]

Death-Inured Sabatons (Ebon Blade) are better than Spiked Titansteel

With two +16 STR gems the Sabatons have: 82 STR, 73 Stam, 66 crit rating
Spiked Titansteel: 80 STR, 67 Stam, 35 crit rating

[Dezzimal]

Didn't see the sockets.

[Ramor]

They're also free and there are Ebon Blade dailies which make the rep easy to grind in a short timespan, plus if you're JC you can pop 2 +27STR gems in there (I forget what the socket bonus is, either +str or +stam, if it's worth getting throw the +27s in there), the boots last a fairly long time.

The runeblade of demonstrable power (also from ebon blade) is handy to have to start out with, but titansteel destroyer has some pretty hard to beat stats even though it may be a little pricey after buying new spells/cold weather flying and whatnot.

Heroics to do:
UK (DPS pants)
DTK (tank ring)
Nexus (+55hit/670ap(use) trinket, DPS belt)
AN (tank bracers)
HoS (nice sword, probably better than the HoL axe)
HoL (axe, flashy but i think the sword may be better)

I think that's about it, can pick up some badge rings t7 and whatnot about time you get whatever you want out of those heroics.

[shinoniken]

The part about unholy being better past a certain avoidance % is actually no longer true. Once you are pushing close to 70%, the 3% undiminished avoidance from frost is better overall, and when you have mages cranking out ungodly dps, you'll certainly be thankful for the extra threat. I also forgot about the ebon boots, but would still have to say wyrmrest first for chest and back piece. It doesn't matter too much, however, since you will be cranking out rep burning dailies.
I also started out totally unknown and unguilded, but made a name for myself by knowing my fights and class, and having a good attitude. Eventually it landed me an officer position in a very good guild.
On a final thought about unholy, a DPS DK will benefit from the unholy spec more than a tank, but will eviscerate your threat when your fighting for Ebon Plague, so keep that in mind.

[Wizerd]

Use the Wyrmrest Tabard and make sure you do all 9 dailies (3 Wyrmrest @ 80, and 6 Ebon Blade), and you'll be Revered with both in no time.

Doing Ebon Blade first doesn't make a lot of sense, because their dailies are easy and provide a nice sum of gold (the standard 13g23s for most/all of them), so you'll probably end up doing them even after being Exalted. The same can't be said for Wyrmrest's dailies.

[Maguspk]

Are those just the 9 I want to do or are they the only 9 at 80? Is there a site anyone can recommend with all this information like summarized or information about daily's and such and getting the tabard?

[Norellicus]

Are those just the 9 I want to do or are they the only 9 at 80? Is there a site anyone can recommend with all this information like summarized or information about daily's and such and getting the tabard?

Daily quest - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft

Getting the tabard is just a matter of reaching friendly, just do a few quests until you get to that point.

[Galkaeater]

Pre-Heroic Tank Gear List
Good list on getting def capped gear before doing heroics

[Jodwahh]

The 3 best crafted pieces for DK tanks are the tempered titansteel hat and feet, + the titansteel destroyer with rune of the gargoyle on it. Little expensive but they are solid piece's for a long time.

[Maguspk]

DK Tanking Discussion - Elitist Jerks

Just found this, pretty helpful for me, posting it so I don't forget to check it out.

Thanks for the links guys, now I have an idea of what I need to do at 80. I think I'll try and quest for this axe too, since I can do the questline it should be pretty easy and quick:

De-Raged Waraxe - Item - World of Warcraft