Does anyone like Tombstone?

Classes Death Knight
1

I always found this spell awkward to use because of the lost Bone Shield charges. I get that it is very effective for reducing the cooldown of Dancing Rune Weapon, but that doesn’t make the spell itself interesting to me. Losing 5 Bone Shield charges for a 30% max health absorb shield plus 30 runic power doesn’t ever feel like a good trade to me.

The other talent option on that slot - Mark of Blood - is so bad that it’s not even worth mentioning anymore. If I wasn’t forced (pretty much) to choose a talent on this slot to comfortably reach Bonestorm, I would never spend a point on either of these 2 talents.

Do you have any tips for using Tombstone? Right now I just throw it out during Vampiric Blood while Dancing Rune Weapon is on cooldown to maximize the absorb shield and be done with it.

2

One of my favourites because it combines defense, offense and threat buildup.

3

Be nice if it had, you know, an animation, like a visible one.

I’m not blood main but I do use it on the odd occasion I tank. What I find odd is the use of tombstone and bonestorm as part of the main builds and rotation.

4

Do you think it’s good for defense?

Sure, you get a 30% shield and 30 Runic Power, but you also lose 5 Bone Shield charges. You have to spend (at least) 3 Runes to get those back. That’s not cheap. You could do much better defensive stuff with those Runes. You could generate up to 75 Runic Power with 3 Runes and you would not lose any Foul Bulwark stacks. A single Death Strike alone can heal much more than 30% of your health. With the 30 Runic Power generated by Tombstone alone, you can’t even do one Death Strike in most cases.

I agree that it’s good for threat (and offense), but I would second what Gorbathust just posted. Tombstone really needs a solid animation if it is here to stay. When consuming 5 Bone Shield charges, Tombstone deals more initial damage than a Blood Boil and it should look and sound the part.

1 Like
5

The boneshield loss is made up as this happens in the DRW window, so you are one global away back to 12. Marrowrend in DRW window is 9 stacks of Bonearmor, Death’s Caress is 6. So you can argue you lose “1 rune” worth of bonearmor. 1 rune for 30% max HP shield (+modifiers; aka versa and permafrost), 5x Boneshatter value of damage (150-200k ish), 25 sec off DRW (or 25% CDR). Also grants your followup Marrowrend 75% more damage - it is 100% worth that.

Deathstrike costs runic power - Tombstone generates runic power, so I wouldnt directly compare them. It would be more correct to say Tombstone Vs Heartstrike. Tombstone functions as a health-buffer for your DS buildup, as such, Tombstone also increases the effect of your next DS.

6

Tombstone and Bonestorm play in tandem where you feed one with another. I am not sure about Foul Bulwark as I am not playing that.
I feel main benefit is DRW reduction of CD, damage and shield are nice and sometimes useful to mitigate some busters.

7

I hated it. I hate it, and I will always hate it.

Not only because the spell means 1 more button to the rotation but also because of the placement in the talent tree, forcing you to take it if you want the Shattering Bone talent which I love.

8

I guess it depends upon whether you play to survive or do damage

I think it is a great button, but I don’t mind killing a little more slowly if I get to live

I use Heart Strike, Death Strike, Blood Boil and weave in my CD’s, I want to keep 3 runes on cool down - and NO RUSH - be a tank - not a DPS

Remember - being a tank between spell/strike you are looking at what you can manage - how you can mitigate damage to DPS

DPS donny give a **** how you are - nor does the healer most of the time - so just chill out

my favourite - when I get a GOGOGO group of DPS - I just run ahead and pull the whole instance to **** them up - I spend the 30 min deserter fixing a Rum and smoking something

9

If you are not doing challenging content I would just throw it whole DRW is up and just forget about it.

TBH you learn the real power of this spell when you start reaching high keys and understanding what abilities do close to 100% of your hp. Examples:

  • Guardians in MotS and their tank buster.
  • First boss in SV (especially if you have a healer that does not know when to dispel).
  • Any tank buster during high tyrannical.

For all intents and purposes, Tombstone is an extra defensive that you will love when you reach content that one shot tankbusters exist.

10

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