The Death Knight class was a godsend to World of Warcraft players in pickup groups. Now any of the game’s 11 million players could start a character capable of tanking, once a role in extremely short supply, and have them ready for the new dungeons in no time at all.

Thing is, all the new tanks are a double-edged sword. A lot of them don’t know what they’re doing. Besides the inexperience, a Death Knight is a complex class compared to traditional tanks like the Warrior and Paladin, which doesn’t make the learning curve any easier. Even experienced players might have some trouble at the outset. This article is meant to give you the basics. With a little practice, you’ll be taking hits like a pro and winning the gratitude of your other party members.

Any of the Death Knight specs can tank, whether you’re frost, unholy or blood. This guide is for frost Death Knights in particular, mostly because that’s what I play and that’s what I know. Done right, you’ll be able to tank anything they throw at you.

First things first: Make sure you’re in frost presence. If you’re not, you’re not going to be able hold the attention of enemies, period. Even if you know this, chances are you’re going to start a dungeon or two, forget to toggle it over, and watch puzzled as big scary people run roughshod over your other party members. It happens.

Next: You need to learn how to build group aggro.

By that I mean, every tank needs to learn to do consistent damage to three or four targets all at once. For Warriors and Paladins, this isn’t much different than what they learn to do while soloing, so it’s not a big deal. For Death Knights, it’s a whole new ballgame.

Death-gripping only one enemy in a group and laying into them alone is a sure way to get get your other party members killed. When your healer starts healing, the mobs you’re not bonking with your sword are going to shift their attention to them instead.

The easy way to avoid this is to lay down a Death and Decay spell. If there’s any spellcasters or archers outside your little circle of death, just silence them with a Strangulate or yank them in with a Death Grip. (I’d advise pulling with Icy Touch or another ranged spell instead of death grip, just so you have that as an emergency backup.)

The problem is, you can’t rely on Death and Decay alone. It’s going to fade away before the fight’s done, and you can’t cast it again immediately, even with talents. To keep hitting everyone, you’re going to have to spread around some disease.

With the three runes you have left, hit Plague Strike and Icy Touch (if you didn’t pull with it) on a target, then cast Pestilence. That’ll infect any enemies in range with damage-over-time effects and help build some threat.

You’ll have a little bit of down time here while your runes recharge, which you can fill with Frost Strikes, turning on Icebound Fortitude, or best of all, activating Deathchill for what’s about to come next.

Once your runes from the initial Death and Decay are recharged, let loose with a Howling Blast. This spell hits everyone around you like a truck now that they’re infected with your diseases. With the guaranteed critical strike from Deathchill, it’ll hit like two trucks, and will pretty much cement your threat for the rest of the fight.

My main problem as a newbie death knight was reaching around for all these various spells, since they were all over my UI during my soloing. Once I put them on their own action bar that I could easily switch to (I use shift-3) and walk my fingers down, I started holding aggro much more reliably. My setup looks like:

Death and Decay —> Plague Strike —> Icy Touch —> Pestilence —> Howling Blast —> Frost Strike —> Rune Strike

After that initial pull, I pretty much just walk my fingers from Plague Strike to Howling Blast, and that keeps threat up nicely. Frost Strike and Rune Strike get pressed whenever they light up. It can feel overwhelming at first, what with everything going on on the screen, but eventually you’ll come to trust your rotation.

Head spinning yet? Yeah, it’s a far cry from a Paladin hitting Consecration or a Warrior hitting Thunderclap. And that’s if everything goes right for you. If it goes wrong, you’re going to have to scramble.

If one enemy gets away from you and starts beating on your healer or damage-dealers, Dark Command is the go-to spell. (Death Grip will pull them through the air and force them to temporarily attack you for a couple of seconds, but unlike Dark Command, it won’t move you to the top of their aggro list. They’ll go back to beating on their previous target once it wears off.)

Frost Death Knights have a tough time picking up lots of additional enemies in the middle of the fight, since Death and Decay is on a long cooldown and the usual Pestilence/Howling Blast rotation takes time to set up. This can be a problem in places like Utgarde Keep or The Culling of Stratholme where bosses can summon undead minions periodically. The best way to handle it is to just know the fight and keep some of your area abilities in reserve until they show up.

If you’re caught unawares, there is one thing that frost Death Knights can do, though. Hitting Hungering Cold probably won’t freeze enemies for long with all the damage flying around, but it will infect everyone with the disease you need to have a Howling Blast hit like a truck, and you won’t have to start a whole new rotation.

Finally, keep Empower Rune Weapon handy. If you screw up, as will happen at the beginning, it gives you a free pass to start over again.

That’s the basics of spells and abilities. Let’s talk a little about gear.

The first stat you should be trying to raise on your character is defense, no question. Each point in that will increase your ability to dodge, parry, be missed and decrease the chance of you getting critically struck.

That last part is crucial. If enemies can’t get double-damage hits on you, it’s going to reduce the spikes of hurt that can catch your healer off guard, leading to a quick death for you and everyone else.

In fact, before you even set foot in a heroic dungeon, you need a defense skill of 535 to be immune to crits, and 540 for raids. I’m serious. Don’t even think about it. You’re going to get yourself killed, son.

Fortunately, Tankspot has a handy guide of equipment you can get on quests and normal dungeons, which will also give you practice for the tougher stuff later. WowInsider also has some great guides on what kind of gear you want and where to get gear to tank raids. The new rune will make it much easier to be ready as well.

That covers the numbers, but all the elitist jerks in the world arguing over spreadsheets won’t teach you the human side of being a good tank.

As the tank, you’re the default team leader for anywhere between four and 24 other people. You’re the one who has to keep them working together well.

One simple first step to keeping any group on task is to use the raid markers, aka the “lucky charms.” Another great first step for a beginning tank is to set up a button to mark things automatically. You can do this in the default World of Warcraft interface without any need for macros or mods. For instance, one of my mouse buttons will mark my current target with a giant floating skull. Even the greenest party member can figure out that that means “Hit this guy.”

Besides the mechanics, you have a lot of responsibilities. You’re the one who starts all the fights, so you’re the one who has to make sure everyone understands the plan and is ready, and if things don’t go well, you’re probably going to be the one calming everyone’s frustrations.

It can be exasperating, but once you get the hang of it, leading all those people to victory can be exilarating too. Good luck!

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