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[WoW] Deathknights. Purple People Eaters
projectmayhem
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
[Stolen from Zerokku sexcellent post. Updating until the servers come back up]
Death Knight
Last updated 3/23/09
So What is a Death Knight?
The Death Knight is WoW's very first hero class. Players can create one death knight per realm, the player must have a Wrath of the Lich King account and a character of at least level 55 on their account in order to create a death knight. They start off with an epic quest chain from levels 55-58 and even get a free epic mount in the process. The term "Hero Class" refers to their unique lore and elevated starting level.
The death knight uses a very unique resource system to govern his spells and abilities known as Runes. Three rune types exist: blood, frost, and unholy; each with their own specific color and symbol. A death knight has 2 of each rune available to him/her. As they use their abilities, the runes will be exhausted and after a period of time (8-10 seconds depending) the runes will refresh. There are also abilities that will turn specific runes into what are called "Death Runes" that are essentially a wild card and can act as any of the three rune types.
The death knight has yet another resource to manage, known as Runic Power, a sort of cross between energy and rage. While only a few abilties use this resource, It is important to manage it none-the-less. Abilities like Death Coil or Frost Strike are often referred to as "Runic Dumps" abilities that do plenty of damage and use up some of the accumulated runic power.
Many of their abilties revolve around diseases and damage over time abilties as well as "strikes", instant melee attacks that use up a rune and are strengthed by the death knight's own diseases on the target. Think of them as the love child of a warlock and warrior, encased in plate-mail.
Class Roles and Specs
The death knight is a dps/tanking hybrid. They can perform both tasks extremely well and provide many useful buffs to the party/raid they are in. They are able to dual-wield and use most two-handed weapons . Like druids, they tank without shields, but with their face. Their tanking mechanics involve high armor and a high chance to parry
Like other classes they have three unique talents trees. However, the three trees are not as clean cut into tanking trees and dps trees as other classes are. In fact, death knights are often able to perfom either of those tasks in any tree they want, provided they pick up a few necessary talents here and there.
The Blood tree enhances the death knight's melee abilities and damage and vastly improves the ability to heal itself. Surprise surprise, many of these abilities are focused on using the blood rune. Blood also provides healing utility and has some useful buffs that the Death knight can cast on others in their party or raid, such as Mark of Blood or Hysteria.
Frost enhances melee abilities and focuses on increasing both AoE and single target damage. Again it's special abilities focus on the use of Frost Runes (Whoda thunk it?). Frost provides many abilities for damage mitigation, and is often a favored tree for death knights who wish to tank. Frost also provides some very powerful damage abilities like Frost Strike and Howling Blast. One of the most notable buffs this tree provides is a 20% melee haste for the party or raid.
Unholy enhances the death knight's diseases and damage over time spells. It's special abilities focus on the use of wait for it... Unholy runes. It also provides the death knight with a permanent pet ghoul, a gargoyle pet he or she can summon for a brief period of time, and an extra disease. The most notable buff the unholy death knight's bring is a solid +13% damage for spellcasters.
Common Specs
Taken from EJ
These specs are all current as of 3.0.9, but may be outdated in future patches.
Tanking specs -
Deep Frost AoE 10/51/10:
A great mix of aoe and single target threat.
Frost/Blood Build 23/45/3
A very interesting hybrid that shines in single target threat.
Blood Tanking Build 50/13/7
A successful blood tanking build. Yes it's missing a point, Throw that point into Lichborne for an extra avoidance ability or Blood Gorged for extra threat.
Unholy Build 10/8/53
Bread and butter unholy tanking spec. Single target threat suffers, However its AoE tanking is some of the most efficient and stable in the game.
DPS Specs -
50/0/21 Blood dps
Spec based around Gargoyle as primary Runic power dump
51/13/7 Blood dps
Spec uses dancing rune weapon over gargoyle, due to DRW's excellent scaling.
0/32/39 DW Frost
A common and popular frost dual-wield dps spec.
17/0/54 Unholy dps
Another common and popular spec. Many slight variations, but most follow a similar formula.
Common Abbreviations
IT Icy Touch
SD Sudden Doom
BS Blood Strike
PS Plague Strike
HS Heart Strike
HB Howling Blast
FS Frost Strike
SS Scourge Strike
DS Death Strike
OB Obliterate
HC Hungering Cold
DRW Dancing Rune Weapon
CE Corpse Explosion
IBF Icebound Fortitude
CF Crypt Fever
BT Blood Tap
AMS Anti-Magic Shell
AMZ Anti-Magic Zone
UB Unholy Blight
ERW Empower Rune Weapon
DC Death Coil
BB Blood Boil
FF Frost Fever
BCB Blood-Caked Blade
BP Blood Plague
AoD Army of the Dead
DG Death Grip
DnD/D&D Death and Decay
Patch 3.3 Notes Regarding DK's
Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle: There is now a 1-handed version of this rune in addition to the current 2-handed rune.
* Night of the Dead: Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 45/90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
* Scourge Strike: Redesigned. The base ability now deals 50% weapon damage plus an additional amount as physical damage. However, for each disease the death knight has on the target, the target will take additional shadow damage equal to 25% of the physical damage done.
* Unholy Blight: This talent now deals only 10% of Death Coil damage as a damage-over-time effect on the target.
* Army of the Dead: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Army Ghoul damage dropped by 50%. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Raise Ally: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Rune Strike: Threat generated by this ability increased by approximately 17%.
Tier 10 Armor Preview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyPFNapeEp4&feature=player_embedded
Excellent Death Knight resources
Elitist Jerks DK subforum - http://elitistjerks.com/f72/
DK Info - http://deathknight.info/
Skeleton Jack - http://www.skeletonjack.com/
Death Knight
Last updated 3/23/09
So What is a Death Knight?
The Death Knight is WoW's very first hero class. Players can create one death knight per realm, the player must have a Wrath of the Lich King account and a character of at least level 55 on their account in order to create a death knight. They start off with an epic quest chain from levels 55-58 and even get a free epic mount in the process. The term "Hero Class" refers to their unique lore and elevated starting level.
The death knight uses a very unique resource system to govern his spells and abilities known as Runes. Three rune types exist: blood, frost, and unholy; each with their own specific color and symbol. A death knight has 2 of each rune available to him/her. As they use their abilities, the runes will be exhausted and after a period of time (8-10 seconds depending) the runes will refresh. There are also abilities that will turn specific runes into what are called "Death Runes" that are essentially a wild card and can act as any of the three rune types.
The death knight has yet another resource to manage, known as Runic Power, a sort of cross between energy and rage. While only a few abilties use this resource, It is important to manage it none-the-less. Abilities like Death Coil or Frost Strike are often referred to as "Runic Dumps" abilities that do plenty of damage and use up some of the accumulated runic power.
Many of their abilties revolve around diseases and damage over time abilties as well as "strikes", instant melee attacks that use up a rune and are strengthed by the death knight's own diseases on the target. Think of them as the love child of a warlock and warrior, encased in plate-mail.
Class Roles and Specs
The death knight is a dps/tanking hybrid. They can perform both tasks extremely well and provide many useful buffs to the party/raid they are in. They are able to dual-wield and use most two-handed weapons . Like druids, they tank without shields, but with their face. Their tanking mechanics involve high armor and a high chance to parry
Like other classes they have three unique talents trees. However, the three trees are not as clean cut into tanking trees and dps trees as other classes are. In fact, death knights are often able to perfom either of those tasks in any tree they want, provided they pick up a few necessary talents here and there.
The Blood tree enhances the death knight's melee abilities and damage and vastly improves the ability to heal itself. Surprise surprise, many of these abilities are focused on using the blood rune. Blood also provides healing utility and has some useful buffs that the Death knight can cast on others in their party or raid, such as Mark of Blood or Hysteria.
Frost enhances melee abilities and focuses on increasing both AoE and single target damage. Again it's special abilities focus on the use of Frost Runes (Whoda thunk it?). Frost provides many abilities for damage mitigation, and is often a favored tree for death knights who wish to tank. Frost also provides some very powerful damage abilities like Frost Strike and Howling Blast. One of the most notable buffs this tree provides is a 20% melee haste for the party or raid.
Unholy enhances the death knight's diseases and damage over time spells. It's special abilities focus on the use of wait for it... Unholy runes. It also provides the death knight with a permanent pet ghoul, a gargoyle pet he or she can summon for a brief period of time, and an extra disease. The most notable buff the unholy death knight's bring is a solid +13% damage for spellcasters.
Common Specs
Taken from EJ
These specs are all current as of 3.0.9, but may be outdated in future patches.
Tanking specs -
Deep Frost AoE 10/51/10:
A great mix of aoe and single target threat.
Frost/Blood Build 23/45/3
A very interesting hybrid that shines in single target threat.
Blood Tanking Build 50/13/7
A successful blood tanking build. Yes it's missing a point, Throw that point into Lichborne for an extra avoidance ability or Blood Gorged for extra threat.
Unholy Build 10/8/53
Bread and butter unholy tanking spec. Single target threat suffers, However its AoE tanking is some of the most efficient and stable in the game.
DPS Specs -
50/0/21 Blood dps
Spec based around Gargoyle as primary Runic power dump
51/13/7 Blood dps
Spec uses dancing rune weapon over gargoyle, due to DRW's excellent scaling.
0/32/39 DW Frost
A common and popular frost dual-wield dps spec.
17/0/54 Unholy dps
Another common and popular spec. Many slight variations, but most follow a similar formula.
Common Abbreviations
IT Icy Touch
SD Sudden Doom
BS Blood Strike
PS Plague Strike
HS Heart Strike
HB Howling Blast
FS Frost Strike
SS Scourge Strike
DS Death Strike
OB Obliterate
HC Hungering Cold
DRW Dancing Rune Weapon
CE Corpse Explosion
IBF Icebound Fortitude
CF Crypt Fever
BT Blood Tap
AMS Anti-Magic Shell
AMZ Anti-Magic Zone
UB Unholy Blight
ERW Empower Rune Weapon
DC Death Coil
BB Blood Boil
FF Frost Fever
BCB Blood-Caked Blade
BP Blood Plague
AoD Army of the Dead
DG Death Grip
DnD/D&D Death and Decay
Patch 3.3 Notes Regarding DK's
Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle: There is now a 1-handed version of this rune in addition to the current 2-handed rune.
* Night of the Dead: Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 45/90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.
* Scourge Strike: Redesigned. The base ability now deals 50% weapon damage plus an additional amount as physical damage. However, for each disease the death knight has on the target, the target will take additional shadow damage equal to 25% of the physical damage done.
* Unholy Blight: This talent now deals only 10% of Death Coil damage as a damage-over-time effect on the target.
* Army of the Dead: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Army Ghoul damage dropped by 50%. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Raise Ally: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Rune Strike: Threat generated by this ability increased by approximately 17%.
Tier 10 Armor Preview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyPFNapeEp4&feature=player_embedded
Excellent Death Knight resources
Elitist Jerks DK subforum - http://elitistjerks.com/f72/
DK Info - http://deathknight.info/
Skeleton Jack - http://www.skeletonjack.com/
projectmayhem on
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Yep, looks to be fairly significant, and I think unholy goes back to being a 2hander-only spec(yay) that takes reaping and epidemic.
I'm still unclear on glyph of scourge strike, as all the EJ dudes ever talk about is glyph of disease versus ghoul. With them preferring ghoul over disease, you use IT and PS to refresh diseases, but I think there's some wonkiness about how glyph of scourge strike works with ebon plague. I want as much disease-extending as possible.
The best though was when some of our ret pallies were comparing rotations and talking about abilities and the blood DK pipes up "wow, you guys actually have cool names for your abilities? Mine are all called left ear, nose, cheek, right ear."
....
Aww fuck, now I've got to keep switching the fucking Runeforging on this thing.
Goddammit.
* Army of the Dead: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Army Ghoul damage dropped by 50%. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Raise Ally: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
* Rune Strike: Threat generated by this ability increased by approximately 17%.
All awesome, though I would not at all mind the damage of army being only reduced by 35-40%. I've not quantified the dps, but it didn't seem massive for a 20 minute cooldown.
Edit:
Especially since the personal dps lost from channelling Army has not changed.
I can finally run around all the time with 10 Ghouls, like I've always wanted!
I presume it will just be a simple 5 minute cooldown for them.
EDIT: nevermind then!
isn't that just making an ability that already is too large a percentage of your threat...an even larger percentage?
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=20860798697&pageNo=1&sid=1#17
This change is just making sure we don't lose 5%-10% TPS in Icecrown.
I really don't think you do. I think paladins take that crown by far since the only reactive threat they have is Holy Shield and that's not much.
On my paladin I do (anecdotally from Omen) about 8k TPS with a full 6969 rotation while tanking...and about 6.5k-7k just alternating Shield of Righteousness and Hammer of the Righteous with my Seal up. Most of the other sources of a paladin's threat are fairly insignificant.
question guys- alchemy as a profession for DK. Good? Bad? Eh?
Typical 2handed unholy spec
Thoughts on taking 4/5 dark conviction (meaning 4% critical hit vs 5%) and 3/3 Morbidity (15% dc damage vs 10%)
You would get 'less' crits, but wouldn't the 5% extra damage on DC help? Or is the extra crit FARRRR more important?
Also why is necrosis out? Not enough points per dps increase?
Bladed armor would be a better place to take a point to max Morbidity I think.
Anyways, the 'typical 2h unholy spec is http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deathknight#_CJT-dN7TOgoSs,FQp,10482 I thought, with some juggling for Imp UP if you aren't rocking great gear. (taking from Dark Conviction for it)
It's my understanding that bladed armor isn't so hot, so I'm going to go with 3/5 for that, and only 2/5 morbidity(because of some supposed 20 second rotation, and 15 isn't necessary), and I will likely take imp. unholy presence.
Also, I don't think the 5% extra death coil damage is a big deal.
why IMP unholy pres? Run speed?
i liked the old thread title. Also according to EJ if you have bladed armor popping an indestructible pot before combat gives a dps boost AND you can use a haste pot as well
think im gonna go alchemy/herb
I don't think alchemy is really any better for DKs than any other profession, in that it is not the best profession, but it's easy as hell to use and level. If I didn't have to farm all the old world herbs again, I might drop alch for inscription.
And yeah, imp. unholy presence is for the run speed, things like Icehowl and the upcoming Sindragosa.
Well if you see the RP thread I think that Alchemy is really the only profession besides engineering that fits my DK, and I have engineering on literally every character I have seriously leveled, as WELL as on a warrior alt for a concept character.
Also I have neve leveled alchemy and feel that the self heal from Herb and pots as well as benefits of pots could be helpful
Ah my bad then
I know it is a joke but I am gonna farm the herbs myself for potions
so better than nothing
I think if your gear isn't great, you make up some dps vs blood presence due to the 10 percent cooldown reduction on your runes. This is probably not the case come 3.3, when we scrap the short rotation. (i.e., refreshing diseases every 10s instead of 20)
They also have the best PVE mitigation of any DPS classes in the game, so the heal isn't all that useful.
I'd have a DK reroll both of those professions before they ever stepped into a raid with me.
That said, if you don't care about your pve performance or min/maxing, just do whatever makes you happy. Alchemy transmutes are ridiculously profitable and herbing can also make some quick cash.
Wow
I guess I shouldn't say any raid, but yeah, I wouldn't take on a DK without their professions being JC, BS or Engineering if they wanted a DPS slot in my guild's heroic raids.
I kid, I kid...mostly.