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[WoW]Death Kniggits: Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries

WavechaserWavechaser Registered User regular
edited December 2008 in MMO Extravaganza
"A hero. That's what you once were. You stood boldly against the shadow, and purchased another dawn for the world - with your life. But the evil you fought is not so easily banished; the victory you claimed not so easily held."

DK.jpg

Death Knight Class Information

The fearsome death knight, World of Warcraft’s first Hero class, is not your average adventurer seeking to prove his or her worth on Azeroth’s fields of battle. No longer servants of the Lich King, they begin their new calling as experienced, formidable adversaries, heavily armed and armored and possessing an arsenal of deadly and forbidden magic learned in the Lich King’s thrall. Here is an introduction, subject to change, of some of the death knight’s core gameplay mechanics and abilities:

Unlocking and Creating the Death Knight

Simply have a character of at least level 55 on the World of Warcraft account you play, and you will be able to create a new level-55 death knight of any race (if on a PvP realm, the death knight must be the same faction as your existing character). Upon entering the world, your neophyte death knight will undertake a series of quests designed to teach you your new abilities. You will be able to create one death knight per realm, per account.

Class Roles
  • Tank: The plate-wearing death knight is a capable tank for small groups as well as raids. His or her damage output while tanking will be respectable.
  • DPS: The death knight can also spec and gear for a melee DPS role, which draw upon many debilitating disease effects as well as direct damage and instant attacks.
Talent Trees
  • Blood: Talents in this tree focus on weapons, armor, and strikes.
  • Frost: Talents in this tree focus on control, counters, and combos.
  • Unholy: Talents in this tree focus on spells, summons, and diseases.
The Rune System:
  • Runes: Every death knight ability requires runes, which come in three varieties: blood, frost, and unholy. Depending on the ability, it may require runes of a single type or a combination of types. When a rune is used, it has a cooldown period before it can be used again.
  • Runic Power: As rune abilities are used, the death knight also generates another resource called runic power. The death knight has certain abilities that consume all available runic power, with varying levels of effectiveness based on total runic power spent. Similar to a warrior’s rage, runic power decays over time if not spent.
Summoned Creatures:
  • Raise Dead: The death knight can raise a ghoul companion from the corpses of fallen creatures, as well as those of both friendly and enemy players. If cast on a friendly player, that player will have the opportunity to actually play as the ghoul, controlling its movements and actions.
  • Army of the Dead: This channeled spell raises a group of undead followers who will attack the death knight’s enemies but only exist very briefly before disintegrating.
  • Summon Deathcharger: Every death knight can summon the level-40 version of a deathcharger land mount. At higher levels, they can complete a quest to learn the epic version.

Lore Stuff:
  • Shadows of Justice
    Orgrim Doomhammer's first act as warchief of the Horde was to crush the orc warlocks of the Shadow Council. He grudgingly spared the council's former master, Gul'dan, in exchange for the warlock's servitude; in turn Gul'dan promised to create a host of powerful new warriors to serve the Horde. After experimenting at length with the souls of the recently slain council members, Gul'dan successfully instilled the spirit of the necrolyte Teron Gorefiend into the corpse of a fallen knight of Stormwind. Thus, the first terrifying death knight was born. Gul'dan transformed other council members as well, creating unholy warriors who sowed chaos and fear throughout the land of Azeroth during the Second War.

    Following Gul'dan's desertion and death, part of the Horde, including the death knights, retreated through the Dark Portal to Draenor. Most of the surviving death knights disappeared after Draenor's destruction, with the exception of Teron Gorefiend, whose restless and embittered form resides now in the Black Temple of Outland.
  • Champions of the Lich King
    Years after the destruction of Draenor, the immensely powerful Lich King created a new breed of death knights: malevolent, rune-wielding warriors
    of the Scourge. The first and greatest of these was Prince Arthas Menethil, once a mighty paladin of the Silver Hand, who sacrificed his soul to claim the runeblade Frostmourne in a desperate bid to save his people.

    Unlike Gul'dan's death knights, modern death knights consist mainly of paladins who lost their faith and pledged their souls to the Lich King in exchange for the promise of immortality. Death knights who fall in battle are soon raised again to continue in their master's service.

    In the years since Arthas shattered the Frozen Throne and merged with the Lich King, the power and fury of the death knights has only grown. Now these unrelenting crusaders of the damned eagerly await the Lich King's command to unleash their fury on Azeroth once again.

Combat Videos:

Wavechaser on
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Posts

  • WavechaserWavechaser Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Right now this is just reserved for more space, talent builds, etc. The below descriptions were provided by Caedere.

    Talent Trees:

    Blood:
    Survivability. You don't die - a lot of people like it in PVE for minimal downtime, but I find it boring. Big emphasis on two-handed weapons with this tree. You do okay damage and you have a lot of self- and group-vampirism attacks. It also seems to me to focus on changing how runes work. This tree feels closet to being like a Fury/Arms Warrior.

    Frost:
    Burst damage. It plays like a melee Frost Mage, pretty much. You do sort of low damage, but then you get lots of bursts when something procs. Right now, the tree also encourages using dual-wielding. You get some great slows and control, too. This tree also seems to change runic power around a bit.

    Unholy:
    Unholy - Steady damage/AoE. Great tree to play, this one has tons of neat little "gadgets" to play around with, from turning into a Lich to rising up as a Ghoul when you die to, my personal favorite, changing the Raise Dead ability into an actual pet ability. The talent gives you a freaking petbar for your ghouls, which is super-neat. This seems to be the best overall "raiding" tree - lots of disease and steady damage, with a lot of abilities that play off diseased opponents. It's basically like playing as a Affliction Warlock.

    Wavechaser on
  • LaurlunaLaurluna Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I had one made up a little while back. It had gotten a couple pages in, but appears to have dropped off and disappeared.

    Your OP is prettier than mine though, so hopefully this thread will hang on a bit longer. I think the biggest thing is that there's no one really playing the class yet, so there's not much to talk to besides "what-ifs" and theory-crafting.

    Probably get more interest once the Beta gets further along, and once WotLK hits the shelves.

    Laurluna on
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  • formatformat Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Wavechaser wrote: »
    Death knights can customize which array of six runes to have available at a given time, which can aid their ability to perform certain roles. For example, a tanking death knight may wish to load his or her rune array with more Frost runes.
    I don't want to be a debbie downer but this is not true.

    http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=8202574912&pageNo=1&sid=2000#10

    format on
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  • WavechaserWavechaser Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Yeah I hadn't seen one created yet, and I keep seeing DK's referenced in other threads so figured it would survive a new thread if created.

    Also I don't think i've started a new thread in like 3 years, I figured it was time.

    Edit:
    That's funny, I pulled all that starting info from the official wotlk DK site. They need to update their shit.

    Wavechaser on
  • dylmandylman Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    A preview of the starter DK zone and quests from the beta was posted today over at Eurogamer. There be spoilers, obviously. :)

    dylman on
  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Yeah, no more rune customization, and that's a good thing. Now it's just a choice of runic weapon imbue, and they do not stack with enchants.

    Septus on
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  • simsim Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    One 55 character per account that you wish to play or per server that you want to create a DK?

    sim on
  • MayGodHaveMercyMayGodHaveMercy Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Pretty sure (95%) that you only have to have a level 55 character on your account to be able to create a DK on any server, regardless of where your 55 is. The only caveat is that you can't create a Horde DK on a PvP server, if you have an existing alliance character on that server.

    MayGodHaveMercy on
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  • ForarForar #432 Toronto, Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Pretty sure (95%) that you only have to have a level 55 character on your account to be able to create a DK on any server, regardless of where your 55 is. The only caveat is that you can't create a Horde DK on a PvP server, if you have an existing alliance character on that server.

    Unless it's changed recently, this is how I understand it to work as well.

    Forar on
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  • PierceNeckPierceNeck Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I'm thinking I'll probably create an Orc DK on one of the servers you horde guys play on.

    PierceNeck on
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  • Darius BlackDarius Black Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Goddamnit that sounds cool. If only WoW wasn't so gut-swillingly ugly... Damn you Blizzard!

    Darius Black on
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  • EWomEWom Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I will be trying a DK for sure now, it looks like their combat might actually be fun.

    So I wonder what professions will be good for DK's, probably smithing for swords or armour I'd guess. Maybe engineering, cause the only thing scarier than a DK is a DK with explosives.

    EWom on
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  • ForarForar #432 Toronto, Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Mine'll probably be another Miner/Herbalist.

    It's basically a license to print gold.

    Forar on
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  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I like the idea of inscription, but my experience with jewelcrafting last time around tells me that I don't have nearly enough patience to level it up.

    Septus on
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  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I might end up trying the inscription system on the Death Knight, just to see what tradeskill is like without sacrificing tradeskill slots on existing characters. Yeah, a flower picking Death Knight. Shove off.

    The Blood talent line looks to be my favorite so far. Gonna roll a human DK.

    Henroid on
  • Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    EWom wrote: »
    I will be trying a DK for sure now, it looks like their combat might actually be fun.

    So I wonder what professions will be good for DK's, probably smithing for swords or armour I'd guess. Maybe engineering, cause the only thing scarier than a DK is a DK with explosives.

    So how are their trade skills handled, anyway? Starting at level 55 but having go grind up skills from 1 would get . . . annoying.

    Steel Angel on
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  • PoketpixiePoketpixie Siege Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I'm for sure going to make an orc DK(that tauren DK looks schmexy though). I'll probably end up making a draenei DK at some point too. I'm tempted to make a human DK just because of the diplomacy racial talent but it depends on what (if anything) Blizz changes with regards to rep grinding.

    Poketpixie on
  • ForarForar #432 Toronto, Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    So how are their trade skills handled, anyway? Starting at level 55 but having go grind up skills from 1 would get . . . annoying.

    Let me put it this way;

    Unless something has changed, it'd be a safe bet to check a First Aid guide and go start stocking up things that are annoyingly expensive, like Mageweave and wool.

    Forar on
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  • Al BaronAl Baron Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Forar wrote: »
    Unless something has changed, it'd be a safe bet to check a First Aid guide and go start stocking up things that are annoyingly expensive, like Mageweave and wool.
    You start with First Aid at 270. That's it for now, though.

    Al Baron on
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  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    dark knights can heal themselves anyways can't they? my priest never had first aid and I don't remember suffering for it

    Wren on
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  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Wren wrote: »
    dark knights can heal themselves anyways can't they? my priest never had first aid and I don't remember suffering for it

    Everyone needs first aid. Healers' spells take mana, and DKs have only limited means of healing themselves, many of which involve being in combat or the use of talents.

    Septus on
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  • MayGodHaveMercyMayGodHaveMercy Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I never leveled FA on any healer I have, except for my (Ret) paladin. Because her heals are mana hogs. But then, none of my characters with heals are level 70, or anywhere near it.

    MayGodHaveMercy on
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  • PierceNeckPierceNeck Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I never leveled FA on my warlock because I'm affliction and don't PvP. So I can just drain tank everything.

    PierceNeck on
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  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I would have been very unhappy levelling as affliction without first aid. Drain tanking is well and good but can still very often end in situations where you're lowish on health.

    Septus on
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  • PierceNeckPierceNeck Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I guess I just never ran into that issue. If I had, I definately would have leveled FA. And I probably still will at some point before the expansion. Everyone else is maxed though.

    PierceNeck on
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  • WavechaserWavechaser Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    It's so easy to level FA that it's kind of pointless not to. There are always situations that come up where a bandage can be useful, I don't care what class (or race - lolundead) you are.

    Wavechaser on
  • dojangodojango Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    FA should be mandatory for locks; even aff ones. After a pull, healer (me) sits down to drink to regain mana, lock lifetaps to 10% HP to get mana back, and then.... 90% of them do nothing. BANDAGE, FFS.

    Edit: Sorry, not the proper thread for this. But it still bugs me.

    dojango on
  • JJJJ DailyStormer Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Yeah, uh... I'm that lock that doesn't bandage. :oops:

    JJ on
  • PierceNeckPierceNeck Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I just beat up my Imp for mana between pulls...


    EDIT:
    Anyways... DK's, awesome? Or really awesome?

    PierceNeck on
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  • NerdgasmicNerdgasmic __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2008
    I figure that LIfe Tap is what gives Light Well just a tiny bit of function.

    Nerdgasmic on
  • formatformat Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    a seque back to the DK topic while also staying on the Life tap:

    Blood Tap Rank 1
    1 Blood
    Instant 1 min cooldown
    Immediately activates a Blood Rune and temporarily converts it into a Death Rune. This rune counts as a Blood, Unholy, or Frost Rune. Lasts 20 sec.

    also listed as taking 15% of base health, so it is a deathknight bloodrage.

    so any concerns over only having a 2/2/2 rune setup are alleviated with this skill.

    format on
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  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited July 2008
    Wrath is introducing "Dense" bandages which heal for a bit less than Heavy but do their healing in only four seconds. If First Aid wasn't important to you before, it probably will be.

    Sterica on
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  • AccualtAccualt Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I'm not trying to be a dick or anything but why is Blizzard only introducing one new class? Do they have an actual reason? It just seems odd to only have one hero class in an expansion pack, I kept expecting them to announce a second one.

    Accualt on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Accualt wrote: »
    I'm not trying to be a dick or anything but why is Blizzard only introducing one new class? Do they have an actual reason? It just seems odd to only have one hero class in an expansion pack, I kept expecting them to announce a second one.

    One hero per expansion pack is their current stance.

    I'm hoping this means they'll retroactively add another hero class for TBC - Demon Hunters. Because it damn sure wouldn't make much sense for them to come around from an Emerald Dream related expansion.

    Henroid on
  • eelektrikeelektrik Southern CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Henroid wrote: »
    Accualt wrote: »
    I'm not trying to be a dick or anything but why is Blizzard only introducing one new class? Do they have an actual reason? It just seems odd to only have one hero class in an expansion pack, I kept expecting them to announce a second one.

    One hero per expansion pack is their current stance.

    I'm hoping this means they'll retroactively add another hero class for TBC - Demon Hunters. Because it damn sure wouldn't make much sense for them to come around from an Emerald Dream related expansion.

    That would be nice, but if they did decide to give us another Hero Class for TBC lacking one, it would still probably be tacked onto an expansion. So maybe the next expansion will have 2, and than they'll go back to 1 per expansion.

    I just want to see them add Runemasters

    eelektrik on
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  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited July 2008
    Runemasters would be awesome if only to see a class with the chest, shirt and tabard slots disabled.

    Sterica on
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  • CaedereCaedere S'no regrets BIRDIESRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Having had experience in Beta with DKs, lemme give my two cents.


    First off, Frost isn't really the tanking tree, per se.

    With how DKs actually play right now, it seems that each tree is independently capable of tanking, just in slight-different styles. Blood is about heals, Frost seems to have slows and controls, and Unholy is more about sheer mitigation and disease.

    As for in general gameplay, the best way I can explain how each tree plays is like this:

    Blood - Survivability. You don't die - a lot of people like it in PVE for minimal downtime, but I find it boring. Big emphasis on two-handed weapons with this tree. You do okay damage and you have a lot of self- and group-vampirism attacks. It also seems to me to focus on changing how runes work. This tree feels closet to being like a Fury/Arms Warrior.

    Frost - Burst damage. My favorite tree - it plays like a melee Frost Mage, pretty much. You do sort of low damage, but then you get lots of bursts when something procs. Right now, the tree also encourages using dual-wielding. You get some great slows and control, too. This tree also seems to change runic power around a bit.

    Unholy - Steady damage/AoE. Great tree to play, this one has tons of neat little "gadgets" to play around with, from turning into a Lich to rising up as a Ghoul when you die to, my personal favorite, changing the Raise Dead ability into an actual pet ability. The talent gives you a freaking petbar for your ghouls, which is super-neat. This seems to be the best overall "raiding" tree - lots of disease and steady damage, with a lot of abilities that play off diseased opponents. It's basically like playing as a Affliction Warlock.


    If anyone has any questions, lemme know - I'm currently testing each tree as I level up, in order to get a good feel for each spec - I respec several times per level, and I'm more than happy to accomodate requests as well.

    Caedere on
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  • NerdgasmicNerdgasmic __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2008
    I hear Frost is pretty bad for leveling, but I'm most interested in it. Is overall damage and downtime too bad to consider it for leveling, or does it only get good at certain level, etc.

    Nerdgasmic on
  • WavechaserWavechaser Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Great info, thanks. Once I get back in town I'll update the OP with that info.

    Wavechaser on
  • EndEnd Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Septus wrote: »
    I like the idea of inscription, but my experience with jewelcrafting last time around tells me that I don't have nearly enough patience to level it up.

    Yeah, it was really bad to level JC, but now I imagine its okay, since they lowered the cost of some of the items and made it so every prospect gives something other than dust. Who knows how inscription will be though...

    End on
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