Death Knight Class Guide
Guides
Death Knight Tanking Guide (Created by Lichloathe) - Updated up to 4.2
Death Knight Frost PvP Guide (Created by Darkcore) - Updated up to 4.2
Death Knight Unholy PvP Guide (Created by Heartless) - Updated up to 4.2
Death Knight Frost PvE Guide (Created by Taruun) - Updated up to 4.2
Death Knight Unholy PvE Guide (Created by Heartless) - Updated to 4.2
Death Knights are World of Warcraft's first Hero class. They were added into the game during Wrath of the Lich King which is WoW's second expansion. This makes Death Knights the very first class to be added since launch. Death Knights are an extremely powerful class that is able to both tank and deal damage effectively. They don't do one or the other better; they make great tanks as well as great damage dealers. Much like Warriors, Death Knights have two talent specs for damage and one for tanking. Unlike other tanks, however, Death Knights cannot weild shields. This makes them more comparable to a Druid as a tank since they will need to rely entirely on mitigation.
When Death Knights originally came out their tanking spec was Frost, many people will remember this but closer to Cata it was changed to Blood. Now the Death Knight's two damage specs are Frost and Unholy with Blood as their tank spec.
Information on the Class
Death Knights are one of the more unique classes in the game as they use a unique system in order to execute their abilities. This unique system is known as Runes. Much like other classes when you use an ability a rune will be depleated. Once a rune is depleated it will trigger a 10 second cooldown for that rune to recharge. If you're used to playing another class the rune system is difficult to get used to but you'll quickly catch on the more you play the Death Knight class.
Many people try to compare Death Knights to a Rogue, since they have high damaging abilities, or to a Druid since they don't tank with shields. Some even say they are like a Ret pally Warrior Hybrid. The truth is Death Knights aren't like any other class out there. Death Knights are truly a unique class.
Death Knights attract many different types of players. People that want to play a "Evil" class, players that want to play a Warrior or Paladin type class but don't want to play the warrior or paladin. Sometimes people choose the Death Knight mistaking them for extremely easy classes to play, assuming they can hit a few buttons and win. They of course are mistaken, Death Knights are currently the most overpowered class but a certain amount of skill is required to really shine as the class.
Similar to a Druid and Mage, a Death Knight must have very good Multi-tasking abilities to really shine. The Death Knight's 3 talent builds are Blood, Unholy and Frost. Blood improves a Death Knights melee damage and gives him many abilities to heal himself. Frost improves the Death Knights tanking ability and single target DPS. Unholy focuses on increasing the Death Knights disease damage and grants him some AoE abilities.
The Death Knight has a Presence for each of the 3 different types of abilities he has. Below is a list of all 3 presences and a description of what they do.
Unholy Presence: Unholy Presence increases your attack speed by 15%, movement speed by 15% and reduces the global cooldown of all your abilities by 0.5 seconds. With the Unholy Presence talents your aura will also increase your parties movement speed by 15%.
Frost Presence: Frost Presence increases your total health by 10%, Armor contribution from items by 80% and reduces spell damage taken by 15%. It also increases all threat generated making this the perfect presence to use for tanking. Frost Presence's talent increases the spell resistance of everyone in the raid by 80. (Increases spell resistance by 1 per level)
Blood Presence: Blood Presence increases damage dealt by the Death Knight by 15% and causes any damage heal deals to heal him for 4% of the damage dealt. The target must grant you experience or honor to trigger this heal. With talents the 4% heal will be given to your party members as well.
Death Knight Strengths:
- Starts at level 55, but will require you to have a level 55 character somewhere on your account to make
- You will level very fast through your starting zone and acquire a full set of blue gear by the time you complete it
- Great soloing ability
- Best tank when it comes to a spell casting boss
- Can be ANY race
Death Knights Weaknesses:
- Difficult to jump right in and play the class
- Death Knights make great tanks, but because they don't have a shield they can fall victim to a string of unmitigated hits which could be deadly
- Can only have one Death Knight per server
- Everyone plays a Death Knight which may make it hard to find a group or guild
This class will interest those out there that have always wanted to be a Wanna-be Arthas. Death Knights are able to call an Army of Ghouls to their side with the ability "Army of the Dead". Army of the Dead is on a very long cooldown but is very useful in instances and raids when you need the extra DPS. Death Knights are also able to call one ghoul to their side when they don't need all the extra help.
Another interesting ability available to the Death Knight is Death Grip. This ability allows you to pull a enemy to you from up to 30 yards away. Using Death Grip will also interrupt any spells they are channeling making this a casters nightmare.
Death Knight Talents