Mists of Pandaria Classic Frost Death Knight Stat Priority

The stat priority for Frost Death Knight is as follows:

1. Strength
2. Hit Rating to cap (7.5%)
3. Expertise Rating to cap (7.5%)
4. Mastery
5. Critical Strike
6. Haste

There are multiple ways to play Frost Death Knight in Mists of Pandaria, the recommendations in this guide assume you are playing the dual-wield masterfrost build so a much larger emphasis is put on Mastery rating. If you find yourself wanting to play the two-handed variant of Frost you will prioritize Critical Strike over Mastery but otherwise the your priority order for secondary stats remains the same.

Strength is your best stat as a Frost Death Knight. Strength increases our Attack Power causing all of our abilities and even our ghoul to deal extra damage.

Hit and Expertise are your most important secondary stats as a Frost Death Knight with hit rating being slightly higher priority than Expertise but reaching the 7.5% recommended cap for both of these is very important. Hit rating increases your chance to hit the target, at 7.5% this will ensure that all of your abilities hit the target though as any dual-wielding class your auto-attacks still have a chance to miss up until 27% Hit which we do not recommend gearing towards as our other secondary stats offer a much larger benefit after the initial 7.5% cap is achieved. Expertise reduces your chance of your attacks being Dodged or Parried, at 7.5% we have completely removed the targets ability to dodge but they can still parry, you can avoid having your attacks Parried by standing behind the target as mobs are unable to parry from behind.

Your Mastery as an Frost Death Knight is Mastery: Frozen Heart which increases your Frost damage done based on the amount of Mastery rating you have. With changes made specifically in Mists of Pandaria classic Mastery has gained even more power as Soul Reaper and Obliterate now also scale based off of your Mastery Rating. This stat acts almost similarly to Strength in that it increases the damage dealt by nearly your entire profile of damage making it incredibly valuable.

Critical Strike is another great way to increase your damage done as a Frost Death Knight. Critical Strikes deal 200% the damage of a normal attack and increasing the potency of your attacks makes each of your Runes spent even more efficient. In Mists of Pandaria your diseases and summoned minions like Army of the Dead also benefit from your Critical Strike rating, so while procs like Killing Machine do reduce its value slightly its still a great choice when we are unable to choose Mastery.

Haste increases your Attack Speed and the rate at which your Runes regenerate. While we have more access to Runes than ever before in Mists of Pandaria the increased passive Rune generation will lead to being able to cast more Howling Blasts throughout an encounter leading to us dealing more damage. The increased Attack Speed also helps proc Rune of Razorice and Killing Machine more often throughout a fight. Razorice acts as an entirely passive increase to the damage done of your attacks and Killing Machine greatly increases the potency of your next Obliterate or Frost Strike.