Mists of Pandaria Classic Unholy Death Knight Rotation and Cooldowns
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Unholy Death Knight in both single-target and multi-target PvE situations in Mists of Pandaria Classic. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS.
Unholy Death Knight Rotations
If you have not already, we recommend reading the Spells Summary page first. Knowing how each spell and ability works in detail will greatly increase your understanding of the topics discussed on this page.
Unholy Death Knight in Mists of Pandaria operates off of a priority system that aims to maximize your Scourge Strike
casts while maintaining powerful diseases on the target and taking full advantage of your summoned minions and their various
buffs. It is important to remember that the priority list mentioned is constantly updating based on things like your current
amount of
Shadow Infusion stacks or the availability of cooldowns like
Summon Gargoyle.
Single-Target Rotation
This guide assumes you are using Blood Tap as it is often the most reliable way to regenerate Runes throughout
the course of an encounter.
The priority order is as follows:
- Make sure you are in
Unholy Presence;
- Make sure your Ghoul is active;
- Cast
Army of the Dead before the pull;
- Make sure to prepot your
Potion of Mogu Power;
- Cast
Unholy Frenzy on cooldown. Do not worry about pairing this with
Summon Gargoyle as the increased attack speed will not benefit your Gargoyle;
- Summon your
Summon Gargoyle, when possible pair this with
Bloodlust/
Heroism and any increases to your Attack Power like
Rune of the Fallen Crusader;
- Cast
Plague Strike to apply your diseases,
Ebon Plaguebringer will cause this to also apply
Frost Fever;
- If you have 11 or more stacks of
Blood Tap and a Rune inactive, use it to refresh your Rune;
- When the target is below 35% health cast
Soul Reaper;
- Cast
Dark Transformation at 5 stacks of
Shadow Infusion;
- Cast
Death and Decay to spend Unholy and Death Runes if you are confident your target will stay in it for the entire duration.
- Cast
Scourge Strike to spend your Unholy and Death Runes if
Death and Decay is on cooldown or the target will move before you could get the full benefit of a Death and Decay;
- Cast
Death Coil when you have 40 or more Runic Power or have a
Sudden Doom proc;
- With any Attack Power or Strength proc, reapply your diseases with
Outbreak to snapshot their benefit;
- Cast
Festering Strike to extend the duration of your diseases if they would otherwise expire;
- Cast
Blood Tap assuming a Rune is inactive.
- Use
Empower Rune Weapon to refresh all of your Runes and gain 25 Runic Power, this is ideally done after all of your Runes have been converted to Death Runes to cast more
Scourge Strikes;
- Cast
Horn of Winter if all the conditions mentioned above have been met.
Summon Gargoyle is a massive part of your damage done as an Unholy Death Knight and fitting it into the priority list above
can be a bit difficult due to the nature of the ability. Your goal with your Gargoyle is ideally to pair this with as many buffs as
possible to make it as powerful as possible, so ideally this will be paired with
Bloodlust/
Heroism and any sources
of increased Strength or Attack Power you have available like trinkets or
Rune of the Fallen Crusader. Keep in mind your Gargoyle
does not snapshot your stats when it is cast it will dynamically update. While most buffs to your character will increase the damage dealt
by your Gargoyle it is important to note that
Unholy Frenzy does not impact it.
It is important to note that while Plague Leech will be our default talent choice but not something we will use
as soon as it is off cooldown. Plague Leech will ideally be cast when there are only a few seconds left on the duration of your diseases
or right before you refresh your diseases with
Outbreak.
AoE Rotation
Similar to the single target section mentioned above, your AoE damage will be done by following a list of priorities:
- Make sure you are in
Unholy Presence;
- Make sure your Ghoul is active;
- Cast
Plague Strike to apply your diseases,
Ebon Plaguebringer will cause this to also apply
Frost Fever;
- Spread your diseases with
Pestilence, if you are talented into
Roiling Blood then cast
Blood Boil to spread your diseases;
- Keep
Death and Decay on cooldown;
- Use
Blood Boil to spend any Blood and Death Runes;
- Cast
Death Coil when you have 40 or more Runic Power or have a
Sudden Doom proc to proc
Shadow Infusion and cast
Dark Transformation;
- Use
Icy Touch to transform Frost Runes into Death Runes;
- Cast
Scourge Strike if
Death and Decay is on cooldown to spend Unholy Runes;
- Cast
Blood Tap when you have no Runes available or risk going over the cap of stacks.
Cooldowns
Unholy Death Knight deals a significant amount of its damage with its cooldowns
like
Summon Gargoyle. Understanding how to properly utilize each of these cooldowns is crucial to maximizing your personal
DPS output.
Empower Rune Weapon instantly refreshes all of your Runes and grants you 25 Runic Power. The ability to instantly
reset all of your Runes can be a make or break difference if you find yourself challenged with a tight DPS check. As an Unholy Death
Knight this is ideally used when all of your Runes have been converted to Death Runes greatly increasing the amount of
Scourge Strikes
we are able to cast. Due to the 5 minute cooldown it can be difficult to get multiple uses in an encounter so making sure to utilize
it when you will be able to benefit from its full effect is key.
Unholy Frenzy increases the targets melee and ranged Haste by 20% and causes them to lose 2% of their maximum health
every 3 seconds for 30 seconds. This is a great way to increase the amount of attacks you are able to get off for its duration,
increasingly the benefit of any sources of increased Attack Power like
Rune of the Fallen Crusader.
Summon Gargoyle summons a Gargoyle to attack your current target. Your summoned Gargoyle will be a significant part
of your overall damage as Unholy so optimizing its damage done is crucial. Your Gargoyle no longer snapshots but rather scales
updates in real time scaling with your Haste and Attack Power, so unlike previous expansions it will optimally used right before
any procs that would increase your Haste or Attack Power like
Bloodlust/
Heroism or
Rune of the Fallen Crusader
to maximize the amount of time it spends under these increased stats. It is also important to note that your Gargoyle does
not scale with your
Unholy Frenzy ability so feel free to use them independent of each other.
Army of the Dead summons a large group of ghouls to help deal with your enemies. This should ideally be cast pre-pull or in any situation
where you are unable to hit your current target. It is important to note that these ghouls update dynamically so you do not need to worry about
waiting for a
Rune of the Fallen Crusader proc or anything like that to cast this ability. This can also be used as a defensive cooldown
in an emergency as it will grant you damage reduction equal to your Dodge + Parry chance.
Changelog
- 19 Jun. 2025: Guide created.