Death Knight Class Overview
Lords of shadow and all things necrotic, Death Knights are the newest class added to the World of Warcraft in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion and offer some of the most unique gameplay of any class.
Death Knights are extremely powerful in both solo and group content. While solo, Death Knights have the strongest self-healing in the game and manage to do so while only sacrificing a small portion of their damage. Meanwhile, in parties and Raids they provide unique, powerful buffs to their entire group while being either one of the most durable tanks in the game or one of the strongest damage dealers depending on their chosen specialization.
Races For Death Knight
In Wrath of the Lich King, Death Knight can be played as every race! Death Knights are masters of all things shadowy and necrotic that can take on either the Tank or DPS roles.
FAQ
Are Death Knights good in WotLK?
Yes! Every Death Knight spec is viable and has a niche that almost no other spec or class in the game can fill. Death Knights are also very durable Tanks and can offer some of the highest DPS and strongest buffs in the entire game.
Can Death Knights Tank?
Yes! While all three specs are technically able to be played in a Tank role, Blood is considered to be the strongest due to its immense amount of self healing and its ability to scale better with gear than either of the other two specs. However it is not uncommon to see someone tanking as Frost. Though Unholy does not have as many benefits as the other two specs it is still technically able to tank, however it is not advised without an extensive amount of knowledge on the class and the spec and is oftentimes just worse than both Blood and Frost.
What is the best DPS spec for DK?
Both Frost and Unholy offer great and unique benefits and it is hard to say
which is the better DPS spec. Frost will oftentimes offer more personal DPS
and provides some buffs that, while not unique to only Death Knights,
can be hard to get access to in a group without a Frost Death Knight; the
same goes for Unholy as they offer a massive group debuff for all your spell casters
in Ebon Plaguebringer. As such, it can be difficult to say which is the
'best' DPS spec, but both are strong
and have a place in every raid. Try out both and see what you enjoy more as they
both have fairly different playstyles.
What race is best for Death Knight?
It depends on your goals and faction choice. If you are Horde, Orc is
the the best option as changes to Blood Fury have made it more viable
for Tanks and it will allow you to better take advantage of snapshotting your
debuffs early into encounters. As Alliance, you can choose from any of the races, though
if you are looking to tank either Dwarf or Night Elf are the best choices as
Stoneform
offers a small personal cooldown while Night Elves'
Elusiveness adds a
considerable amount of dodge passively. If you are looking mostly for PvP,
Human is your best option because of how powerful
Will to Survive is,
allowing you to have an entire extra trinket slot that would typically be dedicated
to a CC-breaking PvP trinket.
Death Knight Specializations
Death Knights are able to choose from 3 specializations: Blood, Frost, and Unholy.
- Blood — Focuses on large, slow attacks that maximize the utilization of each Rune.
- Unholy — Focuses on maximizing the strength of their pets and spreading powerful diseases.
- Frost — Focuses on a flurry of quick attacks with a rotation that is constantly changing due to various procs.
Gearing a Death Knight
Armor
Death Knights are able to wear Cloth, Leather, Mail, and even Plate armor right away due to starting at Level 55.
Weapons
Death Knights are able to use both One-Handed and Two Handed Axes, Maces, and Swords, as well as Polearms.
Death Knight Trainers
All Death Knight trainers can be found in Acherus, the Death Knight starting
area which you will always be able to teleport to using your Death Gate
ability.
Death Knight Addons and Macros
Addons and Macros can greatly improve your quality of life in Azeroth and Northrend. Listed below are some of our recomendations on Addons and Macros to help get the most out of your time playing the game.
Death Knight Guides for Wrath of the Lich King: Classic
Listed below are guides filled with information to help you play your Death Knight optimally in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion for Classic WoW.
You might also want to check out our full class guides, which teach you how to play your class at the new Level 80 cap!
Changelog
- 18 Aug. 2022: Page added.
This guide has been written by Sellin, a former top 10 US raider and several time Gladiator, long time WoW Player and passionate about all things Warcraft and Theorycrafting. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him on Twitch.
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