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Table of Contents
General Information
On this page, we list your Blood Death Knight core abilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of Warcraft Legion 7.3.5. We also explain when to use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that you will need to know if you want to excel at playing a Blood Death Knight.
The other pages of our Blood Death Knight guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.
About Our Reviewer
This guide has been reviewed and approved by Volstatsz, a Blood Death Knight theorycrafter and moderator for the Acherus Death Knight community. You can follow him on Twitter.
1. Rotation for Blood Death Knights
Generally speaking, your goal during each fight is to use your resources (Runes and Runic Power) to generate threat and to stay alive. The rotation for single target and AoE is extremely similar, so we have grouped them together. The recommended playstyle is based on the following priority of abilities.
- Use
Marrowrend if your 
Bone Shield is close to expiring
(3 seconds or less), or if you will not be in range of a target before your Bone Shield will expire. - Use
Blood Boil if any nearby enemies do not have your
Blood Plague disease. - Use
Death and Decay- Against a single target, use Death and Decay if you have a
Crimson Scourge proc and you are using the
Rapid Decomposition talent. - Against multiple targets, use it when you have a
Crimson Scourge proc.
- Against a single target, use
- Use
Death Strike to avoid capping Runic Power. - Use
Blooddrinker, if you are using this talent. - Use Marrowrend if you have 6 or fewer stacks of
Bone Shield.
- Use Death and Decay
- Against a single target, use it if you have 3 or more runes and you
are using the Rapid Decomposition talent.
- Against multiple targets, use it if you are facing at least 3 enemies.
- Against a single target, use it if you have 3 or more runes and you
are using the
- Use
Heart Strike if you have 3 or more Runes, or if you need to
quickly build Runic Power for Death Strike.- Always make sure you do not leave yourself unable to use
Marrowrend to keep Bone Shield from falling off (or falling
below 5 stacks with the
Ossuary talent).
- Always make sure you do not leave yourself unable to use
- Use Death and Decay against a single target if you have a
Crimson Scourge proc (and you are not using the
Rapid Decomposition talent).
- Use
Consumption. - Use Blood Boil.
Generally, you will weave 
Death Strikes into the rotation as
necessary. Aim to maximise your healing from Death Strike; use an addon to
track how much a Death Strike will heal you for to optimise your Death Strike
usage.
Both 
Marrowrend and Death Strike apply the Recently Used
Death Strike buff for 3 seconds, which is the Death Knight active
mitigation check. Make sure you have Runes or Runic Power available on fights
with active mitigation checks to use these abilities.
2. Taunting
Dark Command is your main taunting ability. It only works on a single
target and has an 8-second cooldown.
Death Grip grabs your target and moves it to your location. It also
has the effect of taunting the target and interrupting spellcasting. The
movement effect does not work against most raid bosses.
3. Survival Cooldowns for Blood Death Knights
Below, we present the cooldowns at your disposal and quickly go over how they should be used. More information about each cooldown can be found in subsequent sections.
Anti-Magic Shell absorbs up to 30% of your maximum health in magic
damage over 5 seconds, and should be used to mitigate magic damage and generate
Runic Power.
Dancing Rune Weapon is generally used as a DPS cooldown (especially
if you have the 
Mouth of Hell Artifact trait).
Vampiric Blood increases your maximum health and the amount of
healing you receive by 30% for 10 seconds. It should be used either proactively
in anticipation for high amounts of damage, or reactively when low on health
and in danger of dying.
Icebound Fortitude reduces all damage taken by 20% for 8
seconds. It should mostly be used proactively when you anticipate taking
high damage, such as from specific boss abilities.
4. Optional Read: Mastering Your Blood Death Knight
While the information we gave in the previous sections will yield very good results, there are many things you should be aware of, in order to play your Blood Death Knight to its full potential. In particular, we explain in great detail how to properly use your various survival cooldowns.
4.1. Runes and Runic Power
Death Knights use a dual resource system of runes and Runic Power. While it is quite straightforward in how it works, we will explain it here for the sake of completion.
4.1.1. Runes
You have a total of 6 Runes, which are available by default. Some of your abilities have Rune costs, and whenever you use an ability that consumes one or more Runes, those Runes will immediately begin recharging. The exact amount of time it takes a Rune to recharge depends on how much Haste you have.
Whenever a Rune is consumed, you gain 10 Runic Power (more on that below).
At most, 3 of your runes can be charging up at the same time. It is therefore optimal to keep at least 3 runes on cooldown in order to maximise the recharge rate over the course of the fight.
4.1.2. Runic Power
Runic Power is a resource that resembles Rage, in the sense that it decays when out of combat, but does not decay during combat. As mentioned above, consuming Runes generates 10 Runic Power per Rune spent, and this is the primary means of generating Runic Power, although some abilities also help with this. You can have a maximum of 115 Runic Power.
4.2. Artifact Ability for Blood Death Knights
Consumption is your Artifact ability. It has a 45-second cooldown
and it deals damage to all enemies in front of you, healing you for the same
amount. Despite the fact that it heals you, this ability should not normally
be saved for its defensive purposes. Against a single target, its healing is
quite low. Even against multiple targets, the healing is typically not
impactful enough to warrant saving the ability, so you should simply use it
on cooldown. The only exception is if you will have to
deal with a particularly dangerous moment when you want to have all the healing
possible.
4.3. Detailed Cooldown Usage
4.3.1. Anti-Magic Shell
Anti-Magic Shell should be used whenever there is magic damage to
mitigate (such as breath attacks, for example). The mitigation that it offers
is very high. It has a short duration (5 seconds) so you will need to be quite
accurate in timing it.
It also has the benefit of preventing the application of magical debuffs on you while it is active, and it can be used for this purpose, as well, depending on the encounter mechanics.
Moreover, if you are using the Anti-Magic Barrier tier 3 talent,
you can use the ability to react to high amounts of damage, not necessarily
magic damage, which can threaten to kill you.
4.3.2. Dancing Rune Weapon
Dancing Rune Weapon grants you 40% chance to parry for 8 seconds.
Moreover, for the duration, there are several other benefits that you gain.
- Uses of Heart Strike will cause your rune weapon to strike and
grant 5 additional Runic Power.
- Uses of Marrowrend will cause your rune weapon to stack
Bone Shield exactly like using your own Marrowrend, making Marrowrend
during Dancing Rune Weapon yield 6-10 stacks of Bone Shield, depending on
Artifact traits.
- Uses of Blood Boil will leave additional Blood Plague
debuffs on your target. Your rune weapon's Blood Plague debuffs are not
attributed directly to you, and do not heal you. During Dancing Rune Weapon,
casting Blood Boil gives you 3 stacks of
Haemostasis, the buff from
Skullflower's Haemostasis. Because of this, it is important to try not
to use two Blood Boils in a row, so you do not waste Haemostasis stacks.
Note as well that if you have the 
Mouth of Hell Artifact trait,
a second rune weapon will be present, doubling the above benefits.
Dancing Rune Weapon should typically be used for the extra DPS it
provides, although it can also be used defensively (mostly proactively, before
you take a high amount of physical attacks.
The Tier 21 Set Bonuses improve this ability, decreasing its cooldown and
providing a short boost to Rune regeneration when it expires. With the Set
Bonuses, there are some additional considerations when optimising your use of
Dancing Rune Weapon:
- With the 2-piece bonus, it is generally worth delaying your use of
Dancing Rune Weapon until the next time you are actively tanking —
the 40% parry can help smooth tank transitions a great deal.
- With the 4-piece bonus, it becomes more important to effectively use
resources during Dancing Rune Weapon, so as to not overcap runes or
runic power during the 10-second rune regeneration bonus. Do not be afraid to
go lower than usual on runes in order to maximise your use of
Heart Strike and Death Strike during Dancing Rune Weapon.
4.3.3. Vampiric Blood
Vampiric Blood is your most powerful cooldown. If grants you
30% extra health for 10 seconds, and increases your healing received (from all
sources, including self-heals) by 30%. It can be used both reactively and in
anticipation.
Red Thirst and the 
Service of Gorefiend legendary
both reduce the already-short cooldown of
Vampiric Blood. The use of these pushes Vampiric Blood even further to
the fore — Blood Death Knight cooldown usage is gauged more by
effectiveness and frequency of Vampiric Blood than anything else.
4.3.4. Icebound Fortitude
Icebound Fortitude is a straightforward damage-reduction cooldown
that lasts for 8 seconds, reducing all damage taken by 20%. Generally, you
should use this when you are about to take high damage from pre-determined
boss abilities, or when you are otherwise vulnerable (because the healers
cannot reach you or because your other cooldowns are unavailable).
It is worth mentioning that the 
Heart of Ice Tier 2 talent causes
your Death Strikes to increase the duration of your current
Icebound Fortitude by 2 seconds.
Note that Blood Death Knights deal very poorly with abilities that take
into account damage amounts before absorbs and self heals (given their low
number of damage reduction abilities). One such example is
Elerethe Renferal's
Web of Pain; in cases such as these, Icebound Fortitude is an
essential tool in reducing damage taken, which can have a significant effect
afterwards.
4.3.5. Tier 6 Talents
Rune Tap works as a damage reduction cooldown, and you should use
it often to mitigate the damage of hard-hitting abilities that happen in
roughly the space of the 3-second duration of Rune Tap.
4.4. Death Strike and Blood Shield
Death Strike is your most important self-healing ability. It is also
part of your regular ability rotation during combat. In order to make the
most out of Death Strike and of your Mastery (
Mastery: Blood Shield),
you cannot simply use Death Strike whenever it is available.
The most immediately apparent effect of Death Strike is that it heals you, so it is always well used after you have taken damage to heal yourself back up a bit and help the healers. Be smart about when you are using Death Strike. As it depends on your damage taken in the previous 5 seconds, it should be used after taking high damage. Of course, capping your Runic Power while not using Death Strike should also be avoided.
You can also use it in preparation for taking damage, both by topping yourself up, and also by stacking your Blood Shield to mitigate more damage.
Regarding your Mastery, it is important to remember that the shields provided by Death Strike only protect against Physical damage. It is also interesting to note that the shield from your Mastery also counts as active mitigation, which is typically relevant for boss abilities that take this into account.
You should minimise Death Strike overhealing by making sure not to
use Death Strike when at or near full health. While using it at these times
does still grant extra health from Souldrinker and a shield from
your Mastery, it effectively wastes 40-50% of the ability's effect.
4.5. Bone Shield
Your Marrowrend ability applies 3 stacks of 
Bone Shield
each time you use it, up to a maximum of 10 stacks. As long as you have at
least 1 Bone Shield stack active, your damage taken is reduced by 16%, and your
Haste is increased by 10%. Each melee attack made against you consumes a Bone Shield
charge. Bone Shield also has a duration of 30 seconds, at which time the stacks
would simply drop off you (although this is unlikely to ever occur during a
boss encounter).
There is an internal cooldown of 2 seconds for Bone Shield charges being consumed.
Keeping Bone Shield up is pivotal to playing Blood properly. The Haste
increase is essential for Rune regeneration and the damage reduction is
essential for survivability. Moreover, if you have taken the
Ossuary talent, then with 5 or more stacks of Bone Shield, the cost
of Death Strike is reduced by 5 Runic Power, which allows you to use it
more frequently.
Effectively, you will always want to prioritise maintaining high amounts of
Bone Shield stacks; you should use Marrowrend when you have 6
or fewer stacks of Bone Shield, unless you really need the additional Runic
Power to use 
Heart Strike x2, and even then you should immediately try
to re-stack Bone Shield.
5. ChangeLog
- 28 Nov. 2017: Added a mention of how the Tier 21 Set Bonuses impact the usage of Dancing Rune Weapon.
- 15 Oct. 2017: Added a mention of using Blooddrinker in the rotation.
- 13 Jun. 2017: Added a mention of Skullflower's Haemostasis to the Dancing Rune Weapon section.
- 12 Jun. 2017: Updated rotation slightly, and made a few more minor edits (including adding a mention of the new Heart of Ice talent).
- 27 Mar. 2017: Added a small mention of how to use the Souldrinker Artifact trait.
- 09 Jan. 2017: Updated the description of how Bone Shield works to account for Patch 7.1.5.
- 14 Nov. 2016: Further edited the Icebound Fortitude section to mention its usefulness in dealing with certain abilities like Elerethe Renferal's Web of Pain.
- 10 Nov. 2016: Made a small tweak to the Icebound Fortitude recommendation.
- 25 Oct. 2016: Added Icebound Fortitude to the guide since it was re-added in patch 7.1
- 04 Oct. 2016: Massively reworked rotation, as well as improved and updated various other sections.
- 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
- 21 Aug. 2016: Updated the damage reduction granted by Bone Shield to account for a recent hotfix.
- 21 Jul. 2016: Slightly updated the single target and AoE rotations to give Blood Boil more importance. Also clarified that Death Strike should not simply be used on cooldown, since it is part of your active mitigation.
- 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
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