Death Knight Leveling Guide from 8 to 80

Welcome to our DK leveling guide. Here you will find all you need to know to level up your DK efficiently. In addition, you may wish to check out our general Leveling guide, complete with detailed information on XP, mounts, addons, consumables, tips, and more. We encourage to read it to increase your leveling speed even more.

Death Knights embody the fantasy of slow, feared harbingers, with absolute control over the undead, the possibility to unleash devastating frost attacks, or to sustain themselves on the life-force of enemies. Three radically different specializations await you, with very unique play styles.

In The War Within, all Death Knights have access to multiple shared spells and talents. For example, all specializations can reduce the cost of Death Strike by a significant amount, and DPS specializations are able to further increase its healing done by 60% - enough to outmatch any outdoor content!

As one of the two available hero classes, Death Knights start with a level advantage over most other specs: instead of starting at level 1 (while not being an allied race), we start at level 8. If you picked an allied race (such as Dark Iron Dwarf, Highmountain Tauren or Vulpera), you instead start at level 10 and can instantly pick your specialization, right before you even talk to Bolvar!

Solo players will typically find Unholy better as a leveling spec due to its DoT based gameplay and quick setup on AoE packs.

Should you happen to be more of a dungeoneer, or prefer to pull very large number of mobs while leveling, Blood can also be a very decent option. As a tank specialization, they trade some of their damage for self-sustain, and this is something you can definitely take advantage of while grinding.

Whatever route you take, we strongly encourage you to select your favorite time period through Chromie Time. This will allow you to live (or re-live) some of Azeroth's best questing moments while also allowing you to queue for the dungeons present in that expansion. If you pick Classic, Burning Crusade, Wrath or Cataclysm, a large number of quests are present in the dungeon themselves. This allows you to double-dip on experience and level even faster!

If you are unsure of where and how to level, we strongly recommend checking out our leveling guide.

Due to your level advantage over other classes, you will realistically spend very little time (and use very few abilities!) without a specialization. We have highlighted the abilities you will spend your three levels as a specialization-less death knight below.

Your journey in Azeroth starts with three main damage abilities:

• Rune Strike is your main way to spend Runes. This deals a small amount of damage to your target, and generates 10 Runic Power
• Death and Decay allows you to place a zone on the floor that deals light damage to all enemies inside it. This also costs one Rune and generates 10 Runic Power.
• Finally, you can spend all the Runic Power you generate with Death Coil. This deals a significant amount of shadow damage to your target at the cost of 30 Runic Power

For the next two levels, these skills will be your bread and butter - spend your runes, then spend the Runic Power you acquired without wasting either. You also start with access to Death Grip, a way to forcefully grab enemies to you from afar.

At level 9, you unlock a minor defensive ( Lichborne) and an ability granting you a major movement speed bonus ( Death's Advance). You will keep those all the way to 80 and they will be an integral part of your kit.

When you pick your specialization, you gain access to one of three signature abilities from the class tree, along with your very first talent point. If you picked Frost or Unholy, we recommend spending this talent point into Death Strike. Alternatively, start down the Raise Dead route to quickly pick up Cleaving Strikes, significantly increasing your cleave capability!

Once you reach level 11, you will be able to spend your first specialization talent point. This first point will invariably be spent on your very first signature specialization ability:

• If you picked Blood, you will unlock Heart Strike. This replaces Rune Strike and deals a much larger amount of damage to your target along with another nearby enemy. It also generates 5 bonus Runic Power
• If you picked Frost, you will unlock Frost Strike. You should stop using Death Coil at this point, and instead switch to using Frost Strike as your main Runic Power spender.
• Finally, if you picked Unholy, you will unlock Festering Strike. This replaces Rune Strike, deals more damage, and also applies 2 to 3 Festering Wound to your target. These will come to the fore in a few levels, as they are a key part of the Unholy gameplay - for the next two levels (when you can pick Scourge Strike), they will just be a debuff on your target.

Generally, heirloom choice is very dependent on the maximum possible level you have upgraded them for. Neither of the three specs particularly loves or hates a stat in particular. If in doubt, pick heirlooms with Haste, as this stat reduces your GCD, granting a feeling of speed and efficiency.

When you get the option to Runeforge, and every time you acquire a new weapon, make sure you affix your weapon with Rune of the Fallen Crusader. This Runeforge has a very high chance to grant you 15% bonus strength, and every time it does, you also get healed for 6% of your maximum health. It is very strong offensively and defensively, and is significantly stronger than any other weapon enchant in the game. It is also completely free! Rune of Unending Thirst is a great alternative, healing you and proving a speed boost whenever you kill an enemy.

If you are running a dual wield setup, make sure to apply Rune of Unending Thirst to your offhand weapon. This will allow you to gain a noticeable speed boost whenever you defeat an enemy. There are better throughput and damage Runeforge options, but Rune of Unending Thirst's benefits outweigh raw damage when leveling.

Do not forget! When you use Death Gate, using it again while inside Acherus teleports you to the nearest graveyard or instance portal from which you used Death Gate. There is rarely an excuse to wait, just go and affix whatever new weapon you get.

Once you've reached Level 80 and your leveling journey has found its end, you definitely want to check out the in-depth information on how to excel in all types of PvE content by checking out our Death Knight Specialization Guides!