Frost Death Knight Shadowlands Leveling Guide From 8 to 60
On this page, you will find our Level by Level Frost Death Knight leveling guide for Shadowlands Make sure to use the slider to make the guide adapt to your level. For more general leveling information, please refer to our Death Knight leveling guide.
Runeforge Choice
When you get the option to Runeforge, make sure you apply
Rune of Razorice to your main hand and
Rune of the Fallen Crusader
to your off hand. If you are using a Two-Handed weapon, then use
Rune of the Fallen Crusader until level 58.
Gear Options
When leveling up, you should always choose the piece of loot with the highest item level. The only exception to this rule is if you have a Ring or Necklace with a slightly lower item level, but 2 secondary stats on it instead of 1.
Level by Level Rotation and Talents
Move the slider below to make the guide update to your level!
Until level 10, if you are not an allied race, your
Howling Blast will be replaced by
Rune Strike.
Depending on which race you picked, you will start a different level, and have a slightly different intro:
- If you picked an Allied Race then you start at level 10.
- On the other hand, if you started with a non allied race you start at level 8.
Your first talent row still unlocks at Level 15 though.
Talents to Level Up as a Frost Death Knight
Your first talent row unlocks at Level 15.
Your talent set up should be as follows.
- Level 15:
Cold Heart
- Level 25:
Runic Attenuation
- Level 30:
Asphyxiate
- Level 35:
Avalanche
- Level 40:
Wraith Walk
- Level 45:
Gathering Storm
- Level 50:
Obliteration
Rotation to Level Up as a Frost Death Knight
Starting off you will only have one main attack
ability: Rune Strike.
Rune Strike is your main damaging ability.
Raise Dead should be used off cooldown or for bosses/elite mobs.
Pillar of Frost when you open on a pack.
Frostwyrm's Fury should be paired with
Pillar of Frost and used on big packs, elites, or boss mobs.
Empower Rune Weapon should be paired with
Pillar of Frost and used on big packs, elites, or boss mobs.
Howling Blast to apply
Frost Fever to all targets.
Obliterate is your main damaging ability and Rune spender.
Howling Blast is your Rune spender and main AoE ability.
Remorseless Winter whenever there are 2+ targets or the target will last the duration.
- Spend your Runic Power on
Frost Strike when you are either about to cap Runic Power (70+) or do not have Runes available.
- You can now sacrifice your
Raise Dead with
Sacrificial Pact for additional burst DPS as its about to expire
There are all a number of passive abilities that you unlock through the leveling process that can change your playstyle and rotation.
Rime takes the highest priority in 2+ target scenarios so make sure you take advantage of these procs to maximize their damage.
Killing Machine is a passive ability that gives your auto attack Critical Strikes the chance to make your next
Obliterate critically strike.
Dark Succor is incredible for leveling, allowing you to easily heal and stay high health while chain pulling packs and mobs.
Obliterate Rank 2 is unlocked which increases the damage of it by 20%.
Empower Rune Weapon Rank 2 is unlocked which decreases the cooldown by 15 seconds.
Killing Machine now causes your next
Obliterate to deal Frost damage, which means your
Obliterate now scales off of your Mastery stat meaning it gains further benefit.
Frost Death Knight Defensive Abilities while Leveling
Anti-Magic Shell is a very strong magic shield that also generates Runic Power. This should be used whenever magic damage is present in order to take advantage of the Runic Power generation.
Lichborne is an extremely powerful ability for leveling, as it provides you with a good chunk of Leech. Use this cooldown in order to take advantage of the healing and try to pair it with high AoE or burst combinations.
Control Undead costs 1 Rune but allows you to take control of an undead target for 5 minutes; use this whenever available to help you in future pulls.
Icebound Fortitude is an amazing defensive cooldown that should be used whenever necessary to order to keep you moving from pack to pack.
Raise Ally cannot be used when solo leveling, however it is fantastic in dungeon groups if you decide to level that way.
Death's Advance is one of your only movement speed cooldowns making it incredibly useful when leveling. The secondary effects of this are not too useful in leveling scenarios, except for the passive that prevents you from being slowed past a certain point.
Anti-Magic Zone is a group/raid cooldown however it can easily be used when solo leveling to minimize magic damage taken in a large pull or against an elite that deals magic damage.
Frost Death Knight War Mode Talents for Leveling
This section will go over the PvP talents for leveling content for Frost Death Knights.
Frost Death Knight PvP Talents for Leveling
Chill Streak is far an above the best choice for PvP talents while leveling. It is incredibly easy to get Chill Streak to bounce to other targets by simply pulling 2+ mobs at once.
Dead of Winter is very easy to get the stun affect which is amazingly useful in AoE packs or even just single target for extra sustain of not having to stop and heal in between pulls.
Transfusion allows you to easily heal up in a short period of the time through
Death Strike making it very helpful in not only leveling scenarios but open world scenarios where you are trying to survive in PvP.
Congratulations!
Congratulations on reaching Level 60! Now that you have hit Level 60 we recommend looking at our Easy mode page and Talents section to learn how to play at max level.
Changelog
- 22 Nov. 2020: Included Shadowlands leveling updates.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Guide added.
This guide has been written by Abyssalwave, a top level Death Knight player. He is a former US #2 hardcore raider who currently raids with didnt ask. You can also check out his YouTube channel.
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