Frost Death Knight Leveling Guide from 8 to 80 — The War Within (11.2)

When you get the option to Runeforge, make sure you apply Rune of the Fallen Crusader to your main weapon. If you are running Dual-Wield, use Rune of Unending Thirst on your offhand. You can also opt for Unending Thirst for a 2H weapon if you like the speed boost! We generally recommend leveling with a 2H weapon.

When leveling up, you should always choose the piece of loot with the highest item level.

Move the slider below to make the guide update to your level!

Until you pick up Obliterate, your primary means of spending Runes is through Rune Strike.

Your first talent unlocks at Level 10.

Your talent set up should be as follows.

1. Pillar of Frost when you open on a pack.
2. Frostwyrm's Fury should be paired with Pillar of Frost and used on big packs, elites, or boss mobs.
3. Breath of Sindragosa when fighting difficult enemies or big packs!
4. Rune Strike is your main damaging ability and Rune spender.
5. Howling Blast to consume procs of Rime.
6. Empower Rune Weapon to generate Runic Power and procs of Killing Machine.
7. Obliterate is your main Single Target Rune spender and a big damage ability once you start generating Killing Machine procs at level 17.
8. Frostscythe over Obliterate when fighting 3+ enemies.
9. Use Death Coil when you have 80+ Runic Power or no available Runes. You won't use this ability once you pick up Frost Strike and Glacial Advance.
10. Raise Dead should be used off cooldown or for bosses/elite mobs.
11. Use Glacial Advance to consume your Runic Power whenever there are 2+ targets.
12. Use Frost Strike to consume your Runic Power.
13. Use Death Strike to heal yourself.
14. Remorseless Winter whenever there are 3+ targets or the target will last the duration.

There are several passive abilities that you unlock through the leveling process that can change your play style and rotation.

• Rime makes your Howling Blast deal significantly more damage. This is generally the only time you want to use Howling Blast.
• Killing Machine is a passive ability that gives your auto attack Critical Strikes the chance to make your next Obliterate critically strike and deal frost damage, significantly increasing its damage. It also makes your Frostscythe crit for 4x its normal damage. This proc is a large part of your damage output.
• Dark Succor is incredible for leveling, allowing you to easily heal and stay at high health while chain-pulling packs and mobs.

• Anti-Magic Shell is a very strong magic shield that also generates Runic Power when it absorbs magic damage. This should be used whenever magic damage is present to take advantage of the Runic Power generation.
• Lichborne is a relatively powerful ability for leveling, as it provides you with a good chunk of Leech. Use this cooldown to take advantage of the healing and try to pair it with high AoE or burst combinations.
• Icebound Fortitude is an amazing defensive cooldown that should be used whenever necessary in 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.
• Death Grip grips your target towards you, allowing you to start fighting it straight away. Really useful to speed up the leveling process.
• Mind Freeze is your interrupt which is great to use against casting mobs, significantly reducing the damage they deal to you!

Bloodforged Armor is a solid defensive upgrade and Deathchill helps to control your enemies. All other talents are not very impactful or simply worse for our damage throughput!