Frost Death Knight DPS Gear and Best in Slot — Dragonflight 10.2.6
On this page, you will find the best gear and best in slot items for your Frost Death Knight in World of Warcraft Dragonflight 10.2.6.
BiS Gear Guide for Frost Death Knight
Welcome to our Gear and BiS Page for Frost Death Knight for Dragonflight 10.2. Check this page learn everything you need to know about gearing a Frost Death Knight, including the BiS Gear from all sources, Raiding, and Mythic+, information on the best Trinkets, Tier Sets, and much more.
The BiS lists below run Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch on a Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl. However, Elemental Lariat is the true BiS second embellishment. It becomes stronger after you have picked up a couple of sockets, so make sure to sim yourself to know when to switch.
BiS Gear for Breath of Sindragosa Frost Death Knight
Breath of Sindragosa BiS List for Frost Death Knight
Below, you will find the theoretical BiS set of gear for Season 3 for the Breath of Sindragosa talent build.
Slot | Item | Boss/ Dungeon/ Source |
---|---|---|
Helm | Piercing Gaze of the Risen Nightmare | Tindral Sageswift |
Neck | Amulet of Eonar's Chosen | Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle |
Shoulder | Skewers of the Risen Nightmare | Smolderon |
Cloak | Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl with Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch (Haste Crit) | Tailoring |
Chest | Carapace of the Unbending Flame | Fyrakk, the Blazing |
Bracers | Allied Wristguard of Companionship | Blacksmithing |
Gloves | Thorns of the Risen Nightmare | Igira the Cruel |
Belt | Phlegethic Girdle | Larodar, Keeper of the Flame |
Legs | Greaves of the Risen Nightmare | Larodar, Keeper of the Flame |
Boots | Lavaforged Sollerets | Volcoross |
Ring #1 | Band of Twisted Bark | Darkheart Thicket |
Ring #2 | Arch-Druid's Tainted Seal | Darkheart Thicket |
Trinket #1 | Pip's Emerald Friendship Badge | Council of Dreams |
Trinket #2 | Cataclysmic Signet Brand | Smolderon |
1-handed Weapon | Gholak, the Final Conflagration | Fyrakk, the Blazing |
1-handed Weapon | Volcoross's Barbed Fang | Volcoross |
Breath of Sindragosa Mythic+ Gear BiS List for Frost Death Knight
This list contains the highest DPS setup, with farmable gear from Mythic+ Dungeons. This is a great place to start on a relatively new character, as you can infinitely grind out these items from Mythic+.
Slot | Item | Boss/ Dungeon/ Source |
---|---|---|
Helm | Piercing Gaze of the Risen Nightmare | Revival Catalyst |
Neck | Chain of the Green Flight | Darkheart Thicket |
Shoulder | Skewers of the Risen Nightmare | Revival Catalyst |
Cloak | Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl with Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch (Haste Crit) | Tailoring |
Chest | Casket of the Risen Nightmare | Revival Catalyst |
Bracers | Allied Wristguard of Companionship | Blacksmithing |
Gloves | Thorns of the Risen Nightmare | Revival Catalyst |
Belt | Unwinding Eon Girdle | Dawn of the Infinite: Galakrond's Fall |
Legs | Greaves of the Risen Nightmare | Revival Catalyst |
Boots | Embellished Ritual Sabatons | Atal'Dazar |
Ring #1 | Band of Twisted Bark | Darkheart Thicket |
Ring #2 | Arch-Druid's Tainted Seal | Darkheart Thicket |
Trinket #1 | Mirror of Fractured Tomorrows | Dawn of the Infinite: Murozond's Rise |
Trinket #2 | Porcelain Crab | Throne of the Tides |
1-handed Weapon | Quel'Zaram, High Blade of the Lion | Dawn of the Infinite: Murozond's Rise |
1-handed Weapon | Quel'Zaram, High Blade of the Lion | Dawn of the Infinite: Murozond's Rise |
Breath of Sindragosa Raid Gear BiS List for Frost Death Knight
This list contains the highest DPS setup, only using gear from the Amirdrassil Raid.
This list is mostly useful for informing your organized guild of what loot is optimal for you, for loot distribution purposes.
Slot | Item | Boss/ Dungeon/ Source |
---|---|---|
Helm | Piercing Gaze of the Risen Nightmare | Tindral Sageswift |
Neck | Amulet of Eonar's Chosen | Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle |
Shoulder | Skewers of the Risen Nightmare | Smolderon |
Cloak | Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl with Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch (Haste Crit) | Tailoring |
Chest | Carapace of the Unbending Flame | Fyrakk, the Blazing |
Bracers | Allied Wristguard of Companionship | Blacksmithing |
Gloves | Thorns of the Risen Nightmare | Igira the Cruel |
Belt | Phlegethic Girdle | Larodar, Keeper of the Flame |
Legs | Greaves of the Risen Nightmare | Larodar, Keeper of the Flame |
Boots | Lavaforged Sollerets | Volcoross |
Ring #1 | Band of Burning Thorns | Larodar, Keeper of the Flame |
Ring #2 | Signet of the Last Elder | Igira the Cruel |
Trinket #1 | Pip's Emerald Friendship Badge | Council of Dreams |
Trinket #2 | Cataclysmic Signet Brand | Smolderon |
1-handed Weapon | Gholak, the Final Conflagration | Fyrakk, the Blazing |
1-handed Weapon | Volcoross's Barbed Fang | Volcoross |
BiS Gear for Obliteration Frost Death Knight
Obliteration BiS List for Frost Death Knight
Below you will find the theoretical BiS set of gear for Season 3.
Slot | Item | Boss/ Dungeon/ Source |
---|---|---|
Helm | Piercing Gaze of the Risen Nightmare | Tindral Sageswift |
Neck | Amulet of Eonar's Chosen | Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle |
Shoulder | Skewers of the Risen Nightmare | Smolderon |
Cloak | Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl with Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch (Haste Crit) | Tailoring |
Chest | Carapace of the Unbending Flame | Fyrakk, the Blazing |
Bracers | Allied Wristguard of Companionship | Blacksmithing |
Gloves | Thorns of the Risen Nightmare | Igira the Cruel |
Belt | Unwinding Eon Girdle | Dawn of the Infinite: Galakrond's Fall |
Legs | Greaves of the Risen Nightmare | Larodar, Keeper of the Flame |
Boots | Lavaforged Sollerets | Volcoross |
Ring #1 | Band of Twisted Bark | Darkheart Thicket |
Ring #2 | Arch-Druid's Tainted Seal | Darkheart Thicket |
Trinket #1 | Pip's Emerald Friendship Badge | Council of Dreams |
Trinket #2 | Cataclysmic Signet Brand | Smolderon |
2-handed Weapon | Fyr'alath the Dreamrender ( Gnarlroot's Bonecrusher until you get it) | Fyrakk, the Blazing (Gnarlroot) |
Obliteration Mythic+ Gear BiS List for Frost Death Knight
This list contains the highest DPS setup, with farmable gear from Mythic+ Dungeons. This is a great place to start on a relatively new character, as you can infinitely grind out these items from Mythic+.
Slot | Item | Boss/ Dungeon/ Source |
---|---|---|
Helm | Piercing Gaze of the Risen Nightmare | Revival Catalyst |
Neck | Chain of the Green Flight | Darkheart Thicket |
Shoulder | Skewers of the Risen Nightmare | Revival Catalyst |
Cloak | Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl with Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch (Haste Crit) | Tailoring |
Chest | Unceasing Footman's Breastplate | Dawn of the Infinite: Murozond's Rise |
Bracers | Allied Wristguard of Companionship | Blacksmithing |
Gloves | Thorns of the Risen Nightmare | Revival Catalyst |
Belt | Unwinding Eon Girdle | Dawn of the Infinite: Galakrond's Fall |
Legs | Greaves of the Risen Nightmare | Revival Catalyst |
Boots | Embellished Ritual Sabatons | Atal'Dazar |
Ring #1 | Band of Twisted Bark | Darkheart Thicket |
Ring #2 | Arch-Druid's Tainted Seal | Darkheart Thicket |
Trinket #1 | Accelerating Sandglass | Dawn of the Infinite: Galakrond's Fall |
Trinket #2 | Rezan's Gleaming Eye | Atal'Dazar |
2-handed Weapon | Whitefin Axe | Throne of the Tides |
Raid Gear BiS List for Frost Death Knight
This list contains the highest DPS setup, only using gear from the Amirdrassil Raid.
This list is mostly useful for informing your organized guild of what loot is optimal for you, for loot distribution purposes.
Slot | Item | Boss/ Dungeon/ Source |
---|---|---|
Helm | Piercing Gaze of the Risen Nightmare | Tindral Sageswift |
Neck | Amulet of Eonar's Chosen | Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle |
Shoulder | Skewers of the Risen Nightmare | Smolderon |
Cloak | Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl with Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch (Haste Crit) | Tailoring |
Chest | Carapace of the Unbending Flame | Fyrakk, the Blazing |
Bracers | Allied Wristguard of Companionship | Blacksmithing |
Gloves | Thorns of the Risen Nightmare | Igira the Cruel |
Belt | Phlegethic Girdle | Larodar, Keeper of the Flame |
Legs | Greaves of the Risen Nightmare | Larodar, Keeper of the Flame |
Boots | Lavaforged Sollerets | Volcoross |
Ring #1 | Band of Burning Thorns | Larodar, Keeper of the Flame |
Ring #2 | Signet of the Last Elder | Igira the Cruel |
Trinket #1 | Pip's Emerald Friendship Badge | Council of Dreams |
Trinket #2 | Cataclysmic Signet Brand | Smolderon |
2-handed Weapon | Fyr'alath the Dreamrender ( Gnarlroot's Bonecrusher until you get it) | Fyrakk, the Blazing (Gnarlroot) |
Gearing a Frost Death Knight
If you have a new piece of gear for which you need gems and enchant advice, you can find everything on our dedicated page below.
While gearing up, item level will be your primary target. Strength is our best stat, and you shouldn't focus too much on your secondaries at first. Once you start to receive gear pieces with the same ilvl but different stats, that is when you want to start optimizing your stat distribution. Generally, Frost Death Knights want to prioritize Crit and then Mastery and Haste! We recommend simming your character to determine what upgrade is best for you! For a more detailed explanation, you can read the Simulations page.
Simming your character is far and beyond the best way to determine if a piece of gear is, in fact, an upgrade. The trick is knowing how to do it in a way that produces reliable results. If you follow the Simulations guide page, you can use this to have a more practical gearing guide than simply following a BiS list.
Frost Death Knight Gear Upgrades in Dragonflight Season 3
Dragonflight Season 3 has two currencies that can upgrade items all the way to 489 (for Mythic track items). This requires two currencies: Flightstones and Shadowflame Crests that can be obtained from pretty much all content!
For more information on the Gear Upgrades system, check out our dedicated page for it below.
Best Items to Upgrade for Frost Death Knight in Dragonflight Season 2
We want to upgrade our most valuable slots at first, since it provides the best DPS per unit of currency. This includes the Weapon, as well as our trinkets. After this point, aim to upgrade slots with as many stats as possible, such as Helm, Shoulder, Chest, and Legs.
- Weapon (unless you have Legendary)
- Cataclysmic Signet Brand/ Pip's Emerald Friendship Badge/ Accelerating Sandglass/ Ember of Nullification/ Porcelain Crab
- Helm, Shoulder, Chest and Legs
Weapon and Trinkets are just great for upgrading since they provide a lot of power for the price you pay. After this point, make sure to simulate your character to find the upgrade that gives the most DPS per unit of upgrade currency possible.
You can make an argument for upgrading your embellishments as a high priority as well. Once at their max ilvl, you will simply never replace them, reducing the risk of wasting crests down to 0. However, since we get free Enchanted Wyrm's Dreaming Crest , you will reach 476 ilvl already (10 ilvls lower than max). The 60 crests that it takes to craft to 486 therefore only give you 10 more ilvls. Even if these items are embellishments that will scale with ilvl, the DPS per crest is generally much less than what you could get elsewhere (2-7x more DPS by upgrading other pieces). It is up to you how much you value a guaranteed gain vs a gain that you might replace shortly in the future!
Overall Top Trinkets
Frost generally favors two passive trinkets in a raiding environment due due to our flat damage profile. The exceptions are Mirror of Fractured Tomorrows and Ashes of the Embersoul. Mirror works relatively well with Breath of Sindragosa, boosting the opening burst. Ashes is great with Obliteration when you run double Empower Rune Weapon. You can then save a charge for each 2 minute burst window without losing out on CDR value from the tier set!
The best passives are Pip's Emerald Friendship Badge and Cataclysmic Signet Brand. The Signet Brand does deal a significant amount of self-damage and can be changed for Accelerating Sandglass/ Porcelain Crab/ Ember of Nullification which provides good value without the negative aspect. Furthermore, due to the ramping nature of Signet Brand, any fight shorter than 5 minutes or so will favour an alternative trinket.
For Mythic+, we really want passive trinkets that actually give secondary stats. Pip's Emerald Friendship Badge/ Porcelain Crab, Accelerating Sandglass, Ember of Nullification and Gore-Crusted Butcher's Block are your primary alternatives. Ashes of the Embersoul is also a good option, again when running double Empower Rune Weapon charges.
I have listed the best trinkets below
Best Trinkets
- Cataclysmic Signet Brand
- Pip's Emerald Friendship Badge
- Accelerating Sandglass
Alternative Trinkets
- Porcelain Crab
- Ember of Nullification
- Ashes of the Embersoul (with Obliteration)
- Mirror of Fractured Tomorrows
- Coiled Serpent Idol
- Branch of the Tormented Ancient
- Gore-Crusted Butcher's Block
Stats
Many people overthink the distribution of their secondary stats. An important thing to remember is that a higher quantity of stats is nearly always better than a better quality of stats. Because of this, wearing higher item-level gear with worse stats tends to be better than lower item-level gear with great stats. Keep this in mind when considering gear. For more stats information, please refer to our dedicated page.
Jewelry
For neck and ring pieces, you can afford to drop 5-10 ilevels in most cases to get our preferred stat: Crit. That said, you should always sim yourself to see what is better as the secondary stat diminishing returns can still change your ideal setup. Remember that you aim for a balance in stats; just stacking Crit above else, for instance, is a bad idea!
Weapons
For Season 2, the Legendary will most likely be our best Weapon by far! Once you obtain this Weapon, you are likely to run Obliteration in all content. Until then, Gholak, the Final Conflagration and Volcoross's Barbed Fang are great Dual-Wield weapons. For our 2H Weapon, anything at the highest ilvl is best until you get your Legendary, Gnarlroot's Bonecrusher being good because it is relatively easy to obtain at a high ilvl.
Tier Set Bonus
With Season 3, we have a Forst Death Knight Tier set bonus that buffs how we play.
- 2-piece set bonus: Death Knight Frost 10.2 Class Set 2pc
- 4-piece set bonus: Death Knight Frost 10.2 Class Set 4pc
The ideal 4 items to use here are Head, Shoulder, Legs, and Hands. Any combination of the 4 is very much viable however, you can always just swap around your gems and enchants to balance out your stats! You want to break your old set as soon as you get 2-set on your old one, as 2p-2p is an upgrade compared to old 4p!
The tier set impacts our rotation since it forces us to pick up the Chill Streak talent. We will use this ability as much as possible, sending it on Cooldown to get as much value as possible! For more information on how to use it, see the dedicated Rotation Page.
Notable Crafted Gear and Embellishments
Crafting in Season 3 is slightly different compared to Season 2. The max ilvl is 3 ilvls lower than max mythic (486 vs 489). This means that you are much less likely to be wearing multiple crafted pieces! Furthermore, our embellishments are best on slots with low stat budget to not lose out on DPS due to the ilvl difference. We want to equip two embellishment pieces, and then fill in any gaps in our current gear where we get the best temporary upgrade!
The best embellishments in Season 3 are generally Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch and Allied Wristguard of Companionship. Blue Silken Lining is a very strong alternative that is better than Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch at between 20 and 30% uptime. They are also is distinctly better in Mythic+ since you are at max HP quite a lot of the time. However, in Raid, you will not always be able to keep enough uptime on the buff. For Farm kills with low damage intake, or specific bosses with little damage intake you could justify it. It is simply safer to run Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch in the majority of cases, though!
With multiple sockets in your gear, Elemental Lariat becomes your best choice in combination with the Allied Wristguard of Companionship. To figure out when the switch is best for you, simply simulate yourself! Allied Chestplate of Generosity is another alternative to consider. It provides solid group DPS gain and can be better than your other embellishments. However, it does occupy a tier slot, making it difficult to justify early in progression when you do not have a lot of available tier items to choose from.
Finally, crafting a weapon is generally always a solid idea. The Weapon provides the most "bang for your buck" and will be your best DPS upgrade early on. However, you will replace it eventually once you get a better weapon , making the investment "wasted" in a sense. Still, if you need that extra DPS early to meet a DPS check for a particularly difficult boss, do consider it!
Changelog
- 22 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Updated for Patch 10.2.5.
- 29 Nov. 2023: Added Legendary with proper link to bis.
- 22 Nov. 2023: Updated drop location from dawn upper and lower and changed Breath m+ bis trinkets to mirror and porcelain.
- 07 Nov. 2023: Updated BiS Lists and Embellishment recommendations after Sporecloak nerfs.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for patch 10.2. Added new bis lists, trinkets and embellishment.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.7.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Added 10.1.5 dungeon recommendation.
- 01 Jun. 2023: Added m+ embellishment recommendation.
- 31 May 2023: Added neltharion trinket as new bis for frost 2H oblit.
- 08 May 2023: Updated after trinket tuning.
- 01 May 2023: Updated all gear for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Death Knight Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Bicepspump, a semi-hardcore player raiding with Pescorus on Kazzak. He is heavily involved in the DK DPS theorycrafting community, testing hyoptheses and investigating the correct priority to use. He is also a moderator in the Acherus Death Knight Discord, frequently answering questions and discussing optimisations (do not hesitate to reach out). He produces guide content on YouTube and frequently streams on Twitch.
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