Frost Death Knight DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Dragonflight 10.2.5

Last updated on Jan 15, 2024 at 15:00 by Bicepspump 42 comments
General Information

On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Frost Death Knight in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2.5. We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.

1.

Best Dragonflight Talents for Frost Death Knight

Note that these builds are generic recommendations for various content. For more specific recommendations for the Raid and Mythic+, check out the dedicated pages below.

There is a very distinct choice to make as a Frost Death Knight in raids, do you play Breath of Sindragosa Icon Breath of Sindragosa or Obliteration Icon Obliteration. These talents govern weapon choice (Dual-Wield for Breath, 2H for Obliteration) as well as gameplay. Breath requires essentially 100% boss uptime to be good as your average Breath duration will be close to 2 minutes! Obliteration is more flexible but tend to be slightly worse when Breath can be leveraged optimally. Finally, Obliteration is probably best once you obtain the 2H Legendary (Breath really cannot run a 2H weapon).

As a general rule, Breath of Sindragosa Icon Breath of Sindragosa is better on bosses where you can maintain close to 100% uptime on the boss. Obliteration Icon Obliteration is generally better otherwise, especially with the Legendary. You can safely run either on every single boss in the raid!

Chill Streak Icon Chill Streak and Enduring Chill Icon Enduring Chill are recommended in all builds below. These only become good talents once you obtain your Death Knight Frost 10.2 Class Set 2pc Icon Death Knight Frost 10.2 Class Set 2pc. Before you obtain the new set, put the points in the following way:

  • Second point of Bonegrinder Icon Bonegrinder and Everfrost Icon Everfrost for Raid Breath of Sindragosa Icon Breath of Sindragosa.
  • Second point of Frostwhelp's Aid Icon Frostwhelp's Aid and Empower Rune Weapon Icon Empower Rune Weapon for Raid Obliteration Icon Obliteration. Also swap Inexorable Assault Icon Inexorable Assault to Icebreaker Icon Icebreaker with this build.
  • Second point of Enduring Strength Icon Enduring Strength and Frostwyrm's Fury Icon Frostwyrm's Fury for Mythic+ Obliteration Icon Obliteration.
2.

Best Talents for Frost Death Knight

Breath of Sindragosa Raid Talents Obliteration Raid Talents AoE/Mythic+ Talents
3.

Best Breath Single-Target Talents for Frost Death Knight

The Breath of Sindragosa Icon Breath of Sindragosa build is a high-risk, high-reward build that requires you to stick to the boss for 90+ seconds to fully leverage its power. It is great whenever there is constant cleave or when you can safely maintain it for more than 75% of the encounter. Furthermore, you can greatly increase its potential by soaking magic damage spells with Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell and Assimilation Icon Assimilation. This build always runs dual-wield weapons due to the increased Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine proc rate and the ability to pick up Rune of Hysteria Icon Rune of Hysteria as a second Runeforge.

The build we recommend here does not pick up Everfrost Icon Everfrost. Going for the single point in Bonegrinder Icon Bonegrinder is around 0.5% better for pure Single Target. However, with any AoE, Everfrost Icon Everfrost becomes better by around 5%. Choose Bonegrinder Icon Bonegrinder for pure Single Target and Everfrost Icon Everfrost elsewhere! If you want to pick up Frostwyrm's Fury Icon Frostwyrm's Fury for the big AoE burst, further sacrifice Enduring Chill Icon Enduring Chill for a further 5% Single Target loss. Generally not recommended due to the large Single Target downgrade! Finally, Frostwhelp's Aid Icon Frostwhelp's Aid is great whenever you can get the value from hitting multipe targets. Use it on all fights with AoE!

When it comes to choices in the Breath build, they primarily exist in the class-specific tree. We are generally locked in into Anti-Magic Barrier Icon Anti-Magic Barrier, Anti-Magic Zone Icon Anti-Magic Zone and Assimilation Icon Assimilation due to the large amount of Runic Power you can generate from these abilities. On fight where there are literally no Magic Damage, you can opt to exchange these three talents for March of Darkness Icon March of Darkness, Acclimation Icon Acclimation and Death Pact Icon Death Pact. Furthermore, Permafrost Icon Permafrost can be allocated to Coldthirst Icon Coldthirst for potential Runic Power gain on interrupts in a fight, or Blinding Sleet Icon Blinding Sleet if hard CC is required.

At the lower part of the tree, we can opt to exchange Blood Draw Icon Blood Draw and Death's Echo Icon Death's Echo for Will of the Necropolis Icon Will of the Necropolis and Insidious Chill Icon Insidious Chill. This brings a nice defensive buff to the tank, as well as making yourself significantly more tanky. This choice is generally just a loss of utility, but comes a DPS loss in AoE (the double charge on Death's Echo Icon Death's Echo is valuable in AoE). If you end up making this change, you can also swap Unholy Ground Icon Unholy Ground for Wraith Walk Icon Wraith Walk to compensate some of the loss in mobility. Generally, make this swap in pure Single Target fights where you will not use Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay.

Soul Reaper Icon Soul Reaper can be exchanged for Abomination Limb Icon Abomination Limb whenever you can get either grip value, or AoE value from the talent!

3.

Best Obliteration Single-Target Talents for Frost Death Knight

The Obliteration Icon Obliteration build is all about that Obliterate Icon Obliterate damage, seeing big burst windows every 30-40 seconds. If you do get a mechanic during these 12-second burst windows, you'll lose a lot of damage, but you can usually play around it to avoid the downsides. The build is prevalent in the rankings for all bosses and generally does good damage.

The Obliteration build has quite a lot of flex talents you can choose from. The point in Inexorable Assault Icon Inexorable Assault can be allocated to Frostwhelp's Aid Icon Frostwhelp's Aid for around 0.3% Single Target loss with a significant AoE gain. Do this whenever a fight has any adds. Icebreaker Icon Icebreaker is also just a 0.3% loss from Inex but has no specific extra value compared to add.

Frostwyrm's Fury Icon Frostwyrm's Fury can be picked up at 0.8% DPS loss compared to Inex, providing a significant amount of AoE burst potential. Furthermore, you can also pick up Glacial Advance Icon Glacial Advance for a 0.8% DPS loss, providing the opportunity to spend Runic Power from range, as well as giving a nice amount of constant AoE. Solid choice for any fight with adds coming in frequently, like Tindral!

Finally, you can opt for both running Frostwhelp's Aid Icon Frostwhelp's Aid and Empower Rune Weapon Icon Empower Rune Weapon. This will generally sim slightly lower but is really useful on Smolderon for instance where you get the opportunity to use Empower Rune Weapon Icon Empower Rune Weapon for every burst phase!

Obliteration Icon Obliteration also has more choices in the class tree. We are not locked in to Assimilation Icon Assimilation in the same way as Breath, freeing up that point in all scenarios. Acclimation Icon Acclimation, March of Darkness Icon March of Darkness and Improved Death Strike Icon Improved Death Strike are all solid choices. Furthermore, Permafrost Icon Permafrost can be allocated to Coldthirst Icon Coldthirst for quicker interrupts, or Blinding Sleet Icon Blinding Sleet if hard CC is required.

At the bottom part of the tree, we can again make the choice of picking up Insidious Chill Icon Insidious Chill and Will of the Necropolis Icon Will of the Necropolis. This is a significant loss in AoE, though, due to how Obliteration Icon Obliteration synergizes with Death's Echo Icon Death's Echo but a very realistic change in Single Target. Again, Wraith Walk Icon Wraith Walk can be picked up instead of Unholy Ground Icon Unholy Ground if you make the switch!

Soul Reaper Icon Soul Reaper can be exchanged for Abomination Limb Icon Abomination Limb whenever you can get either grip value, or AoE value from the talent!

3.

Best AoE Talents for Frost Death Knight

This is our recommended build for Mythic+. It works really well for all weeks and all affixes!

It is centered around our Obliteration Icon Obliteration talent. Leveraging it in conjunction with Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay and Cleaving Strikes Icon Cleaving Strikes to deal significant AoE damage.

When it comes to your spec talents, we do have some choices to make. We can run double Enduring Chill Icon Enduring Chill instead of double Frostwhelp's Aid Icon Frostwhelp's Aid. This is around 0.8% DPS loss overall but brings slightly more (0.2%) Single Target DPS. Other than that the talents are pretty set in stone!

The class tree does not have much choice in Mythic+ either. We pick up so many defensive talents that there are not much choice left. Still, we again get the choice around Will of the Necropolis Icon Will of the Necropolis. It might seem overkill to pick this up, but it increases your effective max health by 16%! Not strictly needed with perfect play, but a really nice cushion to have. You do sacrifice 3-4% as you need to give up a point in Unholy Bond Icon Unholy Bond in the Mythic+ build. Sacrificing Death's Echo Icon Death's Echo is not a good idea.

Breath of Sindragosa Icon Breath of Sindragosa is a viable alternative in Mythic+, specifically in high keys (23+) with a tank that pulls around your cooldowns. You really need to chain-pull enemies to get the full value of your Breath of Sindragosa Icon Breath of Sindragosa cooldown.

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3.

PvP Talents (War Mode)

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents that are best for leveling and doing open-world content.

  • PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
  • 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
  • 10% more experience gained while leveling.
  • Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will make yourself available for open-world PvP, and the possibility of being "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

3.1.

Frost Death Knight War Mode Talents

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of both General PvP Talents and Frost Death Knight-specific PvE talents.

3.1.1.

Frost Death Knight PvP Talents

  1. Necrotic Aura Icon Necrotic Aura causes all enemies within 8 yards to take 4% increased magical damage. This has good synergy with a large part of your kit and is a major DPS increase.
  2. Bloodforged Armor Icon Bloodforged Armor reduces Physical damage taken by 20% for 3 seconds after using Death Strike Icon Death Strike. Solid defensive value in a PvE environment!
  3. Deathchill Icon Deathchill causes your Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter and Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice to root the target in place for 4 seconds. Your Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter causes all targets within 5 yards to be afflicted with Deathchill Icon Deathchill. If a target is afflicted with Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice, then casting Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice again will afflict them with Deathchill Icon Deathchill. A good option for controlling the enemies you fight against!
  4. Delirium Icon Delirium causes your Howling Blast Icon Howling Blast and Frost Strike Icon Frost Strike to apply Delirium Icon Delirium to the target. Delirium reduces the cooldown recovery rate of movement abilities by 25% stacking up to 2 times for 15 seconds.
  5. Dark Simulacrum Icon Dark Simulacrum places a dark ward on the target for 12 seconds; when the target spends Mana on a spell, you gain a duplicate of that spell. This ability has a 20-second cooldown and costs 20 Runic Power. It can be used to steal a very strong spell that can turn the tides of a fight.
  6. Strangulate Icon Strangulate silences the target for 4 seconds. Okay, against casters in PvE, but generally not worth the point.
  7. Bitter Chill Icon Bitter Chill reduces the target's haste by 8% when affected by Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice. Frost Strike Icon Frost Strike extends its duration. Good for PvP CC but generally worthless in PvE.
  8. Rot and Wither Icon Rot and Wither applies a 100% absorb shield for the damage dealt by Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay. Not worth it in any PvE content.
  9. Shroud of Winter Icon Shroud of Winter reduces the cast range of enemies within 8 yards around you by 30%. Not useful in PvE.
  10. Dead of Winter Icon Dead of Winter causes your Remorseless Winter to stun an enemy for 4 seconds when it deals damage 5 times to that enemy. It also increases Remorseless Winter's cooldown by 25 seconds and reduces the radius by 5 yards. This is a bad PvP talent since it reduces our DPS. Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter is a big part of our DPS, and increasing its cooldown is a bad thing.
  11. Spellwarden Icon Spellwarden reduces the cooldown of Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell by 10 seconds and allows you to cast it on allies. Somewhat useful defensive talent to pick up!

Necrotic Aura Icon Necrotic Aura is the most beneficial PvP talent by far since it provides and actual DPS increase. Bloodforged Armor Icon Bloodforged Armor is a solid defensive upgrade and Deathchill Icon Deathchill helps to control your enemies. All other talents are not very impactful or simply worse for our damage throughput!

4.

Changelog

  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 29 Nov. 2023: Updated builds after Frost DK Buffs.
  • 22 Nov. 2023: Updated Obliteration raid builds to run enduring chill.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.7.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 01 Jun. 2023: Removed DW oblit build and updated 2h oblit viability in raid.
  • 01 May 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1. Included FwF in talent builds and added a Breath M+ altenrative build.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Updated talents for 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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