Frost Death Knight DPS Spell Summary in Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.0.1

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 8.0.1 Changes for Frost Death Knights
  • 3. Frost Death Knight Strengths
  • 4. Frost Death Knight Weaknesses
  • 5. Contents
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. Foreword
  • 2. The Basics of Frost Death Knights
  • 3. Stat Choice for Frost Death Knights
  • 4. Basic Rotations for Frost Death Knights
    • 4.1. Rotation During Breath of Sindragosa
    • 4.2. Rotation outside Breath of Sindragosa
  • 5. Cooldowns for Frost Death Knights
  • 6. Azerite Traits
  • 7. ChangeLog
• ×Spell Summary
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Main Resources of Frost Death Knights
  • 3. Frost Death Knight Basic Abilities
  • 4. Important Procs for Frost Death Knights
  • 5. Cooldowns for Frost Death Knights
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices for Frost Death Knight
  • 2. Tier 1 (Level 56) Talents for Frost Death Knights
  • 3. Tier 2 (Level 57) Talents for Frost Death Knights
  • 4. Tier 3 (Level 58) Talents for Frost Death Knights
  • 5. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Frost Death Knights
  • 6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Frost Death Knights
  • 7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Frost Death Knights
  • 8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Frost Death Knights
  • 9. PvP Talents (War Mode)
    • 9.1. Frost Death Knight War Mode Talents
      • 9.1.1. General PvP Talents
      • 9.1.2. Frost Death Knight PvP Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Azerite Traits and Armor
  • 1. Disclaimer
  • 2. Azerite Traits for Frost Death Knight
  • 3. Recommended Traits
    • 3.1. Dungeons, Mythic+, and Raids
  • 4. Recommended Dungeon Azerite Gear
  • 5. Azerite Traits Rotation Changes and Details for Frost Death Knight
  • 6. Relative Strength of Azerite Traits for Frost Death Knight
  • 7. Azerite Trait Ranking for Frost Death Knight
    • 7.1. Single-Target
    • 7.2. 3 Targets (Mythic+, etc)
  • 8. Find Azerite Armor By Trait/Power
  • 9. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Single Target Rotation for Frost Death Knights
    • 1.1. Breath of Sindragosa Rotation
      • 1.1.1. Rotation during Breath of Sindragosa
      • 1.1.2. Rotation outside Breath of Sindragosa
    • 1.2. Obliteration Rotation
      • 1.2.1. Rotation During Pillar of Frost
      • 1.2.2. Rotation Outside Pillar of Frost
  • 2. Multiple Target Rotation for Frost Death Knights
  • 3. Cooldown Usage for Frost Death Knights
  • 4. Optional Read: Mastering Your Frost Death Knight
    • 4.1. Runes and Runic Power
      • 4.1.1. Runes
      • 4.1.2. Runic Power
    • 4.2. Dual-Wielding Versus Two-Handed
    • 4.3. Mastery: Frozen Heart
    • 4.4. Procs
      • 4.4.1. Killing Machine Procs
      • 4.4.2. Rime Procs
    • 4.5. Advanced Cooldown Usage
      • 4.5.1. Pillar of Frost
      • 4.5.2. Empower Rune Weapon
      • 4.5.3. Horn of Winter
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Mythic+ Tips
  • 1. Frost Death Knight in Mythic+
    • 1.1. Frost Death Knight Mythic+ Rotation
    • 1.2. Frost Death Knight Utility
    • 1.3. Mythic+ Talents for Frost Death Knights
    • 1.4. Tier One Affixes
    • 1.5. Tier Two Affixes
    • 1.6. Tier Three Affixes
    • 1.7. Seasonal Affix
  • 2. Mythic+ Azerite Traits
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Common and Worst Mistakes
  • 1. Capping Runes or Runic Power
  • 2. Not pooling Runes for Gathering Storm
  • 3. Low Icy Talons Uptime
  • 4. Not Pooling Resources for Breath of Sindragosa
  • 5. Using Anti-Magic Shell on Non-Magical Damage
• +Frequently Asked Questions
  • 1. Battle for Azeroth Frequently Asked Questions
    • 1.1. Should I Have a Lot of Downtime When Playing Breath of Sindragosa?
    • 1.2. Does the Downtime of Breath of Sindragosa Decrease with Higher Haste?
    • 1.3. Why Was Frost So Powerful in the Pre-patch Compared to Now
    • 1.4. Should You Hold Pillar of Frost for Breath of Sindragosa or the Other Way Around?
  • 2. ChangeLog
• +Boss by Boss Strategies
  • 1. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. The Basics of Stats for Frost Death Knight
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding of Frost Death Knight Stats
    • 2.1. Statistics Priority
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems for Frost Death Knights
  • 2. Enchants for Frost Death Knights
  • 3. Consumables for Frost Death Knights
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Death Knights
      • 1.1.1. Raise Ally
      • 1.1.2. Mind Freeze
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Frost Death Knights
      • 1.2.1. Death Grip Mouseover Macro
      • 1.2.2. Howling Blast
  • 2. Addons
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Death Knights
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.3. GTFO
      • 2.1.4. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 2.1.5. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.6. Recount / Skada / Details!
      • 2.1.7. mRunes
      • 2.1.8. Omen Threat Meter
      • 2.1.9. Grid and GridClickSets (Optional)
    • 2.2. Specific Addons for Frost Death Knights
• +Gear and Best in Slot
  • 1. The Importance of "Simming Yourself" as a Frost Death Knight
  • 2. Best in Slot Azerite Items for Frost Death Knight
  • 3. Stats
  • 4. Trinket Simulation for Frost Death Knight
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Simulations
  • 1. Disclaimer Page
  • 2. Frost Death Knight Racial Bonus Simulation
  • 3. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we list the spells that you will often use as a Frost Death Knight.

The other pages of our Frost Death Knight guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author

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 Club Camel. You can also check out his YouTube channel.

1. Introduction

If you are new to Frost, this is a great place to start to get an understanding of how the spec works. On this page we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialisation, how they interact with each other and also with important cooldowns. If you already have experience with Frost and are comfortable with it in Legion, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

2. Main Resources of Frost Death Knights

Runic Power and Runes are your two resources. Throughout the fight, you will look to spend as many Runes as possible and generate as much Runic Power as you can, which you will then use to help you deal more damage.

3. Frost Death Knight Basic Abilities

These are your core skills that are available regardless of talents, and form the core gameplay of the specialisation.

Frost Fever is a DoT that is applied by Howling Blast, and which you should aim to have up on the target(s) essentially at all times.

Howling Blast costs 1 Rune (although its cost is removed when you have a Rime proc), deals Frost damage to the target and all other enemies within 10 yards of them, and affects all targets it hits with Frost Fever.

Obliterate costs 2 Runes and deals a high amount of Physical damage to the target, and using it has a 45% chance to grant you a Rime proc.

Frost Strike costs 25 Runic Power, and this is your only means to dump Runic Power and deal damage throughout the fight.

Remorseless Winter costs 1 Rune and deals Frost damage over time to all enemies in a radius around you, also slowing their movement speed by 50% for the duration.

Death's Advance is a useful movement ability that has a 45-second cooldown which increases your movement speed by 30% and prevents you from being slowed below 100% of your baseline movement speed. It also passively prevents you from being slowed below 70% of your baseline movement speed.

Anti-Magic Shell absorbs up to 30% of your maximum health in magic damage over 5 seconds, and generates Runic Power based on the damage absorbed. This should be used to mitigate magic damage throughout the fight, while the added Runic Power will help increase your DPS.

4. Important Procs for Frost Death Knights

Frost Death Knights have two important procs.

Rime is a proc that can be triggered by either your Obliterate (with a 45% chance) or your Frostscythe (with a 22.5% chance), and it causes the next Howling Blast to cost no Runes and deal 300% increased damage. Using these procs before re-casting Obliterate is a very high priority.

Killing Machine grants your auto-attacks a chance to cause your next Obliterate to be a guaranteed critical hit.

5. Cooldowns for Frost Death Knights

Frost Death Knights have two important offensive cooldowns.

• Pillar of Frost increases your Strength by 20% for 15 seconds, also making you immune to "external movement effects", such as knockbacks, for the duration. It has a 45-second cooldown. Each Rune spent during Pillar of Frost increases your Strength by 1%.
• Empower Rune Weapon increases your Haste by 15% and generates 1 Rune and 5 Runic Power instantly and every 5 seconds for 20 seconds. It has a 2-minute cooldown.