Frost Death Knight DPS Spell List and Glossary — The War Within (Season 1)

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 specialization, how they interact with each other and also with important cooldowns. If you already have experience with Frost and are comfortable with it in the current expansion, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

Runic Power and Runes are your two primary resources. We have 6 Runes in total that passively generate over time, taking 10 seconds to recharge (decreased by haste). Runes are the most common resource we use for our abilities, which include Obliterate and Remorseless Winter. Spending Runes generates 10 Runic Power per Rune used. We use Runic Power as our spender on abilities such as Frost Strike and Glacial Advance

Spells and passive abilities are unlocked as you level up and spend talent points. This page will simply list every single ability you can obtain, not recommending any specific talent setups or rotations to use. If you want to understand which abilities are best to pick up when leveling, please follow the below link.

These are the abilities that you obtain without selecting anything in the talent trees.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Death Coil	DC	Costs 30 Runic Power to cast, dealing Shadow damage to the target. Can be cast on an Undead ally (including yourself) to heal it. Works to heal Afflicted affix!
Death and Decay	DnD	Costs 1 Rune and places a damaging area at the target location, which persists for 10 seconds. If you have selected Cleaving Strikes also makes your Obliterate cleave 1 additional target.
Death's Advance	DA	Death's Advance when activated, increases your movement speed by 35% and prevents you from being slowed below 100% of your movement speed for 10 seconds. It also grants you immunity from knockbacks. It has a passive ability that prevents your movement speed from being reduced below 70%.
Rune Strike	-	Costs 1 Rune and deals moderate damage. Is replaced once we choose a specialisation ( Obliterate for Frost).
Runic Empowerment	RE	A passive that gives you a 2% chance per Runic Power spent to instantly regenerate a Rune. Always picks a fully depleted Rune if possible, or the least depleted one if possible.
Dark Succor	-	A passive that grants you a free Death Strike whenever you kill an enemy that grants honor or experience. Also increases the healing of the Death Strike by 10%. Importantly, you need to land the killing blow to retrieve the buff, meaning you will not get that many procs in Raids and Mythic+.
On a Pale Horse	-	A passive that grants 20% mounted movement speed.
Death Grip	-	Pulls your target towards you. Also has a shorter GCD compared to normal spells at 0.5 seconds. This means that you can quickly use another ability after gripping something.
Raise Ally	-	Costs 30 Runic Power and battle resses a targeted dead ally, bringing them back to life (even in combat).
Lichborne	-	Turns you undead for 10 seconds. This makes you immune to charm, fear, and sleep, and grants you 10% leech. You can also activate this ability to break any of these CCs, making it a useful tool if you are accidentally hit a mechanic that applies such a CC.
Dark Command	-	Taunts the targeted enemy, forcing them to attack you.
Runeforging	-	Allows you to apply a powerful Runeforge to your weapon, acting as a (usually) better enchant. You do this in the Acherus Hold at the Runeforges.
Death Gate	-	Summons a gate that will teleport you to Acherus. Here you can Runeforge your weapon and practice your rotation on target dummies. Using the Death Gate again will bring you back to your original location.
Path of Frost	-	Costs 1 Rune and grants everyone in your group the ability to walk on water. Breaks on any damage taken.
Mastery: Frozen Heart	-	Our Mastery, increasing all Frost damage we do. Doesn't work on damage sources from items.
Remorseless Winter	RW	Costs 1 Rune, dealing AoE Frost damage around you for 8 seconds. It also slows all enemies affected by 20%. Our primary non-cooldown ability for AoE damage that is also worthwhile to press in Single Target. It can be significantly buffed with talents such as Gathering Storm, Biting Cold and Everfrost. Learned at level 19.
Might of the Frozen Wastes	MotFW	Increases the damage of Obliterate by 30% when wielding a 2-handed weapon. It also makes your auto-attack critical strikes guarantee procs of Killing Machine. This doubles the proc rate of Killing Machine for a 2-handed build. This is still less than a dual-wield build would generate by 28%. Learned at level 25.
Frostreaper	-	Turns your Obliterates that consume procs of Killing Machine into Frost damage. This is a significant damage boost due to multiple effects. No damage reduction from armor, damage increases from Mastery: Frozen Heart as well as damage increase from Rune of Razorice. Synergizes well with all spells that increase the proc rate of Killing Machine, such as Obliteration and Icy Talons. Learned at level 28.
Rime	-	Provides a 45% chance for Obliterate and a 22.5% chance for Frostscythe to make your next Howling Blast cost no Runes and deal 150% more damage. It still counts as spending a Rune for abilities such as Pillar of Frost and Gathering Storm.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Death Strike	DS	Costs 45 Runic Power and constitutes our primary mean of healing ourselves. The amount of healing increases with the damage we've taken in the last 5 seconds, making it excellent to use after you have taken a big hit. It heals for 25% of the damage taken with a minimum of 7% max hp healed every time.
Raise Dead	-	Summons a ghoul to fight with us for 1 minute. The ghoul can charge as well as stun, in addition to dealing damage.
Mind Freeze	-	Interrupts your target. It has a 15 yards range, a benefit over other melee interrupts that often require melee range.
Blinding Sleet	Sleet	Blinds all targets in a cone in front of you for 5 seconds. When the enemies are broken out of sleep via damage or if the duration finishes, they are slowed by 50% for 6 seconds. Great ability to stop a group of enemies from casting, as well as controlling them efficiently. Your tank will love this ability whenever they need to kite.
Sacrificial Pact	SacPact	Costs 30 Runic Power and sacrifices your primary ghoul, dealing AoE damage (linearly to 8 targets, square root afterward) and healing you for 25% of your maximum hp. Primarily used as an energy heal as the damage component is not worth the hassle of resummoning the ghoul.
Control Undead	-	Costs 1 Rune and controls the targeted Undead enemy for 2 minutes. This requires that the enemy is sufficiently low-level (it does not work on bosses and certain mobs in dungeons). Furthermore, it prevents you from having your primary ghoul active. You can use the abilities of the dominated undead at reduced effectiveness. Overall, this should only be used as a CC tool since the damage loss of not having our primary ghoul active is too great.
Icebound Fortitude	IBF	Provides a 30% damage reduction for 8 seconds, additionally making you immune to stuns. It can be used when stunned as well to break out of the CC. Primary defensive cooldown for us with the added benefit of the stun break!
Anti-Magic Zone	AMZ	Places a zone on the ground that reduces magic damage taken by 20% for 10 seconds for everyone standing in it. The maximum amount that can be absorbed is equal to 1.5 times your Maximum Health, increased by your Versatility.
Asphyxiate	Asphyx	Stuns your target for 5 seconds. Simple single-target stun with a range of 20-yard range.
Death Pact	-	Heals you for 50% of your maximum health, as well as putting a healing absorption heal for 30% of your maximum health. A panic-button heal with a downside. The effective healing is only 20%, but you still find a lot of instances where this provides the required breathing room for your healers or you need to bring you back to health.
Wraith Walk	WW	Provides 70% movement speed for 4 seconds. Any ability used during the channel will break the effect. Useful as a movement speed increase in instances when you need to move between A and B without doing anything else.
Abomination Limb	Limb/AL	Grows an extra arm for you for 12 seconds, dealing AoE damage around you, as well as pulling a random enemy toward you every second. The enemy must be outside melee range to be liable to grip. Great utility tool that will help your party group up any pack of mobs. It also provides three procs of Runic Corruption across its duration.
Soul Reaper	SR	Costs 1 Rune, deals low damage, and applies a debuff to your enemy. After 5 seconds, if the target is below 35% health, this debuff explodes, dealing heavy ShadowFrost damage. If the target dies while under the effect of Soul Reaper, you gain Runic Corruption.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Frost Strike	FS	Costs 25 Runic Power, dealing Frost damage to your target. This is our primary Runic Power spender in Single Target, forming part of our Core rotation.
Obliterate	Oblit	Costs 2 Runes, dealing Physical damage (or Frost damage if talented). Our primary Rune spender! It can be significantly buffed through a variety of procs and talents such as Killing Machine, Frostreaper and Obliteration. A major part of our Core rotation.
Howling Blast	HB	Costs 1 Rune, dealing frost damage to your target and nearby enemies. The damage scales as square-root, meaning the damage per target decreases as you add additional targets. The total damage always increases. This spell also applies our DoT Frost Fever to all targets hit. Frost Fever deals Frost damage over 24 seconds and has a chance to grant you 5 Runic Power every time it ticks. The chance of gaining Runic Power is increased the more target that has the DoT on them. Generally only used with procs of Rime.
Glacial Advance	GA	Costs 30 Runic and deals Frost damage to enemies in a line, in the direction you are facing. Also applies Rune of Razorice to all targets hit. A great way of spending Runic Power in AoE, as well as applying Rune of Razorice to enemies. Useful with 2-handed builds to help build Rune of Razorice in all situations.
Pillar of Frost	Pillar/ PoF	Increases your strength by 25% for 12 seconds. Additionally, every Rune you spend when the buff is active increases your strength by an additional 2%. Iconic Frost DK cooldown that we leverage to boost our other cooldowns. It has multiple talents that directly interact with it, such as Enduring Strength, Frostwhelp's Aid and Obliteration.
Frostscythe	FsC	Costs 2 Rune and deals Frost damage in a cone in front of you. It's a guaranteed crit and deals 4 times normal damage when it crits. Consuming Killing Machine reduces the CD of Frostscythe by 1 second.
Horn of Winter	HoW	Instantly grants you 2 Runes and 25 Runic Power. Good addition of resources to the rotation and especially good with Breath of Sindragosa since it can be used to extend its duration. Unfortunately on the GCD, making it a bit tricky to use.
Empower Rune Weapon	ERW	Either grants the Empower Rune Weapon ability or provides an extra charge.
Chill Streak	CS	Costs 1 Rune and throws a snowball at your enemy. This ball will bounce to the closest enemy within 6 yards for a total of 9 bounces. If there are no enemies to bounce to, the snowball can bounce of the player as well, making it useful in Single Target as well.
Frostwyrm's Fury	FwF	Calls down a dragon to breath frost damage to all enemies in a line in front of you, traveling 40 yards. Huge burst AoE cooldown that can be leveraged well on extra-large packs in Mythic+ or add spawns in Raid.
Breath of Sindragosa	Breath/ BoS	Deals Frost damage in a cone in front of you dealing full damage to your primary target and 1/ sqrt(n) times as much on all secondary targets (n is the number of total targets). The ability will drain 16 Runic Power per second, stopping once you reach below 16. Alters your rotation significantly and presents an optimization problem to maximize its duration. Great cooldown both for Cleave, Single Target, and AoE, which great Frost Death Knights can leverage to excel!

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Runic Attenuation	RA	Gives your auto attacks a chance to grant you 3 Runic Power. This provides around 30 Runic Power per minute, adding a good amount of resources to our rotation.
Improved Death Strike	-	Increases the healing of Death Strike by 60% and lowers its cost by 10 Runic Power. Effectively makes Death Strike a 35 Runic Power ability that heals for a minimum of 11% max health, or 40% of damage taken in the last 5 seconds, whichever is greatest.
Cleaving Strikes	-	Makes your Obliterate cleave to 2 additional targets when standing in your Death and Decay, hitting 3 total. Important to note that the cleave is based on you yourself standing in the Death and Decay, not your enemy. The cleave buff persists for 4 seconds after you leave your Death and Decay (making the total max duration 14 seconds).
Anti-Magic Barrier	-	Lowers the cooldown of Anti-Magic Shell to 40 seconds and increases the amount absorbed by 40%. Useful for any situation with heavy magic damage or frequent magic debuff applications (that you can then ignore).
March of Darkness	-	Grants you an extra 25% movement speed during the first 3 seconds of activating Death's Advance.
Unholy Ground	-	Provides a 5% Haste buff whenever you stand in your Death and Decay. It does not make the ability worthwhile to use in pure Single Target but does present a nice boost to our AoE burst window.
Enfeeble	-	Gives your ghoul a chance to apply a debuff to its target, reducing its movement speed by 30% and making it deal 15% less damage to you.
Coldthirst	-	Grants you 10 Runic power and reduces the cooldown of Mind Freeze whenever you successfully interrupt using the ability. A nice additional to our resource generation, as well as providing overall more interrupt opportunities in any situation.
Proliferating Chill	PC	Increases the number of targets hit by your Chains of Ice from 1 to 2. It only affects additional enemies in close proximity of your primary target.
Permafrost	-	Provides a shield on yourself based on 40% of your auto attack damage. Provides a good deal of tankiness, both from passive healing but also as prevention to one-shot mechanics.
Veteran of the Third War	VoTW/ Veteran	Increases your stamina by 20%, making you significantly tankier overall.
Brittle	-	Grants your diseases a chance to apply a debuff to your enemy, increasing the damage you do against them by 6% for 5 seconds.
Death's Reach	-	Increases the range of Death Grip by 10 yards and resets its cooldown whenever you kill an enemy granting experience or honor. Useful in any situation where you need to grip adds as the extra range both helps with the distance, you can move them, as well as lowering how far you need to run yourself. The cooldown reset is mostly useful during leveling, as you need to land the killing blow to gain the effect.
Icy Talons	IT	Provides a 6% increase in attack speed for 6 seconds every time we spend Runic Power, stacking up to 3 times. Provides a nice increase in our Sudden Doom proc rate.
Unholy Bond	-	Increases the effectiveness of our Runeforges by 20%. This includes every aspect of the Runeforge, making Rune of the Fallen Crusader both increase its healing and strength gain, for instance.
Ice Prison	-	Chains of Ice now also roots enemies for 4 sec but its cooldown is increased to 12 sec.
Gloom Ward	GW	Increases the effectiveness of all absorbs on you by 15%. Big survivability increases both from empowering our abilities, such as Anti-Magic Shell and Anti-Magic Zone, as well as any healing coming in the form of absorbs. Especially good with Disc Priests!
Assimilation	-	Increases the amount absorbed by Anti-Magic Zone by 10% and its cooldown is reduced by 30 seconds.
Grip of the Dead	-	Adds a 90% slow to your Death and Decay/ Defile, reducing by 10% for every second. A great tool to help your tank kite and manage any trash pack. It also helps to prevent targets from running away from you as you begin your AoE burst, something that can otherwise be very frustrating.
Suppression	-	Passively increases your Avoidance by 3%. This is increased to 9% for 6 seconds when you suffer a loss of control effect.
Blood Scent	-	Passively increases your Leech by 3%.
Unholy Endurance	-	Converts your Lichborne into a proper defensive cooldown, granting it 2 extra seconds of duration as well as a 15% damage reduction for you. Adds to our already extensive kit of defensives!
Osmosis	-	Your Anti-Magic Shell also increases healing received by 15%.
Insidious Chill	-	Applies a stacking debuff with your auto attacks, reducing the enemy's attack speed by 5% per stack up to 20% at 4 stacks. Helps your tanks survive in a scenario (or yourself when doing open-world content). Stacks with similar effects such as Curse of Weakness.
Runic Protection	-	Reduces your chance to be critically struck by 3% and increases your armor by 6%. Small defensive boost.
Blood Draw	BD	Heals you for a moderate amount if you drop below 30% health. It can only occur once every 2 minutes. Also reduces damage taken by 10% and Runic Power cost of Death Strike by 10 for 8 seconds after it triggers.
Rune Mastery	-	Makes spending Runes give a chance to increase our strength by 3/6% for 8 seconds.
Subduing Grasp	-	When you pull an enemy (with Death Grip or Abomination Limb), they deal 6% less damage to you for 6 seconds. Makes Death Grip a small defensive Cooldown against bosses.
Will of the Necropolis	WotN	Reduces the damage you take below 30% by 20/35%. Big boost to our survivability since the damage we take below 30% is by far the most useful to mitigate. Effectively increases max HP by 16% against one-shots.
Null Magic	-	Reduces magic damage taken by 10% and harmful debuff duration by 35%. A really nice defensive boost against magic damage.
Unyielding Will	-	Increase the cooldown of Anti-Magic Shell by 20 seconds but makes it remove all negative debuffs on you when used. Can be incredibly powerful when dealing with various raid mechanics.
Death's Echo	DE	Provides an extra charge to Death's Advance, Death and Decay and Death Grip. Nice increase in utility with the the extra mobility and the additional grip. Also, a solid buff in AoE since we have more freedom to enter multiple Death and Decay burst windows in any given pull.
Vestigial Shell	-	Anti-Magic Shell also applies two shields to nearby allies. These shields absorb some Magic Damage (10% of your own AMS) and reduces the duration of Magic effects by 50%. Nice defensive boost to your party, especially in Mythic+.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Killing Machine	KM	Gives your critical auto-attacks a chance to make your next Obliterate or Frostscythe a guaranteed critical strike. It has built-in bad-luck-protection with an increasing probability of getting a proc every time you fail to get one. The chance scales as 30% -> 60% -> 90% -> 100%, meaning you cannot have more than 3 crit auto-attacks in a row without getting a proc! For 2H, the probability is 100% when you get a crit auto. Proc stacks up to two times.
Everfrost	EF	Applies a debuff to any enemy damaged by your Remorseless Winter, increasing the damage they take from Remorseless Winter by 6% for 8 seconds, stacking up to 10 times. In a similar way to Gathering Storm, this debuff can be extended at 10 stacks with sufficient extension of Remorseless Winter. You have slightly more leeway here and only need to extend Remorseless Winter by 5 seconds to roll the debuff.
Unleashed Frenzy	-	Gives a 2% stacking strength buff every time you deal damage to an enemy with an ability that costs Runic Power. Lasts for 6 seconds and stacks up to 3 times. Provides an ability to track in your core rotation where you need to prioritise Runic Power abilities every so often to maintain it at full uptime.
Improved Frost Strike	-	Increases the damage of your Frost Strike ability by 10/20%.
Runic Command	-	Increases your maximum Runic Power by 10/20, bringing the total to 110/120. This stacks with our Hysteria Runeforge, bringing the total up to a potential 140.
Improved Rime	-	Increases the damage increase of Rime from 150% to 225%.
Improved Obliterate	-	Increases the damage of our Obliterate ability by 10%.
Biting Cold	BC	Increases the damage of Remorseless Winter by 35% and generates a proc of Rime when Remorseless Winter has dealt damage to three unique targets. Big boost overall with the most impact in AoE. Both from the raw damage as well as the guaranteed Rime proc!
Frigid Executioner	-	Increases the damage of Obliterate by 15% and gives the ability a 15% chance to refund its cost when used. Good boost for builds that focus heavily on Obliterate damage and provides a nice amount of extra resources to the rotation.
Rage of the Frozen Champion	RotFC	Increases the chance for Obliterate to generate a proc of Rime by 15%. Also makes your Howling Blast that consumes a proc of Rime generate 6 Runic Power. Brings a nice amount of resources to our rotation. Both from more GCDs being used on free Howling Blasts as well as more Runic Power being generated overall. Specifically synergizes well with Breath of Sindragosa!
Cold Heart	CH	Gives a stacking buff every 2 seconds that makes your next Chains of Ice deal magic damage. Stacks up to 20 times (over 40 seconds) and deals damage for every stack consumed. Synergizes with Proliferating Chill as the damage is applied to both enemies that are hit with Chains of Ice.
Enduring Strength	-	Provides a 15% strength buff after your Pillar of Frost buff fades. The base duration is 6 seconds, and every Obliterate and Frostscythe critical strike extends this by 2 seconds. Extends the buff window and synergises well with our longer cooldowns such as Breath of Sindragosa.
Icecap	-	Reduces the cooldown of Pillar of Frost by 15 seconds. From 60 to 45 seconds. This is both good value due to more Pillars, but also nice since it aligns well with both Chill Streak and Horn of Winter
Frostwhelp's Aid	Whelp	Summons a mini dragon when we use Pillar of Frost, dealing damage in a straight line ahead of us up to 40 yards away. Also gives a 8% Mastery buff for every target hit, stacking up to 5 times. Great boost for our Pillar of Frost window in AoE, but does ninja pull a lot if you are not careful.
Murderous Efficiency	ME	Gives a 25% chance to generate a Rune when you consume a proc of Killing Machine with Obliterate. Good synergy with any build that generates a lot of Killing Machine procs, especially Obliteration.
Inexorable Assault	IA	Provides a stacking buff on yourself every 8 seconds. Obliterate and Frostscythe consume a proc to deal additional Frost Damage. Stacks up to 5 times. Importantly, the extra Frost damage is independent of whether Obliterate or Frostscythe crits and does not synergizes with any procs of Killing Machine. For Frostscythe, it only hits your primary target, not gaining any benefit from the AoE part of the ability.
Gathering Storm	GS	Increases the duration of Remorseless Winter by 0.5 seconds, and its damage by 10% for every Rune you consume. This stacks to 10. With sufficient Rune use, you can extend this buff for 20 seconds when your Remorseless Winter becomes available. Recasting the ability with retain the stacks and reset the duration to 8. This is a significant DPS increase and is something you should aim to do when possible.
Cryogenic Chamber	CC	Each time Frost Fever deals damage, 15% of the damage is stored in your next cast of Remorseless Winter, stacking up to 20 times. Adds a single big hit to you casting Remorseless Winter, so no synergy with other Remorseless Winter talents.
Piercing Chill	-	Makes your Chill Streak apply a debuff whenever it hits a target, increasing the damage of Chill Streak by 10%, stacking. This is a good damage increase whenever you have low target counts, being the most efficient with 2 stacked targets. Loses power with large target counts as the debuffs are unlikely to stack up very high.
Enduring Chill	EC	A 20% chance to increase the total amount of bounces by 1 every time Chill Streak bounces. This will increase the total amount of bounces from 9 to 11.25 (in an infinite duration case) on average. This will be roughly 2 extra bounces in real scenarios. Requires the pack to live for the initial 9 bounces before it takes effect.
Bonegrinder	-	Provides a stacking 1% critical strike buff whenever you consume a proc of Killing Machine. The buff lasts for 10 seconds. Using a proc of Killing Machine at 5 stacks consumed the buff, granting 10/20% increased Frost damage for 10 seconds. Great synergy with Obliteration that is almost guaranteed to trigger this buff after each Pillar of Frost window.
Smothering Offense	-	Increases auto-attack damage by 10%. Also increases the number of times that Icy Talons can stack by 2, thus increasing the proc rate of Killing Machine and other talents that synergise with auto attack hits.
Absolute Zero	AZ	Reduces the cooldown of Frostwyrm's Fury to 90 seconds and adds a 4-second stun to any target you hit with the ability. Overall a nice boost to our AoE burst potential where we can leverage our burst significantly more often.
Avalanche	-	Provides some extra AoE damage whenever we consume a proc of Rime, as well as applying a stack of Rune of Razorice to all targets hit. Opens up for multiple builds to pick up another Runeforge that is not Rune of Razorice, indirectly making this talent very powerful.
Icebreaker	-	Makes your Rime also grant 30/60% increased damage to your primary target. Makes Howling Blast hit hard on single-target and increases the priority of not overlapping procs of Rime.
Obliteration	Oblit	Makes your Frost Strike, Glacial Advance, Frostscythe and Howling Blast generate a proc of Killing Machine if used during your Pillar of Frost. Overall, it adds a significant amount of procs to your rotation and converts your Pillar of Frost window into a big damage cooldown. Introduces a "weaving" game style where you alternate between generating and consuming procs of Killing Machine.
Icy Death Torrent	IDT	Your auto attack crits have a chance to deal Frost damage in a cone in front of you. Good passive damage throughput that requires you to always think about your position to deal effective AoE damage.
Shattering Blade	SB	Makes your Frost Strike consume your Rune of Razorice debuff at 5 stacks, increasing its damage by 100%. Makes Frost Strike sometimes hit hard, but does give us a period of Rune of Razorice downtime whenever we utilize this effect. Essentially requires us to Runeforge Rune of Razorice to be useful.
Hyperpyrexia	-	Runic Power abilities sometimes deal 45% of their damage over 4 sec. Just a passive DPS boost to any ability that consumes Runic Power. This includes the free Glacial Advance you get from Arctic Assault.
The Long Winter	TLW	During Pillar of Frost, auto-attack critical strikes increase the duration by 2 seconds, up to 6 seconds. Even more value for crit autos, increasing the value of Crit and Haste for us.
Shattered Frost	SF	When Frost Strike consumes 5 stacks of Rune of Razorice, 65% of the damage dealt is also dealt to nearby enemies. Deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets. Makes Dual-Wield Obliteration builds viable for Mythic+ and turns Frost Strike into your AoE Runic Power spender.

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Rider's Champion		Spending Runes have a chance to summon a Horsemen for 10 seconds. Randomly gets one out of four Horsemen: Mograine - Casts Death and Decay that follows his location around. Provides the benefit from Cleaving Strikes once you pick up Mograine's Might. Whitemane - Casts Undeath on your enemy, a stacking DoT that can also spread to nearby enemies, similar to Necrotic Plague of old times. Trollbane - Casts Chains of Ice on your target, slowing their movement speed and increasing the damage you deal to them. Trollbane's Icy Fury allows you to burst the chains, dealing heavy AoE damage. Nazgrim - Increases your strength by 3% when active. Nazgrim's Conquest can significantly increase this benefit.
On a Paler Horse		While outdoors, you are able to mount your Acherus Deathcharger in combat. Huge increase to the speed at which you can quest in outdoor content. Unfortunately does not worked in instanced content such as Raids, Dungeons, Battlegrounds and Arenas.
Death Charge		Replaces your Death's Advance, increasing the movement speed you gain to 100% and mounting you for its duration. Breaks you free of any movement impairment effects when used. Furthermore, allows you to keep fighting while on the mount. Immune to knockbacks when in effect.
Whitemane's Famine		When Obliterate damages a target affected by Undeath it gains 1 stack and infects another nearby enemy. Allows for you to quickly stack and spread the debuff in conjunction with Cleaving Strikes.
Hungering Thirst		The damage of your diseases and Frost Strike are increased by 10%.
Mograine's Might		Your damage is increased by 5% and you gain the benefits of your Death and Decay while inside Mograines Death and Decay. Importantly, the 5% damage increase only comes from Mograine's Death and Decay, not your own!
Nazgrim's Conquest		Apocalyptic Conquest strength is increased by 3% every time an enemy dies. Furthermore, each Rune you spend increases the Strength by 1%. Very powerful for packs of mobs where weaker ones die quickly and early.
Fury of the Horsemen		Every 50 Runic Power you spend extends the duration of the Horsemen currently aiding you by 1 second, up to a maximum of 5 seconds. Solid way of improving overall uptime of the Horsemen!
A Feast of Souls		While you have 2 or more Horsemen aiding you, Runic Power spending abilities deal 20% increased damage. Good synergy with Apocalypse Now but also have good uptime outside of our main cooldown windows.
Horsemen's Aid		When active, your Horsemen will occasionally cast Anti-Magic Shell on you at 80% effectiveness. Great for extra Magic immunity and absorb.
Pact of the Apocalypse		When you take damage, 5% is redirected to each active Horseman. Solid passive damage reduction that increases significantly during your cooldowns.
Trollbane's Icy Fury		Obliterate shatters the Chains of Ice cast by Trollbane, dealing damage to all nearby enemies and slowing them.
Mawsworn Menace		Obliterate deals 10% more damage and the cooldown of your Death and Decay is reduced by 10 seconds (from 30 to 20). Provides the option of leveraging your Death and Decay windows significantly more often.
Apocalypse Now		Frostwyrm's Fury calls upon all 4 Horsemen to aid you for 20 seconds. Great synergy with Absolute Zero since you then gain the burst every 90 seconds! This actually also works with our Dragonflight Season 4 tier set, summoning 4 Horsemen whenever we use Pillar of Frost!

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Reaper's Mark		2 Rune, 45 seconds cooldown ability that deals Shadowfrost damage and applies Reaper's Mark when used. Every time you deal Shadow or Frost damage, one stack is added to the 12 seconds debuff. After 12 seconds or when reaching 40 stacks, it explodes and deals damage per stack.
Wave of Souls		Casting Reaper's Mark sends a wave through the enemy that returns to you, dealing Shadowfrost to enemies in its path. Critical strikes from the wave increases the Shadowfrost damage that the enemy takes for 15 seconds, stacking twice. The returning wave always critically strikes, so you are guaranteed at least one stack of the damage debuff.
Soul Rupture		When Reaper's Mark explodes, 20% of the damage is dealt to nearby enemies. Enemies hit by the explosion deal 5% reduced physical damage to you for 10 seconds.
Swift End		Reaper's Mark Mark cost is reduced by 1 Rune and its cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds. This makes it a 1 Rune cost ability at a 30 seconds cooldown.
Painful Death		Reaper's Mark deals 10% increased damage and Exterminate empowers an additional Obliterate, reducing its cost by 1 Rune. Exterminate has a 30% chance to apply Reaper's Mark (up from 20%), potentially leading to multiple back-to-back Reaper's Marks if you are lucky.
Blood Fever		Your Frost Fever has a chance to deal 30% increased damage as Shadowfrost. Helps stack up Reaper's Mark since you get an additional hit. Furthermore, applies extra stacks via Bind in Darkness.
Grim Reaper		Reaper's Mark explosion deals up to 30% increased damage based on your target's missing health. Also applies Soul Reaper to targets below 35% health. This does stack with your own application of Soul Reaper, as it acts like a DoT on your target, ticking every 5 seconds.
Dark Talons		Consuming Killing Machine or Rime has a 25% chance to increase the maximum number of active Icy Talons stacks by 1, up to two times. Brings the max from 3 to 5 stacks (7 with Smothering Offense), increasing your attack speed by 42% when at 7 stacks. Great synergy with Killing Machine proc chance, Icy Death Torrent, Smothering Offense and The Long Winter to name the most obvious talents.
Wither Away		Frost Fever deals its damage in half the duration and the second scythe from Exterminate applies Frost Fever. Essentially doubles the DPS you get from you Frost Fever DoT, as well as synergising well with Blood Fever and Cryogenic Chamber.
Bind in Darkness		Shadowfrost damage applies 2 stacks to Reaper's Mark and 4 stacks when it is a critical strike. Furthermore, Rime empowered Howling Blast deals Shadowfrost damage. Creates great synergy with Blood Fever as well as Wave of Souls which deal Shadowfrost damage and guarantees Crit (in the case of Wave of Souls).
Pact of the Deathbringer		When you suffer damage of more than 25% of your max health, you instantly cast Death Pact at 50% effectiveness. Can only occur every 2 minutes. When Reaper's Mark explodes, the cooldowns of this effect and Death Pact are reduced by 5 seconds. Some useful defensive ability with instant heal on big hit. The cooldown reduction brings the cooldown of Death Pact down to 1 minute 50 seconds, from 2 minutes, so not a very strong effect.
Rune Carved Plates		Each Rune spent reduces the magic damage you take y 2% and each Rune generated reduces the physical damage you take by 2% for 5 seconds, up to 5 times. Provides a solid amount of defensive value as you tend to maintain high stacks for most of fights.
Death's Messenger		Reduces the cooldown of Lichborne and Raise Dead by 30 seconds. Some extra defensive value due to Lichborne being a relatively strong defensive cooldown with Unholy Endurance. Furthermore, a small DPS upgrade due to Raise Dead lower cooldown.
Expelling Shield		When an enemy deals direct damage to your Anti-Magic Shell, their cast speed is reduced by 10% for 6 sec. Generally useless for DPS Death Knights.
Exterminate		After Reaper's Mark explodes, your next Obliterate costs no Runes and summon 2 scythes to strike your enemies. The first scythe deals Shadowfrost damage and has a 20% (30% with Painful Death) to apply Reaper's Mark. The second scythe deals AoE damage around your target (and applies Frost Fever with Wither Away).