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. |
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 1.8% 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. |
Chains of Ice |
- |
1 Rune cost 70% slow on an enemy for 8 seconds. A cc-tool that is mainly
used for PvP but has uses in PvE when you need to slow specific enemies. |
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 can 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. |
Glacial Advance |
GA |
Costs 35 Runic Power 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. |
Might of the Frozen Wastes |
MotFW |
Increases the damage of Obliterate and Frostscythe
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% (due to lower attack speed). Learned at level 25. |
Rime |
- |
Frost Strike and Glacial Advance have a 45% chance to cause
your next Howling Blast cost no Runes and deal 275% more damage.
It still counts as spending a Rune
for abilities such as Pillar of Frost and Gathering Storm. |
Ability |
Abbreviation |
Description/Effect |
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! |
Death Strike |
DS |
Costs 45 Runic Power (35 with Improved Death Strike) 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 (40% and 11.2% with Improved Death Strike). |
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. |
Control Undead |
- |
Costs 1 Rune and controls the targeted Undead enemy for
5 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. It has some nice niche uses to help control mobs and even
increase your DPS! |
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 button press. |
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. |
Anti-Magic Zone |
AMZ |
Places a zone on the ground that reduces magic damage
taken by 15% for 6 seconds for everyone standing in it. The cooldown can be
decreased to 3 minutes and the duration increased to 8 seconds via the
Assimilation talent. |
Asphyxiate |
Asphyx |
Stuns your target for 5 seconds. Simple single-target
stun with a range of 20-yards. |
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. |
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 35 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 with Killing Machine). Our
primary Rune spender and a major part of our core rotation! The damage from this
ability is mainly from the consumption of Killing Machine procs. Using
it without these procs deals significantly less damage (but is still a part of
our 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 4 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. |
Empower Rune Weapon |
ERW |
Off gcd ability dealing AoE damage and granting you both 40 Runic Power
and a stack of Killing Machine. With 2 charges and a 30 seconds cooldown
this is out primary way of actively managing our resources. |
Frostscythe |
FsC |
Costs 2 Rune and deals Frost damage in a cone in front of you, dealing reduced
damage after 5 targets. This ability will critical strike for 4 times its normal
damage when consuming Killing Machine procs. This is our Rune spender
in AoE scenarios, replacing Obliterate which we use in Single Target. |
Pillar of Frost |
Pillar/ PoF |
Increases your strength by 30% for 12 seconds. 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, Frozen Dominion and Obliteration.
|
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, stunning enemies for 4 seconds
and slowing them by 50% for 10 seconds. Huge burst AoE
cooldown that can be leveraged well on extra-large packs in Mythic+ or
add spawns in Raid. Really strong synergy with Rider of the Apocalypse
due to Apocalypse Now. |
Breath of Sindragosa |
Breath/ BoS |
Costs 60 Runic Power (off GCD) to deal Frost damage in a cone in front of you
every second for 8 seconds. Consuming Killing Machine or Rime
extends the duration by 0.8 seconds. Great synergy with Obliteration
due to Killing Machine generation and a strong cleave burst cooldown. |
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 Frostscythe deal 20% increased damage when Remorseless Winter
is active. Nice added synergy in AoE scenarios. |
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 Momentum |
- |
Provides 2% haste passively. |
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. A nice passive defensive gain for us. |
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 30% 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 12%, 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 10 seconds
every time we spend Runic Power, stacking up to 3 times (5 with Smothering Offense). |
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, as well as any healing coming
in the form of absorbs. Especially good with Disc Priests! |
Assimilation |
- |
Reduces the cooldown of Anti-Magic Zone by 1 minute and increases
its duration by 2 seconds. |
Grip of the Dead |
- |
Adds a 90% slow to your Death and Decay, reducing
by 10% for every second. A great tool to help your tank kite and manage any
trash pack. Death and Decay is not used actively in our rotation so this
is just a way of making it into a utility tool. |
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,
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 5% 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 but requires a good use case to justify the 20 seconds
cooldown increase. |
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. |
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 (Frost Scythe crits for 4x normal damage when consuming Killing Machine).
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 and makes Obliterate do Frost damage. |
Arctic Assault |
- |
Consuming Killing Machine fires a Glacial Advance
through your target at 60% effectiveness. Adds a nice damage boost to consuming
Killing Machine but also helps maintain Razorice via the Glacial
Advances being fired. |
Runic Overflow |
- |
Increases Frost Strike and Glacial Advance damage by 10/20%. |
Frostbound Will |
- |
Consuming procs of Rime reduces the Cooldown of Empower Rune Weapon.
A nice added priority to procs of Rime to insentivise spending them. Also
helps our resource economy. |
Runic Command |
- |
Increases maximum Runic Power by 10/20 and Rune regeneration rate by 8/15%.
Nice boost to how much Runic Power we can hold, helping us avoid overcapping. Also
provides extra Runes for our resource economy. |
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! |
Inexorable Assault |
IA |
Provides a stacking buff (up to 5 times) on yourself every 4 seconds.
Obliterate and Frostscythe consume up to 3 stacks , dealing
additional Frost Damage per stack. 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. |
Frostreaper |
- |
Obliterate deals 10% increased damage and and has a change to tether
a nearby enemy to your target. Frost Strike severs the tether, dealing
shadowfrost damage to both enemies. Adds incentive to use both Obliterate
and Frost Strike in 2-target cleave scenarios with this talent. |
Icy Onslaught |
- |
Frost Strike and Glacial Advance causes your next Frost Strike
or Glacial Advance to deal 15% increased damage and cost 5 more Runic Power.
Continues stacking until the next proc of Runic Empowerment. Effectively
increases both cost and damage of your Runic Power abilities while reducing the
amount of resources you have in your rotation. |
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. |
Murderous Efficiency |
ME |
Gives a 20% chance to generate a Rune when
you consume a proc of Killing Machine. Nice resource talent
that has strong synergy with both Obliteration as well as high Crit Rating
due to the increase in Killing Machine procs being generated. |
Rage of the Frozen Champion |
RotFC |
Frost Strike and Glacial Advance has a 15% increased chance to
trigger Rime. Furthermore, consuming procs of Rime generates 8 Runic Power.
Primarily a resource talent due to the free Howling Blasts in your rotation
and the Runic Power generation. |
Enduring Strength |
- |
Provides a 8% 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. |
Frozen Dominion |
- |
Pillar of Frost now summos a Remorseless Winter that
lasts for 4 seconds longer (12 seconds total). Each enemy hit by Remorseless Winter
grants you 8% Mastery up to a maximum of 40% for 15 seconds. This passive replaces
your active Remorseless Winter ability and simplifies the rotation. Puts more
emphasis on your Pillar window as you will not have Remorseless to cast outside of it. |
Frigid Executioner |
- |
Runic Empowerment has a 25% chance to refund an additional 1 Rune.
A pure resource talent that improves the effectiveness of our Runic Empowerment
passive. |
Howling Blades |
- |
Consuming Rime deals additional frost damage to the target and has
a 15% chance to trigger Killing Machine. A talent that puts more emphasis
on Rime and increases the number of Killing Machine procs you generate. |
Cryogenic Chamber |
CC |
Consuming Rime stores 15% of the damage dealt into your next
Remorseless Winter, up to 20 times. Another Rime talent
that makes you want to consume the proc with a higher priority. |
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. Also increases the damage done by
Howling Blast to secondary targets by 50% when empower by Rime. 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. |
Northwinds |
- |
Howling Blast now hits an additional target at 100% effectiveness.
Rime increases Howling Blast damage by an additional 75%. A nice boost
to Howling Blast and a significant increase to how much the ability does in AoE. |
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. |
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. A nice additional damage boost to Rime as well as an increase in
Razorice generation. |
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 |
During Pillar of Frost, your Frost Strike, Glacial Advance
and Howling Blast generate a proc of Killing Machine and have a 20%
chance to generate a Rune. 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. |
Killing Streak |
- |
Obliterate and Frostscythe consume all stacks of Killing Machine
to deal 25% increased damage and grant a stacking 2% Haste buff for 8 seconds
for each stack consumed. This means that you can now consume two stacks of Killing Machine
at once for a 25% damage boost. This helps your resource economy as your end up
less heavy on Rune consumption and can instead focus on Runic Power and Rime
procs. |
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. |
Frostbane |
- |
Each enemy hit by your Glacial Advance has a chance to transform
your next Frost Strike into Frostbane (chance increases with number
of stacks of Razorice on the target). Frostbane hits all enemies in front
of you, reducing in damage by 5% down to 40% for each additional foe. This makes
Frost Strike a much more frequent button in AoE as your Glacial Advance
from Arctic Assault will proc Frostbane lots. |
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 5% 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 but it is incredible for leveling.
|
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.
An incredible movement ability that helps Death Knights become a moble class
when running Rider of the Apocalypse.
|
Mograine's Might |
|
Your damage is increased by 5% and you gain 5% increased Critical Strike
while inside Mograines Death and Decay.
|
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.
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Whitemane's Famine |
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When Obliterate or Frostscythe 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 AoE.
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Nazgrim's Conquest |
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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.
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Trollbane's Icy Fury |
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Obliterate and Frostscythe shatters the Chains of Ice cast by Trollbane,
dealing damage to all nearby enemies and slowing them.
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Hungering Thirst |
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The damage of your diseases and Frost Strike are increased by 10%.
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Fury of the Horsemen |
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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!
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A Feast of Souls |
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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.
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Mawsworn Menace |
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Obliterate deals 10% more damage and your Remorseless Winter
lasts 2 seconds longer. Significant buff to Remorseless Winter as it makes
extending both Gathering Storm and Everfrost significantly easier.
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Apocalypse Now |
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Frostwyrm's Fury calls upon all 4 Horsemen to aid you for 20 seconds.
Makes Frostwyrm's Fury a big Cooldown for Single Target as well.
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Ability |
Abbreviation |
Description/Effect |
Reaper's Mark |
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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. If the target dies, it travels to another enemy.
Big ability that we time with our Pillar of Frost window.
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Wave of Souls |
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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.
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Wither Away |
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Frost Fever deals its damage 100% faster and the second
scythe from Exterminate applies Frost Fever. Essentially doubles
the DPS you get from you Frost Fever DoT. |
Bind in Darkness |
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Shadowfrost damage applies two stacks to Reaper's Mark and four stacks
when it is a critical strike. Furthermore, Rime empowered Howling Blast
deals Shadowfrost damage as well as 60% more damage overall. Big synergy with Dark Talons
that make all our Runic Power spenders Shadowfrost damage.
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Soul Rupture |
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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.
A nice AoE boost to Reaper's Mark.
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Grim Reaper |
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Reaper's Mark also grants a charge of Killing Machine. Reaper's Mark
also deals up to 30% increased damage based on your target's missing health. The free
Killing Machine makes it much nicer to use with Pillar of Frost and the second
effect gives us a bit of execute omph. |
Reaper of Souls |
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When you apply Reaper's Mark, the cooldown on Soul Reaper is reset and your
next Soul Reaper costs no Runes, and it explodes on the target regardless of health. Soul Reaper
damage is also increased by 20%. This talent pushes your Soul Reaper damage heavily and makes it
fit in more naturally in our Pillar of Frost windows. |
Pact of the Deathbringer |
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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.
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Rune Carved Plates |
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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.
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Swift and Painful |
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If no enemies are struck by Soul Rupture, you gain 10%
strength for 8 seconds. Wave of Souls is 100% effective on the main
target of your Reaper's Mark. This talent ensures that you still get
Single Target value from talents that are otherwise primarily focused on AoE! |
Dark Talons |
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Consuming Killing Machine or Rime has a 25% chance
to grant three stacks of Icy Talons and increase the maximum stack count by the same amount for
6 seconds. Great synergy with Killing Machine proc chance,
Icy Death Torrent, Smothering Offense and The Long Winter
to name the most obvious talents.
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Reaper's Onslaught |
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Reduces the cooldown of Reaper's Mark by 15 seconds but the amount of
Obliterates empowered by Exterminate is reduced by 1. Brings you
to a 30 seconds cooldown cycle which do not fit your 45 seconds Pillar of Frost window.
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Death's Messenger |
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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.
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Expelling Shield |
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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.
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Exterminate |
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After Reaper's Mark explodes, your next two Obliterates costs
1 Rune and summon two scythes to strike your enemies. The first scythe
deals Shadowfrost damage and has a 100% chance to grant a stack of Killing Machine.
The second scythe deals AoE damage around your target
and applies Frost Fever with Wither Away. This fits nicely into
your Pillar of Frost window with Obliteration as you consume
less Runes and get free Killing Machine procs.
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