How To Improve As Frost Death Knight — The War Within (Season 1)
On this page, you will find out how you can improve at playing Frost Death Knight in World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1). We list the common mistakes that you should try to avoid and the small details that can greatly improve your performance.
Not Capping Runes or Runic Power
Because you can have 3 Runes recharging at the same time, any time you are holding 4 or more Runes, you are effectively capped on Runes and wasting potential Rune regeneration. There is never a point in your play where it would be valuable to not cast anything or where you need more than 3 Runes saved up; always keep 3 Runes on cooldown.
Similarly, every point of Runic Power you generate when already at maximum Runic Power is a fraction of a lost Frost Strike. There are instances when you will overcap Runic Power because you are prioritizing not overcapping on Runes, especially in AoE. This is fine and expected behavior.
Not Managing Your GCDs in Your Obliteration Window
When playing the Obliteration talent, your damage is highly dependent on your Pillar of Frost windows. If you mess these up ever so slightly, it will have a significant impact on your DPS.
It is crucial that you only use the correct abilities in your Pillar window. Some exceptions exist, but using things like Abomination Limb is a bad idea.
It is also important that you trigger your first Killing Machine as soon as possible. We recommend creating a macro that casts Pillar of Frost and then immediately uses Howling Blast, Frost Strike or Glacial Advance (one macro for each).
Making Sure not to Accidentally Cancel Breath of Sindragosa
There is a macro that will prevent this from occurring, which is provided in the Macros and Addons section.
High Icy Talons and Unleashed Frenzy Uptime
If you are running the talents Icy Talons or Unleashed Frenzy (you pretty much always will), then you want to make sure to use your Runic Power frequently. One way of doing this more easily is to naturally weave your abilities. Don't press multiple Frost Strike in a row, instead use an ability in between to better keep up your buffs!
Pooling Resources for Breath of Sindragosa
If you are running the talent Breath of Sindragosa, then you have noticed it draining your Runic Power fairly quickly. To maximize the duration of your Breath of Sindragosa, you want to start pooling Runic Power properly before you cast it. For any non-lusted Breath, pool 100+!
Changelog
- 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4.
- 22 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5.
- 01 Jun. 2023: Updated talents and reworded Mythic+ rotation text.
- 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 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.
More Death Knight Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Bicepspump, a semi-hardcore player raiding with Pescorus on Kazzak. He is heavily involved in the DK DPS theorycrafting community, testing hyoptheses and investigating the correct priority to use. He is also a moderator in the Acherus Death Knight Discord, frequently answering questions and discussing optimisations (do not hesitate to reach out). He produces guide content on YouTube and frequently streams on Twitch.
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