Unholy Death Knight Leveling Guide from 8 to 80 — The War Within (11.1.5)

Unholy Death Knight is a fast leveler, both being able to multi-dot and burst down large packs of enemies quickly, as well as being the most mobile leveling class via On a Paler Horse once you reach level 71. Furthermore, we have great self-sustain via procs of Dark Succor, keeping us healthy as we AoE down pack after pack.

When you get the option to Runeforge, make sure you apply Rune of the Fallen Crusader, as it speeds up the leveling process the most! You can also use Rune of Unending Thirst for some nice speed boost after killing mobs.

When leveling up, you should always choose the piece of loot with the highest item level. The only exception to this rule is if you have a Ring or Necklace with a slightly lower item level but 2 secondary stats on it instead of 1.

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Until level 10, if you are not an allied race, your Festering Strike will be replaced by Rune Strike.

Your first talent row unlocks at Level 10.

Your talent set up should be as follows.

Starting, you will only have one main attack ability: Rune Strike.

1. Rune Strike is your main damaging ability.
2. Army of the Dead should be used as much as possible, ideally on more difficult mobs, as the cooldown brings a lot of Single Target burst.
3. Raise Abomination should be used as much as possible to leverage its damage. It is a nice Cooldown for AoE as well due to spawning Magus of the Dead!
4. Unholy Assault to quickly set up wounds and make the use of Apocalypse nice and smooth.
5. Outbreak should be used to apply Virulent Plague to all targets.
6. Dark Transformation can be used off cooldown. However, you should also make sure you have it available for larger packs of mobs or more difficult packs.
7. Outbreak should be used to apply Virulent Plague to all targets. Only use it if Dark Transformation has not been used to apply your DoT already, or if the first application has run out.
8. Use Apocalypse, ideally on a target with 4+ Festering Wounds but can be used on anything with more than one.
9. Use Epidemic when there are 2+ targets.
10. Use Death and Decay to Scourge Strike cleave packs of 2+ mobs.
11. Use Defile to Scourge Strike cleave packs of 2+ mobs.
12. Use Death Coil when you have 80+ Runic Power or no available Runes.
13. Use Scourge Strike when there is at least 1 Festering Wound on your target.
14. Use Scourge Strike when there is at least 1 Festering Wound on your target or to keep up your Plaguebringer buff.
15. Use Festering Strike when there are 0 Festering Wounds on your target and you are not currently cleaving with Death and Decay.
16. Use Festering Strike when there are 0 Festering Wounds on your target and you are not currently cleaving with Defile.

There are several passive abilities that you unlock through the leveling process that can change your play style and rotation.

• Sudden Doom affects both Death Coil and Epidemic. These procs should be used quickly to ensure that you do not override your current proc!
• Dark Succor is incredible for leveling, allowing you to easily heal and stay at high health while chain-pulling packs and mobs.

• Anti-Magic Shell is a very strong magic shield that also generates Runic Power. This should be used whenever magic damage is present to take advantage of the Runic Power generation.
• Lichborne is a powerful ability for leveling, as it provides you with a good chunk of Leech. Use this cooldown to take advantage of the healing and try to pair it with high AoE or burst combinations.
• Icebound Fortitude is an amazing defensive cooldown that should be used whenever necessary in order to keep you moving from pack to pack.
• Raise Ally cannot be used when solo leveling, however, it is fantastic in dungeon groups if you decide to level that way.
• Death's Advance is one of your only movement speed cooldowns making it incredibly useful when leveling. The secondary effects of this are not too useful in leveling scenarios, except for the passive that prevents you from being slowed past a certain point.

This section will go over the PvP talents for leveling content for Unholy Death Knights.

1. Necrotic Aura is a solid DPS boost since a large portion of our AoE is magical damage
2. Doomburst is the only third PvP talent that provides extra DPS throughput.
3. Bloodforged Armor gives some nice defensive benefit.