Unholy Death Knight DPS Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible Raid Guide — Dragonflight 10.2.7
On this page, you will find tips, tricks, and strategies tailored to your Unholy Death Knight for each boss of the following raid: Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2.7.
Introduction
Below, you can find class and spec-specific advice for every fight in Aberrus. If you are looking for a general overview of the Raid that is not spec-specific, check out our dedicated Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible guides.
On this page, you will find Unholy Death Knight specific information to deal with each boss in the Aberrus raid. These are not complete encounter guides but specific tips for doing the bosses as a Unholy Death Knight.
This page assumes that you already understand most of the mechanics of each encounter. These can be found on the full raid guide, so what is contained here are details specifically tailored toward Unholy Death Knight and how you can deal with each fight as best as possible.
The Default Raid Build above is your generic single target talent tree. Each boss below
will note if it uses this build or a different one and if you should tweak
anything. Your choice comes into play with any kind of AoE, where Menacing Magus,
Improved Death Coil and
Unholy Pact become potential picks. This will be the "Cleave"
build. Furthermore, pure Single Target bosses will run
Enfeeble
whereas Cleave bosses run
Unholy Ground.
Kazzara, the Hellforged
Talents
Suggested Talent Build
A pure single-target fight where our standard build works best.
For the class tree, we run Enfeeble instead of
Unholy Ground.
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Tips
Wings of Extinction pushback can be avoided using
Death's Advance.
Wings of Extinction DoT can be immuned by pre-using
Anti-Magic Shell.
- You can use
Anti-Magic Zone when
Wings of Extinction comes in to help mitigate the damage and to generate Runic Power.
Rays of Anguish is a relatively dangerous mechanic; make sure to use defensives if you do get targeted.
For more information, please refer to our Kazzara guide.
The Amalgamation Chamber
Talents
Even if this fight starts out as a spread two-cleave encounter (or
stacked if your Guild does that), it is
effectively a pure Single Target fight from the perspective of an Unholy
Death Knight. The standard default build is the way here.
For the class tree, we run Enfeeble instead of
Unholy Ground.
Suggested Talent Build - Default Single Target
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Tips
Fiery Meteor is a great opportunity to leverage
Anti-Magic Zone to help mitigate the damage.
- Blazing Heat/
Corrupting Shadow leaves a DoT when cleared. You can use
Anti-Magic Shell to avoid this DoT and help your healers manage.
For more information, please refer to our Amalgamation Chamber guide.
The Forgotten Experiments
Talents
This fight is primarily a single-target fight on Heroic and easier difficulties.
For Mythic, we do get extended periods of two-target cleave. The default build
with Menacing Magus and
Improved Death Coil fits well into both scenarios since it does really
well on both Single Target and two-target cleave!/p>
Suggested Talent Build - Default Single Target with Menacing Magus and Improved Death Coil
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Tips
- Use
Death and Decay to help cleave the Erratic Remnant adds.
- Use
Death and Decay to increase your cleave when you fight two bosses on Mythic.
- Use
Anti-Magic Shell when you start reaching high stacks on the dispellable debuff (the one that spawns adds).
For more information, please refer to our Forgotten Experiments guide.
Assault of the Zaqali
Talents
This fight consists of periods of pure Single Target with intermittent heavy
add cleave. Our default build works really well, with the addition of Menacing Magus
and
Unholy Pact.
Suggested Talent Build - Default with Menacing Magus
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Tips
- Use
Death and Decay to cleave as much as possible on the adds.
- Use
Anti-Magic Shell in the final phase when everyone gets the fire circles.
For more information, please refer to our Assault of the Zaqali guide.
Rashok, the Elder
A pure single target encounter where the default raid build is best.
We also pick up Enfeeble instead of
Unholy Ground.
Talents
Suggested Talent Build - Default Single Target
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Tips
Anti-Magic Zone works well for the
Charged Smash soak.
Anti-Magic Shell will be very useful in this fight due to the large amount of incoming magic damage. We recommend using it for the
Searing Slams.
- In Mythic, use
Anti-Magic Shell at the start of each
Charged Smash cast. This immunes both the healing absorb effect as well as the debuff from the soak, saving your road from a ton of damage taken.
For more information, please refer to our Rashok the Elder guide.
The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn
Talents
Zskarn is primarily a Single Target encounter with some intermittent
spread add cleave. We recommend the default raid build again. Menacing Magus should
also be picked up. The passive way it cleaves really helps with dealing with the
adds. Finally, Death's Reach is nice with the added grip range.
Suggested Talent Build - Default Single Target with Menacing Magus
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Tips
- Use
Chains of Ice and
Death Grip to control the adds that spawn.
- Make sure you have
Death's Advance for when heavy movement is required during the big Breaths.
Anti-Magic Shell can be used to immune the DoT from
Blast Wave. Furthermore,
Death's Advance can immune the knockback and
Anti-Magic Zone is solid for helping the raid to mitigate the damage.
For more information, please refer to our Zskarn guide.
Magmorax
Talents
Pure Single Target fight -> default raid build is best. Also Enfeeble.
Suggested Talent Build - Default Single Target
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Tips
Anti-Magic Zone is great to help mitigate the damage the raid takes when soaking the meteor. It also gives a solid amount of Runic Power.
- Use
Death's Advance to prevent the knockback.
For more information, please refer to our Magmorax guide.
Echo of Neltharion
Talents
Primarily Single Target but with some opportunity for 2-target cleave and mass AoE. The default single-target build is generally best. We also recommend avoiding Menacing Magus to avoid potentially killing your teammates.
Suggested Talent Build - Default Single Target
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Tips
- Use
Anti-Magic Shell and
Death's Advance when targeted by the silencing knockback ray.
- Use
Death and Decay in the final phase to cleave down the adds as much as possible.
For more information, please refer to our Neltharion guide.
Scalecommander Sarkareth
Talents
Sarkareth is effectively a Single Target encounter. Phase 2 and 3 see some burst
which add a ton of value to Menacing Magus and
Unholy Pact.
Suggested Talent Build - Default Single Target with Menacing Magus and Unholy Pact
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Tips
- Use
Death's Advance to avoid the knockback from the dispel in P2 and P3.
- Time your cooldowns for when you come up with 10 stacks of the Haste buff.
- Use
Death and Decay on the adds to cleave.
For more information, please refer to our Scalecommander Sarkareth guide.
Changelog
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4, updated all talent builds.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 22 Jul. 2023: Added Mythic Sark tips.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
- 24 May 2023: Added more tips.
- 09 May 2023: Page added.
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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