Unholy Death Knight DPS Easy Mode — The War Within (Season 1)

Last updated on Sep 09, 2024 at 18:00 by Bicepspump 73 comments
General Information

On this page, we explain how to easily play Unholy Death Knight in World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1), using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.

1.

Foreword

This page is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous subtleties and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.

2.

The Basics of Unholy Death Knights

For those who are new to Unholy Death Knight and are not sure what each ability does or how they interact with the Unholy toolkit, we recommend checking out our Spell Summary guide is linked below.

Unholy Death Knight is a melee DPS specialization that provides strong single-target and AoE DPS. Its play style is somewhat complex (considering the large number of cooldowns). However, it is incredibly rewarding to master.

Your main goal throughout a fight is applying the Festering Wound Icon Festering Wound debuff with Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike (ensuring not to over-cap it) and then consuming these stacks with Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike while also making sure to use Death Coil Icon Death Coil or Epidemic Icon Epidemic to consume procs of Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom or not over-cap on Runic Power. Furthermore, you should aim to maintain uptime on your disease Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague by using Outbreak Icon Outbreak or Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation (with Unholy Blight Icon Unholy Blight).

3.

Talent Builds for Unholy Death Knight in The War Within

Raid Mythic+
This is your go-to build on any Raid encounter.
This is your go-to build in any Mythic+ dungeon.
4.

Talent Choice for Unholy Death Knights as a Beginner

Both talent builds above use the Rider of the Apocalypse Hero Talents. If you would rather play San'layn, swap Improved Death Coil Icon Improved Death Coil for Ebon Fever Icon Ebon Fever and Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows for Plaguebringer Icon Plaguebringer.

The talents above are your go-to options that will be generically best in the two situations presented. For raiding, remember to pick up Mind Freeze Icon Mind Freeze on any encounter where you might need an interrupt! You can give up Blood Scent Icon Blood Scent in these scenarios. For a more in-depth page, please follow the link below.

5.

Stat Choice for Unholy Death Knights

Currently, you will want to prioritize stats as follows. Do remember that ilvl will generally be best in most scenarios!

  1. Haste,
  2. Mastery,
  3. Critical Strike,
  4. Versatility.

This can be different depending on your character's gear, so make sure you sim yourself, to find what your stat priority is. Generally, Haste and Mastery are a lot more valuable than the other two stats and should be prioritised. However, do not drop a lot of ilvls to chase these specific stats either! For more info, please visit the Stats Page:

6.

Single-Target Opener for Unholy Death Knights

  1. Use Raise Abomination Icon Raise Abomination.
  2. Use Abomination Limb Icon Abomination Limb.
  3. Use Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation + Potion.
  4. Use Unholy Assault Icon Unholy Assault + Trinket + Racial
  5. Use Apocalypse Icon Apocalypse.
7.

Basic Rotation for Unholy Death Knights

  1. Cast Soul Reaper Icon Soul Reaper if the target is below 35%.
  2. Cast Outbreak Icon Outbreak to maintain your Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague on the target if you are playing San'layn Icon San'layn.
  3. Use Death Coil Icon Death Coil when you have 80+ Runic Power or a Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom proc.
  4. Use Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike to apply Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds on the target. Do this if the target has 2 or fewer Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds.
  5. Use Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike when there are at least 3 Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds on the target.
  6. Use Death Coil Icon Death Coil.
8.

Multi-Target Rotation for Unholy Death Knight

Please find below a rotation on a dungeon trash pack.

  1. Raise Abomination Icon Raise Abomination.
  2. Defile Icon Defile to deal AoE damage and enable cleave.
  3. Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike to initiate Plaguebringer Icon Plaguebringer.
  4. Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation (applies Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague via Unholy Blight Icon Unholy Blight. Outbreak Icon Outbreak if neither Raise Abomination Icon Raise Abomination or Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation was used.
  5. Use Abomination Limb Icon Abomination Limb.
  6. Use Unholy Assault Icon Unholy Assault + Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike (2x Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike if you do not have Unholy Assault Icon Unholy Assault ready).
  7. Use Vile Contagion Icon Vile Contagion
  8. Use Apocalypse Icon Apocalypse.
  9. Spam Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike to burst your Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds.
  10. Use Defile Icon Defile when your Cleaving Strikes Icon Cleaving Strikes buff runs out.
  11. Use Epidemic Icon Epidemic if you get a proc of Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom, or if you cannot use more Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike to burst Wounds.
  12. Continue with Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike spam, Epidemic Icon Epidemic spam, maintain Cleaving Strikes Icon Cleaving Strikes with Defile Icon Defile/Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay and maintain your DoTs with Outbreak Icon Outbreak.
  13. After you run out of Defile Icon Defile/Death and Decay Icon Death and Decays to use, go to single target rotation with Epidemic Icon Epidemic at 2+ (without Improved Death Coil Icon Improved Death Coil, 4+ with) targets. This is the only time you use Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike outside the initial GCDs in the opener on the pack.

Make sure to stand in your Defile Icon Defile once you have used it. The cleave from your Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows depends on you standing in the circle, not if the enemies do so.

For a more in-depth rotation, please consider checking out our rotation page linked below.

9.

Cooldowns for Unholy Death Knights

Unholy Death Knights have potentially 10 cooldowns; they should be used as follows:

  • Abomination Limb Icon Abomination Limb should generally be used on cooldown. Hold it for add waves that need grouping up.
  • Unholy Assault Icon Unholy Assault should be used on cooldown. Especially strong in Mythic+ when paired with Vile Contagion Icon Vile Contagion. Used in Single Target with your other CDs.
  • Vile Contagion Icon Vile Contagion should be used in AoE on a target that ideally has 6 Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds. This should then be followed by Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay and Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike to pop all wounds.
  • Army of the Dead Icon Army of the Dead/ Raise Abomination Icon Raise Abomination should be used on cooldown. This is the first ability you press as you run toward the boss. Make sure to line it up with all your other Cooldowns every 3/1.5 minutes.
  • Apocalypse Icon Apocalypse should ideally be used when you have 4 stacks of Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds but it is fine to use on a target with at least 1 stack.
  • Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation should be used off cooldown and as an opener on packs of multiple mobs.
  • Sacrificial Pact Icon Sacrificial Pact should only be used to save yourself from death.
  • Summon Gargoyle Icon Summon Gargoyle should be used on cooldown. Once used, prioritize spending Runic Power via Death Coil Icon Death Coil above everything else.
  • Defile Icon Defile should be used in AoE. Use it as much as possible to enable your Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows and deal AoE damage.
10.

Changelog

  • 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
  • 21 Aug. 2024: Updated 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: Updated for Season 4, mainly changing the ideal stat distribution.
  • 20 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 12 Dec. 2023: Clarified DT and Garg location in opener.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 25 Jun. 2023: Minor opener update.
  • 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
  • 29 Apr. 2023: Reviewed and Updated for Patch 10.1.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Updated 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.
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