Unholy Death Knight DPS Easy Mode — Dragonflight 10.0.7

Last updated on Mar 20, 2023 at 14:16 by Bicepspump 63 comments
General Information

On this page, we explain how to easily play Unholy Death Knight in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.0.7, 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, 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 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 Unholy Blight Icon Unholy Blight

3.

Talent Choice for Unholy Death Knights

The following talent choices are effectively best in most situations.

These are the easiest talents to use when factoring in gear and rotation, but if you want to use the absolute best talents for Unholy Death Knight depending on the situation then we have a more in-depth page linked below.

4.

Stat Choice for Unholy Death Knights

Currently, you will want to prioritize stats as follows.

  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.

5.

Single-Target Opener for Unholy Death Knights

  1. Use Army of the Dead Icon Army of the Dead.
  2. Use Outbreak Icon Outbreak or Unholy Blight Icon Unholy Blight.
  3. Use Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike.
  4. Use Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike + Summon Gargoyle Icon Summon Gargoyle.
  5. Use Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation.
  6. Use Death Coil Icon Death Coil.
  7. Use Apocalypse Icon Apocalypse.
  8. Use Blood Fury Icon Blood Fury (if Orc), Berserking Icon Berserking (if Troll).
  9. Use Trinket and Potion.
  10. Use Death Coil Icon Death Coil.
  11. Use Empower Rune Weapon Icon Empower Rune Weapon and Unholy Assault Icon Unholy Assault.
6.

Basic Rotation for Unholy Death Knights

  1. Cast Soul Reaper Icon Soul Reaper if the target is below 35% (if you have taken this talent).
  2. Cast Outbreak Icon Outbreak or Unholy Blight Icon Unholy Blight to apply Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague on the target. Try to maintain 100% uptime on the disease.
  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 3 or fewer Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds.
  5. Use Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike when there are at least 4 Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds on the target.
  6. Use Death Coil Icon Death Coil.
7.

Multi-Target Rotation for Unholy Death Knight

Please find below a rotation on a dungeon trash pack. As an Unholy DK, the duration of the pack alters your approach heavily. The shorter the pack, the quicker you want to pop down your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay.

  1. Use Outbreak Icon Outbreak or Unholy Blight Icon Unholy Blight to apply Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague on all targets.
  2. Use Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation.
  3. Use Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike.
  4. Use Unholy Assault Icon Unholy Assault.
  5. Use Vile Contagion Icon Vile Contagion (on the target that now has 6 Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds).
  6. Use Apocalypse Icon Apocalypse on the target with the most Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds (ideally 4).
  7. Spam Epidemic Icon Epidemic until you are out of Runic Power.
  8. Use Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay.
  9. Spam Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike and use Epidemic Icon Epidemic if you are about to cap on Runic Power.
  10. After Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay finishes, go to single-target rotation with Epidemic Icon Epidemic instead of Death Coil Icon Death Coil.

If Unholy Assault Icon Unholy Assault and Vile Contagion Icon Vile Contagion are on cooldown, use 1-2 extra Festering Strike Icon Festering Strikes instead.

Make sure to stand in your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay 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.

8.

Cooldowns for Unholy Death Knights

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

9.

Changelog

  • 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.
Show more
Show less