Unholy Death Knight DPS Gems, Enchants, and Consumables — The War Within (11.2.5)

This section specifically covers the optimal gems, enchants, food, and flasks to use for your character. To get a more detailed rundown of the different stats for Unholy Death Knight, please visit our dedicated Stats page.

The War Within has the Culminating Blasphemite epic gem, giving both a good chunk of Strength, as well as increasing your Crit with each unique gem colour you equip. Making use of this effect is generally worth it. The best gems for each type are the following:

1. Masterful Emerald
2. Quick Onyx
3. Quick Ruby
4. Quick Sapphire

For your Ring enchants, Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste is the most commonly used and will usually be your best choice. Enchant Ring - Cursed Haste is an interesting option, sacrificing 115 Versatility to gain an extra 40 Haste. This is generally not worth it, unless you can put together a set with literally 0 Versatility, which does not happen that frequently.

You should be drinking the Flask of Alchemical Chaos at all times.

Your stat potion should be Tempered Potion. Use these when you will do the most damage with your abilities, likely during your cooldowns and/or Bloodlust/ Heroism. You can also obtain Fleeting Tempered Potion from Cauldrons that can be spawned by Alchemists.

You should keep a stock of Invigorating Healing Potions to use when at low health, and if you have a Warlock in the group, grab their Healthstones and use them as well. Do not macro these together, they are best used separately! You can also obtain Fleeting Invigorating Healing Potion from Cauldrons that can be spawned by Alchemists.

The best food for Unholy DKs is Chippy Tea. We scale very well with Haste and Mastery, making this food outperform Strength feasts.

In addition, if you can afford it, you should use Crystallized Augment Runes to increase your primary stat. Augment Runes are expensive, and disappear on death, so use them wisely!

You can also buy the permanent Ethereal Augment Rune once at Renown 18 with the new Season 3 K'aresh Trust faction or use the Soulgorged Augment Runes that drop from the new raid and persist through death.

• Rune of the Fallen Crusader: The staple Runeforge for Unholy Death Knights, you will always see this Runeforge used in both Mythic+ and Raid content.
• Rune of Razorice: This Runeforge has more of a place with Frost Death Knights since Unholy does no frost damage.
• Rune of Sanguination: Provides a small execute effect for Death Strike and a small cheat death mechanic. This Runeforge has more of a place in PvP as opposed to PvE content.
• Rune of Spellwarding: Provides small defense towards casters, making it more geared towards PvP situations.
• Rune of the Apocalypse: Currently very weak compared to other options especially Rune of the Fallen Crusader.
• Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle: This Runeforge is primarily a defensive option that does not see play for Unholy.
• Rune of Unending Thirst: Sometimes used for leveling since it provides movement speed, Haste, and heals when you kill an enemy.