Unholy Death Knight DPS Guide — Dragonflight 10.0.7

The Unholy specialization currently provides high single-target burst as well as good AoE scaling. We are also one of the tankiest classes in the game, something that is very useful in all PvE content!

We are maintaining a list of changes for Death Knights, so you can see what changes with every patch of Dragonflight.

From Patch 9.1.5 onward, both Legion Timewalking and the Mage Tower have returned. As such we have created a separate guide detailing what you can expect from the Mage Tower challenge available to Unholy Death Knights.

The Unholy Death Knight has seen multiple changes for Patch 10.0.7. Please find a list below with added discussion.

• Rotten Touch duration increased to 10 seconds (was 6 seconds).
• Runic Mastery now also increases Runic Corruption's regeneration rate by 10/20%.
• Commander of the Dead now always buffs your minions for 30 seconds after Dark Transformation has been used.
• Harbinger of Doom now also increases the damage of your next Death Coil by 20% or Epidemic by 10%.
• Ruptured Viscera now has a 25% chance to apply a Festering Wound to enemies hit by its explosion.
• Ruptured Viscera damage increased by 10%.
• Feasting Strikes now also has a 15% chance to proc Runic Corruption.
• Defile now works with Pestilence.
• Defile now grants a stacking Mastery % buff when enemies stand in the area, granting 1% every second up to 8%.
• Defile has moved from its choice node with Unholy Pact to the position where Pestilent Pustules used to be. Pestilent Pustules has been removed.
• Epidemic has swapped places with Unholy Blight in the talent tree.
• Pestilence has been updated to reflect its tooltip better.

A lot of changes overall, but only a few significant ones. Many underperforming talents have been buffed, but only really Defile sees play. Commander of the Dead update will make players much less likely to miss buffing their pets and will change our opener slightly. Epidemic swapping places with Unholy Blight opens up for better hybrid AoE/ST raid builds. Overall solid changes!

The Unholy Death Knight sees some changes that will affect how it plays. We generally have more resources, allowing for a smoother rotation with significantly less downtime overall. Furthermore, our AoE scaling has been buffed through the target cap increase on Cleaving Strikes as well as the new Vile Contagion talent. This makes the classic Bursting Sores build far more powerful in Mythic+.

We have also received a large number of new talents, both from the arsenals of Frost and Blood Death Knight, but also completely new ones. Some notable examples are Empower Rune Weapon, Will of the Necropolis, Vile Contagion and Commander of the Dead. Furthermore, Summon Gargoyle has received significant buffs and will be a staple part of many of our builds.

Overall, Unholy has retained its gameplay from Shadowlands with a smoother overall feeling and more rewarding cooldowns.

If you want to level an Unholy Death Knight, you can check out our leveling guide for tips and tricks for your journey.

Once you reach max level, a great way to customize your game to fit the way you want to play, but also to help you play better, is with AddOns. We recommend using some of the basic AddOns that are on our Addons page below while you are leveling, to not only get used to AddOns but to also help speed up your leveling. Since Unholy is a fairly complicated spec to play, it is heavily recommended that you use AddOns to clean up your screen and make your rotation easier.

Unholy Death Knight is a spec that is all about managing your resources and maximizing your burst potential with correct cooldown management.

If you are new to Unholy Death Knight and would like to learn the basics of the class, we recommend looking at the Spell Summary, as well as the Easy Mode page that is linked below.

We also have a guide for the Unholy Death Knight talents and rotations below.

Gear, enchants, consumables and gems also play a big part in increasing your character's DPS. Linked below is a page to show you which enchants, consumables, and gems to use, as well as a stats page, where you can find more information on each stat and how they interact with your character.

The Unholy Death Knight is 100% viable in Dragonflight. We have an incredible burst, making us useful in all situations of the game! We are also incredibly tanky, something great as you progress through hard content. Dying is the number one factor for not killing a boss.

The end-game of an Unholy Death Knight is very exciting since your burst is incredibly high and your AoE potential is also very high. Linked below are our Raiding, Mythic+ and PvP guides!

If, after reading all these guides you still find your performance lackluster, then check out the pages linked below for some tips and tricks that may answer any question you have. This is fairly common with Unholy Death Knight, as it is a very clunky spec.