Unholy Death Knight DPS Spell List and Glossary — The War Within (Season 1)

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

On this page, we present you with all spells and procs that you need to understand as an Unholy Death Knight in World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1).

1.

Introduction

If you are new to Unholy, this is a great place to start to get an understanding of how the spec works. On this page we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, how they interact with each other and also with important cooldowns. If you already have experience with Unholy and are comfortable with it in the current expansion, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

2.

Main Resources of Unholy Death Knights

Runic Power and Runes are your two primary resources. We have 6 Runes in total that passively generate over time, taking 10 seconds to recharge (decreased by haste). Runes are the most common resource we use for our abilities, which include Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike, Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike and Army of the Dead Icon Army of the Dead. Spending Runes generates 10 Runic Power per Rune used. We use Runic Power as our spender on abilities such as Death Coil Icon Death Coil and Epidemic Icon Epidemic

3.

Unlocking Abilities

Spells and passive abilities are unlocked as you level up and spend talent points. This page will simply list every single ability you can obtain, not recommending any specific talent setups or rotations to use. If you want to understand which abilities are best to pick up when leveling, please follow the below link.

4.

Unholy Death Knight Baseline Abilities

These are the abilities that you obtain without selecting anything in the talent trees.

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Death Coil Icon Death Coil DC Costs 30 Runic Power to cast, dealing Shadow damage to the target. It can be cast on an Undead ally (including yourself) to heal it.
Epidemic Icon Epidemic Epi Costs 30 Runic Power, dealing damage to any target that currently has Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague on them. Also, splashes to nearby enemies, dealing damage to up to 8 targets.
Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay DnD Costs 1 Rune and places a damaging area at the target location, which persists for 10 seconds. If you have selected Cleaving Strikes Icon Cleaving Strikes, also makes your Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows cleave 7 additional targets.
Death's Advance Icon Death's Advance DA Death's Advance Icon Death's Advance when activated, increases your movement speed by 35% and prevents you from being slowed below 100% of your movement speed for 10 seconds. It also grants you immunity from knockbacks. It has a passive ability that prevents your movement speed from being reduced below 70%.
Rune Strike Icon Rune Strike - Costs 1 Rune and deals moderate damage. Is replaced once we choose a specialisation (Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike for Unholy).
Outbreak Icon Outbreak OB Costs 1 Rune and applies Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague to all enemies near your target.
Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague VP A Shadow damage DoT that erupts when the target dies, dealing damage divided among all enemies. It is applied using Outbreak Icon Outbreak, Raise Abomination Icon Raise Abomination or Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation (with Unholy Blight Icon Unholy Blight).
Runic Corruption Icon Runic Corruption RC A passive that gives you a 1.6% chance per Runic Power spent to increase your Rune recharge rate by 100% for 3 seconds. The duration scales inversely with Haste, always granting you the same total amount of 0.9 Runes whenever it procs. Runic Power abilities that get a "free" proc, such as Dark Succor Icon Dark Succor still proc this passive as if they consumed the Runic Power.
Dark Succor Icon Dark Succor - A passive that grants you a free Death Strike Icon Death Strike whenever you kill an enemy that grants honor or experience. Also increases the healing of the Death Strike Icon Death Strike by 10%. Importantly, you need to land the killing blow to retrieve the buff, meaning you will not get that many procs in Raids and Mythic+.
On a Pale Horse Icon On a Pale Horse - A passive that grants 20% mounted movement speed.
Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell AMS Absorbs up to 30% of your maximum health in Magic damage over 5 seconds, generating Runic Power based on the damage absorbed (up to 30 Runic Power maximum). This should be used to mitigate Magic damage throughout the fight, while the added Runic Power will help increase your DPS. It also prevents any magical debuffs from being applied to you. This can be very useful to dodge mechanics!
Death Grip Icon Death Grip - Pulls your target towards you. It also has a shorter GCD compared to normal spells at 0.5 seconds. This means that you can quickly use another ability after gripping something.
Raise Ally Icon Raise Ally - Costs 30 Runic Power and battle resses a targeted dead ally, bringing them back to life (even in combat).
Lichborne Icon Lichborne - Turns you undead for 10 seconds. This makes you immune to charm, fear, and sleep, and grants you 10% leech. You can also activate this ability to break any of these CCs, making it a useful tool if you are accidentally hit a mechanic that applies such a CC.
Dark Command Icon Dark Command - Taunts the targeted enemy, forcing them to attack you.
Runeforging Icon Runeforging - Allows you to apply a powerful Runeforge to your weapon, acting as a (usually) better enchant. You do this in the Acherus Hold at the Runeforges.
Death Gate Icon Death Gate - Summons a gate that will teleport you to Acherus. Here you can Runeforge your weapon, practice your rotation on target dummies, and change the appearance of your Summon Gargoyle Icon Summon Gargoyle to a Valkyr. Using the Death Gate Icon Death Gate again will bring you back to your original location.
Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice Chains Costs 1 Rune and slows your target by 70% for 8 seconds. This is generally your primary way of slowing any given target. Great for when you need to kite dangerous mobs in the open-world or kill a fleeing enemy.
Path of Frost Icon Path of Frost - Costs 1 Rune and grants everyone in your group the ability to walk on water. Breaks on any damage taken.
Mastery: Dreadblade Icon Mastery: Dreadblade - Our Mastery, increasing our Shadow and Minion damage.
5.

Unholy Death Knight Class Tree Active Abilities

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Death Strike Icon Death Strike DS Costs 45 Runic Power and constitutes our primary mean of healing ourselves. The amount of healing increases with the damage we've taken in the last 5 seconds, making it excellent to use after you have taken a big hit. It heals for 25% of the damage taken with a minimum of 7% max hp healed every time.
Raise Dead Icon Raise Dead - Summons a ghoul to fight with us for 1 minute. You spend talent points in the Unholy spec tree to make this ghoul permanent, as well as significantly improving its overall power and impact. The ghoul can charge as well as stun, in addition to dealing damage.
Mind Freeze Icon Mind Freeze - Interrupts your target. It has a 15 yards range, a benefit over other melee interrupts that often require melee range.
Blinding Sleet Icon Blinding Sleet Sleet Blinds all targets in a cone in front of you for 5 seconds. When the enemies are broken out of sleep via damage, or if the duration finishes, they are slowed by 50% for 6 seconds. Great ability to stop a group of enemies from casting, as well as controlling them efficiently. Your tank will love this ability whenever they need to kite.
Sacrificial Pact Icon Sacrificial Pact SacPact Costs 30 Runic Power and sacrifices your primary ghoul, dealing AoE damage (linearly to 8 targets, square root afterward) and healing you for 25% of your maximum hp. Primarily used as an emergency heal as the damage component is not worth the hassle of resummoning the ghoul.
Control Undead Icon Control Undead - Costs 1 Rune and controls the targeted Undead enemy for 2 minutes. This requires that the enemy is sufficiently low-level (it does not work on bosses and certain mobs in dungeons). Furthermore, it prevents you from having your primary ghoul active. You can use the abilities of the dominated undead at reduced effectiveness. Overall, this should only be used as a CC tool since the damage loss of not having our primary ghoul active is too great.
Icebound Fortitude Icon Icebound Fortitude IBF Provides a 30% damage reduction for 8 seconds, additionally making you immune to stuns. It can be used when stunned as well to break out of the CC. Primary defensive cooldown for us with the added benefit of the stun break!
Anti-Magic Zone Icon Anti-Magic Zone AMZ Places a zone on the ground that reduces magic damage taken by 20% for 10 seconds for everyone standing in it. The maximum amount that can be absorbed is equal to 1.5 times your Maximum Health, increased by your Versatility.
Asphyxiate Icon Asphyxiate Asphyx Stuns your target for 5 seconds. Simple single-target stun with a range of 20-yard range.
Death Pact Icon Death Pact - Heals you for 50% of your maximum health, as well as putting a healing absorption for 30% of your maximum health. A panic-button heal with a downside. The effective healing is only 20%, but you still find a lot of instances where this provides the required breathing room for your healers or you need to bring you back to health.
Wraith Walk Icon Wraith Walk WW Provides 70% movement speed for 4 seconds. Any ability used during the channel will break the effect. Useful as a movement speed increase in instances when you need to move between A and B without doing anything else.
Abomination Limb Icon Abomination Limb Limb/AL Grows an extra arm for you for 12 seconds, dealing AoE damage around you, as well as pulling a random enemy toward you every second. The enemy must be outside melee range to be liable to grip. Great utility tool that will help your party group up any pack of mobs. It also provides three procs of Runic Corruption Icon Runic Corruption across its duration.
Soul Reaper Icon Soul Reaper SR Costs 1 Rune, deals low damage, and applies a debuff to your enemy. After 5 seconds, if the target is below 35% health, this debuff explodes, dealing heavy ShadowFrost damage. If the target dies while under the effect of Soul Reaper, you gain Runic Corruption Icon Runic Corruption.
6.

Unholy Death Knight Spec Tree Active Abilities

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike FS Costs 2 Runes, dealing Physical damage to the target and infect them with 2-3 stacks of Festering Wound Icon Festering Wound. Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds can be burst using Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike, dealing damage to the target.
Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike SS Costs 1 Rune and deals Physical and Shadow damage to the target, and bursting 1 Festering Wound Icon Festering Wound stack.
Raise Dead Icon Raise Dead - Converts your baseline Raise Dead Icon Raise Dead into a 30 seconds cooldown, now summoning a permanent pet to fight for you. This permanent pet has controllable abilities that charge, silence, root, and stun your enemies.
Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation DT Has a 1-minute cooldown (can be talented into 45 seconds CD) and transforms your ghoul into a more powerful version of itself for 15 seconds while also granting them 100% Energy. The empowered ghoul that deals AoE damage has a longer stun and can interrupt by charging to a target.
Defile Icon Defile - Replaces your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay. This new ability still allows you to cleave with your Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows with the Cleaving Strikes Icon Cleaving Strikes talent. In addition, every time a tick of Defile Icon Defile damages an enemy, its size and damage grow.
Apocalypse Icon Apocalypse Apoc Bursts up to 4 Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds on your target, summoning 4 members of the Army of the Dead Icon Army of the Dead. The minions last for 15 seconds. It also generates 2 Runes on use.
Vile Contagion Icon Vile Contagion VC Costs 30 Runic Power and spreads all Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds from your primary target to up to 7 additional targets. This is a big AoE cooldown that works really well with Unholy Assault Icon Unholy Assault, generating up to 48 Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds in just 3 GCDs.
Army of the Dead Icon Army of the Dead AotDead Costs 1 Rune and summons several ghouls to fight at your side for 30 seconds. The ghouls spawn over 4 seconds and are stunned for an additional 4 seconds before starting to fight.
Raise Abomination Icon Raise Abomination Abomination Summons an Abomination for 30 seconds that melees your target. It applies one Festering Wound Icon Festering Wound with each Melee, and applies Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague to all targets around it. This cooldown replaces Army of the Dead Icon Army of the Dead.
Summon Gargoyle Icon Summon Gargoyle Garg/Gary Summons a gargoyle to attack your enemy for 25 seconds. Every 1 Runic Power used increases the damage of the gargoyle by 1%.
Unholy Assault Icon Unholy Assault UA Strikes the target and infects them with 4 Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds, while also increasing your Damage by 20% for 20 seconds.
7.

Unholy Death Knight Class Tree Passive Abilities

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Runic Attenuation Icon Runic Attenuation RA Gives your auto attacks a chance to grant you 3 Runic Power. This provides around 30 Runic Power per minute, adding a good amount of resources to our rotation.
Improved Death Strike Icon Improved Death Strike - Increases the healing of Death Strike Icon Death Strike by 60% and lowers its cost by 10 Runic Power. Effectively makes Death Strike Icon Death Strike a 35 Runic Power ability that heals for a minimum of 11% max health, or 40% of damage taken in the last 5 seconds, whichever is greatest.
Cleaving Strikes Icon Cleaving Strikes - Makes your Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows cleave to 7 additional targets when standing in your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay, hitting 8 total. Important to note that the cleave is based on you yourself standing in the Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay, not your enemy. This means that we can cleave from range by dropping Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay on our feet and then using Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows on enemies up to 30 yards away. This would cleave 8 yards around the primary target. The cleave buff persists for 4 seconds after you leave your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay (making the total max duration 14 seconds).
Anti-Magic Barrier Icon Anti-Magic Barrier - Lowers the cooldown of Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell to 40 seconds and increases the amount absorbed by 40%. Useful for any situation with heavy magic damage or frequent magic debuff applications (that you can then ignore).
March of Darkness Icon March of Darkness - Grants you an extra 25% movement speed during the first 3 seconds of activating Death's Advance Icon Death's Advance.
Unholy Ground Icon Unholy Ground - Provides a 5% Haste buff whenever you stand in your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay. It does not make the ability worthwhile to use in pure Single Target but does present a nice boost to our AoE burst window.
Enfeeble Icon Enfeeble - Gives your primary ghoul a chance to apply a debuff to its target, reducing its movement speed by 30% and making it deal 15% less damage to you.
Coldthirst Icon Coldthirst - Grants you 10 Runic power and reduces the cooldown of Mind Freeze Icon Mind Freeze whenever you successfully interrupt using the ability. A nice additional to our resource generation, as well as providing overall more interrupt opportunities in any situation.
Proliferating Chill Icon Proliferating Chill PC Increases the number of targets hit by your Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice from 1 to 2. It only affects additional enemies in close proximity of your primary target.
Permafrost Icon Permafrost - Provides a shield on yourself based on 40% of your auto attack damage. Provides a good deal of tankiness, both from passive healing but also as prevention to one-shot mechanics.
Veteran of the Third War Icon Veteran of the Third War VoTW/ Veteran Increases your stamina by 20%, making you significantly tankier overall.
Brittle Icon Brittle - Grants your diseases a chance to apply a debuff to your enemy, increasing the damage you do against them by 6% for 5 seconds.
Death's Reach Icon Death's Reach - Increases the range of Death Grip Icon Death Grip by 10 yards and resets its cooldown whenever you kill an enemy granting experience or honor. Useful in any situation where you need to grip adds as the extra range both helps with the distance, you can move them, as well as lowering how far you need to run yourself. The cooldown reset is mostly useful during leveling, as you need to land the killing blow to gain the effect.
Icy Talons Icon Icy Talons IT Provides a 6% increase in attack speed for 6 seconds every time we spend Runic Power, stacking up to 3 times. Provides a nice increase in our Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom proc rate.
Unholy Bond Icon Unholy Bond - Increases the effectiveness of our Runeforges by 20%. This includes every aspect of the Runeforge, making Rune of the Fallen Crusader Icon Rune of the Fallen Crusader both increase its healing and strength gain, for instance.
Ice Prison Icon Ice Prison - Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice now also roots enemies for 4 sec, but its cooldown is increased to 12 sec.
Gloom Ward Icon Gloom Ward GW Increases the effectiveness of all absorbs on you by 15%. Big survivability increases both from empowering our abilities, such as Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell and Anti-Magic Zone Icon Anti-Magic Zone, as well as any healing coming in the form of absorbs. Especially good with Disc Priests!
Assimilation Icon Assimilation - Increases the amount absorbed by Anti-Magic Zone Icon Anti-Magic Zone by 10%, and its cooldown is reduced by 30 seconds.
Grip of the Dead Icon Grip of the Dead - Adds a 90% slow to your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay/ Defile Icon Defile, reducing by 10% for every second. A great tool to help your tank kite and manage any trash pack. It also helps to prevent targets from running away from you as you begin your AoE burst, something that can otherwise be very frustrating.
Suppression Icon Suppression - Passively increases your Avoidance by 3%. This is increased to 9% for 6 seconds when you suffer a loss of control effect.
Blood Scent Icon Blood Scent - Passively increases your Leech by 3%.
Unholy Endurance Icon Unholy Endurance - Converts your Lichborne Icon Lichborne into a proper defensive cooldown, granting it 2 extra seconds of duration as well as a 15% damage reduction for you. Adds to our already extensive kit of defensives!
Osmosis Icon Osmosis - Your Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell also increases healing received by 15%.
Insidious Chill Icon Insidious Chill - Applies a stacking debuff with your auto attacks, reducing the enemy's attack speed by 5% per stack up to 20% at 4 stacks. Helps your tanks survive in a scenario (or yourself when doing open-world content). Stacks with similar effects, such as Curse of Weakness Icon Curse of Weakness.
Runic Protection Icon Runic Protection - Reduces your chance to be critically struck by 3% and increases your armor by 6%. Small defensive boost.
Blood Draw Icon Blood Draw BD Heals you for a moderate amount if you drop below 30% health. It can only occur once every 2 minutes. Also reduces damage taken by 10% and Runic Power cost of Death Strike Icon Death Strike by 10 for 8 seconds after it triggers.
Rune Mastery Icon Rune Mastery - Makes spending Runes give a chance to increase our strength by 3/6% for 8 seconds.
Subduing Grasp Icon Subduing Grasp - When you pull an enemy (with Death Grip Icon Death Grip or Abomination Limb Icon Abomination Limb), they deal 6% less damage to you for 6 seconds. Makes Death Grip Icon Death Grip a small defensive Cooldown against bosses.
Will of the Necropolis Icon Will of the Necropolis WotN Reduces the damage you take below 30% by 20/35%. It is a big boost to our survivability since the damage we take below 30% is by far the most useful to mitigate. Effectively increases max HP by 16% against one-shots.
Null Magic Icon Null Magic - Reduces Magic damage taken by 10% and harmful debuff duration by 35%. A really nice defensive boost against magic damage.
Unyielding Will Icon Unyielding Will - Increase the cooldown of Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell by 20 seconds but makes it remove all negative debuffs on you when used. It can be incredibly powerful when dealing with various raid mechanics.
Death's Echo Icon Death's Echo DE Provides an extra charge to Death's Advance Icon Death's Advance, Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay and Death Grip Icon Death Grip. Nice increase in utility with the the extra mobility and the additional grip. Also, a solid buff in AoE since we have more freedom to enter multiple Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay burst windows in any given pull.
Vestigial Shell Icon Vestigial Shell - Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell also applies two shields to nearby allies. These shields absorb some Magic Damage (10% of your own AMS) and reduces the duration of Magic effects by 50%. Nice defensive boost to your party, especially in Mythic+.
8.

Unholy Death Knight Spec Tree Passive Abilities

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Festering Wound Icon Festering Wound FW A debuff applied by Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike primarily. It can stack up to 6 on any given target. The Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds can be burst using Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows, dealing shadow damage to the target. Can be talented in dealing AoE damage as well with Bursting Sores Icon Bursting Sores. The wounds also burst on death.
Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom SD Grants your auto-attacks a chance to make your next Death Coil Icon Death Coil or Epidemic Icon Epidemic to cost 10 less Runic Power and critically strike. Furthermore, Death Coil Icon Death Coil bursts a Festering Wound Icon Festering Wound when consuming a proc of Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom. The proc is based on a bad-luck-protection system where each auto attack that doesn't generate a proc linearly increases the probability of the next to proc.
Foul Infections Icon Foul Infections - Increases your Disease damage by 10% and their chance to critically strike by 5%.
Improved Festering Strike Icon Improved Festering Strike - Increases the damage of both our Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike as well as our Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds. Only increases the primary portion of our Festering Wound Icon Festering Wound damage, not the potential AoE portion we get from Bursting Sores Icon Bursting Sores.
Rune Mastery Icon Rune Mastery - Increases our maximum Runic Power by 10/20.
Eternal Agony Icon Eternal Agony EA Increases the duration of Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation by 1 second every time you cast Death Coil Icon Death Coil or Epidemic Icon Epidemic. Significantly increases the uptime of Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation and heightens the priority of spending Runic Power when the buff is active.
Unholy Blight Icon Unholy Blight UB/Blight Applies Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague and Unholy Blight Icon Unholy Blight to targets near your main pet each second over 6 seconds when you press Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation. Unholy Blight Icon Unholy Blight lasts for 14 seconds and stacks up to 4 times, dealing increased damage with each stack. This makes Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation an even better Cooldown, conveniently applying DoTs to all targets around our pet when we press DT!
Festering Scythe Icon Festering Scythe Scythe Every 20 Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds you burst empowers your next Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike to become Festering Scythe Icon Festering Scythe for 12 seconds. Scythe deals Shadow damage to targets in front of you and infects each one with 2-3 Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds. It's very much like an AoE Festering Strike that generates a significant amount of Wounds on your targets.
Plaguebringer Icon Plaguebringer PB Makes Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike increase the rate at which our diseases deal damage by 100% for 5 seconds. This acts as a buff on us, meaning all targets currently affected by disease will take more damage, regardless of whether or not we hit them with the Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike.
Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows CS Replaces your Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike, increasing its range by 30 yards and making it deal shadow damage. It can be leveraged with Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay to cleave from range (since the cleave hits everything around your target, not your character).
Reaping Icon Reaping - Increases the damage of Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike, Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows, Soul Reaper Icon Soul Reaper, Festering Strike Icon Festering Strike and Death Coil Icon Death Coil by 30% on any target below 35% health. An extra execute mechanic that brings a significant amount of useful damage. Being good at execute is pretty much always a good thing, since the last 35% of any boss fight is the most important!
All Will Serve Icon All Will Serve AWS Summons an archer with your Raise Dead Icon Raise Dead ability. This small minion attacks your enemies at range with a cleave attack. Dealing 100% damage to its primary target and 50% damage to everything else in an 8-yard radius.
Ebon Fever Icon Ebon Fever EF Reduces the duration of Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague by half, makes it tick twice as fast and deal 12% more damage. This is an overall 124% increase in the raw DPS from the DoT but with lots more Runes being spent to keep it up.
Bursting Sores Icon Bursting Sores BS Makes your Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds deal AoE damage when burst. This is a large portion of our damage in Mythic+, as the ability scales quadratically with the number of enemies. Any target that dies with Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds will also explode, dealing the splash damage from every wound.
Ghoulish Frenzy Icon Ghoulish Frenzy GF Provides a 6% attack speed and damage boost to you and your primary pet whenever you use Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation. The duration of this buff lasts for as long as Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation is up, synergizing well with Eternal Agony Icon Eternal Agony. Only the damage that originates from you and your main pet is buffed, not that from any of your other minions.
Magus of the Dead Icon Magus of the Dead Magus Spawns a skeletal mage whenever you use Apocalypse Icon Apocalypse and Army of the Dead Icon Army of the Dead. This minion casts Shadowbolts and Frostbolts at your target for 20 seconds. The Frostbolts slow the target.
Improved Death Coil Icon Improved Death Coil - Increases the damage of Death Coil Icon Death Coil by 15% and makes it cleave to one additional target. Significantly buffs our cleave potential at 2 targets. It does not count as two Death Coil Icon Death Coils for buffing Summon Gargoyle Icon Summon Gargoyle, but does apply multiple debuffs with Death Rot Icon Death Rot, Coil of Devastation Icon Coil of Devastation and Rotten Touch Icon Rotten Touch.
Harbinger of Doom Icon Harbinger of Doom Harbinger Makes your Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom trigger 30% more often and adds the ability to accumulate 2 charges. Also increases the damage of your Death Coil Icon Death Coil by 20% or Epidemic Icon Epidemic by 10% when they consume the proc. Good synergy with other talents such as Doomed Bidding Icon Doomed Bidding that work off SD procs.
Unholy Pact Icon Unholy Pact Pact Makes our Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation form a chain between you and your primary ghoul for 15 seconds. This deals shadow damage to everyone nearby. The chain only lasts for 15 seconds, regardless of your actual Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation duration. The AoE of the chain is very forgiving, hitting everything 8 yards around you, your pet, as well as any point on the chain between you two.
Pestilence Icon Pestilence - Gives your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay a 10% chance to generate a Festering Wound Icon Festering Wound every time it ticks. It gives you 1.1 Wounds per target per use on average.
Infected Claws Icon Infected Claws IC Gives our primary ghoul's Claw Icon Claws attack a 30% chance of applying a Festering Wound Icon Festering Wound. This also works on the Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation empowered version Sweeping Claws Icon Sweeping Claws, which is an AoE ability. Each target hit will have an individual chance of receiving a Festering Wound Icon Festering Wound. This is a major source of Festering Wound Icon Festering Wound application in AoE scenarios.
Menacing Magus Icon Menacing Magus - Your Magus of the Dead Icon Magus of the Dead now cleaves on a total of 4 targets. Really good cleave talent!
Coil of Devastation Icon Coil of Devastation - Adds a DoT to any target hit with your Death Coil Icon Death Coil, dealing an additional 30% of its original damage. This DoT functions similarly to Mastery: Ignite Icon Mastery: Ignite where overlapping the DoT does not in any way decrease the total damage you gain from it. This is not something you need to track.
Rotten Touch Icon Rotten Touch RT Increases the damage of your Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows by 50% against your target when you consume a proc of Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom with Death Coil Icon Death Coil. Good synergy with Harbinger of Doom Icon Harbinger of Doom which leads to 90%+ uptime on the debuff.
Ruptured Viscera Icon Ruptured Viscera - Makes your minions from Apocalypse Icon Apocalypse and Army of the Dead Icon Army of the Dead explode when they expire, dealing damage to nearby enemies. Generally, it is a difficult talent to leverage since you need to time its damage 15-30 seconds in advance.
Death Rot Icon Death Rot - Applies a debuff to any target hit by Death Coil Icon Death Coil and Epidemic Icon Epidemic, increasing the shadow damage you do against them by 1% for 10 seconds, stacking up to 10 times. Stacks twice if a proc of Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom is consumed. Relatively easy to keep up and a significant boost to our damage. Makes Epidemic Icon Epidemic is very useful in AoE scenarios since the debuff can be applied easily to all targets.
Doomed Bidding Icon Doomed Bidding - Consuming Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom summons a Magus of the Dead Icon Magus of the Dead for 8 seconds. Adds even more value to Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom and gives a really good feeling when consuming the procs.
Morbidity Icon Morbidity Morb Increases the damage your enemies take from you by 1/2% for every disease you have active on them. Synergizes well with Unholy Blight Icon Unholy Blight and Superstrain Icon Superstrain that will provide an overall 4/8% damage buff whenever they are all active.
Festermight Icon Festermight FM Increases your strength by 1% for 20 seconds every time you consume a Festering Wound Icon Festering Wound, stacking up to 20 times. Each individual stack you generate will have its own 20-second duration. Really powerful in AoE with large numbers of Festering Wound Icon Festering Wounds being generated and popped. Also brings value to Apocalypse Icon Apocalypse to buff other Cooldowns.
Decomposition Icon Decomposition - Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague sometimes flares up, dealing 50% of the damage it dealt to the target over the last 4 seconds. This effect also increases the duration of your active minions by 1 second, up to 3 seconds. Good synergy with our diseases, but unfortunately, in a spot in the tree that makes it hard to pick up.
Unholy Aura Icon Unholy Aura - Increases the damage your nearby enemies take from your minions by 10/20%. Works in an 8-yard radius around you. Important to track on bosses as some of them have hitboxes that do not work well with this talent. You sometimes need to stand much closer to the boss than you might think for this to work.
Superstrain Icon Superstrain - Makes Outbreak Icon Outbreak and Unholy Blight Icon Unholy Blight also apply Frost Fever Icon Frost Fever and Blood Plague Icon Blood Plague at 80% effectiveness. They deal 80% of their full damage, as well as granting 80% of the Runic Power and 80% of the healing effect.
Commander of the Dead Icon Commander of the Dead - Increases your Apocalypse Icon Apocalypse, Army of the Dead Icon Army of the Dead and Summon Gargoyle Icon Summon Gargoyle damage by 35% for 30 seconds when you use Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation. The minions do not need to be active when you use Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation and can gain the buff if summoned later.
9.

Rider of the Apocalypse Hero Talents

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Rider's Champion Icon Rider's Champion Spending Runes have a chance to summon a Horsemen for 10 seconds. Randomly gets one out of four Horsemen:
  • Mograine - Casts Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay that follows his location around. Provides the benefit from Cleaving Strikes Icon Cleaving Strikes once you pick up Mograine's Might Icon Mograine's Might.
  • Whitemane - Casts Undeath Icon Undeath on your enemy, a stacking DoT that can also spread to nearby enemies, similar to Necrotic Plague of old times.
  • Trollbane - Casts Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice on your target, slowing their movement speed and increasing the damage you deal to them. Trollbane's Icy Fury Icon Trollbane's Icy Fury allows you to burst the chains, dealing heavy AoE damage.
  • Nazgrim - Increases your strength by 3% when active. Nazgrim's Conquest Icon Nazgrim's Conquest can significantly increase this benefit.
On a Paler Horse Icon On a Paler Horse While outdoors, you are able to mount your Acherus Deathcharger in combat. Huge increase to the speed at which you can quest in outdoor content. Unfortunately does not worked in instanced content such as Raids, Dungeons, Battlegrounds and Arenas.
Death Charge Icon Death Charge Replaces your Death's Advance Icon Death's Advance, increasing the movement speed you gain to 100% and mounting you for its duration. Breaks you free of any movement impairment effects when used. Furthermore, allows you to keep fighting while on the mount. Immune to knockbacks when in effect.
Whitemane's Famine Icon Whitemane's Famine When Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows damages a target affected by Undeath Icon Undeath it gains 1 stack and infects another nearby enemy. Allows for you to quickly stack and spread the debuff in conjunction with Cleaving Strikes Icon Cleaving Strikes.
Hungering Thirst Icon Hungering Thirst The damage of your diseases and Death Coil Icon Death Coil are increased by 10%.
Mograine's Might Icon Mograine's Might Your damage is increased by 5% and you gain the benefits of your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay while inside Mograines Death and Decay. Importantly, the 5% damage increase only comes from Mograine's Death and Decay, not your own!
Nazgrim's Conquest Icon Nazgrim's Conquest Apocalyptic Conquest Icon Apocalyptic Conquest strength is increased by 3% every time an enemy dies. Furthermore, each Rune you spend increases the Strength by 1%. Very powerful for packs of mobs where weaker ones die quickly and early.
Fury of the Horsemen Icon Fury of the Horsemen Every 50 Runic Power you spend extends the duration of the Horsemen currently aiding you by 1 second, up to a maximum of 5 seconds. Solid way of improving overall uptime of the Horsemen!
A Feast of Souls Icon A Feast of Souls While you have 2 or more Horsemen aiding you, Runic Power spending abilities deal 20% increased damage. Good synergy with Apocalypse Now Icon Apocalypse Now but also have good uptime outside of our main cooldown windows.
Horsemen's Aid Icon Horsemen's Aid When active, your Horsemen will occasionally cast Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell on you at 80% effectiveness. Great for extra Magic immunity and absorb.
Pact of the Apocalypse Icon Pact of the Apocalypse When you take damage, 5% is redirected to each active Horseman. Solid passive damage reduction that increases significantly during your cooldowns.
Trollbane's Icy Fury Icon Trollbane's Icy Fury Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows shatters the Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice cast by Trollbane, dealing damage to all nearby enemies and slowing them.
Mawsworn Menace Icon Mawsworn Menace Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows deals 15% more damage and the cooldown of your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay is reduced by 10 seconds (from 30 to 20). Provides the option of leveraging your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay windows significantly more often. Reduces the cooldown of Defile Icon Defile by 5 seconds.
Apocalypse Now Icon Apocalypse Now Army of the Dead Icon Army of the Dead calls upon all 4 Horsemen to aid you for 20 seconds. Great synergy with Raise Abomination Icon Raise Abomination since you then gain the burst every 90 seconds!
10.

San'layn Hero Talents

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Vampiric Strike Icon Vampiric Strike Your Death Coil Icon Death Coil, Epidemic Icon Epidemic and Death Strike Icon Death Strike has a 10% chance to make your next Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows turn into Vampiric Strike Icon Vampiric Strike. Vampiric Strike heals you for 2% of your maximum health and grants you Essence of the Blood Queen Icon Essence of the Blood Queen, increasing you Haste by 1%, up to 5% for 20 sec. This ability is primarily used during your Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation window with the Gift of the San'layn Icon Gift of the San'layn talent, you can read about it further down! Significantly changes our priority during these windows, and introduces a fishing game where you try and extend your Gift of the San'layn Icon Gift of the San'layn buff between Dark Transformation windows.
Newly Turned Icon Newly Turned Raise Ally Icon Raise Ally revives players at full health and grants you and your ally an absorb shield equal to 20% of your maximum health. Significantly improves Raise Ally Icon Raise Ally which otherwise resses people at 60% health.
Vampiric Speed Icon Vampiric Speed Death's Advance Icon Death's Advance and Wraith Walk Icon Wraith Walk movement speed bonuses are increased by 10%. Activating these abilities also increases 4 nearby allies movement speed by 20% for 5 sec. Useful group utility that helps your group movement.
Infliction of Sorrow Icon Infliction of Sorrow Vampiric Strike Icon Vampiric Strike extends the duration of your Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague by 3 seconds, and deals 10% of the remaining damage to the enemy. After Gift of the San'layn Icon Gift of the San'layn ends (after your Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation), your next Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows consumes your Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague, dealing 100% of the remaining damage to the enemy. This ability makes it incredibly worthwhile to spam Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows during your Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation. You increase the duration of your DoT, making the "10% of remaining damage" add a significant chunk to each press. Furthermore, you get a huge explosion after the window ends as you burst your DoT.
Visceral Strength Icon Visceral Strength When Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom is consumed, you gain 6% Strength for 5 seconds.
Blood-Soaked Ground Icon Blood-Soaked Ground While you are in your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay, your physical damage taken is reduced by 5% and your chance to gain Vampiric Strike Icon Vampiric Strike is increased by 5%. Makes it worthwhile to use Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay inbetween your Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation to increase the chance of getting the Vampiric Strike Icon Vampiric Strike buff and extend your Essence of the Blood Queen Icon Essence of the Blood Queen buff.
Frenzied Bloodthirst Icon Frenzied Bloodthirst Essence of the Blood Queen Icon Essence of the Blood Queen stacks 2 additional times (up to 7) and increases the damage of your Death Coil Icon Death Coil and Death Strike Icon Death Strike by 3% per stack. Has an impact on your Death Coil Icon Death Coil vs Epidemic Icon Epidemic priority in AoE as it increases the value of Death Coil Icon Death Coil significantly (21%) at max stacks.
Incite Terror Icon Incite Terror Vampiric Strike Icon Vampiric Strike and Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows cause your targets to take 1% increased Shadow damage, up to 5% for 15 sec. Vampiric Strike Icon Vampiric Strike benefits from Incite Terror at 400% effectiveness. A maintenance buff that is generally kept up by us doing the normal rotation.
Vampiric Aura Icon Vampiric Aura Your leech is increased by 2%. While Lichborne Icon Lichborne is active, the Leech bonus of this effect is increased by 100%, and it affects 4 allies within 12 yards. Minor defensive buff as well as some group utility.
Bloody Fortitude Icon Bloody Fortitude Icebound Fortitude Icon Icebound Fortitude reduces all damage you take by an additional 20% based on your missing health. Killing an enemy that yields experience or honor reduces the cooldown of Icebound Fortitude by 3 seconds. Solid defensive boost that is especially powerful during leveling.
The Blood is Life Icon The Blood is Life Vampiric Strike Icon Vampiric Strike has a chance to summon a Blood Beast Icon Blood Beast to attack your enemy for 10 seconds. Every time it attacks, it stores a portion of the damage dealt, exploding for 25% of the stored damage when it despawns. This also heals you for the same amount.
Pact of the San'layn Icon Pact of the San'layn You store 50% of all Shadow Damage into your Blood Beast Icon Blood Beast when it is active, exploding for additional damage when it despawns. A huge increase in our DPS when this aligns with our Cooldowns!
Sanguine Scent Icon Sanguine Scent Your Death Coil Icon Death Coil, Epidemic Icon Epidemic and Death Strike Icon Death Strike have a 15% increased chance to trigger Vampiric Strike Icon Vampiric Strike when damaing enemies below 35% health. Increases our execute as it makes maintaining Essence of the Blood Queen Icon Essence of the Blood Queen significantly easier when the target is at low health.
Gift of the San'layn Icon Gift of the San'layn During Dark Transformation Icon Dark Transformation you gain Gift of the San'layn Icon Gift of the San'layn. This increases the effectiveness of Essence of the Blood Queen Icon Essence of the Blood Queen by 100%, giving you significantly more Haste. Furthermore, your Scourge Strike Icon Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows Icon Clawing Shadows is replaced by Vampiric Strike Icon Vampiric Strike for the duration. Significant synergy with Infliction of Sorrow Icon Infliction of Sorrow as it allows you to stack up a huge Virulent Plague Icon Virulent Plague duration, gaining a ton of extra damage from Infliction of Sorrow Icon Infliction of Sorrow.
11.

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: Reviewed for Season 4.
  • 20 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
  • 30 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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