Unholy Death Knight DPS Spell Summary in Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.0.1

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 8.0.1 Changes for Unholy Death Knights
  • 3. Unholy Death Knight Strengths
  • 4. Unholy Death Knight Weaknesses
  • 5. Contents
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. Foreword
  • 2. The Basics of Unholy Death Knights
  • 3. Talent Choice for Unholy Death Knights
  • 4. Stat Choice for Unholy Death Knights
  • 5. Basic Rotation for Unholy Death Knights
  • 6. Multi-Target Rotation for Unholy Death Knight
  • 7. Cooldowns for Unholy Death Knights
  • 8. Azerite Traits
  • 9. ChangeLog
• ×Spell Summary
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Main Resources of Unholy Death Knights
  • 3. Unholy Death Knight Basic Abilities
  • 4. Important Procs for Unholy Death Knights
  • 5. Cooldowns for Unholy Death Knights
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices for Unholy Death Knight
  • 2. Tier 1 (Level 56) Talents for Unholy Death Knights
  • 3. Tier 2 (Level 57) Talents for Unholy Death Knights
  • 4. Tier 3 (Level 58) Talents for Unholy Death Knights
  • 5. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Unholy Death Knights
  • 6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Unholy Death Knights
  • 7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Unholy Death Knights
  • 8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Unholy Death Knights
  • 9. PvP Talents (War Mode)
    • 9.1. Unholy Death Knight War Mode Talents
      • 9.1.1. General PvP Talents
      • 9.1.2. Unholy Death Knight PvP Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Azerite Traits and Armor
  • 1. Best Azerite Traits for Unholy Death Knight
  • 2. Azerite Gear for Unholy Death Knight
    • 2.1. Pre-Uldir Gear
    • 2.2. Uldir Gear
  • 3. Azerite Trait Rotation Changes and Details for Unholy Death Knight
  • 4. Relative Strength of Azerite Traits for Unholy Death Knight
  • 5. Relative Strength of Azerite Traits for Unholy Death Knight
    • 5.1. Single-Target
    • 5.2. 3 Targets (Mythic+, etc)
  • 6. Find Azerite Armor By Trait/Power
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Single Target Rotation for Unholy Death Knights
  • 2. Multiple Target Rotation for Unholy Death Knights
  • 3. Cooldown Usage for Unholy Death Knights
    • 3.1. Apocalypse
    • 3.2. Army of the Dead
    • 3.3. Dark Transformation
  • 4. Optional Read: Mastering Your Unholy Death Knight
    • 4.1. Runes and Runic Power
      • 4.1.1. Runes
      • 4.1.2. Runic Power
    • 4.2. Virulent Plague
    • 4.3. Festering Wounds
    • 4.4. Anti-Magic Shell Usage
    • 4.5. Abilities and Cooldowns from Talents
      • 4.5.1. Tier 4 Talents
      • 4.5.2. Tier 6 Talents
      • 4.5.3. Tier 7 Talents
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Mythic+ Tips
  • 1. Unholy Death Knight in Mythic+
    • 1.1. Unholy Death Knight Mythic+ Rotation
    • 1.2. Unholy Death Knight Utility
    • 1.3. Mythic+ Talents for Unholy Death Knights
    • 1.4. Tier One Affixes
    • 1.5. Tier Two Affixes
    • 1.6. Tier Three Affixes
    • 1.7. Seasonal Affix
  • 2. Mythic+ Azerite Traits
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Common and Worst Mistakes
  • 1. Capping Runes or Runic Power
  • 2. Casting Death and Decay with Low Festering Wound Stacks
  • 3. Casting Soul Reaper with 2 or more Runes
  • 4. Make Sure your Ghoul is Casting Abilities
  • 5. Refresh Virulent Plague close to the Expiration
  • 6. Using Anti-Magic Shell on Non-Magical Damage
• +Frequently Asked Questions
  • 1. Battle for Azeroth Frequently Asked Questions
    • 1.1. Is There Any Way to Play Around the Random Application of Festering Strike?
    • 1.2. When Should I Cast Army of the Dead Before the Pull?
    • 1.3. How Much of X Stat Should I Have?
    • 1.4. Why is Summon Gargoyle Not the Best Talent When Dark Arbiter Was the Best in Legion?
  • 2. ChangeLog
• +Boss by Boss Strategies
  • 1. Introduction for Unholy Death Knight Boss Advice in Uldir
    • 1.1. Talent Cheatsheet for Unholy Death Knight in Uldir
  • 2. Taloc
    • 2.1. Suggested Talents for Unholy Death Knight on Taloc
    • 2.2. Unholy Death Knight Playstyle on Taloc
  • 3. M.O.T.H.E.R.
    • 3.1. Suggested Talents for Unholy Death Knight on M.O.T.H.E.R.
    • 3.2. Unholy Death Knight Playstyle on M.O.T.H.E.R.
  • 4. Fetid Devourer
    • 4.1. Suggested Talents for Unholy Death Knight on Fetid Devourer
    • 4.2. Unholy Death Knight Playstyle on Fetid Devourer
  • 5. Zek'voz, Herald of N'Zoth
    • 5.1. Suggested Talents for Unholy Death Knight on Zek'voz, Herald of N'Zoth
    • 5.2. Unholy Death Knight Playstyle on Zek'voz, Herald of N'Zoth
  • 6. Vectis
    • 6.1. Suggested Talents for Unholy Death Knight on Vectis
    • 6.2. Unholy Death Knight Playstyle on Vectis
  • 7. Zul, Reborn
    • 7.1. Suggested Talents for Unholy Death Knight on Zul, Reborn
    • 7.2. Unholy Death Knight Playstyle on Zul, Reborn
  • 8. Mythrax the Unraveler
    • 8.1. Suggested Talents for Unholy Death Knight on Mythrax the Unraveler
    • 8.2. Unholy Death Knight Playstyle on Mythrax the Unraveler
  • 9. G'huun
    • 9.1. Suggested Talents for Unholy Death Knight on G'huun
    • 9.2. Unholy Death Knight Playstyle on G'huun
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. The Basics of Stats for Unholy Death Knight
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding of Unholy Death Knight Stats
    • 2.1. Statistics Priority
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems for Unholy Death Knights
  • 2. Enchants for Unholy Death Knights
  • 3. Consumables for Unholy Death Knights
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Death Knights
      • 1.1.1. Raise Ally
      • 1.1.2. Mind Freeze
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Unholy Death Knights
      • 1.2.1. Outbreak Mouseover Macro
      • 1.2.2. Dismissing Pet
    • 1.3. Generic Addons for Death Knights
      • 1.3.1. ElvUI
      • 1.3.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 1.3.3. GTFO
      • 1.3.4. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.3.5. Weak Auras
      • 1.3.6. Recount / Skada / Details!
      • 1.3.7. mRunes
      • 1.3.8. Omen Threat Meter
      • 1.3.9. TellMeWhen
      • 1.3.10. Grid and GridClickSets (Optional)
    • 1.4. Specific Addons for Unholy Death Knights
  • 2. ChangeLog
• +Gear and Best in Slot
  • 1. The Importance of "Simming Yourself" as a Unholy Death Knight
  • 2. Azerite Gear for Unholy Death Knight
  • 3. Stats
  • 4. Trinket Simulation for Unholy Death Knight
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Simulations
  • 1. Disclaimer Page
  • 2. Unholy Death Knight Racial Bonus Simulation
  • 3. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we list the spells that you will often use as an Unholy Death Knight.

The other pages of our Unholy Death Knight guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author

This guide has been written by Abyssalwave, a top level Death Knight player. He is a former US #2 hardcore raider who currently raids with Club Camel. You can also check out his YouTube channel.

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 specialisation, how they interact with each other and also with important cooldowns. If you already have experience with Unholy and are comfortable with it in Legion, 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 resources. Throughout the fight, you will look to spend as many Runes as possible and generate as much Runic Power as you can, which you will then use to help you deal more damage.

3. Unholy Death Knight Basic Abilities

These are your core skills that are available regardless of talents, and form the core gameplay of the specialisation.

Virulent Plague is a Shadow damage DoT that erupts when the target dies, dealing damage divided among all enemies, and which also has a 30% chance to erupt each time it deals damage. It is applied using Outbreak and you should always have this active on the target at all times.

Outbreak costs 1 Rune and applies a 6-second debuff to the target which, for that time, causes it and any nearby enemies to become affected by Virulent Plague.

Festering Strike costs 2 Runes, dealing Physical damage to the target and infecting them with 2-3 stacks of Festering Wound. Each Festering Wound stack deals damage to the target and grants you 3 Runic Power when the target dies, or when the stack is burst by using Scourge Strike.

Scourge Strike costs 1 Rune and deals Physical and Shadow damage to the target, also bursting 1 Festering Wound stack.

Death Coil costs 40 Runic Power to cast dealing Shadow damage to the target, reduces the cooldown of your Dark Transformation by 1 second, and restores 10 Energy to your ghoul.

Death and Decay costs 1 Rune and places a damaging area at the target location, which persists for 10 seconds. While you are inside your own Death and Decay, Scourge Strike will damage all enemies near to your target.

Dark Transformation has a 1-minute cooldown and transforms your ghoul into a more powerful version of itself for 15 seconds.

Death's Advance when activated increases your movement speed by 30% and prevents you from being slowed below 100% of your movement speed for 8 seconds. It also grants you immunity from knockbacks. It has a passive ability that prevents your movement speed from being reduced below 70%

Anti-Magic Shell absorbs up to 30% of your maximum health in magic damage over 5 seconds, and generates Runic Power based on the damage absorbed. This should be used to mitigate magic damage throughout the fight, while the added Runic Power will help increase your DPS.

4. Important Procs for Unholy Death Knights

Sudden Doom grants your auto-attacks a chance to make your next Death Coil cost no Runic Power.

5. Cooldowns for Unholy Death Knights

Unholy Death Knights have 3 DPS cooldowns.

• Army of the Dead summons a number of ghouls to fight at your side for a short while. It has a high Rune cost, but it also deals a lot of damage.
• Apocalypse summons a member of the Army of the Dead for each stack of Festering Wounds, up to 4.
• Dark Transformation empowers your ghoul for 15 seconds. Your empowered ghoul attacks in a frontal cone providing a single target DPS boost as well as an AoE mechanic for your pet.