Unholy Death Knight DPS Stat Priority — Shadowlands 9.2
On this page, you will find out the optimal stat priority for your Unholy Death Knight. We first present the stat priority, before delving into more complex explanations. Our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Shadowlands 9.2.
The Basics of Stats for Unholy Death Knight
The most common stat priority you will find in your sims for Unholy Death Knights is as follows:
- Mastery
- Haste
- Critical Strike
- Versatility
For AoE, it changes slightly with Critical Strike coming on top of Haste:
- Mastery
- Critical Strike
- Haste
- Versatility
Usually a higher item level piece of gear will be a bigger upgrade than a lower item level piece of gear even with better stats. We highly recommend you sim your character to find the stat weights that work best for you. An example stat distribution for Unholy would look something like 800 Mastery, 700 Haste, 400 Critical Strike, and 250 Versatility.
When you have the Inscrutable Quantum Device (IQD) equipped, your exact
stat numbers become more important. Since the trinket's on-use effect gives
you stats depending on your current raw numbers, you need to be careful to
keep these numbers in the right places. Mastery should be your highest stat,
followed by Haste. During
Bloodlust IQD will choose your highest stat,
which is why you want Mastery at the top. Outside of lust, IQD will choose 50/50
between your top two stats, which is why you want Haste as your second-highest
stat.
These statistics have been obtained by combining common sense, in-game testing, and simulations using SimulationCraft.
Getting a Better Understanding of Unholy Death Knight Stats
Statistics Explanation
Strength is your primary statistic. You should look for it in all of your upgrades. It provides you with Attack Power, which determines the damage your abilities do.
Mastery, through Mastery: Dreadblade, increases your
Shadow and minion damage. Shadow and minion damage makes up a majority of your
total damage. The first strict diminishing return starts at 68.4% Mastery.
Haste will increase your attack speed and Rune regeneration rate. It also reduces your Global Cooldown.
Critical Strike increases your chance to critically hit with all spells and abilities.
Versatility increases all your damage and healing done, and decreases all damage taken.
For Unholy, your pets and minions inherit your stats. Increasing your Haste will make them hit faster and regenerate Energy faster. Critical strike will increase their Critical Strike chance, etc.
Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
The gems, enchants, and consumables that you choose are directly affected by your stat priority. In order to find the best mix of these, we do recommend that you simulate yourself using a program like Raidbots or Simulationcraft, however, we have a page linked below that will give you advice on this topic.
Changelog
- 20 Feb. 2022: Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.2.
- 01 Nov. 2021: Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.1.5.
- 29 Jun. 2021: Guide reviewed and updated for Patch 9.1.
- 10 May 2021: Updated stat priority and expanded on pet inheritance of stats.
- 09 Mar. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 19 Jan. 2021: Guide reviewed and completely updated.
- 28 Nov. 2020: Fixed stat recommendation for Mastery.
- 23 Nov. 2020: Page updated for Shadowlands release.
- 18 Oct. 2020: Changed to reflect the Pre-patch build.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
More Death Knight Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Bicepspump, a semi-hardcore player raiding with Wicked Vigilantes on Kazzak. He is heavily involved in the DK DPS theorycrafting community, testing hyoptheses and investigating the correct priority to use. He is also a useful-minion in the Acherus discord, frequently answering questions and discussing optimisations (do not hesitate to reach out). He produces guide-content on YouTube and frequently streams on Twitch.
- Free Character Moves from Firemaw
- Shadowlands 9.2 Season 3 Mythic+ DPS Log Rankings, Weeks 10 and 11
- Eyes of the Wolf Calia Menethil Quest in Patch 9.2.5
- Everything We Know About the Shrouded Affix in Shadowlands Season 4
- New Oribos Portals in Patch 9.2.5
- Patch 9.2.5 Build 43741: Achievement Changes
- Patch 9.2 and Burning Crusade Classic Hotfixes: May 17th
- Patch 9.2.5 PTR Development Notes: May 17th