Death Knight Builds

Doing maximum amounts of damage comes down to casting the right spells at the right time. Yes there are many other factors that come into play such as gear and talent spec but if you do not know what spells to cast and when then you are not playing your class effectively. When a death knight knows how to play his class effectively they can do massive amounts of damage or make very effective tanks. Not only are proper death knight rotations a good way to get the most out of your DPS understanding spell priority will make you a better death knight.

Rotations vary depending on how you are spec'd and how you are geared so this is a rough guide to how rotations should be done for a death knight.

DnD - Death and Decay
IT - Icy Touch
PS - Plague Strike
BT - Blood Tap
BB - Bloodboil
DS - Death Strike
SS - Scourge Strike
RS - Runic Strike
BS - Blood Strike
HB - Howling Blast
HoW - Horn of Winter
HS - Heart Strike
FS - Frost Strike
RM - Rime
OB - Obliterate
PEST - Pestilence
DRW - Dancing Rune Weapon
Ghoul - Summon Ghoul


Blood DPS Rotation(single target): IT - PS - HS - HS - DS - DC(dump) - DS - HS - HS - HS - HS - HS - HS - DC(dump)
*Key is to make sure your diseases are always up and then Heart Strike whenever it is available. So at anytime you notice diseases are about to fall off reapply them. Death Strike if Heart Strike is not available as this will open up more runes that can be used for Heart Stikes when they come off of cool down. Dump Runic Power into Death Coils if nothing else is up but bear in mind that if you are going to need the runic power to cast DRW don't Death Coil untill the DRW has been cast.

Blood DPS Rotation(AOE):
On tougher groups- PS - IT - Pest - BB - Blood Tap - DnD
On low HP groups: DnD>PS>IT>Pestilence

Blood Tank Rotation(single target): Initial rotation: IT - PS - HS - HS - OB - Dump(DC/RS)
Rotation After Initial: IT - PS - HS - HS - HS - HS - OB

Rotation Priorities =
1) Use Defensive Abilities when Required
2) Use Horn of Winter when Applicable
3) Keep Both Diseases on target
4) Keep Runic Power from hitting 100 using Death Coil and Rune Strike(rune strike will generate more threat)
5) Keep both Heart Strike on Cooldown
6) Use Obliterate on the End of the rotation and consume diseases

Blood Tank Rotation(AOE): DnD - IT - PS - PEST - DC - BB - DC - DS - DS - PEST
*When Excess Runic Power is available Use DC and RS as Runic Power Dumps.

Frost DPS Rotation(single target):

Well first off it is hard to give rotations for frost as it depends a lot on what is proc'n and how you are spec'd. You will want to be holding off casting some spells untill the killing machine proc's. Because it depends on if something has proc'd I can not give rotions as proc's cannot be predicted.

Single Target Priority
1) Killing Machine -> Rime
2) Killing Machine -> Frost Strike
3) Keep Frost Fever up
4) Keep Blood Plague up
5) Obliterate
6) Blood Srike
7) Frost Strike
8) Rime
9) Horn of Winter

This priority list is designed to use your higher damage spells ahead of your lower damage ones while keeping up your diseases. Rime is used in place of Frost Strike for the Killing Machine proc because it has a lower base crit rate. Normaly you will want to use Frost Strike instead of Rime if killing machine has not proc'd.

Frost DPS Spell Priority(AOE):

AoE Priority
1) Howling Blast
2) Keep Frost Fever up
3) Keep Blood Plague up
4) Pestilence diseases to all available targets
5) Death and Decay
6) Obliterate
7) Blood Boil
8) Frost Strike
9) Horn of Winter

Frost Tank Rotation(single target): IT - PS - BS - BS - OB - OB When Excess Runic Power is available Use Frost Strike and Rune Strike as Runic Power Dump
Rotation Priorities:
1) Use Defensive Abilities when Required
2) Use Horn of Winter when Applicable
3) Keep Both Diseases on target
4) Keep both Blood Runes as Death Runes
5) Keep Runic Power from hitting 100 using Frost Strike and Rune Strike
6) Use Obliterate on Cooldown

Frost Tank Rotation(AOE): DnD - IT - PS - PEST - HB - BB - FS - OB - HB - PEST
When Excess Runic Power is available Use Frost Strike and Rune Strike as Runic Power Dumps. You can only use DnD every 2nd Rotation.

Unholy DPS rotation(single target):
Initial: IT – PS – BS – Pest – SS – DC – HoW
Regular Rotation after initial: SS – DC – SS – SS – DC – (DC) - SS – BS – Pest – SS – DC – HoW
Death Coil only when no other ability is up, if you have a lot of access runic power you can can cast DC instead of HoW.

Alternative Rotation
Initial rotation: IT - PS - SS - BS - Pest
Rotation after initial: SS - SS - SS - SS - SS - BS - Pest
*when any runes are on cool down fee free to DC or HoW.

Always make sure your diseases are up, your ghoul is up and that you are using your Summon Gargoyle when appropriate. If you are not HoW during a fight make sure that it is at least up before it starts.

Unholy DPS Rotation(AOE):

Rotation (multi-target): Initial: IT – PS – PEST – DnD – DC – HoW
Rotation after initial: SS – BS – BB – SS – DC – DC - SS – PEST – DnD – DC – HoW

Unholy Tank Rotation(single target): IT, PS, BS, BS, SS, SS
*When Excess Runic Power is available Use Death Coil and Rune Strike as Runic Power Dump.
Rotation Priorities =
1) Use Defensive Abilities when Required
2) Use Horn of Winter when Applicable
3) Keep Both Diseases on target
4) Keep both Blood Runes on Cooldown
5) Keep Runic Power from hitting 100 using Death Coil and Rune Strike
6) Use Scourge Strike on Cooldown

 

*In boss fights do not forget to use your special talent skills such as keeping your ghoul up as much as possible and using your cool downs as they come up to help maximize DPS. An unused cool down is a wasted cool down.

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