Death Knight Builds

Please note the new talent trees are listed at: Official Talent Calculator

Undocumented Class Changes - WotLK Beta Build - 8820

Many talents which gave pushback resist changed to reduction in casting time lost.

Death Knight Changes
Blood Boil - Cooldown removed, 1 Blood Rune cost added.  Taunt removed.
Might of Morgraine - Now affects Blood Boil, but no longer affects Obliterate.
Merciless Combat - Now works on targets with less than 35% health, up from 20%.
Bloodworms - Proc chance reduced from 4/8/12% to 3/6/9%. (Bloodworms healing has been greatly reduced too)
Endless Winter - Now reduces cost of Mind Freeze to 10 Runic Power.
Guile of Gorefiend - Now additionally affects Rune Strike.
Pestilence - Additional threat removed.
Rune of Lichbane - Now reads: Affixes your rune weapon with a rune that adds 2% extra weapon damage as Fire damage, and has a chance to stun Undead for 5 sec.
Rune of Razorice - Effect increased from 1% to 2% extra weapon damage.
Night of the Dead - Now reads: Your next 10 Plague Strikes and Scourge Strikes lower the cooldown of Raise Dead by 15/30 sec and Army of the Dead by 30/60 sec per strike.
Chains of Ice - Now reads: Shackles the target with heavy chains, reducing their movement to zero. The target regains 5% of their movement each second. Lasts for 20 sec.
Blood Aura - Now reads: All party or raid members within 45 yards of the Death Knight are healed by 1/2% of the damage they deal.
Frost Aura - Now reads: All party or raid members within 45 yards of the Death Knight gain (.5/1 per level) spell resistance.
Unholy Aura - Now reads: All party or raid members within 45 yards of the Death Knight move 8/15% faster. This effect does not stack with other movement improving effects.
Raise Dead - Ghoul now lasts until cancelled.
Hungering Cold - Now reads: Purges the earth around the Death Knight of all heat. Enemies within 10 yards are trapped in ice, preventing them from performing any action for 10 sec and infecting them with Frost Fever. Enemies are considered Frozen, but any damage other than diseases will break the ice.
Unholy Blight - Now lasts a flat 20 seconds.
Lichborne - Now lasts 15 seconds, up from 10.  Cooldown increased from 1 to 3 minutes.
Death Strike - Bonus damage increased from 90 to 185.  An additional 100% damage heal happens if Death Strike kills the target.
Chill to the Grave - Effect increased from 25/50% to 50/100%.
Wandering Plague - New effect: When your diseases damage an enemy, there is a chance equal to your melee critical strike chance that they will cause 33/66/100% additional damage to the target and all enemies within 8 yards. Ignores any target under the effect of a spell that is cancelled by taking damage.
Icy Touch - Damage increased slightly.
Runic Power Mastery - New effect: Increases your maximum Runic Power by 10/20/30.
Unbreakable Armor - Now additionally increases strength by 10%.  Cooldown reduced from 2 minutes to 1 minute.
Frost Rune Mastery - Replaced by Rime
Rime (New Talent) - Increases the damage of your Icy Touch and Howling Blast by 15/30%.
Unholy Rune Mastery - Replace by Reaping
Reaping (New Talent) - Whenever you use Death and Decay, there is a 30/60/100% chance that all three runes become Death Runes when they activate.
Blood Presence - Healing reduced to 2% from 4%.
Anti-magic Zone - New icon
Army of the Dead - Cooldown increased from 10 to 20 minutes.
Dancing Rune Weapon - Cooldown increased from 1 to 2 minutes.
Scourge Strike - New icon
Frost Strike - Cost reduced from 50 Runic Power to 40.
Death Coil - Cost reduced from 50 Runic Power to 40.
Howling Blast - Cooldown reduced from 30 to 10 seconds.
Summon Gargoyle - Cooldown reduced from 5 to 3 minutes.
Bone Shield - Cooldown increased from 30 second to 1 minute.
Vampiric Blood - Cooldown reduced from 2 to 1 minute.
Rune Strike (New Ability) - (10 Runic Power, 5 yd range, Instant Cast, 5 sec cooldown, Requires Melee Weapon) - Instantly strike the target for weapon damage. Only usable after the Death Knight performs a melee or spell critical hit.
Path of Frost (New Ability) - (1 Frost, Instant) - The Death Knight's freezing aura creates ice beneath him feet, allowing him to walk on water. Works while mounted.

 

 

I will be updating the list below with updated talents shortly.

Blood Talents:

Mainly DPS talents but also some health gain and parry skills. This is a very strong tree and a lot of players will level up using this tree.

Talent	Points	Requirements	Description
Butchery	2	None	Whenever you kill an enemy that grants experience or honor, you generate 10/20 runic power. In addition you generate 1/2 runic power per 3 sec.
Bladed Armor	5	None	You gain 5/10/15/20/25 attack power for every 1000 points of your armor value.
Improved Blood Strike	3	None	Increases the bonus damage your Blood Strikes cause to diseased targets by 30/60/90%.
Subversion	3	Blood 5	Increases the critical strike chance of Blood Strike, Pestilence and Obliterate by 1/2/3% and reduces threat generated while in Blood or Unholy Presence by 8/16/25%.
Forceful Deflection	5	Blood 5	Increases your Parry Rating by 4/8/12/16/20 plus 4/8/12/16/20% of your total strength.
Rune Tap	1	Blood 10	Converts 1 Blood Rune into 10% of your maximum health.
Dark Conviction	5	Blood 10	Increases your chance to get a critical strike with melee weapon by 1/2/3/4/5%.
Death Rune Mastery	3	Blood 10	Whenever a rune activates, it has a 4/8/12% chance of converting into a Death Rune. This rune counts as a Blood, Frost, Unholy Rune.
Improved Rune Tap	3	Rune Tap 1	Increases the health provided by Rune Tap by 15/30/45%
		Blood 15
Spell Deflection	3	Forceful Deflection 5	You have a chance equal to your Parry chance of taking 10/20/30% less damage from a direct damage spell.
		Blood 15
Vendetta	2	Blood 15	Heals you for 3/6% of your total health whenever you kill a target that yields experience or honor.
Scent of Blood	3	Blood 20	After being struck by a ranged or melee critical hit, you gain the Scent of Blood effect, causing your next 2/4/6 melee hits to steal life from the enemy. Lasts for 20 sec. This effect cannot occur more often than once every 20 sec.
Blade Barrier	3	Blood 20	Whenever you have no Runes active, your Parry chance increases by 5/10/15% for the next 8 sec.
Mark of Blood	1	Vendetta 2	Place a Mark of Blood on an enemy. Whenever the marked target is healed, all party members receive a 5% of that healing (up to a maximum of 5% of the Death knight's health). If a marked target that grants experience or honor is killed, all party members are healed for 10% of their total health. Last 3 minutes.
		Blood 20
Bloody Vengeance	5	Dark Conviction 5	Gives you a 1/2/3/4/5% bonus to Physical and Shadow damage you deal for 30 sec after dealing a critical strike from a weapon swing, spell, or ability. This effect stacks up to 3 times.
		Blood 25
Blood Rune Mastery	1	Blood 25	When you strike a diseased target, there is a 10% chance that the time it takes for your Blood Runes to activate will be cut in half for the next 5 sec.
Infested Corpse	3	Blood 30	When an enemy that grants experience or honor dies while suffering from one of your diseases, its corpse has a 10/20/30% chance of producing 1/1-3/3-5 Bloodworm. Bloodworms attack your enemies, healing you for the amount of damage they deal for 20 sec or until killed.
Hysteria	1	Blood 30	Induces a friendly unit into a killing frenzy for 30 sec. increasing their physical damage by 20%, but causing them to suffer damage equal to 1% of their total health every second.
Veteran of the Third War	3	Blood 30	Increases your total Strength by 2/4/6% and your total Stamina by 1/2/3%.
Sudden Doom	5	Blood 35	Your Blood Strikes have a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to make your next Death Coil consume no runic power if cast within 10 sec.
Blood Aura	2	Blood 35	Increases the amount Blood Presence heals you by 10%. While in Blood Presence, increases the total Strength of all party members within 45 yards by 2/4%.
Will of the Necropolis	3	Blood 40	Increases your expertise by 2/4/6. When you have less than 35% health, your total armor increases by 10/20/30%.
Heart Strike	1	Blood 40	A debilitating attack that causes 100% weapon damage and lowers the target's maximum health by up to 20% for 30 sec.
Might of Mograine	3	Blood 40	Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Blood Strike, Plague Strike and Obliterate abilities by 20/40/60%.
Blood Gorged	5	Blood 45	When you are above 75% health, you deal 2/4/6/8/10% more damage.
Dancing Rune Weapon	1	Blood 50	Unleashes all available runic power to summon a second rune weapon that fights on its own for 1 sec per 5 runic power, doing the same attacks as the death knight.

 

Frost Talents:

This is what many people consider the tanking tree but this tree also has a lot of good skills for PVP and for solo application.

Talent	Points	Requirements	Description
Improved Icy Touch	5	None	Reduces the cooldown of your Icy Touch spell by 1/2/3/4/5 sec and increases the critical strike damage by 5/10/15/20/25%.
Glacier Rot	3	None	Diseased enemies take 5/10/15% more damage from your Icy Touch, Mind Freeze and Frost Strike spells.
Frostbite	3	None	Gives your Icy Touch and Mind Freeze spells a 5/10/15% chance to freeze the target for 5 sec.
Toughness	5	Frost 5	Increases your armor value from items by 2/4/6/8/10%.
Black Ice	5	Frost 5	Increases your Frost and Shadow spell damage by 2/4/6/8/10%.
Icy Talons	5	Improved Icy Touch 5	You leech heat from targets of your Icy Touch, so that when their melee, ranged and casting speed are reduced, yours speed up by 3/6/9/12/15% for the next 20 sec.
		Frost 10
Frozen Rune Weapon	1	Frost 10	Imbue your rune weapon with frost, causing 29.9 to 92 additional frost damage, based on the speed of the weapon. Also has the chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to Frost damage. Lasts 10 minutes.
Nerves of Cold Steel	3	Frost 10	Increases your chance to hit with one-handed melee weapons by 1/2/3% and increases the damage done by your off-hand weapon by 5/10/15%.
Chill of the Grave	3	Frost 15	Your Icy Touch, Chains of Ice and Frost Strike generate 25/50/75% additional runic power.
Killing Machine	5	Frost 15	After landing a melee critical strike, there is a 20/40/60/80/100% chance your next Icy Touch, Mind Freeze or Howling Blast spell will be a critical strike.
Deathchill	1	Frost 20	When activated increases your critical strike chance with Frost spells and abilities by 100% for the next 6 sec.
Frigid Dreadplate	3	Frozen Rune Weapon 1	Enemies who hit you in melee have a 5/10/15% chance to become unsettled, decreasing their attack speed by 50% for the next 3 swings.
		Frost 20
Runic Power Mastery	3	Frost 20	Runic power abilities with a fixed cost are reduced in cost by [ - - (40/80/120) / 10] and scaling runic power abilities behave as if you had an additional 10/20/30% runic power.
Chilblains	3	Frost 25	Adds a Chill effect to your Icy Touch and Mind Freeze, reducing movement speed by 10/20/30% for 2/4/6 sec.
Frost Rune Mastery	1	Frost 25	When you freeze a target, there is a 50% chance that the time it takes for your Frost Runes to activate will be cut in half for the next 5 sec.
Annihilation	3	Frost 25	Increases the critical strike chance of your melee special abilities by 1/2/3%. In addition, there is a 30/60/90% chance that your Obliterate will do its damage without consuming a disease.
Howling Blast	1	Frost 30	Blast the target with a frigid wind dealing 278 Frost damage to all enemies within 10 yards. Deals triple damage to frozen targets.
Unbreakable Armor	3	Frost 30	Whenever you use a Frost Rune, you have a 5/10/15% chance of increasing your armor by 30% and your Parry chance by 30% for 10 sec.
Endless Winter	3	Frost 30	The slowing effect of your Icy Touch lasts and additional 2/4/6 sec and the freezing effect of your Chains of Ice lasts and additional 1/2/3 sec.
Aneurysm	1	Chilblains 3	The Chill effects of Icy Touch and Mind Freeze lasts an additional 1 sec. In addition, Mind Freeze consumes no runic power.
		Frost 35
Merciless Combat	3	Frost 35	Your frost spells and abilities do an additional 20/40/60% damage when striking targets with less than 20% health.
Frost Aura	2	Frost 35	Increases your Frost Resistance by 0.4/0.8. While in Frost Presence, increases the total health of all party members within 45 yards by 2/4%.
Acclimation	3	Frost 40	When hit by a spell, you have a 10/20/30% chance to boost resistance to that school of magic for 18 sec. Stacks up to 3 times.
Frost Strike	1	Merciless Combat 3	A strong attack that deals weapon damage plus 32 as Frost damage. Has a 10% chance to Freeze the target.
		Frost 40
Guile of Gorefiend	3	Frost 40	Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Obliterate, Mind Freeze, and Frost Strike abilities by 20/40/60% and increases the duration of your Icebound Fortitude by 2/4/6 secs.
Tundra Stalker	5	Frost 45	Your spells and abilities deal 2/4/6/8/10% more damage to targets under the effects of Icy Touch, Chains of Ice or Hungering Cold.
Hungering Cold	1	Frost 50	Unleashes all available runic power to suddenly purge the earth around the Death Knight of all heat. Enemies within 10 yards are trapped in ice, preventing them from performing any action for 1 sec per 5 runic power. Enemies are considered Frozen, but any damage will break the ice.

 

Unholy Talents:

This tree is considered the AOE tree. I wouldn't consider it very AOE strong but it does have a lot of buffs for your ghouls, spells and diseases.

Talent	Points	Requirements	Description
Epidemic	2	None	Increases the duration of diseases caused by you or your Ghouls by 3/6 sec.
Virulence	3	None	Increases your chance to hit with your spells by 1/2/3% and reduces the chance that diseases you cause can be cured by 10/20/30%.
Improved Death Coil	3	None	Increases the damage and healing of your Death Coil spell by 5/10/15%.
Vicious Strikes	3	None	Increases the critical strike chance by 1/2/3% and critical strike damage bonus by 5/10/15% of your Plague Strike, Death Strike and Degeneration.
Ravenous Dead	5	Unholy 5	Increases the total Strength of you and your Ghouls by 1/2/3/4/5% and reduces the cooldown on Raise Dead by 30/60/90/120/150 sec.
Unholy Command	2	Unholy 5	Reduces the cooldown of your Death Grip ability by 5/10 sec and the cooldown of your Blood Boil ability by 2/4 sec.
Improved Plague Strike	3	Unholy 10	Increases the damage done by your Plague Strike ability by 5/10/15%.
Lichborne	1	Unholy 10	Draw upon unholy energy to become undead for 30 sec. While undead, you are immune to Charm, Fear and Sleep effects, and your horrifying visage causes melee attacks to have an additional 25% chance to miss you.
Necrosis	5	Unholy 10	Your normal weapon swings deal an additional 5/10/15/20/25% Shadow damage.
On a Pale Horse	2	Unholy 15	You become as hard to stop as death itself. The duration of all Stun and Fear effects used against you is reduced by 10/20%, and your mounted speed is increased by 10/20%. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
Ferocious Dead	3	Ravenous Dead 5	Raise Dead lasts an additional 30/60/90 sec, Army of the Dead lasts an additional 1/2/3 sec, and Death Pact grants a heal over time effect for 15 sec equal to 50/100/150% of the amount healed.
		Unholy 15
Dirge	3	Unholy 15	Your Plague Strike, Degeneration and Raise Dead generate 25/50/75% additional runic power.
Shadow of Death	5	Unholy 15	Increases your total Strength and Stamina by 2/4/6/8/10%. In addition, whenever you die, you return to keep fighting as a Ghoul for 45 sec.
Corpse Explosion	1	Unholy 20	Cause a corpse to explode for 60 Nature damage modified by attack power to all enemies within 20 yards. Will use a nearby corpse if the target is not a corpse. Does not affect mechanical or elemental corpses.
Impurity	5	Unholy 20	Your spells receive an additional 4/8/12/16/20% benefit from your attack power.
Unholy Rune Mastery	1	Unholy 20	When you strike an enemy with Degeneration or Plague Strike there is a 10% chance that the time it takes for your Unholy Runes to activate will be cut in half for the next 5 sec.
Improved Corpse Explosion	2	Corpse Explosion 1	Exploded corpses cause 25/50% additional damage and have a 50/100% chance to cast a disease on enemy targets that deals 36% of the explosion damage over 9 sec.
		Unholy 25
Magic Suppression	5	Unholy 25	You take 1/2/3/4/5% less damage from all magic. In addition, your Anti-Magic Shell absorbs an additional 5/10/15/20/25% of spell damage.
Bone Armor	1	Unholy 25	The Death Knight is surrounded by 4 whirling bones. While at least 1 bone remains, he/she takes 40% less damage from all sources and deals 2% more damage with all attacks, spells and abilities. Each spell or attack that lands consumes 1 bone. Lasts 5 min.
Anti-Magic Zone	1	Magic Suppression 5	Places a large, stationary Anti-Magic Zone that reduces spell damage done to party members inside it by 75%. The Anti-Magic Zone lasts for 30 sec or until it absorbs 10000 spell damage.
		Unholy 30
Blood-Caked Blade	5	Unholy 30	Your melee attacks and abilities have a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to infect a target with a disease dealing Shadow damage over time.
Crypt Fever	5	Unholy 35	Your diseases also cause Crypt Fever, which reduces an enemy's attributes by 1/2/3/4/5%. Crypt Fever lasts for 18 sec and can stack up to 3 times.
Unholy Aura	2	Unholy 35	Increases your Shadow Resistance by (Level x 0.4/.8). While in Unholy Presence, increases the movement speed of all party members within 45 yards by 5/10%. This effect stacks with other movement improving effects.
Wandering Plague	3	Unholy 40	When your diseases damage an enemy, there is a 5/10/15% chance they will also damage other enemies within 8 yards. This spell ignores targets with effects cancelled by taking damage.
Ebon Plaguebringer	3	Crypt Fever 5	Your Crypt Fever morphs into Ebon Plague, which increases vulnerability to magic by 1/2/3% in addition to reducing attributes by 5%. Ebon Plague lasts for 18 sec and can stack up to 3 times.
		Unholy 40
Summon Gargoyle	1	Unholy 40	A Gargoyle flies into the area and bombards the target with Shadow damage modified by the Death Knight's attack power. Persists for 1 sec per 8 runic power up to 1 min.
Rage of Rivendare	5	Unholy 45	Your spells and abilities deal 2/4/6/8/10% more damage to diseased targets.
Unholy Blight	1	Unholy 50	A vile swarm of unholy insects surrounds the caster for a 10 yard radius. All enemies caught in the swarm take X damage per sec and are plagued with a disease that can stack up to 3 times. Persists for 1 sec per 10 runic power. Generating runic power during the effect can prolong it.