Death Knight PvE Guides

The third talent tree for Death Knights is the Unholy Specialization. In the original release of Wrath of the Lich King Unholy Death Knights were often ranked at the top of DPS charts for both single and multi-target encounters. With the upcoming re-release of Wrath of the Lich King for Classic WoW players will surely want to know the best way to play this disease-spreading hero class.

This guide is focused on end-game PvE content at level 80, the intention of this guide is to give players a better understanding of how to optimally play the Unholy Death Knight in Dungeons and Raids. If you are interested in the Frost Death Knight Guide, see here.

Best Talent Build For Unholy Death Knight

There are a few different talent builds for Unholy Death Knights to choose from; Wielding a 2-Handed Weapon, Dual-Wielding, and whether to include Scourge Strike in their rotation. The image below highlights each of these possible variations.

Variations

Firstly, regardless of which sub-spec chosen, there are 2 remaining points available that players can pick from depending on their play style.

• Scourge Strike (Highlighted in Pink and White)
  • Players that opt to take this talent should remove 4 points from Necrosis and assign the remaining points into Epidemic and Outbreak.

• 2-Handed Weapon (Highlighted in Green)
  • Players using a 2-handed weapon should choose the talents in the Blood Talent Tree highlighted above to benefit from Two-Handed Weapon Specialization.
  • Players that opt out of Scourge Strike can place the remaining 2 points into Runic Power Mastery in the Frost Talent Tree.

• Dual-Wielding (Highlighted in Orange)
  • Players dual-wielding should choose the talents in the Frost Talent Tree highlighted above to benefit from Nerves of Cold Steel.
  • Players that opt out of Scourge Strike can place the remaining 2 points into Endless Winter in the Unholy Talent Tree.

Best Glyphs For Unholy Death Knight

Major Glyphs

The best Major Glyphs for Unholy Death Knights are Glyph of Death and Decay, Glyph of Dark Death, and Glyph of the Ghoul. Each of these glyphs are very important to increasing overall damage.

Variations:

• For longer AoE encounters Glyph of Icy Touch performs better than Glyph of Dark Death.

Minor Glyphs

The three Minor Glyphs that are almost always seen for Unholy Death Knights are Glyph of Raise Dead for a minor improvement in inventory management, and Glyph of Pestilence for a significant range increase to Pestilence and Glyph of Blood Tap to help reduce taking damage when using Blood Tap.

Many players make the mistake of taking Glyph of Horn of Winter. It is generally useless as Horn of Winter is used to generate Runic Power whenever there is a break from casting other abilities. Being a "stronger" buff means that Death Knights who do not have the glyph can't use Horn of Winter to generate Runic Power unless using the following macro:

• #showtooltip Horn of Winter
• /cancelaura Horn of Winter
• /cast Horn of Winter

Stat Priority For Unholy Death Knight

The stat priority outlined below ranks the stats to help players decide which item is a better choice. Players need to make sure that they achieve specific stat thresholds, such as Hit Rating and Expertise, and then they can focus on increasing other stats. If you want our most robust discussion on stat priority for Unholy DKs, see here. Otherwise, here is a high level breakdown:

1. 263 Hit Rating*
2. Strength
3. Haste
4. Critical Strike Rating
5. 26 Expertise
6. Armor Penetration
7. Attack Power
8. Agility

For Unholy Death Knights 263 Hit Rating (8%) is the minimum amount required to ensure attacks with skills always hit. The Frost talent Nerves of Cold Steel (for dual-wielding) and the Draenei passive Heroic Presence reduce the hit rating needed from gear by 3% and 1% respectively.

Hit Rating is still an important stat above the skill attack cap, increasing it to higher thresholds will also improve damage.

• 446 Hit Rating(17%) for more spell damage from Blood Boil and Death and Decay
• 885 Hit Rating(27%) for off-hand auto attacks.

Strength is very important and is the reason why Unholy scales better than Frost. The Ghoul pet summoned with Raise Dead is a significant portion of damage as it is now permanent with Master of Ghouls and benefits from the player's stats with Ravenous Dead.

Haste is important to generate more Blood-Caked Blade attacks and both the Summon Gargoyle and Army of the Dead benefit from the current Haste value that the Death Knight has at the time of casting.

The Expertise Cap is less important for Unholy Death Knights as the majority of damage comes from spells. It is, however, still important to obtain the cap for not only your own damage but also for the Ghouls' damage. In order to never have a skill be dodged or parried the Expertise needed is 26 (6.5% or 214 Expertise Rating). Any extra Expertise above the cap does not provide any benefit. The talent Rage of Rivendare increases expertise and when wielding a weapon that corresponds to the below racial traits will reduce the amount of expertise needed as well:

• Humans: Sword Specialization and Mace Specialization
• Orcs: Axe Specialization
• Dwarves: Mace Specialization

Critical Strike Rating is not quite as important but can improve AoE damage from Wandering Plague. The Trials of the Crusader Tier 9 4-set bonus from Thassarian's Battlegear allows the periodic damage of Blood Plague to crit.

As the majority of damage is spell-based, Armor Penetration is not quite as powerful as other stats for Unholy Death Knights.

Agility does not provide Attack Power for Unholy Death Knights; it only increases Critical Strike Rating.

Skill Rotation For Unholy Death Knight

Unholy Death Knights have a number of things that they should prioritize depending on their current Runic Power, duration remaining on Diseases, and available Runes. To start, they should be in Blood Presence for a flat 15% damage boost and summon the Ghoul with Raise Dead.

Single-Target Rotation / Skill Priority

1. Death Coil to spend Runic Power.
2. Icy Touch and Plague Strike to apply Frost Fever and Blood Plague on the primary target and maintain it throughout the fight.
3. Blood Strike to maintain the buff DesolationOR use Blood Boil if 10 seconds are remaining on the buff.
4. Scourge Strike if talented, Death and Decay if not.
5. Horn of Winter to generate Runic Power.
6. Ghoul Frenzy (refresh if under 10 seconds remaining on the buff)

Multi-Target AoE Rotation

The only thing that changes for AoE encounters is to spread diseases with Pestilence instead of using Blood Strike; use blood strike if diseases are already spread. If the targets are already grouped together, casting Death and Decay first is a higher priority as it is a big source of damage.

1. Icy Touch and Plague Strike to apply Frost Fever and Blood Plague on the primary target and maintain it throughout the fight.
2. Pestilence
3. Death and Decay
4. Death Coil to spend Runic Power.
5. Horn of Winter to generate Runic Power.
6. Scourge Strike if talented, Icy Touch and Plague Strike if not.

Burst Damage

When the situation calls for burst damage or to maximize damage at the beginning of an encounter players should use a Potion of Speed, use any trinkets, and any racial traits like Blood Fury or Berserking before casting Summon Gargoyle so that it can benefit from those buffs. Use Empower Rune Weapon once all runes are on cooldown to repeat a free rotation.

Consumables For Raids

Flask:

1. Flask of Endless Rage
2. Alternatives: Elixir of Mighty Strength or Elixir of Protection with the talent Bladed Armor (+22 AP)

Food Buff:

1. Dragonfin Filet
2. Alternatives: Snapper Extreme, Worg Tartare, Spiced Mammoth Treats

Potions:

1. Potion of Speed
2. Using Indestructible Potion with the talent Bladed Armor (+97 AP) before combat. Then a Potion of Speed during combat. They share a 1-minute cooldown, but Indestructible Potion provides a 2-minute buff.

Scrolls:

1. Scroll of Strength VII

Best In Slot Pre-Raid BiS Gear For Unholy Death Knight

The gear that is often sought after for both of the Death Knight DPS specializations, Unholy and Frost, is largely the same. The exception is that sometimes Unholy can have flexibility by wielding a 2-handed weapon. For this reason, we've chosen to place the BiS Gear options for both specs on one page: