Last Updated 8/30/2012 By Titus Pullo
8/27/12 | Mists of Pandaria 5.0.5
[top]Introduction
With Mists of Pandaria still over a month away, not everything in this guide has been finalized. Finalized version of stat weights, gear, and priority are subject to change whenever Blizzard pushes out new beta builds or hotfixes. With 5.0 out, this gives us time to iron out the finer points knowing there will be few if any new changes coming soon. While most stat priorities won’t change there will likely be some change in stat weights while sims fix any remaining issues, between now and the release of Mists.
If you find any errors in this guide or items you feel have been omitted that would help to understand the class please PM me. Please leave the thread for discussion.
You will likely notice that a good deal of links are currently listed as broken, not found, etc. Once the patch rolls out these should update and correctly link to the spells and items.
[top]Note-worthy Changes at a Glance
[top]Talents and Glyphs
Talents will change often between bosses so for most talent tiers there is never one right choice for all fights
Roiling Blood – Your Blood Boil ability now also triggers Pestilence if it strikes a diseased target
*Blood Boil is not part of our single target or multi-target rotation so this talent appears rather useless for Frost. Diseases are always worth spreading again now that Pestilence spreads diseases at 100% rather than the 50% from Cata so Blood Boil can replace Pestilence when needed. This is purely an AoE talent and will not benefit you in single target situations.
Plague Leech 25 sec – Draw forth the infection from an enemy, consuming both your Blood Plague and Frost Fever diseases on a target to activate a random fully-depleted rune as a Death Rune.
*This refunds a death rune every 30 seconds and is currently simming as our best choice in this tier by about 3k DPS in ideal circumstances. Ideally this is used once every 27-30 seconds when diseases are about to expire to get the most ticks out of your diseases while getting the maximum number of death runes from this talent.
Unholy Blight 1.5 minutes – Surrounds the Death Knight with a vile swarm of unholy insects for 10 sec, stinging all enemies within 10 yards every 1 sec, infecting them with Blood Plague and Frost Fever.
*This is a slight DPS loss compared to Plague Leech but still a viable option. With this we only need to use Plague Strike once every two minutes to keep up full diseases on a single target and can instantly spread full diseases in AoE situations.
Lichborne 2 minutes – Draw upon unholy energy to become undead for 10 sec. While undead, you are immune to Charm, Fear and Sleep effects.
*This will be good for any fight where you face CC and useful for any phases of heavy burst magic damage where sustaining yourself with Death Coil and Anti-Magic Shell may be the best course of action. This does cut into your damage if you need to heal yourself with Death Coils so this may not be the optimal choice if your healers can keep you up.
Anti-Magic Zone 2 minutes – Places a large, stationary Anti-Magic Zone that reduces spell damage done to party or raid members inside it by 75%. The Anti-Magic Zone lasts for 10 sec or until it absorbs 136800 spell damage.
*Good for strong single hits of magic damage. This will absorb 75% of the hit that breaks it making this an important raid cooldown if the fight calls for it. Stopping damage from happening is better than being able to heal it up. Your healers will thank you if you can use this effectively. The amount absorbed scales with attack power.
Purgatory – An unholy pacts grants you the ability to fight on through damage that would kill mere mortals. When you would sustain fatal damage, you instead are wrapped in a Shroud of Purgatory, absorbing incoming healing equal to the amount of damage prevented, lasting 3 sec. If any healing absorption remains when Shroud of Purgatory expires, you die. Otherwise, you survive. This effect may only occur every 3 min.
*Saves you from death for 3 sec once every 3 minutes. This counts as an absorb effect so moves that go through other absorbs can still kill you. As soon as the absorb shield is healed off, the effect is removed regardless of when during the 3 seconds that happens.
Death’s Advance 30 sec – You passively move 10% faster, and movement-impairing effects may not reduce you below 70% of normal movement speed. When activated, you gain 30% movement speed and may not be slowed below 100% of normal movement speed for 6 seconds.
*This will likely be the go-to talent for this tier when none of the others are necessary. 10% runspeed passively and a 30% boost every 30 seconds will increase uptime on bosses with target switching or lots of movement mechanics. This does stack with the movespeed enchants for boots.
Chilblains – Victims of your Frost Fever disease are Chilled, reducing movement speed by 50% for 10 sec, and your Chains of Ice immobilize targets for 3 sec.
*Good for kiting and slowing adds from getting to their target. The root effect for Chains of Ice is nice but few bosses or adds can be rooted.
Asphyxiate (1 Blood)
1 minute – Lifts an enemy target off the ground and crushes their throat with dark energy, stunning them for 5 sec. Functions as a silence if the target is immune to stuns. Replaces Strangulate.
*Replaces our Strangulate with a stun with half the cooldown time. Again, pretty fight dependent as most bosses cannot be stunned or silenced.
Death Pact 2 minutes – Drain vitality from an undead minion, healing the Death Knight for 50% of his maximum health and causing the minion to suffer damage equal to 50% of its maximum health.
*Only useful if your ghoul is active for Frost DKs, but offers a large amount of healing on command. Ideally this is the choice in this tier, as it does not impede our damage at all in most cases.
Death Siphon (1 Death) – Deal 4985 shadow damage to an enemy, healing the Death Knight for 100% of damage dealt.
*A ranged death strike in essence. This can be useful during times of target switching and heavy incoming damage but uses runes that can be used for stronger hitting moves.
Conversion (10 Runic Power + 10 Runic Power per second) – Converts Runic Power to 3% max health every second.
*If there are periods of heavy AoE damage this could be useful . This is going to make it easier for healers to keep you up rather than ensuring you keep yourself up but this will cut into our ability to do damage effectively.
Blood Tap – Each damaging Death Coil, Frost Strike, or Rune Strike generates 2 Blood Charges, up to a maximum of 12 charges. Blood Tap consumes 5 Blood Charges to activate a random fully-depleted rune as a Death Rune.
*A guaranteed Death Rune from fully depleted runes when you want it as long as you have at least 5 Blood Charges.
Runic Empowerment – When you land a damaging Death Coil, Frost Strike, or Rune Strike, you have a 45% chance to activate a random fully depleted rune.
*Able to game runes with this to get back certain runes. Keep in mind you must have a fully depleted rune for this to do anything. This is currently the best option for frost on multiple targets.
Runic Corruption – When you land a damaging Death Coil, Frost Strike, or Rune Strike, you have a 45% chance to activate Runic Corruptions, increasing your rune regeneration rate by 100% for 3 sec.
*Returns 30% of 3 runes. This will not actually last for 3 seconds unless you have 0 haste but will last for shorter amounts of time as your haste goes up so that you are always getting 30% of each rune regardless of your haste.
Gorefiend’s Grasp 1 minute – Shadowy tendrils coil around all enemies within 20 yards of a target (hostile or friendly), pulling them to the target’s location.
*Really more of a tanking talent but this can be used to group up loose adds right to the tank. Unless a fight calls for this, it isn’t the best choice.
Remorseless Winter 1 minute – Surrounds the Death Knight with a swirling tempest of frigid air, every 1 sec for 8 sec. Each time Remorseless Winter hits, it reduces enemy movement speed by 15%, stacking up to 5 times. Upon receiving a fifth application, an enemy will be stunned for 6 sec.
*This has some great utility for add kiting, both a slow and a stun.
Desecrated Ground 2 minute – Corrupts the ground in a 8 yard radius beneath the Death Knight for 10 sec. While standing in this corruption, the Death Knight is immune to crowd control effects.
*There are a few fights where CC breaks are helpful and since most bosses can’t be slowed or stunned by Remorseless Winter I would have to suggest this as the default choice of this tier.
[top]Innate Skills
Frost Death Knights gain some pretty nice passive skills which are important to know about and have an effect on the way we play.
Blood of the North
Your Blood Runes are permanently transformed into Death Runes giving you plenty of opportunities to get in more Obliterates and eliminating Blood Strike from our priority list.
Icy Talons
Increases your melee attack speed by 20%. Not much to say here. It is a completely passive bonus so just be aware of it. This does not increase our Rune Regeneration rate but does increase our ghoul’s attack speed.
Killing Machine
Your auto-attacks have a chance to grant your next Obliterate or Frost Strike a 100% Critical Strike chance bonus. This will proc more often for DW than 2H, for obvious reasons hopefully and DW and 2H will want to use it differently due to the next two skills. This has 6 PPM meaning that before any haste is applied or dual wield affects take place auto attacks will proc this 6 times a minute on average. Thanks to haste and if you are dual wielding to will see more than 6 PPM.
Might of the Frozen Wastes
When wielding a two-handed weapon, your Obliterate deals 40% more damage, and all melee attacks deal an additional 10% damage.
Threat of Thassarian
When dual-wielding, your Death Strikes, Obliterates, Plague Strikes, and Frost Strikes also deal damage with your off-hand weapon, and your Frost Strike damage is increased by 40%.
Improved Frost Presence
While in Frost Presence, your Frost Strike ability costs 15 less Runic Power.
[top]Raid Buffs and Debuffs
Horn of Winter - Increases attack power of all party and raid members within 100 yards by 10%. Lasts 5 min.
Unholy Aura - Increases the melee and ranged attack speed of all party and raid members within 100 yards by 10%.
Physical Vulnerability - Increases physical damage taken by 4%. This is applied by your Frost Fever due to
Brittle Bones.
Major
Major glyphs are all fairly situational and the ideal ones to use may change from fight to fight. This lists contains all the major glyphs although there are some that are not applicable for Frost.
| [Glyph of Anti-Magic Shell] | Causes you Anti-Magic Shell to absorb all incoming magical damage, up to the absorption limit. |
| [Glyph of Chains of Ice] | Your Chains of Ice also causes 150 Frost damage, with additional damage depending on your attack power. |
| [Glyph of Dancing Rune Weapon] | Increases your threat generation by 100% while your Dancing Rune Weapon is active, but reduces its damage dealth by 25%. |
| [Glyph of Dark Simulacrum] | Reduces the cooldown of Dark Simulacrum by 30 sec and increases its duration by 4 sec. |
| [Glyph of Dark Succor] | When you kill an enemy that yields experience or honor, while in Frost or Unholy presence, your next Death Strike within 15 sec is free and will restore at least 20% of your maximum health. |
| [Glyph of Unholy Frenzy] | Causes your Unholy Frenzy to no longer deal damage to the affected target. |
| [Glyph of Outbreak] | Your Outbreak spell no longer has a cooldown, but now costs 40 Runic Power. |
| [Glyph of Vampiric Blood] | Increases the bonus healing received while your Vampiric Blood is active by an additional 15%, but your Vampiric Blood no longer grants you health. |
| [Glyph of Unholy Command] | Immediately finishes the cooldown of your Death Grip upon dealing a killing blow to a target that grants experience or honor. |
| [Glyph of Death Coil] | Your Death Coil spell is now usable on all allies. When cast on a non-undead ally, Death Coil shrouds them with a protective barrier that absorbs up to ((0 + 0.495 * AP) * 1) damage. |
| [Glyph of Pestilence] | Increases the radius of your Pestilence effect by 5 yards. |
| [Glyph of Pillar of Frost] | Empowers your Pillar of Frost, making you immune to all effects that cause loss of control of your character, but also freezing you in place while the ability is active. |
| [Glyph of Death Grip] | Increases the range of your Death Grip ability by 5 yards. |
| [Glyph of Death and Decay] | Your Death and Decay also reduces the movement speed of enemies within its radius by 50%. |
| [Glyph of Icebound Fortitude] | Reduces the cooldown of your Icebound Fortitude by 50%, but also reduces its duration by 75%. |
| [Glyph of Icy Touch] | Your Icy Touch dispels one helpful Magic effect from the target. |
| [Glyph of Shifting Presences] | You retain 70% of your Runic Power when switching Presences. |
| [Glyph of Enduring Infection] | Your diseases are undispellable, but their damage dealt is reduced by 30%. |
| [Glyph of Strangulate] | Increases the Silence duration of your Strangulate ability by 2 sec when used on a target who is casting a spell. |
| [Glyph of Mind Freeze] | Reduces the cooldown of your Mind Freeze ability by 2 sec, but also raises its cost by 20 Runic Power. |
Minor
Minor glyphs are mostly cosmetic in MoP but a handful can be helpful in some situations. Army of the Dead, Death’s Embrace, Path of Frost, Resilient Grip, Tranquil Grip can all be useful when needed.
Our presences have changed around with the release of MoP and all DKs now have a 1 second GCD rather than 1.5 seconds base GCD.
Blood Presence - You assume the presence of Blood, increasing Stamina by 8% and base armor increased by 55%, and reducing damage taken by 10%. Threat generation is also significantly increased.
Frost Presence - Strengthens you with the presence of Frost, increasing Runic Power generation by 20%, and reducing the duration of effects that remove control of your character by 20%.
Unholy Presence - You are infused with unholy fury, increasing attack speed and rune regeneration by 10%, and movement speed by 15%.
Due to Frost’s skill Improved Frost Presence all Frost DKs will dps in Frost Presence.
[top]Single Target
| DW Priority |
| Soul Reaper when target below 35% |
| Diseases |
| Frost Strike if Killing Machine is procced |
| Death and Decay |
| Obliterate when Killing Machine is procced and both diseases are on the target and both Unholy Runes are off cooldown |
| Frost Strike if RP capped |
| Howling Blast if Rime procced |
| Obliterate when both diseases are on the target and both Unholy Runes are off cooldown |
| Howling Blast |
| Horn of Winter |
| Frost Strike |
The new Soul Reaper hits like a truck. Use it as often as you can when the target is under 35%. It’s good to save a Frost or Death rune so you can use Soul Reaper immediately when it comes off of cooldown.
When you are not in execute range, diseases are always top priority. Howling Blast and Plague Strike/Outbreak will cover those. Frost Fever should rarely ever be a problem thanks to Howling Blast applying Frost Fever for us. Blood Plague is simple enough to manage between Plague Strike and Outbreak. Try to reapply Blood Plague while there is under 3 seconds remaining on the current debuff.
DW in Mists will play similar to how “Masterfrost” did at the end of Cataclysm. This is due to the large emphasis on frost damage and mastery thanks to the
Threat of Thassarian skill. This means outside of execute range and after applying diseases, spending Runic Power on Frost Strike is the top priority when possible. You will only be using Death and Decay and Obliterate to make sure one Unholy rune is recharging so that
Runic Empowerment or
Blood Tap is returning Frost and Death runes as often as possible. Your other runes will be spent on Howling Blast while using Killing Machine procs on Frost Strike.
| 2H Priority |
| Soul Reaper when target below 35% |
| Obliterate when Killing Machine is procced and both diseases are on the target |
| Diseases |
| Frost Strike if RP capped |
| Howling Blast if Rime procced |
| Obliterate |
| Frost Strike |
| Horn of Winter |
2H in Mists plays almost the same as it did in Cataclysm. After diseases and when not in execute range, spending runes on Obliterate is the top of the order. Thanks to
Might of the Frozen Wastes, Obliterate hits extremely hard for 2H Frost. Line up your Obliterates with Killing Machine procs whenever possible.
This means using Obliterate when both Frost and Unholy sets are up or two Death runes. This is followed by Frost Strike to keep you from reaching your max RP and wasting extra Runic Power and using any Rime procs you may have. Then Obliterating again to put as many of your runes on cooldown.
Lastly, Frost Strike; Make sure you're not Frost Striking when you don't actually have the correct number of runes of the same pair on cooldown. This will depend on which tier 5 talent you choose. You need to have runes
fully depleted in order for Runic Empowerment to proc so at least one pair of runes must be on cooldown. Runic Corruption will get the maximum benefit when at least one rune from each pair is on cooldown. Blood Tap will always be used to its maximum potential as long as you don’t let it go over its 12 stack cap or let the buff fall off.
Unlike DW, 2H will not use single Frost or Death runes on Howling Blast. Save them until another rune is available to Obliterate with. Fill any remaining downtime with Horn of Winter.
[top]Multiple Target
| Multiple Target Priority |
| Diseases |
| Howling Blast if both Frost runes and/or both Death runes are up |
| Death and Decay if both Unholy Runes are up |
| Frost Strike if RP capped |
| Obliterate if both Unholy Runes are up |
| Howling Blast |
| Death and Decay |
| Frost Strike |
| Horn of Winter |
A very similar case to single target where you’ll want to make sure Frost Fever and Blood Plague is up on every target and you will be using Howling Blast and Death and Decay when possible. Obliterate when you have two Unholy runes available and Death and Decay is on cooldown. Ideally, you will try to keep one Unholy rune available at all times so your Blood Tap or Runic Empowerment will refund a Frost or Death rune that can be used for more Howling Blasts.
Finally, use Frost Strike to regain runes when possible. Death Coil will be used in place of Frost Strike when you are kiting adds or cannot be in melee range.
[top]Runic Power Management
In general, Runic Power gains correspond directly to the number runes spent on abilities. Each depleted rune will give you 10 Runic Power but being in Frost Presence will give you 20% more Runic Power. Here’s a table showing how much each ability will generate depending on if you are in Frost Presence or not.
| Ability | Base RP gained | RP gained in Frost Presence (+20%) |
| Obliterate | 20 | 24 |
| Howling Blast | 10 | 12 |
| Plague Strike | 10 | 12 |
| Icy touch | 10 | 12 |
| Death and Decay | 10 | 12 |
| Horn of Winter | 10 | 12 |
| Rime | 0 | 0 |
Pillar of Frost 1 Frost
1 minute
The only unique cooldown for Frost DKs, this is an absolutely amazing talent. Granting 20% strength for 20 seconds on a 60 second cooldown, this should be used on cooldown as often as possible or lined up with phases where bosses take more damage. If you have an on-use trinket, make sure to macro it in with Pillar of Frost to get the most out of it. It also provides immunity to knockback effects.
Raise Dead 2 minutes
As close as we get to being an Unholy DK - Raise Dead summons a ghoul to fight for you for 1 minute. Your Ghoul scales with your attack power, haste, crit and hit continuously throughout its duration. This will line up nicely with Pillar of Frost giving your ghoul a bigger punch for the price, as will using it during bloodlust or heroism.
Army of the Dead 1 Blood 1 Unholy 1 Frost
10 minutes
Army of the Dead will channel over 4 seconds to summon a gaggle of ghouls to fight for you swarming any enemies that stand in your way. Like Raise Dead, Army of the Dead will scale with your AP, haste, and hit throughout its duration. The best time to use Army of the Dead will vary from boss to boss, but it is typically best to use right before the beginning of an encounter or in any phase transition where you will not be and cannot be on the boss and no DPS will be lost. One note about Army of the Dead is that although the summoned ghouls will not taunt a
raid boss, they will taunt most adds present on boss encounters. The corresponding glyph can stop your ghouls from taunting when needed.
Empower Rune Weapon 5 minutes
Activates all your runes and provides 25 Runic Power (50 in Frost Presence) once every 5 minutes. Ideally you’ll want to use this any time when you need some heavy burst. As well, try to line it up with all your Runes being on cooldown and having low amounts of Runic Power. This will reset your whole priority, which can throw people off when they find themselves with 6 runes off cooldown and high Runic Power. You’ll likely cap your Runic Power when you use Empower Rune Weapon. Don’t worry about it; continue the priority as you would normally. Depending on the length of the fight you may be able to use this more than once by using it early in the fight.
Outbreak 1 minute
Outbreak will apply both Frost Fever and Blood Plague to your target once a minute. As Frost DKs, we will mainly use this to reapply Blood Plague without expending an unholy rune when we can on a single target. In some situations, like fights with heavy target switching, it is best to save Outbreak for quickly applying your diseases to a target that needs to be burned down.
Dark Simulacrum 1 minute
Dark Simulacrum allows a Death Knight to place a debuff on a target that will grant the DK the ability to copy the next spell the target casts that costs mana. There are few to no encounters where this comes into play in PvE, unfortunately. You can glyph this cooldown down to 30 seconds with
[Glyph of Dark Simulacrum].
Anti-Magic Shell45 seconds
Anti-Magic Shell is our most reliable way of avoiding raid damage. This baby absorbs 75% of the magic damage taken, up to 50% of the DK’s health for 5 seconds. As of 5.0, this gives us Runic Power as it absorbs damage at 1 Runic Power for every 180 damage absorbed. Anti-Magic Shell also makes you immune to magical debuffs which can be equally important or more important than the damage mitigation depending on the encounter. Knowing when to correctly use this on any given encounter can greatly increase your survivability and damage output.
Icebound Fortitude 20 Runic Power
3 minutes
Our standard defensive ability. A 20% damage taken reduction for 12 seconds as well as making you immune to stun effects. Use this when you know heavy damage is incoming. Don't make the easy mistake of using it after you've already taken a good chunk of damage; anticipate damage to get the most out of this ability.
Mind Freeze 15 seconds
This is our basic interrupt. It is off the global cooldown and you must be in melee range to use it.
Strangulate 1 Blood
2 minutes
Mind Freeze’s big brother, Strangulate interrupts and silences a player target for 5 seconds and can interrupt non-player spell casting for 3 seconds. Unlike Mind Freeze, Strangulate is a 30 yard ranged silence, shares a global cooldown with your other abilities and costs a Blood Rune to use. This is a last resort in a PvE context. It will slow down your damage by taking up a global cooldown and expend one of your runes. As such, this is going to sit in your back pocket for most fights, but can really save the day when it is needed.
Raise Ally 50 Runic Power
10 minutes
You can resurrect one of your fallen brethren once every 10 minutes to 60% health and 20% mana.
Control Undead 1 Unholy
Take control of an Undead enemy for up to 5 minutes to act as your minion.
Druid’s new skill
Symbiosis grants Frost and Unholy Death Knights the
Wild Mushroom: Plague skill. This is the only skill that druids give via symbiosis that is a direct DPS increase for the receiver. Although it is only a small gain in single target fights, it will prove to be quite useful on fights with lengthy stationary AoE or when a ranged AoE snare needs to be repeatedly applied. Since this last for 30 seconds it can cover a minute worth of diseases every 3 minutes.
Feral Druids can benefit from using
Symbiosis on us as they receive
Death Coil in return, giving them something to do when they can’t be in melee range.
[top]Stats and Gearing
[top]Stat Priorities
| Two Handed Stat Priority |
|---|
| Strength > Yellow Hit to Cap = Expertise to Cap > Haste > Crit > Mastery |
| Dual Wield Stat Priority |
|---|
| Strength > Yellow Hit to Cap = Expertise to Cap > Mastery >= Haste > Crit |
[top]Specific Stat Weights
Preliminary stat weights are as follows relative to Strength:
Please keep in mind these stat weights use BiS gear. I've seen far too many people trying to use these weights for characters that are 50 ilvls under BiS. I highly recommend running the sim with your own character to see stat weights for your character
| Stat | 509 DW | 509 2H |
|---|
| Strength | 1 | 1 |
| Yellow Hit | .672 | .674 |
| Expertise | .672 | .674 |
| Haste | .443 | .597 |
| Mastery | .462 | .339 |
| Crit | .334 | .394 |
| Hit Over Yellow | .296 | - |
[top]Specific Stat Caps
[top]Level 93 Boss Avoidance
| Avoidance | % | Avoidance to Rating | Effective Requirement |
|---|
| Yellow Swing Miss | 7.5% | (340 * 7.5) | 2550 Hit Rating |
| 1H White Swing Miss | 26.5% | (340 * 26.5) | 9010 Hit Rating |
| Spell Miss | 15% | (340 * 15) | 2550 Hit Rating + 2550 Expertise Rating |
| Parry (front) | 15% | (15 * 340) | 5100 Expertise Rating |
| Dodge (behind) | 7.5% | (7.5 * 340) | 2550 Expertise Rating |
| Glancing Blows | 24% | - | N/A |
Expertise will only reduce dodge chance and spell miss up to 7.5%. Above that it will only lower parry chance and will not lower parry chance until you reach the 7.5% plateau.
DW Frost no longer has access to
Nerves of Cold Steel so both DW and 2H will need 7.5% hit and 7.5% expertise to reach cap.
[top]Combat Ratings
Ratings needed to gain 1% of the stat
| Stat | Level 85 |
|---|
| Hit | 340 |
| Crit | 600 |
| Haste | 425 |
| Expertise | 340 |
| Mastery | 600 |
Reforging takes 40% of a secondary stat already on an item and converts it into another secondary stat not already on an item. This gives you a lot more flexibility in trying to hit both the hit and expertise cap while maximizing your desired secondary stats.
You will want to reforge following your specs stat weights above while making sure to keep your hit and expertise capped. Sometimes this will mean reforging out of hit on one item and reforging into hit on another item to get the most of your desired stats. This is a tricky and complicated task which I encourage you to do, if for no other reason than to work on some math problems.
[top]Best in Slot
[DW No Restrictions]
[2H]
Trinket evaluation, in the most basic form, is done by calculating the estimated DPS value. Uptime will be determinate on an assumed internal cooldown for Proc-variety trinkets or the listed cooldown for Use-variety trinkets.
| Proc-variety Trinket Value = | (Passive Stat x Passive Stat Weight) + ((Proc stat x Proc Stat Weight) / Trinket Internal Cooldown) |
| Use-variety Trinket Value = | (Passive Stat x Passive Stat Weight) + ((Use stat x Use Stat Weight) / Trinket Cooldown) |
Using these basic formulas, we can then compare and rank trinkets quite easily.
| Item | Source |
|---|
| Relic of Xuen | Quest, Darkmoon Faire |
| [Darkmist Vortex] Heroic | Lei Shi, Terrace of the Endless Springs |
| [Lei Shin's Final Orders] Heroic | Will of the Emperor, Mogu’shan Vaults |
| [Lei Shin's Final Orders] | Will of the Emperor, Mogu’shan Vaults |
| [Darkmist Vortex] | Lei Shi, Terrace of the Endless Springs |
| [Lei Shin's Final Orders] Raid Finder | Will of the Emperor, Mogu’shan Vaults |
| [Jade Charioteer Figurine] Heroic | Mogu’shan Vaults |
| [Zen Alchemist Stone] | Alchemy |
| [Darkmist Vortex] Raid Finder | Lei Shi, Terrace of the Endless Springs |
| [Iron Belly Wok] | Vendor, Valor Points, Shado-Pan (Revered reputation) |
| [Jade Charioteer Figurine] | Mogu’shan Vaults |
| [Lessons of the Darkmaster] | Darkmaster Gandling, Scholomance |
| [Jade Charioteer Figurine] Raid Finder | Mogu’shan Vaults |
| [Daelo's Final Words] | World Drop |
| [Carbonic Carbuncle] | Yan-Zhu the Uncasked, Stormstout Brewery |
Assumptions Regarding Trinkets- All items are given maximum uptime. Proc-variety trinkets and Use-variety trinkets will, in reality, have comparable uptimes. Proc-variety trinkets have a shorter (internal) cooldown but procs are not guaranteed to occur immediately after the ICD has been reached.
- Trinkets with the description "Chance on attack to boost X by Y for Z seconds" do not have their cooldowns listed within the tooltip.
- No reforges have been made.
[top]Set Bonuses
- 2P –Your Obliterate, Frost Strike, and Scourge Strike deal 10% increased damage.
- 4P – Your Pillar of Frost ability grants 5% additional Strength, and your Unholy Frenzy ability grants 10% additional haste..
[top]Consumables
Flask:
[Flask of Winter's Bite] gives 1000 Strength
Potion:
[Potion of Mogu Power] gives 4000 Strength
Food:
All Strength food is learned by the
Way of the Grill cooking specialization.
[top]Gemming, Enchanting, Professions, and Race
| Color | Melee Stats Available |
|---|
| Red | Strength, Expertise Rating |
| Yellow | Crit Rating, Haste Rating, Mastery Rating |
| Blue | Hit Rating |
Currently the best gems for each socket color:
[Reverberating Primal Diamond].
Dual wielding will use
Rune of Razorice on their main hand with
Rune of the Fallen Crusader on their offhand. If able, keep a third weapon enchanted with
Rune of Cinderglacier to swap for your main hand weapon to use in AoE scenarios.
2H will use
Rune of the Fallen Crusader.
[top]Professions
Engineering is the top profession due to its 1920 Strength bonus to gloves for 10 seconds every minute (320 strength average passive) which lines up nicely with Pillar of Frost. Leatherworking gives 330 Strength. Alchemy, Enchanting, Blacksmithing, and Inscription are all on par giving 320 Strength.
All the races are listed below with all their racial traits. Death Knights are available to all races except the Pandaren. This is in a vague order of best to worst choice for Frost Death Knights.
| Worgen | Darkflight, Viciousness, Aberration, Flayer, and Running Wild |
| Draenei | Heroic Presence, Gift of the Naaru, Gemcutting, and Shadow Resistance |
| Human | Sword Specialization, Mace Specialization, Every Man for Himself, Diplomacy, and The Human Spirit |
| Dwarf | Mace Specialization, Stoneform, Frost Resistance, Crack Shot, and Explorer |
| Gnome | Shortblade Specialization, Escape Artist, Engineering Specialization, Expansive Mind, and Arcane Resistance |
| Night Elf | Shadowmeld, Nature Resistance, Quickness, and Wisp Spirit |
| Pandaren | Bouncy, Epicurean, Gormand, Inner Peace, and Quaking Palm |
| Goblin | Time is Money, Rocket Jump, Rocket Barrage, Best Deals Anywhere, Better Living Through Chemistry, and Pack Hobgoblin |
| Orc | Axe Specialization, Blood Fury, Command, and Hardiness |
| Troll | Da Voodoo Shuffle, Berserking, Beast Slaying, Dead Eye, and Regeneration |
| Forsaken | Will of the Forsaken, Cannibalize, Shadow Resistance, and Touch of the Grave |
| Blood Elf | Arcane Torrent, Arcane Affinity, and Arcane Resistance |
| Tauren | War Stomp, Cultivation, Endurance, and Nature Resistance |
| Pandaren | Bouncy, Epicurean, Gormand, Inner Peace, and Quaking Palm |
[top]Mechanics, Mods, Macros, and More
[top]Current Raiding Mechanics
This section is intended for a quick reference for when to use certain abilities in the current raiding environment and which certain talents are optimal on specific encounters. On that note, it does not contain info for Heroic encounters. If enough interest is shown, I will expand it to include heroic encounters, but I like to think if you are doing heroics you know what you are doing.
[top]Mogu’shan Vaults
The Stone Guard –
Feng the Accursed –
Gara’jal the Spiritbinder –
The Spirit Kings –
Elegon –
Will of the Emperor –
More Coming Soon!
Rune Addons
The default rune UI doesn’t tend to work as well as most Death Knights would like and most use an addon for displaying runes in a clearer, easier to view way. Here are a few mods that do a good job of showing you what you need to know about your runes and runic power. Of utmost importance is to find what mod works best for you. There are many more than the ones listed but these are some of the more common ones.
DKi Runes
DocsDebugRunes
Magic Runes
Acherus Runes
Boss Addons
Many bosses have timers for moves you need to be aware of. These addons let you know what they are and when they are coming.
DBM
Big Wigs
Cooldowns and Buffs Trackers
Keeping track of the cooldowns of your abilities and trinkets and buffs will allow you to maximize their use.
Power Auras Classic
WeakAuras
TellMeWhen
Not many macros are essential for Frost DKs and only one is truly recommended
| #showtooltip Pillar of Frost |
| /use # (only for on-use items, replace ‘#’ with item slot #) |
| /cast Pillar of Frost |
| /cast Raise Dead |
Pillar of Frost has a 1 minute cooldown and Raise Dead has a 2 minute cooldown. You can also add any on-use items into this macro. For reference, gloves are item slot 10 and trinkets are slots 13 and 14.
Q: Which is stronger: Dual Wield or 2-Hand Frost?
A: Both are surprising close on the meters in single target scenarios and viability with 2H currently simming about 1-2% ahead. Dual wield tends to excel at cleave scenarios and AoE. 2-Hand tends to excel at burst damage due to its extremely strong Obliterates.
Q: Why is
Rune of Razorice on the main hand and
Rune of the Fallen Crusaderis on the off-hand for DW?
A: In most situations it won’t matter which enchant is on which weapon but when you are in the rare situations where you are attacking from the front and get parried only the main hand attack gets parried. The off hand attack will still hit and give a chance to proc
Rune of the Fallen Crusader while
Rune of Razorice would only provide a benefit in the off hand if the debuff was not yet at 5 stacks.
Q:I want to dual wield but I don’t like this “masterfrost” priority. What can I do?
A:It is entirely possible to dual wield and not use the “masterfrost” priority and instead use a more 2H-esque priority by using most of your runes for Obliterate rather than Howling Blast. This is a slight DPS loss (between 1-2%) and favors more haste over mastery (Strength > Hit/Exp > Haste > Mastery > Crit).
Q: Our tank died. My group needs me to offtank. What do I do?
A: Non-blood Death Knights have lost their taunt ability, Dark Command, which makes us rather inefficient at quickly grabbing threat on more than one target. If you must offtank, switch over to
Blood Presence and use
Icebound Fortitude,
Anti-Magic Shell, and
Army of the Dead as best you can to stop as much incoming damage as you can while someone resurrects the tank.
Q: We need a kiter. Should it be me? What do I need to know?
A: Frost Death Knights make excellent kiters. Howling Blast is a spammable ranged AoE spell that can quickly pick up targets. Talenting into
Chilblains will stop most adds in their tracks and prevent them from ever catching up to you. Consider switching to Blood Presence if adds are getting away from you or to Unholy Presence if you find that adds are catching up with you. Death and Decay and Death Coil will both be helpful at holding aggro while keeping at distance.
Q: What's the deal with tier 5 talents and t134pc?
A: Tier 13's 4-piece bonus has a chance to give 710 mastery when Runic Corruption (40%) or Runic Empowerment (25%) proc. Originally these were balanced for the specs that had each, Frost and Unholy respectively. Now Frost has access to Runic Corruption and can get higher uptimes on the 4pc proc. I haven't seen any results showing if this is a DPS gain or not since you are using Runic Corruption rather than Runic Empowerment.
[top]Patch Notes of Yore
Been gone awhile? Here are all the patch notes since the Mists of Pandaria release to help you catch up.
[top]5.0 Patch Notes
[top]Upcoming Changes on the PTR
[top]Corrections and Updates
If you find any errors in this guide or items you feel have been omitted that would help to understand the class please PM me. Let’s leave the thread for discussion.
[top]Special Thanks
- Euliat for his work on simulating DK stats and priority.
- #Acherus
- Everyone who contributes to this thread for their continued effort at understanding and maximizing the DK class.
8/30/12 Fixed some broken item links. Others remain stubborn. Howling Blast and Threat of Thassarian changes included.
9/11/12 Add Death and Decay into DW single target priority
9/20/12 Update BiS:
[Waistplate of Overwhelming Assault] for DW,
[Jang-xi's Devastating Legplates] for 2H
08/28/12, 12:29 AM
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