I've been dicking around with my DK for a bit now and I have a quick question on frost dps optimization:

I know the typical rotation to start with for dps is to IT -> PS -> OB -> BS ->BS -> RD -> OB -> OB -> OB -> RD, but over a period of time I'm finding I can squeeze in a fourth OB before my diseases go off, however my rotation then becomes irregular. I'm finding myslef ignoring the typical rotation and instead focus on doing double disease obliterates as often as possible.

Is it more optimal to follow a strict rotation and runic dump until you can't FS anymore or is it a better idea to focus on using runes on cooldown and use rune dumps as fillers?

The only problem I have come across is that once in a blue moon I will not have enough runic power to dump, have only blood runes, and have diseases falling off. Probably a good time to recast horn of winter or something.

As long as this player is good at using Taunt, she can drop some hit. You don't want to drop too much though, I would say don't drop below 5% hit.

Try weaving your Frost Strikes into your rotation. It makes better use of your KM procs and smooths out your rotation a little. Something like:
IT >PS >OB >(FS) >BS >BS > RP dump >OB >(FS) >OB >(FS) >OB >(FS)

DPS wise your best bet is to stick to your rotation and keep your diseases up rather then letting them drop off in favor of the extra OB.

I used to be not hit capped as well for a couple of weeks (around 7,5 %) and I missed around 15 - 20 times during a whole Naxxramas raid, which is odd. Imagine these 15 - 20 hits being HS/ DS crits at around 10k (i. e. 150.000+ damage loss). Now project this on her TPS and you/ she should know if she can afford being not hit capped. I at least don't recommend it.

Dropping hit to around 5 % is negligent since it's the highest priority to keep up with hit and expertise caps. You might want to drop some hit but definitely not almost 50 %.

Thanks guys for answering my hit question. Now maybe she'll roll on better gear that doesnt have hit on it.

I believe i am placing this in the correct thread......hope so anyway. So here is my question, i am trying to run the 12/0/59 spec. So far it has been great, only one problem. I dont feel that i am getting out of it what i should. Currently i am trying to run the rotation PS-IT-SS-HS-HS-UB(for dump) then SSx3 then dump..........problem is, SS seems to have a slow cool down on the second rotation. Is my rotation correct? Or is a gear or gem issue? This is the main rotation, i am also using Gargoyle and that stuff as well. Would appreciate any and all info or help!!!! Thank you! The World of Warcraft Armory

Does Rune Tap give threat towards a boss? If so, is it more threat than a Heart Strike would be?

If Rune Tap does give threat, it is nowhere near the type of threat that Heart Strike would give.

Yes it gives threat, but is not a very efficient threat generating tool.

Death Knight Threat Values

I believe this is still accurate for 3.1. Rune Tap is only going to generate half of what it heals in threat and that is assuming there are no adds around to further diminish this number. Also it's on, at best, a 30 second cooldown, and is subject to overhealing (i.e. if you use Rune Tap when you are at full health, no threat is generated). I can't imagine any scenario in which that would be better at generating threat than Heart Strike.

My guild is looking to push the timer on Hodir hard-mode and I'm interested in maximizing my DPS for the fight. Which spec would scale best with the Starlight haste buff and the Storm Power crit buff? Is there a specific thread I should be posting this in?

Because of the Singed debuff the Toasty Fires place on Hodir, Frost and Unholy scale much, much better than Blood for that fight. It's my personal experience that Frost beats out Unholy, just because of higher crit rates on it's biggest hitting attack, larger crit multipliers and the nature of Frost Strike being more spammy than Scourge Strike (especially if you time AMS right).

for unholy dps until i get awareness, Sigil of Arthritic Binding or Sigil of Haunted Dreams?

I've just reached 80 on my DK alt and making her tank. I'm having a bit of a problem with my spec however.

Is there is gear limit where unholy becomes better at AOE tanking or do you need a higher avoidence to make this worthwhile. I gather this was the case before the last patch but then i lost track of the conversation and now i'm lost.

The fireside chat about tanking is all about ulduar and I've not even started raids yet.

Basically my question is should I be going frost till a good way through Naxx or should I go with unholy straight away and how much of a difference does this make?

(I dont really want to start killing my guildies to test it out unless i have to)

All of the trees have pros and cons for tanking - your threat and ability to take/avoid damage will increase as your gear improves in any tree. For Naxx and pre-raid (heroics), regardless of tree, I highly recommend picking up Morbidity 3/3 and the Death and Decay glyph - this will make your life as a tank much, much easier. Frost has high avoidance, better damage reduction, and good AOE; Blood has high health, self-healing, and great single-target threat; Unholy with UB and cascading magic-reducing cooldowns make aoe threat and magic tanking pretty simple. Though the hard-core tanking pundits down in Suno's Fireside chat will argue fiercely that one tree is better than another, I'm a firm believer that it all comes down to preference, playstyle, and skill, and that all trees are more-or-less equal, depending on the circumstances.

Could someone give a thorough explanation of the T8 4-set bonus? Here's my interpretation:

If I recall correctly, the Anti-Magic shell stops when 50% of my health's worth of spells are absorbed or when 5 seconds expire. So the setbonus should correctly reduce the damage taken for 5 seconds on a mob that doesn't do magic damage.

Is this reduction is before or after armor reduction?

It doesn't matter. Since they're multiplicative reductions, you get the same result if it's before or after.

Hello... long time reader (of the mage forums) and first time poster (anywhere)...

THE SITUATION: Basically... I can't really PLAY the game right now because of a graphics issue in my computer, but I'll be replacing it soon. In the interim, I've been reading gobs and gobs about the game as a form of either masochism or hedonism, I'm not sure which. Anyway, short story long, I rerolled recently on a new server, and once I get up to 80, I plan to I use my DK as a farming tool--grinding out food for myself, skinning the remains, etc. As such, I'm looking for "THE BEST" aoe grinding spec. Not necessarily for leveling, although I'm sure that this minor discrepancy wouldn't really make any difference in the spec itself.

I'm looking at a blood spec, but not for any raiding meter-watching purpose... so I thought this would be the most apt place to put this. The thing is, I only have very minor experience with the DK at this point, so I'm not even really solid about what my rotations would even be. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the best aoe grind spec is? Does the "standard" B/UH spec listed on the "There Will Be Blood" thread hold strong for this purpose?

Sorry for the complete noobery in this question, and thank you for polite responses.

Blood AoE grinding:

The rune-rotation you could use for Blood AoE is:
Death and Decay -> Icy Touch -> Plague Strike -> Pestilence (now you're out of runes)
Death Strike -> Blood Boil -> Death Strike -> Blood Boil (out of runes again)
Blood Boil times 6 (using Pestilence and possibly the Glyph of Disease to refresh diseases)

Blood Boil would be your best AoE-attack, but note it takes 20 seconds already to get to the "Blood Boil times 6" part, as you have to convert runes (using Death Strike) to Death Runes. An added advantage of using Death Strike is that you regain health -> lower downtime.

If you would spec 50/0/21, you would be able to pick up Unholy Blight, which would help at AoE-grinding.

Frost AoE grinding:

The rotation I use for AoE-tanking and grinding:
Death and Decay -> Howling Blast -> Blood Boil
Death Strike/Obliterate -> Blood Boil -> Howling Blast -> Blood Boil

The Glyph of Howling Blast is very important here. It infects all targets with Frost Fever, allowing Blood Boil to get its 1.5x modifier (it only needs 1 disease up for max damage).

The advantages of this spec are:
- No need to spread diseases using Pestilence, Howling Blast (Glyphed) infects targets with FF
- Easy rotation
- A lot of AoE-damage at the start. Notice you can use Deathchill (guaranteed crit, on all targets) with Howling Blast for some insane damage. Killing Machine procs also serve you very well.


I don't know enough about Unholy to elaborate.


Good luck and have fun.

Quick query to tailgate -
Anyone either point me to/suggest best 3.1 builds to run up level 60-80?

I had Blood, I'm thinking Unholy, also with thoughts to the best Glyphs, thanks for any thoughts and/or links.
[I've been looking but I think most everyone and their Mom already levelled their DKs, I'm coming from Pally and Warr]

CKaz fields my main question so much more succinctly...

That was very helpful rotation info once I get there, though; thanks a trillion Athika.

Unholy and blood are both fine and probably really close to equal for leveling. For the most part you want to try to whenever possible to pull as many mobs as you can and just kill things with aoe, and unholy is definitely better at aoe. I also liked unholy because a big part of leveling is travel time and you improve both your mount(on a pale horse) and movement(unholy presence) speed as unholy. I preferred unholy presence so I could get damage out faster, you'll usually kill a lot of mobs before you can use all 6 runes in blood presence, in unholy though you can usually get everything off and a rune ability or two, aoe pulls are also much easier when you can get your diseases up and spread quicker.

Thanks for thoughts Yessia, any thoughts to the talent build?

Or on mine - this is where I arrived at for level 60, Unholy
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft