My son recently got his DK to lvl80 through questing and dungeon running. He didn't really follow a spec and just placed the points into things he thought would be best for dps. He wants to be a dps spec and was wondering where he should be putting his points. I know with all the changes that have affected DK dps (I retired mine to level my priest) that 2 hand frost dps has pretty much died. What is the correct spec for 2h dps now?

Blood is usually better when you've recently dinged. After getting gear upgrades 2h unholy is also an option, but blood will always be a viable spec. Check the blood dps thread for a few good builds.

Okay, I scoured the unholy dk forum posts and came up with this:

Melee hit against an 80 = 5% or 163.95 to always hit with weapons + 1% per level above 80 so for pve it would be 8% hit

Spell hit against an 80 = 14% +1% per level above 80 so to be spell hit capped for pve it would be 17%

My friends tell me for pvp I just need 5% as an unholy dk, but according to the unholy thread wouldn't it be more correct that I stack hit until I am at 14% as I depend on diseases and deathcoils to burst down healers?

Someone please shed some light on this as I depend on your opinions greatly.

Spell hit does not work like melee hit. You spell miss at level 80:
80: 96%
81: 95%
82: 94%
83: 83%

So for PvP you need 4% spell hit (note Unholy gets 3% spell hit for free and some classes have spell miss talents/racials).

According to the Unholy DPS thread it states that fights where more adds come to play that unholy dps increases even greater. I was wondering, for heroic anub encounter are most DK's running unholy (assuming 4pc t9+ sets)? Or is blood still a viable dps spec, just using pest to spread diseases even though you are short 1 disease.

I have a quick and of course simple question.... What would be a good spec for leveling as a DK? I have a 71 DK and I'm told Blood is the way to go for survivability, but I just wanna be sure I have a good one. Could someone show me a good spec for leveling(Preferably up to level 80)?

Assume something similar to the standard Frost tanking build listed around these forums ([edit] link).

Would subspeccing Unholy for [Corpse Explosion] better utilize RP in AoE situations (i.e. for AoE threat/multitarget aggro) vs. Blood subspec with Frost Strikes as an RP dump?

Would the loss of 5/5 [Bladed Armor] and/or 2/2 [Two-Hand Weapon Spec] be crippling for overall threat or single-target threat, vs. 3% Strength (from [Ravenous Dead]) and autoattack bonus from [Necrosis] (assuming you could go 3/5).

If Frost tank subspec Unholy has been discussed, found lacking, and dismissed before, why? Is there a thread on this forum or elsewhere detailing it? (My searches yielded no results)

Thank you in advance.


[edit]

After a bit more thought, I became aware of the embarrassingly obvious fact that 4/5 [Bladed Armor] is still possible with the above talent distribution. With this in mind, would 4/5 [Bladed Armor] + 3% Strength from [Ravenous Dead] be an acceptable tradoff for 5/5 BA and 2/2 2h Weapon Spec as far as threat is concerned (single-target and overall)?

I just finished leveling my DK, and blood makes your life VERY simple. If he spec's into full rune tap, mark of blood, vampiric blood he'll have plenty of cooldowns to keep himself up... I solo'd almost every boss i came across leveling up in northrend because of the blood cooldowns.

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Just a quick simple question... On the DW thread FC\RI still listed as the reccomended enchants. I have been tinkering with rawr for about 3 days to build myself an "upgrade list" and with every different combo of gear i've put together, i still keep getting beserking as the suggested enchant... Is this just rawr modeling wrong, or does FC\RI not shine until at\near BiS?

Ahh, ok thanks.

You want to use Runeforges as a DK since they were designed to be better than normal enchants. For Frost DW, you want Fallen Crusader and then Razorice OH . DW Unholy (while it lasts) you want 2x Fallen Crusader.

I had the opportunity to try this myself. I usually spec unholy for our tries at Anub but a few days ago I was my normal spec (blood) to cover for the lack of 10% AP and, comparing the WoL my personal dps was 600-1000 lower as blood. If you have the opportunity, have all your DKs go unholy for heroic Anub'arak.

Ok ive read rumors about gemming for ArP once u have 6200 AP, but i cannot find anything on this for patch 3.2, is this still the better thing to gem for? (blood btw)

That quote was old and not even accurate at the time, it has since been thrown around as fact. It is not accurate, it never was (even pre-nerf to armor pen). You should continue to gem +str.

I've got a question regarding Glyph of Disease.

When exactly is the best time to refresh the diseases with Pestilence?
Diseases tick once every 3 seconds, so i assume the 0-3second window would be ideal.

Does it matter if I refresh them with say 0.1sec left or 2.9sec left?
Is Pestilence pushing the timer to 21sec or to 18sec+timeLeft?

I tried using Pestilence 6 times in a row (via Death Runes) and I did get damage ticks.

So I assume it's 18sec + timeLeft, or am I wrong? Which would lead to the conclusion it doenst matter when I refresh my diseases, as long as it is in ]0,3[

Glyph of Disease does not do anything beyond refresh the timer left on your diseases; it will not affect the tick rate whatsoever. Refresh them when is best convenient for you on a case-by-case basis.

I've tanked almost everything but ulduar and ToC on my dk. Using a frost build for my tanking. But my question is on rotation.

As a frost dk, should i not use PS in my rotation? Just ignore that, start with IT then go into my usual rotation? Or is PS ok to use to help up OB's power?

Normally I'd only advise a single-disease rotation in the case of Glyph of Howling Blast. The relative merit is the trade-off:

is [ 1xIT + 1xPS + (the increased damage to OB and BS in 2 rotations) ] greater than [one more OB in the same 2 rotations, but all OB/BS at lower damage]

Remember, while an average non-crit IT+PS is comparable though lower damage to 1xOB, OB has a much higher crit rate and benefits from GoG. And never eats up a KM proc, unlike IT.

I've not seen benefit, from a tanking perspective, to adding a second disease as Frost. Frost seems more comfortably tuned towards using runes two at a time (appart from BS, but that's only because you have no other option) and so Glyph of Disease isn't really an optimal choice, like it is for Blood tanking.

Personally I swear by GoHB and single-disease Frost spec. Particularly when dual-weilding, Rime is almost always enough to keep FF up even with 0/2 Epidemic. Admittedly, I've not always felt totally comfortable with 2h Frost threat generation, but as DW it seems much improved.

My DK is nearing the level 80 point, and I'm looking forward to Dual Wield DPS builds. My only question is, is it better to start off as a Two Hander build or is it viable to Dual Wield from the start?

And if it's viable, is there any one handed weapons that I'm overlooking? Most of the easy things to get are tanking or found in "high" level raids that a fresh 80 wouldn't be able to enter.

There are some nice-ish blues you can buy (Ebon Blade rep, from memory) that have a relatively high top-end, eg Reaper of Dark Souls. To start with tho', I'd suggest you use whichever weapons you have that are best - eg if you get a nice 2h and still have bad 1hs.

If you have some gold to spend, I'd look for Tankard of Terror in the auction house. A lot of them dropped during Brewfest, and you can still often find them for affordable prices. Other than that your best best is trying to get in some heroic ToC groups for Aledar's Battlestar. You may have difficulties finding a group that will take you in starter 80s gear though.

For some easier weapons you have The Horseman's Baleful Blade for as long as Hallow's end continues. The droprate is very low, but you can also make use of the melee dps ring dropping from the horseman. There is also Grimhorn Crusher from the Argent Tournament, but you will first need to get valiant with a faction before you can start the champion dailies.

I am still leveling my DK (Currently, it is lvl 73), and I cannot decide on whether to pick the 'Dancing Rune Weapon' ability - the last point of the Blood tree. I am probably going to pick it when lvl 80, as I believe it gives a rather good DPS-boost when raiding. I am basically asking for your experiences using DRW while leveling and raiding as well as good tips and tricks on when and where I should use it.
-Thanks in advance

DRW is an awesome dps cooldown. You want to use it anytime you want your target to take extra damage. It should be your 51st talent.

For raiding, refer to the Blood thread here for tips of when to use it.