The Tri-Spec is being sold as the only viable dual wielding build around with the primary basis for it being DPS Compendium Tri-Spec. One issue I have had, and brought up during Beta is a build solely based on providing the buffs to the raid when there is a lack of anyone else that can do so. IE my guild has never had a reliable enhancement shaman, leaving us without the 10% AP and the 20% haste (Doesn't help that our haste to raid buff is far more efficient per point than the shaman version last I checked). So I was wondering about I guess, an enhancement build such as: Enhancement Tri-Spec. I'm not sure if the points are best spent, but I believe you can grasp the idea from there. The question is; without a reliable enhancement shaman (Now am I forgetting any other class that can bring the 20% haste and the 10% AP buffs) or any other DK to provide the buffs; is the DPS increase to the raid worth the obvious loss in DPS?

In a 10 man, maybe not so much and yes it should be rare that 25 man doesn't have someone to fill these voids without taking this gap but my guild has constantly had that problem. Do you think this could be a viable raid spec? When I originally tried it out I think two months before the expansion hit, I'd say it was about a 400 DPS loss over blood when I was doing about 2,700 DPS in 10 man Naxx. Some abilities have chance, primarily Ice Touch was buffed a lot after I tried this build out but other things may have been hurt.

Though my original build was actually: More Blood Focused and more Heart Strike focused.

But I'd like this thread to also address any other possible tri-spec builds, and if anyone is using a tri-spec build; how is it working out for you.

Right, I didn't really think the old build I had would work so well I'm just wondering if there is a build where you can get Abom's Strength + Imp Icy Talons where the 20% haste and the 10% AP outweigh the huge hit to your personal DPS, which there is no question there WILL be a hit; but can it be viable? Another build I threw together would be: Frost Emphasis Which doesn't bother with Frost strike since Death Coil will probably be more damage but if it's a high crit build you're probably going to crit more than you're going to death coil I think.

I can't really think of many other build options than the ones I've presented so it may be simply impossible to have a build worth it, nor do I want to take a month or two gearing up to test a build that could be a complete failure which makes things more difficult.

So, a few points on this idea (which I think is a good one to discuss, although I personally would never do this).

1) We can't really call this a "tri-spec", since it has absolutely no truck with points in Unholy. You just don't have the points to be able to get all the things in all three trees that make the tri-spec build work. (Also, don't say "tri-spec" when you mean "dual-wielding"; the reason it ends up in all three trees is to prop Dual Wield up enough to make it closer to the standard 2h builds.)

2) If I had to make a build that had both Abom's Might and Imp Icy Talons, I'd make something like Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft, and focus on wielding a 2h instead. That way, you can still rip it up with Heart Strikes without wasting your time on the frost talents that don't do anything.

3) If you've got your heart set on DW, then of course you need to center your build around Howling Blast instead. You might manage something like Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft. Frost Strike is still your RP dump, since it owns face all day and dosent afraid of anything. You Howling Blast as much as you can and Obliterate the rest of the time. This build would be seriously lacking in personal DPS, however, since you don't have the Necrosis and Blood-Caked Blade damage from Unholy.

Phew. Long post, but there it is.

Edited for bad links - why doesn't my HTML work waah. =(

Ask yourself how will aboms might beat out gargoyle, necrosis, and blood caked blade - among the other amazing unholy talents you will have to miss out on

Also, if you don't have any shaman whatsoever, then bring 2 deathknights, one blood and one frost, and that way you cover your buffs without gimping your dps.

Just for your information : The 10% AP can be brought by a MM Hunt.

I was doing a little testing of the tri-spec and was pleasantly surprized with the results.

Here is my spec I was using: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

Basically you youself are getting the icy talons(Not raid wide) but you are giving the 10% ap to the raid. On this spec you want to stack str/ap super high. At lvl 78 I was hitting almost 4k attack power in just 5 mans. A couple key points to this build is you get all the dual weild musts. Necrosis, BCB, Bloody Vengance and abominations might. In addition you get Hysteria which on raid bosses is a huge boost in dmg.

Now I was only doing 5 mans but i was hitting upwards of 1700 sustained dps with 74 blue swords and still plenty of greens.

On another note with the tri spec build, I actually find it better dps overall using the unholy presence as opposed to blood. Has anyone else done any research to prove or not prove this? Let me know.

This is the Tri-spec I am currently using: 10/43/18.

It has the essentials, such HB, Killing Machine and BCB; it gives access to Death Runes and thus rotation flexibility; and it provides the all-important raid buffs. For those fights where Frost Aura is of significant help to the group I would take points out of Bladed Armor for it--gimps my personal DPS somewhat but not horribly so. From what I am seeing thus far, with this build Str/Ap and Haste are the stats to stack (although not ignoring Crit and Hit entirely, of course).

That's actually a really interesting tri-spec. I'm just curious if maybe dropping 1 in bladed armor would be worth it for the 2% strength from Shadow of Death.

I thought about doing that. From the dummy tests I've ran--and from simply looking at my stats--Bladed Armor points are > Shadow of Death, at least at theses gear levels (I am still wearing mostly quest reward and rep blues). It might change a bit further into progression, and I intend to test that out.

That's actually one of the things I really like about this spec--it's open-ended enough that I can easily switch some things without losing the core.

Napkin math prevails, yet again!

I do really like that tri spec though... while it differs from the one I came up with, I can definitely see where the extra points into frost would help with rotations.

That being said, generating death runes for an extra oblit which already does less damage due to using a one-hander instead of a two-hander seems like it could be problematic... the 5% crit in blood that you are giving up could *potentially* be more damage than 15% more blood strike damage and the extra crit damage. It's ironic in a way, you're giving up increased crit chance for increased crit damage. When I finally get the numbers right in the Rawr module, hopefully this question will be answered (to be entirely honest, I haven't worked on it in the least since the day before WOTLK launch... I've been pre-occupied).