Krisnatharok
0311 Scout
Premium
join:2009-02-11
Sterling, VA
| [ Classes] ATTN Death Knights - Post your spec for critique!
OK, I am sick and tired of numerous DK threads written by newbies who can't bother to scroll back a couple of pages and see NUMEROUS threads of "hai plz tell me how to do better kthxlolbai."
So.
Death Knights.
Nubs and vets alike.
If you want serious feedback on talent builds, item sets, or rotations. Ask here.
When you post, please tell us what your desired progression is so we don't recommend outlandish recommendations (if you're doing just Naxx or Uld 10 let us know so we don't tell you to go get some 245 gear out of ToC10). That allows us to look at the BiS lists and see if something available to you would be a better choice than what you have.
Also please tell us what you desire to accomplish with a certain build. Is it for PVP? Tanking? Raiding? Did you go with a particular build to provide a raid buff? If you just copied a cookie-cutter spec, that's cool. If you picked a certain talent tree because it matches your playstyle--just let us know that's what you did so we didn't jump all over you (I, for instance, prefer DW frost dps, even though it's lower dps for me than 2H Blood).
Many of us are behind websense. It helps to tell us your UNBUFFED stats (that means no horn of winter, no food/flask/Blessing of Kings buffs; basically what the armory says your stats are at): Strength, Hit, Expertise, Critical Strike, and Attack Power. Also let us know what weapon you are using, since your weapon influences your dps more than anything.
Hopefully this can cut down on the number of "DK help" threads we're seeing pop up. If you could nominate this for a sticky, that'd be great!
--
"One can lead a child to knowledge, but one cannot make him think."
Source: Lt. Col. Jean V. Dubois (Ret.), Starship Troopers |
|
pwrtoppl
C-C-C-Combo Breaker
join:2008-11-21
Broomfield, CO
clubs: | wow, i like this thread already
why cant i bump all the old dk threads though?
--
-pwrtoppl.blogspot.c- |
|
Krisnatharok
0311 Scout
Premium
join:2009-02-11
Sterling, VA
1 edit | lol the druids, warlocks, and mages (and Tehuno!) are going to hate you.
I'd rather they (edit: the old threads, not the other classes) :P all die, though, so when we get lurkers or floaters they can come to one stickied thread up front that is the repository of all our knowledge and wisdom. :P
And then I'd like to encourage the moderators to mercilessly delete all the new "DK help needed!" threads that will STILL be created in the future. :P Or at least merge them into this topic.
--
"One can lead a child to knowledge, but one cannot make him think."
Source: Lt. Col. Jean V. Dubois (Ret.), Starship Troopers |
|
pwrtoppl
C-C-C-Combo Breaker
join:2008-11-21
Broomfield, CO
clubs: | reply to Krisnatharok
okay okay...tell me if this makes sense
a dk thread ABOUT dk threads...there will be blood
im thinking of naming it, "one too many - a dks tale"
imma troll
--
-pwrtoppl.blogspot.c- |
|
Krisnatharok
0311 Scout
Premium
join:2009-02-11
Sterling, VA | No. It doesn't. Go die. |
|
Archivis
Your Daddy
Premium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Krisnatharok
»www.wowhead.com/?talent#jfVMVh0I···tZfzhhxc
Your standard cookie cutter 51/0/20 Blood spec.
Glyphs are Death Strike, Dark Death and Disease.
Rotation on trash:
HSx2, DSx2, Death coil spam
HSx6, DC spam
Trash includes most heroic bosses
Rotation on bosses:
DS, HSx2, IT, PS - RP Dump
At this point, you're using DS to convert Frost/Unholy runes to Death Runes, and using Heart Strike every opportunity you can. If you need to refresh diseases, do so with Pestilence.
Benefits largely from Armor Penetration, but this spec will do superb at any gear level at 80. Make sure macros are setup to do at least the following:
#showtooltip Heart Strike
/startattack
/cast Rune Strike
/cast Heart Strike
You can swap Heart Strike for Death Strike and Death Coil. In this build, dumping Runic Power is an after thought. Do not prioritize dumping RP over other strikes.
You may be tempted to do bloodboil on AoE pulls. Rule of thumb. If you have 8 or more adds, you're probably ok to use blood boil. Don't even bother with diseases. Just pop pop pop. The instant some of that shit dies, go down to heart strikes. Blood boil can't compare to Heart Strike's cleaves when you get down to 4-6 mobs.
---------------------------------------
»www.wowhead.com/?talent#jZG0exAb···AofM0hxc
Cookie cutter DW Frost 0/53/18 with imp Icy Talons build
Glyphs:
Frost Strike
Icy Touch
Obliterate
Rotation:
IT, PS, BS(Or Pest if applicable), BS, OB, Frost Strike spam, Rime proc (if applicable).
OBx3, FS spam, Rime proc (if applicable).
If you have downtime, pop in a horn of winter for extra RP and do a FS. The rotation is rinse/repeat.
This rotation is done in Unholy Presence. Once you get beyond your first rotation, you simply have way too much RP and cannot keep up with the rotation in Blood Presence. On boss target dummies, I can do 800 more DPS in Unholy Presence versus blood. My best is hovering at around 4300 DPS with DW on a boss target dummy in the DK training area.
If you choose to go with a non imp icy talons build then do not go with Unholy Presence.
Like the other spec, make sure all of your attacks have the following in their macros:
/startattack
/cast Rune Strike
------------------
Those are the two specs I currently use for DPS. Both of them scale extremely well for gear. In fact, if you look me up on the armory.
»www.wowarmory.com/character-shee···Archivis
You'll see that I have both specs. One is for single target (frost) and the other is for multiple adds (blood). If your gear is on par for it, DW seems to put out better single target damage than blood, but blood wrecks everything in AoE fights (Don't let anyone else bullshit you). 6-8x Heart Strikes > 1 Howling Blast on a cooldown.
--
'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.' -Thomas Jefferson - |
|
Krisnatharok
0311 Scout
Premium
join:2009-02-11
Sterling, VA
| Subversion, buddy. Gotta have it. Both for the increased crit on Obliterate and threat reduction. Last night I was starting to pull threat off the tank by just camping his single target. Now add about 2000 dps to my build when I graduate from welfare 219/226 to ToC stuff. :P |
|
liquoranne
join:2009-01-14
| reply to Krisnatharok
As someone who just now got their DK to 80, threads like this rock. im doin the 51/0/20 blood build. And usin Archivis's diseasless blood rot. My gear lacks.....ok..it sucks...heh but i still hang with other people that have a mix of lower epics and mid epics, with me rockin all blues and titansteel destroyer....
gonna be a sad day when this toon tops my spriest in dps.... |
|
pwrtoppl
C-C-C-Combo Breaker
join:2008-11-21
Broomfield, CO
clubs: | go for 5 toc, great gear from there
then shoot for 10 toc and 25 if ya can
and get edge of ruin, easy drop and rocks for dks
or go dw frost and get battlestars
--
-pwrtoppl.blogspot.c- |
|
Krisnatharok
0311 Scout
Premium
join:2009-02-11
Sterling, VA
| reply to liquoranne
said by liquoranne  :gonna be a sad day when this toon tops my spriest in dps.... And it will, in probably half as much epic gear. That Titansteel Destroyer is a workhorse, and will keep you until you can get into H ToC (to be fair you need to be able to do only 2500dps to pull your own weight there) and pick up the Edge of Ruin (or a Marrowstrike, although it's not ideal).
Let us know if you have any questions. 
--
"One can lead a child to knowledge, but one cannot make him think."
Source: Lt. Col. Jean V. Dubois (Ret.), Starship Troopers |
|
Krisnatharok
0311 Scout
Premium
join:2009-02-11
Sterling, VA
| reply to Archivis
One thing that Arch neglected to mention was the tradeoff between Glyphs of Disease and Dancing Rune Weapon.
Glyph of Disease - Your pestilence now refreshes your disease durations on your primary target.
Glyph of DRW - Your DRW lasts for 5 additional seconds.
Disease really shines on stationary fights lasting longer than 40 seconds (two refreshes) where using one GCD to refresh BOTH diseases is preferable to using two (IT/PS) on weak strikes. The *ideal* boss to use this on would be a Patchwerk or Loatheb. Just stand still and dps. Other bosses have gimics that prevent you from being around at the 18-20 second mark to refresh your disease, and they'll fall off, forcing you to reapply them. In these fights Glyph of Disease is useless and you'd be better off with the DRW glyph.
said by Archivis :» www.wowhead.com/?talent#jfVMVh0I···tZfzhhxcYour standard cookie cutter 51/0/20 Blood spec. Glyphs are Death Strike, Dark Death and Disease. Rotation on trash: HSx2, DSx2, Death coil spam HSx6, DC spam Trash includes most heroic bosses Rotation on bosses: DS, HSx2, IT, PS - RP Dump At this point, you're using DS to convert Frost/Unholy runes to Death Runes, and using Heart Strike every opportunity you can. If you need to refresh diseases, do so with Pestilence. Benefits largely from Armor Penetration, but this spec will do superb at any gear level at 80. Make sure macros are setup to do at least the following: #showtooltip Heart Strike /startattack /cast Rune Strike /cast Heart Strike You can swap Heart Strike for Death Strike and Death Coil. In this build, dumping Runic Power is an after thought. Do not prioritize dumping RP over other strikes. You may be tempted to do bloodboil on AoE pulls. Rule of thumb. If you have 8 or more adds, you're probably ok to use blood boil. Don't even bother with diseases. Just pop pop pop. The instant some of that shit dies, go down to heart strikes. Blood boil can't compare to Heart Strike's cleaves when you get down to 4-6 mobs.
--
"One can lead a child to knowledge, but one cannot make him think."
Source: Lt. Col. Jean V. Dubois (Ret.), Starship Troopers |
|
liquoranne
join:2009-01-14
| reply to Krisnatharok
Yea, gettin into raids with this toon will be a challenge tho...my spriest is and will always be my main...and the server i play on isnt keen on pugging ToC 10m yet. But yea, startin tommorow ill be workin on reg ToC and H ToC, guild will run me thru H ToC without question, even if my dps=gimp...heh. My main focus with this toon will be tanking tho, with dps offspec.
This class has been a blast to level, just powering thru all the areas. And this is my first mellee class since vanilla wow when i played a enh shaman. |
|
Krisnatharok
0311 Scout
Premium
join:2009-02-11
Sterling, VA
| The beauty of the Death Knight is that it can give buffs to both casters and melee, meaning that it will find a spot in both caster and melee-heavy raids.
Blood buff: Abomination's Might: +10% Attack Power
Frost buff: Icy Talons: +20% Melee Haste
Unholy buff: +13% all magic damage done to target
You might need to pick a specific tree to provide the best synergy with your guild, but if you lack a shaman, no one will complain if you go frost. The same with a warlock and Unholy.
--
"One can lead a child to knowledge, but one cannot make him think."
Source: Lt. Col. Jean V. Dubois (Ret.), Starship Troopers |
|
Archivis
Your Daddy
Premium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Krisnatharok
said by Krisnatharok :Subversion, buddy. Gotta have it. Both for the increased crit on Obliterate and threat reduction. Last night I was starting to pull threat off the tank by just camping his single target. Now add about 2000 dps to my build when I graduate from welfare 219/226 to ToC stuff. :P Definitely was having a threat issue with Dualwield in ToC10 last night. It was resolved by simply waiting a few seconds and resuming attacks, or finding something else to hit. This happened on Twins and Anub. On twins, I just swapped portals and attacked the other twin. On Anub, I decided to peel off and go bet up the adds.
What would you give up to pick up Subversion? BCB? I already tried that dude. My numbers went up when I put 0 into blood. 9% extra crit on Obliterate isn't that fancy, especially when you're already critting oblits 50% of the time.
--
'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.' -Thomas Jefferson - |
|
Archivis
Your Daddy
Premium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Krisnatharok
I've decided that if you're fighting shit that doesn't need diseases, an extra 5 seconds of DRW is overkill. You want to focus heavily on boss DPS and refreshing diseases easily beats out what 5 seconds on a DRW can do.
It was a tough choice for me, but I've experimented with both heavily and the numbers hold up.
--
'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.' -Thomas Jefferson - |
|
Archivis
Your Daddy
Premium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Krisnatharok
said by Krisnatharok :The beauty of the Death Knight is that it can give buffs to both casters and melee, meaning that it will find a spot in both caster and melee-heavy raids. Blood buff: Abomination's Might: +10% Attack Power Frost buff: Icy Talons: +20% Melee Haste Unholy buff: +13% all magic damage done to target You might need to pick a specific tree to provide the best synergy with your guild, but if you lack a shaman, no one will complain if you go frost. The same with a warlock and Unholy. Amen. Last night, the shaman was able to drop something other than windfury totem (resto shaman, so its not even the full 20%), because I went frost.
--
'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.' -Thomas Jefferson - |
|
liquoranne
join:2009-01-14
| reply to Krisnatharok
Oh i like the unholy +13% damage...problem with our guild is we dont run an unholy...heh...still tho...ill make this toon an alt, try to get into some nax runs and lil stuff our guild throws together...Hard to change mains when my spriest is already rockin 3p t9 with the 4th comin next week (sk loot system) and top sk spot for when we down some heroic ToC25...
but should be fun, i needed a break from the spriest...only thing left to do now with him is raid...have all the EoT items i want...my healing offspec is in ulduar gear...all factions necessary are maxxed....just raid... |
|
awesome
Premium
join:2008-03-03
Reedsville, OH
 ·Windstream
1 edit | reply to Krisnatharok
»www.wowhead.com/?talent#jZG0exAb···c:kasMm0 Pretty standard...0/53/18 DW Frost as my dps spec.
I disagree with the need for subversion. I don't feel like I should have to spec for bad tanks, when I only play with them in a random pug heroic from time to time.
Tanking spec is a mess. »www.wowhead.com/?talent#j0xZhxxz···G:asZMm0 5/51/18
It's just something I put together, not necessarily cookie cutter or even all that much thought put into it, but it seems to work.
--
This post is my opinion.
The fact that my opinion usually agrees with the generally accepted practice of the class communities I'm part of should have no bearing on whether or not you accept it as a valid one.
»wheresmedrink.wordpress.com |
|
Gadeon
join:2009-08-14
Herndon, VA
| reply to Krisnatharok
Duel Wield Spec | 
Avoidance Spec |
-Gylph of Icy Touch
-Frost Strike
-Obliterate
The second spec is one I came up with yesterday afternoon. The emphasis being Avoidance here. With this spec I am able to obtain Bone Shield, Anti-Magic Zone, Veteran of the Third War (6% STR/STA and 6 Expertise), as well Mark of Blood (4% Healing for 20 hit basically), and improved Rune Tap (Free 20% health heal every 30 seconds) I am sure there will be some people coming up with issues ot to like this spec, but our guild healer last night said it was the easiest she had healed me in H ToC. Especially in the first phase.
-Glyph of Rune Tap
-Glyph of Bone Shield
-Glyph of Pestilence |
|
NYlock78
Premium
join:2009-04-01
Paterson, NJ
| reply to Krisnatharok
I am to lazy to type it so here it is |
|
