Death Knight Guide for Midnight - Patch 12.0.1

Death Knight Guide for Midnight Quick Summary:

• Death Knights are very chunky and hard to kill. They also have great damage throughput across all specs. Their biggest downside is their mobility, and that the DPS specs might become boring real fast.
• The best races for Death Knight are Trolls, Goblins, Dwarves, and Night Elves.
• The primary stat for Death Knight is Strength. You should max out Haste for Blood DK, Crit, and Mastery for Frost and Unholy.
• The best professions for Death Knight are Alchemy, Blacksmithing, and Enchanting.

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Death Knight Changes in Midnight

Death Knight didn’t suffer lots of changes, unlike most other classes. Only a few of the class’s abilities were removed from every spec. In every other aspect, Death Knight plays almost identically to how it was played in The War Within. I’ll go over all Death Knight ability changes in Midnight.

Blood Death Knight Changes:

• Consumption: New ability. Well, technically not new, as it’s more of a rework. Previously, it made the plagues proc faster. Now it consumes the remaining damage they deal and heals you.
• Blood Tap, Bonestorm, Rune Tap, Soul Reaper, Tombstone: Removed from the game in attempts to make the class feel less cluttered. At least you don’t have to ramp up this much to start your rotation anymore.

Frost Death Knight Changes:

The least amount of changes, specifically in this patch. Frost Death Knight has been changed quite some time ago, in 11.2. The only addition to his kit is three new Apex talents with the same name. They work differently, though. The three abilities are:

• Chosen of Frostbrood: Increases all Frost damage and causes Frostwyrm’s Fury to deal 100% increased damage. You can then cast Fury again to recall the Wyrm for 50% effectiveness.
• Chosen of Frostbrood: Frostwyrm’s Fury deals 100% more damage to the first enemy and gives you 15% Haste boost for 12 secs. Great single target/priority damage.
• Chosen of Frostbrood: Frostwyrm’s Fury makes Pillar of Frost last longer, and Enduring Strength gives an additional 4% Strength.

Unholy Death Knight Changes:

• Outnumber: Lesser Ghouls increase the damage of your perma Ghoul, and Dark Transformation changes your Lesser Ghouls' attacks to Sweeping Claws, which is a Cleave auto-attack.
• Pestilence: Changes your Outbreak to Pestilence after Dark Transformation. Pestilence consumes all of your Plagues and bursts them all, dealing 100% of their damage, gaining you a charge of Putrefy.
• Putrefy: Raises a Lesser Ghoul to attack the enemy and explode, dealing AoE damage to nearby enemies.
• Reanimation: When Lesser Ghoul is Putrefied, it reanimates as a Magus of the Dead. It has two attacks: Frostbolts and Shadow Bolts. They deal 25% increased damage.
• Apocalypse, Defile, Festering Wound, Legion of Souls: All removed from the game.

Unholy DK's new abilities work as a complete combo that lets you boost your Ghouls even further. Unfortunately, he’s still not good enough in both Raids and M+.

Death Knight Pros & Cons

DK used to be a pretty bloated class with complex rotations, but it’s not that hard anymore. All specs have been revamped, but some specs are challenging due to how they work, not because of the dizzying number of abilities. Let me list all the pros and cons of the Death Knight:

Pros	Cons
Good survivability with every spec	Poor mobility across all specs. This class has one of the worst movements in the game.
DPS specs are easy to play.	DPS simplicity is also a downside, as it turns boring fast.
Blood DK has tons of utility and immunities.	Blood DK can be challenging even after learning how to play it. You are required to take a lot of damage to your face, and it can lead to quick, unexpected deaths.
Frost has good AoE throughput.	Frost’s single-target DPS potential is unfortunate.
Unholy DK has amazing burst damage.	In Mythic+, playing Unholy is torture.

Despite all the downsides that might turn you away from playing this class, I recommend you try it. Yes, numerous tier lists say that he’s not in his best state, but he has the potential to become one of the strongest DPS quickly. It’s a great starter class that can teach you how to play WoW easily and stay useful in Raids.

How to Play Death Knight in Midnight

Death Knight specs play quite differently from each other, though the core rule for all classes stands true here. Don’t let your abilities hang. Death Knights should always take into account that if they waste their defensive cooldowns incorrectly, they won’t have an option to retreat into safety. Your class stands its ground, and you have to learn to play around it. All of your specs are melee, which means that you can get overwhelmed easily. Let me break down how to play each Death Knight spec.

Blood DKs should closely observe their buffs and debuffs. Your survival virtually depends on it. Don’t forget that Blood DK is a combination of a DPS and a Tank, so if you’re not using your offensive cooldowns, you’re throwing the raid. Finally, control your resources. Playing Blood spec can feel like controlling a spaceship cause you need to press so many buttons and juggle the effects. For me, that’s the part of a thrill.

As for Frost Death Knights, your efficiency and damage throughput depend on spending your procs. Killing Machine is the most important one to observe, as Obliterate and Frostscythe are your main damaging abilities. To have a 100% proc of Killing Machine, use the Empower Rune Weapon, as it grants you a proc that you need. It can also be used to just avoid overcapping your charges.

With Unholy Knights, your goal is to spam your Sudden Doom procs. Sudden Doom has a lot of use cases and synergizes with Unholy talents quite well, so you need to press it as much as possible. Another key point is to manage your Lesser Ghouls, as they’re a big source of your burst damage. Stack them with Lesser Ghoul and use Scourge Strike to raise them.

WoW Midnight Best Death Knight Races

With the change of races, it doesn’t matter that much who you play as. Pick any race, just don’t go for Drachtyr and Earthen. Their racials are not good for you. Since you’re a class with low mobility, consider playing as a Goblin, which is kinda comical, but it works thanks to Rocket Jump, which can help you avoid unnecessary deaths. Another pick is classic for Midnight. Dwarves and Night Elves are currently the best races in Midnight, since the utility they provide is very useful in M+. If you’re playing as a DPS Death Knight, it’s almost a must.

Death Knight Stat Priority WoW Midnight

For Death Knight, Strength is the most important primary stat. The rest of the stats I’d say are equally important, but I’ll provide a rough sequence in which you want to upgrade your stats. Here’s the best Death Knight stat priority:

• Blood DK: Strength > Haste > Crit > Mastery/Versatility
• Frost DK: Strength > Crit > Mastery > Haste > Versatility
• Unholy DK: Strength > Mastery > Crit > Haste > Versatility

For Blood spec, Haste is almost as important as Strength, as it makes your spec be so much more forgiving. For Frost Crit and Mastery are much, much more important than Haste and Versatility, as you don’t have very long cooldowns, but depending on what stats you lack, you still might want to invest in Haste and Versatility. Secondary stats for Unholy DK are pretty even in their order of importance, so just sim your character to see what they need in the current time.

 

 

Best Death Knight Builds for WoW Midnight

In Midnight, Death Knight is actually in kind of a decent position. Not for the M+ dungeons, though. In raids, he can be a good tank and an okay DPS, but the meta shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the main appeal of this class - the aura farming. Ghastly pale figure, dressed in the edgiest pieces of spiky armor possible, with a black cape and glowing eyes? Pfft. I wouldn’t care if he was Z-Tier, I’m still playing this class. But anyway, he’s alright, so you shouldn’t worry about being a deadweight in your Raid group. Below are the best Death Knight builds for Midnight

Blood Death Knight Best Build

While Blood was rid of a few cooldowns needed for ramping up the damage and defense, it still takes plenty of time to roll out. Your opener sequence is Death and Decay before the fight, pull with Death’s Caress. In a fight, you press Dancing Rune Weapon > Raise Dead > Blood Boil. After that, two casts of Vampiric Strike, then Death Strike. Next, you press Dancing Rune Weapon on cooldown and maintain the Bone Shield with Marrowrend. Don’t forget to keep Death and Decay active and use Blood Boil to avoid overcapping.  Your main Rune spenders are Vampiric Strike and Heart Strike. When DRW is down, use Consumption.

Frost Death Knight Best Build

Frost has a very simple and straightforward rotation. You should have zero problem with cooldown management, and reacting to procs is easy, as you don’t have any tight windows where you need to fit your cooldowns in. Start your rotation with Obliterate and Raise Dead, and use Empower Rune Weapon. Follow it up with Pillar of Frost, Breath of Sindragosa, and Frostwyrm’s Fury if Reaper’s Mark is not active. After that, you pop Reaper’s Mark. Keep Pillar of Frost and Breath on cooldown, use Frostwyrm’s Fury when Pillar starts, and delay the second recall of Frostwyrm until the moment Reaper’s Mark explodes and you spend your Exterminate charges. Use Obliterate on Killing Machine, Howling Blast on Rime, Frost Strike to spend Runic Power, and ERW to maintain Breath of Sindragosa.

Unholy Death Knight Best Build

Unholy Knight focuses on summoning Ghouls for huge burst damage and Sudden Doom procs. Your opener is using Virulent Plague with Outbreak, then using Army of the Dead to spawn your Lesser Ghouls. During pull, use Festering Strike to apply wounds and then follow it up with Unholy Assault into Apocalypse and Dark Transformation. Use Scourge Strike to burst wounds applied with Festering Strike. Use Death Coil to spend Runic Power. Save Death and Decay for you need cleave, don’t spam it. After that, you repeat the rotation. There aren’t many options to stray away from the given rotation, so it’s just a matter of making it muscle memory.

 

 

Death Knight Best In Slot Gear in WoW Midnight

Each Death Knight spec has its own BiS gear, though many pieces overlap. You get most of it from Raid encounters, and only some of it can be crafted. The good thing is that you don’t need to farm a lot if you want to switch between specs depending on the situation. I recommend getting the Blood DK gear first, as it’s the most relevant spec for Raids in the current meta.

Slot	Blood	Frost	Unholy	Source
Weapon	Garfrost's Two-Ton Hammer	Bellamy's Final Judgement / Blade of the Final Twilight	Bellamy's Final Judgement	Blood: Pit of Saron; Frost: Lightblinded Vanguard / Fallen-King Salhadaar; Unholy: Lightblinded Vanguard
Head	Relentless Rider's Crown	Relentless Rider's Crown	Relentless Rider's Crown	Tier Set
Neck	Eternal Voidsong Chain	Amulet of the Abyssal Hymn	Amulet of the Abyssal Hymn	Blood: Crown of the Cosmos; Frost: Seat of the Triumvirate; Unholy: Midnight Falls
Shoulders	Relentless Rider's Dreadthorns	Shoulderplates of Frozen Blood	Shoulderplates of Frozen Blood	Blood: Tier Set; Frost/Unholy: Pit of Saron
Cloak	Defiant Defender's Drape	Rigid Scale Greatcloak	Adherent's Silken Shroud	Blood: Magister's Terrace; Frost: Skyreach; Unholy: Crafting
Chest	Relentless Rider's Cuirass	Relentless Rider's Cuirass	Relentless Rider's Cuirass	Tier Set
Wrist	Spellbreaker's Bracers	Spellbreaker's Bracers	Spellbreaker's Bracers	Crafting
Gloves	Voidclaw Gauntlets	Relentless Rider's Bonegrasps	Relentless Rider's Bonegrasps	Blood: Seat of the Triumvirate; Frost/Unholy: Tier Set
Belt	Bent Gold Belt	Hate-Tied Waistchain	Relentless Rider's Chain	Blood: Pit of Saron; Frost: Crown of the Cosmos; Unholy: Catalyst
Legs	Relentless Rider's Legguards	Relentless Rider's Legguards	Relentless Rider's Legguards	Tier Set
Boots	Greaves of the Unformed	Greaves of the Unformed	Greaves of the Unformed	Chimaerus
Ring 1	Eye of Midnight	Loa Worshiper's Band	Platinum Star Band	Blood: Midnight Falls; Frost: Crafting/Misc; Unholy: Algeth'ar Academy
Ring 2	Loa Worshiper's Band	Sin'dorei Band of Hope	Sin'dorei Band of Hope	Blood: Crafting; Frost/Unholy: Belo'ren
Trinket 1	Gaze of the Alnseer	Gaze of the Alnseer	Gaze of the Alnseer	Chimaerus
Trinket 2	Light Company Guidon	Light Company Guidon	Light Company Guidon	Imperator Averzian

As you can see, all three specs utilize Gaze of the Alnseer and Light Company Guidon, so focus on getting these trinkets asap. Gaze of the Alnseer is a trinket that virtually every class uses for their BiS gear.

Best Shaman Professions

In Midnight, professions don’t really matter this much. You can pick whatever you want on your Death Knight. The all-rounder good professions are usually Alchemy and Enchanting. With Alchemy, you can create your own consumables, and with Enchanting, you can make your gear better. Specifically for Death Knight, I can also recommend Blacksmithing due to the type of armor this class wears. It allows you to craft powerful alternatives for BiS gear, though there aren’t many pieces of gear that can be substituted with crafted ones.

Best Consumables for Death Knight

Of all specs, Unholy needs consumables the least. Blood Knight, though, needs a lot of them, so if you’re planning to main this spec, consider taking Alchemy as your profession. Here are the best consumables for Death Knight in Midnight:

• Blood DK: Blooming Feast, Flask of the Blood Knights, Thalassian Phoenix Oil, Potion of Recklessness, Light’s Potential.
• Frost DK: Flask of the Shattered Sun, Silvermoon Health Potion, Thalassian Phoenix Oil, Light’s Potential, Void-Touched Augment Rune.
• Unholy DK: Flask of the Shattered Sun, Potion of Recklessness, Thalassian Phoenix Oil.

Consumables are basically long-lasting buffs (for the most part), and they can be quite expensive to buy. Though I recommended Alchemy for Blood spec only, it can be financially responsible to level it up for all specs.

Read our other Midnight guides:

• Leveling Guide
• Gearing Guide
• Mythic+ Guide
• Best Professions

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