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Patch 5.4 – Unholy Death Knight DPS
As Preach himself states, the Unholy Death Knight is one of the most unchanged specs in the game. It’s consistant, it’s great, and it works. I personally don’t play Unholy, but I think I might give it a try.
It feels like I probably should have posted this on Friday the 13th. Bit more of a haunted, zombie-like feel to the class. But enough of my words. Here’s words from Preach, and those words are gospel. Enjoy!
Patch 5.4 – Frost Death Knight DPS
Ah, the joy of getting up to speed when one has been away for so long. It’s like waking from a coma and picking up an old newspaper, boggling at stuff that people today would simply yawn at. Not quite the case when one talks about Death Knights though. Honestly, I think Blizzard got this class very right. They seldom make big changes to the Death Knight, a minor tweak here and there at best.
Still, I’m relearning everything so I might as well start from scratch. And who better to learn from that Preach over at Preach Gaming. The man plays all classes, and plays them well. More importantly, he instructs very well too. So I was very happy to see that he’d posted a recent (Nov 2013?!) update on the Death Knights. It’s Patch 5.4, probaby the last major patch update until 6.0 drops.
Speaking of dropping, here’s the Preacher Man dropping knowledge on Frost Death Knights.
Death Knight Realm Restriction Lifted
Before coming back to World of Warcraft, I had to come to terms with some hard realizations. One of which was that I was not going to have the playtime I had before I left WoW. My free time isn’t quite as free as it used to be these days. That meant I wasn’t going to have time to play around with a bunch of alts. I wasn’t going to be hopping between realms to play different factions, in different guilds. The focus would be on one or two characters, on one server. Time optimization was key here.
My first step was to decide which realm I was going to play on. Earthen Ring was the easiest choice, since I could rejoin the Alea Iacta Est guild and community. I also decided that I was going to have to change my playstyle and get involved with the guild a bit more than I had previously. Social interaction would have to keep me involved in the game, both in and out of WoW, if this was going to work. From what I’d been able to pick up from podcasts, there hadn’t been anything really new going on in Mists of Pandaria during the year I had been away. It was going to have to be more than the pixels that would keep me interested.
Step two was to decide which characters would be the focus of my love and affection. Since I first started playing WoW all those years ago, my interest had shifted from Hunter, to Warrior, to Death Knight. I was still down with the DKs, and given that when I left WoW my DK’s outnumbered Hunters, I decided that Death Knight would be my primary class.
Now, which DK character would get called up to the Big Leagues? I settled on an orc DK on Kul Tiras because, unlike the DK already on Earthen Ring, he was already level capped. He also had maxed out his primary professions, and many of his secondary professions. His gear was adequate, and his transmog set was pretty sweet. I guess when it came down to it, numbers and stats aside, I picked him because he looked cool. So superficial.
This brought up a new dilemma. Where was I going to transfer my non-90 DK? When I left WoW a year ago, only one Death Knight was allowed per server. This meant I was going to have to transfer one DK off Earthen Ring, then transfer another one ONTO Earthen Ring. Fifty bones! Just for a snappy dresser! Vanity can be so expensive!
Then it hit me. I knew there’d been a few changes since I’d left WoW. One DK per server had seemed pretty silly, and we’re talking about a class that was now two expansions old here. Maybe Blizzard had come to their senses and lifted the prohibition. A quick Google search later, and I found that they had, ironically about a week or so after I left the game.
Figures.
So my new DK main was transferred to Earthen Ring. A name change later, some shuffling of the roster, and Herculano had found a new home, and I had found a new main.
Then I made another DK on the server, just because I could.
Brawler’s Guild – Rank Three for Death Knights
By this point, I had become adept at killing much like a baby is adept at filling its diapers with green horror-paste. Between the guidance of Icy Veins and my own Death Knightly skillzone, possessing Clockem was inevitable. All I had to do was get through one last rank of opposition. That’s all.
But Clockem watched me from the vendor shelf and decided he didn’t want to be my new Fight Friend. Maybe there was something in my Death Knight’s style that he felt made me unworthy to possess him. Maybe he saw the madness that possessed my Death Knight when he fought and thought that fighting for a crazy person was no way to go through life, even when that life existed only to fight for crazy people.
Clockem had the industrious notion to make sure he was protected from being Pokemon-napped by executing his own agenda, and that was Operation: Rank Three Will Kick You In The Dick. This even applies if the one being kicked has no dick to speak of, which reflects the impressive aggression of the plan.
My thought was this: Bitch, you have spiked boxing gloves on the ends of your life-stealing arms. You are going to use those gloves to beat rabbits and frogs into bloody pulps, and you will do so for my general amusement. I will step on the necks of every Rank Three opponent, throw a fistful of coins at the vendor, and Clockem will begin to dine on a full diet of violence and blood.
Rank Three
Blat – Slime. Unpleasant. Nasty. Hose yourself off after this fight. Death Knight feedback:
- When it starts, immediately popped Pillar of Frost and Army of the Dead, and threw DoTs. Continued to backpedal and hit with Obliterate / Frost Strike. When he stopped, I’d spam Howling Blast on him until he caught up, then continue with Obliterate and Frost Strike. Managed to kill him with about 30 seconds to spare.
Sanoriak – This flaming lizard will light you up in short order if you’re not paying attention. This is a fight about interrupts, movement, and beating this thing down.
Ixx – Theoretically, this bug should be a breeze. Theoretically, Lindsay Lohan should be in prison until she’s two hundred.
- Use Lichborne as your tier 2 talent, since it is the only talent in this tier that will provide you some actual usage during the fight against Ixx. Simply treat Lichborne as a self-healing cooldown, which can be used to extend your survival in the arena by a few seconds. U
- se Death Pact as your tier 4 talent, because the fight against Ixx is short enough that you can make full use of the heal; your ghoul will still be alive when you need the healing from Death Pact.
The fight against Ixx is made considerably easier if you use the full combination of offensive cooldowns at the start. Frost Death Knights should use Army of the Dead, Raise Dead, Pillar of Frost, as well as making use of Empower Rune Weapon to gain an excellent amount of burst DPS. Unholy Death Knights should use Army of the Dead, Unholy Frenzy, as well as making use of Empower Rune Weapon.To defeat Ixx, simply use all your offensive cooldowns at the start of the fight and DPS the boss while standing still. There is no damage that you can mitigate through Anti-Magic Shell in this fight. You can use Icebound Fortitude to reduce the damage you take from melee attacks.
Mazhareen – Another fight that looks simple on paper. She’s another hockey fight, just straight-up melee. However, her damage ramps up as he health decreases so skip the foreplay and get right down to business.
There you have it. If you’ve made it this far, you are now a Rank Four member of the Brawler’s Guild. Clockem can’t hide any longer. Come forth, minion, and be counted in the pet stable!
Great. Just great.
Brawler’s Guild – Rank Two for Death Knights
Honk Honk.
What’s that you ask? That sound would be me tooting my own horn to an obscene degree. My Death Knight girded his loins and walked through the Rank One opposition without so much as breaking a sweat. Thanks, Icy Veins (the website, not the ones twisting through my body) for your helpful advice.
With Rank One cinched firmly under my belt, I stepped up for the first fight of Rank Two. I felt my confidence rise to an absurd level when a cute little penguin named Dippy appeared before me. I thought that maybe he was the entertainment before the first Rank Two boss stepped out. But no, apparently he would be the one my Death Knight would be cutting up into steaks. I almost felt bad for what was about to happen.
A few seconds later, I really did feel bad. And by “bad” I mean “dead”. Dippy couldn’t have twisted my shit faster if he’d put it through a blender. I had just been curb stomped, American History X style, by a bird in a tuxedo. Back I went to Icy Veins, and this is what I did to get through Rank Two.
Rank Two
Dippy – A cute penguin. Never trust cute things. A few tips from various Death Knights:
- use Army of the Dead straight away to have as many things beating on him as possible. When that was about to expire, I pulled up my regular ghoul. I used Blood Boil to keep him at bay – using up Death Runes as well as my blood runes. Other than that… just use Death Strike and Rune Strikes.
- As a frost Death Knight with average gear, this fight was fairly easy. I popped Army of the Dead right when I entered the arena. I Used Outbreak, Howling Blast, and Death Coil when available. I kept slowing him with chains of Ice and just stayed out of his melee range. If you need healing, summon your regular ghoul and use Death Pact.
- Most importantly do your best to stay out of range as much as you can.
- As an Unholy Death Knight, I dropped Death and Decay, cast Icy Touch, and hit with Death Coil, when it was up. Use Dark Transformation when available and just kite around.
Kirrawk – Chicken man who poops tornadoes and throws lightning. A tip from a Death Knight on wringing this guy’s neck:
- Blood DK ILVL 482. Spec Build – 122111. Open with Outbreak, watch for tornado and dodge accordingly. Go to the boss and Death Strike/ Rune Strike. He doesn’t hit hard so Lightning Bolts are a non-factor with high HP and Mastery: Blood Shield. My mastery is currently 136% so my average 60k-70k Death Strikes heal me for 25-40k and absorb over 120k of the next incoming damage. If you face the boss with your back perpendicular to the line of tornadoes (which I noticed were coming from the direction front to back of where the boss enters the arena) the tornado will hit both of you, causing minimal damage to you but keeping you in range to continue beating on the boss. Very easy fight, no cooldowns used, summoned a minion about midway through to speed up the dps and have an emergency death pact if necessary.
Fran and Riddoh – Two for one, and it certainly feels like it. A tale of how a couple of Death Knights made this combat threesome work:
- I play a Blood Death Knight with a gear level of 475 (full gems and enchants). What I did was keep them both diseased with Blood Plague and Frost Fever. I brought the big guy down to 1M health, then switched to the little guy and took him to 200k, then switched back to the big guy, dropped him to about 100k, then killed the little guy, then the big one.
- First of all BOTH of the bosses are attackable at all times, though you will want to kill Riddoh first IMHO. You can use AOE’s and spread diseases and if you do they will be easier to deal with overall. When you move out of the minefield you will want to look for a gap, the mines are active immediately. As an Unholy Death Knight, spread your diseases with Pestilence and drop Death and Decay. A Blood Boil or two won’t hurt either. Otherwise a pretty simple fight.
King Kulaka – This big lizard is just a hockey fight. Drop gloves, grab jersey, throw hands until someone drops. Feedback from one Death Knight who dropped the King on its Head:
- I defeated this as a Frost Death Knight, when I had about 485 item level. I just used Army of the Dead, Raise Dead, Pillar of Frost, Empower Rune Weapon, pre-potted a Strength potion and just killed him. Make sure you are talented into Death Pact and use that when you get below 50% health. Also remember you can stun him ( Remorseless Winter, Asphyxiate). If you’ve done all that but you are still failing, I can only imagine that you’re very under-geared, in which case you could try going Blood.
That’s it for Rank Two. One more rank to go before Clockem becomes yet another pet in the stable!
Wow. Can’t wait.
Rokk Talk 