So i started my dk today and decided to go blood as people told me its good both in pve and pvp. Now, the main problem i have is that i have huge downtimes (i cant use spells because they are on cooldown). Also people told me to stack diseases, when they say that they mean i should pick up unholy talents/spells too and apply those diseases before using bloodstrike? (i think thats what the spell is called).
Sorry if these questions are stupid, im really new to the class, also if you have any general tips then feel free to help me out with them :)
Thanks in advance!
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Member
Im new to the game and the class, i need your help.
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Banned
Hi Baniel! taralej here, I've been playing DKs since day 1 of WotLK's release, so I'll try to help you as much as I can in a noob-friendly way.
First of all, I'll explain the two resources a DK has, then I'll explain some commonalities.
DKs have runes and runic power. There are 3 rune types, with 2 runes from each type, with the whole set very often dubbed as BBFFUU. There is also a fourth type of runes called Death runes, which can act as any other rune and are generated mostly through talent. Each time you use a rune, you generate 10 runic power (RP), and each time you use a multi-rune ability, you generate 15 RP. Talents and glyphs can increase the amount of RP generated.
A lot of DK abilities are improved when you have applied diseases on your target, generally through (F) Icy Touch and (U) Plague Strike. This means that you will start almost all fights with these 2 abilities, no matter what spec you are. After that it depends on your talents.
Blood uses Heart Strike as a B ability and as the spec's main source of damage. Heart Strike is far superior to Blood Strike and completely replaces it. Death Strike is used as an FU ability for the healing sustain and to convert the runes into Death runes through Death Rune Mastery in order to use more Heart Strikes. The spec's RP ability is Death Coil, but it is used as a last priority, after everything else has been used.
Frost uses Blood Strike as a B ability and converts the B runes into Death runes through Blood of the North. The spec uses Obliterate, always combined with Annihilation, as its FU ability and main source of damage. The spec's RP ability is Frost Strike, which makes up for a significant amount of its damage. Howling Blast is used on Rime procs, when it doesn't cost any runes, or when there are more than 1 targets.
Unholy uses Blood Strike as a B ability and converts the B runes into Death runes through Reaping. Blood Strike also triggers Desolation. The spec uses Scourge Strike as its FU ability, which does a mix of physical and shadow damage. The spec's RP ability is Death Coil, which is a lot stronger than it is for Blood. Unholy can also raise a ghoul as a permanent pet, contrary to Blood or Frost which can only raise one for 30 seconds. Unholy's pet ghoul is also a lot stronger than the usual ghoul and it has multiple abilities, among which a stun (Gnaw). It can also call a gargoyle, which will deal significant shadow damage, scaling from your attack power.
The best spec for leveling is by far Blood. It can kill without stopping, it can solo elites, it can kill 5-10 mobs and end up on 100% HP, it can tank dungeons with very little healing needed from a healer. Death Strike being an integral part of Blood means you do not sacrifice damage in order to heal yourself, unlike Frost or Unholy which have to sacrifice Obliterate and Scourge Strike in order to use Death Strike, which is weaker for them but stronger for Blood. Generally, you will start a fight by using Icy Touch and Plague Strike, followed by two Heart Strikes and a Death Strike. At this point you will be out of runes, which means you can use Death Coil and then wait for your runes to come back for more Heart Strikes and Death Strikes. Remember to always keep the two diseases on your targets, refreshing them just before they fade - Heart Strike deals increased damage and Death Strike heals for 5% of your max health (increased by talents) for each of your diseases on the target. Later on you will get Rune Strike, which you will find to be a lot better for spending RP than Death Coil because you can queue it while using your other abilities. As for glyphs, I strongly recommend getting Glyph of Death Strike - it will make your life a lot easier while leveling.
If you have any further questions or I didn't explain something clearly enough, feel free to ask or just PM me.Edited: June 29, 2016
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Member
Thank you! Also, is blood viable for pvp? and should i go for full stamina tanky build or stam+strenght?
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Banned
You didn't really need to quote my whole post, mate :D
Blood is... not very good for PvP on WotLK, as it can get easily kited and only shines against melee classes. Check out this thread, along with the posts below it, for some more info on Blood PvP, if that's what interests you.
Unholy is considered the best DK spec for PvP and is also one of the strongest things on WotLK PvP in general, with even Blizzard having admitted that the spec was too strong. Regarding stats - it depends on what you want, really. Stamina is the go-to stat for tanking. Strength, and later on armor penetration, is your DPS stat.
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Member
Here are a few tips regarding pvp. Taralej basically gave you the info you need to start playing, I just want to point out a few things:
Blood is a physical damage spec, sort of like a warrior. As such, armor will greatly affect your damage.
- This spec lacks survivability (sounds strange, eh?) and utility, which is why in PvP it's the choice for bgs, world pvp and leveling.
Frost is a combination of melee and spell damage, due to Frost Strike, which deals pure frost damage. (ignores armor)
- This spec deals very high damage in a short amount of time, very deadly indeed. It lacks survivability aswell though, so if you want to play arena it must be with a healer. Works well in bgs and world pvp.
Unholy is a magic damage spec, focusing on your diseases and Death Coils.
- It has great survivability, utility and overall is the strongest of the specs in bgs, world pvp and arenas.
Gargoyle deals Nature damage btw, which is both good and bad.
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Banned
Oh, nature?! Never paid attention, honestly. So then it has significantly lower synergy than I thought.
Anyway, on the topic of survivability, because it might sound confusing to Baniel:
Blood relies on landing Death Stikes with diseases up in order to receive healing. So if someone dispels those diseases, you get no healing. If your enemy is a range class, which can kite you - you get no healing again because you can't even hit them with Death Strike. Your other sources of healing are Rune Tap, which has a 30 sec cooldown, and Mark of Blood, which can be dispelled or just ignored - as it is mostly effective against physical damage dealers, paladins can Cleanse it, rogues can remove it with Cloak of Shadows, and warriors can outdamage it through Mortal Strike's healing reduction, the same goes for hunters too.
Frost's survivability is based on Acclimation, if you decided to pick it, and Lichborne, which makes Death Coils aimed at yourself to heal you. Unbreakable Armor barely does anything in PvP, honestly.
Unholy's survivability comes from the fact that they have this almost-constant 20% damage reduction from Bone Shield. They also take 6% less spell damage and an Unholy DK's Anti-Magic Shell absorbs 100% of a spell's damage, up from 75% normally. Unholy also naturally picks Lichborne from Frost on its way to Endless Winter, which means they get self-healing Death Coils too. However, Unholy's Death Coils are much stronger and thus the healing is stronger as well. And then we have Unholy's practically limitless ability to kite melee classes and just kill them from range with diseases, Death Coil, and the ghoul punching them the whole time. What about casters, you would ask? Well, Unholy Death Knights are in their very core and essence made by Blizzard to be anti-casters. So yeah.
Of course, all 3 specs rely on Icebound Fortitude and AMS as main defensive cooldowns, as well as on Death Pact for a strong self-heal.
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