WotLK FROST Death Knight PvE DPS Guide [3.3.5a]

[verminslayer]

What has ur last picture got anything to do with the current state of fdks? Sorry for flame.

I just returned after 4 years and i need you to explain why winding sheet is better than an agi cloak with arp/crit.

Also Fdks seems unchanged from the last time i played it, it is still slightly above average as a single target dpser just judging by a pug i ran a few days ago, fury is still top of the food chain and combat rogues are slightly better in certain scenarios.

For anyone wondering how FDK feels in current meta imo:
Mdps tier list (single)
1. Fury
2. Combat
3. Feral
4. FDK
5. Unholy
6. Ret
7. Blood dps
8. Enhance
9. rest of the classes go here

I'd rank fdk higher than combat/feral but i believe perfect rotations at bis gear, those 2 classes will pull out ahead imo due to the ease of execution and simplicity.

[Chesty3636]

Great guide, thank you for putting so much effort into this!

[RemyNr1]

any update about frost dk gnimo ?

[gebz123]

This is the only real and good frost dk guide i've ever seen in a long long time, very nice.

[Gnimo]

Guide has been updated with couple of new youtube videos, cutting out some "useless old" content and adding Blood Sub Spec rotation for those early game enthusiast.
Enjoy! :)

[Argi6654]

I am following the guide, with small exceptions, I am trying to make a 2h frost dps instead. Works surprisingly good but requires me to get haste since 2h is slow, and I was thinking about Necrosis...which seems a very strong talent. I am wondering, if DK uses that many spells, is ARP the needed stat? What about spell power or spell penet then?

This is what I've changed for my build:

5,7k dps on Voa Frost boss with a 4895 GS. still gearing and not that close to what I want to achieve, I've swapped one of your recommended glyphs , so now I got Obliterate, Frost Strike and Icy Touch, and because of that, my single target rotation doesn't have Pesti, instead 2x BS.

https://tinypic.host/images/2022/07/20/1.jpg (died at the end)

I am trying to polish this build for a two hander based on your guide and it was extremely helpful, but I want to understand why ARP is better than rest of stats? I do have to prioritize Haste a bit in my build. STR looks like a scaling for all types of attacks, but what about things like Necrosis sweet 20% weapon DMG as Shadow, Icy Touch, Howling Blast and DOTS?

Do you think it would be anyhow beneficial to try to boost spell penet/power to get even more from them?

[angrylol]

In short because haste affects only auto attacks, while arp affects all the major sources of dmg. Don't know about your meme spec tough, since you traded obliterate out for some frost fever damage, at your gear STR is probably the best stat. I don't understand why you have to prioritize haste, STR would probably give you the most boost.

[Argi6654]

I didn't trade Obliterate glyph. I did trade Glyph of Disease for glyph of icy touch.
I might wanan retest that so I would always have more runes instead of refreshing IT and PS
Besides that I'm really good, although one thing to note, I do use Unholy Presence instead of Blood as with more haste from gems etc, it gives me bigger dps than blood at the moment so I hope to push that even further

[angrylol]

Yes, I meant you traded extra obliterate that glyph of disease provides for tiny increase on frost fever dot from glyph of icy touch. To me it seems like buying 1 copper for 1 gold. But anyway, I don't understand how are you getting bigger dps increase by going haste, Frost probably has lowest benefit from haste from all the specs in game?

[Gnimo]

2 Handed Frost DK simply does not work as well as Dual Wield Frost DK.
Even if you are wielding Shadowmourne, your DPS will be lower by a huge margin in comparison to wielding 2 Havoc's or 2 Bloodvenom's, and that fact alone should speak how bad 2 Handed Frost DK is in comparison.
2 Handed Frost DK was good in Ulduar patch on retail with talents of that time, in 3.3.5a Dual Wielding is simply superior in every aspect.

[Royz]

How does an opener without ERW look now?
RN if you do rotation from the guide (IT > PS > Obli > BS > BT > UA > Pesti >) you will get 1 blood and 1 death rune

Rotation for Unholy subspec btw

[HomTanks69420]

How does an opener without ERW look now?
RN if you do rotation from the guide (IT > PS > Obli > BS > BT > UA > Pesti >) you will get 1 blood and 1 death rune

Rotation for Unholy subspec btw

The rotation listed for "Opener without ERW" is wrong, as a Death Rune is used for UA, reverting it back to a Blood Rune after use. From testing, it looks like using BS before BT+UA is the cause. Opener without ERW should be:

IT > PS > Obli > BT > UA > Pesti > FS*
or
IT > PS > BT > UA > Obli > Pesti > FS* to closer mimic ERW Opener

[student777]

thanks for the guide.
but i would like to add few things


regarding learning the rotation:
dont overcomplicate things
what you need to do is to hit x5 obli in 1 round of pesti (in 21 sec). to do that, you need to convert blood runes into death runes by using x1 pesti, x1 blood strike.
thats it. no long lines of abbreviations. simple sentence with simple meaning.
thats for rotation.

regarding opener, i do this:
icy touch - plague strike - CD macro (blood tap and unbreakable armor) - obli - blood strike / ERW / obli - obli - obli / etc.
when ERW is on CD, i do this:
icy touch - plague strike - CD macro (blood tap and unbreakable armor) - obli - pest / frost strike till 13-14s on dots then x3 obli (if no runic power, blow the horn as a filler for global cd) / etc

and OFC dont forget to cancel ur blood tap after x3 obli (in both variants of opener)



regarding BiS itemization
IF you are
- orc
- have BS + engi
then
this is your BiS (with armor pen. food):
https://www.wowhead.com/wotlk/gear-p...EA0GAApKkSAJ0P
edit. talents in this link are weird, never go more than 2 in black ice.

basically, max possible iLvL items, with matched sockets in all of them (except legs).
being orc and having BS+Engi, you can even go for umbrage itemization, with around 13% haste, but honestly, the link i gave above is the best variant, IMO (and i tried a lot of them)
or you can go gunship cloak, tosk, set gloves, etc.
basically, much more freedom when it comes to BiS itemization.



regarding talents, i always go for 3/3 subversion.
sure, crit is rng and bcb always get its numbers, but hey, ur dps is going to suuuck big time with obli crit <60% or even <55%.

ps. ive seen some DKs go for DBS sword for OH. its baaaad, since you need max top end dmg weapon in both hands. you can get the reason for it by opening details for ur dmg in "live" mod while u dps target dummy. what im trying to say is that cuz of Threat of Thassarian talent, once you click on ur obli, recount will record it as x2 obli on target, 1 with main hand, 1 with offhand. and btw crit chance for both hands is different, you can crit with main hand obli, and normal hit with off hand. so crit is ***ing important, even being rng.

[PanofskyII]

Consumables
Which potion is better for a frost death knight? Insane Strength or Speed?
Does the answer change if you use mostly strength or arp gems?
I haven't found a section on the guide talking about this.

[Blkunxpd]

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