Death Knight



New Skills
Spell Level Description
Dark Simulacrum
85 Places a dark ward on an enemy that persists for 8 sec, triggering when the enemy next spends mana on a single-target spell, and allowing the Death Knight to unleash an exact duplicate of that spell. Against nonplayers, only absorbs some harmful spells.
20 Runic Power, 40 yd range, Instant, 1 min cooldown
Necrotic Strike
83 A vicious strike that deals 100% weapon damage and absorbs the next [ 75% of AP ] healing received by the target. For 15 sec, or until the full amount of healing is absorbed, the target's casting time is increased by 30%.
5 yd range, Instant
Outbreak
81 Instantly applies Blood Plague and Frost Fever to the target enemy.
30 yd range, Instant, 1 min cooldown
Runic Empowerment
Passive
68 When you use your Death Coil, Frost Strike, or Rune Strike ability, you have a 45% chance to activate a random fully depleted rune.
Festering Strike
64 An instant attack that deals 150% weapon damage plus 840.54 and increases the duration of your Blood Plague, Frost Fever, and Chains of Ice effects on the target by up to 6 sec.
5 yd range, Instant


Complete Skill List


Spell Level Description
Dark Simulacrum
85 Places a dark ward on an enemy that persists for 8 sec, triggering when the enemy next spends mana on a single-target spell, and allowing the Death Knight to unleash an exact duplicate of that spell. Against nonplayers, only absorbs some harmful spells.
20 Runic Power, 40 yd range, Instant, 1 min cooldown
Death Pact
66 Sacrifices an undead minion, healing the Death Knight for 40% of his or her maximum health. This heal cannot be a critical.
40 Runic Power, Instant, 2 min cooldown
Dark Command
65 Commands the target to attack you, but has no effect if the target is already attacking you.
30 yd range, Instant, 8 sec cooldown
Blood Tap
64 Immediately activates a Blood Rune and converts it into a Death Rune for the next 20 sec. Death Runes count as a Blood, Frost or Unholy Rune.
6% of base health, Instant, 1 min cooldown
Strangulate
59 Strangulates an enemy, silencing them for 5 sec. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec.
1 Blood, 30 yd range, Instant, 2 min cooldown
Blood Boil
58 Boils the blood of all enemies within 10 yards, dealing [ 8% of AP + 297 ] Shadow damage. Deals additional damage to targets infected with Blood Plague or Frost Fever.
1 Blood, Instant
Blood Presence
57 You assume the presence of Blood, increasing Stamina by 8%, armor contribution from cloth, leather, mail and plate items by 60%, and reducing damage taken by 8%. Increases threat generated. Only one Presence may be active at a time, and assuming a new Presence will consume any stored Runic Power.
Instant
Death Strike
56 A deadly attack that deals 150% weapon damage plus ( Improved Death Strike : 496.23/431.504/381.715/342.228 ), healing you for 30% of the damage you have sustained during the preceding 5 sec (minimum of at least 10% of your maximum health).
1 Unholy 1 Frost, 5 yd range, Instant
Pestilence
56 Spreads existing Blood Plague and Frost Fever infections from your target to all other enemies within 10 yards. Diseases spread this way deal 50% of normal damage.
5 yd range, Instant
Blood Strike
55 Instantly strike the enemy, causing 80% weapon damage plus 680.536, increased by an additional 10% for each of your diseases on the target.
1 Blood, 5 yd range, Instant
Death Strike
1 A deadly attack that deals damage plus and heals the Death Knight for a percent of damage done per disease on the target.
Instant
Parry
Passive
1 Gives a chance to parry enemy melee attacks.
Spell Level Description
Empower Rune Weapon
75 Empower your rune weapon, immediately activating all your runes and generating 25 runic power.
Instant, 5 min cooldown
Runic Empowerment
Passive
68 When you use your Death Coil, Frost Strike, or Rune Strike ability, you have a 45% chance to activate a random fully depleted rune.
Rune Strike
67 Strike the target for 200% weapon damage plus [ 20% of AP ]. Only usable after the Death Knight dodges or parries. Can't be dodged, blocked, or parried. This attack causes a high amount of threat.
20 Runic Power, 5 yd range, Instant
Rune Strike
67
5 yd range, Instant
Horn of Winter
65 The Death Knight blows the Horn of Winter, which generates 10 runic power and increases total Strength and Agility of all party or raid members within 45 yards by 549.32. Lasts 2 min.
Instant, 20 sec cooldown
Festering Strike
64 An instant attack that deals 150% weapon damage plus 840.54 and increases the duration of your Blood Plague, Frost Fever, and Chains of Ice effects on the target by up to 6 sec.
5 yd range, Instant
Icebound Fortitude
62 The Death Knight freezes his or her blood to become immune to Stun effects and reduce all damage taken by 30% for 12 sec.
20 Runic Power, Instant, 2 min cooldown
Obliterate
61 A brutal instant attack that deals 160% weapon damage plus 1040.608. Total damage is increased by 12.5% for each of your diseases on the target.
1 Unholy 1 Frost, 5 yd range, Instant
Path of Frost
61 The Death Knight's freezing aura creates ice beneath his or her feet, allowing him or her and his or her party or raid members within 50 yards to walk on water for 10 min. Works while mounted. Being attacked or receiving damage will cancel the effect.
Instant
Chains of Ice
58 Shackles the target with frozen chains, reducing their movement by 60% for 8 sec. Also infects the target with Frost Fever.
1 Frost, 20 yd range, Instant
Mind Freeze
57 Smash the target's mind with cold, interrupting spellcasting and preventing any spell in that school from being cast for 4 sec.
20 Runic Power, 5 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown
Frost Presence
55 Strengthens you with the presence of Frost, increasing damage by 10% and increasing Runic Power generation by 10%. Only one Presence may be active at a time, and assuming a new Presence will consume any stored Runic Power.
Instant
Icy Touch
55 Chills the target for [ 20% of AP + 526.605 ] Frost damage and infects them with Frost Fever, a disease that deals periodic damage and reduces melee and ranged attack speed by 20% for 21 sec.
1 Frost, 20 yd range, Instant
Icy Touch
Rank 1
55 Deals 217 to 235 Frost damage modified by attack power and reduces the target's ranged, melee attack, and casting speed by 15% for 20 sec.
1 Frost, 20 yd range, Instant, 6 sec cooldown
Spell Level Description
Necrotic Strike
83 A vicious strike that deals 100% weapon damage and absorbs the next [ 75% of AP ] healing received by the target. For 15 sec, or until the full amount of healing is absorbed, the target's casting time is increased by 30%.
5 yd range, Instant
Outbreak
81 Instantly applies Blood Plague and Frost Fever to the target enemy.
30 yd range, Instant, 1 min cooldown
Army of the Dead
80 Summons an entire legion of Ghouls to fight for the Death Knight. The Ghouls will swarm the area, taunting and fighting anything they can. While channelling Army of the Dead, the Death Knight takes less damage equal to his or her Dodge plus Parry chance.
1 Blood 1 Unholy 1 Frost, Channeled, 10 min cooldown
Raise Ally
72 Raises the corpse of a raid or party member to fight by your side. The player will have control over the Ghoul for 5 min.
30 yd range, Instant, 10 min cooldown
Unholy Presence
70 You are infused with unholy fury, increasing attack speed and rune regeneration by 10%, and movement speed by 15%, and reducing the global cooldown on your abilities by 0.5 sec. Only one Presence may be active at a time, and assuming a new Presence will consume any stored Runic Power.
Instant
Anti-Magic Shell
68 Surrounds the Death Knight in an Anti-Magic Shell, absorbing 75% of the damage dealt by harmful spells (up to a maximum of 50% of the Death Knight's health) and preventing application of harmful magical effects. Lasts 5 sec.
Instant, 45 sec cooldown
Death and Decay
60 Corrupts the ground targeted by the Death Knight, causing [ 6.4% of AP + 46.13 ] Shadow damage every sec that targets remain in the area for 10 sec. This ability produces a high amount of threat.
1 Unholy, 30 yd range, Instant, 30 sec cooldown
Raise Dead
56 Raises a Ghoul to fight by your side. You can have a maximum of one Ghoul at a time. ( Without Master of Ghouls : Lasts 1 min. )
30 yd range, Instant, 3 min cooldown
Acherus Deathcharger
Summon
55 Summons and dismisses your rideable Acherus Deathcharger. This is a very fast mount.
1.5 sec cast
Death Coil
55 Fire a blast of unholy energy, causing [ ( 30% of AP + 985.7 ) * ( Glyph of Death Coil : 100%/115% ) * ( Morbidity : 100%/105%/110%/115% ) ] Shadow damage to an enemy target or healing [ ( 105% of AP + 3449.95 ) * ( Glyph of Death Coil : 100%/115% ) * ( Morbidity : 100%/105%/110%/115% ) ] damage on a friendly Undead target . ( Glyph of Death's Embrace : Refunds 20 runic power when used to heal. )
40 Runic Power, 30/40 yd range, Instant
Death Gate
55 Opens a gate which the Death Knight can use to return to Ebon Hold.
1 Unholy, 10 sec cast, 1 min cooldown
Death Grip
55 Harness the unholy energy that surrounds and binds all matter, drawing the target toward the death knight and forcing the enemy to attack the death knight for 3 sec.
30 yd range, Instant, 35 sec cooldown
Plague Strike
55 A vicious strike that deals ( Glyph of Plague Strike : 100/120 )% weapon damage plus ( Glyph of Plague Strike : 420.84/505.008 ) and infects the target with Blood Plague, a disease dealing Shadow damage over time.
1 Unholy, 5 yd range, Instant
Unholy Blight
55 Causes the victims of your Death Coil to be surrounded by a vile swarm of unholy insects, taking 10% of the damage done by the Death Coil over 10 sec, and prevents diseases on the victim from being dispelled.
100 yd range, Instant
Blood Plague
Passive
1 A disease dealing [ 6.325% of AP + 1.15 ] Shadow damage every 3 sec for 21 sec. Caused by Plague Strike and other abilities.


Primary Skills


Spell Level Description
Mastery: Blood Shield
Rank 1
0 ( Blood Shield : Each time you heal yourself via Death Stike, you gain 50% of the amount healed as a damage absorption shield. Each point of Mastery increases the shield by an additional 6.25%. / Each time you heal yourself via Death Stike, you gain 0% of the amount healed as a damage absorption shield. Each point of Mastery increases the shield by an additional 6.25%. )
Instant
Blood Rites
Passive
0 Whenever you hit with Death Strike or Obliterate, the Frost and Unholy Runes will become Death Runes when they activate. Death Runes count as a Blood, Frost or Unholy Rune.
3 min cooldown
Heart Strike
Rank 1
0 Instantly strike the target and up to two additional nearby enemies, causing 100% weapon damage plus 819.17 on the primary target, with each additional enemy struck taking 25% less damage than the previous target. Damage dealt to each target is increased by an additional 10% for each of your diseases present.
5 yd range, Instant
Vengeance
Passive
0 Each time you take damage, you gain 5% of the damage taken as attack power, up to a maximum of 10% of your health.
Veteran of the Third War
Passive
0 Increases your total Stamina by 9% and your expertise by 6.
Spell Level Description
Mastery: Frozen Heart
Rank 1
0 ( Frozen Heart : Increases all frost damage done by 16%. Each point of Mastery increases frost damage by an additional 2%. / Increases all frost damage done by 0%. Each point of Mastery increases frost damage by an additional 2%. )
Instant
Blood of the North
Passive
0 Whenever you hit with Blood Strike or Pestilence, the Blood Rune will become a Death Rune when it activates. Death Runes count as a Blood, Frost or Unholy Rune.
Frost Strike
Rank 1
0 Instantly strike the enemy, causing 110% weapon damage plus 305.723 as Frost damage.
40 Runic Power, 5 yd range, Instant
Icy Talons
Passive
0 Your melee attack speed is increased by 20%.
Spell Level Description
Mastery: Blightcaller
Rank 1
0 ( Blightcaller : Increases the damage done by your diseases by 32%. Each point of Mastery increases disease damage by an additional 4%. / Increases the damage done by your diseases by 0%. Each point of Mastery increases disease damage by an additional 4%. )
Instant
Master of Ghouls
Passive
0 Reduces the cooldown on Raise Dead by 60 sec, and the Ghoul summoned by your Raise Dead spell is considered a pet under your control. Unlike normal Death Knight Ghouls, your pet does not have a limited duration.
Reaping
Passive
0 Whenever you hit with Blood Strike, Pestilence, or Festering Strike, the Runes spent will become Death Runes when they activate. Death Runes count as a Blood, Frost or Unholy Rune.
Scourge Strike
Rank 1
0 An unholy strike that deals 100% of weapon damage as Physical damage plus 624.5. In addition, for each of your diseases on your target, you deal an additional 12% of the Physical damage done as Shadow damage.
1 Unholy, 5 yd range, Instant
Unholy Might
Passive
0 Dark power courses through your limbs, increasing your Strength by 15%.


Talents


Talent Tier Col Description
Dancing Rune Weapon
Rank 1
7 2 Summons a second rune weapon that fights on its own for 12 sec, doing the same attacks as the Death Knight but for 50% reduced damage. The rune weapon also assists in defense of its master, granting an additional 20% parry chance while active.
60 Runic Power, 30 yd range, Instant, 1.5 min cooldown
Improved Death Strike
Rank 1-3
6 2 Increases the damage and healing done by your Death Strike by [15%/30%/45%], increases its critical strike chance by [3%/6%/9%].
Crimson Scourge
Rank 1-2
6 3 Increases the damage dealt by your Blood Boil by [20%/40%], and when you Plague Strike a target that is already infected with your Blood Plague, there is a [50%/100%] chance that your next Blood Boil will consume no runes.
Will of the Necropolis
Rank 1-3
5 1 When a damaging attack brings you below 30% of your maximum health, you generate a Blood Rune and the cooldown on your Rune Tap ability is refreshed, and all damage taken is reduced by [8%/16%/25%] for 8 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once every 45 seconds.
Rune Tap
Rank 1
5 2 Converts 1 Blood Rune into 15% of your maximum health.
1 Blood, Instant, 30 sec cooldown
Vampiric Blood
Rank 1
5 3 Temporarily grants the Death Knight 15% of maximum health and increases the amount of health generated through spells and effects by 25% for 10 sec. After the effect expires, the health is lost.
Instant, 1 min cooldown
Sanguine Fortitude
Rank 1-2
4 1 While active, your Icebound Fortitude reduces damage taken by an additional [15%/30%] and costs [50% less/no] runic power to activate.
Blood Parasite
Rank 1-2
4 2 Your melee attacks have a [5%/10%] chance to spawn a Bloodworm. The Bloodworm attacks your enemies, gorging itself with blood until it bursts to heal nearby allies. Lasts up to 20 sec.
Improved Blood Presence
Rank 1-2
4 3 Reduces the chance that you will be critically hit by melee attacks while in Blood Presence by [3%/6%]. In addition, while in Frost Presence or Unholy Presence, you retain [2%/4%] damage reduction from Blood Presence.
Blood-Caked Blade
Rank 1-3
3 1 Your auto attacks have a [10%/20%/30%] chance to cause a Blood-Caked Strike, which hits for 25% weapon damage plus 12.5% for each of your diseases on the target.
Bone Shield
Rank 1
3 2 Surrounds you with a barrier of whirling bones. The shield begins with 3 charges, and each damaging attack consumes a charge. While at least 1 charge remains, you take 20% less damage from all sources and deal 2% more damage with all attacks, spells and abilities. Lasts 5 min.
1 Unholy, Instant, 1 min cooldown
Toughness
Rank 1-3
3 3 Increases your armor value from items by [3%/7%/10%].
Abomination's Might
Rank 1-2
3 4 Increases the attack power by [5%/10%] of party and raid members within 100 yards. Also increases your total Strength by [1%/2%].
Improved Blood Tap
Rank 1-2
2 1 Reduces the cooldown of your Blood Tap ability by [15/30] sec.
Scent of Blood
Rank 1-3
2 2 You have a 15% chance after dodging, parrying or taking direct damage to gain the Scent of Blood effect, causing your next [/2/3]melee hit[/s/s] to generate 10 runic power.
Scarlet Fever
Rank 1-2
2 3 Gives your Blood Boil a [50%/100%] chance to afflict enemies with Scarlet Fever, reducing their physical damage dealt by 10% for 30 sec.
Hand of Doom
Rank 1-2
2 4 Reduces the cooldown of your Strangulate ability by [30/60] sec.
Butchery
Rank 1-2
1 1 Whenever you kill an enemy that grants experience or honor, you generate up to [10/20] runic power. In addition, you generate [1/2] runic power per 5 sec while in combat.
Blade Barrier
Rank 1-3
1 2 Whenever your Blood Runes are on cooldown, you gain the Blade Barrier effect, which decreases damage taken by [2%/4%/6%] for the next 10 sec.
Bladed Armor
Rank 1-3
1 3 Increases your attack power by [2/4/6] for every 180 armor value you have.
Talent Tier Col Description
Howling Blast
Rank 1
7 2 Blast the target with a frigid wind dealing [ 40% of AP + 1201.745 ] Frost damage to all enemies within 10 yards.
1 Frost, 20 yd range, Instant
Threat of Thassarian
Rank 1-3
6 1 When dual-wielding, your Death Strikes, Obliterates, Plague Strikes, Rune Strikes, Blood Strikes and Frost Strikes have a [30%/60%/100%] chance to also deal damage with your offhand weapon.
Might of the Frozen Wastes
Rank 1-3
6 3 When wielding a two-handed weapon, your autoattacks have a [15%/30%/45%] chance to generate 10 Runic Power.
Chilblains
Rank 1-2
5 1 Victims of your Frost Fever disease are Chilled, reducing movement speed by [25%/50%] for 10 sec.
Hungering Cold
Rank 1
5 2 Purges the earth around the Death Knight of all heat. Enemies within 10 yards are trapped in ice, preventing them from performing any action for 10 sec and infecting them with Frost Fever. Enemies are considered Frozen, but any damage other than diseases will break the ice.
40 Runic Power, Instant, 1 min cooldown
Improved Frost Presence
Rank 1-2
5 3 Increases your bonus damage while in Frost Presence by an additional [2%/5%]. In addition, while in Blood Presence or Unholy Presence, you retain [2%/4%] increased runic power generation from Frost Presence.
Rime
Rank 1-3
4 1 Your Obliterate has a [15%/30%/45%] chance to cause your next Howling Blast or Icy Touch to consume no runes.
Pillar of Frost
Rank 1
4 2 Calls upon the power of Frost to increase the Death Knight's Strength by 20%. Icy crystals hang heavy upon the Death Knight's body, providing immunity against external movement such as knockbacks. Lasts 20 sec.
1 Frost, Instant, 1 min cooldown
Improved Icy Talons
Rank 1
4 3 Increases the melee and ranged attack speed of all party and raid members within 100 yards by 10%, and your own attack speed by an additional 5%.
Brittle Bones
Rank 1-2
4 4 Your Strength is increased by [2%/4%] and your Frost Fever chills the bones of its victims, increasing their physical damage taken by [2%/4%].
Merciless Combat
Rank 1-2
3 1 Your Icy Touch, Howling Blast, Obliterate and Frost Strike do an additional [6%/12%] damage when striking targets with less than 35% health.
Chill of the Grave
Rank 1-2
3 2 Your Chains of Ice, Howling Blast, Icy Touch and Obliterate generate [5/10] additional runic power.
Killing Machine
Rank 1-3
3 3 Your melee attacks have a chance to make your next Icy Touch, Obliterate, or Frost Strike a guaranteed critical strike.[/ Effect occurs more often than Killing Machine (Rank 1)./ Effect occurs more often than Killing Machine (Rank 2).]
Annihilation
Rank 1-3
2 1 Increases the damage dealt by your Obliterate ability by [15%/30%/45%].
Lichborne
Rank 1
2 2 Draw upon unholy energy to become undead for 10 sec. While undead, you are immune to Charm, Fear and Sleep effects.
Instant, 2 min cooldown
On a Pale Horse
Rank 1-2
2 3 You become as hard to stop as death itself. The duration of movement-slowing effects used against you is reduced by [15%/30%], and your mounted speed is increased by [10%/20%]. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
Endless Winter
Rank 1-2
2 4 [The cost of y/Y]our Mind Freeze [is reduced t/n]o [10/longer costs] runic power.
Runic Power Mastery
Rank 1-3
1 1 Increases your maximum Runic Power by [10/20/30].
Icy Reach
Rank 1-2
1 2 Increases the range of your Icy Touch, Chains of Ice and Howling Blast by [5/10] yards.
Nerves of Cold Steel
Rank 1-3
1 3 Increases your chance to hit with one-handed melee weapons by [1%/2%/3%] and increases the damage done by your off-hand weapon by [8%/16%/25%].
Talent Tier Col Description
Summon Gargoyle
Rank 1
7 2 A Gargoyle flies into the area and bombards the target with Nature damage modified by the Death Knight's attack power. Persists for 30 sec.
60 Runic Power, 30 yd range, Instant, 3 min cooldown
Ebon Plaguebringer
Rank 1-2
6 2 Your Plague Strike, Icy Touch, Chains of Ice, and Outbreak abilities also infect their target with Ebon Plague, which increases damage taken from your diseases by [15%/30%] and all magic damage taken by an additional 8%.
Sudden Doom
Rank 1-3
6 3 Your auto attacks have a [5%/10%/15%] chance to make your next Death Coil cost no runic power.
Unholy Blight
Rank 1
5 1 Causes the victims of your Death Coil to be surrounded by a vile swarm of unholy insects, taking 10% of the damage done by the Death Coil over 10 sec, and preventing any diseases on the victim from being dispelled.
Anti-Magic Zone
Rank 1
5 2 Places a large, stationary Anti-Magic Zone that reduces spell damage done to party or raid members inside it by 75%. The Anti-Magic Zone lasts for 10 sec or until it absorbs [ 200% of AP + 10000 ] spell damage.
1 Unholy, Instant, 2 min cooldown
Improved Unholy Presence
Rank 1-2
5 3 Grants you an additional [2%/5%] haste while in Unholy Presence. In addition, while in Blood Presence or Frost Presence, you retain [8%/15%] increased movement speed from Unholy Presence.
Dark Transformation
Rank 1
5 4 Consume 5 charges of Shadow Infusion on your Ghoul to transform it into a powerful undead monstrosity for 30 sec. The Ghoul's abilities are empowered and take on new functions while the transformation is active.
Magic Suppression
Rank 1-3
4 2 Increases the spell damage absorption of your Anti-Magic Shell by an additional [8%/16%/25%], and [/in/in]c[/re/re]a[u//]ses[/ the runic power generated when/ the runic power generated when] damage[/ is/ is] absorbed by Anti-Magic Shell[ to energize the Death Knight with runic power//].
Rage of Rivendare
Rank 1-3
4 3 Increases the damage of your Plague Strike, Scourge Strike, and Festering Strike abilities by [15%/30%/45%].
Runic Corruption
Rank 1-2
3 1 Reduces the cost of your Death Coil by [3/6], and causes your Runic Empowerment ability to no longer refresh a depleted rune, but instead to increase your rune regeneration rate by [50%/100%] for 3 sec.
Unholy Frenzy
Rank 1
3 2 Induces a friendly unit into a killing frenzy for 30 sec. The target is Enraged, which increases their melee and ranged haste by 20%, but causes them to lose health equal to 2% of their maximum health every 3 sec.
30 yd range, Instant, 3 min cooldown
Contagion
Rank 1-2
3 3 Increases the damage of your diseases spread via Pestilence by [100%/50%].
Shadow Infusion
Rank 1-3
3 4 When you cast Death Coil, you have a [33%/66%/100%] chance to empower your active Ghoul, increasing its damage dealt by 10% for 30 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.
Desecration
Rank 1-2
2 1 Your Plague Strikes and Scourge Strikes defile the ground within 7 yards of your target. Enemies in the area are slowed by [25%/50%] while standing on the unholy ground. Lasts 20 sec.
Resilient Infection
Rank 1-2
2 2 When your diseases are dispelled by an enemy, you have a [50%/100%] chance to activate a Frost rune if Frost Fever was removed, or an Unholy rune if Blood Plague was removed.
Morbidity
Rank 1-3
2 4 Increases the damage and healing of Death Coil by [5%/10%/15%] and Death and Decay by [10%/20%/30%].
Unholy Command
Rank 1-2
1 1 Reduces the cooldown of your Death Grip ability by [5/10] sec, and gives you a [50%/100%] chance to refresh its cooldown when dealing a killing blow to a target that grants experience or honor.
Virulence
Rank 1-3
1 2 Increases your chance to hit with your spells by [2%/4%/6%]. Spells are all Death Knight abilities that are not direct weapon strikes.
Epidemic
Rank 1-3
1 3 Increases the duration of Blood Plague and Frost Fever by [4/8/12] sec.




Rune Changes
Originally Posted by Zarhym (Blue Tracker)
Rune System Changes

While we're satisfied with the way the rune system works overall, we're making a few major changes to the mechanics that will ultimately help death knight players feel less constrained. Here's the rationale behind the changes, followed by an explanation of how the new system will work.

  • In the current rune system, any time a rune is sitting idle, death knights are losing out on potential damage output. By comparison, rogues spend most of their time at low energy levels, and if they're unable to use their skills for a few seconds, that energy builds up and can be spent later, minimizing the net loss from the interruption.

  • A death knight's runes, on the other hand, cannot be used until they are fully active. If a death knight ever goes more than a few seconds without spending an available rune, that resource is essentially wasted. Because the death knight is pushing buttons constantly, it can be difficult to add new mechanics to the class because the player doesn't have any free global cooldowns to use them. We can't grant extra resources or reduced cost, because there is no time to spend them. Missing an attack is devastating, and it's impossible to save resources for when they're most useful.

  • Additionally, each individual death knight ability has a fairly low impact on its own, making it feel like most of the death knight's attacks are weak. The death knight's rotations are also more easily affected by latency or a player's timing being just a little off. At times, it feels like death knights aren't able to take advantage of their unique resource mechanic, which can diminish the fun.

  • The new rune system will change how runes regenerate, from filling simultaneously to filling sequentially. For example, if you use two Blood runes, then the first rune will fill up before the second one starts to fill up. Essentially, you have three sets of runes filling every 10 seconds instead of six individual runes filling every 10 seconds. (Haste will cause runes to fill faster.) Another way to think of this is having three runes that go up to 200% each (allowing extra "storage"), rather than six runes that go up to 100% each.

  • As this is a major change to the death knight's mechanics, it will of course require us to retune many of the class's current abilities. For example, each ability needs to hit harder or otherwise be more meaningful since the death knight is getting fewer resources per unit of time. Some abilities will need to have their costs reduced as a result.
Originally Posted by Ghostcrawler (Blue Tracker)
I'll take a stab at explaining the rune mechanic. Once you see it in action, it's pretty easy to understand.

Just focus on Blood Runes for the moment. The big change is that rune #2 will never start filling up until rune #1 is full. They always fill 1 then 2. Today 1 and 2 can both fill at the same time.

In Cataclysm, when you're killing things, you use rune 1. Then any extra "red" in rune 2 will fill rune 1 back up again. If both of them are full, you can use 2 Blood Runes immediately. But after that, rune 1 will fill up first and then rune 2. If it helps, imagine rune 2 is the extra tank.

This sounds like it will slow down DK attacks, and it will to a point. That's part of what we're trying to accomplish. We can then fill those extra GCDs with things like free abilities or runic power abilities or we have room to add talents that make runes fill faster. Remember, slow attacks can hit harder though. Instead of DKs hitting fast like a rogue, they'll hit slower and harder, like a warrior, which fits a lot of player's image of a DK anyway. Dual wield will hit faster of course.

I'll try another comparison. Imagine that all rogue abilities cost 100 energy. They have to wait until they get 100 energy, and then immediately use an attack so that they aren't wasting future energy. That's how DKs play now, except they have 6 runes to watch. Now imagine the same rogue except all his abilities cost 50 energy. If he hits an attack when he has 60 energy, then 50 is consumed but he has 10 energy still left and a head start on the next attack. That's the way we want DKs to play.

If that still doesn't make sense, then focus on what the experience will be, which is that you'll have more breathing room in your rotation and won't have to hit a button every single GCD. If you don't use a strike the second it's available, that's more okay because the extra tank will store extra rune resources rather than just wasting it. You'll still be hitting a lot of buttons though. We're keeping double rune strikes and Death Runes and disease multipliers and all of that. We'll have to make some changes in some abilities to accommodate the resource change, but it won't be unrecognizable to you.

We're not sure DKs even need Rune Strike any longer. If it survives, we'll turn it into an instant swing. But if we turn it into an instant swing, then it really isn't that different from existing strikes so it's possible we can just make a tanking rotation without it.


Tanking as Blood in Cataclysm
Originally Posted by Ghostcrawler (Blue Tracker)
We're doing our Cataclysm preview on the death knight changes later this week, but we knew one change risked overshadowing all the others, so we figured we'd go ahead and drop the proverbial Blood bomb today.

In Cataclysm, death knights will have a dedicated tanking tree, much like the other three tank classes. That tree will be Blood.

We’ll go into more detail in the upcoming preview, but we wanted to take the opportunity to explain the reasoning for such a big change.

Why the about face? We actually thought the “tri tank” experiment worked out okay. We suspected there would always be a “best” tanking tree, because that’s the way these things shake out, but we hoped it would be close enough that many players could tank with their favorite tree. When we tried out this design for Wrath of the Lich King, we were using it as a test case to see if we wanted to do similar things with the warrior and paladin talent trees.

A lot has happened since that time. We introduced the dual-spec feature, allowing players to have a tanking spec and dps spec that they could switch between. We introduced Dungeon Finder, which makes it easier to find players who want to tank, and even let players level up using a dedicated tank spec. In Cataclysm, we are introducing the concept of passive talent tree bonuses and we think that feature is a lot stronger when the talent tree has a particular focus (such as damage, tanking or healing). For example, it’s safer to give more passive damage to a tanking tree than we can a dps tree. Above all, we were just spending a lot of effort trying to balance three trees (though it was really six trees, since each tree was trying to do two things).

It started to feel unfair to the other tank classes that we had to spend so much effort tweaking three types of DK tanks, and it even started to feel unfair to the DK that we couldn’t focus their tanking experience. One bit of feedback that really struck home was the DK players who said, essentially, “I look at the Protection tree and I’m jealous of all of the cool tools they have to help their tanking. As a DK, I have to pick and choose tanking talents from within a sea of dps talents.” Rather than have a strong focus, the trees felt a little watered down because they were trying to do so much. With Frost as a dual-wield, spell and runic power focused tree, Unholy as a disease and minion focused tree, and Blood as a self-healing, defensive cooldown, tanking tree, we think the focus of each tree is a lot clearer and cooler.

In Cataclysm, Blood will be the death knight version of a Protection tree. It will have passive talent tree bonuses that reflect tanking. It will have tools, such as a Demo Shout equivalent, necessary for tanking. Several of the more fun tanking talents from Frost and Unholy will be moved into Blood. We will be able to revise (or even remove) clunky mechanics like Rune Strike and focus on letting DKs generate threat with their normal Blood tanking rotation.

This is major change, and we understand it will be met with some disappointment from players who really liked the flexibility, those who appreciated the unorthodox talent tree design, or those few of you who really liked Blood dps. Nevertheless, we are convinced that this is the right change for the game.


Glyphs
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Prime
  • Death Coil - Increases the damage or healing done by Death Coil by 15%.
  • Death Strike - Increases your Death Strike's damage by 2% for every 5 runic power you currently have (up to a maximum of 40%). The runic power is not consumed by this effect.
  • Death and Decay - Increases the duration of your Death and Decay spell by 50%.
  • Frost Strike - Reduces the cost of your Frost Strike by 8 Runic Power.
  • Heart Strike - Increases the damage of your Heart Strike ability by 30%.
  • Howling Blast - Your Howling Blast ability now infects your targets with Frost Fever.
  • Icy Touch - Your Frost Fever disease deals 20% additional damage.
  • Obliterate - Increases the damage of your Obliterate ability by 20%.
  • Raise Dead - Your Ghoul receives an additional 40% of your Strength and 40% of your Stamina.
  • Rune Strike - Increases the critical strike chance of your Rune Strike by 10%.
  • Scourge Strike - Increases the Shadow damage portion of your Scourge Strike by 30%.
Major
  • Anti-Magic Shell - Increases the duration of your Anti-Magic Shell by 2 sec.
  • Blood Boil - Increases the radius of your Blood Boil ability by 50%.
  • Bone Shield - Increases your movement speed by 15% while Bone Shield is active. This does not stack with other movement-speed increasing effects.
  • Chains of Ice - Your Chains of Ice also causes 144 to 156 Frost damage, with additional damage depending on your attack power.
  • Dancing Rune Weapon - Increases your threat generation by 50% while your Dancing Rune Weapon is active.
  • Death Grip - Increases the range of your Death Grip ability by 5 yards.
  • Hungering Cold - Your Hungering Cold ability no longer costs runic power.
  • Pestilence - Increases the radius of your Pestilence effect by 5 yards.
  • Pillar of Frost - Empowers your Pillar of Frost, making you immune to all effects that cause loss of control of your character, but also freezing you in place while the ability is active.
  • Rune Tap - Your Rune Tap also heals your party for 10% of their maximum health.
  • Strangulate - Increases the Silence duration of your Strangulate ability by 2 sec when used on a target who is casting a spell.
  • Vampiric Blood - Increases the bonus healing received while your Vampiric Blood is active by an additional 15%, but your Vampiric Blood no longer grants you health.
Minor
  • Blood Tap - Your Blood Tap no longer causes damage to you.
  • Death's Embrace - Your Death Coil refunds 20 runic power when used to heal.
  • Horn of Winter - Increases the duration of your Horn of Winter ability by 1 min.
  • Path of Frost - Your Path of Frost ability allows you to fall from a greater distance without suffering damage.
  • Raise Ally - Increases the health of your Risen Ally by 25% and its run speed by 15%.
  • Resilient Grip - When your Death Grip ability fails because its target is immune, its cooldown is reset.

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