Dk or no DK. Any input welcome!

[Syzor]

Hey guys so I main a feral Druid and have cleared 7/7n and 6/7h, about to level my first alt to 100, I have my DK to 98 and am wondering what spec I should go and what not. I have been checking damage rankings and I think 2H frost is too ( I might be wrong) but I've also noticed they all change so much. So basically I'm just looking for input in frost or unholy, I'm leaving towards 2h frost cause that's what I'm leveling as, but will easily switch if the dps is elsewhere! Thank you!

[Deleted]

So basically I'm just looking for input in frost or unholy, I'm leaving towards 2h frost cause that's what I'm leveling as, but will easily switch if the dps is elsewhere! Thank you!

Play what you enjoy. And read the forum guidelines

[Omertocracy]

Having played all dps specs in every patch since they were released, Unholy feels right so far this expac. Doesn't hurt that it's also the top one. Nor does it hurt that it pretty much shares stat priority with Blood so you can tank effectively in the same gear.

[Nephani]

Honestly its whatever you're best at, you can look at sim rankings which are accurate to a degree, but it really depends on what you enjoy and are better at.

for example the vast majority say unholy is the best spec for deeps, which is true on paper, but i suck at unholy and look like a scrub when i try it. Most people at this point in the tier also claim 2h frost is better than dw, and on paper it is, but i play duel wield and have ranked in the top 95th percentile of frost dks on normal/heroic everything and 90th on mythic kargath just because i'm good at it.


The gaps are not as big as they seem, so long as you're good at it.

[ellieg]

Frost 2h is currently the best single target. Not by much though. There is a lot of downtime and its pretty easy to master. its what i play cause i like it. You should try it.
Frost DW is a little bit more spammy, does the lowest single target, does slightly more aoe than 2h frost. Not as much downtime but im not a huge fan of it.
Unholy is very close to the best single target now, but definitely does the best aoe. There is almost no downtime. The rotation isnt too hard but definitely the most complex. i find i spend too much time staring at the runes and i dont like that playstyle. you should try it out though, its traditionally the best.

[Saverem]

Not another "hurrr what class/spec should I play" thread, please.

[Deleted]

I enjoy raiding with my dk also because of the survivability. AMS and Death Pact can save life and almost remove certain damages from encounters while Purgatory can compensate for bad healers and give you a fighting chance!

[Deleted]

I enjoy raiding with my dk also because of the survivability. AMS and Death Pact can save life and almost remove certain damages from encounters while Purgatory can compensate for bad healers and give you a fighting chance!

This, basically u can fuck up and live
I'm 2h forst aswell and its so easy to master

[Deleted]

Frost 2h is currently the best single target. Not by much though. There is a lot of downtime and its pretty easy to master. its what i play cause i like it. You should try it.
Frost DW is a little bit more spammy, does the lowest single target, does slightly more aoe than 2h frost. Not as much downtime but im not a huge fan of it.
Unholy is very close to the best single target now, but definitely does the best aoe. There is almost no downtime. The rotation isnt too hard but definitely the most complex. i find i spend too much time staring at the runes and i dont like that playstyle. you should try it out though, its traditionally the best.

easy to master frost? hahaha i you sure dont know anything about frost, playing ok and avarage at frost yes its easy but mastering frost is one of the hardest dps classes.

Anyone that have played dk since wotlk would correct you on that.

Uh i repeat uh is NOT harder than frost its the oppisite however its easier to do "okish-good" as frost but master it, well it comes down to unpredictable experience patterns.


anyway to op play what u think u like, we cannot answer that for you its like life we all like diffrent movies,girls,music, and guess what? classes to play

[Stacie]

Just roll mage or warrior and be happy..

[Daeth]

I've played a hunter from the beginning of WoW up into the beginning of Cataclysm and came back this expansion and re-rolled DK because I wanted something a bit different. I didn't really know much about DKs prior to coming into the expansion and what they were looking like moving forward into the expansion however after picking up the class I learned real quick all the ins and outs of a DK.

I leveled up as unholy but I've heard all 3 specs are fine leveling up with, pretty much didn't have any issues soloing anything, was a much different pace when I leveled my rogue because I couldn't army and solo any group elites/rares.

Technically the best single target spec is 2h Frost as someone mentioned but pretty much any fight right now in Highmaul, unholy will dominate the fight due to cleave capabilities, blood boil is great for 2+ targets honestly. The only fight I could see it being an exception is Butcher as that fight is purely single target and since frost 2h is better there, you might get better numbers but an unholy spec playing that right can get pretty good numbers as well.

I like the swap from hunter to DK even though it's a big leap from range to melee because as a hunter I had disengage/deterrence as defensives and moving to a DK with death pact/AMS/purgatory, there's much more room as a melee class you can soak more damage because you have great mitigation in terms of CDs.

easy to master frost? hahaha i you sure dont know anything about frost, playing ok and avarage at frost yes its easy but mastering frost is one of the hardest dps classes.

Anyone that have played dk since wotlk would correct you on that.

Uh i repeat uh is NOT harder than frost its the oppisite however its easier to do "okish-good" as frost but master it, well it comes down to unpredictable experience patterns.


anyway to op play what u think u like, we cannot answer that for you its like life we all like diffrent movies,girls,music, and guess what? classes to play

Going to have to disagree with you here about frost is generally pretty simple and forward to play. I would say unholy is much harder to play.

Both specs relies on the player being able to handle rune sync properly, BT helps out if you're experienced and comfortable with it however the thing about unholy is that imagine swapping from a single target to two mobs, the midswap to blood boil being used to convert runes while trying to maintain disease up time is what separates a good unholy dk and an average one. On top of that RP control is much higher on an unholy DK due to dark transformations and free coils.

[Deleted]

I've played a hunter from the beginning of WoW up into the beginning of Cataclysm and came back this expansion and re-rolled DK because I wanted something a bit different. I didn't really know much about DKs prior to coming into the expansion and what they were looking like moving forward into the expansion however after picking up the class I learned real quick all the ins and outs of a DK.

I leveled up as unholy but I've heard all 3 specs are fine leveling up with, pretty much didn't have any issues soloing anything, was a much different pace when I leveled my rogue because I couldn't army and solo any group elites/rares.

Technically the best single target spec is 2h Frost as someone mentioned but pretty much any fight right now in Highmaul, unholy will dominate the fight due to cleave capabilities, blood boil is great for 2+ targets honestly. The only fight I could see it being an exception is Butcher as that fight is purely single target and since frost 2h is better there, you might get better numbers but an unholy spec playing that right can get pretty good numbers as well.

I like the swap from hunter to DK even though it's a big leap from range to melee because as a hunter I had disengage/deterrence as defensives and moving to a DK with death pact/AMS/purgatory, there's much more room as a melee class you can soak more damage because you have great mitigation in terms of CDs.



Going to have to disagree with you here about frost is generally pretty simple and forward to play. I would say unholy is much harder to play.

Both specs relies on the player being able to handle rune sync properly, BT helps out if you're experienced and comfortable with it however the thing about unholy is that imagine swapping from a single target to two mobs, the midswap to blood boil being used to convert runes while trying to maintain disease up time is what separates a good unholy dk and an average one. On top of that RP control is much higher on an unholy DK due to dark transformations and free coils.

Froest does that aswell fyi, we also bloodboil and plagueleach on secondary targets if there is one.

nothing hard, what i mean is yes frost is easy but hard as hell to master, its like tbc feral dps in sterioids.

Predicting, km procc check,always have runes for obliterate but always use an ability check.
keeping long cd on target check.
time your frostrikes between each swing to dump RP check,
dont ever exceed 75 runic power, incase of KM proccs.

keep an eye on runetaps to not exceed 10.

everything in frost is shifting in relative small windows and happens fast.
its not like most that have a upkeep buff or bleed or dot for 15-45 seconds.

diseases is the easier part.

UH is not hard if you know about upkeep and compare the two and can play both VERY well.
and i agree playing unholy at a okaish/good is harder than frost but playing frost very good is a lot harder. anyway we have our diffrent views we all have hehe.

When u play a FDK and u dont fail your Obliterates on KM procc or waste froststrike on KM procc when you do that, then you are a Good FDK while keeping your rotation and don break any of the other objectives in your rotations.

Most FDK:s waste FS on KM due to not knowing how to play it "perfect" i would never argue the specc itself is a "bit" broken it is but its still so fun to play

[Stagedive]

When u play a FDK and u dont fail your Obliterates on KM procc or waste froststrike on KM procc when you do that, then you are a Good FDK while keeping your rotation and don break any of the other objectives in your rotations.

Most FDK:s waste FS on KM due to not knowing how to play it "perfect" i would never argue the specc itself is a "bit" broken it is but its still so fun to play

Can you give some advice on not wasting KM procs on frost strike? I'm honestly not even sure how you "predict" them (unless you're talking about keeping obliterate available for KM procs instead of having it on CD and forcing yourself to use frost strike instead.

Also, had never thought about using frost strike with swing timer, can you elaborate on this portion?

[Deleted]

Can you give some advice on not wasting KM procs on frost strike? I'm honestly not even sure how you "predict" them (unless you're talking about keeping obliterate available for KM procs instead of having it on CD and forcing yourself to use frost strike instead.

Also, had never thought about using frost strike with swing timer, can you elaborate on this portion?

Everytime your swingtimer ends and you hit you shall frost strike if KM dont procc, this is becuse auto attacks procc KM.

this makes you not Use your KM procc on FS many do the mistake oblitrate up to 80 runic power and frostrike frostrike frostrike and pray that you dont get a KM procc.

This is wrong played FDK and how prolly 99.9% FDK:s play FDK.

and you lose signifigant dps.

Only reason you should do this as ive said above if there is a specific target you need to BURN very fast ex imperator adds in heroic/mythic you time your runes when the add comes close to spawning u respawn you reset your runes a bit.


Or trinket usage bu thing is you CAN burst crazy. you can infact do signifigant opening damage, but you will hurt your damage if u do the same thing once the ERW is used and do it again.

you should however always have runes refreshing always and its always only possible to refresh one of each rune at a time.

also BL increases the procc on KM due to attackspeed buff increases your KM proccs.


thats also the thing procc is chance based, but when you know your estimated chance, lets say a 50% chance 50% is always 50% in most players eyes, however in most eyes ppl say well even if you hit 5 times and no procc the probability about a procc on 6th swing would not increase it actually does.

That means holding an eye on swings how many swings you did before you did your KM procc makes it less a guessing game, but it dont predict it to be 100% either.

that means you should always have any eye on how many swings you did prior to using next ability.


Now did not Frost become a little more complex?

Becuse most FDK and unholy dont get this.

if you learn this you gain around 2-4k dps increase and requiers training, and yes RNG factors into it also, but it you can also limit it.


also if you are going to reapply diseases with always have a howling blast ready. every 30 sec due to outbreak has 1 min cd and diseases last for less. that way you gain an additional frost rune.

To generate more runic power.

in a course over 8 min thats alot of runes salvaged that most FDK would just throw away into empty space.

However if you are unlucky with these rime proccs you should never wait holding an rime procc same as with KM.

[Kraeth]

I seriously doubt holding for KM procs gives you a 10 to 20% increase in dps at current gear levels. If I remember correctly, waiting on procs simmed at around 1-2% increase if executed perfectly compared to ignoring KM completely.

[Deleted]

and even then it would need to be on a 0 to low movement fight aka patchwork style, of which there are few

[Deleted]

you can be a l33t megamaster frost player all you want, unholys still going to beat you on 6/7 fights

[Xykotic]

Frost and Unholy is so even atm you can actually make the choice yourself.

[Deleted]

Frost and Unholy is so even atm you can actually make the choice yourself.

even? you call frost slightly ahead on one fight even? you are gimpimg the raid if you dont play unholy.

[Kraeth]

even? you call frost slightly ahead on one fight even? you are gimpimg the raid if you dont play unholy.

The only fight right now where UH completely dominates is more or less Tectus. Other fights are dependant on assignments. Frost isn't that bad at all.