Greetings all.

I just dinged my DK 80 this week, however I've been slowly leveling it on the side since release (WG Buff + BoA Shoulders +Rest XP FTW) while I've been gearing my pally main. Well my brother has a pally as well, and he's about to leave port in Japan and be deployed for 6 months.

Anyways, we've been hitting up the 1600s (yeah I know srs bsns) as Ret/Holy combo and having fun trying to break through the mid 1600s ceiling. Well, he's been wanting to try doing Pally/DK before he leaves, and I have been reading on these forums, WoW, DKinfo and EJ forums about DK arena specs and there seems to be an obviously high degree of customization allowed for specs. Most of the DKs I've seen in our arena range have been Unholy.. especially when paired with a holy pally.

So my questions are, with a Holy pally, which spec tends to be the most successful?

With a ret pally, which spec tends to be the most successful?


I've been looking at all 3 trees at the various DPS and survivability talents and each tree lends itself to mostly situational encounters. It seems that Frost burst/survivability against casters would be a good option. The Hungering Cold seems to get a bad rap from a lot of DKs, but now at 40 Runic Power, it seems like it would be a good CC to use on a healer after they've burnt their trinket. However, I have never fooled around with Frost.

Blood seems like it would be good, in theory, with all the self healing and max power DRW. However, I know this gets negated by good rogues/warriors that can disarm.

Unholy is the spec I am most familiar with as I have played it most of the leveling curve with a brief stint in blood. I like unholy all around, but with the nerfs to Bone Shield, IBF, and Gargoyle (ok, so balance fixes :-P) but a doubling of Necrosis... I'm not sure about Unholy. I like the way it plays, and I understand UB is teh suck for arena.

So with a Ret/DK or HolyPally/DK setup, which spec do you think would benefit me most? I have the savage saronite set crafted with the WG boots. I am about to craft a TD when I get home. I think I probably get the hateful bracers of triumph tonight.

Any advice or good links would be appreciated.

Thanks