Blood is the Power - V3.2.0 - Blood DPS Discussion

[Dumanias]

Updated for 3.2

Welcome to Blood is the Power, a blood DPS discussion for Death Knights. Let's get right to the point.

Let's take a look at why Blood DPS should be the superior DPS build to go with. At the beginning, people thought of Blood DPS as the maximum DPS build, Unholy being AoE, and Frost being solely for tanking. Now, people are saying that all 3 builds can maximize DPS, and lots are debating as to whether Blood is the correct choice. Throughout the patches, Blizzard has made the 3 trees very close to equally matched in DPS. I don't want to give you a long explanation, for two reasons. The first, you don't want to read so much, and second, I don't even have one. In fact, nobody has well enough proof to say that any 3 of the trees are better than the rest. My aim is Blood DPS, and that shall be it. For those looking for a Blood spec, you have come to the right place. You could go to another thread with a Frost DPS build or an Unholy DPS build, and you might as well do the same DPS as this. At this point, it's just a matter of preference.

I am sure no one of you has the time to read through pages and pages of useless junk. All you want is the build, and a little bit of explanation to go along with it. Correct? That is my aim in this post.

Let's start off with the build. Now, 3.2 hasn't brought any big changes to the talents, so it is pretty much the same as 3.1. The following build and rotation should do more than enough, until something better pops up.

51/0/20

Rotation:

IT->PS->HS->HS->DS->RD->DC->DS->HS->HS->HS->HS->RD

RD = Runic Dump

You should use Raise Ghoul as your first Runic Dump and use Dancing Rune Weapon as your second. If you use Dancing Rune Weapon, I would recommend replacing the last Heart Strike with a Hysteria to improve the damage of your DRW. If any of these are on cool down, just use Death Coil.

Blood is mainly a single target build, but if you would like to do multi target, pop your diseases and then use Pestilience and then Death and Decay. After that, continue with the Heart Strikes and finish the rotation.

Well, that brings this post to an end. That's right, everything you need to know, you have already read. So, good luck in your DPS adventures, and I hope to be writing more soon.

[gringo]

Question 1: why only 1 point in epidemic?
Question 2: IT+PS to refresh diseases or glyphed pestilence?
Question 3: Start of rotation would be IT->PS->HS->HS->DS right?

[Xacez]

Question 1: why only 1 point in epidemic?
Question 2: IT+PS to refresh diseases or glyphed pestilence?
Question 3: Start of rotation would be IT->PS->HS->HS->DS right?

1: 18 sec diseases are enough
2: It+PS
3: DS --> IT --> PS --> HS --> HS first time, to get the 10 % AP buff on.

[Nillo]

IT->PS->HS->HS->HS->HS->RD->DC->DS->HS->HS->HS->HS->RD

There seems to be something wrong with this, as you can't get 4 HS without using DS before.

[Marithas]

Updated for 3.2
Frost being solely for tanking.

stopped reading at this

[Mamut]

Rotation:

IT->PS->HS->HS->HS->HS->RD->DC->DS->HS->HS->HS->HS->RD

RD = Runic Dump

I lol-ed at this. GL with this rotation ;D

[Melonberry]

The blood rotation is
IT PS HS HS DS
DS HS HS HS HS

Your rotation is impossible, so it's likely you don't know how the class works.

[Nillo]

The blood rotation is
IT PS HS HS DS
DS HS HS HS HS

Your rotation is impossible, so it's likely you don't know how the class works.

Isn't DS used before HS, because you'll loose dps if you have to wait another 3 seconds till your Death Runes are back up and DS still does slightly more dmg than HS (at least the last time i specced Blood it did).

stopped reading at this

If you did read the whole sentence it would still make sense.

[Melonberry]

Isn't DS used before HS, because you'll loose dps if you have to wait another 3 seconds till your Death Runes are back up and DS still does slightly more dmg than HS (at least the last time i specced Blood it did).

If you did read the whole sentence it would still make sense.

Likely, I haven't been playing my dk much. I always threw a DC in the gap though.

[gringo]

stopped reading at this

You fail so hard...

The entire sentence reads:

At the beginning, people thought of Blood DPS as the maximum DPS build, Unholy being AoE, and Frost being solely for tanking.

[Wingwraith]

In fact, nobody has well enough proof to say that any 3 of the trees are better than the rest.

Oh there's proof. Some crazy people at EJ use maths and 500h sims...

I love blood and find it the highest dps build atm, but the funny part of his post is that he has GoDisease but doesn't account for it in his rotation.

[Dumanias]

Sorry to the people complaining about the rotation, I accidentally put those Heart Strikes in and mixed up the rotation, I DO NOT use that. It is corrected now. Well, that's what I get for creating this post at 5 in the morning.

[Daehauq]

Isn't DS used before HS, because you'll loose dps if you have to wait another 3 seconds till your Death Runes are back up and DS still does slightly more dmg than HS (at least the last time i specced Blood it did).

HS is your hardest hitting attack so it has a higher priority over DS, and the gap, which is only 2.5sec, is already filled (check the rotation..)

3: DS --> IT --> PS --> HS --> HS first time, to get the 10 % AP buff on.

Do you know the reason for starting with DS? It's to add a raid DPS bonus for the cost of personal DPS, and if you have a MM Hunter (Trueshot Aura) or an Enchancement Shaman (Unleashed Rage) it's also a raid DPS loss no matter what.

OP: you've made a topic about discussing something that's already been discussed. You also don't bring anything new to the table, what you've said already exists in a stickied topic right here in MMO-Champ's DK forum: Death Knight Guide/Q&A - (PvE DPS/Tanking and PvP), under 'I. The DPS "Guide"', 2nd Q.

[Nillo]

HS is your hardest hitting attack so it has a higher priority over DS, and the gap, which is only 2.5sec, is already filled (check the rotation..)

Just checked some WoL logs and they say:
HS: Avg Hit: 3000 Avg Crit: 7350
DS: Avh Hit: 4000 Avg Crit: 9700

[Daehauq]

Just checked some WoL logs and they say:
HS: Avg Hit: 3000 Avg Crit: 7350
DS: Avh Hit: 4000 Avg Crit: 9700

HS is single rune, DS is double rune. HS wins

[Dumanias]

OP: you've made a topic about discussing something that's already been discussed. You also don't bring anything new to the table, what you've said already exists in a stickied topic right here in MMO-Champ's DK forum: Death Knight Guide/Q&A - (PvE DPS/Tanking and PvP), under 'I. The DPS "Guide"', 2nd Q.

Thanks, but I felt like sharing my build, and that is what I am doing. Besides, I see some discussion going on anyways.

[Keemen]

There has been a lot of discussion of rotation for Blood.

I personally use DS-IT-PS-HS-HS-Dump-DS-HS-HS-HS-HS-Dump.

Now this is not what I do all the time, there are times when I am not able to get the 4th HS out. Rotation is a flow. Sometime I will do IT-PS-HS-DC-HS-DS-DC-DS- HSx4. I will also use Blood Tap as I need an extra Death rune to get another strike off. I sometimes need to use Blood Tap a restart of diseases so I don’t wait on FR. I time my DRW after PS, but may not use Hysteria at the beginning, since I am waiting for Heroism.

I have been working on trying to workout a comfortable rotation for using Sigil of Virulence.

It looks like this OB-IT-PS-HS-HS-DC dump-DS-HSx4. For me it is a little clunky. I am having a hard time getting comfortable doing this. I am able to do it on a dummy, but raiding it does not seem to work for me. It might be that I use a Belkin’s and ran out of key space.

I run Blood on Daily’s and 25’s, but for 10’s I run unholy for the Ebon Plague. For me retraining to a 3rd rotation is not working well.

1: 18 sec diseases are enough
2: It+PS
3: DS --> IT --> PS --> HS --> HS first time, to get the 10 % AP buff on.

I put 2 points into epidemic, it gives me more flexibility, with strikes, and diseases.


I am not stating you are wrong, I am stating it works for me.

PS if needed I can prove my numbers.

[denegaar]

A simple question...

2/2 epidemic and 2/3 morbidity or 1/2 epidemic and 3/3 morbidity? D: I'm with the second option right now... but... 3 sec longer diseases or 5% more damage with DC...

[Daehauq]

Thanks, but I felt like sharing my build, and that is what I am doing. Besides, I see some discussion going on anyways.

Well your build is nothing new, it's the standard Blood spec for those who don't want to go too deep in min/maxing (51/0/20 outperforms it when you can maximise your dps time + Ghoul survives throughout it's duration). But your topic has raised many to ask questions and stuff.. I guess that's discussing :P

There has been a lot of discussion of rotation for Blood.

I personally use DS-IT-PS-HS-HS-Dump-DS-HS-HS-HS-HS-Dump.

Now this is not what I do all the time, there are times when I am not able to get the 4th HS out. Rotation is a flow. Sometime I will do IT-PS-HS-DC-HS-DS-DC-DS- HSx4. I will also use Blood Tap as I need an extra Death rune to get another strike off. I sometimes need to use Blood Tap a restart of diseases so I don’t wait on FR. I time my DRW after PS, but may not use Hysteria at the beginning, since I am waiting for Heroism.

I have been working on trying to workout a comfortable rotation for using Sigil of Virulence.

It looks like this OB-IT-PS-HS-HS-DC dump-DS-HSx4. For me it is a little clunky. I am having a hard time getting comfortable doing this. I am able to do it on a dummy, but raiding it does not seem to work for me. It might be that I use a Belkin’s and ran out of key space.

I run Blood on Daily’s and 25’s, but for 10’s I run unholy for the Ebon Plague. For me retraining to a 3rd rotation is not working well.

I put 2 points into epidemic, it gives me more flexibility, with strikes, and diseases.


I am not stating you are wrong, I am stating it works for me.

PS if needed I can prove my numbers.

Sigil of Virulence is unfortunately useless for Blood, there's no way you can benefit from it w/o losing in DPS.

1/3 Epidemic is enough, aslong as you manage to get all your HSs in the rotation while both diseases are still on you're fine, since you end your rotation with RP dump which is generally DC and it doesn't benefit from diseases at all

A simple question...

2/2 epidemic and 2/3 morbidity or 1/2 epidemic and 3/3 morbidity? D: I'm with the second option right now... but... 3 sec longer diseases or 5% more damage with DC...

Read above

[Gerian]

I haven't had the opportunity to test with the sigil but this is the rotation I was fiddling with:
DS-IT-PS-HS-HS-Dump---HS-HS-DS-HS-HS-Dump

With cycles after that being:
OB-IT-PS-HS-HS-Dump---HS-HS-DS-HS-HS-Dump

Using Obliterate at the "end" of a rotation only clips the last tick of both diseases. According to wowhead the glyph is an 80% proc rate so it'd be safe to assume you gain 160 strength at the cost of the Deathcoil glyph, the difference in OB vs DS, and the clipped diseases. Probably doesn't balance out but I'm curious how it actually performs.