Death Knight leveling - spec & runeforging

[Deleted]

Hi there.

I am new to the Death Knight class and thats why asking the two following questions:

How should my unholy build look like while leveling?
Which Runeforging should i use while leveling?

Thanks in advance.

[bruteMax]

I don't know the spec exactly, but get the talents in unholy that speed up your run and mount speed. You spend so much time traveling and running around killing mobs that the more you speed this up the less time you spend leveling.

Mobs die ridiculously quick that you don't need to worry about an "uber" dps build when you're leveling. Unless you don't spend your talent points, any sensible build will do.

Do get the two heirloom pieces that grant bonus xp, those help a ton. Also helpful is artisan flying and cold weather flying. These things have a bigger impact on your leveling that any build.

[Daieon]

I lvl'd my DK with all heirloom pieces and I went blood so I never had to eat <insert LOLDEATHSTRIKE comment here> I grabbed everything that upped my damage and I believe I went frost/unholy with everything else after that for the damage bonuses those two trees had.

[Exclusive]

Most people will say AMGLOLZWUTUFUK BLOOD HAS TEH ZELV HEALZ!1!111

But you're a wise guy, you're asking for Unholy
To people who wonder why...

- Movement speed while being in Blood or Frost presence (mini self heals or reducing incoming damage)
- Movement speed while mounted (biggest gain to leveling your character, just think about how insanely much you travel...)
- 3rd disease self heal heals for MORE than a full blood spec (!) Yes, you lose some damage for not using SS, but it's not like you're spamming it, just use it when you're low-ish
- A pet to sacrifice for a 40% heal
- A pet to stun in case something gets messed up
- Bone shield will help you killing elites solo much better than the blood cooldowns (use it, wait for the CD to go, pull the elite, and refresh it when it's gone)
- Much stronger AOE so you can pull a lot (5-6-7), PS / IT / Pest / BB and then just SS or DS depending on your HP
- Blood's damage relies on being high on HP. Even if you're self healing all the time, your hp will drop when you want to pull big groups at the same time.

All in all, Unholy really owns while leveling, and still the biggest reason are the 2 movement speed increases. That's how I did mine and I never had to eat or bandage.
By the way I'm not saying Blood is bad, just saying it's highly overrated by people who never compared it.
Actually neither of the DK specs is really bad, but in my opinion it's Unholy -> Blood -> -> -> -> (some distance here) -> Frost

As Runeforge go with Fallen Crusader, not really a proper alternative.

I would say, get some cookie cutter Unholy spec, and think about how you play. I would say, skip Necrosis, Desolation and Blood Caked Blade. Why? Because your targets will be dead in a few gcd's and you won't be seeing a lot of auto hits.
And then you can place those points in non-pve-damage talents such as On A Pale Horse (of course), Imp. Unholy Presence. You might even want to pick up Corpse Explosion.
You also might want to take in some points in the highest tier tank talents. They reduce your damage while leveling and you can have an easier time tanking instances. DK's can tank any 60-80 non-hc instance in any spec by just pressing Frost Presence, but you still might want to go a tiny bit tanky.

This is what I would do if I would level a new DK:
Level 60: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...gd,HFf3e,11723
Level 70: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...Xh,HFf3e,11723
Level 80: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deat...0P,HFf3e,11723 (see this more as the final points towards reaching level 80, at 80 you should respec of course)
Last major glyph could be: Unholy Blight, Death n Decay, Frost Fever (depending on playstyle a bit again)
Last minor glyph: Corpse Explosion or the one which removes the reagent on Raise Death

[Seregon]

- Movement speed while mounted (biggest gain to leveling your character, just think about how insanely much you travel...)

This cannot be stressed enough. On a Pale Horse is absolutely fantastic while leveling. You might not notice it as you're going, but trust me, you spend more time traveling than killing things as you're questing so it is an absolutely invaluable talent. And the whole "blood has self heal" argument is moot, seeing as UH can use Death Strike as well. Maybe not healing for as much, but it's still enough for you never to have any downtime between pulls.

[Jenerena]

Slightly different, but I started a DK purely for mining/skinning, though am really getting into it for what it is, as well. I've been levelling mining/skinning while waiting for LFD (on a pale horse awesome for that) but even just solo'ing unholy is awesome. I've been running with a raiding build, yea, I couldn't find much about actual levelling specs until I found this thread. I'm going with this for now which probably isn't ideal...

but man the aoe damage is awesome. IT,PS, Pestilence, DnD and I see lots of numbers!! So the damage isn't a problem. Anyhow I see no reason not to play unholy when levelling. Even through dungeons I am enjoying it purely for the AoE damage. However I would like to know if this build is ok for dungeons with a bit of questing on the side, or could I push out even more damage? I took the spec from the Unholy raiding FAQ from this forum and just took the points out of blood.

[paoknight]

Sorry posting in random threads so I can post a link

Leveling a DK is fun no matter what spec but yeah i'd go Unholy since everyone else goes Blood