DK Leveling in cata

[Rhodikus]

I havent seen a post of this so ill just make one,

I'm going to be pushing for Server First DK, my DK is Unholy geared, and doesnt have an ounce of frost gear, but would it be worth it to go frost for the AoE(HB) and Mount speed increase? or just stay Unholy?

armory is Rhodikus on Anub'Arak(Armory is currently down)

[Liha]

No sta unholy I have done it on beta and it's still fun of win. Death strike spam=no health loss and quick deaths for enemies so it's awesom.

[kumduh]

I'd say the 20% mount speed will be greater than anything else. You have full Unholy gear, the difference between the BiS unholy and bis frost is basically how you choose to reforge.

[cFortyfive]

I'd say the 20% mount speed will be greater than anything else. You have full Unholy gear, the difference between the BiS unholy and bis frost is basically how you choose to reforge.

Definitely would agree on that. I mean the only piece you would usually exchange is a ring and the scourge reaver pants for the t10 ones. Especially the ghoul spawn time after mounting is kinda a dealbreaker for me at least since he will lose so much dps time.

[HemmerN]

Frost is more bursty and you can easier switch out 1 oblit for 1 DS since they use the same rune pair

[Nyanmaru]

Definitely would agree on that. I mean the only piece you would usually exchange is a ring and the scourge reaver pants for the t10 ones. Especially the ghoul spawn time after mounting is kinda a dealbreaker for me at least since he will lose so much dps time.

Ghouls insta-spawn on dismounting since 4.x so that shouldn't be an issue anymore (at least they did when I was last specced unholy). I think the biggest problem with levelling in the first days will be that there are tons of people around and you'll have some issues finding your targets.

[Anthraxxxis]

So far Frost has been great for leveling. I doubled up on the Oracles Trinket, and my RP bar hits 90-130 after every kill I make. I would suggest building for the free Mind Freeze as well. I have, for the first time ever, had to use disrupts on normal mobs. The Twilight Guards in Hyjal hit hard with their spells.

[Lazur]

Frost is more bursty and you can easier switch out 1 oblit for 1 DS since they use the same rune pair

^this^
frost gear and unholy gear isn't much different. just reforge all your unholy gear and put mastery on it. my frost dk at lvl 80 had no problem tangling with lvl 85 mobs. HB for aoe is op too.

[fangless]

I leveled as Frost, and found it to be pretty simple.

I was complaining about the lack of self-healing, like we used to have with the DPS presence of ole. Let me preface that by saying I don't have DS on my bars for raiding, and usually forget I even have it as Frost DPS. I then go and level up to 85 without using DS at all, and it was definitely doable, but ends up being a pain in the ass when you chain pull mobs for "Kill 20 X" quests. Sorta kicking myself for not using it at all, lol.

Otherwise the quick 100% procs from Killing Machine are nice for burst damage, and there's little to no ramp up time, which is nice for 15 second or less "fights" :P

[Toezz]

I'd say the 20% mount speed will be greater than anything else. You have full Unholy gear, the difference between the BiS unholy and bis frost is basically how you choose to reforge.

I agree with this. Having the mount speed increases the leveling. I have my dual spec as blood and at 82 you can spec into On a Pale Horse for mount speed and use Unholy Presence for the run and attack speed. I like this better because at times with frost I needed more heals then just the Lich DC spam. Being blood also helped me when Allys ganged me.

[xeroxide]

I leveled as Frost, and found it to be pretty simple.

I was complaining about the lack of self-healing, like we used to have with the DPS presence of ole. Let me preface that by saying I don't have DS on my bars for raiding, and usually forget I even have it as Frost DPS. I then go and level up to 85 without using DS at all, and it was definitely doable, but ends up being a pain in the ass when you chain pull mobs for "Kill 20 X" quests. Sorta kicking myself for not using it at all, lol.

Otherwise the quick 100% procs from Killing Machine are nice for burst damage, and there's little to no ramp up time, which is nice for 15 second or less "fights" :P

i switched out from blood lvling to frost at around 83, the mobs started having much more hp then and took too long to kill as blood.
i don't use DS, however after around 10 - 20 chain pulls, i'll usually Lichborn heal myself with a rune dump. works a treat and no down time. this is risky since it's a pvp server, however i've found that most ppl just want to quest and level rather than gank at this point in time.