Thread: [Guide] Unholy dps 4.06 and beyond for newer unholy players

Notes ~
Discussion is requested and questions are encouraged! This is my first class guide. This is a WIP and will be updated when I have time to finish it.

Why go unholy?
Although receiving significant nerfs during patch 4.0.6 and right after 4.0.6, unholy still pulls ahead of frost for single target damage, which is useful in every fight in tier 11. Unholy also has the least rng of all death knight specs, as you lose Runic Empowerment and gain Runic Corruption, which means that you don't get random runes refreshing like in frost and blood. Instead, you get 100% increased regen rate on all 3 runes for 3 seconds, and when you add that to haste and unholy presence, you get around 1.2 runes for every proc. Unholy is also very unlikely to pull threat, as a good 30% of our total damage done is done by our pet. This makes nearly every other spec in the game more likely to pull then us, meaning we can go bonkers on damage from the very start, and not hold back. Unholy is also the only spec which receives runic-power from Anti-Magic Shell, through Magic Suppression, which has always been a fun mechanic. On top off all that, unholy is lucky enough to have a permanent 15% run speed buff.
Unholy is also the most fun spec to dps as.


Abbreviations
AMS Anti-Magic Shell
AMZ Anti-Magic Zone
AotD Army of the Dead
AoE Area of Effect
BA Bladed Armor
BB Blood Boil
BiS Best in Slot
BoT Bastion of Twilight
BP Blood Plague
BS Blood Strike
BT Blood Tap
BWD Blackwing Descent
DC Death Coil
DG Death Grip
DK Death Knight
DnD Death and Decay
DPS Damage per Second
DT Dark Transformation
DS Death Strike
DSim Dark Simulacrum
DW Dual Wield
EP Ebon Plaguebringer
ERW Empower Rune Weapon
FeS Festering Strike
FF Frost Fever
FP Frost Presence
GCD Global Cooldown
GoX Glyph of X
HoW Horn of Winter
IBF Icebound Fortitude
ICD Internal Cooldown
IT Icy Touch
IUP Improved Unholy Presence
MF Mind Freeze
NS Necrotic Strike
PS Plague Strike
RC Runic Corruption
RE Runic Empowerment
RI Resilient Infection
RP Runic Power
RPM Runic Power Mastery
SD Sudden Doom
SF Scarlet Fever
SI Shadow Infusion
SS Scourge Strike
TotFWThrone of the Four Winds
TX Tier X
UB Unholy Blight
UF Unholy Frenzy
UP Unholy Presence


How to spec
Ideally, look through the tree and take talents which increase damage, and talents that increase utility when you can't find any that increase damage. Learning how to play any class is a personal experience, and while guides can help, they are no replacement for doing it yourself. However, we don't live in an ideal world (of warcraft), so here is the best unholy spec for 4.0.6
5/0/32 + 4
You have a few options for the leftover glyphs and talent points, and any variation is based of play style and personal choice more than anything else. Here are my personal choices
7/1/33
I chose glyph of blood boil over pest because diseases don't hit that hard, and in any aoe you will prefer a weaker blood boil and no diseases compared to diseases and no blood boil. The empty glyph slot is used for glyph of death strike, because 15% of 120k is a very large amount, and even though it reduces your dps, death and even oom healers reduce it more. As for the minor glyphs, I use PoF for the nef fight specifically, as well as it being a fun talent and no real better options. Blood tap once again because it helps out the healers mana and you should be using blood tap very often. And Death's embrace because nobody has time to heal pets anymore, and little rotmouth is 30% of your damage. 20 runic DCs also stacks up on your pet very very fast, especially if you are trying to get him to 5 stacks before combat starts.
As for the talent points, one additional point in AMS to help the healers and gain more runic on some fights, one point in runic power mastery so you can machine-gun three deathcoils with one full bar, and two points in IBT for a free SS every minute or so. Also, in 10 man raids, desecration can occasionally hinder the control of adds, and it might be worth considering putting a point in unholy command instead. If you already have a rogue slowing everything that moves with the rogue talent that applies crippling, like most 25 mans do, it doesn't really matter.


"Rotation"
There is a simple priority system when you first start unholy, and a more complicated one for when you are ready for a challenge.

Simple
If you are new to unholy as a spec, or wow in general, this is the rotation for you.

Single target
Done in unholy pres

Diseases > DT > DC > SS > FS > BT > HoW

First off, keep up your diseases 24/7 using outbreak at the start of the fight and hopefully bridging the 27 second cap in-between disease duration and outbreak cool-down with the FSs in your rotation.
Second, if you have 5 stacks off shadow infusion, which is the buff on your pet from using DC, activate DT. This gives your pet a straight up 60% damage boost, on top of a 20% claw boost, and to put icing on the cake, makes claw cleave through mobs like a warm knife through butter. If your diseases are up, and DT is not procced, simply look at your bars.
If SS is up, hit it.
If DC is up, hit it.
If FS is up, hit it.
If none of those are up, use blood tap and hit SS, which might give you enough runic for another SS. Remember, BT is not on the GCD.
If none of those are up AND blood tap is on CD, use HoW to refresh the raids buff and generate 10 runic power.
If you can't use HoW, just stand there until you can do something, this shoudn't happen often if you have a decent amount of haste.

Multiple targets
Done in frost pres for the 10% damage boost.

Diseases + pest > DT > DnD > SS > IT/BB > DC > HoW

Keep diseases up on all targets with outbreak/pest going in, and then doing another pest 30 seconds later.
Use DT if you have 5 stacks of shadow infusion.
Use DnD, a dk's primary AoE.
Use SS to do single target damage and wait for other runes to refresh
Use IT/BB, blood boil because it hits harder then FS with three or more targets, and IT because the leftover frost rune needs to go somewhere.
Use DC, because runic corruption means more blood boils and a faster cleaving pet.
Use HoW for the reason above.
Well, it was sorta simple.

Less simple
For those looking to do anything to maximize there dps

Single target
Done in unholy pres

Diseases > Dark Transformation > DnD/SS if both Unholy and/or all Death runes are up > FeS if both pairs of Blood and Frost runes are up > DC if SD, capped on runic, using anything else will overcap you on runic, or if you have under 5 stacks of SI on your pet > DnD/SS > FeS > DC > BT > HoW.

The only real difference in-between the simple and the complex rotation is using DnD every time it's up, even on a single target. This is because it can't be dodge/parried, and because the hidden 11th tick makes it more powerful then the alternative, SS, as well as the fact that 100% of the damage benefits from mastery. However, it isn't as easy as a SS, because you have to designate the target area, and not just button mash. The fastest way to do such is to keybind DnD, and when it comes off CD quickly move your mouse to the ground under the target, tap and click.
The other change is to guarantee you aren't wasting runes. Simply use whatever isn't recharging, if you don't have a rune recharging use that rune, if you don't have room for more runic power spend runic power.

Multiple targets
Done in frost pres for the 10% damage boost

Diseases + pest > Dark Transformation > Death and Decay > SS if both Unholy and/or all Death runes are up > BB + IT if both pairs of Blood and Frost runes are up >
DC if SD, 100 RP, will overcap RP with anything else or if you don't have 5 stacks of SI or DT > SS > BB + IT > DC > HoW.

Very similar to the simple version, the only difference worth noting is the ability priority difference when you have capped runes.
Remember, runes not regenerating are wasted dps


Stat weights
Basically, strength is godly, the more you have the better.
Trailing behind, very behind in fact, are all the secondary stats.
Strength > Hit to cap > Haste > Mastery > Expertise to cap > Crit
Never sacrifice strength for anything but more strength, or three times the hit/haste
You will end up capping hit rating, but not from gems. Reforging will give you all the hit you ever wanted and more. After you're at the hit cap haste is your next best stat, no iffs, thens, or butts. With the change to mastery, it comes in fourth place now, and 2nd place for aoe heavy fights, not that you should ever gear towards those. Expertise to cap is a bit of a lackluster stat, because all of your DC damage, and your diseases have no chance to be dodged or parried. Even your pet gets his expertise AND his hit rating solely from your hit rating, so if you are hit capped your pet should neither miss nor be dodged. The only attacks that can be dodged/parried are melee damage, SS, and FS, meaning that expertise is not bad persay, but should never be gained at the cost of haste or mastery. At the end of the stat train we have crit, which still doesn't scale with ghouls, and is just lackluster overall.

For your personal stat values, use either rawr or Kahorie's DK sim. The values listed below are no replacement for personally calculated values, but they work in a pinch.

[iLvl 359 - Normal Raids]
(Stolen from EJ, and confirmed with similar data)
Strength 2.96
Hit 1.08
Haste 0.86
Mastery 0.82
Expertise 0.72
Crit 0.66
Attack Power 0.75




[iLvl 372 - Hardmode Raids]
(Stolen from EJ, and confirmed with similar data)
Strength 3.10
Hit 1.10
Haste 1.01
Mastery 0.90
Expertise 0.82
Crit 0.76
Attack Power 0.79


Mastering gear
So you downed that boss, you won the roll, and got yourself some epic loot! Congrats. But, to be the best you can be, you will likely have to fork over some gold to make the gear that much better and let you kill the next boss. Mastering gear contains three subsections, not all three of which can be applied to every piece of gear, but most of the time can you improve it in some way.

Gemming
Gemming is pretty simple in cata, because there is a 40 strength gem. You would probably assume to gem 40 strength in everything, and most of the time you would be right, however with the powerful socket bonuses, there are some exceptions. In regards to the meta, the amazing reverberating shadowspirit diamond requires three red gems, which you should have simply by gemming all that nice strength.
Gem 40 strength in every socket except for ~
Any blue/yellow socket with a 20 strength bonus (Look at your helm/chest/legs)
Any blue/yellow socket with a 40 stat boost for haste/hit/mastery (I can't find any)
Any 2 blue/yellow sockets with a 30 strength bonus.
Reminder: Put 20 str/20 hit in blue sockets, and 20 str/20 haste in yellow sockets.


Color ~ Gem
Red ~ Bold Inferno Ruby
Yellow ~ Fierce Ember Topaz
Blue ~ Etched Demonseye
Meta ~ Reverberating Shadowspirit Diamond

Enchanting
Enchanting is also rather simple in cata, there are not too many options
Get what you can afford, if you are wealthy, the best enchants do help, but if you are... less wealthy, you get the weaker enchant instead of no enchant.


Head Arcanum of the Dragonmaw Wildhammer/Dragonmaw revered. No competitive alternatives.
Cape Enchant Cloak - Greater Critical Strike No competitive alternatives. Cheaper version available.
Shoulder Greater Inscription of Jagged Stone Therazane exalted. Lionsmane Inscription for those with Inscription, of course, but no competitive alternatives otherwise. Cheaper version available.
Chest Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats No competitive alternatives. Cheaper version available.
Bracers Enchant Bracer - Major Strength , Draconic Embossment - Strength for those with Leatherworking, of course, but no competitive alternatives otherwise. Cheaper version available.
Gloves Enchant Gloves - Mighty Strength No competitive alternatives. Cheaper version available.
Legs Dragonscale Leg Armor No competitive alternatives. Cheaper version available.
Feet Enchant Boots - Haste Runspeed enchants are pointless considering we now DPS in Unholy Presence. Enchant Boots - Precision is a viable alternative; which you take ultimately matters on how you can best reforge your gear at the time.
Weapon Rune of the Fallen Crusader Best and cheapest weapon enchant in the game for us.

Reforging
The most complicated part of gear mastery, and the most mathy. Simply put, you want to come as close to the hit cap as possible and then maximize your haste and then mastery, while minimizing crit, and then expertise. For those who are not amazing at math, the wonderful team over at AskMrRobot will do it for you, and often within 0.5% of the best way possible. You might lose about the same amount of damage as a particularly overzealous sneeze would cause. If anyone figures out a better or simpler way to reforge, please inform me.


Again, AskMrRobot is your new best friend for all gear mastery needs.


Professions
The effectiveness of raid professions are mainly dependent on stat weights, and most of the producer professions are equal, giving 80 strength each. Here is a list in order of most efective to least efective.

Engineering ~ The best raiding profession in the game, it gives an effective 80 strength, but as a cooldown on your gloves, 480 strength for 10 seconds every 60. This lowers the value if you decide to use it when the boss is out of reach, but 95% of the time increases the value, as you can time it while the boss is in reach, or when you have BL/other CDs up. Engineering also gives a belt enchant of questionable use, as it can backfire and kill you, but the rocket boots or plasma shield have saved me more often then they have killed me. The key is to only use them sparingly, if you would of died without them anyway, to stop the fact that it might kill you matter as much. You also get saronite bombs for a slight dps increase if used on CD, and a parachute, which can be useful on some fights where you take fall damage.

Jewelcrafting ~ The second best raiding profession in the game, as it gives you 81 strength instead of 80, and every strength point counts.

Alchemy/Blacksmithing/Enchanting/Inscription/Leatherworking all provide 80 passive strength, and are effectively tied for 3rd place. It's worth noting that they all give different minor connivence benefits, but nothing that increases dps. Alchemy doubles the duration of flasks, blacksmithing allows for any stat, not just strength, which is useful if you have a tank offspec and want mastery over stamina, enchanting allows you to DE epics instead of vendoring them for gold, Inscription saves you the trouble of getting Therazane rep to exalted, and leatherworkers don't get anything else I can think of.

Herbalism ~ Effectively average 80 haste, horrible compared to 80 strength.

Skinning ~ 80 crit. Bad

Tailoring ~ About 250 AP, 1000 as a proc for 15 seconds every minute, at the cost of 65 crit from the normal cloak enchant. Bad.

Mining ~ 120 stam. Useless


Race
Best to worst order
Horde

Orc
Blood Fury Increase attack power by 1169 for 15 seconds (2 min cooldown)
Command 5% pet damage
Axe Specialization 3 expertise with axes
Hardiness 15% stun duration reduction
By far the best horde race, orcs not only receive a very decent AP cooldown, but also 5% more pet damage. You also get an extra 3 expertise from using an 2 handed axe, which happen to be very common. On top off all those damage boosts, you also receive 15% stun duration, which can be helpful in some situations.

Goblin
Time is Money 1% attack speed
Rocket Jump Jump forward (2 min cooldown, shared with Rocket Barrage)
Rocket Barrage Launches rockets at enemy (2 min cooldown, shared with Rocket Jump)
Best Deals Anywhere Receive the best discount regardless of faction
Pack Hobgoblin Bank access 1 minute (30 min cooldown)
Better Living Through Chemistry Alchemy increased by 15 points
Ignoring the fact that they are new, they are second best on the horde side, a close runner up to worgens.

Troll
Berserking 20% increased attack speed for 10 seconds (3 min cooldown)
Da Voodoo Shuffle 15% reduction of movement impairing effects
Regeneration Health regen rate increased by 10%, 10% of total regeneration during combat
Beast Slaying 5% damage versus beasts
Throwing Specialization 1% crit with throwing weapons
Bow Specialization 1% crit with bows
Not much to say here, very middle of the pack. They do get the best dance though.

Belf
Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8yds for 2 seconds and gain 15 runic power (2 min cooldown)
Arcane Affinity Enchanting increased by 10
Magic Resistance 1 point arcane resistance per character level
Amazing interrupt for Cho'gall, otherwise not much benefit.

Tauren
War Stomp Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8yds for 2 seconds (2 min cooldown)
Endurance Base health increased by 5%
Nature Resistance 1 point nature resistance per character level
Cultivation Herbalism increased by 15 points and speeds the gathering process
Again, amazing interrupt for cho'gall, but lower dps then an orc.

Forsaken
Will of the Forsaken Removes charm, fear, and sleep (2 min cooldown)
Cannibalize Regen 7% health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds (2 min cooldown)
Shadow Resistance 1 point shadow resistance per character level
Underwater Breathing 233% duration
Very slight shadow damage reduction, still the worse choice.

Alliance

Worgen
Viciousness 1% critical strike
Darkflight Increased movement speed by 40% for 10 seconds (2 min cooldown)
Aberration 64 shadow and nature resistance at level 85
Running Wild Increase ground speed by 60%/100%
Flayer Skinning skill increased by 15 and allows you to skin faster
Two Forms Turn into your currently inactive form
Crit and movement speed are both very powerful, making this the best alliance race, although still behind orcs.

Draenei
Heroic Presence 1% melee and spell hit (raid boss hit cap = 841 hit rating, 961 Hit Rating with any other race)
Gift of the Naaru Heals the target for 20% of their total health over 15 sec. (3 min cooldown)
Gemcutting Jewelcrafting skill increased by 10
Shadow Resistance 1 point shadow resistance per character level
Gotta love that extra hit, and the free heal can come in useful, but the fact that no one can spell the name right loses the draenei a few points.

Human
Every Man for Himself Removes movement & control impairing effects (2 min cooldown)
Diplomacy Reputation gains increased by 10%
Mace & Sword Specialization 3 expertise
The Human Spirit 3% spirit
Not much benefit, just 3 expertise when you use a mace or sword, and a movement slow remover. The reputation boost is nice though, be the first one to finish rep grinds.

Dwarf
Stoneform Remove poison, disease, and bleed effects; +10% damage reduction for 8 seconds (2 min cooldown)
Mace Specialization 3 expertise
Frost Resistance 1 point frost resistance per character level
Explorer Archaeology increased by 15 points and allows for faster surveying
Gun Specialization 1% crit with guns
A litte maybe expertise, and a damage reduction cooldown put dwarfs a little below humans.

Gnome
Escape Artist Escape immobilization or movement speed reduction effect (1.5 min cooldown)
Shortblade Specialization 3 expertise with daggers and 1h swords
Arcane Resistance 1 point arcane resistance per character level
Engineering Specialization Engineering increased by 15 points
Expansive Mind 5% mana
A small chance of using the movement slower remover, otherwise nothing worth noting.

Nelf
Shadowmeld Stationary stealth (2 min cooldown)
Quickness Reduces the chance of melee/ranged attackes hit you by 2%
Wisp Spirit 75% increased death speed (+25% than other races)
Nature Resistance 1 point nature resistance per character level
Almost completely useless.
Raiding
So.
You've learnt your spec and rotation, got some gear and made it awesome, and now it's raid night. First things first.

Consumables
Yummy! During every raid, for the entire duration of said raid, you should have a Flask of Titanic Strength . The average raid night lasts 4 hours, so come prepared with four Flask of Titanic Strength and you will be set for the night. Luckily for us, Flask of Titanic Strength seems to be the cheapest off all the flasks, at only 50 gold each on my server. The only other option is Flask of Battle , which lasts longer based off guild level. However, friendly rep with your guild is required to use them, and a guild has to choose to provide them. Have 4 Flask of Titanic Strength as backup at all times.
As well as flasks, you should also have a food buff before every boss fight, the best option for unholy death knights would be Beer-Basted Crocolisk Just sounds good, doesn't it? Anyway, if you are a chef with the recipe, or know one, the mats are very easy to get. Simply go to TB and kill some crocs. You get 5-10 if you do the croc daily every day, which is more then enough to feed yourself. Also, advertising a need to buy the meat will most likely get large quantities of cheap food from non-melee. Remember to eat one before every fight, because unlike flasks, the food buff disappears upon death. Other options for food include Fortune Cookie and Seafood Magnifique Feast , which most guilds will use after unlocking. Sadly, this requires fishing 10,000 times in pools, which takes a while for all but the largest guilds. I keep a stack of 40 on me before every raid.
The last consumable to cover is potions. The only real option is Golemblood Potion . Since you should use two per fight, keeping 4 stacks or 80 total before every raid night will keep you covered. These are the least necessary on farm content. You can only use one potion per fight, but you can get around this limit by using the first Golemblood Potion right before combat starts. The second potion should be used during lust, or lacking that, right before you pop UF and gargoyle.

Cooldowns
General overview.
Army of the dead and gargoyle are the 2 CDs which summon minions under your command.

Army of the dead costs one unholy and one frost rune, and has a 10 minute cooldown. It summons 8 ghouls over 4 seconds, which do about 100k damage total, depending on buffs and gear. A great time to use army is right before the pull, or during a phase transition, so you don't "waste" time summoning them. Keep in mind that summoning army with more strength (AP) or haste (BL/UF), will transfer those bonus stats to army for the full duration. Army also generates 30 runic power instantly, and taunts non-boss mobs.

Gargoyle is similar to army, but only summons one caster instead of 8 melee, hits considerably harder, and costs 60 runic power, as well as having a mere 3 minute cooldown. Also like army, if you have a strength pot or unholy frenzy up, your gargoyle hits harder. Unfortunately for us, gargoyle's a just a little bit thick. Although his casts do a lot of damage, whenever you turn your back he is clawing the boss for no damage at all. When you summon your gargoyle, try to jump, use your mouse to turn 180 degrees, cast gargoyle, twist back, and continuing attacking. This is called gargoyle twisting, and if done right prevents your gargoyle from using melee on most bosses. Try to line up UF right BEFORE you summon gargoyle, or use it during lust for the 20-30% extra haste.

Unholy frenzy is a very useful 20% haste buff that lasts 30 seconds, and has the same cooldown as gargoyle, three minutes. Most of the time, you just want to use it 20 seconds into the fight, and try to get a gargoyle off within the 30 second duration. The biggest exception is if you have a fury warrior in your raid group. Since fury warrior's mastery does something good to enrages, and UF is classified as an enrage, any fury warrior would receive a greater value from it then you. If there is no fury warrior, feel free to use it yourself.

Anti-magic shell is one of the greatest defensive and offensive tools in an unholy death knight's arsenal. It can be used to save your life, or to skyrocket your dps, and has a tiny 45 second cooldown. Basically, it absorbs around 50k magic damage, and gives you more runic power based off how much damage you took, as well as making you immune to all magic debuffs, and many other debuffs.

The Bastion of Twilight

Halfus Wyrmbreaker
Use army of the dead after ALL the drakes are dead to maximize dps, or use it before the pull if you are having trouble killing a drake before someone dies, and not with the enrage timer. When Storm Rider is active, Halfus almost always gets one Shadow Nova cast (instant) right at the pull, so if you AMS right as your tank pulls Halfus, you can absorb an entire Shadow Nova, avoiding getting knocked back (more DPS time on the Drakes) and a full runic bar right off the start. (Good time to pop UF + Gargoyle). Gargoyle and UF should be used every CD, UF first. The best time to use AMS is when you see a fireball marker on the ground next to you, pop AMS and jump in for free runic, or use it during the scorching breathe the flying drake does.

Theralion and Valiona
Army is best used pre-pull, and UF and gargoyle on CD. During phase one, use AMS right before every blackout hits the group, to help the healers a bit, and to get some free runic. DO NOT run off and try to absorb it all, AMS is not strong enough to absorb the entire blackout. During phase two, whenever you see a triangle above the head of anyone standing in the melee group, pop AMS. Don't stand in the deep breaths or dazzling destruction, while you will absorb most of the damage you will also be teleported into the other realm, which is a dps loss.

Ascendant Council
Save army for phase three, but use UF/gargoyle on CD during phase one. For phase two, leave the CDs alone so they are all ready for phase three. As for ams, if you are on Feludius the best time to use it is during glaciate, simply step 5 yards away and get a full runic bar. If you are on Ignacious, use it during an aegis for bonus runic at the perfect time, as well as making your healers love you. During phase two, just pop it after getting lighting rod on you, after running out of the group. During phase three, as soon as you pop out of the purple bubble hit UF and army, and gargoyle after that if possible. You aren't wasting UF time while casting army because lust is most likely to be used within 20 seconds, keeping the haste buff on you and your pets during the entire phase. Pop AMS and stand in water puddles on the ground, or in fire. Use it every time it's off CD.

Cho'gall
For cho'gall, use UF/gargoyle the first two times on CD, and save the third for phase two. As for army, save it for phase three, it really helps when all the adds are up, because they target army ghouls instead of tank healers and the top dps. For AMS, you can use it when cho'gall casts his shadow's orders buff, which means the raid (including you) will take shadow aoe pulses for the next 10-20 seconds. Easy runic. During Shadow's Orders, make sure a Worship is not about to occur, before you pop AMS, because the AMS will remain for the full duration while Worshipping, and no magical CC will be able to break you out, or interrupt you. It can also be used to prevent getting stacks of bad blood, if you are going to be hit by a corrupting crash and don't have time to move away, pop AMS. During the final phase it should be used every CD to mitigate the aoe damage and help you kill adds, and then the boss.


Blackwing Descent

Magmaw
When attacking magmaw, you have to keep in mind his head takes 100% more damage then his body, so when you use a CD on his head, the value is doubled compared to being used on his body. You want to save gargoyle for the first phase 2, as your raid will most likely bloodlust at this point. Because overlapping bloodlust and UF "wastes" some of the haste, you want to use UF on the pull, and save the next one for the 2nd phase 2. Army is best used on the transition before phase 2, when your groupmates are bringing down magmaw, unless you are helping jumping on the spike, in which case I suggest using army on the pull. As for AMS, wait for the boss to cast lava spew, and pop AMS for full runic.

Omnitron Defense System
Army and CDs used normally. AMS on this fight is amazing for two golems; Magmatron and Toxitron. For Magmatron, you can use it for two of his nasty Incineration Security Measures, or if you are picked for his Acquiring Target. Full runic bar every time.
"When Toxitrons Poison Shell goes up, every attack that hits him does an extra 10,000 to him, but also puts a stacking poison DoT on whoever hit him. Our MT tanks Toxitron inside the Poison Cloud (50% more damage taken) while he stands outside of it. So what I do after Toxitron puts up his Poison Shell, is rip on him until I have 4 or 5 stacks of the DoT, pop AMS and rip on him more. (AMS stops the poison DoT from being further applied so it drops off, and negates the damage from the 4 or 5 stacks)"

Atramedes
Everyones favorite blind dragon. Use army on the pull, and use other cooldowns normally as well, although don't use them during air phase. AMS on this fight is amazing, if you have it glyphed then it can absorb the Searing flames and the modulation after. This requires precise timing, however, you have to use AMS right before searing flame hits. As long as the duration of searing flames, combined with your latency, is under 2 seconds, you should absorb both, giving you 2 large runic bars. DO NOT stand in fire/sonar disks with AMS up, as although you will generate runic, you will also generate sound, and a dead death knight does less dps then a living one. During the air phase just run around and spam HoW for runic.

Chimaeron
DO NOT use UF often during this fight, as if you are hit with a massacre or caustic slime and go to 1 hp, it will kill you. The only time you should use it is during a feud phase, or phase 2, and you need to wait until you are above 3% health. As massacre is not magic damage, and normally caustic slime is far too random to absorb with AMS, you'll want to save it for the feud phase. During the 30 second feud phase, nothing happens for the first 15 seconds, and then 1 slime goes off every 5 seconds for the next 15. Because of this, you want to wait until the feud has been going on for 15 seconds, and then pop AMS for 2 full runic bars and next to no damage from the feud, which really helps out the healers. CDs should be saved for P2, including army, as this is the burn phase.
A note for Chim HM - being the third tank. If you are the break soaker during non-feud times on HM, good for you. DKs excel at this role, because we can negate the bonus damage taken during a feud with AMS. Just use your normal rotation, and keep taunt keybound for whenever chim isn't attacking you, if there is no feud, and no double attack.

Maloriak
As army is hard to cast in the burn phase, too much movement, you don't want to cast it then. However, most guilds also have to stop dpsing the boss to wait for the second green phase, so you don't want to stop it at the start. I suggest popping it with 8 seconds left before the second green phase. Use the first UF/gargoyle on the pull, and save the second for the last phase. You can pop UF early, right before army in fact, because you will have lust for most of the final phase. On AMS, during fire phase you can use it to generate some runic while you eat the breath damage, and during frost phase you can use it whenever you, or someone near you, has biting cold. During the black phase on HM, use it whenever there are black puddles near you for free runic, and during final phase use it during the acid nova.

Nefarian
The final boss in BWD, army should NOT be used during phase 3, as it can taunt the adds and spread fire to kill your entire raid. /shudder
Use army during phase 1, when you jump down, to avoid wiping the raid with it in phase 3. UF/garg can be used at the start of phase 1, and saved for phase 3 afterwards. Depending on when your raid uses bloodlust, you might want to save UF for right after. As for AMS, use it for crackles alone. It should be able to absorb every crackle in phase 1 and phase 2, and in phase 3 you can absorb every second crackle. Amazing source of constant runic, and with that many less people to heal for each crackle, healers love death knight for this fight.


Throne of the four winds

Conclave of wind
Army of the dead is best used pre-pull, as the high movement of the fight means that it's value is reduced if you use it at any other time. UF however, as well as gargoyle, should be used on CD should you be on the wind platform, and should be saved for the burn of Anshal if you are not. It isn't normally needed to bring Nezir down any faster. AMS, however, is amazing on Nezir's north platform. If used during the ultimate, you take next to no damage and generate a ton of runic for all your runic needs. It should also be worth mentioning that AMS negates all of the Toxic Spore DoT that Anshal's Adds AoE around themselves. If you manage to time it correctly, you don't even get the dot on you.

Al'akir
Army is best used before the pull, and UF and gargoyle every CD, but try to save both, or at least gargoyle for when you stack up four or more stormling de-buffs on the boss during phase 2. AMS is simply incredible for this fight, if used intelligently. During phase one you can try and predict when you will get hit be lighting and AMS that, but it's very random and hard to predict. I prefer using it every wind burst, as it gives you runic to DC while running back into range, turning a dps loss into a boost. During phase two, Al'akir applies a new stack of acid rain every 15 seconds, and AMS lasts for 7. If you time it correctly, and AMS during the application of a new stack, then you can clear your de-buffs and get healer hugs. As the duration is not visible through the default UI, this requires watching your de-buff stacks, waiting for a new one to come, counting to 10, and then hitting AMS. For phase three, just just AMS to get through a cloud layer, or if you get a lightning rod on you.





Thanks too:
Consider for his amazing guides I've personally used for years.
Matron Heartless for taking over as EJ dk guide writer.
Mione and Raegwyn for changing the definition of what it means to solo as a death knight.
Breyers for a lot of tips for tier 11 fights.

nice guide, i just respec'd my dk which i have ignored since cata started and used this guide to get going. sticky?

Originally Posted by Mendenbarr

Unholy is also the most fun spec to dps as.

In your opinion :P

I personally like unholy also, but I recently picked up 2h frost, and I gotta say, it's fun too, when you get like, 5 KM procs in a row all able to use obliterate, with a rime after each, poor boss. :P

OT- Great guide mate, keep it up

Originally Posted by Zethras

In your opinion :P

I personally like unholy also, but I recently picked up 2h frost, and I gotta say, it's fun too, when you get like, 5 KM procs in a row all able to use obliterate, with a rime after each, poor boss. :P

OT- Great guide mate, keep it up

Zethras
First of all, I'd like to say thanks for the feedback! And yes, unholy being the most fun is only my opinion. When I tried 2 handed frost, I did enjoy being able to crit hard with obliterate, however I often got KM procs while I was spamming FS, and didn't get a chance to hit obliterate before they want off. Maybe it's just me, but too much randomness frustrates me. No doubt this will be improved in 4.0.1, with 2 extra death runes frost will get a bit more freedom.

Originally Posted by Sobegreen

I'd say it was an amazing guide if 90% of it didn't come from EJ. There isn't really a lot of new or original content here. You mentioned most of the time where you were copy and pasting and that is fine but overall you could have just done this:

http://elitistjerks.com/f72/t110294-...missing_frame/

The abbreviations and stat values are the only part of the guide taken from EJ. I added sections like a simpler dps rotation, removed sections like BiS list, and rewrote the entire thing without looking at the EJ post, from my own experience as a death knight. Parts of it have to be simliar to any good death knight guide, simply due to the fact that the facts remain the same. This is not meant to be a first of it's kind guide, this is meant to be my personal take on how to play unholy, with notes for newer players everywhere.

Actual links inside the write up instead of just bracketing the stuff would be nice.

Decent write up, nothing really new but not bad either.

Originally Posted by Art3x

Actual links inside the write up instead of just bracketing the stuff would be nice.

Decent write up, nothing really new but not bad either.

Still working on it, as too the links inside the write up, I would put them in, but I'm not sure what the code is for them on forums.

Originally Posted by Sobegreen

I'd say it was an amazing guide if 90% of it didn't come from EJ. There isn't really a lot of new or original content here. You mentioned most of the time where you were copy and pasting and that is fine but overall you could have just done this:

http://elitistjerks.com/f72/t110294-...missing_frame/

EJ is NOT the bible of WoW. It is a great resource, but it has been dropping in quality for a while now. If the answer to everyone's questions was a simple link to EJ then why have this forum at all?

Props to Mendenbarr for taking the initiative to do something productive for these forums. Unless someone makes a better guide, this should get a sticky. No idea exactly how good this is because I am an admitted Frost fanatic.

Your rotation is incorrect. You should never prioritize DC over SS.

Originally Posted by antitux

Your rotation is incorrect. You should never prioritize DC over SS.

Originally Posted by Considerit

Your post is incorrect. You should always prioritize DC over SS if SI isn't stacked to 5 and/or DT isn't up and/or you don't have both Unholy runes up and/or you don't have two Death runes of the same type (i.e, both Blood ones) up. Thus, you actually DC before you SS fairly often.

That said, the "simple" rotation is a bit too simple, I would argue, but it's better and more accurate to say to say "DC > SS" then "SS > DC", if one isn't going too indepth.

This

That being said, I felt better going with a very simply rotation and the ideal rotation as the only two, instead of doing various levels of complicatedness. Keep in mind this is aimed at newer players, and the full rotation is a bit overwhelming if you haven't played much death knight before. Any new player should try to get DC > SS > FS, before they go any further, and while you are correct in that SS hits for harder then DC, I find DC > SS is optimal 50% of the time, as Considerit mentioned, whenever you have under 5 stacks of SI and no DTed pet, if you are runic capped, near runic capped, or have a SD proc.

---------- Post added 2011-02-27 at 06:09 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Sobegreen

No it isn't the bible of WoW but this guide is a direct copy of the EJ guide. Straight down to the stats, the rotations, the entire structure of the guide and the order he put everything in. Take the time to look at them and you'll see it pretty quickly. And again I was just saying that if you are going to write a guide actually take the time to write one instead of rewriting something someone else already did.

This is not a copy of the EJ guide, as stated before the only things taken from EJ are that stat values because I can never get my sim to work perfectly, and the abbreviations.
The guide is ordered in the order a new player would have to change a toon, first they need to spec to get all there abilities, then they would need to know which ability to use when, then take there dungeon gear and learn which gear is better and why, then how to make the gear you have even better, then what to bring to a raid, after you finished all that, and then how to perform as a dk in a raid when you actually get there.

Originally Posted by Dilbert

I believe that most people that read this forum, also read EJ. If you agree, then people that read this forum would be aware of all the information in the EJ thread. Having a repost of nearly the same information, just on a different website is similar to content aggregation, except that the aggregation is really coming from one source, so the value of that information is much less than getting it from the original source.

That said, if someone was unaware of the EJ website, and only came to MMO-champion as their sole source of information of how to play their death knight, then this would be a very useful guide. Also if EJ went down, it would also be very useful to have. However, if the original source stopped creation, then this guide would not have the base to go off of when updates needed to be made.

Thanks for taking the time to write the post, and I hope someone finds it useful, it just won't be me.

The information in any good guide on one subject will very likely be similar to any other good guide on the same subject, as the facts remain the same. I can approach the facts from a different viewpoint, but the facts are primarily going to remain the same. The basic spec, the rotation, the stat weights, the optimal enchants and gemming and math don't change guide to guide. The facts, as long as they are correct, will normally be the same. The writer of the EJ death knight guides has recently decided to stop updating them, and I fully intend to update mine. As for the base to go of, as I stated before I found this information in the game myself, and wrote it down, I did not copy it from the EJ post. Therefore I will be fully capable of keeping it up to date, regardless of whether or not there is another similar post.

Timeless Eye

I only got it working with MMO-Champ's database though..

[url*=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/69238/timeless-eye]Timeless Eye[*/url]

Remove the *'s

Also, I'd write links like..

Instead of this:
"Again, http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow is your new best friend for all gear mastery needs."
I'd write it as:
"Again, AskMrRobot is your new best friend for all gear mastery needs."
[*url=http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow]AskMrRobot[*/url]

Remove the *'s

Also, a good way to link talents is like this

5/0/32 + 4
[*url=http://wowtal.com/#k=7CwM9_wW_.aei.deathknight.-fSP2h]5/0/32 + 4[*/url]

Originally Posted by Asrialol

Timeless Eye

I only got it working with MMO-Champ's database though..

[url*=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/69238/timeless-eye]Timeless Eye[*/url]

Remove the *'s

Also, I'd write links like..

Instead of this:
"Again, http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow is your new best friend for all gear mastery needs."
I'd write it as:
"Again, AskMrRobot is your new best friend for all gear mastery needs."
[*url=http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow]AskMrRobot[*/url]

Remove the *'s

Also, a good way to link talents is like this

5/0/32 + 4
[*url=http://wowtal.com/#k=7CwM9_wW_.aei.deathknight.-fSP2h]5/0/32 + 4[*/url]

Thank you very much for your input, I will be certain to add in the linking like this, as it is a definite improvement. However, what I was going for was the little item info box from wowhead, eg. when you moused over [Bold Inferno Ruby] it read [Bold Inferno Ruby] 40 strength red gem, the same way Boubouille links items and spells in the news.

If you go to http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/52206/bold-inferno-ruby/ you will see on right hand side "Link to Forum". Click it and a box will appear, copy the code and it turns into this:

Bold Inferno Ruby

Hoover over this and it shows you the gem. Should work with all items and such. Is this what you meant?

Yep, that is what I meant, thank you very much. I can't believe I didn't see that before!
/facepalm

Updated with a ton of new item and spell coding, as well as Tot4W info.