4.3 DK DPS Boss Tips

[Deleted]

I always thought dark simulakrum was pvp only. But it has some uses for pve. Too bad I cant spellsteal Hour of Twillight from Ultraxion

[Varshyl]

A quick guide I wrote up for guild. This is mainly for 25m HM DS. Most of fights I have done personally as Unholy except for Spine and Madness which I did as Frost DW. Hope this help you guys out.

Morchok:

If you have glyphed AMS, you can stay in through entire vortex phase, this works in both normal / heroic version, just make sure you're LoSing other in heroic mode.

Pop AMS when debuff ticks to 2 or 3 and you should get through it without any healing needed.

Zon'ozz HM:

If you're assigned to killing adds in dark phase, try to refresh DoTs on boss before running out and leave your pet on it. You can use Strangulate and interrupt the eyes when they're crouching down. Save your AMS for when you get shadow debuff. When the dark phase ends and if your add is still alive, just DoT it, it should be almost dead anyway then get back on boss. You also can Dark Sim the dark sludge from the flails here but it's usually not worth it unless you're Unholy.

Yor'sahji aka slime guy:

Since DKs have a significant ramp up to their DPS and switching targets too much can kill their DPS, try to time your switch to the oozes when convenient to minimize the DPS hit. meaning get your runes on cooldown before running and never switch if you have a CD running to maximize your DPS uptime. During the dark phase, when adds come out, wait until they all spawn and are gathered up then drop DnD / pest / AE but mainly still keep DPSing boss as much as you can, the enrage time is tight here. It's recommended that you swap out Death Coil for DnD glyph on this fight.

Hagara:

You can Dark Sim the Shattered Ice, he'll usually cast it right after that blade move, it'll hit for over 120k at least and possibly crit for 200k! If you're Unholy, make sure to place your pet away from others for lightning phase as the pets can chain lightning and place unnecessary burden on healers. For the ice phase, you can help DPS down 1st crystal, and just DoT up each crystal as you run around, dropping DnD when it's up. If you see that next crystal is gone, you can run into the bubble and pop AMS / double back to the last crystal to keep DPSing it down. Valor trinket can be useful here.

Ultraxion:

You'll most likely be placed in group rotations to soak Hour of Twilight. Pop AMS and IBF when it's your turn to soak it. If you have Gurth, you may need to stand closer to ensure that the tentacles can mindflay the boss. Use macro for the special button and try to time it when you have 1s left on Fading Light and Hour of Twilight to maximize your DPS uptime. Don't bother with DnD on this as it will never hit the boss.

Blackhorn:

You may be asked to spec in AMZ as it is quite excellent raid CD here for Twilight Onslaughts. Typically melees ignore 1st onslaught and keep DPSing elite adds on the ground, they will be tanked next to the boat's edge for added cleaving on the harpooned drakes. After 1st Onslaught, help out with DG on sappers and soaking as much as you can while keeping constant DPS on adds. Once Blackhorn jump on the boat, DPS him little bit until the large dragon lands as well, switch to the dragon until it flies away at 20%. Make sure Blackhorn isn't below 80% while dragon is still up so don't cleave him if he is nearly at 80%.

Spine:

Valor trinket is mandatory here, you'll need it to burn down the Tendons. You'll most likely be playing Frost just for excellent burst and 4% phys debuff since no one else will be providing it in raid. It's not necessary to reforge as your standard reforging will just do the job as well for this encounter. Use a macro with Outbreak including /target boss2 and /target boss3 and if applicable, have your DT and cooldowns ready along with Valor trinket to burst down the tendon. Avoid using DnD as it will cause threat issue and pull aggro. Start using ITs on Rime procs instead of HBs once bloods start coming out later into 2nd tendon and you know you'll pull aggro from them with HBs. P.S. if you are using Bone-Link Fetish, take it off as it will only get you killed in this encounter.

Optimal frost rotation for tendons, make sure to use Blood Tap after each PoF to get an extra OB off.

1st tendon #1 lift: PoF / ghoul / outbreak / OB / FS, ERW as soon as runes are used up.
1st tendon #2 lift PoF / outbreak / normal frost priority until tendon is almost dead then burst.
2nd tendon #1 lift PoF / ghoul / outbreak / normal priority until tendon is almost done then burst with OB / FS
2nd tendon #2 lift PoF / outbreak / same as above
3rd tendon #1 lift PoF / pot / ghoul / outbreak / OB / FS since raid will be lusting at this time
3rd tendon #2 lift PoF / outbreak / OB / FS, ERW as soon as runes are used up.

Madness:

AMS / Dream the Elementium Bolts, spread diseases into the burning ooze adds and don't bother with DnD on tentacles / Deathwing, it will not hit them. You may be needed to pop your Army to help offtank burning oozes if called for so be on look-out for that.

[Berlick]

Tnx for thread!

[Severas]

What are the most optimal and best specs for each heroic encounter? I'm good at both specs.

Thus far, I've been Unholy for half of our heroic bosses. Unholy for Morchok, Ultra, Hagara and Yor'sahj. But I've heard/read that Frost is better for Hagara for better timing on CDs and AoE? What about Spine and Madness? Frost/Unholy?

Thanks!

[kaelleria]

Frost for both Spine and Madness.

[rlk331]

Dang I didnt know I could have stolen the sludge spew on Zon'Ozz. That would have been nice during progression couple months back.

[Deleted]

I still don't get it why you did not add the trick I listed.
When you DISMISS your ghoul MIDAIR (so when jumping between platforms with the airbridge) it will RESPAWN once you land. This way you prevent the ghoul from derping out and walk into the water, making it despawn.

I went unholy for ranks tonight on madness hc (alrdy got frost ranked and its farm) and applied this same trick again. And it worked.

It's quite a mandatory trick for unholy on that fight, since the loss of the ghoul is a big dps hit.

[Unholy 2H obviously]

[Nyanmaru]

No hard feelings for the OP, he's mostly inactive on the forums and in game because of offline stuff.

Seems like it was overlooked thus far by us mods, will add it later with the addition of the /script PetDismiss() macro bit to not have to right-click the portrait.

[Deleted]

No hard feelings for the OP, he's mostly inactive on the forums and in game because of offline stuff.

Seems like it was overlooked thus far by us mods, will add it later with the addition of the /script PetDismiss() macro bit to not have to right-click the portrait.

Hmm my bad then, didn't check his activity
Wasn't meant negative though, guess first sentence came across a bit too negative.

[Necrotikpro]

Tnx for thread!

[Cimm]

On the heroic madness encounter ams will block the application of the corrupting parasite as will all other spec immunities similar to how blackout and wrack worked. You will have ams for each of the two that spawn. It is a great benefit to your raid as saves a lot of dps to skip this whole mechanic and just hope you get lucky and DW targets you.

I was wondering about this, does this mean that it wont just choose a different target?
Also I have only seen the Spine fight a handful of times but it seems to me that on the 3rd plate there is more then enough bloods to use pestilence even as frost call me crazy but I have no doubt that there is 30+ bloods and even with aoe people are more focused on burning down the amlag and tendon and getting grips off targets so bloods arent going down as fast as in earlier plates. Im not saying you should but I have been using pestilence on the 3rd plate and seeing my Plague fever dot doing a couple million damage, I do also do it at the end of the 2nd plate aswell, might stop this after reading some of these posts, at least on the 2nd plate.

[Inksmith]

I forgot to mention this before.
On Yor'sahj the Unsleeping every mode. When a Mana Void is being summoned and flying through the air a Death Knight can Death Grip the Void down and can just AOE the add down with the boss and cleaving with the Corrupted Minions.

Unsoul