frost or unholy DK? 2h or DW? PvP only

[SuperomegaOP]

I asked on the ptr and this guy said that frost was to burst down bad players as 2H(dunno about DW) while Unholy was harder to play but more rewarding and does better in pvp(dunno about 2h or DW)

last I played dks was frost in 4.1(imo deathknights at their best since 3.0) and im I have no idea how they are now.

If possible I'd prefer 2H unholy but back in cata unholy just really wasn't cutting it vs frost

[Deleted]

With the upcoming nerfs to the FotM classes (warr, hunt, mage) and the increase in resilience due to everyone getting better gear, Unholy should pull ahead soon enough.

Frost 2h is for big burst from obliterates. But you need runes for these obliterates, leaving little room for Icy touch (glyphed), Chains of ice or Necrotic strikes.

Frost dw is for more consistent damage overall while still having good burst (even against plate classes). You can also use your runes more freely, because the big damage comes from frost strikes.

Unholy is behind at the moment, because everyone's burst is so high, that you have to kill them very fast or they kill you. But as I said, with gear and the nerfs to burst coming in 5.1, Unholy will even up with the other 2 specs. It has the best survivability and control, better necrotics, more opportunities for glyphed icy touches, immunity to fear/sap/incapacitate due to unholy frenzy. The pet is a bit easy to kill atm, so you must really know how to manage him.

I personally play unholy and it's really good in bgs. You have almost no hard counters. Once they nerf gag order and avatar, warriors will become trivial too.

[anderekel]

The state of the game is currently burst or be bursted, that's the only time someone dies. Unholy just doesn't have the burst (actually lower overall damage currently too) that frost does. 2H frost is really the way to go, it hits harder, therefore bigger bursts.

For most of cata unholy was better actually. I'm hoping that with nerfs and higher gear levels that unholy will come back, I much prefer it, but frost is simply better right now.

[Malgru]

DW frost has better AOE damage. Therefore better for RBG. I'd run 2h for 3s though.

[NPSlow]

I would do 2h Frost because of the damage at the moment and if you concentrate on getting the 2h weapon your options open up greatly when/if you decide to change specs to Unholy or Blood for whatever reason.