Death Knights: A More-or-Less Complete Revamp

[Fyersing]

Death Knight

Foreword: This thread will attempt to explain the mechanical aspects of and thought-processes behind a re-imagined, re-designed Death Knight. It is one among a series of threads similarly purposed for each and every class within World of Warcraft. You'll find that the initial post will be exceptionally brief, with more iteration being found in updates at a later date. If you choose to respond to this thread in any capacity, please do so with the understanding that the contents within are simply the posters conceptualization of more thematically-appropriate classes.



Summary

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• The original Death Knights that were created by the Lich King were imbued with a small portion of his powers -- the most prevalent among these powers being an innate mastery of necromancy, a perversion of the arcane schools. These infection-spreading soldiers would constitute the vast majority of existing Death Knights (and thus, 2 of the 4 specializations below are directly related to this sub-grouping). The remaining Death Knights fall distinctly into two categories:

1) The first group of foreboding combatants seems to have learned, presumably from the San'layn, how to corrupt and manipulate life itself and thus becoming some of the most feared and revered champions of the Scourge. As with above, this sub-grouping will constitute 2 of the 4 specializations below.

2) The second group seems to have not only been ignored by blessings from the Lich King, but also passed over by the San'layn, and possess little more than an understanding of the arcane that allows them to influence the elements (namely, ice and frost). This sub-grouping is being sidelined, but with glyph functionally keeping it's thematic alive in-game.

• Although virtually all Death Knights (especially high-ranking individuals) are known to utilize runed weapons, it's never explicitly stated that they, or even the Lich King himself, have much or any knowledge regarding runic magic. The resource system for Death Knights will change to reflect this ignorance of all things runic, with Dark Energy replacing Runic Power and Dark Sigils replacing BB/FF/UU Runes.

Resources

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• The primary resource for Death Knights will be Dark Energy. It will function similarly to Runes/Energy currently, including gains from the T75 talents.
• The secondary resource for Death Knights will be Dark Sigils. It will function similarly to Chi/Holy Power and be used for more powerful abilities.

Specializations

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Exsanguination
Description: A dark guardian who manipulates and corrupts life energy to sustain himself in the face of an enemy onslaught.
Role: Tank
Important Passive:

Sacred Blood -- This causes a portion of incoming physical damage to be dealt over 10 seconds rather than instantly. The first half of the damage ticks on you as a damage-over-time effect; the second half of the damage is applied as a healing absorb, absorbing half of all your healing until both the damage-over-time and heal-absorb are cleansed by Flowing Blood.

Core Abilities:

Extravasate -- This replaces Death Strike. It costs Dark Energy and generates 1 Dark Sigil.

Blood Boil -- This applies Scarlet Fever, which acts like Deep Wounds. It costs Dark Energy and generates 2 Dark Sigils.

Plasma -- This replaces Death and Decay. It costs Dark Energy and generates 1 Dark Sigil.

Leech -- This replaces Rune Strike. It has a chance to increase your Dark Energy regeneration speed for 3 seconds.

Flowing Blood -- This replaces Rune Tap. It costs 1 Dark Sigil and cleanses your Sacred Blood debuff.

Blood Shield -- It costs 1 Dark Sigil and shields you from a percentage of incoming physical damage, based on your Mastery.

Infection
Description: An emissary of plague, spreading infection and following up with vicious attacks.
Role: Melee Damage
Core Abilities:

Outbreak -- This ability applies Plague to the target. It costs Dark Energy and generates 1 Dark Sigil.

Festering Strike -- This ability does shadow damage and increases the duration of your Plague. It costs Dark Energy and generates 1 Dark Sigil.

Rotting Strike -- This ability does shadow damage and applies Rot to the target for 3 seconds. It costs 2 Dark Sigils.

Pestilence -- This ability is unchanged. It costs Dark Energy and generates 1 Dark Sigil.

Death and Decay -- This ability is unchanged. It costs Dark Energy and generates 1 Dark Sigil.

Subjugation
Description: A harbinger of death and decay, channeling runic power and controlling undead minions.
Role: Ranged Damage
Core Abilities:

Blight -- This ability applies Blight to the target. It costs Dark Energy and generates 1 Dark Sigil.

Edict -- This ability blasts your target with dark energy, dealing damage and increasing your pets damage on the target by 20% for 4 seconds. It costs Dark Energy and generates 1 Dark Sigil.

Imposition -- This ability blasts your target with dark energy, dealing damage and forcing your pet to use it's most powerful ability. It costs 2 Dark Sigils.

Contagion -- This ability spreads your Blight to all targets within 10 yards of your target. It costs Dark Energy and generates 1 Dark Sigil.

Decree of Service -- This ability empowers your minion, sending him into a whirling rage dealing damage to everything within 15 yards. It costs 3 Dark Sigils. Has a cooldown.

Transfusion
Description: A wielder of dark magic, siphoning the life energy of enemies to preserve and bolster his allies.
Role: Healing
Core Abilities:

Infuse -- The caster uses a small portion of the life energy about her to heal an ally. It cost Dark Energy and generates 1 Dark Sigil.

Suffuse -- The caster uses a large portion of the life energy about her to heal an ally. It cost Dark Energy and generates 1 Dark Sigil.

Envelopment -- The caster uses her stores of energy to save an ally from the brink, healing her and shielding her with a protective bubble all at once. It costs 2 Dark Sigils.

Permeate -- The caster gathers a large amount of life energy and wills it to pulsate from her, healing allies near her. It costs 1 Dark Sigil.

Saturate -- The caster gathers an enormous amount of life energy and sends it forth in a circle around her, healing allies up to 40 yards away. It costs Dark Energy and generates 1 Dark Sigil.

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Note: The majority of these numbers are entirely placeholder. I'll update this further as I fine-tune it, of course, but for now this is a very crude version of what I'd love to see them do with the class. Please, feel free to post about anything that seems concerning.

[Saiyendra]

I read over your Blood changes - and is it just me or is that a weaker version of Brewmaster Monk?

[frozenkex]

i would not continue with the series. Apply imagination to something else.

[Fyersing]

It's an altered version of Stagger, yes.

The numbers and exact mechanics are entirely subject to being changed, the fundamental point here is to maintain a continuous thematic.

[Deleted]

No.
Energy conversion into the secondary resource is already bread and butter of rogues, feral droods and monks.
I like my DK doing the opposite.
Death Knights are actually quite versatile with runic magic. Have you ever used Runeforging? This is the classic runic magic application and they even go an incredible step further: not only are runes enhancing their weapons, they actually draw on the runes' power to deliver a lot of their power attacks.

In short: nope, nope. nope.

[Skarssen]

You removed frost and made melee and ranged unholy specs.

Actually you made DK's into warlocks in plate. Where is the "KNIGHT"? I have no interest in playing a weakling caster, so you would have to actually make a hard hitting melee spec into that list or I'd stop playing.

[Helwinter]

So you don't like Frost? I can't post anything constructive, because I don't believe this is a complete overhaul - it's basically PlateLock as Skarssen mentioned

[Powell]

Just a combination of other class mechanics.

Theres nothing wrong with the current DK resource system. Its a unique resource mechanic, and after several itterations, i feel that actually works great. Wouldn't want to change it.

[Acelius]

The secondary resource for Death Knights will be Dark Sigils. It will function similarly to Chi/Holy Power and be used for more powerful abilities.

Couldn't take it seriously after that. Holy power? Really? I dont want my DK to be a clunky dark pally.

[jackofwind]

Basically just a waste of your own time. I can't see anyone liking this change

[Helwinter]

Also -what's with this obsession with DKs being healers of any kind?

Death Knight Ranged I can ALMOST understand, but healers? Wat.

[Rune322]

You lost me when you wanted to make one the dps specs ranged and melee. Keep them both melee, and add a healer option as well(I would probably play a healing DK)

[Fyersing]

Energy conversion into the secondary resource is already bread and butter of rogues, feral droods and monks.

The primary resource for DK's is their runes, which effectively mimics how Energy works. These runes are used to generate (i.e. convert into) their secondary resource, Runic Power. So, really, you're already doing the same thing as those classes, even if it doesn't feel/appear so.

Death Knights are actually quite versatile with runic magic. Have you ever used Runeforging? This is the classic runic magic application and they even go an incredible step further: not only are runes enhancing their weapons, they actually draw on the runes' power to deliver a lot of their power attacks.

The existence of something in-game doesn't necessarily mean it's somehow related to and/or valuable to the thematic foundation of the class -- as it pertains to Runic Power, it's almost certainly something that was entirely unrelated to Death Knights initially and was simply rolled over from the other other Hero Classes that were being worked on for WotLK (Necromancer and Runemaster).

You removed frost and made melee and ranged unholy specs.

I forgot to mention this, and it'll reflect when I update the initial post, but ideally there will be a glyph that allows players to maintain a skillset that's quite similar to how Frost works -- likely replacing the damage-over-time component of most abilities and shifting them to direct damage (as well as allowing them to use the existing Frost DK animations).

Actually you made DK's into warlocks in plate. Where is the "KNIGHT"?

The original Death Knights were plate-wearing Warlocks. As for the current iteration of them, those fostered by the Lich King, just look at their creator -- 90% of his abilities are casts. I can't even think of an ability off the top of my head that he uses that's melee, despite auto-attacks.

You lost me when you wanted to make one the dps specs ranged and melee. Keep them both melee, and add a healer option as well(I would probably play a healing DK)

The lineup I've got for the classes right now adds a single tanking spec and a single healing spec -- if healing doesn't go to Death Knights, it's got to go to one of the Pure DPS (Mage, Warlock, Rogue, Hunter) and those make infinitely less sense.

[Skarssen]

I honestly don't know what your objective is here, but quite frankly I hate it. If I wanted to play some cowardly Harry Potter weakling in a dress I'd play a mage.

Also there is only so much room on the "lets ruin DK's and warriors" train, and Blizzard is currently occupying all the seats.

[Rune322]

The lineup I've got for the classes right now adds a single tanking spec and a single healing spec -- if healing doesn't go to Death Knights, it's got to go to one of the Pure DPS (Mage, Warlock, Rogue, Hunter) and those make infinitely less sense.

'

Mages actually make sense, In technical terms mages are capable of anything, but that wasn't my issue. My issue is the fact that you basically got rid of a physical damage melee in your revamp for what is currently unholy and a necromancer ranged dps spec. Now don't get me wrong I would also be 100% in for a necromancer spec but getting rid of a heavy physical damage spec would be murderous to the class.

[Deleted]

I'd be even less likely to resub if this happened ;-)

Good effort etc but "complete redesigns" just aren't viable or even worth thinking about IMO. Although massive changes have been made over the years today's/WoD's DKs still have some connection to their original WoTLK incarnations. Changing things completely would be "meh".

[Halland]

Ya I would quit playing with these changes. Blood doesn't need to be changed to BrM if you want to play that spec roll a monk.

[Fyersing]

The only thing remotely similar to Brewmaster Monks is the mechanic which aims to prevent spike damage -- apart from that, the class still works almost exactly the same. It'll be better represented when I re-write the OP within the week.

[Kassadin]

And with changes like these you alienated every single Death Knight player, by removing every vestige of spec identity.

...don't take it personally. You're lacking creativity.

[Castif]

Look if i wanted to play a ranged spellcaster with a pet i would play a warlock and if i wanted to play a brewmaster i would how about u stop messing up one of the few classes i actually like to play more than one spec on