For people who are just now finding this guide: Take the info below with a grain of salt. Some of it’s kind of outdated at this point. Yes, I’ll be doing an updated version at some point in the future.
As meme-ridden as the above image is, it pretty much sums up a common feeling I’ve heard about the Death Knight class: “it feels like I’m just mashing buttons!” Well, friends, you’ve come to the right place:
Welcome to the Stoppable Force’s lesson #1 in How To Death Knight!
Addendum: This is actually version 2 of the guide! Much thanks to my readers, who’ve given me a lot of great suggestions on different specs, especially Frost (admittedly my weak point). I’ve incorporated these below; they should help demonstrate exactly how flexible the Death Knight is.
I don’t think I’m some kind of expert on Death Knighting, but I manage to kill things fairly effectively and so I feel I have some advice I can impart to those of you who feel utterly clueless when faced with DK-brand death and destruction skills.
A few caveats, before I begin:
- My goal here is to help you, the clueless nubcake, to get through Outlands and leave a trail of destruction in your wake. My goal is not to teach you the rotation you’ll be using in raids, or in PvP, or anywhere else. My goal is to get you from 55 to 80 without feeling like you’re just rolling your face on the keyboard (if you want to do that, roll a warlock).
- I was a Blood-specced DK for a good period of time, and so I may periodically give advice pertaining to that. I currently am an Unholy-specced DK. And, yes, I started as Frost for several levels. I have tried all three trees at this point, and I feel personally that Blood offers a lot to the beginning DK – so much so, that I feel comfortable recommending it as a decent alternative to the unholy that you’ll see every other Death Knight sporting. More on that below, after we learn which buttons to mash.
- Comments are welcome – I’m simply telling you what’s worked for me, and what basic skill rotation I’d recommend all ‘round.
Now, if you’re comfortable operating under those conditions – let’s begin.
Table of Contents
- You’re looking at it!
- Which Buttons to Mash When You’re Totally Untalented
- Buttons to Mash: Blood Spec
- Buttons to Mash: Unholy Spec
- Buttons to Mash: Frost Spec
- Button Mashing 201: What Do I Do With All This Runic Power?
- Runic Power: Blood Spec
- Runic Power: Unholy Spec
- Runic Power: Frost Spec
- Summing up: The tl;dr edition
- Sidebar: Why I Think You Should Consider Blood Spec
Stop used to be a warlock, then he was a death knight; first he was Horde, then he was Alliance again, and now he's Horde again. For good this time. Lok'tar ogar! 
You, my good sir, are awesome. I have been looking for a beginners guide to play my Death Knight. Now I can finally stop mashing buttons.
OMG, you just posted what I’ve been screaming in my head to noobie death knights everywhere!
Too many players never graduate from “mashing buttons” to “mashing buttons with a purpose”.
This is a must read for every new DK.
Aurdons last blog post..Death Knight Outland Gear Guide: 64-65
Thank you!
Something to consider for Frost is that many times, (though not always), Howling blast is for all intents and purposes interchangable with Obliterate in their rotation. As well, in solo play, Death Strike is often used significantly more then obliterate for the self heal. Otherwise, good stuff.
Awesome post! I’m excited to try out your rotations. Thanks for adding mine!
AltoholicsAreUss last blog post..Style Changes
@Atros: I considered including that rotation, but IMO it tends to lower damage. At least, I never found Howling Blast to be doing more than a two-disease Obliterate would. It’s definitely an option to keep in mind for Frost-speccers, I’d say.
Very awesome guide. I’ve been looking for something like this because, just like your article stated, I just felt like I was mashing whatever wasn’t on a cooldown.
I’ve opted for Unholy but I’ll most likely be soloing my way to 70 so I think i’ll respec and give Blood a shot instead. Thanks again for the awesome article.
Fear.Wins last blog post..L2P – Gundrak
Great post, and what’s even more awesome is your DK is a female troll! (as is my Horde DK)
Mama Druids last blog post..The Best Spec for a Tank, Solo, or PvP Death Knight
Very nice guide. I will be making a death knight soon, just to experience the lore and history. More importantly, this helps me understand the mechanics of death knights to better counter them in PVP or perhaps even help them in groups.
Ayebas last blog post..Quick delivery, elemental buffed.
Great post! Totally consistent with my own observations overall.
Quick correction, because I was confused on this very point- Rune Strike activates when YOU dodge or parry an attack (like Revenge for Warriors), not when your attacks are dodged or parried (like Overpower). The niftiest thing about it (aside from the insane damage it does) is that it is off the GCD, and is used on your next melee auto attack (like Heroic Strike).
A personal preference thing, but I don’t see Death and Decay as all that good in AoE situations for DPSing in groups/soloing. Its costly to use, the damage is pretty unimpressive, and if you are a DPS in a group, it adds a lot of threat for relatively little return as well.
Use Pestilence and Blood Boil in place of Blood/Heart Strike, instead, otherwise keeping to the ability rotation you layed out above, and I’m willing to bet your DPS will be much better overall.
A quiet disagreement on your frost rotation:
If you’re going down the frost tree, Obliterate is /bad/, mmkay? (There /is/ a frost talent that makes it good again (you don’t consume diseases!) .. but I am assuming you’re not taking that one in favor of Other Stuff.)
If you’ve talented frost, then losing your diseases on the enemy absolutely cripples your Icy Touch… one of the very early frost talents gives you extra damage as long as your target has frost fever. Obliterating and then reapplying means you actually /miss/ this extra damage in every rotation, on top of having ticks where the diseases don’t apply damage.
Instead – with a deep frost build including Killing Machine and Blood of the North (two necessities, in my opinion) .. try the much more involved:
Icy Touch->Plague Strike->Blood Strike->Blood Strike->Icy Touch->Icy Touch->Icy Touch->Icy Touch->(repeat).
Toss in runic abilities if your runes are ever all on cooldown (filling in with Death Coil and Frost strike to wait on a rune keeps your damage high) and watch for the Rime procs to get in free howling blasts along with Killing Machine procs to get in guaranteed Icy Touch crits. In group fights, try the rotation:
Icy Touch->Plague Strike->Pestilence->Blood Boil->Howling BLast->Howling Blast (repeat).
Howling blast benefits dramatically from Frost Fever (doubling damage + your frost boosts /on top of that/) as well as from Killing Machine.
But obliterates just completely break the cycle and cripple your damage from Icy Touch in the rotation.
Grimm
@Grimm: Every frost leveling build I’ve ever seen, and even some that were NOT frost, took 3/3 Annihilation. I tend to operate under the assumption that everyone who bothers to take Frost as their primary tree takes Annihilation.
Thank you sir! You are a veritable senseii of button mashing, and i no longer have bruises from rolling my face on the keyboard.
Your second rotation is messed up. If you use PS, IT, IT, IT, IT then you are left with an extra Unholy rune. A better rotation would be:
PS, IT, BS, BS, HB
PS, IT, IT, IT, HB
I seem to go the other way in that I’ve spent most of my time as Frost spec, and although it seems counter-intuitive for anyone starting off as a Death Knight, once you have Obliterate and Frost Strike, you actually get more damage ignoring Plague Strike entirely. Using an IT-Ob-Ob-BS-DUmp runic power into Frost Strike, repeat until target is dead. You start the cycle by hitting Blood Tap, which gives you the Death Rune you need to run the first cycle.
Awesome guide, but your earlier statement about rolling a warlock if you want to roll your face over a keyboard… well it just pisses me off. Locks ftw
Well, y’know what? Welcome to my world. I play a class where the general impression of it is “lol so OP, just faceroll to victory,” and yet every day people bitch, moan, and complain about DKs that do 800 DPS in Naxx epics in a heroic.