Heya guys!!  Doug asked a few Death Knight questions in a comment here on the site, and I figured they were probably some good ones to answer.

I’m sorry the quality and depth of posts has dropped off the last few days, but I’ve been a busy DK.  I’m level 72 now 2 days and 7 hours after the release happened.  Yes, I’m a happy camper atm. 

Anyways, on to the questions…

What is a good way to track rune cooldowns (aside from button mashing)?

I am currently using the mod Rune Watch for my UI purposes.  It’s ok…but honestly it’s not perfect.  But it keeps things easy to see and where I want it.  The other popular option is to use some kind of bar cooldown timer mod.  But that’s just the UI aspect.

The truth is sometimes in fights there is so much going on I find I’ll notice I’m just smashing buttons at some points, lol.  But with a brand new class only 3 days old and new content and encounters…..I mean what do you expect?  You have to learn to do 2 things imo.

First off you have to be able to fire off the “ideal” rotation without thinking about it really.  Practicing on target dummies is ideal.  It takes away distractions while you get used to the rotation.

Second off you have to know the priority list for what you should use when.  Each spec varies already, but then you also have to work things in like how many mobs are there?  How much damage am I taking?  Is it worth it to put up diseases if they’re all about to die.  Etc…  Learning what your abilities do, what your priorities should be for attacks, and just taking the time to become familiar with your class should settle most of those answers.  But those answers will vary by spec, gear, and player.

What Glyphs do you recommend for an unholy AoE build?

Pestilence, Death Strike, and Scourge Strike off the top of my head.  But keep in mind, I only went and picked up what was available before LK ship.  Things change.  I have all 3 of those however.  The Death Strike is an Uber heal if planned properly.  Let your RP top out and that’s a ton of bonus healing when you fire it off (for those moments when there are too many mobs hitting you).  SS is amazing because it can refresh your diseases on a target.  If it does, a quick Pestilence and you’re set on long duration AoE fights.  And Pestilence for more aoe distance.

How many mobs is a safe number to pull, and whats the max you?d recommend?

The only true answer to this question is to die, die, and die again trying to figure it out!!  ROFL  I died…a LOT…trying to answer that very question.  The answer changes more based on level/gear disparity and what you choose to fight.  At some levels the mobs hit so hard that 4-5 could be a massive challenge.  Whereas there were some buzzards in Terrokar and HFP both that I took on 10/11 at once and lived to tell the tale.  I did a 14 pile up once… *SPLORTA*  /raise dead self  /explode  /lmao  I died quickly of course, heh.

The best trick to an big AoE pull is to round up mobs while on a mount, and to dismount away from them.  Lead off a IT to have FF disease up already and be spamming PS for BP disease on that first one.  Preferably you’ve got some banked RP so you can fire off Unholy Blight before all of the mobs get to you.  This reduces GCD’s you’ll need to get Death Strikes off at the right time, and also lays down more AoE on the first mobs to make them die quicker and reduce incoming damage.  It’s about a 5 second window of breathing room at the start at most.

When Pestilence spreads diseases, do they transfer to the other targets with their full duration, or just the remaining duration?

Pestilence is stupid powerful.

1. It affects *all* targets in range.  I’ve not tested this in PvP yet, but in PvE this means it will auto destroy every NPC shaman totem in range automatically.
2. It affects *all* diseases.  2 Death Knights or more is stupid now.  Death Knight 1 Pestilences all of his diseases out.  Death Knight 2 is a lil behind and gets his diseases up on one target that DK 1 has already loaded up with diseases.  He then uses Pestilence and it sends out all of DK 1 and 2’s diseases from that target.
3. All Pestilence diseases have a fresh/new full duration.  I have not tested to see if Epidemic has buggy issues/conflicts here.
4. Keep 1 primary target at all times.  Do not leave him until it’s near death.  When you don’t have to Death Strike to stay alive, always spam Scourge Strike (glyphed) on that target.  It will have a 25% chance to put up fresh diseases.  Pestilence off of that one.  If it doesn’t proc, and it’s about to run out on diseases, then just Pestilence the target and then swap to a new primary target for SS and Pest spam.  Before leaving any main target, Pest up new diseases if possible/efficient.

Here’s a few other solid points for you guys.

• You can skip training up a LOT.  I’ve gone 2-3 levels without training several times.  Death Knights are a Hero class.  And Blizzard meant it.  They are OP for leveling purposes.
• Don’t worry about replacing gear outside of your weapons too much.  Drop by the AH every now and then to see if there is a solid deal, but otherwise roll with quest gear.  The new LK greens are sick sometimes though, so do check the AH.
• GO to the AH and search weapons every time you can.  We busted butt to get into the Ring of Blood quest for weapon upgrades.  87 dps axe right?  Once done, we went to the AH.  I got a 100+dps green axe in my 60’s of the Whale from Northrend.  It was 66 or 67 I think.  I’ll get the pics up later.
• Pick one of the starting zones.  Go do the whole fricking zone.  You can ride Howling Fjord from 68 to 71.  Then skip over to the Tundra and start over there.  Worried about not enough quests?  It won’t happen.  I got that stupid achievment for doing like 130 quests in HF, and we not only skipped like 5 of them, but there were a few left still.  FYI, I refuse to do those quests where I pick up poop from some damn animal.  Stupid Blizz.
• If you can get into Utgarde with the quests at 69, go for it.  The 2 quests for that instance were worth like 45k exp each at that level.
• If you can duo with another DK while leveling.  Do it.  OMFG me and my guildmate are doing everything in tandem.  We both got off of work and we set up times to log in and play together.  We own everything, and our gear is craptastic.

Anyways, I’m tired.  Like 4 hours of sleep since 2 hours before the midnight release now.  Uhm…that’s…  Forget it, math next post.  Pics inc.  Gotta get it up before sleep or it won’t get up at all.  I’m too tired to even yawn…..

Tags: Power Leveling, Questions