PS – IT - HS – HS - DS - RP // DS – HS – HS – HS – HS - RP
Priority System: Unlike most specs, there is not really a priority system because there are no spare GCD’s in this rotation. It has been proven Blood does best in BP (not UP) even though it uses all available GCD’s.
You must keep your rotation perfect. If you have a terrible ms/lag, this spec/rotation may prove difficult for you.
Always keep the 2SR in mind however, as you will want to fire off DC’s and HoW between GCD’s when possible. RP is when you dump your Runic Power.
Note: I am not a fan of Blood Worms as it will eat up AoE healing in a raid. In essence, it can and will lead to raid deaths or unnecessary pressure on healers. Because of that, I spend the typical 3 points in BW into defensive/utility talents since there are 0 available dps talents available at that point. YMMV.
You may also find that you wish to move some of the points around in the Unholy tree, which is fine. Just keep Necrosis at 4/5 minimum and BCB at 3/3 minimum.
Frost 3.3 (Dual Wield) PvE DPS
The clear leader for 3.3 is still Frost DW (read DW Frost beats DW Unholy for those who have issues with understanding text). And while Unholy DW is not dead, it is not good enough to really bear investigation at this point. I may look into it later for the diehards, but for now we’re letting it slide. The Pestilence spec is still viable (and fun IMHO) so I included it still. But most likely a standard rotation with the new Glyph of Icy Touch will win out.
Priority System: Diseases (FF > BP) > KM Rime > MaxRP-Dump > OB > BS > FS > Rime. It is important to understand that Rune abilities always take priority over RP abilities. The one exception to Rune > RP is if you will go over your RP cap (thereby losing potential RP), then immediately fire off a RP ability.
Always keep the 2SR in mind however, as you will want to fire off FS/HB Rime procs and HoW between GCD’s when possible. Don’t just RP dump at the end of a rotation. RP is when you dump your Runic Power.
Howling Blast/Rime Procs: Attempt to use these with KM procs whenever possible due to HB having a lower crit % chance than FS. Do not push back a rotation however to do this. If you have spare GCD’s then it is ok to delay a Rime proc. Otherwise use KM on FS’s.
Notes: FC/RI is a far superior Runeforge setup for dps in any encounter where you’re basically sitting on one target for over a full minute. FC/CG becomes superior when combined with Howling Blast for massive AoE damage. Basically this comes down to the type of encounters you will be facing.
Moving points with this spec is fine. The major points here for some are Unbreakable Armor and Subversion. If you’re stealing too much threat try losing BCB for Subversion. As to UA, drop a point somewhere and take it if it’s important to you.
IT – PS – BS - Pest – OB – RP // OB – OB – OB – RP (Set up rotation)
OB - BS - Pest – OB – RP // OB – OB – OB – RP (Future rotations once diseases are applied)
Priority System: Diseases (FF > BP // or Pest) > KM Rime > MaxRP-Dump > OB > BS > FS > Rime. It is important to understand that Rune abilities always take priority over RP abilities. The one exception to Rune > RP is if you will go over your RP cap (thereby losing potential RP), then immediately fire off a RP ability.
Always keep the 2SR in mind however, as you will want to fire off FS/HB Rime procs and HoW between GCD’s when possible. Don’t just RP dump at the end of a rotation. RP is when you dump your Runic Power.
Howling Blast/Rime Procs: Attempt to use these with KM procs whenever possible due to HB having a lower crit % chance than FS. Do not push back a rotation however to do this. If you have spare GCD’s then it is ok to delay a Rime proc. Otherwise use KM on FS’s.
This rotation/spec will not proc IIT due to Pest refreshing the diseases and spec variations.
Notes: FC/RI is a far superior Runeforge setup for dps in any encounter where you’re basically sitting on one target for over a full minute. FC/CG becomes superior when combined with Howling Blast for massive AoE damage. Basically this comes down to the type of encounters you will be facing.
Moving points out of Unholy and into Frost is ok so long as you keep Necrosis at 5/5 minimum and BCB at 3/3 minimum.
Unholy 3.3 PvE DPS
Unholy has gone under some significant changes since the inception of Death Knights. It’s mostly due to issues with Scourge Strike and Unholy Blight because it lead to OP awesomeness in PvP and AoE situations.
But it honestly looks like Blizzard might *finally* be happy with where Unholy is.
Wait…there’s 4 points left over… I know. We’ll get to that.
Rotations
PS – IT - BS - BS - SS - RP // SS - SS - SS – RP
Priority System: Diseases (BP > FF) > MaxRP-Dump > SS > BS > DC. It is important to understand that Rune abilities always take priority over RP abilities. The one exception to Rune > RP is if you will go over your RP cap (thereby losing potential RP), then immediately fire off a RP ability.
Always keep the 2SR in mind however, as you will want to fire off DC’s and HoW between GCD’s when possible. Don’t just RP dump at the end of a rotation.
Notes: You have 4 points left over to spend still. Why? Because I think depending on your playstyle these 4 points can vary a *lot*. The options you should be looking at are: Dark Conviction, Necrosis, Improved Unholy Presence, Ghoul Frenzy, and Corpse Explosion. The top DPS choice is likely DC. But a strong argument can be made for IUP for movement fights.
GF is only if you can’t keep your ghoul alive, but with the new changes I can’t see how that’s possible. CE is for that extra AoE love, and pure fun factor.
Caveat
I put this together on the fly today while trying to respec, do the new heroics, and prep for my 10man raid into the new content. So there might be a few mistakes. If you find them, leave a comment and I’ll fix it. I hope to have more specs for Tanks and PvP soon.
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You’ll be losing the Set Bonus quickly in the new content for one. For two, you never base a generic spec for everyone assuming they have a specific gear set.
You put “3.2″ next to your unholy spec. Just wanted to let you know so you could fix it to 3.3 and your page would get more hits by people who are trying to do the same thing as me
Also, this has nothing to do with typos, but: would you say that DW frost dps has finally overpowered 2H blood dps? What I mean is that do you think, in general, assuming everyone had the same weapons and gear, that dw frost is better for overall dps than 2h blood? ty and keep posting!
Wouldnt it be approperiate to use PS ? IT – DS ? HS – HS – RP // DS ? HS ? HS ? HS ? HS – RP instead of PS ? IT – HS ? HS – DS – RP // DS ? HS ? HS ? HS ? HS – RP,
This to make sure you have your AM and SoV procks up before starting with you HS in the first part of the rotation? and welcome back SJ,
Wouldnt it be approperiate to use :
PS – IT ? DS – HS ? HS ? RP // DS – HS – HS – HS – HS ? RP
instead of:
PS – IT ? HS – HS ? DS ? RP // DS – HS – HS – HS – HS ? RP,
This to make sure you have your AM and SoV procks up before starting with you HS in the first part of the rotation? and welcome back SJ, (sorry for doubbleposting but somehow formatick fu*ked up)
Simulators say that GoD is a DPS increase but in my anecdotal findings – GoD will lose out in ICC because of movement. If your raid also uses CC pestilence will BREAK it and you will be hated. So yea – I suggest just taking the DPS “loss” and sticking with GotG.
Yea GoD is going to win out on AOE fights. No duh. HOWEVER – it is easier to not use it and take the 1% loss.
Good to have you back blogging again, SJ. Couple of questions and comments about your blood build.
You say in the text that you don’t like blood worms, but your spec has 3 points in them. I much prefer to drop those 3 points into rune tap and improved rune tap. I like a larger heal that I can choose to use at a critical time rather than some random low level healing. Feel the same way about vampiric blood versus improved blood presence. A constant low level of healing I have more than covered with blood presence and death strike (it’s an unusual fight where I’m not my own biggest healer), then when I really need it, 15% more max health and 35% improved heals keeps me alive.
Over in unholy, I prefer epidemic 1/2 and ravenous dead 3/3. Completely unbuffed, I’ve 2113 strength these days, so that 3% to 2% strength bonus translates to an extra 21 strength–an extra epic gem–and since I have everything set up to proc and multiply strength, it makes a difference. Now not everyone has as good a computer, internet connection, and reflexes as I do, so 6 extra seconds of disease versus 3 extra from epidemic may make a bigger difference than a percent strength, but I don’t have any problems keeping my diseases up and rotation going with epidemic 1/2.
The other thing I do differently is the rotation, certainly for the opening of a fight. If you’re standing close enough to open with PS, you’re too damn close. I don’t want a boss hitting me because I’m standing in right front of him, or the tank having trouble getting the boss turned away from the raid. Preferred distance = running speed x global cool down. IT (start moving, GCD is up just as I’m in range) – PS – DS – HS – HS – RP. And yes, DS before HS because it’s a 100% chance to get abomination’s might to proc.
I hope that you plan on adding some tanking specs soon. I’d love to hear your thoughts on Two-handed tanking. I’m not sure if it provides a big benefit, but I don’t plan on tanking raid content and it seems like a fun change to try (even if not as efficient in the end).
I’m playing DW Frost Dps (both pve and pvp) cause it owns!But i have some questions and plz nly answer if ur a serious player.I use the 18/53/3 pve spec starting with HB,BS,OB,FS..ONLY these no PS,IT and shit.Im glyphed for hb,fs,oblit.My gear is mostly 232/245 so as my 2 axes.trinkets darkmoon+death’s choise.332 basic hit.I’m doing 4,2k on hc dummy which is low and don’tknow why.Nvm i just want to tell me ur opinion about what i’ve told.Also as u can imagine the icy touch glyph doesn’t suit in my playstyle..i tried 2day and removed the FS glyph and replaced it with the IT but then i did 3.5k dps…I really like the rotation i’m using cause it’s ONLY 4 buttons..no cheaking out diseases and the crits are insane.I also tried the classical unholy new spec today and i was at 3,5k dps with a 232 weapon..So if there is an experienced DWder out there i would like to see what he thinks.thank u
Regarding the unholy spec you posted, EJ totally disagrees with you…. Just an FYI… As far as frost being the number one dps spec, obviously that is your favorite, but it’s not the best…
are there any 3h fire specs out there? i would love to here more abt those nd i think the blood rot shud strt wth Ds then PS IT because when ido tht FC always procs and so does AM =p
Regarding Frost DW..I lov ethis spec its great dps, however why is it in raids no DK’s are Frost DW? Most are Blood 2h or Unholy 2h? If Frost DW is the top DPS build why are most running the other 2?
There are DK’s that can hit 9-11k DPS with unholy and Blood, can frost dw do that in end game content?
Kmi, 4 buttons is nice and all, but not using diseases is killing your dps, look around and read some other sights on DW. If you like your play style that is fine, but you can’t wonder about low dps without diseases. Also, the rotation for DW listed here and elsewhere is VERY tight. I tried it and have too much lag and latency for it to work.
Befallen, DW is fun and does good dos, but it is tough and you need to be on it to show good numbers. You see moreBlood and Unholy in raids becasuse: Blood is pretty straight forward and shows decent numbers even with lag and movement, and Unholy has been rocking the aoe and provides debuffs that help raid dps while still allowing the DK to have high dps. While others can apply the debuff, it is not in their normal rotation.
I am curious to see how Unholy plays out in 3.3 I have been reading and some people think that GoD and the new SS will win out over frost and blood in any fight now, I guess only time and runs on the live servers will tell
and to the question why arent most dks running DW frost, well imo its a royal you know what to get good 1handers when u can get edge of ruin out of HToC or even now get Tyrannical Beheader out of HPoS
Im wondering why people leave out unholy presence especially in an unholy build? With IUP, runes ending faster, and being able to fire off two rune attacks compared to blood, it seems to me that unholy presence would be the way to go.
@ Befallen – As DW Frost DK on 3.2.2 I was always the Second on Recount Damage List (not in DPS list) in Raid25 over our Blood 2H DKs; around 7 – 8 Ks of DPS dealt in most encounters with Pestilence Build but DPS isn’t all. Lower DPS than other classes / builds but higher final Damage Dealt on the encounter (only locks and mages can follow me on this!).
I’m sure you’ve noticed, and the lack of update is probably due to an influx of tears and nonsensical shouting…but Scourge Strike was hotfixed as of Dec. 10th. The shadow portion of scourge strike no longer crits.
This change will most likely revert 3.3 unholy builds back to the days of unholy-oblit.
Thats interestign about SS, I was getting 13k SS an im in 4/5 t9 and using edge of ruin. I also still need a few pieces of gear and generally in unhloly have around 4k AP, I know it can ge thigher as 5k should be the standard for fully geared DK in blood or unholy. Needless to say hotfix or not..Unholy is a very respecatble spec. It seems that no matter which spec i am in I pull 4-5.5k dps on single target boss mobs, frost pulls the highest for me, but that i mostly due to the Epic Nighttime one handers I have vs Edge of ruin. Still waiting for a hilt to drop ;P
Folks,
What kind of stat minimums would you be running for Frost DW?
I read on EJ something around hit rating 230 (includes Nerves) is enough for specials (but not white attacks). Obviously Expertise cap 21 (including Frost talents +5).
Befallen
Regarding Frost DW..I lov ethis spec its great dps, however why is it in raids no DK?s are Frost DW? Most are Blood 2h or Unholy 2h? If Frost DW is the top DPS build why are most running the other 2?
There are DK?s that can hit 9-11k DPS with unholy and Blood, can frost dw do that in end game content?
the reason you see alot of blood dks in raids is because of what they can bring talent wise to help or benifit the raid
DS – PS – IT – HS – HS – RP // DS – HS – HS – HS – HS – RP
Reason for using DS first is that since diseases are dependant off of your AP when applying, a +10% AP proc from AM will greatly help with DPS. Especially for a DK wearing 4/5 t9 (even though they’ve removed Frost Fever’s ability to crit… sadpanda)
anyone know if it is possible to get anything like this to actually work?
/run local n,_,_,_,_,_,_,t,_,_,_ = UnitAura(“player”,”Killing Machine”); if(not n) then CastSpellByName(“Obliterate”); else CastSpellByName(“Howling Blast”); end
I understand why blizz prevents it, but honestly I’m having a hard time telling if killing machine is up or not in a busy or fast passed enviorment and it is hurting my DPS.
I’m using x-perl and so far the best way I can tell it is up is the blue glow on the hands which I can’t see in a deep stack of cows or trash… any tips on this?
I’m also wondering about target stats; especially because changing a single item can vastly change your stats and what may appear to be an upgrade can actually lower your dps.
I’ve also got to ask: Are you guys actually able to get in raids as a DK DPS? Everyone wants me to TANK which is not exactly my personality nitch, which makes me think that although I love my DK best I really need to get my Mage geared…
Yes, I noticed a nerf to scourge strike since the intial 3.3. I was getting 20k crits now it seems your stuck around 7k. Blizzard stated that they did not want huge hits to come from unholy because of all the dot and disease ticks. I have still yet to see a dw dk wreck a meter in a signle target against someone who is a 2her equally geared. However the aoe from the HB is great for trash.
“You must keep your rotation perfect. If you have a terrible ms/lag, this spec/rotation may prove difficult for you.”
Ok, so I have lag issues, *everyone* does. What rotation would you suggest using then? Obviously, I should not be using the one your provided here, what should I be using?
this is what i have my toon krummel on the arygos server my guild is wrath my problem is simple and i would like to see if someone can help please go to wow armory and check my toon out. krummel is a lvl 80 DK i hve used skeletonjacks specs but i have a lag between 260 to 450 ms this is something i hav to live with i live in a small town. i have dsl what im asking is if someone who has high lag rate if there dps suffers. mine will range from 4k to 7k depends on what the lag is. Can someone help me with a rotation or spec for high lag issues feel free to email me at ddixon3458@hotmail.com thanks peace out
On the topic of bloodworms, i have always thought your argument was complete bs. Take a look at the current blood dps thread on elitist jerks. It explains perfectly why not taking blood worms is not only foolish, but unnacceptable for maximizing your dps. Bloodworms only recieve heals when no-one else needs heals. Whoop-dee-doo.
I just got a pair of one handers that rivaled my 2her and decided to jump into Frost DW cause I find it sexy. I was very disappointed with the results however. (To be specific I replace the Axe from Tyrannus with the Mace from Anub + Knighttime). All other sources say that Unholy is still by far the #1 and my very limited experience says the same. What I’m hoping is that you’ll convince me otherwise and give me a reason to stay frost. You said it was the clear leader but what brought you to that conclusion? Or did you mean in terms of DW?
Have no guy tested 2/51/18?
With KM you’ll have no much time, to push FS or HB, when no Runes on cd..
5/5 Killing Machine is waste of points, when Rime proc’s for 15% and no more time to push the hotkey’s. Because the frost fever disease is not more active..
Wow thanks for the awesome new background for my comp, and as usual, thanks for the awesome dk advice. I have owned people since day one thanks to you.
hi … Im trying to go with your dw frost obli spec .. having trouble getting the rotation .. im with u sa far as it-ps-bs-bs-ob..but then i dont really get it ..shall i dump the runic power and then go with ob-ob-ob ?
Just curious on the DW Frost Pest build, why the talents into Endless Winter / Night of Dead instead of Icy Talons? Maybe im being a nub but i dont see myself Chains of Iceing anything during a boss encounter, therefore it being a useless talent while keeping up IT. and most boss encounters are less than 6 min so kind of a waste on AOD talent. Would it not be more bennifical to dps to have my melee speed increased?
I have a question about DW DK spec. I was running Recount against a target dummy and i noticed that Necrosis and Blood Caked Blade was doing weak DPS, so i respecced to Subversion/Butchery/Bladed Armor/Dark Conviction and had a big DPS boost. My Recount was showing Necrosis at 1damage. I also asked my Unholy DK friend and he said the same thing was happening with his Necrosis. Is this just a bug with Recount or is Necrosis broken? And to answer 2 questions above: Kmi HB glyph is pointless for Frost DW drop that for IT glyph and Befallen my Unholy DK friend pulls 13k+ on the ICC trash all the time when I (Frost DW) pull about 8-10k, however I demolish him on single target bosses like Lady Deathwhisper. Its all about how you want to play.
hello jack, i d like to beg you for some serious help, i play DK blood 51/0/20 and my dps overal is just a crap…5k… my gear is good, gear score of 2952, some even worse DKs with same spec does 7-8k overal which makes me crazy and asking myself what do i do wrong ? could you please help me :/
hey guys, i have a problem with the dps. I am blood dk dps using 51.0.20 and using the rotation but my dps is realy low and i cant find the problem . what should i watch? something is not caped or /??? i cant find out!
for the questions on DW dps. the person who said they werent using PS/IT. u need to. its a much better dps pay out then the rotation you currently use. replace HB glyph for the IT glyph. the dynamic rotation it gives (the ps/it rotation) is far nicer then the rotation the hb priority system gives. as for the person talking about hit rating, staying around 9 percent is your goal. any more isnt exactly a waste because it’ll give you more white hits on your offhand, but wont provide as much benefit as it would if you werent capped, nowhere near in fact. as for DW tanking, frost isnt as good as blood for raids, it has less hp, and no self heals, as well as no cooldowns to speak of (UA is a terrible tanking cooldown because of both the physical reduction cap and the high DR on armor) dw tanking gives nice threat and doesnt make u squishy, its just not as good as blood. it’d be personal preference in my eyes.
3.2 frost was a pretty heavy leader in single target DPS i was seing recounts of 12k on anub and jaraxus though with the nerf to the disease glyph im not sure if it is still tops i know that UH has overtaken blood from my experiences raiding with DKs of similiar gear at least either that or im playing with people i should point in this general direction
1. i found that if i drop imp ghoul and 1 in necrosis and put it into 3/3 outbreak i did 500 more dps.
2. with mobs being 3 and more i found this to be the perfect aoe rotation for dps. about 700 more dps.
PS, IT, HS, PST, DS, DC, DS, HS, HS, PST, HS DC.
DW, unholy dps/support
despite a relatively medium to low gear score I still hit the lvl80 normal targets for 1990dps optimum and the boss dummy for 1700-ish. not bad single-target and no gargoyle or ghoul. Also, my defensive abilities in unholy keep me alive which makes healers happy. This build’s priority is rune abilities, diseases, runic power dumps. IT-PS-Pest-OB-BS (or BB)-runic ability of choice-OB-OB-Pest (*refreshes diseases*)-BS (or BB)-runic ability of choice……..you get the idea.
As far as ive heard and tested on my own 2H SS unholy is the best dps just like in 3.2. So im wondering what kind of gear you have. It may be inferior(not saying mine is where it should be at all but my lowest piece is a 239 to go along with 245/251/258/264 spread throughout). In ToGC and ICC 25 im doing over 9k dps unholy so i’m just wondering about this frost dw as from my testing it is far less dps then unholy. thank you
and im having the same issue as some others my lowest piece of gear is a 226 up to the new 264 and my dps is terrible what could be my problem i have tryed many different specs none seem to help what should i do i think im cap on everything
My dps sux, i’ve got pretty decent gear but not pulling my weight. I’ve had the best luck with blood spec, switched to unholy and its a bit less dps for me. My HIT is maxed, is armor pen a factor now with 3.3? Here are my stats any insight would be much appreciated /www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Cenarius&cn=Keros
Your frost spec is so badly wrong. Drop all talents in unholy. Not only on dummies but in instances taking the following spec will improve your DPS by Miles. And also open with Plauge strike due to Glacier Rot.
Spec: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#jfVMVZGzexAbckc0cuzAo:sLpmVM
And also the target dummies will not work for Necrosis, unholy blight or wandering plauge. Hence if your DPS is lower on the dummies as unholy it could be any of those things.
I am a DW Frost Dk I use Gutbuster/Frost Giants Cleaver as my weapons until I get two Gutbusters. I have found that for me personally a 18/53/0 with subversion, bladed armor, dark conviction, and unbreakable armor to be the best for me. I also use Fallen Crusader on both weapons, again personal choice but I have found it to be better than the other options. Also subversion I have found to be a must to reduce threat if nothing else but the extra crit on Oblit is nice too. Ty for reading. Gangrule, Chromaggus Us
Ok, since no one is answering these poor saps: RP is abbreviation for runic power, its the stuff that allows you to cast death coil, gargoyle and or frost strike, they don’t count against your runes. You have approximately 6 runes, two for each tree if you will, to frost, two blood and two unholy. Each rune ability costs between on and three runes, ie. casting DnD costs one rune from each tree. That is why you don’t see the really good dk’s casting dnd, because it uses so many runes at one time, limiting your casting sequence.
This brings us to effectively using RP, runic power while your runes are on cool down. If you have dumped all your RP near the middle of your rotation you will have a few seconds where you are twiddling your thumbs. To avoid that you conserve your RP to ensure you can fire off on or two RP abilities while you wait for your runes to come off cool down. So how could a person screw up their rotation? What is your rotation?
Rotation is a series of casts that make the most effective use of your runes and your rp. In many classes you have a similar ability but only one power source, ie. warrior uses rage. Since DK’s are different we are a heroic class we have two abilities, if you maximize both in conjunction you can create a rotation that if followed will help you not stand twiddling your thumbs because your runes will come off cool down just as you expected and your damage per second can be maintained with percision.
Hi.
I see that u are looking up the most used and wanted specs, but could u give a look at the 2-hand frost spec?
I am trying out 2-hand frost, and atm it seems to be as strong as blood + / -
Im having alot of truble with the DW Frost Oblit Build every time i do IT ? PS ? BS ? BS ? OB ? RP my 3 OBs are always on cd I know im doing the rotaion right but the cds are killing my dps i dont know what im doing wrong
For those of you wondering what RP stands for its Runic Power and there a various ways of dumping it ie. death coil, corpse explosion, dancing rune weapon, frost strike ect.
Wouldnt glyph of plague strike be more useful then glyph of frost strike in the DW frost 0//53/18 spec? It seems like it would add quite a bit of damage with out taxing too much runic power.
3.3.3 patch looks as if it will significantly boost Frost DW dps.
Rune of Razorice: Now stacks 5 stacks of 2% Frost Vulnerability instead of 10 stacks of 1% Frost Vulnerability. Proc chance changed to 100%.
Endless Winter: No longer causes Frost Fever to be applied by Chains of Ice, but instead grants 2/4% strength.
Nerves of Cold Steel: Now increases off-hand damage by 8/16/25%, up from 5/10/15%.
Unbreakable Armor: The amount of strength granted is now 20%, up from 10%.
What does this mean? Runeforging will ALWAYS be Razorice/Crusader for every fight. Off-hand damage is getting a decent boost. Strength is getting a boost and a very nice CD comparable to pally wings. Assuming all projected changes go live and you have a shaman covering windfury then your new spec should look something like this. (note the talents are still showing 3.3.2 effects)
In hindsight, you could move around Deathchill and Hungering Cold, personally I like having those options in my arsenal. Some may also disagree with me placing a point in Subversion, however, I feel that the reduced threat is worth more than the increased crit you get from the talent, since I tend to find my DK pulling aggro like crazy even in lackluster gear compared to the tank. There may be points that would give you more dps on a dummy but against a boss a dps pulling threat must either slow dps or die, both of which would end up resulting in less damage output than you’d get with a talent that allows you to do 8% more damage before you pull off the tank. However, if your tank is a god compared to you (or you just suck :X) feel free to throw that point elsewhere.
Hey SJ, in the same vein as Dan #1, what are your thoughts on the changes to Frost coming in 3.3.3? I have been running the 0/53/18 build, and I’m quite comfortable with it.
Like Dan #1, I am now considering what changes I should make with the advent of 3.3.3, and would appreciate your always insightful comments! (a little brown-nosing never hurt)
I used to be unholy spec’ed switched to blood DPS and its been working well for me. However I was deployed to Iraq when 3.3 came out in December and I have just started being able to play here and there through out the week. If someone could tell me what they improved or made worse on both unholy and blood I would greatly appreciate it
I tried this new spec last night (minus the GoD). My resulting DPS was about 10% lower than that of the 0/53/18 build. The upside is that with 3.3.3 my DPS as a whole increased significantly.
However, I have found that I am now drawing more aggro. Especially in 5 mans where not all tanks are equal. As a result, I went ahead and moved BCB into subversion. I haven’t seen much change in DPS, and I’m not pulling any aggro.
I look forward to seeing what SJ has to say down the road!
Simply awesome
here’s a few buffs why, for 3.3.3 (march 2010)
*Buffs*
1. Razorice stacks to 10% MUCH faster at a 100% proc rate
2. Some of you may not of noticed, but we now have the 20% melee haste buff for raid as a aura that’s always up. And what more of you probably don’t realize, is that when we icy touch (apply frost fever), we get a extra 20%, making us (the frost dk) have 40% melee haste at all times.
3. few new talent changes, offhand dmg increased by 10% (from 15 – 25%), – endless winter now gives 4% extra strength (with my 5500 GearScore, that is about 77 strength/154 AP), – Unbreakable Armor now gives 20% strength instead of 10% for 20 seconds.
*NonBuffs*
The main problem is finding out if you need to change the spec from SJ’s 0/53/18 (awesome spec) to get the 4% from Endless Winter, or the 20% strength from unbreakable armor….
for the moment i am just removing the 2 points from chill of the grave for 2 points into endless winter, and 1 point from BCB to put into unbreakable armor.
Just keep in mind that since you are now auto attacking 40% melee haste at all times (while u have frost fever on target), your Necrosis and BCB get buffed because of the extra auto attacks… so ya i took my BCB chance down from 30% to 20% to get unbreakable armor.
Will it work better? not sure yet but all your opinions and thoughts are welcome.
I also tried blood dps for 3.3.3 and i like frost DW better, i personally do more dps with frost, i’ve been blood for a little over a year too, so the change is nice.
But anyways, Reply reply reply, and if you got some info on the new patch, i’d appreciate it SJ, thanks, always a fan of this site.
if you go to my armory, my tank spec is with the 40% melee haste (love it). I still tank pretty good, do good bit more DPS than normal tanks and still easy to heal me.
I am not sure if it’s good for tanking in ICC though, so easy there. I do fine in TOC 25 and lower though.
u forgot the fact that blood presence is only good with blood specs, DW specs and unholy specs require more speed for more dps and thus use unholy presence
ok.. umm ive tried alot of specs… and im still at 3.1k average dps in dungeons.
my gearscore is 5k
somthing im doing wrong im following rotation and everything dont know what to do.
ok, let me start off by saying that it quite possible that I am just an epic fail at dk, however I changed to this DW Frost DPS spec from a 2Hand Blood DPS spec and dopped from 3k to 2k DPS. I have a 5144GS and my HR is at 506. I have never been able to pull DPS DW like I can with a 2H weapon. Then again I could just suck in general. Thanks
Crevik, you have WAY too much hit rating. Anything over 263, regardless of spec is a waste.
Other factors may be that your rotation is poorly timed, you have a crappy computer/latency, or perhaps there’s a gear level that makes this spec more viable than others. I’m not particularly informed on that last part, by the way.
Okay heres the low down ive been made fun of because i have a high gear score but im no pumping out enough dps, its hurting the guild that im in so if anyone could help me with a spec and rotation that would be great
I was just wondering whether Subversion is worth it, it seems that alot of tanks can’t hold my aggro now that I’m 0/53/18 Dw frost. I was thinking that dropping the 2 points in Chill of the Grave, and putting them into Subversion would help with this. I’m just wondering if the loss of RP gain would effect my dps in a horrible way. I currently pull 5-6k dps on a boss fight at 4.5k gs and I anticipate that as i familiarize myself with the rotation, and get better gear that it will improve greatly. Please give me your insight, so that I can compile it with my own for a better understanding of DK mechanics.
I’v used blood, unholy, and frost dw. Before 3.3 2h Unholy proved best with the right gear but if you dont have set bonus from mainly t10 then blood was your best bet. After the recent changes from 3.3 i switched to dw frost and have started pulling nasty dps. In icc i do an avg of 10k-10500k and max out at 12k on single target. On aoe i do an avg of 15k and hit over 20k if i really try to make my rotation perfect, but i get lazy. Granted i do have mostly 251/264 gear but im still using a 232 axe which is holding my dps back alot. Anyone to say 2h is more dps for the avg joe is just stupid. I havent tried a 2h spec with the higher end gear yet, such as the shadowmourne or H t10 but i have a itch frost will still pull out on top with equal wpns and gear…. but frost is rotation based so if you cant do a simple rotation dont attempt frost for you will fail
Hello I find blood 2h The best Spec for DKs I Have try all the other speccs too But I do best dps whit blood I am new dinged and have around 3,7k gearscore and do 3500-3800 dps Singel Target ( Not Hit or Exp Capped ) I have try Frost dw and Unholy 2h and i only do around 2300 dps ( same gear)! And I believe Blood 2h is the best Spec in end Game too on Singel Target
[...] For the past few patches I hadn’t seen much that meant Dual Wielding was viable, but that seems to have changed in WoW’s latest patch 3.3. If you take a look at the Elitest Jerks forum there’s a Dual Wield tanking build posted (Link). There’s also a couple of Dual Wielding DPS builds over at Skeleton Jack’s blog (Link). [...]
[...] Jack has posted Death Knight PvE DPS talent guides for Blood, Frost and Unholy specs. He includes recommended rune, sigil and presence choices. This list is current as of Icecrown [...]
). So use stuff like Death Coil and Frost Strike.
[...] For the past few patches I hadn’t seen much that meant Dual Wielding was viable, but that seems to have changed in WoW’s latest patch 3.3. If you take a look at the Elitest Jerks forum there’s a Dual Wield tanking build posted (Link). There’s also a couple of Dual Wielding DPS builds over at Skeleton Jack’s blog (Link). [...]
[...] Jack has posted Death Knight PvE DPS talent guides for Blood, Frost and Unholy specs. He includes recommended rune, sigil and presence choices. This list is current as of Icecrown [...]