Heya guys!!  So I recently made a post illustrating the core concepts and decisions you need to approach when leveling a DK.  And that in turn has generated some interest in the Power Leveling aspect of DK’s.  Whether that be in power leveling a DK, or using a DK to power level another toon.

The best recourse would be for me to make a video, to show you guys in actuality what is possible but I do not have Fraps or a similar program.  I suppose I will see if I can get a copy or something, but if anyone knows of any solid/free video creation software for WoW (that is fricking easy to use please for the love of God!!) give me a heads up.

What is Power Leveling?

That is just about as open ended a question as you could possibly hope for.  And I don’t have the time to answer it fully now.  But for our purposes I am referring to using a higher level character to assist in the accelerated leveling process of a lower level character.

Typically this is done by taking said lower level character into an instance higher level than them while using a higher level character to solo the instance.  While outside of instances you cannot group the 2 and gain exp, this is possible in an instance.

What to look for in an Instance

Some people who attempt power leveling just run out for the nearest instance and start up without really thinking about it.  That is a bad idea.  Many instances can be skipped in the power leveling process.  You can typically ride out one instance for many many levels, and then skip ahead to a different one entirely without every stepping foot into intermediary instances.

So the question becomes, which ones should you go into?  Well here are the factors required in making that decision:

Travel Time (Zone)

How long is it going to take you to get to this instance?  Depending on mount access, summoning capacity, distance from major cities, flight path hubs, etc… you may want to avoid certain instances.

For example, Alliance will find that both Wailing Caverns and Razorfen Kraul are *massively* out of your way.  And unless you like spending your time in Darnassus, so is Black Fathom Depths.

So if you don’t plan on sitting at the comp for 10 hours straight (where travel time is far less of an issue), be very aware of how many times you’re going to have to run to an instance.

Travel Time (Instance)

Most of the old world instances (and even some of the new ones) have considerable travel time to get back out of the instance.  Whether that’s Black Rock Depths or Shadow Labs, if you clear the entire thing you may looking at spending a few minutes on every clear just running back to the zone out.  Make sure you weigh in the required down time (including running back to the zone out) with exp gain time.

High Pat Instances

Some instances have serious Pat issues.  Dead Mines and Shadow Labs are two excellent examples.  DM has pats that will not spawn until you have reached certain locations/triggered events.  I’ll never forget watching lowbies die to the same pat over and over again after I SWORE I had cleared the place.  I did not figure it out until one time I made the newbies run on while I ran back and watch the pat spawn.  Pissed me off!!

And then in Shadow Labs you have stealthed pats you may never see until they come up behind the newbies and kill them while you’re ahead killing.  Sometimes it’s just better to avoid instances likes these.

Trouble Encounters

SL is again a great example here where the 2nd boss mind controls you no matter what.  Yeah, that’s troublesome.  Some bosses are just not worth the headache.  Also, some instances have mobs which are just a *massive* pain.  Sethekk Halls has a mind controlling mob and Auch Crypts is FAR worse on that level (MC).

In the end you basically look for instances following this description: You can get there quickly and easily while spending little downtime running back to the zone in entrance to reset the instance.  No encounter has a mechanic which will result in you or the newby being killed a majority of the time and pats coming around to kill the newbies is not an issue.

Now there can be exceptions where things still work well.  Such as Sethekk Halls.

Sethekk Halls, An Example

The mob in there that does the MC drops a totem which mind controls you.  But it doesn’t drop it right away.  So while I am gathering mobs up I walk backwards and single target dps the Time Controller (which drops the MC totem) and kill it before it drops a totem.  The add on benefit is that while walking backwards I get my avoidance checks and I can be Death Striking the mob for healing while I gather everything.

The end boss periodically does an AoE attack that hits the newbies no matter how far back they are and will teleport to the newbies, meaning bad bad things.  I simple move the newby to the previous room a ways back preventing the teleport.

As to how to survive the AoE attacks, I put on the highest stamina gear I found (for the newby) while power leveling (blue drops from bosses) and have them use defensive abilities to survive.  My DK alt/newb was spec’d into Unholy and had Bone Shield up to survive.

While this instance had trouble encounters, I found ways around them.  Combined with high mob content in a short instance which ends at the zone entrance/exit, and you can perhaps see the gold mind that I found.  I never hit the instance limit once (5 instances per hour last I checked) and I made stupid amounts of exp.

Classes to Use

Death Knights and Paladins make the best power levelers in the game.  Nothing else compares.  As to which is stronger…  The DK will clear content far more easily and faster.  However the Paladin can bubble the newby, bubble himself if he messes up on a pull, and rez the newby if he dies instead of running him back.  Which means less downtime.  While in the end the DK will do it faster, the Paladin is nearly equal.

If you do not have one of these toons to do the power leveling do not fear.  Any class will do before level 60+ instances.  And if you’re good at what you’re doing, even post 60 instances should not be a problem for you.  But that will vary with skill, gear, and class.  However as you get in the the 60+ instances you will slow down significantly more than a DK or Paladin will.

Death Knights Power Leveling

Tank gear, tank gear, tank gear, and let’s see…  Did I mention tank gear?

That is the key to success quite frankly.  While in lower level instances it may not matter much, once you get to the 30+ range it will.  I still wore my biggest dps pieces (about 4-6 at any given time), but for the rest it was nothing but my best tank gear.  While your dps will be a bit slower, you will be able to pull massive groups of mobs and DPS them down with ease.

Now, I personally recommend respec’ing and reglyphing myself.  I did not do that, and in hindsight it was a mistake.  There were tons of times it would have made a difference, and I’d have finished in far less time.  As to which spec, I recommend Unholy.  Why?

• Improved Unholy Presence – 15% move bonus means outpacing mobs for pulling which equals less dmg taken and faster clears
• Desecration – drop a PS/SS and you suddenly have an “ice trap” to kite mobs through for pulling which equals less dmg taken
• Bone Shield – popped on a pull you don’t lose charges on every hit which means less dmg taken
• Wandering Plague – free AoE dmg, do the math
• Spell Damage – multiple talents for improved spell damage and disease damage means AoE capacity drops packs quicker which means faster clears

These things set Unholy apart from Blood and Frost.  Sure, Howling Blast may pwn at lower levels but in all honesty you could just run through packs pulling them and drop a glyphed DnD and murder everything just fine.  1 DnD + 1 Pest’d set of diseases will kill just about anything.  HB is just fluff.  It’s not necessary.

And for all things unholy, STAY IN FROST PRESENCE.  End of Story.  The End.  Thank you and goodbye!!

The key to power leveling is this set of rules:

1. Reduce your incoming damage – use pull patterns and abilities to achieve this.
2. Keep your movement as high as possible – if you move faster you clear faster.
3. Use self healing abilities – Death Strike spam is your friend as is Death Pact.
4. Focus on AoE damage – you want to pull large groups of mobs and kill them quickly.

The Newby

Now if you are doing the power leveling yourself for yourself, it is important to be efficient with keeping this toon in exp range (physical distance).  But the upside is that the exp range is pretty fricking huge actually.  Now you will probably have to do some self testing to see where this range is, but it doesn’t take much time to get a feel for it.

The best solution is to simply feel out the range and park the newby.  Run off and gather your packs of mobs and start killing.  You’ll begin to find a pattern where you move so deep into the instance and then swap to the newby and move it forward to a new “parking spot”.  Then go back to the power leveler, rinse and repeat.  However there is a trick to make life far easier.  Power level someone else as well.

The best solution is to find a friend who wants an Alt leveled and can play often when you’re doing this.  However if that is not an option you have the random PuG newb as well.  Make a macro and just do a random search on people in your newby’s level range.  Send whispers with the macro offering free power leveling.

Don’t bother with people who ask lots of questions and want explanations of what you’re doing.  If 2 whispers doesn’t convey what’s up, move to the next guy.  Someone will get the whisper and be like, “OMFG YES I WANT FREE POWER LEVELING!!!”  Just make sure you word the whisper right and don’t come off like a gold seller.  >.<

Get them into the instance with you and preferably have another “explanation” macro made so you don’t have to type this crap out every time you get someone new.  But basically you tell the PuG newb to do nothing.  NOTHING!!  They stay back, they don’t explore, and they don’t attack anything or heal anything (it gets agro).

They just make sure they keep your newb (who will be on autofollow on the PuG newb) on them.  And they tell you the moment the auto follow gets stuck/broken so you can fix it.  Sounds like a pain?  Not really.  Using macros to make this streamlined speeds it up considerably.  And not having to take the time every few minutes to run your newby up into a new position will save you TONS of time.

This will allow you to be far more efficient at power leveling and any lost exp due to the other person (if any) is more than made up by the increased speed.  Often times I found I got the exact same exp (or more due to group bonuses) when I added someone else to the party.  So not only do you not have to waste time moving the newby anymore, but now you also get bonus exp.  Pure Win!!

Summation

The truth is that this only scratches the surface of power leveling concepts and strategies, but hopefully it should give you an insight in the core decision making processes required to make power leveling both efficient and fun at the same time.

If you have any questions, just give me a shout out here in comments or at my E-mail:

Skeleton.Jack@hotmail.com

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…