Heya guys!!   Keep on reading, and I have tons of screen shots of dps on boss kills, pets, and overall.  I even got one SS of me doing 5k+ DPS on an AoE pack of mobs!!  BUT…before we get there…long story short…..

I HAD A F’ING BLAST IN THERE!!!!!  OMFG!!!!  It was *so* much fun!!  If you’re looking for AoE goodness, this is the place to be!!  Unholy DK are a top end dps spec/class that delivers everything it promised.  Tons of AoE opportunities are available, and Unholy played out exactly like I imagined it would.  I made some mistakes, lol Frost Presence dps…  >.<  But it was a good run!!

And for those wondering, “What spec did he use?”  Here ya go: 17/0/54  I might change it up a lil bit later on, like getting rid of Desecration (lag issues/raid complaints about obscuring boss effects on ground), but we’ll see.

So lets get into the screenshots.  I gots lots of ‘em!!

 

Please note: Click on all pictures to see the larger version of them.  This will make it far easier to read the recount displays of damage and dps done.

 

First off my stats.  What did I get up to with what kind of gear?

1. 4461 AP
2. 5 Expertise (15 skill shy of cap)
3. 31.51% Crit
4. 260 Hit Rating (about 1% shy of cap)
5. The rest…well, we forgot to SS the haste, Armor Pen, etc…  >.<
6. But!!  Those stats are low as we avoided them!!

So how did I get there?  All blue gear gotten from just random Heroics and quests from leveling up, the Ebon Hand revered weapon, Runeblade of Demonstable Power, the Dalaran 8k gold DPS ring, and 2 JC only trinkets.  I have only one epic, the Spiked Titansteel Helm which I had crafted for me.  I also won nothing that night.  Bad luck on drops, what can I say.  BUT, on the upside, we geared our tanks nicely which is far more important to progression.

 

 

Everyone knows how I go on about Unholy AoE being awesome…  So with those stats in mind, how much dps can I do as Unholy?  Well I know there was at least one fight where I broke 6k dps…but I messed up the pic somehow.  However I do have this one, of 5k dps!!  AoE pack style… 

 

Here is the Overall DPS for the raid:

 

Here is the Naxx10 DPS for me with my pets dps (not merged) broken down for you overall:

If you’re having trouble reading it, let me put it to you like this.  88% of my damage was me.  5% of my damage was my gargoyle (which was only ever used on bosses), which was regularly killed pre-emptively due to AoE damage, or something forcing me to run instead of generating RP.  And 7% of my overall damage was from my ghouls.

Ghouls did about an average of 250dps in a 10 man, and Gargoyles did about an average of 830 dps on a boss.

And here is my Overall DPS with pets not merged into my numbers:

 

And lastly, SS spam.  Several bosses and the dps done there.  Check out the first one however… I LOLNEWBEDITUPROFL!!!  I dps’d in Frost Presence after a snafu in the previous fight that lead to a wipe…  I forgot to swap back.  However, it made me feel better afterwards, because on the previous attempts I was number 1 for damage done each time and it was bothering me how I dropped so much on the kill after, heh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“OK, OK, OK, quit tooting your horn already!!”

Well, actually I’m not.  I posted the good and the bad fights here, and I’ve got more to share with you guys.  This is all up here now for you to get an overall view of how these fights went.  We cleared Spider Wing, Death Knight Wing, and the first half of the Abomination Wing.  No records here, but it’s a solid start at a look of what Unholy DK’s bring to the DPS table.

Coming soon, I’m going to talk to you about the pet dps, the damage they deal, how to do the kind of AoE damage that I do, little tricks I’ve leared, rotations, and more.  I hope you’ve enjoyed these SS’s and these posts.  I’ve been having a blast in there.  Tomorrow night we go back in, and if all goes well I’ll have another post up tomorrow after work or the raid with more details!!

So I’ll leave you with this…

One of our healers died 3 times to the slimes tonight.  If you don’t know what I mean, there is this one corridor where these random slimes run accross the path in front of you.  If you get too close to one, they go BOOM!!!!!  And you die.  Do not pass go.  You’re dead.  It’s kind of like the old game Frogger.  Run down the street and don’t let anything hit you. 

So we’re running near him (the healer) and we decide to pull ahead.  Cause we learned tonight about collateral damage.  The previous wipe, we were running through with our Ghoul out.  And one of the rogues was right behind us and Ratchewer.  Well, good old Ratchewer…the bright lad that he is…thought the slime would look pretty in his eyesockets and went for a looksee as I ran past safely.  BOOM!!!

Rogue: “OH WTF MAN?!!?!  YOU’RE $%^&’ING GHOUL GOT ME KILLED!!!”

SJ: “LOL THAT WAS AWESOME!!!  I’m sorry…snicker…I mean…rofl…that was wrong…lmao!!”

We’re not saying we did it on purpose or anything…  o.o  But if you were ever down there…and you’re ghoul took a mistep next to someone else…  Heh, heh, heh!!

So like I was saying, we run away from the healer…and we stop and turn around.  Because at this point, I’m thinking this is gonna be good.  And he did not fail me.  5, 4, 3, 2, 1…..  BOOOOMMM!!!!!

I’m dying laughing in Vent trying to talk, barely getting it out how he died for a 4th time, and our whole raid is laughing their butts off.

Moral of the story?  Remember to have fun in raids and to “lol” over the stupid stuff.  Don’t call your friends newbs, or they may be doing the same to you when you dps a boss in Frost Presence…  >.<

Tags: AoE (aka Area of Effect), Naxx, Specs

DK’s are hands down one of the best AoE classes in game.  I have personally hit 4-6k dps numbers on my DK already in instances while leveling up.  Prepare for good times!!  But you heard Hunters, Mages, and Locks have AoE on lockdown?!  NO WAI!!!  DEATH KNIGHTS RULEZ ZOMG!!!  BOOM!!!  BOOM!!!  BOOM!!!  BOOM!!!  BOOM!!!  BOOM!!!  BOOM!!!  BOOM!!! 

So lets talk about AoE grinding one more time.  I know…  I love it too!!!

First off, when I talk about AoE grinding I never mean that you should stop doing quests and grind out exp.  Don’t do it!!  Rep farming is a pain in the butt.  Go do quests and get all the damn rep you can.  Plus the gear upgrades and the bonus exp will massively help you level.  However the vast majority of quests have a ton of mobs in your way!!  Heh, heh, heh…  Perfect for AoE farming!!

Always pull mobs if possible while mounted.  You will take less total damage before you get started this way.  Run near a couple of mobs, and be very aware of the rubberband effect on mobs.  If you pull them too far while doing nothing to them, they will reset, evade, and run back home.  A great thing to do is to pull 2-4 with a mount to a ranged distance from 1-2 more.  Then pull those last two with Death Grip, Dark Command, Icy Touch, or your Ghoul.  The method is straight forward.  Run close enough to a few to get them following you, then dismount and fire off at one to two mobs close by to pull them in.  This decreases the total damage you take, while maximizing how many you can pull without reseting/evading your targets.

Now, lets talk rotations!

 

UNHOLY

Icy Touch -> Plague Strike -> Pestilence -> Death and Decay
(6 runes are used now and none of them are Death Runes)

Death Strike -> Unholy Blight -> Blood Boil -> Death Strike -> Blood Boil
(6 runes are used again and 2 Death Runes are coming up)

1. If you have some RP banked going into this fight, use UB as soon as you have the RP to fire it off.
2. If you have too much extra RP, work in Death Coils and Rune Strike when Runes are on GCD.  Keep in mind RS is not on the GCD.
3. If you are taking so little damage you don’t need to use DS, fire off Scourge Strikes instead.  Also, pull more mobs if you don’t need to heal with the pulls you are doing.
4. If you pulled so many that your diseases are going to wear off before they all die, refresh them with a Pestilence.  This takes priority over using a Rune for anything else.  When refreshing diseases, always try to use Pestilence on a mob that is about to die.
5. If you’re using Pestilence early and wondering why mobs are not being diseased you need to re-read the tooltips.  You have to put up Frost Fever and Blood Plague from Icy Touch and Plague Strike first, then use Pestilence to spread those diseases to other mobs.
6. Have healing potions.  You may die learning how many mobs you can pull.
7. Have a Ghoul out and never set him to tank here.  He can dps, but don’t have him tanking.  You want him alive for a Death Pact if you get in trouble.
8. Remember you have Icebound Fortitude, Bone Shield, and Anti-Magic Shell for “Oh !@#$!!” moments.
9. Corpse Explosion is worked in on Death Rune procs and when healing is not an issue.  If your health is fine then use the Unholy runes for CE, and the Frost runes on IT when your AoE’s are on CD.
10. If your incoming damage is so high that you would die before you fire off the first Death Strike you need to change tactics.  Less mobs, better gear, lower level mobs, etc…

 

BLOOD

For the leveling spec I suggested you will rarely use Obliterate because it will eat your diseases.  However, with that being said I did modify my suggested Blood leveling spec by moving 2 points in Unholy.  51/0/20  It picked up Corpse Explosion and Shadow of Death. 

Leveling showed that Necrosis and Blood Caked Blade combined were not even doing 5% of total damage done for Blood and Unholy specs.  More like 3%.  That being said, that’s 8 talent points not *really* working for you.  I still stand on going into Unholy for On a Pale Horse however.  That all being said, the rotation.

Icy Touch -> Plague Strike -> Pestilence -> Death and Decay -> Death Coil
(6 runes are used now and no Death Runes are coming up)

Death Strike -> Blood Boil -> Death Strike -> Blood Boil -> Death Coil
(6 runes are use now and 4 Death Runes are coming up)

1. Since you will not be using Heart Strike you will not be getting Sudden Doom procs.  This means you shouldn’t have as much of an over surplus of Runic Power like you are used to.
2. If you are taking very little damage, feel free to Obliterate a mob close to death instead of firing off a Death Strike.
3. If you are taking so little damage you don’t need to use DS for healing then start pulling more mobs.
4. Save Raise Dead as a heal for bad pulls.  Cast Raise Dead, and then fire off Death Pact for a quick heal.
5. Remember you have Icebound Fortitude, Mark of Blood, and Anti-Magic Shell for “Oh !@#$!!” moments.
6. Corpse Explosion is worked in on Death Rune procs and when healing is not an issue.  If your health is fine then use the Unholy runes for CE and the Frost on IT.
7. If you have too much extra RP, work in Death Coils and Rune Strike when Runes are on GCD.  Keep in mind RS is not on the GCD.
8. If you pulled so many that your diseases are going to wear off before they all die, refresh them with a Pestilence.  This takes priority over using a Rune for anything else.  When refreshing diseases, always try to use Pestilence on a mob that is about to die.
9. If you’re using Pestilence early and wondering why mobs are not being diseased you need to re-read the tooltips.  You have to put up Frost Fever and Blood Plague from Icy Touch and Plague Strike first, then use Pestilence to spread those diseases to other mobs. 
10. Have healing potions.  You may die learning how many mobs you can pull.
11. If your incoming damage is so high that you would die before you fire off the first Death Strike you need to change tactics.  Less mobs, better gear, lower level mobs, etc…

 

FROST

READ: THIS IS A BAD IDEA.

Frost is bad for leveling.  I’ve said it a billion times.  Well…maybe like 5-10 anyways…  >.<

Don’t do it!!!  I mean it!!!  Go level as Blood or Unholy.  And if you’re answer is, “But I like Frost!!”  Take this thought with you.  Warriors level up as Fury or Arms, even if they want to be a tank.  Paladins level up as Retribution, even if they want to be tanks or healers.  Etc, etc, etc…  Just because you level up as Blood/Unholy doesn’t make you a sell out.  Sure, Frost can get you there.  But there will be more downtime, actually eating of food, lots of potions, and low dps.

 

Side Points

When mobs start dying off, obviously break up the rotations.  AoE grinding is more intuitive than a straight up boss dps rotation.  You start off the same way pretty much every time, but then as mobs die you change tactics.  A few die and CE and BB are still good.  A lot die and these two are crappy.  See what I mean?

These grinding tips are for leveling up.  While they are pretty close to AoE grinding for other purposes, changing your spec to do something else might mean that you will AoE grind in a different manner.

You never lead off with Death and Decay.  The why is simple.  You want every tick to hit all of the mobs.  You don’t want mobs missing ticks because they are still running towards you.  Hence why it comes in a rotation after you IT -> PS -> Pest.  That gives enough time for them to all get in range and therefor not waste DnD damage.

Tags: AoE (aka Area of Effect)