Blood Death Knights in the original release ofWorld of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich Kingwere some of the most versatile tanks ever. There is a wide variety of builds that they can choose from as either the Main Tank or Off-Tank and by choosing to focus on Single-Target, Multi-Target, and how much mitigation they’ll need.
Many of the talent builds for Blood DK’s don’t go all the way down the Blood talent tree and instead spread their points out into the Frost and Unholy talent trees. While a full Blood build can DPS, aFrostorUnholy DPS Buildwould be better for that purpose; in fact, they areTop-Tier DPS for the entire expansion.
This guide is intended for level 80 content primarily focusing on PvE group content such as 10 or 25 Player Raids and/or 5 Player Dungeons.
Best Talent Builds For Blood Death Knight
The image below shows the most common build for main-tanking as a Blood Death Knight. It is aSingle-Targetbuild focusing primarily on damage mitigation.
The 2 most common variations in talent selection are highlighted inPinkandGreenin the image above.
Multi-Target AoE Blood Death Knight Talent Build
Best Glyphs For Blood Death Knight
There are a lot of Glyphs that players can choose depending on the content they face when tanking as a Blood Death Knight. The three most common glyphs areGlyph of Diseaseto maintain disease uptime,Glyph of Dark Commandto guaranteeDark Commandwill successfully taunt (this is crucial in early phases when lacking Hit Rating), andGlyph of Vampiric Bloodto improveVampiric Bloodfor times when more healing is needed.
Other Major Glyphs
Minor Glyphs
All Death Knights generally take these Minor Glyphs as they all offer a non-insignificant improvement to gameplay.
Many players make the mistake of takingGlyph of Horn of Winter. It is generally useless asHorn of Winteris used to generate Runic Power whenever there is a break from casting other abilities. Being a “stronger” buff means that Death Knights who do not have the glyph can’t useHorn of Winterto generate Runic Power unless using the following macro:
Stat Priority For Blood Death Knight
Death Knight Tanks have 2 main priorities when it comes to Tanking:Survivability,Threat Generation.
Threat Generation
GeneratingThreatas a Blood Death Knight relies heavily on Hit Rating, as the majority of the damage comes from Spells. It is necessary to reach263 Hit Ratingfor Special Attacks to always land. Early usage of theGlyph of Dark Commandwill guarantee that it will always land until more Hit Rating is obtained from better gear. Past this threshold lies theSpell Hit Capat446 Hit Rating. If there is aBalance DruidorShadow Priestpresent they can provide an extra3% chance to hitwithImproved Faerie FireandMiseryandDraeneifor an additional1%withHeroic Presence.
Virulencein the first row of the Unholy talent tree can also lower the Hit Rating required.
Expertiseis another stat that has multiple thresholds to guarantee that enemies do notDodgeorParrya player’s attacks. For a level 80 player facing a Level 83 target, the two thresholds are:
The Blood TalentVeteran of the Third Warcan be chosen to reduce the amount of expertise needed. SomeRacialtraits reduce the amount of Expertise needed as well when wielding the corresponding weapon:
Blood Tank Survivability Stats
Defense Rating is the most important stat to reduce damage taken. The minimum threshold to guarantee that an enemy will not land a Critical Hit against you is689Defense Ratingor540 Defense.400 Defense is obtained through the Defense Skill that is passively leveled up when taking hits, the remaining140 comes from gear.
Staminanot only increases the total health pool but also increases the effectiveness of cooldowns such asRune Tap,Death Pact, andVampiric Blood.
Armoris important due to the fact that Blood Death Knightscannot wield Shieldsto Block attacks.Dodge,andParryare other ways to improve survivability too.
When in doubt, when deciding between two pieces of gear, the item with a higher item level will provide more overall stats. When comparing 2 items of the same item level, follow this Stat Priority:
Skill Rotation For Blood Death Knight
To start, players should be inFrost Presencefor all encounters to increase survivability and threat generation. There are 2 important buffs to maintain throughout the fight:Horn of Winter(and to generate Runic Power) andBlade Barrier. Players will typically have this activated at all times with a normal skill rotation but can be easily applied by usingBlood Boilbefore a fight or if no targets are available to hit.
Additionally, it is important to maintain diseases on all targets as it will increase threat generation withBlood Strikeand affect the amount of healing received fromDeath Strike.
Most of the time players will be activatingDeath Rune Masteryto use the death runes to generate as much threat as possible withIcy Touch. Apart from actual taunts likeDark CommandandDeath Grip, Icy Touch generates the most threat out of all other abilities.
Finally, players can useRune Striketo spend excess Runic Power and generate Threat precisely or macro it to all other abilities to generate more Threat in general.Rune Strikeis activated after the player dodges or parries and can be used separately from the Global Cooldown of other skills.
Single-Target Rotation
Before combat, cast Blood Boiltwice at least 5 seconds before combat to obtainBlade Barrier. Alternatively, you can castDeath and Decayabout 10 seconds before combat to generate more Runic Power.
Multi-Target AoE Rotation
Consumables For Raids
Players hoping to maximize their potential for success would be wise to utilize the following buffs from consumables.
+32 Stamina and 2% Increased Armor Value from Items
-
+6 to All Stats
+10 Expertise Rating and +15 Stamina
+10 Stamina and +15 Stamina
+8 Expertise Rating and +12 Stamina
+8 Stamina and +12 Stamina
+10 Hit Rating and +15 Stamina
+10 Defense Rating and +15 Stamina
+8 Defense Rating and +12 Stamina
+8 Hit Rating and +12 Stamina
Blacksmithing (400) provides 2 extra sockets withSocket BracerandSocket Gloves
Best Enchants For Blood Death Knight
Death Knights are unique in that they have the profession-like abilityRuneforgingwhich offers them specific weapon enchants tailored to their needs. It doesn’t require skill points or training and new recipes are learned every few levels for free. To change the runeforging enchant players must go to a Rune Forge inAcherus: The Ebon HoldandShadow VaultinIcecrown. Runeforging enchants do not stack with other enchants.
+13 Defense and +1% Stamina
+25 Defense and +2% Stamina
+37 Stamina and +20 Defense
+30 Stamina and +25 Resilience
PvP Quartermaster in Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord
+30 Stamina and +15 Defense
+1 Socket to Belt
+55 Stamina and +22 Agility
+15 Stamina and increased movement speed
+30 Stamina
Enchanting(400) - Trainer
Notably, for Tanks, the only professions that have enchants that have stats that compete with enchants available to anyone are the Leatherworking Bracer enchant and the Engineering Glove Enchant. Engineering does also provide some other useful effects apart from stats too!
Throw a Cobalt Frag Bomb every 6 minute
+23 Agility and Slow Fall
On Use: +340 haste rating for 12 sec
Best In Slot Pre-Raid BiS Gear For Blood Death Knight
Blood has some flexibility with their weapons, ideally a slow 2 handed weapon to avoid being hit by enemies that parry your attacks. But you can also have a couple 1 handed weapons in cases when not tanking. Keep in mind any expertise bonuses from racial traits too.
25%
Off Hand Slot
If Off-Tanking these are the best options for One Handed Weapons to wield in the Off-Hand Slot. If you are only using 1 handers to dps take a loot at theDPS BiS weapons list for Unholy and Frost.
Relic Slot
Unlike the other specializations, Blood has some decent options for Sigils in the Reilc Slot. Since Icy Touch is used very often, both of these options are excellent!
15Emblem of Heroism,Dalaran
Sigil of the Frozen Conscience
30Venture Coin, PvP daily quest in Grizzly Hills"Grizzly" D. Adams/Purkom
The main difference here in the top two epic helm choices is that there is more stamina on the Blacksmithing helmet vs the defense rating on the Engineering Helmet.
Neck Slot
Both epic items here are great options, the Jewelcrafting neck has a socket and stamina bonus that makes up for the lower base stamina value.
25Emblem of Heroism,Dalaran
Pendant of the Nathrezim
Shoulders Slot
There are 2BoEWorld Drop shoulders that would be great options. The epic shoulders will be very hard to find or will be an expensive purchase if you’re able to find them in the Auction House.
very low
100%
Back Slot
The Stratholme cloak is the best option with its high armor and value. There’s also the option to get the PvP cloak,Hateful Gladiator’s Cloak of Victory, it costs 38000 Honor Points
Cloak of the Enemy
Chest Slot
Unfortunately, the 2-set bonus for Tier 7 Blood Death Knights is lackluster, and the base stats are also not spectacular in comparison to some of the other more easily obtained items.
80Emblem of Heroism,Dalaran
Wrists Slot
The best bracer armor comes from Heroic Old Kingdom. The Horde has another good option from a quest reward and there are also the PvP Bracers,Hateful Gladiator’s Bracers of Triumph, as another option well that cost 31,600 Honor Points.
Bracers of the Herald
Quest:A Wing and a Prayer
Horde Only
Hands Slot
The tier 7 gloves are also available before Phase 2 comes out, but there are other options out there that compete for the top slot here. Blacksmithing also provides a solid budget option
60Emblem of Heroism,Dalaran
al’darah, Gundrak(H)
33%
Waist Slot
Not a lot of options here, but the ones that you can purchase with emblems are a good option if your parry rating isn’t too high.
40Emblem of Heroism,Dalaran
2%
Legs Slot
The Legs slot are a great place to get Defense Rating and Hit Rating.
Feet Slot
Blacksmithing leading the charge for a lot of armor pieces for Blood Death Knights in this Phase. These legs have a lot of stamina on them which will be a very high priority for most players.
Rings
For once the Dalaran Teleport ring is not on a BiS list! Jewelcrafters will be happy to know their services will again be in demand for rings and necklaces.
Trinkets
Jewelcrafters stand out above the rest when it comes to the profession only items and trinkets are a key highlight in this phase. The last two options are great to increase the health pool.
Seal of the Pantheon
13%
Conclusion
Death Knights will certainly be a popular class to play duringWrath of the Lich King. Tanking as a Death Knight has a number of builds beyond what we’ve covered here for niche uses. We’ll cover these in a future post should they become relevant. The class is truly a hero class that provides a number of viable, strong, and flexible ways to play.
