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Unholy Death Knight Guide — Class Guides · WoW Wrath of the Lich King

Diseases, a permanent ghoul and shadow damage: the usual leveling tree.

A plate-wearing melee fighter who spends runes and Runic Power on diseases, strikes and frost and unholy magic. Death knights start at level 55 and can tank or deal damage from any tree. More about the death knight

Class
Death Knight
Roles
Damage
Used for
Raids and dungeons, Player versus player, Leveling
Top talent
Summon Gargoyle
Popular builds
3
Version
WoW Wrath of the Lich King

How to play

Unholy is the disease and minion tree: Scourge Strike and Blood Strike hit harder for each disease on the target, a permanent ghoul and the Summon Gargoyle cooldown add damage, Ebon Plaguebringer strengthens diseases and makes the target take more magic damage, and Bone Shield cuts the damage you take.

Keep both diseases up, Scourge Strike with Frost and Unholy runes, Blood Strike with Blood runes, Death Coil with Runic Power, and Summon Gargoyle with your trinkets and Heroism. Unholy is the best death knight for leveling: your ghoul tanks and Death and Decay clears packs.

In arenas, Unholy's pet, Anti-Magic Zone and Gargoyle make it a strong pressure spec.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Wrath of the Lich King.

Rotation and priorities

  1. 1Icy Touch and Plague Strike for both diseases.
  2. 2Scourge Strike with Frost and Unholy runes.
  3. 3Blood Strike with Blood runes.
  4. 4Death Coil to spend Runic Power.
  5. 5Summon Gargoyle with trinkets and Heroism; Death and Decay on packs.
  6. 6Horn of Winter when it runs out, for Runic Power and the buff.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • Ebon Plaguebringer makes the target take more magic damage from the raid.
  • Ghoul and Gargoyle add damage.
  • The best leveling death knight.

Weaknesses

  • Pets need managing.
  • Lower damage than Frost late in the expansion.
  • Slow start while diseases go up.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

  1. 1

    Hitto 263 rating; Death Coil wants more

  2. 2

    Strength

  3. 3

    Haste

  4. 4

    Critical strike

  5. 5

    Expertise

  6. 6

    Armour penetration

What to look for

  • Two one-handers (or a two-hander) with Rune of the Fallen Crusader.
  • Hit first, then Strength and haste.
  • Strength gems.

Items worth chasing

  • Deathbringer's WillA trinket that procs Strength, Agility or haste.
  • Darkmoon Card: GreatnessA trinket that procs your best stat.
  • Grim TollA trinket with hit and an armour penetration proc.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

  • Blood
  • Frost
  • Unholy

  • Dual-Wield Unholy

    DamagePvE
    0/19/52

    Raid damage with 52 points in Unholy, down to Summon Gargoyle, and 19 in Frost.

    • Bone Shield 1/1
    • Wandering Plague 3/3
    • Ebon Plaguebringer 3/3
    • Rage of Rivendare 5/5
    • Summon Gargoyle 1/1

    Glyphs: Glyph of the Ghoul (major), Glyph of Icy Touch (major), Glyph of Death and Decay (major), Glyph of Horn of Winter (minor), Glyph of Pestilence (minor), Glyph of Raise Dead (minor)

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycrafting

  • Unholy Gladiator

    DamagePvP
    0/17/54

    Arena and battleground damage with 54 points in Unholy, down to Summon Gargoyle, and 17 in Frost.

    • Bone Shield 1/1
    • Ebon Plaguebringer 3/3
    • Scourge Strike 1/1
    • Rage of Rivendare 5/5
    • Summon Gargoyle 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycrafting

  • Unholy Leveling

    DamageLeveling
    12/0/59

    Leveling with 59 points in Unholy, down to Summon Gargoyle, and 12 in Blood.

    • Bone Shield 1/1
    • Wandering Plague 3/3
    • Scourge Strike 1/1
    • Rage of Rivendare 5/5
    • Summon Gargoyle 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycraftingTalent order by level

Key talents

  • Summon Gargoyle · top talent, up to 1

    A Gargoyle flies into the area and bombards the target with Nature damage modified by the Death Knight's attack power. Persists for 30 sec.

  • Master of Ghouls · tier 6, up to 1

    Reduces the cooldown on Raise Dead by 60 sec, and the Ghoul summoned by your Raise Dead spell is considered a pet under your control. Unlike normal Death Knight Ghouls, your pet does not have a limited duration.

  • Desolation · tier 7, up to 5

    Your Blood Strikes cause you to deal 5% additional damage with all attacks for the next 20 sec.

  • Ghoul Frenzy · tier 7, up to 1

    Grants your pet 25% haste for 30 sec and heals it for 60% of its health over the duration.

  • Crypt Fever · tier 8, up to 3

    Your diseases also cause Crypt Fever, which increases disease damage taken by the target by 30%.

  • Bone Shield · tier 8, up to 1

    The Death Knight is surrounded by 3 whirling bones. While at least 1 bone remains, he takes 20% less damage from all sources and deals 2% more damage with all attacks, spells and abilities. Each damaging attack that lands consumes 1 bone. Lasts 5 min.

  • Wandering Plague · tier 9, up to 3

    When your diseases damage an enemy, there is a chance equal to your melee critical strike chance that they will cause 100% additional damage to the target and all enemies within 8 yards. Ignores any target under the effect of a spell that is cancelled by taking damage.

  • Ebon Plaguebringer · tier 9, up to 3

    Your Crypt Fever morphs into Ebon Plague, which increases magic damage taken by 13% in addition to increasing disease damage taken. Improves your critical strike chance with weapons and spells by 3% at all times.

  • Scourge Strike · tier 9, up to 1

    An unholy strike that deals 70% of weapon damage as Physical damage plus 238. In addition, for each of your diseases on your target, you deal an additional 12% of the Physical damage done as Shadow damage.

  • Rage of Rivendare · tier 10, up to 5

    Your spells and abilities deal 10% more damage to targets infected with Blood Plague. Also increases your expertise by 5.

Unholy abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.

Related

Other death knight specs: Blood, Frost