gnomeDK – Your Pink Haired Guide to All Things Death Knight

I had been planning on going straight to Outland after getting out of the death knight start area and running some errands. The Plaguelands have never been known as a great leveling area and I figured since we’ll be level 58 anyway why not go through the Dark Portal. However I’ve read some good arguments about hanging around the Plaguelands for a couple of levels. They are based on ease (believe it or not) and may actually be part of a faster leveling path. Read more… »

Earlier I covered the gear your death knight starts with upon logging in. Here’s the list of your gear and items when you complete Ebon Hold and leave the death knight start area.

If you are planning to enchant your death knight’s start gear this is the stuff you want to enchant. The armor is on par with Outland quest greens and can last you to Northrend easily, especially if enchanted. Be sure to check with your local inscriber on getting some [Armor Vellum II] to save you from having to beg an enchant to come back from Northrend.

Plate Armor

Amulet, Rings, Trinkets, and Sigil

Greatsword of the Ebon Blade or Greataxe of the Ebon Blade

• The sword has better stats IMO, but both work. Orcs should definitely take the axe, humans the sword. Everyone else I say esthetics > stat differences.

Noth’s Special Brew

• Good stuff! You get it with a repeatable turn in quest in the start area.

You’ll also get Death Gate. It is a spell, not an item, but works like a death knight heartstone back to Ebon Hold so thought worth mentioning.

I think everyone knows death knights start with their own gear, but unless you played in the beta you may not know the details.

Here’s a list of the gear a death knight starts with upon login. I’ll go over the gear you end up with at the end of the start area later.

Acherus Knight Set

• Plate armor and cloak you start with. Yes, your manly death knight starts with a skirt.

Amulet and Rings

Runed Soulblade

• Technically you don’t start with it, but you’ll get it from your second quest.

Deathweave Bag x4

• These are 12 slot bags you’ll start with. They are enough to get through the start area with, but I would upgrade them after that.

You’ll also start with a hearthstone and half a stack of level appropriate, non-buffing food. There are food and general vendors in Ebon Hold, but you start with almost no cash. You can access a mailbox during your first series of combat based quests.

Your trinket and sigil (death knight range slot, like an idol or relic) slots are empty to start.

Blizzard posted a Death Knight Creation FAQ. If you have questions about who can make a death knight or how many you can have check it out.

If you haven’t already you should reserve the name for your death knight. At this point you’ll probably have to go down a list of choices before you find one available. If you don’t have a name then try to come up with some now, rather than stressing out over it after your WotLK install.

To reserve a name just make a character with that name. While you are at it might I also suggest you go ahead and figure out what character features you want for your death knight. Some features will change with the death knight class: eyes glow so eye color doesn’t much matter and there are new skin shades and hair colors, but the more know you want in advance the sooner you’ll be chatting with the Lich King.

On launch day you’ll need to delete the character you created to reserve your name, then immediately create your death knight (see where knowing what you want it to look like in advance helps?). As soon as the character is deleted the name is released.

Now we can have some fun with talent builds. After level 68 things really open up for death knights. Blood builds start really pumping up the damage, Unholy builds gain the self healing of Blood builds, and Frost is finally a viable leveling build. Read more… »

Leveling talent builds continue on through Outland pretty much like they were in Ebon Hold. Frost doesn’t become viable until level 69-70 and On a Pale Horse is a huge talent to lose for trying something different, given all of the riding around you’ll be doing on a ground mount.

You may also notice I’m skipping reactionary and cooldown based talents. This is partly because of my own play style, but it also reduces the number of things to keep track of. As a starting out death knight you’ll find you have plenty of things to watch by default. Read more… »