Death Knight Leveling Builds (58-68) – Patch 3.1
Posted on 2009 under Death Knight, Dedbitt, Guide | 11 Comments22 Apr
Leveling talent builds continue on through Outland pretty much like they were in Ebon Hold. Frost doesn?t become viable until level 67-68 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 a lot. 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 as it is.
Rotation: Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Blood Strike x2, Death Strike, Death Coil, Death Strike, Blood Strike x4, Death Coil
Swap out Blood Strike for Heart Strike when you get it.
- Simple rotation
- Best self healing
- Fast mount
- Best for soloing elites
- No special AoE abilities
Rotation: Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Scourge Strike, Blood Strike x2, Runic Dump, Scourge Strike x3, Runic Dump
Runic power dump should be Death Coil with single target, Unholy Blight with multiple.
- Best DPS in AoE situations
- Permanent ghoul pet
- Fast mount
- Limited self healing
- Dependent on ghoul for best DPS rating
by Rodrigo, on April 23 2009 @ 5:47 pm
Hey, Unholy leveling build has 71 points!
Good guide, needed something updated to lvling my dk
Total Comment by Rodrigo: 1
by Dedbitt, on April 24 2009 @ 9:53 am
I’ve corrected the spec, got carried away with the copy/paste originally it seems. Thanks for the catch.
by silvia, on April 27 2009 @ 11:20 pm
Thank you so much for posting these talent builds & rotations
I tried the blood build today im level 76 just now and i must say its fantastic for leveling!
Total Comment by silvia: 1
by Smalls, on May 6 2009 @ 3:22 pm
What is the rotation for doing aoe for multiple mobs under the unholy build. I dont think I am doing enough damage with AOE right now. Should I throw pestilence or DnD?
Thank you in advance.
Total Comment by Smalls: 1
by Dedbitt, on May 7 2009 @ 11:32 am
Smalls – To be honest I’m more flexible with my AoE rotation than my single target, mostly because I like being ready for adds (less so in raids unless chain pulling, more so when soloing or PvPing). Here’s a good AoE rotation start:
Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Pestilence, Death and Decay, Unholy Blight
After that it is going to depend on the situation. You want to keep diseases up on everything at all times first, then worry about keeping DnD and UB Blight. Anything left can be put into Blood Boil or just smack the mob in front of you.
by Bruce, on May 11 2009 @ 1:02 am
hey there – great info, but just one question: what glyphs do you recommend with the blood leveling spec? I want to make sure I’ve got all the right ones as I level up.
Total Comment by Bruce: 1
by Dedbitt, on May 11 2009 @ 10:25 am
Bruce – The glyphs are listed on the Wowhead build page, in the lower right. I’ve limited glyph choices based on how many glyphs you can have in the level range for each talent link.
by ipickflowers, on May 30 2009 @ 12:26 am
I have a lvling partner who is a healer and i want to lvl as a competent tank in BC instances should I go unholy or is there a hybrid frost spec I should be looking at?
Total Comment by ipickflowers: 1
by Dedbitt, on June 17 2009 @ 12:55 pm
ipickflowers – Personally I ran with a hybrid build combining Unholy DPS and tank builds. Basically take the DPS build and take out some of the less talents for the more basic tank talents. Remember dual spec is also an option if you have the 1,000 gold for it.
by Jim, on December 28 2009 @ 2:59 pm
Great guide, followed your blood spec all the way till 68 and I’ve been killing 1-4 mobs at a time. Thanks for the help man!
Total Comment by Jim: 1
by enelyn, on January 9 2010 @ 1:10 pm
There’s something wrong with the build and rotation since the rotation includes scourge strike but that’s not chosen in the talent build…?
Total Comment by enelyn: 1