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On the twentieth episode of the Molsan Method podcast, I discuss problems with gathering professions, and why I paired Inscription and Enchanting for my Alliance Death Knight. Yes, I said Alliance. (6:47)
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Here is a general progression of one-handed weapons for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.
Now that patch 3.2 is out, it’s time to take a look at one-handed weapons for dual-wielding specs. If you’re going to dual-wield, you’ll want two slow weapons, so I’m only showing progression for weapon speeds of 2.4 and above. What’s nice is you have crafted, bind-on-equip, non-unique weapons available to you at levels 71, 73, and 74 from a Blacksmith. If you’re a Weaponsmith yourself, you can pickup another pair of weapons at level 78.
Entering Northrend at level 68, you can obtain a Soldier’s Spiked Mace and Edge of the Tuskarr from quests very early on. These two weapons should carry you for three levels. Then at level 71, find two Cobalt Tenderizers until you hit Dragonblight and two Notched Cobalt War Axes when you hit level 73. The crafted Savage Cobalt Slicer is a fantastic upgrade at level 74. At level 75, you should find a couple of friends (especially a healer), and complete The Champion of Anguish quest chain in Zul’Drak. You can swap out one of your two crafted weapons for the Crimson Cranium Crusher.
Unless you are a Weaponsmith, or you can find a group willing to farm regular Utgarde Pinnacle at level 78, you’ll be waiting until level 80 to upgrade your weapons. If money is no object, check the auction house for a Krol Cleaver. In the meantime, start saving up gold or materials for a Titansteel Bonecrusher for your main hand. The TB is a main-hand-only weapon, so you’ll need to find an off-hand weapon to compliment it.
Finding a new off-hand at level 80 can be time-consuming depending on which faction you want to grind rep with. The Reaper of Dark Souls has a slight DPS edge over the Stalactite Chopper, but the Chopper comes with Armor Penetration. You’ll most likely be doing quests for both The Sons of Hodir and Knights of the Ebon Blade anyway, so pickup whichever one you get access to first.
* Main-hand only
Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).
I was really enjoying my Death Knight prior to patch 3.2. He was a Blood-spec, two-handed axe smashing fool. My last run was a 4-man regular Violet Hold, where I was doing 1300+ DPS at level 77. Our tank was a Death Knight, and one of the other DPS was a Death Knight. They were each doing around 780 DPS. I thought I really had something special going: the correct build, properly itemized gear, and a tight rotation.
The Death Knight rumor casting a cloud over this patch was that my spec would be “dead.” That’s a silly way to describe a Death Knight spec, but I bought into it, and replaced my build with a dual-wield Unholy build. I really like the look and feel of a melee player dual-wielding big weapons. What I didn’t like was that I had a hard time breaking 750 DPS in Sholazar Basin! I think the rhinos and tigers were laughing at me, wondering what I was doing out there slapping them around.
The Build: 0/18/53
I decided on this build after sifting through a 34-page thread on the Elitist Jerks forums. Skeleton Jack confirmed this build on his site, but stated that “the Frost tree is officially the ‘Dual Wield Tree’ as of 3.2 for PvE DPS.” I understand that, but what attracted me to Unholy was some of the soloing utility, including Master of Ghouls and Summon Gargoyle.
After going back and reading more about this spec, it seems that this is more suited for raiding. You maximize your output by stacking Armor Penetration, which is really only available from well-itemized Ulduar-level gear. So is it back to the drawing board already? Probably.
The “New” Build: 0/53/18
I refuse to give up on a dual-wield spec, and will try again going deeper into the Frost tree. This also requires me to manage two rotations, as opposed to the one rotation I used with Blood. In order to maximize this spec, you need to manage a “setup” rotation and a “main” rotation. This idea was explained in detail by Skeleton Jack in a comment, and I will spell it out even more clearly here.
The Setup Rotation
Icy Touch -> Plague Strike -> Pestilence -> Blood Strike -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike -> Frost Strike -> Obliterate -> Obliterate -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike
The Main Rotation
Obliterate -> Pestilence -> Blood Strike -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike -> Frost Strike -> Obliterate -> Obliterate -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike -> Frost Strike
The Frost Strikes in both rotations act as your runic power dump. I will try out this build and rotations at some point and report back on my findings. Thanks to Elitist Jerks and Skeleton Jack for the information and explanations.
Here is a general progression of neck pieces for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.
The progression path here is probably the most straight-forward of any slot. One of your first rare items from Northrend will come from the group quest “Breaking Through” in Borean Tundra, available at level 68. Completing this quest will reward you with the Choker of Forceful Redemption which will carry you to at least 72, if not 75.
At level 75, you’ll want to find a Jewelcrafter and make friends with him or her. You can pick up the Jewelcrafter-made Jade Dagger Pendant until you finish the Oracles/Frenzyheart quest chain in Sholazar Basin for the Spiked Collar of Servitude.
If you are questing in Icecrown and need a buffer for this slot in the mid-70s, The Severed Noose of Westwind is available to you from a quest at 78. When you hit level 80, find that Jewelcrafter friend of yours and get the Titanium Impact Choker crafted for you.
Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).
Here is a general progression of chest pieces for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.
Starting out in Borean Tundra, you’ll want to focus on obtaining the Battle Leader’s Breastplate. This will carry you for three levels until you can hit Dragonblight for the Chestplate of the Ruby Champion.
Your first opportunity to pick up a rare item will be at level 76 with the Kalu’ak. If you’ve completed all of the quests for this faction in at least two out of the three zones where Kalu’ak quests exist, you should have no trouble reaching honored.
You can then run Gundrak for the Forlorn Breastplate of War from Moorabi, or hold off until 80 and complete the quest “Whatever it Takes!” in the Halls of Lightning. Although you can pick up this quest at level 77, you’re more likely to find a heroic HoL group at 80, then you are a regular HoL group at 77.
Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).
Here is a general progression of trinkets for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.
The bad news is you don’t have many options here. The good news is you don’t have many options here.
Starting off in Borean Tundra, you can quickly obtain Warsong’s Fervor and Serrah’s Star. You can then jump over to Howling Fjord and work towards the First Mate’s Pocketwatch. At level 71 and after completing the Battle for the Undercity quest chain, you are rewarded with the Medallion of Heroism.
At this point, you won’t have to worry about trinket upgrades until level 77. When you hit 77, start working towards reputation gains with The Oracles faction. At exalted, you have the ability to purchase the Oracle Talisman of Ablution as an upgrade over the pocketwatch. Keep an eye out for the Nobles cards on the auction house and start building your Nobles Deck.
Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).
Here is a general progression of two-handed weapons for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.
One of the very first quests in Borean Tundra rewards you with a great starter weapon, the Combatant Greatsword. From there, you can follow a basic upgrade path, or work some dungeons and grind reputations to itemize as you level.
As you complete your Borean Tundra starter quests, the Axe of Frozen Death will become available to you from a level 68 quest chain reward. At level 70, you can start to farm Utgarde Keep for a chance at Ingvar’s Monolithic Cleaver. If you have difficulties getting a UK group, your next upgrade will come at level 73 from the Blacksmith-crafted Honed Cobalt Cleaver.
When you hit 75, you’ll want to travel to Zul’Drak and participate in the Ampitheater of Anguish event. Upon completion, you can choose between an axe (De-Raged Waraxe) and a polearm (Icier Barbed Spear). They are both similar, so your decision will probably be based on personal preference. You should consider a high-end enchant such as Massacre or Berserking for your weapon as there is a good chance you’ll keep this until level 80.
Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).
Here is a general progression of gloves for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.
The glove itemization is fairly straight-forward, mainly because you don’t have a lot of options. Once you hit level 75, you’ll want to run The Violet Hold. The Plate Claws of the Dragon drop off the last boss, so you’ll have a consistent chance at a drop (rather than a random drop off of a random boss encounter in there).
If you pass on VH, there are two options at level 77 in the Storm Peaks. Hold on to those Astrid Riding Gloves until you have a chance to run Halls of Lightning for the Fists of Loken.
Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).
Here is a general progression of boots for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.
After you pick up the Chilled Greaves and Spiked Cobalt Boots, your next few options involve Wrathgate and dungeon quests. You may end up higher than level 71 by the time Wrathgate becomes available to you. In that case, you may want to focus on completing Azjol-Nerub and Drak’Tharon Keep. The Enticing Sabatons will carry you from 73 to at least 77, where the The Darkspeaker’s Iron Walkers from Icecrown are almost a side-grade.
The Berserker’s Sabatons at 78 are a nice stopgap if you can find them, but you may just keep what you have until you hit 80. Ultimately, you want to grind out your Knights of the Ebon Blade reputation to Exalted for the Death-Inured Sabatons. However, the crafted Spiked Titansteel Treads are more than adequate as an immediate upgrade when you ding 80.
Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).
Here is a general progression of cloaks for a DPS Death Knight in Northrend for World of Warcraft.
At level 68, the Durable Worghide Cape becomes available from a quest reward after completing short quest chains for The Kalu’ak in either Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord. This cloak has great stats, but lacks both stamina and strength.
At level 80, you have a choice of two cloaks to go after: Ice Striker’s Cloak and Cloak of Bloodied Waters. The Ice Striker’s Cloak can be crafted by Leatherworkers at skill level 440, while the Cloak of Bloodied Waters is a random world drop. Start checking the auction house now for the Cloak of Bloodied Waters as it is preferred because of the higher amount of strength and critical strike rating. However, the Ice Striker’s Cloak could provide more overall balance to your gear setup as it provides 38 more stamina, agility, and an attack power bonus of 100.
Prices and links provided by Wowhead. Gear score provided by Loot Rank (based on the PvE Death Knight template).
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