In this WoW Death Knight guide we’ll take a look at the Death Knight class. In many way Death Knights, introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, are a hybrid of magic and melee classes.

Death Knight Overview:

Death Knights can do magic but are especially talented at melee, able to deliver destruction to their enemies. It’s this melee ability combined with anti magic that can make them great tanks in a group. I’ll talk about some of their pros and cons.

You’ll need to have leveled your character to at least 55 before you can unlock the Death Knight. However, any race and faction can unlock the Death Knight class. Here’re some good races for Alliance and Horde.

Read more about Death Knight strategies in the World of Warcraft Death Knight Guide

Alliance Faction:

• Night Elves- Great for PvP
• Gnomes
• Dwarves- Stone forms are really good for Tanks

Horde Faction:

• Tauren’s War Stomp- Great for both PvP and PvE
• Forsaken’s will of the Forsaken- Their also really good at PvP and PvE

But as I mentioned you can choose any race.

Death Knight Guide the Upside and Downside

Upside:

• Heavy Plate Armor- This makes them great for combat and melee.
• Uncommon & Rare Gear- You get these right from the start.
• Uses Runic Power and Runes- You’ll get some unique playing benefits compare to other power sources.
• Wield 2 Handed Weapons- Again this makes them great as Tanks.
• Anti-Magic- This makes them really dangerous to magic users.
• Blood Magic for healing.

Downside:

• As mentioned you’ll need a level 55 character before you can unlock this class.
• Death Knight cannot tank with a shield.
• Because of their abilities they can take some time to master

Runic Power:

Death Knights don’t use energy, mana or rage but instead use Runes and Runic Power. You start with 6 runes; once they get used up they’ll regenerate every 10 seconds

There are 3 Runes you can use. They’re the Blood, Unholy and Frost Runes.

Here’s how some of the Runes are used for some abilities.

• Death Strike: Uses 1 Unholy & 1 Frost Rune; this is an instant cast and doesn’t require a cool down.
• Icy Touch: Uses 1 Frost Rune
• Blood Boil: Uses 1 Blood Rune

You can use these abilities in combination with one another. This is the aspect that make Death Knights a challenge to master. If you’re not carefull in the way you use your runes you’ll be completely out for the 10 second regeneration time. 10 seconds is a long time to wait if you need your power right away, like in combat.

WoW Death Knight Guide