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Talent Builds
In this section, I will give a comprehensive overview of talent builds for Raiding and Mythic Plus, as well as highlighting specific talents and their strengths/synergies.
These talent builds can be altered depending on your scenario, primarily being adapted based on what utility/defensive talents you may need/require to get the most out of the class.
[Raid] Breath of Sindragosa
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Build Explanation:
The main focuses of this build are 2 essential talents, Breath of Sindragosa, and Obliteration.
Breath of Sindragosa is a 1.5 minute cooldown that we want to pair with Pillar of Frost. During Breath of Sindragosa windows, every Rime and Killing Machine consumed will extend its duration, leading to a bit of a frantic proc-focused playstyle where your goal is to generate and consume as many of these procs as possible.
This leads us perfectly into the other major player of this build, Obliteration. This talent helps us to generate those Killing Machine procs by allowing us to guarantee procs after every Holwing Blast or Frost Strike/Glacial Advance cast. Which leads to rotation to weaving every other global. This will generally look like Frost Strike/Glacial Advance > Obliterate/Frostscythe > Howling Blast (with a Rime proc) > Obliterate/Frostscythe > Frost Strike/Glacial Advance…
Being a Deathbringer-based build, we will also need to worry about Reaper’s Mark, and Exterminate for every Pillar of Frost window. Generally, this will mean sending Reaper’s Mark just before pressing Pillar of Frost to get it going, and quickly stacking it to explode a few seconds into Pillar of Frost. After that, you will get 2 Exterminate charges, which will empower your next 2 Obliterate/Frostscythe casts near the end of Pillar.
In addition to all of that, the Apex Talent, Chosen of the Frostbrood, also puts some pressure on our Pillar of Frost windows, requiring us to cast Frostwyrms Fury fairly early into the window (usually the very first global of it, if possible) to extend our Pillar of Frost. This also grants us the ability to recall our Frostwyrm once within 45 seconds of using it.
Being Deathbringer will mean that casting Frostwyrms Fury grants a couple of stacks of Exterminate due to Echoing Fury being talented. And the recall will grant 1 additional stack. Due to this, we want to be sure not to recall until after we have exploded our Reaper’s Mark and spent the 2 Exterminate charges that were granted. This will prevent wasting Exterminate uses.
Razorice stacks are generated through Arctic Assault, which will apply a Razorice stack to all targets hit by the Glacial Advance fired after every Killing Machine proc is consumed. Meaning we can skip using this Runeforge on our weapons and instead opt for Fallen Crusader in our main hand. If playing this as Dual-Wield, use Stoneskin Gargoyle on your offhand.
Weapon Runeforges
Dual Wield: Rune of the Fallen Crusader (Main Hand) / Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle (Off-hand, if DW)
[Raid] Frostbane Cleave
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Build Explanation:
This build does its damage by using Frost Strike/Glacial Advance & Rime procs during Pillar of Frost to generate Killing Machine stacks. Killing Machine stacks up to 2 times and greatly increases Obliterate’s damage by making it always crit and deal Frost damage (which makes it scale with your Mastery: Frozen Heart). It also makes Frostscythe always crit and deal 4 times its normal crit damage.
Consuming Killing Machine also applies Razorice to all targets in front of you via Arctic Assault, which buffs your weapon & Frost damage, increases the potency of your Obliterate/Frostscythe casts, and once 5 stacks of Razorice have been applied to your target, your next Frost Strike will consume these Razorice stacks to deal additional damage via the talent Shattering Blade.
Razorice stacks are generated through auto attacks & Arctic Assault, and are used to play into another key talent of this build, Shattering Blade. It works well with Obliteration because the more Killing Machine stacks you generate and spend, the more Razorice stacks you will apply to feed into your Frost Strikes.
For this build to have a strong cleave/multi-target damage profile, it uses the capstone talent Frostbane to make Frost Strike cleave and consume Razorice stacks on multiple enemies around your target. Frostbane is triggered by Glacial Advance, hitting an enemy that is afflicted with Razorice, and the proc chance is increased for each Razorice stack you have applied to that enemy.
As you consume Killing Machine stacks and shoot out Glacial Advances, Frostbane will passively proc and make your Frost Strike have powerful multi-target damage capabilities instead of just being a single target ability. If you do not have Frostbane after consuming Killing Machine stacks you will then use Glacial Advance instead of Frost Strike to spend runic power and attempt to manually trigger Frostbane.
Pillar of Frost will also activate Remorseless Winter via the talent Frozen Dominion, and increases your Mastery for each target hit by 8%, stacking up to 5 times. This additional Mastery is additive, so it's a significant Frost damage buff when dealing with multiple targets. Remorseless Winter is also amplified and extended by Gathering Storm, Biting Cold and Everfrost.
Pillar of Frost lasts for 12 seconds, but is extended by an additional 6 seconds with The Long Winter. With Pillar of Frost being our most powerful cooldown, this drastically increases our throughput and allows us to generate more Killing Machine stacks, consume more Razorice stacks, and trigger Frostbane more frequently.
In addition to all of that, the Apex Talent, Chosen of the Frostbrood, also puts some pressure on our Pillar of Frost windows, requiring us to cast Frostwyrms Fury fairly early into the window (usually the very first global of it, if possible) to extend our Pillar of Frost. This also grants us the ability to recall our Frostwyrm once within 45 seconds of using it.
Being Deathbringer will mean that casting Frostwyrms Fury grants a couple of stacks of Exterminate due to Echoing Fury being talented. And the recall will grant 1 additional stack. Due to this, we want to be sure not to recall until after we have exploded our Reaper’s Mark and spent the 2 Exterminate charges that were granted. This will prevent wasting Exterminate uses.
Rime procs are additionally buffed by Northwinds and are important to reduce the cooldown of your Empower Rune Weapon via Frostbound Will.
As this is a cleave build, you will want to use Obliterate & Frost Strike on 1-2 targets, then Frostscythe and Glacial Advance on 3+ targets, the only exception to this rule is if you have a Frostbane proc and 5 stacks of Razorice on your primary target, then you will use Frost Strike to consume Frostbane instead of Glacial Advance, then you can continue as normal until your next Frostbane proc.
Weapon Runeforges
Dual Wield: Rune of Razorice (Main Hand) + Rune of the Fallen Crusader (Off Hand)
[Mythic Plus] Frostbane
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Build Explanation:
This build does its damage by using Frost Strike / Glacial Advance & Rime procs during Pillar of Frost to generate Killing Machine stacks. Killing Machine stacks up to 2 times and greatly increases Obliterate’s damage by making it always crit and deal Frost damage (which makes it scale with your Mastery: Frozen Heart). It also makes Frostscythe always crit and deal 4 times its normal crit damage.
Consuming Killing Machine also applies Razorice to all targets in front of you via Arctic Assault, which buffs your weapon & Frost damage, increases the potency of your Obliterate / Frostscythe casts, and once 5 stacks of Razorice have been applied to your target, your next Frost Strike will consume these Razorice stacks to deal additional damage via the talent Shattering Blade.
Razorice stacks are generated through auto attacks & Arctic Assault, and are used to play into another key talent of this build, Shattering Blade. It works well with Obliteration because the more Killing Machine stacks you generate and spend, the more Razorice stacks you will apply to feed into your Frost Strikes.
For this build to have a strong cleave/multi-target damage profile, it uses the capstone talent Frostbane to make Frost Strike cleave and consume Razorice stacks on multiple enemies around your target. Frostbane is triggered by Glacial Advance, hitting an enemy that is afflicted with Razorice, and the proc chance is increased for each Razorice stack you have applied to that enemy.
As you consume Killing Machine stacks and shoot out Glacial Advances, Frostbane will passively proc and make your Frost Strike have powerful multi-target damage capabilities instead of just being a single target ability. If you do not have Frostbane after consuming Killing Machine stacks, you will then use Glacial Advance instead of Frost Strike to spend runic power and attempt to manually trigger Frostbane.
Pillar of Frost will also activate Remorseless Winter via the talent Frozen Dominion, and increases your Mastery for each target hit by 8%, stacking up to 5 times. This additional Mastery is additive, so it's a significant Frost damage buff when dealing with multiple targets. Remorseless Winter is also amplified and extended by Gathering Storm, Biting Cold, and Everfrost.
Pillar of Frost lasts for 12 seconds, but is extended by an additional 6 seconds with The Long Winter. With Pillar of Frost being our most powerful cooldown, this drastically increases our throughput and allows us to generate more Killing Machine stacks, consume more Razorice stacks, and trigger Frostbane more frequently.
In addition to all of that, the Apex Talent, Chosen of the Frostbrood, also puts some pressure on our Pillar of Frost windows, requiring us to cast Frostwyrms Fury fairly early into the window (usually the very first global of it, if possible) to extend our Pillar of Frost. This also grants us the ability to recall our Frostwyrm once within 45 seconds of using it.
Being Rider of the Apocalypse will mean that casting Frostwyrms Fury summons all 4 Riders of the Apocalypse for 20 seconds after use, and using the Recall will additionally summon all 4 Riders for 10 seconds after use. If the Riders are already active when Frostwyrms Fury, or its recall is cast, they will instead be extended for 10/20 seconds instead.
This leaves you with 2 choices: you can recall during the same pillar you used your initial Frostwyrms Fury, or hold it for your next Pillar of Frost window. Generally, it's best to hold this until your next Pillar of Frost window, but it can be quite difficult to time it well due to the buff only lasting 45 seconds. If you don't believe you will be able to use it with your next Pillar of Frost, send it early. Otherwise, do your best to have all 4 Riders of the Apocalypse up for every single Pillar of Frost.
Rime procs are additionally buffed by Northwinds & Everfrost, and are important to reduce the cooldown of your Empower Rune Weapon via Frostbound Will.
As this is a cleave build, you will want to use Obliterate & Frost Strike on 1-2 targets, then Frostscythe and Glacial Advance on 3+ targets, the only exception to this rule is if you have a Frostbane proc and 5 stacks of Razorice on your primary target, then you will use Frost Strike to consume Frostbane instead of Glacial Advance, then you can continue as normal until your next Frostbane proc.
Situational Adjustments
Mythic Plus often requires different forms of utility depending on your comp and which key you are doing, so you can give up talents such as Wraith Walk, Grip of the Dead, Coldthirst, etc for others such as Anti-Magic Zone, Asphyxiate, Vestigial Shell, Control Undead, etc.
Weapon Runeforges
(Dual Wield): Rune of Razorice (Main Hand) + Rune of the Fallen Crusader (Off Hand)
Class Talents
In the Class Tree, there are a few notable nodes to always go after.
Unholy Bond - Easily the most important DPS talent in the tree, as this increases the effectiveness of all our Runeforges, including the free Razorice applications from Glacial Advance.
Unholy Momentum - While just a flat % Haste buff, free stats are free stats. Since there are very few DPS increasing nodes in the class tree, this one is a must take.
Brittle - A random proc off our Frost Fever DoT, which increases the damage that a target will take from us for a few seconds. While not the biggest DPS increase, it's one of the few DPS nodes in the tree.
Gloom Ward - Increases the value of all absorb shields we receive, including from AMS. This substantially buffs our best defensive cooldown, making it a must take.
Deaths Echo - Doubles the charges of Death's Advance, Death And Decay, and Death Grip. In most content, you will never be using Death and Decay, but the extra charges for Death's Advance and Death Grip can be a lifesaver in any group content.
Anti-Magic Zone - A magic damage reduction for the entire raid/group. A must take in all group content to help keep everyone alive.
Spec Talents
Pillar of Frost - Our core cooldown, required for every build as Frost, making this node unskippable due to the sheer power it brings.
Frostwyrms Fury - A required talent for our Apex talent to function, as well as Riders of the Apocalypse. This makes this talent required, even if it does mediocre damage in single-target scenarios.
Breath of Sindragosa - While not a required cooldown, is one of our better capstone talents, and one that defines builds. Builds that go for Breath of Sindragosa do everything they can to lean into its damage and extend its duration.
Frostbane - Another capstone talent, but one that's a bit more focused on AoE scenarios than the others. This talent makes us into a very fast paced specialization requiring tracking Razorice stacks to consume, and firing off as many Frostbane casts as possible.
Obliteration - Not a capstone talent like the previous two, but still an incredibly potent talent that is massively gameplay-impacting, allowing us to generate and consume a staggering number of Killing Machine procs. These procs feed well into Breath of Sindragosa, making it a required talent for any build with Breath, though Frostbane builds will likely run it as well due to its ability to buff Frostscythe.
Apex Talents
The new Apex Talents for Frost Death Knight are:
First Point: Chosen of Frostbrood - Causes Frostwyrms Fury to deal double damage, and gives a haste buff when used.
Second & Third Point: Chosen of Frostbrood - Casting Frostwyrms Fury extends the duration of Pillar of Frost, and causes Enduring Strength to grant more strength after Pillar of Frost ends.
Final Point: Chosen of Frostbrood - Increases all Frost damage, Doubles Frostwyrms Fury’s damage (again), and allows you to cast Frostwyrms Fury again one more time within 45 seconds.
This second cast does half the damage of a regular Frostwyrms Fury, but otherwise does everything a normal Frostwyrms Fury would do. This includes Summoning the Riders of the Apocalypse, triggering the first point’s Haste Buff, triggering the Exterminate stacks from Echoing Fury, and extending Pillar of Frost. The only caveat to all of this is that they are at half effectiveness. So, the haste buff provides half the haste, Riders last half as long, Echoing Fury gives only 1 stack rather than 2, and the Pillar of Frost extension is only 2 seconds.
There is some min/max play to be had around the final point’s recall. Due to the buff lasting 45 seconds, you can potentially delay the recall until your next Pillar of Frost. In the case of being Rider of the Apocalypse, this will provide you with all 4 Riders for every single Pillar of Frost window, substantially increasing both your and their damage potential.
While for Deathbringer, it is worth sending the recall during the same Pillar of Frost you first utilized Frostwyrms Fury in to get an extra Exterminate stack near the end of Pillar of Frost, after your Reaper’s Mark has exploded.
Hero Talents
Rider of the Apocalypse
This hero talent tree is themed around the 4 horsemen, giving you a chance to summon a horseman to assist you for 10 seconds. Each horseman has unique abilities that they will use to deal damage while also increasing their own damage.
Mograine - When summoned, he will have a Death and Decay around him; this will always follow him wherever he goes. While standing inside it, you gain 5% crit and damage from Mograine’s Might.
Nazgrim - While active, he will give you a 3% strength buff, which is increased by either nearby enemies dying (3%) or spending a rune (1%).
Whitemane - She will cast a DoT called Undeath onto her target, which deals damage over 24 seconds (this cannot be extended). Undeath applies an additional stack every 3 seconds, and can be stacked up further by using Obliterate/Frostscythe on the afflicted target (up to 15 stacks total). Obliterate/Frostscythe will also spread Undeath to nearby enemies.
Trollbane - When summoned, Trollbane will cast Chains of Ice on the target, which slows the target and increases the damage you deal to them by 5% for 8 seconds. He will keep applying this debuff to the target while he is active. This talent scales in both single and multi-target scenarios, because of Trollbane’s Icy Fury, so you will want to Obliterate/Frostscythe the target affected by Trollbane’s Chains of Ice for some additional cleave/multi-target damage.
Apocalypse Now - This hero talent tree is very burst-oriented with Apocalypse Now, which makes Frost’s burst damage even stronger. This does mean that you have to talent into Frostwyrm’s Fury.
Defense/Utility Talents
Defense and mobility capabilities are also greatly enhanced with this hero tree, with Death Charge being one of the most powerful movement talents in the game. Death’s Advance is already a very strong ability when used properly, and Death Charge makes DK super fast and immune to displacement effects. You can also get a 5% damage reduction for each Rider that is active (which is a 20% damage reduction during Apocalypse Now) via Pact of the Apocalypse, or a lot of additional magic damage prevention/mitigation with Horsemen’s Aid.
What does Rider of the Apocalypse do for Frost's rotation/gameplay?
This hero talent specialization greatly increases the throughput of your Obliterate casts with Mawsworn Menace, as well as extends your Remorseless Winter by an additional 2 seconds with the same talent, which works very well with Frozen Dominion and Gathering Storm in multi-target scenarios.
The main reason for Rider of the Apocalypse working well with Frost is Trollbane’s Icy Fury. This is because it is Shadowfrost damage, which scales with your Mastery: Frozen Heart, and can be consumed by Obliterate / Frostscythe, so it will naturally detonate without having to change your gameplay too much around it. You still want to make it a higher priority to trigger the Trollbane’s Icy Fury because he can only reapply again once it has been consumed. It does decent single-target damage and scales very well when hitting multiple targets, so it’s very well-rounded and flexible for different damage profiles.
Rider of the Apocalypse is more of a passive bonus style specialization, rather than greatly altering your gameplay like Deathbringer. The main thing to keep in mind with Rider of the Apocalypse is that you will ALWAYS need to use Frostwyrm’s Fury in every build that you play, as that is how you trigger Apocalypse Now (the best hero talent Riders has), so that is something to keep in mind when playing with Rider of the Apocalypse.
Deathbringer
Deathbringer is themed around applying a Reaper’s Mark to your target, which detonates, giving you Exterminate. This is a hero talent tree that does well in both single-target and multi-target scenarios, with Exterminate doing a lot of multi-target damage. It also increases the potency of your Frost Fever with talents such as Wither Away.
Reaper's Mark - Reaper’s Mark is the core of this hero talent spec. It costs two runes and, when applied, deals instant damage, then gains stacks over its duration. After 12 seconds or by reaching 40 stacks, it detonates and empowers your next Obliterate / Frostscythe with Exterminate. This bonus will make your next 2 Obliterate/Frostscythe send out 2 scythes. The first scythe will deal damage to your primary target and grant you a stack of Killing Machine, while the second scythe will hit all enemies near/behind your main target and apply Frost Fever to all targets hit via Wither Away.
Grim Reaper - This talent simply grants a Killing Machine proc after using Reaper’s Mark and increases the detonation damage of Reaper’s Mark based on the target's missing health by up to 30%. This talent is useful in both single and multi-target scenarios in comparison to Reaper of Souls, which is a single-target-based talent that buffs Soul Reaper.
Reaper of Souls - Reaper of Souls is a single-target focused talent that empowers Soul Reaper throughout the entire encounter, and allows for Soul Reaper uses before a boss is within execute range (=<35% health). During your execute phase, it will enable you to use 2 Soul Reapers back to back, as you can apply Soul Reaper, then cast Reaper’s Mark to reset the cooldown of Soul Reaper. This can also be useful during Pillar of Frost windows, as Soul Reaper triggers Killing Machine during Pillar of Frost (when playing with Obliteration).
Dark Talons - Auto-attacking is a key part of Frost's kit as it procs Killing Machine, Runic Attenuation, Icy Death Torrent and The Long Winter. Auto attacks are also empowered by talents such as Smothering Offense. With this in mind, Dark Talons is a very strong talent as it can give you two additional Icy Talons stacks, resulting in more attack speed. It also makes Breath of Sindragosa, Frost Strike, Death Strike and Glacial Advance act as if they dealt Shadow Frost damage, doubling the stacks of Reaper’s Mark you generate via Bind in Darkness (which detonates Reaper’s Mark much faster).
Reaper’s Onslaught - Reaper’s Onslaught simply reduces the cooldown of Reaper’s Mark to 30 seconds, but reduces the amount of Obliterate/Frostscythe empowered to 1. This talent is not worth playing, as you will always want to sync your Reaper’s Mark with your Pillar of Frost (which is a 45 second cooldown).
Defense/Utility Talents
Outside of throughput, Deathbringer has two defensive gains with Rune Carved Plates, essentially giving you a permanent 10% magic and physical damage reduction, which is very strong. It also has Death’s Messenger, making your Lichborne a 1.5 minute cooldown, which is a nice defensive bonus if you also use the talent Unholy Endurance. You also gain a minor throughput increase with this talent, because it also makes your Raise Dead a 1.5 minute cooldown. Both of these talents are the strongest in each of their choice nodes, so you will want to use these most, if not all the time.
What does Deathbringer do for Frost’s rotation/gameplay?
Deathbringer plays well into Frost’s kit for multiple builds, because Exterminate reduces the rune cost of your Obliterate/Frostscythe casts to 1 rune, which frees up more runes to be spent on additional Obliterate/Frostscythe’s after generating more Killing Machine stacks.
Reaper’s Mark has the same cooldown as Pillar of Frost, so they can always be used together. When you use Reaper’s Mark, you will gain a Killing Machine stack via Grim Reaper, and also shoot out a Wave of Souls, increasing all of your damage dealt by 5-10% to all targets hit for 15 seconds (which will last for the majority of your Pillar of Frost window).
Rime damage is also increased by Bind in Darkness, multiplicatively scaling with Northwinds and Everfrost.
Reaper’s Mark and Exterminate have great cleave potential and do high bursts of Shadowfrost damage, which is buffed by Pillar of Frost, Frozen Dominion, Wave of Souls & Bonegrinder.