Unholy Death Knight Playstyle and Rotation Guide

All rotations are for the builds that I have provided in this guide. There are a lot of variables on openers and rotations depending on what talents you play, so for user readability I will be writing out the rotations/openers for the current best and most optimal builds.

• Riders of the Apocalypse
• San’layn

Basic Gameplay Loop

Unholy at a basic level has two primary resources, Runes and Runic Power.

You use Runes to generate and consume Lesser Ghoul stacks via Festering Strike (to apply Lesser Ghoul stacks), and Scourge Strike (to consume Lesser Ghoul stacks). Spending Runes with these abilities generates Runic Power, which can then be spent on Death Coil (for single target / two target cleave) and Epidemic (for multi-target). Runes have a baseline 10 second cooldown (reduced by Haste), so you regenerate Runes faster by spending Runic Power on Death Coil / Epidemic to proc Runic Corruption, which will regenerate your runes to then spend and generate more Runic Power.

Using Death Coil / Epidemic are not just for triggering Runic Corruption, but they are also strong damage abilities that trigger/apply other effects such as Sudden Doom, Eternal Agony, and Doomed Bidding.

And finally, you will always want to apply and maintain your Virulent Plague on your enemies. This is a disease effect which can apply effects such as Brittle and Morbidity. You can apply Virulent Plague by using Putrefy (if Blightburst is talented) or Outbreak when you do not have Putrefy charges. It is also required on your targets to use Epidemic, so make sure it’s applied when dealing with multiple enemies

Cooldown Usage

Generally speaking, cooldowns are best used as frequently as possible and with other cooldowns/buffs. A big key to doing good damage across all classes is to stack as many buffs and cooldowns together as possible, so they are all doing their maximum output when used. With that in mind, let's go over Unholy’s cooldowns, what they do and how you will want to use them.

Dark Transformation

Dark Transformation is quite a short cooldown (45 seconds), and is one of your core cooldowns that triggers multiple effects, which leads to significant throughput gains for your other cooldowns.

Once used, this cooldown not only buffs your Ghouls damage by 200% but it will also trigger effects such as Commander of the Dead and Gift of the San’layn which may alter when you will want to use it:

• Commander of the Dead: Shortly after Army of the Dead / Raise Abomination so these cooldowns gain the full 30 second duration of Commander of the Dead.
• Gift of the San’layn: After your other cooldowns have been used so you have the maximum amount of globals in your Gift of the San’layn window to use on Vampiric Strike.
• Dark Transformation also makes your Ghouls (and Lesser Ghouls with Outnumber talented) Claw attacks become Sweeping Claws.

Army of the Dead

Both Army of the Dead is your biggest cooldown that you will want to overlap with as many buffs as possible. Army of the Dead is a 1.5 minute cooldown that summons 6 Ghouls for 6 seconds.

If you are using Commander of the Dead, you will want to make sure you use Dark Transformation alongside your Army of the Dead so they gain the maximum uptime of Commander of the Dead.

Putrefy

Putrefy is a very short duration cooldown that you will use rotationally. While on its own, you should be pressing this on cooldown as much as possible, if you instead talent Soul Reaper and Reaping, the priority shifts a decent bit.

Soul Reaper becoming available to use on any target after using Dark Transformation with Reaping being talented means that you should generally try to bank at least 1 charge of Putrefy for when your Dark Transformation comes off cooldown. Do be weary though, banking 2 charges will waste uses. So, if you are at 2 charges, just use it.

Important Buffs

Icy Talons

The Icy Talons buff ties in well with Death Rot, as it’s triggered from Death Coil / Epidemic.

Maintaining this buff is important for your Sudden Doom procs, but you should naturally be able to maintain this buff if you do your rotation correctly and don’t go too long without casting a Death Coil / Epidemic (or even a Death Strike).

Defensive Cooldowns / Utility

Anti-Magic Shell

Anti-Magic Shell is one of the best abilities in a Death Knight's toolkit. It makes you immune to many magic auras and debuffs and prevents heavy amounts of magic damage when used correctly. If you pre-use Anti-Magic Shell before walking over a magic-based floor effect, it will make you completely immune to the damage and any additional effects it may apply to you while walking over it.

It's important to note that using Anti-Magic Shell only prevents the application of magic debuffs and does not remove them once they have already been applied to you. So make sure you use Anti-Magic Shell before a debuff is applied. When absorbing magic damage with this ability, you also gain Runic Power, which can also be used offensively for a slight DPS gain.

When in magic damage-based fights, Anti-Magic Shell is insanely strong, and taking the talent Anti-Magic Barrier allows you to use it more frequently, as well as increasing its duration and absorb amount.

Icebound Fortitude

Icebound Fortitude is your main heavy mitigation ability that makes you immune to stun effects. This can be very useful in encounters that have stun mechanics. It has a 2 minute cooldown, so make sure to plan out your uses to get the most value out of it.

Anti-Magic Zone

Anti-Magic Zone is a raid/party defensive cooldown for magic damage. It loses value based on how many allies are within it, so it will not be as strong in raids but it's worth using along with some other healing cooldowns as an extra safety measure. Its cooldown can also be reduced by using the talent Assimilation.

Lichborne

On its own, Lichborne's only beneficial in niche situations where you will be Feared, Charmed, or put to Sleep. However, when using the talent Unholy Endurance it becomes a valuable extra mitigation ability that you will want to use in high-damage encounters. Leech in general scales a lot better in multi-target scenarios compared to single target, but it’s still very good to have either way.

Death Grip

Death Grip is an iconic Death Knight ability that makes them stand out from other classes in the game. No other class can grip enemies into specific positions, making Death Knight very strong in add control encounters. Make sure to always keep an eye out for enemies outside of the rest and grip them in so your group and cleave them down with the rest. It's also an effective way to interrupt a target from casting, even if they are uninterruptible, as it counts as a form of CC and not an interrupt.

Death's Advance

A Death Knight's main weakness is mobility. Death's Advance usage is a key part of what makes a good Death Knight player. It's your only mobility spell if you are not talented into Wraith Walk, so it is crucial to use it at the right time. It also makes you immune to knockback effects which can be incredibly strong in certain encounters. It can also be greatly empowered by the Riders of the Apocalypse talent Death Charge, which increases your movement speed by 100% instead of 35% as well as all of the other benefits of Death's Advance, so with this talent you are one of the fastest classes (mobility wise) in the game.

Raise Ally

Along with Druids and Warlocks, Death Knights are one of the only classes in the game that can resurrect an ally during combat. Raise Ally is an instant cast, and costs less resources compared to other classes, so it’s generally the best combat res if you need to get somebody back into the fight ASAP. It can also be buffed with the San’layn talent Newly Turned.

Death Strike

After taking a heavy hit of damage, you can heal a significant amount after using Death Strike, making your healer's life a lot easier and maybe proccing Runic Corruption afterward. Use this ability after taking a large amount of damage if you are out of Refreshing Healing Potions and Healthstones.

Chains of Ice

Another helpful tool for Death Knights to use is Chains of Ice, which is very strong when an add needs to be slowed or kited by your tank. However, it does come at the cost of a rune, so using this too much will often leave you rune starved. Make sure only to use it when it's needed or called for. If you have multiple targets that need to be slowed simultaneously, consider using the talent Grip of the Dead instead of applying Chains of Ice to multiple targets.