True fans of the Warcraft series will recognize the Death Knight immediately: He made his debut as a Warcraft 2 unit and appeared again as a hero class in Warcraft 3.  In World of Warcraft, the Death Knight meets us as a corrupted paladin – a mix between “WC2” nostalgia and hero class elements from “WC3”.  He is the first and thus far only hero class in WoW.  Being a heroic class in comparison to other classes means not starting out at level 1 like other classes, but rather starting at level 55.  That’s a hefty leveling head start that really gives a gamer an advanced WoW entry.  The disadvantage: While leveling your profession, you may need to do some catching up and often return to starting areas.

The Death Knight “shines” with his special auras (not dissimilar to the Paladin) – here called a “Presence”.  The “Blood Presence” increases stamina by 8% and armor contribution from cloth, leather, mail, and plate items by 30%, as well as reducing damage taken by 8%.  The “Frost Presence” increases damage by 10% and increasing Runic Power generation by 10%.  The “Unholy Presence” increases attack speed and rune regeneration by 10%, and movement speed by 15%, and reduces the global cool-down on your abilities by 0.5 sec.

Specialize your Death Knight

Blood: This spec is being used more often by tanks.  Through abilities such as “Bone Shield”, “Improved Blood Presence”, and of course “Rune Tap”, you pretty much have a perfect tank.  Nevertheless, the Death Knight is more of a supporter tank that assists the main tank in raids.  Through “Vampiric Blood” 15% of his maximum health is increased, and the amount of health generated through spells and effects by is also increased by 25% for 10 sec.

Frost: Currently, this tree is probably the most popular for PvP as well as PvE for raids and dungeons.  Through the abilities “Icy Reach”, you can increase the range of various other abilities by 5 yards, such as: “Icy Touch”, “Chains of Ice”, and “Howling Blast”.  “Improved Frost Presence” is not to be underestimated as you deal 2% more damage, in addition while in “Blood Presence” or “Unholy Presence” you retain 2% increased runic power regeneration from “Frost Presence”.  Not to mention the ability, “Might of the Frozen Wastes”, which increases your melee damage by 12% as long as you have a Two-Handed weapon equipped.

Unholy: The Unholy Death Knight has proven to be very useful in PvP – in this tree, he’s not only highly efficient, but his Creature Feature is loads of fun.  With this tree you’ll be improving mostly his summoning and disease spells.  A suitable strategy is to use quick attacks in order to infect your opponent early on with some disease.  On top of it all, the Unholy Death Knight summons an improved Ghoul.  This pretty companion is usually only a temporary part of the team and disappears rather quickly, but thanks to “Master of Ghouls”, he becomes a permanent companion.  The peak of his abilities is also a creature summoning: A mighty gargoyle accompanies you for 30 seconds and deals massive nature damage to your enemies.

Allowable Races: All
Standard Bars: Health, Runic
Allowable Equipment: Cloth, Leather, Mail, Plate
Allowable Weapons: One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Polearms, Relic, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Swords, Two-Handed Maces