HDL

As a Death Knight, there are 4 key rules to DPS:

1. Always keep your two diseases up
2. Use your primary DPS strike as often as possible
3. Use your secondary DPS strike to get Death Runes, which feeds back into letting you use rule #2 more often
4. Use a runic dump once rules #2 and #3 fill out your runic power


specs you should atleast look at if not copy.

Blood - http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=jfVMqh0IsbRxzAZZfMhhhck

your rotation with this spec should be : Plague Strike -> Icy Touch -> Heart Strike 2x -> Obliterate -> Death Coil until RP is depleted -> Plague Strike -> Icy Touch -> Heart Strike 4x -> Death Coil until RP is depleted

Plague Strike and Icy Touch cast your diseases, which fulfills rule #1
Heart Strike is your primary DPS strike, which fulfills rule #2
Obliterate converts its Unholy and Frost rune cost into Death runes via Death Rune Mastery, which you then use for more Heart Strikes, which fulfills rule #3
Your runic dump is Death Coil, which fulfills rule #4

Unholy - http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=jfVMVZZfMhhhckgcsMcsut

your rotation should be : Plague Strike -> Icy Touch -> Blood Strike 2x -> Scourge Strike -> Unholy Blight -> Scourge Strike 3x -> Death Coil until RP is depleted

Plague Strike and Icy Touch cast your diseases, which fulfills rule #1
Blood Strike converts its Blood rune cost into Death runes via Reaping, which you then use for more Scourge Strikes, which fulfills rule #3
Scourge Strike is your primary DPS strike, which fulfills rule #2
Your runic dump is Death Coil, which fulfills rule #4

Frost - http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=jfVMVZGMxtIxdRhoVosx

your rotation : Plague Strike -> Icy Touch -> Blood Strike 2x -> Obliterate -> Frost Strike until RP is depleted -> Plague Strike -> Icy Touch -> Obliterate 2x -> Frost Strike until RP is depleted

Plague Strike and Icy Touch cast your diseases, which fulfills rule #1
Blood Strike converts its Blood rune cost into Death runes via Blood of the North, which you then use for more Obliterates, which fulfills rule #3
Obliterate is your primary DPS strike, which fulfills rune #2
Your runic dump is Frost Strike, which fulfills rule #4

In this case, rule #3 comes before rule #2 because Plague Strike and Icy Touch use an Unholy and Frost rune, respectively, which are the same runes needed by Obliterate. You use your secondary strike while you wait for the runes of your primary strike to come back.

OK, with that out of the way i assume you now have a spec that doesnt look like a 4 year old randomly clicked the mouse on the coolest pictures.

Stats or What the fuck should my gear have on it?!

here i will list the DKs important stats in order of need.

Hit - hit is the single most important stat for melee dps UNTIL you are capped. once youre capped anything more becomes a waste. you NEED 260 hit.

STR - each point of str is 2 ap. str increases with raid buffs like kings where AP doesnt, therefore str is better than AP.

AP - see above. the item with 100ap is not as good as the one with 50 str.

Crit - Crit is good. crit makes big numbers! but str is much better for making big numbers! only take an item/gem with crit if you dont have anything available with str or ap on it.

Expertise - You want to get 6% expertise so monsters wont dodge you, like hit rating anything more is wasted.

haste - haste pretty much sucks for DKs. it makes you attack more often so you'll proc blood caked blades more, BUT thats a very small portion of your dps. so hit should not be avoided, but if you run out and get an item/gem with hit on it over something with str/ap/crit im going to taunt you forever.

Spell Power - if you even had a question about this im not sure DK is the class for you.

Int - see above.


How to play OR clicking buttons for big numbers :

- You are a melee class. Never attack from the front, ever (Unless told otherwise). If you attack from the front, the mob's parry rate will be another factor that will hurt your DPS. ATTACK FROM BEHIND.

- Ghoul = ALOT of dps, even if you arent spec'd into perma ghoul. dont be a cheap-ass and not buy dust. if you want to help its going to hurt the pocket book a little bit.

- Never let your RP cap if you can help it, ever. This is probably one of the trickiest ones to observe, and even I have capped my RP once or twice in the course of a boss fight. The trick is to find opportunities to sneak in your primary RP dump of choice (Frost strike if frost, death coil if unholy) when all of your runes are on cooldown (Ideally) or the majority of them are (Realistically). But avoid capping your RP if you can help it; you want to efficiently utilize your two resource systems.

And as always feel free to ask me any questions in game, i played an 80 dk in beta and im currently doing amazing dps on my lower lv dk in live.

Also - do not attack from the front due to the chance of triggering a boss parry. If you do that, the tank is going to take a counter-parry which is dangerous.

Unholy DPS build: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=jfVMVZZfMhhhckgcsMcsut