Unholy dk build

My name is Lnoght and I will be writing the Unholy Death Knight guide. I've been playing WoW since Wrath of the Lich King and started raiding in WoD, joining Reason in BFA after Uldir and now Method for Shadowlands.

Spec Strengths

• Unique add control with Death Grip which has been very useful in previous tiers (Hivemind in Ny'alotha, Za’qul and Orgozoa in The Eternal Palace, Mekkatorque in BoD and Mythrax in Uldir).
• Anti-Magic Zone, which is a massive raid cooldown that provides a 20% magic damage reduction for everyone inside the zone.
• Icebound Fortitude, which can have very unique uses, allowing you to break out of stuns like the Stasis Trap on Artificer Xy’mox in Castle Nathria.
• Death's Advance, making you immune to slows below 100% when used and giving you immunity to forced movement effects/knockbacks. This has been useful in the past in fights like Abyssal Commander Sivara’s Crushing Reverberation in The Eternal Palace or Inevitable End on King Rastakhan in Battle of Dazar’alor.
• Strong cooldowns with high single target damage, and promising AoE burst damage.

Spec Weaknesses

• Limited mobility. Death knights don't have a jump/blink to quickly deal with mechanics that require to get to a certain spot very quickly 
• Target swapping. Is one of the bigger issues if you're on a fight that randomly spawn a new prio target you need to burst down it's going to take the death knight a few globals before they can really start to do damage 
• Can be Talent dependent which in some scenarios forces you to choose between single target or AoE and utility.
• Semi Cooldown reliant.

9.1 changes for the spec :

• Anti-Magic Zone got a huge nerf it used to just be 1 big DR for the entire raid but its now capped at 150% of the casters max HP making it a lot worse for unholy DKs and you probably won't be stacking Death Knights like people did in castle nathria.
• Other than that DK's haven't received any changes.
• They went from being a very strong melee to now more of an average melee class.

1.

Unholy Death Knight Overview

The Unholy specialization currently provides great single target damage and big AoE capabilities. Unholy Death Knights also have a good raid cooldown (Anti-Magic Zone).

2.

Strengths and Weaknesses

3.

Patch 9.1 Changes for Death Knights

We are maintaining a list of changes for Death Knights, so you can see what changes with every patch of Shadowlands. Be sure to also check out Unholy's specific changes this patch.

Patch 9.1 Death Knight Class ChangesPatch 9.1 Unholy Changes

4.

Leveling an Unholy Death Knight

If you want to level an Unholy Death Knight, you can check out our leveling guide for tips and tricks for your journey.

Unholy DK Leveling Guide

Once you reach max level, a great way to customize your game to fit the way you want to play, but also to help you play better, is with addons. We recommend using some of the basic addons that are on our Addons page below while you are leveling, to not only get used to addons, but to also help speed up your leveling. Since Unholy is a fairly clunky spec to play, it is heavily recommended that you use addons to clean up your screen and make your rotation easier.

Unholy DK Addons and Macros

5.

Basics of Unholy Death Knight Gameplay

Unholy Death Knight is a spec that is all about managing your resources and maximizing your burst potential with correct cooldown management.

If you are new to Unholy Death Knight and would like to learn the basics of the class, we recommend looking at the Spell Summary, as well as the Easy Mode page that is linked below.

Unholy DK Quick Guide

We also have a guide for the Unholy Death Knight talents and rotations below.

Unholy DK Talents and BuildsUnholy DK Rotation and Cooldowns

6.

How to Gear Up as a Unholy Death Knight

Unholy DK BiS and Gear

Gear, enchants, consumables, and gems also play a big part in increasing your character's DPS. Linked below is a page to show you which enchants, consumables, and gems to use, as well as a stats page, where you can find more information on each stat and how they interact with your character.

Unholy DK Stat PriorityUnholy DK Enchants and Gems

7.

Unholy Death Knight in Shadowlands

Shadowlands introduced 4 Covenants, new unique "factions" that are core to the Shadowlands experience. Which Covenant you join is one of the biggest decisions you can make in World of Warcraft.

Shadowlands also introduced an arsenal of legendary powers, but you can only have one at a time, and crafting them takes time and money, so choose wisely. Legendary Powers are be acquired from the new endgame activity, Torghast, Sanctum of Domination, and other activities.

Unholy DK Best Covenants, Soulbinds, and ConduitsUnholy DK Best Legendaries

8.

End-Game as an Unholy Death Knight

The end-game of an Unholy Death Knight is very exciting, since your burst is incredibly high and your AoE potential is also very high. Linked below are our Raiding, Torghast, Mythic+, and PvP guides to help you perform well, no matter what content you choose to participate in.

Unholy DK Castle Nathria Raid GuideUnholy DK Torghast GuideUnholy DK Mythic+ GuideUnholy DK PvP Guide

9.

Improving as an Unholy Death Knight

If, after reading all these guides you still find your performance lackluster, then check out the pages linked below for some tips and tricks that may answer any question you have. This is fairly common with Unholy Death Knight, as it is a very clunky spec.

Unholy DK "How to Improve" GuideUnholy DK FAQUnholy DK Simulations

10.

Changelog

Recommended Raiding Build

Recommended Mythic+ Build

Boss specific recommendations and strategy:

Talents Discussion

Tier 1 (15)

Infected ClawsPassive

All Will ServePassive

Clawing ShadowsInstant

All will serve is just straight up the highest damage talent in a patchwork fight. All will serve makes your raise dead summon an extra skeletal minion that fires arrows that also cleave from your main target so this will be your go-to talent choice.

Although, in some scenarios where you won't always have a 100% uptime on the boss, then clawing shadows can be picked instead.

Clawing shadows replaces scourge strike, converting it to 100% shadow damage and gives it a 30 yard range.

Tier 2 (25)

Bursting SoresPassive

Ebon FeverPassive

Unholy BlightInstant

Unholy blight is a 45 second cooldown that applies virulent plague and an extra unholy disease that deals damage and stacks up to four times. These stacks increase the damage of your minions by 12% at max stacks, so when combined with the strong cooldowns unholy have (army of the dead, Apocalypse, etc.) it just becomes the strongest talent that unholy has in this row for single target.

In Mythic+, if you're dealing with large pulls, you want to swap out unholy blight for bursting sores.

Tier 3 (30)

Grip of the DeadPassive

Death's ReachPassive

AsphyxiateInstant

The third talent row is a player choice/optional row. It provides you with different control and slows, so neither of them is going to have an impact on your DPS, it's all about what you need on the encounter.

Tier 4 (35)

Pestilent PustulesPassive

Harbinger of DoomPassive

Soul ReaperInstant

Soul reaper is an execute that deals initial shadow damage and then after 5 seconds, if the target is below 35% health, it activates and deals a large amount of shadow damage. When it comes to raiding, an execute has always been a very powerful choice for the classes that have the option available.

Tier 5 (40)

Spell EaterPassive

Wraith WalkChanneled

Death PactInstant

The fourth row is another optional/fight dependent row where you would either go with spell eater if the fight has a lot of magic damage or if there is some sort of magic damage you need to soak. If that's not the case, you have the option to go with wraith walk for more mobility.

Tier 6 (45)

PestilencePassive

Unholy PactPassive

DefileInstant

Unholy pact is currently the strongest single target and AoE option. Unholy pact creates a chain between you and your pet when you cast dark transformation that deals shadow damage to all enemies caught in the chain and increases your strength by 5%.

Tier 7 (50)

Army of the DamnedPassive

Summon GargoyleInstant

Unholy AssaultInstant

Your best choice here will be Army of the Damned. It’s currently the strongest option for single target and AoE. Army of the damned reduces the cooldown of apocalypse by 1 second and army of the dead by 5 seconds when you cast death coil.

1.

Talent Choices for Unholy Death Knight

Talents can be freely changed when out of combat and in a rested XP area (such as an inn or a capital city). Moreover, Tome of the Still Mind and Codex of the Still Mind can be used to temporarily allow players to change talents anywhere, as long as they are out of combat.

1.1.

Raiding

The recommended talents do not account for specific raid encounters, which can require a specific talent or build. For a boss-by-boss breakdown of the talent choices for specific encounters, you should check out our dedicated raid page listed below.

Unholy Death Knight Raid Page

1.2.

Mythic+

Mythic+ has two distinct talent builds that you pick depending on preference, dungeon, and affixes. If you want advice that is specific to Mythic+, and how to deal with certain affixes and dungeons, then you should check out our Mythic+ page linked below.

Unholy Death Knight Mythic+ Page

1.3.

Single-Target

This is the best generic-single target build for Shadowlands.

This build is able to put out very competitive AoE damage, so you will see many players using this build in Mythic+ and Raid.

1.4.

AoE/Cleave

This is the best generic-AoE/Cleave build for Shadowlands.

Running the combination of Infected Claws and Bursting Sores is also a viable option. You gain a lot of AoE but sacrifice single target. Furthermore, you can also pick up Pestilent Pustules and Unholy Assault if you want to go for a full AoE build. We generally do not recommend to do so due to the loss in single target.

1.5.

Rotation

Talents can, and usually do, change your rotation or add new abilities into your priority. For a more detailed breakdown on how your rotation will look with optimal talents, check out our rotation page linked below.

Unholy DK Rotation and Cooldowns

2.

Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Unholy Death Knights

Infected Claws is currently a viable choice for AoE situations, due to the cleave ability of your ghoul applying Festering Wounds to multiple targets. This talent shines the most in Mythic+ content in conjunction with Bursting Sores.

Clawing Shadows is a strong choice that turns your Scourge Strike into a 30-yard range ability, which can help if you are away from the target very frequently. This also helps greatly in Mythic+, as you can stand far away from any pack and cleave. Dangerous melee mechanics and kiting tanks are no issues when running this talent! Another thing that makes this talent different from Scourge Strike is that it is 100% Shadow damage, whereas Scourge Strike is half-Physical, half-Shadow, making it scale better with Mastery and avoid the armour reduction. This talent is currently a very strong a choice along with All Will Serve for Single Target/Cleave. This sees play on most raid fights in Sanctum of Domination and is our recommended choice for Mythic+.

All Will Serve is a strong single target choice currently that also adds value to AoE situations. Currently, the Risen Skulker that is summoned when this is talented attacks your target and cleaves all enemies close to that target. It does have a tendency to accidentally pull packs in Mythic+, making it a liability. This sees the most play out of all these talents in Raids.

3.

Tier 2 (Level 25) Talents for Unholy Death Knights

Ebon Fever does require you to spend more Runes during a fight on refreshing Virulent Plague, currently this is one of the weakest options and does not see much play.

Bursting Sores is good for high burst AoE situations. A good way to use this talent in AoE is to apply Festering Wounds on multiple targets then cast Death and Decay then cast Scourge Strike/Clawing Shadows to pop multiple Festering Wounds in an AoE setting. This talent does also require you to use the talent Infected Claws to gain full benefit and you benefit from also using Pestilent Pustules. This talent still does not see much play compared to Unholy Blight.

Unholy Blight is by far the strongest single-target talent in this tier and has incredible synergy with the Unholy damage kit. This ability also is very strong in AoE thanks to the cleave ability of your Raise Dead minion being buffed by the stacks applied.

4.

Tier 3 (Level 30) Talents for Unholy Death Knights

None of the talents in this tier improve your DPS, but they still have a lot of potential usefulness.

Grip of the Dead should be used if you are in need of a slow. This effect decreases over the duration of Death and Decay, meaning your Death and Decay will slow the enemies standing in it for the entirety of the duration (although not by much by the end).

Death's Reach is a comfortable pick for fights that require you to control adds using your Death Grip (Sun King's Salvation or Stone Legion Generals Mythic difficulty).

Asphyxiate provides a stun which can be very useful in open world content, Mythic+, and certain raid encounters.

5.

Tier 4 (Level 35) Talents for Unholy Death Knights

Soul Reaper is by far the best option in this tier and gives Unholy access to an execute. Soul Reaper is one of the strongest executes in the game. Soul Reaper does take some planning to use effectively, however, since you can apply it before the target hits 35% or less health, as long as the debuff expires when the mob is in execute range.

Pestilent Pustules has fantastic synergy with Infected Claws. This talent sees play in Mythic+ where trash pulls are fairly large. If you are uncomfortable with using Soul Reaper, this is an easier talent to use.

Harbinger of Doom does not see much play at all in PvE and is a much weaker choice than the other two. This adds about 1 Death Coil/ Epidemic every minute.

6.

Tier 5 (Level 40) Talents for Unholy Death Knights

The talents in this tier do not increase your DPS either, but they can provide you with great benefits during raid encounters. They are quite situational, so you will have to choose based on the requirements of the fight.

Spell Eater is the preferred choice in fights with large amounts of magic damage where you also do not need the use of Wraith Walk.

Wraith Walk is a great movement speed cooldown that, if chosen, gives you a second movement speed cooldown (along with Death's Advance). This should be chosen if you need a faster movement speed cooldown than the 30% movement speed increase of Death's Advance, or if you need this talent along with Death's Advance. It can also be used for breaking any root effects, however this is usually only seen in PvP situations. This should be your go-to pick, unless one of the other talent in this row is needed for an encounter.

Finally, Death Pact provides you with a large heal which may be useful in Mythic+ or some raid encounters.

7.

Tier 6 (Level 45) Talents for Unholy Death Knights

Currently, Unholy Pact is by far the best option in this tier, not only providing solid single-target, but also great AoE damage. The other 2 options simply do not provide competitive damage when compared to Unholy Pact. The chain effect of this talent works the same as Helchains did in Battle for Azeroth, hitting all targets between you and your pet.

Defile is currently a very weak option compared to Unholy Pact for both single-target and AoE.

Pestilence is a weak option that does not provide much of a gain to AoE or single-target damage compared to Unholy Pact. It is also capped in how many Festering Wounds it can apply: ~1 maximum per overall tick.

8.

Tier 7 (Level 50) Talents for Unholy Death Knights

Currently, Army of the Damned is the best option in this row. However Unholy Assault is still a viable option and has potential in some instances to be the go-to option. This is usually only when a fight is under 3 minutes and Army of the Damned will not give you extra casts of Apocalypse. Make sure to sim these 2 talents with your expected fight duration to see which is better. Unholy Assault is also a possible choice in Mythic+ if you are going for a full AoE build.

Summon Gargoyle is currently the weakest choice and almost never sees play.

9.

PvP Talents (War Mode)

In this section we will rank the PvP talents that are best for leveling and doing open world content.

• PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
• 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
• 10% more experience gained while leveling.
• Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will make yourself available for open world PvP, and the possibility to be "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

Unholy Death Knight PvP guide

9.1.

Unholy Death Knight War Mode Talents

In this section we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of Unholy Death Knight PvP talents.

9.1.1.

Unholy Death Knight PvP Talents

1. Life and Death causes targets afflicted by your Festering Wounds when they heal to also heal you for 10% of the amount. It also causes your Virulent Plague to deal 400% of the normal eruption damage when it is dispelled. This is powerful for world PvP, however it does not get much value when just World Questing.
2. Necromancer's Bargain reduces the cooldown of your of your Apocalypse by 45 seconds, however your Apocalypse does not summon ghouls but instead applies Crypt Fever to the target. Crypt fever deals up to 8% of the targets maximum health as Shadow damage over 4 seconds. Healing spells cast on the target refresh the duration of Crypt Fever. This is a strong choice for World PvP.
3. Raise Abomination replaces Army of the Dead and is a 1.5 minute cooldown that raises an Abomination for 25 seconds that applies Festering Wounds when it melees a target and affects all nearby targets with Virulent Plague. This is very strong for both World Questing and World PvP.
4. Dome of Ancient Shadow increases the spell damage reduction effect of your Anti-Magic Zone by 60%. This is very strong in World PvP and can be strong for PvE, if you are expecting to experience caster mobs.
5. Necrotic Strike is a melee ability that deals Plague damage and converts 1 Festering Wound into a Necrotic Wound. Necrotic Wounds absorb healing received by the target. This ability costs 1 Rune. This talent is only useful for world PvP situations.
6. Reanimation reanimates a nearby corpse summoning a zombie with 5 health for 20 seconds which slowly moves towards the target. If it reaches your target, it explodes, stunning all enemies within 6 yards for 3 seconds and dealing 10% of the enemies' health in Shadow damage. This ability costs 1 Rune. This can be a powerful talent for both open world questing and leveling however it is difficult to use in World PvP.
7. Cadaverous Pallor is a passive that has a 20% activation chance when you are hit by a spell; when this activates, the damage of that spell is completely absorbed and converted into a disease on yourself dealing Nature damage over time. It allows you the manage and survive through bigger magical hits by acting as a psuedo stagger effect.
8. Necrotic Aura causes all enemies within 8 yards to take 8% increased magical damage. This has good synergy with Unholy's damage kit and also helps increase your damage as a group if you are doing content with other players.
9. Decomposing Aura is a passive that causes all enemies within 10 yards to lose up to 3% of their maximum health every 2 seconds, stacking up to 5 times, lasting for 6 seconds. An mediocre talent for PvE and moderately strong in open world PvP.
10. Transfusion is a fantastic World PvP talent, since it allows you to Death Strike more frequently for a period of time, which can easily keep you alive. The more Runic Power you have when using this ability, the better.

Raise Abomination, Transfusion, Necromancer's Bargain, Reanimation, and Necrotic Aura are good choices in PvE situations due to them adding to your damage output. Dark Simulacrum, Necrotic Strike, Life and Death, Cadaverous Pallor, and Decomposing Aura have more of a place in PvP as opposed to open world PvE content, as they are tough to use on NPCs. Dome of Ancient Shadow can be used well in both PvP and PvE situations.

10.

Changelog

Unholy Death Knight represents the definition of a tried and true “summoner” class in World of Warcraft. With boundless opportunities to summon a genuine army of undead minions to follow you into combat, you’ll never be alone when playing Unholy Death Knight. 

But just because your minions are going to be hitting hard and contributing to a strong amount of your DPS numbers doesn’t mean you can’t pack a punch yourself. Unholy Death Knight has plenty of tools at its disposal to rack up damage and hit hard with some class-defining abilities.

Here’s how to make the most out of Unholy Death Knight in Shadowlands with the best talents and build for the class. 

Talents

Level 15:All Will Serve – A straightforward DPS booster, All Will Serve adds another skeletal ghoul to your arsenal of minions. The other talents in the level 15 row don’t add enough to the Unholy rotation to outweigh the raw DPS increase provided by All Will Serve.

Level 25: Unholy Blight – Another monstrous DPS increase, Unholy Blight applies a stackable debuff to enemies that deals immense damage over time. Additionally, any target affected by the debuff takes increased damage from your minions, making the talent work extremely well in conjunction with All Will Serve. 

Level 30: Asphyxiate – Asphyxiate is a great crowd control tool that can be used with a strong amount of versatility. The different options on the table when it comes to using a four-second stun are vast. From taking an enemy out of a fight to interrupting a powerful spell, Asphyxiate can be used in almost any scenario. 

Level 35: Soul Reaper – Soul Reaper adds another hard-hitting ability to your rotation. And when striking an enemy below 35 percent HP, the extra damage that the ability deals will boost your DPS numbers in the later stages of an encounter. 

Level 40: Wraith Walk – Death Knight is easily the least-mobile melee class in all of WoW and is right at the bottom of the mobility tier list alongside some classes like Warlock and Shaman. Wraith Walk is a must-have talent if you want to make sure that you have as many mobility options as possible because there aren’t many baseline abilities that will grant you flexibility in the way you move around an encounter. 

Level 45: Unholy Pact – Another boost to your minions’ damage, Unholy Pact gives a buff to your Dark Transformation casts. You’ll gain a five-percent boost to your Strength alongside a buff that makes you and your minions deal extra shadow damage with each attack. Since Unholy Death Knight is all about buffing your minions’ damage as intensely as possible, there isn’t a better option on the board than Unholy Pact. 

See Dot Esports Gaming Deals

Level 50: Army of the Damned – Another talent that adds more minions to your pool of undead followers, Army of the Damned brings a skeletal mage to the table that slings hard-hitting Frostbolts at your target like no tomorrow. Additionally, the passive effect of Army of the Damned, which reduces the cooldown of Army of the Dead each time you cast Death Coil, is a huge boost to your DPS since it allows you to cast your signature ability more often. 

Covenant

The ideal covenant for Unholy Death Knights in all situations is Necrolord with the Emeni soulbind. Abomination Limb is a strong ability when timed correctly alongside your other main cooldowns, but most of the value that comes with a Necrolord selection comes from the covenant’s trademark ability, Fleshcraft. 

The recent buffs to Fleshcraft altered the ability to give Necrolord players a damage reduction while channeling, in addition to the already strong shield that comes with the cast. 

Gear/stat priority

As an Unholy Death Knight, your stat priority is as follows: Mastery > Haste > Critical Strike > Versatility.

Mastery is the most ideal stat to stack on Unholy because of its passive increase to the damage dealt by your undead minions. The more natural damage your minions are dealing, the stronger your overall throughput will be throughout the course of an extended fight. Beyond Mastery, Haste and Critical Strike will allow you and your minions to attack faster and hit even harder. While they’re definitely solid secondary options in terms of stackable stats, you should be actively trying to hit the Mastery cap when it comes to your itemization. The amount of shadow damage that you’ll be buffing by building Mastery is way too good to pass up, especially on a damage-focused class like Unholy Death Knight.