i am a KNIGHT OF DEATH (i try when I dps k?)

When Blizzard first announced this class, I was shrouded by mixed feelings. This was, in fact, the HERO CLASS that we've always been waiting for, however, the game has changed so much that including an entire new character with an entire new set of abilities could be devastating to the fragile balance of classes. I wasn't originally going to roll a Death Knight, because I have always been a primary healer amongst my friends. But this time around, something changed my mind, and I'm going to have to blame ehd for this one.

LICHBOURNE

I had already parked my druid in Stormwind Harbor and emptied her bags when a series of events changed my mind the night of the game's release. Leaving details aside, I had chosen to reroll a Death Knight. I was filled with the glee of enjoying a brand-new class but also with the dread of re-traversing Outland whilst the rest of my crew was pushing through Northrend. The grind, however, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I reached my goal within 4 days played time. 

I NOW WIELD A SWORD (THEREFORE I MUST RELINQUISH TO RECOUNT)

I had never really played a DPS class before (not seriously, at least). All I ever did in PvE was engage in whack-a-mole with my party's health bars. Now I was relieved that I'd no longer have to deal with that, but instead I now had to deal with the pressure of performing consistently well on the DPS meters. I didn't think much of it at first, till the first recount post. My DPS was horrendous, something along the lines of 1600 - if I recall that's barely above what people were putting out during TBC. I had to do something about it.

ELITIST JERKS

EJ forums was (and still is) the place where I learned how to perform well as Death Knight. From there I learned where to allocate my stat points, what gear to obtain, and the rotations / priority system that is unique to the DK class (and also makes or breaks the class). 

Now I will go ahead and explain the PvE advantages of the various DK specs, what their role is in the raid, and what stats the class should be aiming for.

UNDERSTANDING DEATH KNIGHT DPS

A DK's damage comes from instant spells, instant strikes, diseases, and pets. These spells and strikes are limited by six runes and generated runic power, as well as disease uptime (which I will get into later). The six runes are Blood Blood Frost Frost Unholy Unholy. Each strike and certain spells will require a rune or a combination of runes to execute and will also generate runic power. Runic power is used to cast various other spells. The two primary diseases, Blood Plague and Frost Fever, are applied by the two primary attacks, Plague Strike and Icy Touch, and benefit your larger strikes as well as your weaker ones. So in a sense, runes can be viewed as Rogue energy, runic power as Warrior rage, and disease uptime as Warlock dps. Maximizing rune and runic power usage while keeping disease uptime in mind creates a unique and somewhat challenging task when trying to optimize damage done.

Rotations are cycles of attacks that DKs go through (generally two cycles per rotation). It usually begins by putting up both Blood Plague and Frost Fever, then using Blood Strike and either Obliterate or Scourge Strike to increase damage done. Certain strikes convert regular runes into Death Runes, which then can be used as ANY type of rune, allowing you to use the harder hitting attacks more than once during the second cycle of a rotation. 

Oftentimes a disease or strike might miss. When this happens, you must use the priority system to effeciently continue DPS. You must understand that you CANNOT just use this rotation over and over. Improvisation is required if you want highest possible output. The priority system is as follows:

1. Diseases up.

2. Highest rune/damage ratio attack used.

3. RP never at maxed. 

The three trees for the Death Knight are Blood, Frost, and Unholy. Each one is capable of respectable DPS as well as respectable tanking, something new that Blizzard is trying to remove pigeon-holing. 

Acronyms and abbreviations:

IT = Icy Touch

PS = Plague Strike

BS = Blood Strike

OB = Obliterate

SS = Scourge Strike

HS = Heart Strike

HB = Howling Blast

FS = Frost Strike

DC = Death Coil

UB = Unholy Blight

DnD = Death and Decay

BB = Blood Boil

Pest = Pestilence

DRW = Dancing Rune Weapon

ERW = Empower Rune Weapon

BT = Blood Tap

Garg = Gargoyle

RP = Runic Power

SD = Sudden Doom (proc)

KM = Killing Machine (proc)

BCB = Blood-Caked Blade (proc)

BLOOD (51/13/7 and 50/0/21) - DEATH COIL SPAM AND FLYING SWORDS

Blood is probably the more simple of the trees to play, because you generally only have to worry about single-target DPS. Blood excels in dealing a consistent stream of high-damage attacks by replacing Blood Strike (one of the class's primary attacks) with Heart Strike, as well as huge increases in strength, expertise, and overall melee damage done. Blood's weakness is that the gear in the game currently benefits Unholy more than any other spec. Since Blood scales greatly with gear increase, the better the items you have, the more damage you will do. Blood is also one of the few specs that allows the use of Unholy Aura (due to Sudden Doom procs). Beware of Sudden Doom procs, because they will oftentimes throw off your rotation. Prioritize Death Coiling when you have a SD proc.

Many players opt for the Annihilation build because it allows them to use Obliterate without wiping diseases. However, studies have shown that Gargoyle DPS far outdamage DRW at this point in the game.

Accepted standard Blood rotation:

IT > PS > HS > HS > OB >> DC

OB > HS > HS > OB >> DC

Accepted standard Blood rotation (sans Annihilation):

OB > IT > PS > HS > HS >> DC

HS > HS > HS > HS > OB >> DC

To maximize damage on boss fights with an early DRW, use the following rotation:

IT > PS > HS > HS > OB > Blood Tap > HS > (trinkets) + Hysteria > DRW > end cycle > ERW > rotation

FROST (0/32/39) - LOVE A GOOD DUAL WIELD?

Pure frost is currently the lowest damaging tree of all the primary DPS specs. However, the dual-wield Frost/Unholy hybrid build is considered on par with Unholy. The reason and mechanics behind this build's success is its reliance on Killing Machine and Rime procs, as well as increased proc chances for Blood-Caked Blade as well as overall higher white damage due to Icy Talons. With Killing Machine proccing so much, your Icy Touches will be causing insane amounts of damage. 

Accepted standard Frost rotation:

IT > PS > BS > BS > HB >> DC

HB > IT > IT > HB >> DC

Sorry if I do not have much more information about Frost Hybrid, as I have never played as the spec. I will probably try it as soon as I get the right weapons for it, but know that this is probably one of the only melee specs in the game that actually benefits from a the haste itemization as well as the haste sigil from Emblems of Heroism loot.

UNHOLY (17/0/54) - DESTROYING THE METERS LEGIT STYLE

Is considered the powerhouse spec right now. The most specs are within marginal differences of each other, Unholy's ability to deal extremely powerful AoE DPS is highly prized for trash clearing. Two major reason's for this build's inherent success include the itemization and the fact that the build is highly spell-damage reliant. The curent 4-piece bonus grants extra RP generation when SSing and OBing. However, Blood has no use for this extra RP other than an extra DC every rotation. As Unholy, however, this extra RP is maximized for Garg uptime and the ability to sneak in an UB or DC every cycle. Beyond the tier bonus, the Sigil of Awareness currently benefits SS much more than it does OB. Ontop of that, SS is an armor-ignoring attack, meaning it will oftentimes hit just as hard as an OB. The addition of the third disease, Ebon Plague, not only benefits the raid's magic damage as a whole, but greatly increases the damage done from your own DCs, UBs, ITs, and UBs.  To top it all off, the build gets a permanent Ghoul (which adds about a static + 600 DPS).

Accepted standard Unholy rotation:

IT > PS > BS > BS > SS >> RP dump

SS > SS > SS >> RP dump

For maximizing Unholy AoE DPS:

IT > PS > DnD > Pest > UB > BT > BB

The key to success as Unholy is proper RP management. Making sure UB is always up as well as constantly DCing will allow for optimum DPS. Also, managing RP while maintaining Garg is probably the hardest thing you will do as a DK.

STAT PRIORITIES

Stat priorities as a DK fall in this order, so gear up with this in mind:

HIT CAP (8% or 263 rating)

EXPERTISE CAP (6% or 26 points)

STRENGTH

CRIT RATING

ATTACK POWER

AGILITY

Remember that DKs have less use for Agility than Critical Strike Rating because Agility does not affect our spells. 

I hope that this summary has given both people who play and don't play DKs insight into the complexity of DK dps. Or you could just roll a rogue and mash Eviscerate all day and break 9K DPS. Fuckers.