Updated with more build info, and added "DPS Basics"
Hello boys and girls, and welcome to another Theo FAQ. Here is where you'll find out what doing the big numbers in a raid environment is all about, and here is where I'll go in-depth about rotations, builds, consumables, professions, and generally everything as it pertains to min/maxing so you don't look like a fool in Naxx.
This FAQ is going to assume you know basic game mechanics, stuff like hit caps, expertise caps, etc. Just a warning for later on when I start talking about melee hit caps and spell hit caps so your monitor doesn't get gooey from your brain exploding. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read here.
Here's a rundown of what we'll be going through.
- Runes, Runic Power, and General DK mechanics
- DK Abbreviations
- DPS Basics
- Builds
- Itemization
Alright, let's get to it.
Runes, Runic Power, and General DK mechanics
Runes are essential to a Death Knight. They're what we're constantly watching as we DPS (or tank), and they're what provide us with the ability to use such a wide variety of skills. We have 6 rune slots, and we start with two of each type of rune. These runes are correlated to each of our three talent trees: Blood, Frost, and Unholy. Runes have a 10 second cooldown after they're used.
Runic Power is generated by using our rune abilities. It fills up a bar that's much like a Warrior's rage bar, which we can then spend on abilities to do damage, interrupt spell casting, or other useful abilities.
Using a 1 rune ability will generate 10 runic power (RP). Using a 2 rune ability will generate 15 RP. Using a 3 rune ability will generate 15 RP.
Abilities generally fall into 4 categories for DKs.
These cost 1 blood rune. They're generally the bread-and-butter DK attacks, modified by how many diseases you have on your target. When we get to the Frost and Unholy build sections, we'll talk more about how these are useful.
They're called that because they use both a Frost and an Unholy rune. Obliterate and Death Strike are the two most commonly used, though there are others.
These two abilities are unique because they're used in every single DK build, bar none. Icy Touch (Frost) and Plague Strike (Unholy) each apply a disease to your target, though they don't do much damage.
Goofy name, I know. But that's what you mainly use these abilities for; getting rid of your RP to make room for more RP and do damage at the same time.
So as a new DK, you may be wondering why the "Disease Abilities" get their own category. That's pretty easy to explain, so let me elucidate.
Abilities like Blood Strike do additional damage (most often quite a bit more) the more diseases that are on your target. You can hopefully now see why they're so important. You do substantially more damage with Icy Touch and Plague Strike up on your target.
DK Abbreviations
I'm mainly going to use the abbreviations I've gotten used to seeing on ElitistJerks, so if this seems like copypasta, it kinda is. I'm not going to reinvent the wheel when it already works well.
IT Icy Touch SD Sudden Doom BS Blood Strike MoM Might of Mograine PS Plague Strike BG Blood Gorged HS Heart Strike HB Howling Blast FS Frost Strike BotN Blood of the North SS Scourge Strike GoG Guile of Gorefiend DS Death Strike TS Tundra Stalker OB Obliterate HC Hungering Cold DRW Dancing Rune Weapon CE Corpse Explosion MoB Mark of Blood SG Summon Gargoyle OaPH On a Pale Horse IBF Icebound Fortitude CF Crypt Fever BT Blood Tap EP Ebon Plaguebringer AMS Anti-Magic Shell RoR Rage of Rivendare AMZ Anti-Magic Zone UB Unholy Blight ERW Empower Rune Weapon DC Death Coil BB Blood Boil FF Frost Fever BCB Blood-Caked Blade BP Blood Plague AoD Army of the Dead DG Death Grip DnD/D&D Death and Decay MoG Master of Ghouls
The builds/itemization section will take me most of an entire post, so I'll be reserving the next two posts (just in case) and editing them as I get the builds up and then fleshing them out with info.
Edited, Mar 15th 2009 12:24am by Theophany
