Frost Death Knight Talents Guide

In this section I will give a comprehensive overview of talent builds for Raiding and Mythic Plus, as well as highlighting specific talents and their strengths/synergies.

These talent builds can be altered depending on your scenario, primarily being adapted based on what utility/defensive talents you may need/require to get the most out of the class.

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The Death Knight Class Tree has a lot of choice, freedom and pathing options available, and is now mostly utility/defensive oriented with a few throughput options (which are always mandatory). Below is an illustration of the choices and pathing options you have:

Always Pick/Strong (Green): These are talents that you will use in 99% of all scenarios you encounter, mainly because they are either throughput talents, or absurdly strong defensive/pathing choices.

Stepping Stone (Pink): These talents are stepping stones to progress through the talent tree, which are flexible depending on your scenario/requirements.

Utility/Defense (Blue): These are options which a used for very specific scenarios/are more flexible than the Stepstone/Situational choices mentioned before.

Niche/Rarely Picked (Red): These talents are not useful in most scenarios, there can be exceptions but that is rarely the case. It is worth knowing what they do though, just in case you run into a scenario where they are actually useful!

Throughput Talents

Abomination Limb - Death Knight’s unique ability to grip enemies together is one of its core strengths that defines the class as a whole. Abomination Limb is picked in all scenarios, if not for gripping capabilities, then for its damage (which is negligible in single target, but still one of the few throughput options this tree has).

Soul Reaper - This talent will be part of your core rotation during execute (=<35% boss health), and it also scales with Mastery: Frozen Heart.

Cleaving Strikes - In multi-target scenarios, you will need to use this talent. Generally it’s always good to play this talent, unless you are in a purely single target encounter/scenario, then you can use the talent point elsewhere.

Death’s Echo - While this is not entirely a throughput talent, you do get 2 charges of Death and Decay which is very useful in AoE/Cleave scenarios, especially when the adds you are cleaving last a while. However, even if you are in a purely single target encounter, this talent is still a must have.

Death Knight typically always suffers with its motability, so having 2 charges of Death’s Advance is a massive gain (nevermind also having more knockback immunities), and finally Death Grip is one of Death Knight’s core strengths as mentioned before, so having an additional charge of this unique form of utility is really strong, not only for positioning enemies but also interrupting casts.

Defensive Talents

Anti-Magic Barrier - Anti-Magic Shell is a powerful ability that can be used to prevent a lot of negative aura effects and absorb a lot of magic damage, so increasing its duration, reducing its cooldown and increasing the absorb amount is very strong and you should use this talent in any encounter that involves magic damage (which is most encounters).

Anti-Magic Zone - Most of the time, you want to take this talent as it is a raid cooldown; while it is not very strong for Frost, it is still a helpful raid cooldown that can be utilized by your Raid or Mythic Plus team for magic damage encounters. If you are in a situation where no Magic damage mitigation is needed, you can save yourself a point and pick something else.

Assimilation - As mentioned before, Anti-Magic Zone is a key raid wide defensive ability that you will want to take in most encounters. This talent buffs it a little bit, but more importantly makes Anti-Magic Zone a 1.5 minute cooldown. This can be very effective depending on boss timers and when you will be taking a lot of raid damage, so keep this talent in mind for those circumstances.

Unholy Endurance - Normally Lichborne is used to break out of a Fear, or provide a bit of self healing through its leech. However, this talent makes it worth pressing as a small damage mitigation cooldown which can be really useful for mitigating damage that is not enough to commit an Icebound Fortitude cast to.

Osmosis - This can be a very strong choice when you are taking a lot of physical damage, and not much magic damage during an encounter. Anti-Magic Shell loses all of its value if you are not dealing with any magic damage/effects, however with this talent it becomes useful again by giving you a healing boost.

Utility Talents

Blinding Sleet - If you are in a scenario where you need to disable/interrupt a group of enemies simultaneously, you can use Blinding Sleet to blind them all. This only works on enemies that are susceptible to crowd control effects. This talent is helpful in Mythic Plus and boss encounters that require additional control.

Coldthirst - This is a talent you can utilize if there is a cast that happens every 12 seconds (effectively giving you the ability to solo interrupt a specific cast throughout a pull, freeing up a kick from one of your team mates). It also gives you a bit of Runic Power, which is a nice bonus.

Wraith Walk - This talent is very useful for getting out of root effects and being a nice movement ability if you need it. Although this talent is a bit out of the way and requires you to take Death Pact, Assimilation, or Asphyxiate to reach, it’s quite a commitment that will mean you will have to give up other forms of utility/defensives.

Unyielding Will - In some encounters there are debuffs you want to be pre-immuning with Anti-Magic Shell, but sometimes the debuffs come so frequently that you won’t be able to pre immune every set. So you end up coin flipping on whether you pre immune a debuff or not with Anti-Magic Shell, not ideal and can be quite inconsistent. This is when Unyielding Will can be really strong as you don’t need to gamble anymore and wait for when you actually get the debuff you want to immune, then use Anti-Magic Shell to remove it.

Vestigial Shell - Some magic effects/dots on your raid can be brutal for healers to deal with, which makes this talent very effective at mitigating a lot of those afflictions for your team mates.

Empower Rune Weapon - Frost is generally a resource heavy spec, especially during its cooldowns. Empower Rune Weapon is used in most if not every build for this reason, as it gives you steady flow of resource generation and 15% additional haste to fit in more globals during your Pillar of Frost / Breath of Sindragosa. When using Icecap, Empower Rune Weapon will have a 30 second offset from Pillar of Frost, so you will want to hold Empower Rune Weapon ready for your next Pillar of Frost. Empower Rune Weapon itself is not a big throughput cooldown, but it’s a cooldown you should use to amplify your other cooldown windows.

Gathering Storm - Remorseless Winter is a core part of your rotation, and is very important in multi-target scenarios. Gathering Storm increases the damage (up to 10 stacks) and extends the duration of your Remorseless Winter, so this talent is a pretty major throughput gain overall for your Remorseless Winter. You can recast Remorseless Winter to refresh the duration of your current one, and keep the stacks of Gathering Storm, though this is hard to do outside of Empower Rune Weapon / Bloostlust.

Frostwhelp’s Aid - This talent makes your Pillar of Frost send out a Frostwhelp in the direction that you are facing. For every target hit by the Frostwhelp you gain a flat 8% Mastery buff that can stack up to 5 times (1 stack per enemy hit by the Frostwhelp) so you want to hit as many enemies as possible with it. This buff lasts for the majority of your Pillar of Frost (its duration is extended by The Long Winter talent) and is usually picked in most builds, especially in multi-target scenarios.

Frostwyrm’s Fury - This is a talent which is typically used in multi-target scenarios. However it’s a very key talent for the Riders of the Apocalypse hero tree as it triggers Apocalypse Now. You can also spec into Absolute Zero below it, which will make Frostwyrm’s Fury a 1.5 minute cooldown (which will allow you to trigger Apocalypse Now twice as often).

Horn of Winter - Solid option if you need additional Runic Power and Runes with a relatively low cooldown. It can be good for getting a top-up of Runes before an Obliteration window, but also really good for extending Breath of Sindragosa.

Chill Streak - Playing with this talent requires you to not leave melee in single target scenarios, because it will bounce between you and your target. When dealing with 2 or more targets, you won’t need to do this as the Chill Streak will bounce between your targets so long as they are within 6 yards of each other (quite close together). It is worth noting that if Chill Streak is bouncing to a target that dies mid bounce, it will despawn completely so you might be better off holding Chill Streak for a little bit if there are multiple enemies dying around your main target. If you are using the talent Icecap then you always want to use Chill Streak just before Pillar of Frost, so it gains the strength buff from it. Otherwise you use Chill Streak on cooldown.

Shattering Blade - Razorice is a unique debuff applied to your targets by Avalanche, Arctic Assault, Glacial Advance and Rune of Razorice, and is an essential part of your damage. Shattering Blade is a playstyle where you build up Razorice stacks on your target (up to 5), and then use Frost Strike to clear the stacks and deal bonus damage. This playstyle requires a setup that can very frequently apply Razorice to your targets, so you don’t lose too much value from Razorice from clearing and having to restack it up again, and also get the most out of this talent. It also has multi-target potential with the talent Shattered Frost.

Obliteration - This is a build defining talent, which is oriented around hard hitting Obliterate casts. When playing with this build you will be consuming as many Killing Machine procs as possible with Obliterate casts, and generating more Killing Machine procs from Frost Strikes / Rime procs during Pillar of Frost. It synergises very well with Shattering Blade as you will be using Frost Strike to generate Killing Machine procs and simultaneously consuming Razorice stacks with Shattering Blade. You also generate a lot of Razorice stacks during your Pillar of Frost window when you also have the talent below Obliteration, Arctic Assault (though you do need another source of Razorice for Arctic Assault to apply Razorice, which is why you take Avalanche as well). This talent/build focuses on having strong burst damage every 45-60 seconds (depending on whether you are using Icecap or not) that works in both single target and multi-target scenarios.

Breath of Sindragosa is a build defining talent which focuses on generating Runic Power to sustain Breath of Sindragosa. The playstyle can be quite punishing if you lose uptime and stop generating Runic Power, resulting in your Breath of Sindragosa being cut off prematurely. You will still do decent damage outside of your Breath of Sindragosa window, but this is still your main cooldown and where you will do the majority of your burst. Planning your cooldowns, movement and uptime during an encounter is essential to get the most out of this build. It works well in both single target and multi-target scenarios.

Hero talents are a new system in The War Within which gives you additional talents, specializing and enhancing specific themes/aspects of the class. Frost has a choice between Rider of the Apocalypse or Deathbringer.

Rider of the Apocalypse

This hero talent tree is themed around the 4 horsemen, giving you a chance to summon a horseman to assist you for 10 seconds. Each horseman has unique abilities which they will use to deal damage and also increase your damage.

Mograine

When summoned he will have a Death and Decay around him, this will always follow him wherever he goes. While standing inside it, you gain the effects of Cleaving Strikes, Unholy Ground and Mograine’s Might.

Nazgrim

While active he will give you a 3% strength buff which is increased by either nearby enemies dying (3%) or spending a rune (1%).

Whitemane

She will cast a DoT called Undeath onto her target which deals damage over 24 seconds (this cannot be extended). Undeath applies an additional stack every 3 seconds, and can be stacked up further by using Obliterate on the afflicted target (up to 15 stacks total). Obliterate will also spread Undeath to nearby enemies.

Trollbane

When summoned, Trollbane will cast Chains of Ice on the target, which slows the target and increases the damage you deal to them by 5% for 8 seconds. He will keep applying this debuff to the target while he is active. This talent scales in both single and multi-target scenarios, because of Trollbane’s Icy Fury, so you will want to Obliterate the target affected by Trollbane’s Chains of Ice for some additional cleave/multi-target damage.

Apocalypse Now

This hero talent tree is very burst oriented with Apocalypse Now, which makes Frost’s burst damage even stronger. This does mean that you have to talent into Frostwyrm’s Fury, and encourages also taking Absolute Zero so you can trigger Apocalypse Now twice as often due to the 50% cooldown reduction on Frostwyrm’s Fury, making it a 1.5min cooldown.

Rider of the Apocalypse excels best in single target, but also has some strong cases for being used in aoe/cleave encounters, mainly due to Trollbane’s Icy Fury, Mawsworn Menace and A Feast of Souls. Most talent points in this tree give a benefit to both multi-target and single target, but these are the big hitters.

Defense and mobility capabilities are also greatly enhanced with this hero tree, with Death Charge being one of the most powerful movement talents in the game. Death’s Advance is already a very strong ability when used properly, and Death Charge makes DK super fast and immune to displacement effects. You can also get a 5% damage reduction for each Rider that is active (which is a 20% damage reduction during Apocalypse Now) via Pact of the Apocalypse, or a lot of additional magic damage prevention/mitigation with Horsemen’s Aid.

Deathbringer

Deathbringer is themed around applying a Reaper’s Mark to your target, which detonates giving you Exterminate. This is a hero talent tree which does well in both single target and multi-target scenarios, with Exterminate doing a lot of multi-target damage and having a chance to reapply Reaper’s Mark. It also increases the potency of your Frost Fever with talents such as Wither Away.

Reaper's Mark

Reaper’s Mark is the core of this hero talent spec. It costs two runes and when applied deals instant damage, then gains stacks over its duration. After 12 seconds or by reaching 40 stacks, it detonates and empowers your next Obliterate with Exterminate. This bonus will make your next 2 Obliterates cost 1 rune and send out 2 scythes, the first scythe will deal damage to your target, and has a chance to reapply Reaper’s Mark. Then the second scythe will come right after the first, hitting all enemies near/behind your target, and will also apply Frost Fever to them via the talent Wither Away.

There are two choice node talents which gives you two options, the first includes Grim Reaper and Reaper of Souls.

Grim Reaper

The first option here is Grim Reaper, which simply grants a Killing Machine proc after using Reaper’s Mark and increases the detonation damage of Reaper’s Mark based on the target's missing health. This talent is useful in both single and multi-target scenarios in comparison to Reaper of Souls, which is a single target based talent focusing on Soul Reaper.

Reaper of Souls

Reaper of Souls is a single target focused talent that empowers Soul Reaper throughout the entire encounter, and allows for Soul Reaper uses before a boss is within execute range (=<35% health). During your execute phase it will enable you to use 2 Soul Reapers back to back, as you can apply Soul Reaper, then cast Reaper’s Mark to reset the cooldown of Soul Reaper. This can also be useful during Pillar of Frost windows, as Soul Reaper triggers Killing Machine during Pillar of Frost (when playing with Obliteration).

There is also another choice node with two different talents, however there is only really one choice here, which is Dark Talons.

Dark Talons

Auto attacking is a key part of Frost's kit as it procs Killing Machine, Runic Attenuation, Icy Death Torrent and The Long Winter. Auto attacks are also empowered by talents such as Smothering Offense. With this in mind, Dark Talons is a very strong talent as it can give you two additional Icy Talons stacks, resulting in more attack speed. It also makes Breath of Sindragosa, Frost Strike, Death Strike and Glacial Advance act as if they dealt Shadow Frost damage, doubling the stacks of Reaper’s Mark you generate via Bind in Darkness (which detonates Reaper’s Mark much faster).

Reaper’s Onslaught

Reaper’s Onslaught simply reduces the cooldown of Reaper’s Mark to 30 seconds, but reduces the amount of Obliterates empowered to 1. This talent is not worth playing as you will always want to sync your Reaper’s Mark with your Pillar of Frost (which is a 45 second cooldown with the talent Icecap). Also, a key part of Deathbringer’s ability to high roll on throughput is Reaper’s Mark reapplications/resets. This talent greatly reduces the chances of getting a Reaper’s Mark reapplications, so it’s just never worth taking.

Outside of throughput Deathbringer has two defensive gains with Rune Carved Plates, essentially giving you a permanent 10% magic and physical damage reduction, which is very strong. It also has Death’s Messenger, making your Lichborne a 1.5 minute cooldown, which is a nice defensive bonus if you also use the talent Unholy Endurance. You also gain a minor throughput increase with this talent, because it also makes your Raise Dead a 1.5 minute cooldown. Both of these talents are the strongest in each of their choice nodes, so you will want to use these most if not all the time.