Unholy Death Knight Playstyle and Rotation Guide

All rotations are for the builds that I have provided in this guide. There are a lot of variables on openers and rotations depending on what talents you play, so for user readability I will be writing out the rotations/openers for the current best and most optimal builds.

• Riders of the Apocalypse
• San’layn

Gameplay

Basic Gameplay Loop

Unholy at a basic level has two primary resources, Runes and Runic Power. You use Runes to generate and burst Festering Wounds via Festering Strike (to apply Wounds), and Scourge Strike (to burst Wounds). Spending Runes with these abilities generates Runic Power, which can then be spent on Death Coil (for single target / two target cleave) and Epidemic (for multi-target). Runes have a baseline 10 second cooldown (reduced by Haste), so you regenerate Runes faster by spending Runic Power on Death Coil / Epidemic to proc Runic Corruption, which will regenerate your runes to then spend and generate more Runic Power.

Festering Wounds are a core part of your rotation, as they will generate additional Runic Power when burst, make your Scourge Strike deal additional damage (by popping the Wounds) and also trigger talents such as Bursting Sores & Festermight. When you want to burst multiple Festering Wounds on multiple targets, you will want to use Death and Decay to gain the Cleaving Strikes buff (which causes your Scourge Strike to hit 7 additional enemies around your target) and then use your Scourge Strikes as you normally would.

Using Death Coil / Epidemic are not just for triggering Runic Corruption, but they are also strong damage abilities that trigger/apply other effects such as Sudden Doom, Death Rot, Eternal Agony, Rotten Touch and Coil of Devastation.

And finally, you will always want to apply and maintain your Virulent Plague on your enemies. This is a disease effect which can apply effects such as Brittle and Morbidity. You can apply Virulent Plague by using Dark Transformation (triggering Unholy Blight) or Outbreak when you do not have Dark Transformation (these will also apply additional diseases when you use Superstrain).

You will want to reapply Virulent Plague at around 3 seconds of its duration remaining (8 seconds when you are not running Ebon Fever), but it’s not always worth reapplying to your target if they are not going to live for more than 15 seconds, so bear that in mind when making the decision to reapply Virulent Plague on low health enemies. It is also required on your targets to use Epidemic, so make sure it’s applied when dealing with multiple enemies.

Cooldown Usage

Generally speaking, cooldowns are best used as frequently as possible and with other cooldowns/buffs. A big key to doing good damage across all classes is to stack as many buffs and cooldowns together as possible, so they are all doing their maximum output when used. With that in mind, let's go over Unholy’s cooldowns, what they do and how you will want to use them.

Dark Transformation

Dark Transformation is quite a short cooldown (45 seconds), and is one of your core cooldowns that triggers multiple effects, which leads to significant throughput gains for your other cooldowns. This cooldown will trigger effects such as Unholy Blight (applying your diseases which will save you having to use Outbreak to apply your diseases, as well as Commander of the Dead and Gift of the San’layn which may alter when you will want to use it:

• Commander of the Dead: Shortly after Army of the Dead / Raise Abomination so these cooldowns gain the full 30 second duration of Commander of the Dead.
• Gift of the San’layn: After your other cooldowns have been used so you have the maximum amount of globals in your Gift of the San’layn window to use on Vampiric Strike.
• Dark Transformation also makes your Ghouls Claw attacks become Sweeping Claws, so Dark Transformation also serves as an effective tool for applying Festering Wounds to multiple enemies via Infected Claws.

Apocalypse

You will always want to use Apocalypse alongside Dark Transformation, as it can benefit from Commander of the Dead (must be used within 5 seconds of Dark Transformation to gain the full duration) and they are both on a 45 second cooldown. Typically in a single target scenario you should use Apocalypse after Unholy Assault (with San’layn being an exception), as it applies 4 Festering Wounds (the total amount that can be consumed by Apocalypse, which will then give you 4 stacks of Festermight) and also gives you a 20 second damage buff which will cover the duration of your Apocalypse.

However, in multi-target scenarios when you are using Vile Contagion, you should use Apocalypse very early and pop 1-2 Festering Wounds just to get your Apocalypse ghouls out. This is because you want to have as many Festering Wounds on your main target as possible, so you can then mass spread those Wounds with Vile Contagion.

Unholy Assault

Unholy Assault is one of your biggest cooldowns and should always be used in conjunction with Dark Transformation, Apocalypse and Army of the Dead / Raise Abomination. It lasts 20 seconds and increases all the damage you deal by 20%, so you always want to make sure this is active when you are doing most of your damage. Typically you will use Unholy Assault just before Apocalypse in single target to generate 4 Festering Wounds (to then consume with Apocalypse) because Apocalypse Ghouls last 18 seconds, so they receive the full duration of Unholy Assault.

When playing with Riders of the Apocalypse, you want to use Unholy Assault shortly after Army of the Dead / Raise Abomination so you have the 20 second buff for the majority of your Riders duration (which is 20 seconds).However, if you are playing San’layn then you will want to delay using Unholy Assault so it is still active when you consume Infliction of Sorrow after Dark Transformation as it’s a big hit of damage and a major source of your throughput.

In multi-target scenarios you will most likely be using Vile Contagion, so you follow the same principles above but you don’t use the Festering Wounds generated from Unholy Assault on Apocalypse, instead you want to use the Wounds generated for Vile Contagion (spreading Festering Wounds to multiple targets).

Army of the Dead / Raise Abomination

Both Army of the Dead and Raise Abomination are your biggest cooldowns that you will want to overlap with as many buffs as possible. Army of the Dead is a 3 minute cooldown that summons multiple Ghouls and Magus of the Dead for 30 seconds, however it has a 34 second duration in total as the Ghouls have a 4 second spawn time.

If you are using Commander of the Dead, you will want to make sure you use Dark Transformation when all of your Army of the Dead Ghouls are active (4 seconds after using Army of the Dead) so they gain the maximum uptime of Commander of the Dead, using Dark Transformation before will buff the Ghouls while they are still spawning, and then the buff will drop in the last 4 seconds while they are active (which is a throughput loss).

Raise Abomination is a 1.5 minute cooldown and is slightly less potent than Army of the Dead as an individual cooldown in single target. However it can be used twice as often, which means it triggers Magus of the Dead and Apocalypse Now twice as often, resulting in an overall increase. It also scales a lot better in multi-target scenarios as the Abomination will also spread your diseases to targets around it and has cleave attacks which apply Festering Wounds.

Both of these cooldowns line up with Dark Transformation, Apocalypse (45sec) and Unholy Assault (1.5min), so you always want to use them together.

Vile Contagion

Vile Contagion is a way to spread Festering Wounds on multiple enemies around your main target, and it’s a very potent cooldown that greatly speeds up your multi-target burst window setup. You want to use Vile Contagion once you have applied Festering Wounds on your main target; generally, you will do this with either Festering Strikes and/or Unholy Assault, so that you apply 5-6 Festering Wounds on all other targets around it.

Important Buffs

Plaguebringer

Most of the time if you follow the rotation guide above then you will keep a good uptime on Plaguebringer, and it is important to do so as it’s a significant buff to the throughput of your Virulent Plague (and Blood Plague / Frost Fever when you are using Superstrain). One final note, it is not worthwhile to use Scourge Strike on a target without Festering Wounds just to maintain Plaguebringer uptime, so always make sure you are popping wounds whenever you use Scourge Strike, even when maintaining Plaguebringer uptime (with the exception of your Gift of the San’layn windows of course).

Icy Talons

The Icy Talons buff ties in well with Death Rot, as it’s triggered from Death Coil / Epidemic. Maintaining this buff is important for your Sudden Doom procs, but you should naturally be able to maintain this buff if you do your rotation correctly and don’t go too long without casting a Death Coil / Epidemic (or even a Death Strike).

Death Rot

Similarly to Icy Talons, Death Rot should naturally stack up and remain applied to your target as long as you do not have any significant downtime or rotational errors.

It is an important buff to keep an eye on, so make sure not to drop it. If you are fighting multiple targets and let’s say a boss moves away from melee to do a mechanic, make sure to send a Death Coil / Epidemic to that boss to refresh your Death Rot before it runs out, then they will still have 10 stacks for when they come back into melee.

If you have the Improved Death Coil talent, the additional Death Coil cleave will apply Death Rot to both your main target and the other target it cleaves, so when the bosses are close together you won’t need to worry about refreshing on your off-target as it will naturally apply from the cleaving Death Coil.

Defensive Cooldowns / Utility

Abomination Limb

While Abomination Limb is a damage cooldown, it doesn’t do much damage and is only really pressed as an extra form of damage on a low priority, it does better damage in multi-target scenarios but its real strength is its ability to gather enemies together.

Death Knight is generally a class that excels in mob control, and Abomination Limb is one of those tools that a Death Knight is known for. If you are in a single target encounter with no adds then you can just use this as a damage cooldown, however if there are adds then you will want to hold it (unless the adds spawn 2 minutes or so in, then you can use it on pull for some damage) so you can utilize Abomination Limbs utility and multi-target damage.

Anti-Magic Shell

Anti-Magic Shell is one of the best abilities in a Death Knight's toolkit. It makes you immune to many magic auras and debuffs and prevents heavy amounts of magic damage when used correctly. If you pre-use Anti-Magic Shell before walking over a magic-based floor effect, it will make you completely immune to the damage and any additional effects it may apply to you while walking over it.

It's important to note that using Anti-Magic Shell only prevents the application of magic debuffs and does not remove them once they have already been applied to you. So make sure you use Anti-Magic Shell before a debuff is applied. When absorbing magic damage with this ability, you also gain Runic Power, which can also be used offensively for a slight DPS gain.

When in magic damage-based fights, Anti-Magic Shell is insanely strong, and taking the talent Anti-Magic Barrier allows you to use it more frequently, as well as increasing its duration and absorb amount.

Icebound Fortitude

Icebound Fortitude is your main heavy mitigation ability that makes you immune to stun effects. This can be very useful in encounters that have stun mechanics. It has a 2 minute cooldown, so make sure to plan out your uses to get the most value out of it.

Anti-Magic Zone

Anti-Magic Zone is a raid/party defensive cooldown for magic damage. It loses value based on how many allies are within it, so it will not be as strong in raids but it's worth using along with some other healing cooldowns as an extra safety measure. Its cooldown can also be reduced by using the talent Assimilation.

Lichborne

On its own, Lichborne's only beneficial in niche situations where you will be Feared, Charmed, or put to Sleep. However, when using the talent Unholy Endurance it becomes a valuable extra mitigation ability that you will want to use in high-damage encounters. Leech in general scales a lot better in multi-target scenarios compared to single target, but it’s still very good to have either way.

Death Grip

Death Grip is an iconic Death Knight ability that makes them stand out from other classes in the game. No other class can grip enemies into specific positions, making Death Knight very strong in add control encounters. Make sure to always keep an eye out for enemies outside of the rest and grip them in so your group and cleave them down with the rest. It's also an effective way to interrupt a target from casting, even if they are uninterruptible, as it counts as a form of CC and not an interrupt.

Death's Advance

A Death Knight's main weakness is mobility. Death's Advance usage is a key part of what makes a good Death Knight player. It's your only mobility spell if you are not talented into Wraith Walk, so it is crucial to use it at the right time. It also makes you immune to knockback effects which can be incredibly strong in certain encounters. It can also be greatly empowered by the Riders of the Apocalypse talent Death Charge, which increases your movement speed by 100% instead of 35% as well as all of the other benefits of Death's Advance, so with this talent you are one of the fastest classes (mobility wise) in the game.

Raise Ally

Along with Druids and Warlocks, Death Knights are one of the only classes in the game that can resurrect an ally during combat. Raise Ally is an instant cast, and costs less resources compared to other classes, so it’s generally the best combat res if you need to get somebody back into the fight ASAP. It can also be buffed with the San’layn talent Newly Turned.

Death Strike

After taking a heavy hit of damage, you can heal a significant amount after using Death Strike, making your healer's life a lot easier and maybe proccing Runic Corruption afterward. Use this ability after taking a large amount of damage if you are out of Refreshing Healing Potions and Healthstones.

Chains of Ice

Another helpful tool for Death Knights to use is Chains of Ice, which is very strong when an add needs to be slowed or kited by your tank. However, it does come at the cost of a rune, so using this too much will often leave you rune starved. Make sure only to use it when it's needed or called for. If you have multiple targets that need to be slowed simultaneously, consider using the talent Grip of the Dead instead of applying Chains of Ice to multiple targets.