Knights of the Ebon Blade Reputation Guide

How do I gain reputation with Knights of the Ebon Blade?

There are several ways you will be able to gain reputation with Knights of the Ebon Blade.

1. If you’re a Death Knight you’ll have the option of doing four quests which give you Knights of Ebon Blade reputation. These include: Taking Back Acherus, The Battle For The Ebon Hold, The Ebon Watch, and The Light of Dawn. Note: only Death Knights can complete these quests.
2. For everyone else, you can complete the normal mode daily dungeon quests. These quests reward 1 of 4 reputation tokens, one of which is Ebon Blade Commendation Badge. This badge awards +250 Knights of the Ebon Blade reputation when used.
   • Timear Foresees Centrifuge Constructs in your Future! - The Oculus
   • Timear Foresees Infinite Agents in your Future! - CoT: Stratholme Past
   • Timear Forese es Titanium Vanguards in your Future! - Halls of Lightning
   • Timear Foresees Ymirjar Berserkers in your Future! - Utgarde Pinnacle

3. 

   Finally, you’ll have the option of championing the Knights of the Ebon. To champion this faction you must wear your Tabard of the Ebon Blade while you completing other level 80 5 man dungeons. This will award you reputation with the Knights of the Ebon Blade for any mobs or bosses you kill.

   • Non-Elite Mobs Normal - 0
   • Non-Elite Mobs Heroic - 1-2
   • Elite Trash Normal - 5
   • Elite Trash Heroic - 15
   • Super Trash Normal - 10
   • Super Trash Heroic - 30
   • Boss Normal - 50
   • Boss Heroic - 250

Knights of the Ebon Blade Rewards

Friendly

• Design: Deadly Huge Citrine (Jewelcrafting Design)
• Tabard of the Ebon Blade (Tabard)

Honored

• Arcanum of Toxic Warding (Head Slot Enhancement)
• Dark Soldier Cape (Caster Cloak)
• Pattern: Nerubian Reinforced Quiver (Leatherworking Pattern)
• Toxin-Tempered Sabatons (Plate Foot Armor)
• Unholy Persuader (Slow Off Hand Fist Weapon)

Revered

• Arcanum of Torment (Head Slot Enhancement)
• Design: Wicked Monarch Topaz (Jewelcrafting Design)
• Reaper of Dark Souls (Slow One-Handed Melee Sword)
• Runeblade of Demonstrable Power (Two-Handed Melee Sword)
• Spaulders of the Black Arrow (Mail Shoulder Armor)
• Sterile Flesh-Handling Gloves (Cloth Hand Armor)
• Wound-Binder’s Wristguards (Leather Wrist Armor)
• Pattern: Abyssal Bag (Tailoring Pattern)

Exalted

• Belt of Dark Mending (Cloth Waist Armor)
• Darkheart Chestguard (Leather Chest Armor)
• Death-Inured Sabatons (Plate Foot Armor)
• Kilt of Dark Mercy (Mail Leg Armor)
• Design: Glowing Twilight Opal (Jewelcrafting Design)

Death Knight FAQ Guide Compiled

Part 1: Death Knight FAQ Guide (basics)
Part 2: Death Knight FAQ Guide (advanced)

Q. What races can be a death knight?
A. Every race has the availability of being a death knight.

Q. Who is eligible to create a death knight?
A. Players who have at least one level 55 character on a realm may create a death knight on that realm.

Q. What if I have a level 55 character on one realm but want to create a death knight on another realm to play with friends?
A. At the launch of Wrath of the Lich King, you will only be able to create a death knight on the same realm where you have an existing level 55 or higher character. In the future, we plan to allow the creation of a death knight on any realm (provided you have at least one level 55+ character).

Q. Can I create a death knight on one realm and transfer it to another realm?
A. Yes, you will be able to transfer a death knight, using either a free character move or a paid character transfer. Normal fees still apply.

Q. Can I create a death knight on one account and transfer it to a new account?
A. Death knights can be transferred with the same fees and restrictions as any other character.

Q. If I move a death knight to another realm now, can I get a refund later when the option to create a death knight anywhere is available?
A. We will not be giving refunds to players who have relocated a death knight to another realm prior to the open creation point for all realms.

Q. Can I create a death knight on the opposite faction?
A. You will be able to create a death knight on the opposite faction provided that it is on a PvE realm. The standard restrictions for character creation apply for PvP realms.

Q. Is there a limit on how many death knights I can create?
A. You will only be able to have one death knight per realm at any one time. Should you delete a death knight, you will still be able to create a new one.

Source: Blizzard

WotLK Death Knight Changes - Build 9038

Lots of solid changes in all 3 trees for death knights in this most recent build. I really like the way the class is headed for both its DPS and tanking roles. One of the most talked about issues with the class has been its inability to function at the same level as other tanks. At this point it’s hard to really tell if the class will reach that point, but it’s looking promising.

The frost presence armor increase is a great start. Based on these most recent changes in addition to several videos and sources I’ve seen of death knight tanks in action it’s looking like the class will be fine. Threat wise there don’t appear to be any major issues left, the largest complication will be finding the gray area of ideal avoidance, damage mitigation, and DPS.

This past week has been packed with loads of changes, especially for tanks. It’s a clear priority for Blizzard and one I’m confident will end in a solution which meets the needs of all 4 tanking classes.

Death Knight

Blood

• Blade Barrier - Changed to when you have no Blood runes. (Old No runes)
• Heart Strike - Damage increased. (Now Rank 6 60% weapon damage plus 220.8, and an additional 110.4 bonus damage per disease.) (Old Rank 6 50% weapon damage plus 184.0, and an additional 92.0 bonus damage per disease. )
• Dark Command - Range increased to 20yds (Old 5yds)

Frost

• Frost Presence - Armor contribution from items increased to 65%. (Old 45%)
• Frost Strike - Now cannot be dodged, blocked, or parried.
• Black Ice - Frost damage doubled (Now 6/12/18/24/30) (Old 3/6/9/12/15). It no longer affects Shadow damage.
• Tundra Stalker - Passive Icy Touch damage lowered by 25%, expertise increase doubled. (Now 5/10/15/20/25% increase to icy touch damage, and 2/4/6/8/10 expertise) (Old 20/40/60/80/100% increase to icy touch damage, and 1/2/3/4/5 expertise.)
• Rune Strike - Runic Power cost lowered to 10, and damage increased, now only useable after an attack is dodged or parried. Can’t be dodged, blocked or parried. (Damage Now - 200% weapon damage plus [200.0 * AP * 10.0 / 10000.0].) (Old 65% weapon damage, and only usable after a critical hit with an ability that causes a disease)

Unholy

• Blood-Caked Blade - Chance to proc doubled. (Now 10/20/30%) (Old 5/10/15%)
• Scourge Strike - Damage lowered. (Now Rank 4 60% of weapon damage as Shadow damage plus ogx 190.5, and an additional 95.25 bonus damage per disease.) (Old Rank 4 60% of weapon damage as Shadow damage plus 226.8, and an additional 113.4 bonus damage per disease.)

Death Knight Damage Buffs

Pretty big changes on the Death Knight front today as Blizzard poster, Ghostcrawler, announced a major change to death knight melee and spell critical damage earlier today.

Death knights now do double damage on melee and spell crits. Normally spell crits are only 1.5x damage.
This was an intended change. Death knights derive a lot of damage from spells, but not so much that it made sense to give them a talent to increase spell critical damage. It’s just a passive bonus for them.
We were worried about certain specs not scaling as well with high levels of gear. (source)

I find this change somewhat worrysome, simply because it puts the class on a whole tier ahead of any other caster class. Esspecially considering the amount of damage death knights are capable of doing with their single target, and particuarlly AoE nukes. Of course, this can all be scaled properly with appropriate adjustments to each individual spell.

These adjustments to spell damage may have already started. Death and decay recently received reduction in it’s overall damage output.

Crypt Fever was removed from its damage, though apparently not for everyone?
That shouldn’t have affected the damage for Blood and Frost though. We’ll try to figure out what happened. We had no intention to nerf it. (source)

More Death Knight FAQs

Korrath from the WoW forums made a great informational post regarding more FAQs for the Death Knight class. Lots of great info here, particularly regarding individual skills and spells (some still receiving lots of changes on the beta) and how they can be most effectively used.

Also, make sure to check out part 1 for more Death Knight FAQs.

Q: Why doesn’t Bladed Armor work with Frost Presence?

A: Frost Presence has a 30-second pulse that it uses to periodically check armor changes. Wait a little bit and it will kick in.

Q: Why does Summon Gargoyle suck?

A: It doesn’t, but it isn’t very useful when soloing and questing. The gargoyle has a fairly short cast time for its gargoyle strike; the spell hits about as hard as Death Coil, and happens every couple of seconds. It’s terrific for extended DPS in instances and groups since you have a steady influx of runic power and don’t have much down time. While you are questing, half the time is spent killing and the other half is spent running, which makes the gargoyle less useful.

Q: What’s a death rune?

A: A death rune is a rune that can be used as either unholy, frost or blood. It has lower priority than your other runes, meaning that if you have a Frost rune and a Death Rune available and cast Icy Touch, it will choose your Frost Rune first.

Q: Why does Corpse Explosion suck?

A: It needs love, and will hopefully get it soon. Currently, it isn’t worth using unless there are 6 or more targets in the area to explode.

Q: How is Dual Wielding?

A: Works for some builds, it probably won’t get much better than it currently is due to how attack power scales with white damage and yellow damage. There are a lot of divided thoughts on this. Do what you like.

Q: What’s the best spec for (tanking/DPS/PvP)?

A: Play the game, try things out, discuss. This is beta and this is a brand new class, there isn’t four years of back theorycraft and empirical testing for this class. There isn’t four seasons of previous arena history to base conjecture off of. There are a multitude of specs for blood, frost and unholy tanks, DPS and PvP, and the talent trees change every single patch.

Get out there and try it. That’s what the beta is for.

Q: I don’t know what to do, I just copied a premade DK and I’m all confused!

A: Try creating a new death knight, and do all of the starting quests. It’s an excellent method of trying things out, without all the skills overwhelming you.

Q: I’m still all confused!

A: Read more, post less. (like part 1 of my Death Knight FAQ!)

Q: Why did Blizzard make _______ suck?

A: Blizzard’s designers have budgets for everything. Sometimes they need to rein in the power in order to make things fit into the budget. It’s a sort of behind-the-scenes method of homogenizing all of the classes, in order to ensure that some semblance of balance exists.

Q: Balance? HA! This class sucks, this game sucks, the designers suck, yadda yadda

A: Yet you still give them money each month… Read more, post less.

Q: I just made a Death Knight and I don’t have any talent points! Where are they?

A: You initially start out with 0 talent points and as you complete quests in the starting area you are awarded them along with money/items. By the time you finish the Scarlet Enclave you will have the correct amount of talent points for your level.

Q: Necrosis is only doing 1 damage, is it bugged?

A: Nothing is wrong! Don’t panic, it’s just how necrosis works. Necrosis is based on the damage you do with your weapon. So if you hit a target dummy (it only has 1 hp) necrosis considers that a 1 damage attack and only hits for 1 damage as a result.

Q: Hey, I need mods, what are good ones?

A: Jaime keeps a thread with DK-Centric mods here:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=10529923372&sid=2000&pageNo=1
Q: I am STUCK on a HORSE! How do I turn it in?

A: Press 1.

Q: Aren’t we supposed to be overpowered? We are a hero class!

A: Death Knight as a “hero” class is in reference to the player and not the character. As far as game mechanics go, the Death Knight is just any other class in the game, albeit a new one. The “hero” qualification means that the class is more complex (not more powerful) than “standard” and you are beginning play later in the leveling curve. You have 25 levels to learn the inner workings of your class to play on a competitive level, every other class has already had 70 levels to learn. This requires a player comfortable with such a handicap placed upon them.

Q: Some guy totally made his ghoul explode, but my ghoul pet bar doesn’t have explode, what gives?

A: In order to make your ghoul explode, you need both the Master of Ghouls talent and Corpse Explosion. That will enable you to make your poor, innocent ghoul who implicitly trusts and loves you unconditionally, explode.

Q: Corpse dust sucks!!! It is too expensive and I hate it, will it ever go away?

A: No. Deal with it.

FAQ credits: Sunny, Ratri, Rabinahau

General Information:

Special Melee Attack hit cap: 9% (Strikes)
Two-hander melee hit cap vs. a boss: 9%
Dual wield melee hit cap vs. a boss: 28%
Spell hit cap vs. a boss: 17%

Hit rating for 1%:
Melee: 32.79
Spell: 26.23

This means that if you get 9% hit to ensure all of your melee attacks land you will still need 5.75% more hit or 151 more hit rating to reach the spell hit cap. If you are 2H capped and have Virulence, and a 3% hit debuff on the boss (Such as Misery or Imp. Faerie Fire) you will be spell hit capped as well.

Our melee attacks and spells have a critical damage bonus of 100%.

Hit rating does NOT increase the amount of critical strikes you will have on a target. It reduces the number of times that you will miss the boss.

It takes 45.91 critical strike rating to generate 1% melee or spell critical strike. The reason that hit is such a good stat until capped is because it is so much cheaper to hit 1% hit rating wise than 1% crit. Once you hit the two hander hit cap hit is no longer worth gemming or enchanting.

Haste rating does not reduce our GCD. Our GCD is only affected by Unholy Presence.

Our abilities scale with AP. Spell damage does nothing for us.

Death Knight Nerfs Incoming

The inevitable is finally going to come to pass…that’s right ladies and gentlemen, death knights are getting nerfed. /tear

We’re starting to get a lot of PvP data in, and several classes are having trouble beating rogues, Frost mages, Ret paladins and death knights.

Death knights have a lot of options at the moment, which is cool, but makes it really hard for another player to catch a break and burn a death knight down. So we’re going to try some changes. I won’t sugar-coat it — these are nerfs.

– The ghoul is doing too much damage. He is receiving 100% of death knight strength, which is much higher than most pets.
– Chains of Ice is going back to be being dispellable. It is probably the best snare in the game at the moment, for a class that already has Death Grip.
– The same is true of both Strangulate and Mind Freeze. Strangulate’s cooldown is going to go up. Mind Freeze remains the quick interrupt.
– We’re increasing the cooldown on Anti-Magic Shell. We don’t think this will hurt DKs in PvE much, and it still leaves you with Icebound Fortitude to use often.

As always, if we overdid it, if DKs are now too weak in PvP, we’ll adjust. But we were at the point where we weren’t getting a lot of good numbers because some fights were just over too quickly.

Most of these changes don’t seem all that massive, yes they are nerfs, there’s no denying that. But I don’t think these minor changes take away from the overall utility of the class. You’ve got a class that arguable has the best of everything…crowd control, snares, damage output, survivability, all wrapped up in an explosive and high armor package. Something has got to give in order to bring it in line with other classes, especially from a PvP perspective.

I’m very interested to see the finalize version of these changes on the beta. It’s been great to watch Blizzard build a class from the ground up, they really are dong a fine job assimilating such a dynamic and interesting character into the existing.

What do you think? Will death knights before crazy overpowered even after these changes? or are they brought down to the land of us mere mortals.

Death Knight Racial Guide

The new death knight hero class is the only class which can be created with any race. This will lend itself to a wide range of variablity in the class, particularly based upon your unique racial abilities and traits. So what is the best knight death race? Well, it’s a very difficult question. There are many factors must go into answering this question based upon what you want to do with your death knight.

Do you want to focus on PvE and raiding? PvP and Arena? or a combination of the two? Knowing what you want to do with your DK will help you make the most informed decision for your death knight’s race. Let’s start with the horde races.

Best Race for Death Knight?

note: non-combat abilities such as +profession skills, underwater breathing, etc. were not considered for this analysis. Also, make sure you check out the alliance and horde racial abilities and traits guide for the updated list of racials.

Best Horde Death Knight Race

Orc Racials:

1. Blood Fury - Excellent ability for both PvP and PvE death knights.
2. Hardiness - A solid ability for PvP, fairly useless in PvE. Not quite as good as it once was, but still worth the mention.
3. Command - Another bonus for the class, which benefits from it’s undead summoning. Will have great value in both PvP and most PvE encounters.
4. Axe Specialization - Great if you’re using axes, so long as there are high end 2 handed axes available this will be another bonus to the class.

All in all orc receives solid bonuses which help augment the death knight’s natural abilities. A very solid choice for PvP and PvE.

Tauren Racials:

1. War Stomp - A very nice ability, personally I think this is more for healers than death knights though. That said, it’s still a solid ability and will be beneficial for both PvP and PvE.
2. Endurance - It’s yet to be determined exactly how this will be scaling, but on what I’ve seen and read it will be a nice HP boost, but not as crucial as it once was.
3. Cultivation - Fairly pointless, no real application in both PvP or PvE. Don’t choose your death knight because of cultivation.
4. Nature Resistance - Solid 2% nature resist, good for both PvP and PvE.

Overall just not that impressive. Hardcore tank death knights may opt for Tauren anyway as endurance does have the potential be significant. We won’t really know for sure until we see how it scales at level 80. The other racials are decent at best.

Troll Racials:

1. Berserking - Will be a huge benefit for PvE death knights, particularly those who are tanking. Since you’ll always have life spiking up and down you can get a full 30% attack speed increase.
2. Regeneration - Since death knight’s won’t have much health regeneration to begin with this racial is fairly useless.
3. Beast Slaying - Is amazing for dungeons that have lots of beasts, namely bosses that are beasts. Also nice for PvP vs. hunter pets and druids in animal forms. This talent is very underestimated.
4. Throwing Specialization - Pointless as death knights cannot wield throwing weapons.
5. Bow Specialization - Pointless as death knights cannot wield bows.
6. The VooDoo Shuffle - Great for PvP due to the importance of snare application and breaking, also should be beneficial to some degree in PvE. Will be dependent on the encounter.

I really like the idea of the berserking as a tank death knight, and of course it’s going to be great in PvP. Certainly in the running for best PvE tank. When you add beast slaying, berserking, voodoo shuffle on top of amazingly good hair cuts it’s not hard not to choose them!

Undead Racials:

1. Will of the Forsaken - Always crucial for PvP, not so much in PvE.
2. Cannibalize - A very solid ability, but more of a grinding / utility type of racial as opposed to an actual combat racial. Once again, more of a PvP ability.
3. Undeadwater Breathing - No real combat application, don’t choose your death knight based on this.
4. Shadow Resistance - A nice addition, but very minor, especially as it’s only 1% compared to the other resistances which are all 2%.

Overall I feel undead will be better suited to PvP players who are very concerned about being fear. Traditionally, undead racials have been the end all be all for PvP, but after the wotf nerf in addition to the other “meh” racial abilities, I don’t think undead are all that great.

Blood Elf Racials:

1. Mana Tap - Solid PvP talent, minimal PvE application.
2. Arcane Torrent - Great racial ability for both PvP and PvE.
3. Arcane Affinity - Non-combat talent, don’t choose your death knight based on +10 enchanting skill. It’s just not worth it.
4. Magic Resistance - 2% for all spells is pretty big, certainly makes up for arcane affinity.

Overall pretty solid here as well, a nice mix of PvP and PvE utility.

Best Death Knight Race for Horde Conclusions

• PvP Pick: Orc / Undead
• PvE Pick: Troll / Tauren (tank)
• All Around Pick: Orc
• My Preference: Troll

Perhaps I’m a little biased since I play a troll, but just based on the talent changes…well, trolls are looking pretty damn amazing. If we just compare troll / orc to the other races there’s not really much to mention. All tauren really have is the war stomp, as endurance is quite negligable after the change.

If we look at undead all we’re really considering is will of the forsaken, which is still great for PvP, but the other racials just don’t cut it for me. Blood elves are in a similar boat. Overall I feel orc is the best overall package. All 4 racials are work to directly increase damage / survivability, where as the other racials are mixed / indirrect / non-combat at best.

Personally I’d still opt for the troll, due to my natural affinity for the race in addition to their recent racial improvements and multi-faceted PvP and PvE application.

Best Alliance Death Knight Race

Dwarf Racials:

1. Stoneform - More of a PvP talent, but also very nice during raids and other PvE encounters.
2. Gun Specialization - irrelevant, death knights cannot use guns.
3. Frost Resistance - A nice 2% resistance, solid for both PvP and PvE.
4. Find Treasure - pretty pointless as it’s a non-combat talent, do not choose your death knight based on this.
5. Mace Specialization - like any specialization, it’s great if you’re using the weapons for which you have bonus expertise for. Solid for both PvP and PvE purposes.

Quite frankly not all that great. If you have a 2h mace and do nothing but PvP against frost mages you might could make a case, but I’m not impressed by the racials here.

Gnome Racials:

1. Escape Artist - amazing for PvP, especially now that it can no longer be resisted. Solid for many PvE encounters as well.
2. Expansive Mind - pointless as death knights gain nothing from intellect
3. Arcane Resistance - Like any of the resistances, this will be a solid trait for both PvP and PvE.
4. Engineering Specialist - non-combat trait, don’t choose your race based on this.

Much like dwarves, pretty bad. With the exception of escape artist every racial ability is either “meh” or not used at all.

Human Racials:

1. Perception - Some PvP application, not nearly as good as the old perception.
2. The Human Spirit - death knight’s have no real spirit application.
3. Diplomacy - non-combat, do not base your racial choice on this ability.
4. Sword Specialization - Great if you are using swords, worthless if not.
5. Mace Specialization - Great if you are using maces, worthless if not.
6. Every man for himself - Awesome for PvP as it allows you to use another trinket, also solid for many PvE encounters.

So far the best of any alliance race. Having the double weapon specialization at least gives you some leeway as to your weapon selection. Once again nothing all that stellar though.

Night Elf Racials:

1. Shadowmeld - Not crucial, very minor PvP application for death knights. Some PvE application for DPS death knights.
2. Quickness - Solid for PvP and PvE.
3. Wisp Spirit - Pointless, do not choose your race based on this.
4. Nature Resistance - Solid for PvP and PvE.

No useable racials, quite frankly pretty bad. Quickness and Nature resistance are nice additions, but considering they are really more situational uses at best…these are pretty bad.

Draenei Racials:

1. Gift of the Naaru - Excellent ability for PvP and solid for PvE as well, especially now that it scales with AP / spell power.
2. Heroic Presence - Solid 1%, nothing major but certainly a nice addition.
3. Gemcutting - non-combat, do not choose your race based on this.
4. Shadow Resistance - Of all the resistances shadow is the one to have, especially since it’s a 2% compared to the undead’s 1%.

Overall, draenie is pretty solid. The gift of the naaru is pretty huge in my opinion, you toss some nice passive resistance and +hit on top of that you’ve got a pretty solid package.

Best Death Knight Race for Alliance Conclusions

• PvP Pick: Human
• PvE Pick: Human / Draenei
• All Around Pick: Human
• My Preference: Human

Looking at the alliance racials for the death knight…well quite frankly they all just suck. Besides escape artist, stoneform, and gift of the naaru there really isn’t much worth mentioning. The other racial abilities are cenetered around passive or non-combat traits which aren’t going to really make or break your character. I strongly feel humans will make the best all around death knight.

You’ve got weapon specialization on both maces and swords, the novelty of diplomacy, perception…and to top it all off you’ve got the real clencher for me, every man for himself. This is huge, particuarlly for PvP. For PvE it’s not as big of a deal, hence why I’ve listed draenei as another option. Heroic pressence and gift are very nice, but when compared to the human’s weapon specs and free trinket I think the 2 races come up pretty even.

Death Knight FAQs

What is the Death Knight?

Death Knights are the first hero class to be introduced in World of Warcraft. While they are a hero class, they are still on the same playing field as normal characters.

What type of a class is the Death Knight?

Death Knight’s are a hybrid melee DPS / tank class. While the class is primarily centered around it’s melee attacks, death knight’s also have a variety of spells designed to be augment melee abilities and function as direct nuke / debuff / buffs spells.

How do I make a Death Knight?

You must have a current level 55+ character on your account. This will unlock your accounts ability to create a death knight class.  You may only create one death knight per server.

Where do I begin begin?

Death Knight’s start at level 55 in The Ebon Hold. This is a floating city above Eastern Plaguelands (just like Naxxaramas).

What about Death Knight starting gear?

Death Knights start with a full set of uncommon quality armor and a rare quality sword. In addition to the starting armor and weapons you also will get a 100% epic mount for free. Just complete the short quest chain to unlock the epic mount.

• Acherus Knight’s Hood
• Choker of Damnation
• Acherus Knight’s Pauldrons
• Acherus Knight’s Shroud
• Acherus Knight’s Tunic
• Acherus Knight’s Wristguard
• Acherus Knight’s Gauntlets
• Acherus Knight’s Gridle
• Acherus Knight’s Cover
• Acherus Knight’s Greaves
• Plague Band
• Corrupted Band
• Runed Soulblade (requires completion of early quest)

What types of weapons can Death Knights use?

Death Knights can use any of the following weapons.

• polearms
• one-handed swords
• two-handed swords
• one-handed maces
• two-handed maces
• one-handed axes
• two-handed axes
• relics

What about the Death Knight Rune System?

Unlike other classes that use mana, rage or energy, Death Knights use a completly new “rune system” for their power.

• There are 6 runes, 2 blood runes, 2 frost runes, and 2 unholy runes
• When a rune is used it takes 10 seconds to be recovered
• When a rune is used you also power up another bar called your “runic power”. This runic power can then be used for other abilities.

WotLK Death Knight Changes

Lots of interesting changes here, more than anything it just looks like buffs across the board. All in all the class is really coming together nicely. Most of the talents synergize well with each other making for a very dynamic and well designed class. The only issue I can see with Death Knights, especially after this most recent round of buffs…well, where does it end?

Death Knights have more utility than any other class on top of great damage…oh, and they can function as a tank! I understand it’s a hero class, so it should be distinctly different, but with a class as jammed packed full of amazing talents, skills and utility, where does it end and can the class truly be balance for both PvP and PvE?

I’m not so sure, but knowing there is still many changes in the coming weeks prior to patch 3.0.2’s release I think many of these issues will be thoroughly addressed.

DPS changes

– Death Coil, Frost Strike, Death and Decay damage increased.
– Strikes that scale with diseases changed so that the weapon damage, not just the flat damage, scales with the disease.
– Double rune abilities damage increased: Obliterate, Howling Blast, Scourge Strike, Death Strike.
– Unholy Blight no longer causes Blood Plague, but had its cooldown removed.
– Several attack power coefficients increased.
– Bloody Strikes and Scent of Blood swapped places.
– Bladed Armor now turns armor into Strength (which then is turned into Parry).
– Master of Ghouls’ Ghoul now lasts until killed or similarly dismissed.
– Ravenous Dead no longer affects Ghoul duration, but grants your rotting little buddy 60% more of your Str and Sta. (Stam goes from 30% of yours to ~50% of yours. Strength goes from 100% to 160%.)

Tanking changes

– Frost Presence now grants 10% total health in addition to its current bonuses.
– Blood Gorged, Rage of Rivendare and Tundra Stalker all grant 1/2/3/4/5 expertise.
– Veteran of the Third War increased to 6/6/6 Str / Sta / Exp to match warriors.
– Will of the Necropolis no longer grants expertise and now lowers Anti-Magic Shell cooldown.
– Pestilence has no target limit. (It still has a radius limit.) Pesilence glyph now increases area.
– Death and Decay no longer has a cower component, but a glyph can add that back.
– Frigid Dreadplate now has a 100% chance for 2/4/6% miss but only on the DK.

Rewards for the selfless buffer

– Abom’s Might now grants 2% Strength at all times.
– Improved Icy Talons now grants 2% haste at all times.
– Ebon Plaguebringer now grants 3% crit at all times.

Runeforge changes

– Lichbane now does 2% weapon damage as Fire, and double damage to undead.
– Swordbreaking and Swordshattering add disarm duration reduction.
– Spellbreaking and Spellshattering add silence duration reduction.
– Cinderglacier reduced to 2 charges.

WotLK Patch Notes Update

Hey guys, directly from the front lines, check out the most recently updated Wrath of the Lich King patch notes. Certainly a lot more changes to the classes than I expected, but good to see Blizzard is making a strong effort to really work at balancing some of the more problematic classes.

Racial Abilities

• Arcane Torrent (Blood Elf) global cooldown removed.

Death Knights

• Death Knight spells that cost runes will now display the rune cooldowns on the spell buttons.

Mages

• Arcane Blast effect duration reduced to 3 seconds, and now increases damage by 15/30/45% instead of reducing cast time.
• Arcane Impact renamed Spell Impact and now affects Blast Wave, Fire Blast, Cone of Cold, and Ice Lance.
• Arcane Potency now applies when Presence of Mind is active, talent prerequisite changed to Presence of Mind.
• Conjured mana gems no longer disappear from your backpack after being logged out for more than 15 minutes. Higher ranks of Conjure Mana Gem will recharge an existing mana gem to maximum charges.
• Empowered Arcane Missiles renamed Arcane Empowerment and no longer increases mana cost. It now also increases damage caused by Arcane Blast.
• Improved Blink now also reduces mana cost by 25/50%.
• Improved Mana Shield has been renamed to Arcane Shielding and now also increases resistances granged by Mage Armor by 25/50%.
• Remove Lesser Curse has been renamed to Remove Curse.

Paladins

• Consecration now scales with attack power and spell power.
• Divine Protection now reduces all damage taken by 50% and increases time between attacks by 100%.
• Exorcism mana cost reduced and now scales with attack power and spell power.
• Eye for an Eye now reflects 10/20% damage from all critical hits.
• Fanaticism now increases chance to critically hit by 5/10/15/20/25%.
• Forbearance duration increased to 3 minutes.
• Improved Blessing of Might increased to 10/20/30/40/50%.
• Judgement has been replaced with 3 new spells; Judgement of Light, Judgement of Wisdom, and Judgement of Justice. All Judgement spells are considered ranged attacks for purposes of how they hit and how they critically hit. All cause damage based on attack power and spell power.
  
  • Judgement of Light now heals based on the Paladin’s attack power and spell power, the effect can not trigger more than once ever 4 seconds.
  • Judgement of Justice will no longer prevent Fear effects, but will only prevent NPCs from fleeing (e.g. at low health).
  • Judgement of Wisdom now restores mana based on the Paladin’s attack power and spell power, the effect can not trigger more than once every 4 seconds.
• Precision has been removed.
• Pursuit of Justice reduced to 2 ranks for 8/15% movement increase and 1/2% less chance to be hit by spells.
• Righteous Defense no longer costs mana and the global cooldown has been removed.
• Sacred Duty now also reduces the cooldown of Divine Protection.
• All Seals have been reduced to 1 rank and now cost 14% of base mana. The duration has been increased to 2 minutes and are no longer consumed when a Judgement spell is cast. The effects can be triggered from all weapon based special abilities.
  
  • Seal of Blood now increases Judgement damabe by 45% of weapon damage.
  • Seal of Command now increases Judgement damage by 30% of weapon damage, 60% on stunned targets.
  • Seal of Righteousness deals damage based on weapons peed plus an amount based on attack power and spell power, increases Judgement damage by 25%.
  • Seal of Vengeance damage over time effect duration increased to 18 seconds and now applies its effect on every swing, causes damage based on attack power and spell power, and increases Judgement damage by 10% per stack of the damage over time effect.
• Summon Warhorse and Summon Charger mana cost removed and no longer causes a global cooldown.
• Vindication reduced to 2 ranks for 10/20% attribute reduction.

Priests

• Silence (Shadow) global cooldown removed.

Rogues

• Energy regeneration should now be smoother.

Warlocks

• Avoidance (Felguard): Now reduces damage taken from area of effect attacks by an additional 80% and is automatically learned for the Succubus, Imp, Voidwalker, and Felhunter at level 10.
• Bane now reduces the cast time of your Haunt spell.
• Consume Shadows (Voidwalker): Duration reduced to 6 seconds, and effect increased 66%. Now also greatly increases all nearby allies’ stealth detection while channeled.
• Demonic Sacrifice: Succubus effect reduced to 10% increased shadow damage, down from 15%. Imp effect reduced to 10% increased fire damage, down from 15%. Felguard effect now increases Fire and Shadow damage, instead of just Shadow.
• Doomguard: Health increased 20%, mana increased 24%.
• Emberstorm now reduces the cast time of your incinerate by 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5 seconds.
• Fel Armor - Now increases your spell damage equal to 30% of your total Spirit, but no longer increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%.
• Felguard: Health increased by 10%.
• Felhunter: Paranoia and Tainted Blood have been replaced with Fel Intelligence and Shadow Bite.
• Fel Intelligence (Felhunter): Increases total Intellect and Spirit of party and raid members by 3%. Lasts until cancelled.
• Infernal: Cooldown reduced to 15 minutes, down from 1 hour. Duration reduced to 1 minute, down from 5 minutes+. Health increased by 30%, damage increased by 60%, and armor increased by 30%.
• Imp: Health increased by 20% , Armor increased 16%, mana regeneration increased 200%.
• Master Demonologist (Demonology) - Most effects have been altered.
  
  • Master Demonologist – Felguard (Demonology) - Now increases all damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and reduces all damage done to you by 1/2/3/4/5%.
  • Master Demonologist – Imp (Demonology) - Now increases Fire damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and critical hit chance with Fire spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
  • Master Demonologist – Succubus (Demonology) - Now increases Shadow damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and critical hit chance with Shadow spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
  • Master Demonologist (Demonology) - Most effects have been altered.
• Nether Protection has been reworked. It now has a 10/20/30% chance when you’re hit with a spell to reduce all damage by that spell school by 60% for 10 seconds.
• New Talent: Improved Felhunter (Affliction): Your Felhunter gains mana equal to 50/100% of the damage done by its Shadow Bite ability, and increases the effect of your Felhunter’s Fel Intelligence by 1/2%.
• Rain of Fire (Doomguard): A bug has been fixed which caused each tick of Rain of Fire to consume its mana cost.
• Shadow Bite (Felhunter): Deals Shadow damage plus an additional 5% Shadow damage over time effect on the target. 6 second cooldown.
• Soulstone now generates a log entry indicating who casted and received a soulstone.
• Spell Lock (Felhunter) global cooldown removed.
• Succubus: Health increased by 20%, armor increased 22%.
• Summon Dreadsteed/Felsteed: Mana cost removed, global cooldown removed.
• Voidwalker: Health increased by 20%, Damage increased by 16%. The amount of attack power the Voidwalker gains from its master’s spell damage has been increased by 45%.

PvP

• Medallion of the Horde and Insignia of the Alliance are now available for purchase on PvP vendors. For the purposes of testing these currently cost only gold to buy.

Professions

• Leatherworking
  
  • Drums now cause a Tinnitus effect, preventing affected targets from receiving beneficial effects from other drums for two minutes.
• Mining
  
  • Smelt Elementium must be relearned by players who still wish to know the spell by visiting a trainer in Blackwing Lair.

Quests

• Alliance characters on the “Check in With Bizie” quest in Borean Tundra can now ask Kara Thricestar for a flying machine ride out to Bizie Wrenchshanker.
• The “Escape from Winterfin Retreat” quest is now named, “Escape from the Winterfin Caverns”. The escort is shorter and no longer requires a pre-requisite quest to get a key.
• There is now a new murloc questgiver named Glrglrglr within the Winterfin Caverns. This questgiver needs you to ge the key to his cage so that he can be set free. This is not an escort quest.
• Fewer cannonballs are now required for the Alliance quest, “Danger! Explosives!”.
• Petrov’s Cluster Bombs no longer cause caster procs during the Alliance quest, “Break the Blockade”.
• The Alliance quest, “Break the Blockade” no longer caps out at revered Valiance Expedition faction.
• During the Alliance quest, “Hah…You’re Not So Big Now!”, Crafty’s Ultra-Advanced Proto-Typical Shortening Blaster no longer has a chance to transform the character into a magnataur. Instead it has a chance to transform the character into the likeness of Crafty Wobblesprocket.
• In Dragonblight, the “Ley Line” questline was reworked so that players are led into and must first complete the quests at the Ruby Dragonshrine before they will be given an audience with Queen Alexstrasza.
• The quest character Kor’ghan (Finding the Antidote) was moved to just outside the Cleft of Shadow’s poison vendor.

User Interface

• New Calendar feature: Players will be able to access the new Calendar feature by clicking on the new icon located in the top right corner of their mini map. The calendar will track in game events, allow raid scheduling, and more.
• New Vanity Pet and Mount changes: Players will now be able to access their non-combat pets and mounts by clicking on the pets tab in the Character Info panel. These pets and mounts will be now learnable much like spells or abilities. Once a vanity pet or mount is learned, the icon will disappear from within a player’s inventory and reappear in the appropriate tab under the pet tab under Character Info. Say goodbye to your vanity pets and mounts taking up bag and bank slots!
• Error messages should play less frequently
• Tradeskills can now be linked by shift-clicking the tradeskill icon
• Quests can be shared with party members at any distance
• Quests can be shared with party members by linking the quest into party chat
• Quests can be shared in raids but not battlegrounds
• A 5 minute timer will appear over the player’s unit frame showing the countdown until your PvP flag is cleared

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