Death Knight Racial Guide

September 23, 2008 by Zuggy · 8 Comments

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:

Blood Fury - Excellent ability for both PvP and PvE death knights.
Hardiness - A solid ability for PvP, fairly useless in PvE. Not quite as good as it once was, but still worth the mention.
Command - Another bonus for the class, which benefits from it’s undead summoning. Will have great value in both PvP and most PvE encounters.
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:

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.
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.
Cultivation - Fairly pointless, no real application in both PvP or PvE. Don’t choose your death knight because of cultivation.
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:

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.
Regeneration - Since death knight’s won’t have much health regeneration to begin with this racial is fairly useless.
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.
Throwing Specialization - Pointless as death knights cannot wield throwing weapons.
Bow Specialization - Pointless as death knights cannot wield bows.
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:

Will of the Forsaken - Always crucial for PvP, not so much in PvE.
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.
Undeadwater Breathing - No real combat application, don’t choose your death knight based on this.
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:

Mana Tap - Solid PvP talent, minimal PvE application.
Arcane Torrent - Great racial ability for both PvP and PvE.
Arcane Affinity - Non-combat talent, don’t choose your death knight based on +10 enchanting skill. It’s just not worth it.
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:

Stoneform - More of a PvP talent, but also very nice during raids and other PvE encounters.
Gun Specialization - irrelevant, death knights cannot use guns.
Frost Resistance - A nice 2% resistance, solid for both PvP and PvE.
Find Treasure - pretty pointless as it’s a non-combat talent, do not choose your death knight based on this.
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:

Escape Artist - amazing for PvP, especially now that it can no longer be resisted. Solid for many PvE encounters as well.
Expansive Mind - pointless as death knights gain nothing from intellect
Arcane Resistance - Like any of the resistances, this will be a solid trait for both PvP and PvE.
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:

Perception - Some PvP application, not nearly as good as the old perception.
The Human Spirit - death knight’s have no real spirit application.
Diplomacy - non-combat, do not base your racial choice on this ability.
Sword Specialization - Great if you are using swords, worthless if not.
Mace Specialization - Great if you are using maces, worthless if not.
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:

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

Gift of the Naaru - Excellent ability for PvP and solid for PvE as well, especially now that it scales with AP / spell power.
Heroic Presence - Solid 1%, nothing major but certainly a nice addition.
Gemcutting - non-combat, do not choose your race based on this.
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.