Blizzard's original death knight concept was that of an undead spellcaster unit which made its initial appearance in Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness.[1] This death knight could be more accurately described as a horseback-mounted lich rather than the traditional death knight commonly depicted in other fantasy games. Years later, Blizzard introduced a new death knight hero-class unit in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and this second rendition was revised to reflect the general characteristics of the more traditional death knight design. To understand the key differences between these two different generations of death knight, see the "Types of death knights" section located further down this page. [2] The death knight was later adapted as a prestige class within the Warcraft RPG and they were former paladin warriors.A&HC 24 It is the first hero class in World of Warcraft and was introduced in the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
Talents
Death knight talents are split into 3 trees, each of which is fully capable of supporting either a tanking or DPS melee role:
• Blood: This tree primarily amplifies the death knight's melee spells, weapons, and abilities; and has a prominent health-regeneration theme.
• Frost: This tree has many control elements, with a strong critical-strike/bonus-damage theme, as well as several talents that improve physical-damage mitigation.
• Unholy: This tree has a heavy focus on diseases and related abilities, as well as improving summoned minions. Also has AoE, spell damage shielding, and mobility-improvement sub-themes.
The criterion for creating a death knight is the existence of a level 55+ character[4] on the player's account on any realm. The death knight combines martial prowess with dark, necromantic energies. Players might be familiar with the death knight from previously released Warcraft games — most recently, in the campaigns for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne expansion, the former paladin Arthas became a death knight and wrought havoc across Azeroth before fusing with the spirit of Ner'zhul to become the Lich King. It is important to note that these particular death knights are based upon those created by the Lich King in Warcraft III, not those of orcish origin as seen in Warcraft II.
Unlocking your death knight
Main article: Starting a death knight
The death knight is the first hero class in World of Warcraft. The death knight will start at level 55 in Acherus: The Ebon Hold over the Eastern Plaguelands, with multiple spells and abilities ready to use, and a set of uncommon gear. When you leave Ebon Hold, you will have a full set of rare gear ready for Outland. Through the death knight-specific quests in this necropolis and the surrounding areas, the character learns to master the power of the death knight and learns to use this new power for the will of the Lich King. Quests will take them outside the necropolis and into an area within the Scarlet Enclave.
Players can create one death knight per realm, so long as they have a level 55 character already and the Wrath of the Lich King on their account. There are no racial limitations for creating your death knight.
The Rune System
Runes as shown at BlizzCon 2007 (outdated).
Early beta frame removed due to pet difficulties (outdated).
The final frame art used since WotLK public release.
The death knight uses a unique rune-based resource system to govern his/her spells and abilities. Three rune types exist: blood, frost, and unholy, each with an attached color and symbol. Using certain abilities exhausts one or more runes, starting a cooldown of 10 seconds. After the cooldown, the runes refresh. The death knight can use spells to turn a rune into a Death Rune, which can be used as a blood, frost, or unholy rune. In addition, whenever the death knight uses a rune ability against a foe, it builds up a certain amount of Runic Power. This Runic Power is only used by few abilities.[5] All abilities that use Runic Power use a set amount, like Death Coil. Death knights cannot reallocate the number and type of runes - they are fixed to two runes of each type.[6]
The original player frame for death knights shown at BlizzCon was changed as feedback showed it was not ideal for displaying rune power for players.
Runeforging is a profession available only to death knights, providing permanent weapon enchants. The enchants work just like the permanent weapon enchants provided by Enchanting, but are self-only and are designed specifically to benefit death knight class. These are independent of the rune resource system.
Character's Role
In general, the death knight can be considered a hybrid melee class that combines damage dealing and tanking, somewhat akin to Warriors. They wear plate armor and are able to dual-wield or use two-handed blade weapons (and maces, as revealed later). Like druids, they tank without shields. Their tanking mechanics involve high armor and a high chance to parry.[7] Death knights tanks depend on a combination of high damage abilities, in addition to high threat abilities, such as Death and Decay and Rune Strike, to generate and hold aggro.
Like every other class, the death knight has three different talent trees that enhance certain aspects of his or her specialties. However, the differences between the trees are not as clear-cut as those of other classes, both for PvP and PvE environments. Notably, death knights can tank or deal damage regardless in which talent tree they specialize, although a careful talent selection is still required to bolster their preferred role.
Blood enhances the death knight's melee abilities and damage and vastly improves the ability to heal itself. As the name suggests, the special abilities it grants through talents are based on the Blood Runes. Blood also provides healing utility to party and raids and has some very useful buffs and debuffs that the death knight can cast on others, such as Hysteria and Mark of Blood, as well as providing a raid-wide 10% attack power buff (Abomination's Might). Blood is considered the tree for soloing.
Frost enhances melee abilities and focuses on increasing both AoE and single target damage. It provides some very powerful direct damage abilities like Frost Strike and Howling Blast. Frost also enhances or provides useful emergency damage mitigation abilities like Icebound Fortitude or Unbreakable Armor and is thus considered the tree for tanking. Parties and Raids also benefit from this talent tree by gaining a 20% melee attack speed haste (Improved Icy Talons).
Unholy enhances the death knight's diseases and damage over time spells, making them effective at AoE DPS. It also provides the death knight with a ghoul who is a permanent pet, a gargoyle guardian he or she can summon, and stronger diseases. Raid and party utility is granted by a 13% increased magic damage debuff Ebon Plaguebringer.
Runeforging
Runeforging allows the death knight to permanently enchant their weapon. These enchants act as a replacement for the stat enhancements provided by shields or ranged weapons, which death knights cannot wear.
A weapon can have an enchant from either runeforging or from Enchanting, but not both together (the runeforging enchants are always better). A player will have to be near a runeforge in order to forge a rune onto their weapon. Once a weapon has been engraved with a rune it is impossible for the rune to be removed, though it can be changed at a runeforge. Also even if it is not soulbound, once a weapon has been engraved with a rune it is impossible for that weapon to be traded.
Info from wowwiki.com
Talents
Death knight talents are split into 3 trees, each of which is fully capable of supporting either a tanking or DPS melee role:
• Blood: This tree primarily amplifies the death knight's melee spells, weapons, and abilities; and has a prominent health-regeneration theme.
• Frost: This tree has many control elements, with a strong critical-strike/bonus-damage theme, as well as several talents that improve physical-damage mitigation.
• Unholy: This tree has a heavy focus on diseases and related abilities, as well as improving summoned minions. Also has AoE, spell damage shielding, and mobility-improvement sub-themes.
The criterion for creating a death knight is the existence of a level 55+ character[4] on the player's account on any realm. The death knight combines martial prowess with dark, necromantic energies. Players might be familiar with the death knight from previously released Warcraft games — most recently, in the campaigns for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne expansion, the former paladin Arthas became a death knight and wrought havoc across Azeroth before fusing with the spirit of Ner'zhul to become the Lich King. It is important to note that these particular death knights are based upon those created by the Lich King in Warcraft III, not those of orcish origin as seen in Warcraft II.
Unlocking your death knight
Main article: Starting a death knight
The death knight is the first hero class in World of Warcraft. The death knight will start at level 55 in Acherus: The Ebon Hold over the Eastern Plaguelands, with multiple spells and abilities ready to use, and a set of uncommon gear. When you leave Ebon Hold, you will have a full set of rare gear ready for Outland. Through the death knight-specific quests in this necropolis and the surrounding areas, the character learns to master the power of the death knight and learns to use this new power for the will of the Lich King. Quests will take them outside the necropolis and into an area within the Scarlet Enclave.
Players can create one death knight per realm, so long as they have a level 55 character already and the Wrath of the Lich King on their account. There are no racial limitations for creating your death knight.
The Rune System
Runes as shown at BlizzCon 2007 (outdated).
Early beta frame removed due to pet difficulties (outdated).
The final frame art used since WotLK public release.
The death knight uses a unique rune-based resource system to govern his/her spells and abilities. Three rune types exist: blood, frost, and unholy, each with an attached color and symbol. Using certain abilities exhausts one or more runes, starting a cooldown of 10 seconds. After the cooldown, the runes refresh. The death knight can use spells to turn a rune into a Death Rune, which can be used as a blood, frost, or unholy rune. In addition, whenever the death knight uses a rune ability against a foe, it builds up a certain amount of Runic Power. This Runic Power is only used by few abilities.[5] All abilities that use Runic Power use a set amount, like Death Coil. Death knights cannot reallocate the number and type of runes - they are fixed to two runes of each type.[6]
The original player frame for death knights shown at BlizzCon was changed as feedback showed it was not ideal for displaying rune power for players.
Runeforging is a profession available only to death knights, providing permanent weapon enchants. The enchants work just like the permanent weapon enchants provided by Enchanting, but are self-only and are designed specifically to benefit death knight class. These are independent of the rune resource system.
Character's Role
In general, the death knight can be considered a hybrid melee class that combines damage dealing and tanking, somewhat akin to Warriors. They wear plate armor and are able to dual-wield or use two-handed blade weapons (and maces, as revealed later). Like druids, they tank without shields. Their tanking mechanics involve high armor and a high chance to parry.[7] Death knights tanks depend on a combination of high damage abilities, in addition to high threat abilities, such as Death and Decay and Rune Strike, to generate and hold aggro.
Like every other class, the death knight has three different talent trees that enhance certain aspects of his or her specialties. However, the differences between the trees are not as clear-cut as those of other classes, both for PvP and PvE environments. Notably, death knights can tank or deal damage regardless in which talent tree they specialize, although a careful talent selection is still required to bolster their preferred role.
Blood enhances the death knight's melee abilities and damage and vastly improves the ability to heal itself. As the name suggests, the special abilities it grants through talents are based on the Blood Runes. Blood also provides healing utility to party and raids and has some very useful buffs and debuffs that the death knight can cast on others, such as Hysteria and Mark of Blood, as well as providing a raid-wide 10% attack power buff (Abomination's Might). Blood is considered the tree for soloing.
Frost enhances melee abilities and focuses on increasing both AoE and single target damage. It provides some very powerful direct damage abilities like Frost Strike and Howling Blast. Frost also enhances or provides useful emergency damage mitigation abilities like Icebound Fortitude or Unbreakable Armor and is thus considered the tree for tanking. Parties and Raids also benefit from this talent tree by gaining a 20% melee attack speed haste (Improved Icy Talons).
Unholy enhances the death knight's diseases and damage over time spells, making them effective at AoE DPS. It also provides the death knight with a ghoul who is a permanent pet, a gargoyle guardian he or she can summon, and stronger diseases. Raid and party utility is granted by a 13% increased magic damage debuff Ebon Plaguebringer.
Runeforging
Runeforging allows the death knight to permanently enchant their weapon. These enchants act as a replacement for the stat enhancements provided by shields or ranged weapons, which death knights cannot wear.
A weapon can have an enchant from either runeforging or from Enchanting, but not both together (the runeforging enchants are always better). A player will have to be near a runeforge in order to forge a rune onto their weapon. Once a weapon has been engraved with a rune it is impossible for the rune to be removed, though it can be changed at a runeforge. Also even if it is not soulbound, once a weapon has been engraved with a rune it is impossible for that weapon to be traded.
Info from wowwiki.com
