Blood Death Knight Tank Spec, Builds, and Talents — Midnight (12.0.1)

Note that these builds are generic recommendations for various content. Certain raid encounters or Mythic+ dungeons favor slight build alterations in order to capitalize on key utility. In all of these cases, you will find builds tailored toward each encounter on the dedicated Raid and Mythic+ pages below:

On this page, we cover all of the talents you have access to, explaining how each one of them is to be used. Some of these talents, active or passive, can make a huge difference in how Blood Death Knights are played, all of which is explained on our rotation page.

2.

Best Talents for Blood Death Knight

San'layn
Raid Build Deathbringer
Raid Build San'layn
Mythic+/Delve Build Deathbringer
Mythic+/Delve Build Deathbringer
Entry Level Build

1.1.

San'layn Single-Target Talents for Blood Death Knight

Numerous haphazard buffs to the base kit along with the addition of Apex talents have propelled San'layn back to the fore. Though Apex talents do not grant Gift of the San'layn, the copied damage from base abilities in the kit (particularly Death Strike) is enough to make a singificant difference.

On single target, Bloody Reflection is technically, on paper and with lofty assumptions, a DPS gain compared to Sanguinary Burst. The problem is that it has severe limitations:

1. Any enemy large enough to be counted as out of 15-yard range from the center of your hit box takes no damage
2. Any enemy with an auto-attack replacement spell does not trigger this
3. Uptime while tanking makes a huge difference in performance on this, as do any auto-attack slows on the target

We have included it in all builds as relatively few bosses have these problems, but we strongly recommend verifying this on a case-by-case basis.

Another important note is on Consumption in progression content. While Consumption is now far enough behind that it is not worth picking offensively by default, it is possible to spam it and cancel it just before it finishes casting to gain an on-demand 15% damage reduction buff while it channels. This makes it an absurdly strong cooldown for progression raiding, particularly in a world where our toolkit was pruned this badly.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import these talents directly into your game!

1.2.

Deathbringer Single-Target Talents for Blood Death Knight

Continued buffs to the base kit with no corresponding changes to Hero Talent abilities relegated Deathbringer back to an "easy to play, lower throughput" choice. Even with this, it is not far enough behind to dismiss outright, and its 45-second burst window (instead of a strict 90 second with a requirement to game procs in between) does allow it to shine for new players and on specific situations.

On single target, Bloody Reflection is technically, on paper and with lofty assumptions, a DPS gain compared to Sanguinary Burst. The problem is that it has severe limitations:

1. Any enemy large enough to be counted as out of 15-yard range from the center of your hit box takes no damage
2. Any enemy with an auto-attack replacement spell does not trigger this
3. Uptime while tanking makes a huge difference in performance on this, as do any auto-attack slows on the target

We have included it in all builds as relatively few bosses have these problems, but we strongly recommend verifying this on a case-by-case basis.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import these talents directly into your game!

1.3.

San'layn Mythic+ / Delve Talents for Blood Death Knight

Numerous haphazard buffs to the base kit along with the addition of Apex talents have propelled San'layn back to the fore. Though Apex talents do not grant Gift of the San'layn, the copied damage from base abilities in the kit (particularly Death Strike) is enough to make a singificant difference.

Our Mythic+ build eschews Bloody Reflection and its mandatory investment in Lifeblood to pick Deadly Reach and Bloodied Blade, while preserving Sanguinary Burst.

The point in Sanguinary Burst is pure DPS throughput and can be freely moved to Umbilicus Eternus.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import these talents directly into your game!

1.4.

Deathbringer Mythic+ / Delve Talents for Blood Death Knight

Fundamentally, Deathbringer suffers the same fate in AoE: while San'layn is able to fully capitalize due to its kit amplifying Death Strike and Heart Strike, Blood Plague was left untouched for all of beta, along with Exterminate's AoE damage component.

It is not all doom and gloom, however; while the AoE damage difference is very significant, and San'layn once again provides significantly more priority damage, Deathbringer retains its ease of use and damage reduction advantage.

For this specific build, we have already moved Sanguinary Burst to Umbilicus Eternus. You are already taking a throughput hit - why not default to putting a minor pad point into something that provides more value than as San'layn?

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import these talents directly into your game!

1.5.

Entry-Level Talents for Blood Death Knight

The entry-level talent build we have opted for is a simplified version of Deathbringer that eschews all of the active abilities it can avoid.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import these talents directly into your game!

Blood's apex talents combine a thematic concept with two additional procs by granting you the ability to (randomly) spawn additional Dancing Rune Weapons. This happens naturally while spending Runes.

Thematically, it is neat; in practice, it has led to Dancing Rune Weapon getting nerfed to accommodate this increased uptime, and has glaring problems in terms of user experience, in that these Dancing Rune Weapon copies do not trigger actual Dancing Rune Weapon talents and do not interact with them in any way.

Still, you can expect a 50% combined uptime on at least one Dancing Rune Weapon, and the initial apex talent node - Dance of Midnight - causes you to occasionally amp up your next Heart Strike.

Blood presents the player with a choice between Deathbringer and San'layn. The former brings with it an extra ability — Reaper's Mark — and a follow-up large-hitting proc in the form of Exterminate. The latter comes with two maintenance buffs and a short period of significantly stronger burst around Dancing Rune Weapon.

Last minute buffs to the base specialization toolkit, particularly a 20% Death Strike buff and the addition of what is essentially free runic power in AoE through the proc change on Dance of Midnight were enough to propel San'layn back to the fore in the majority of content, with the only choice being in AoE: priority/funnel damage while having higher overall throughput, or a small defensive edge and ease of play?

The talent overhaul of Midnight has streamlined what was already a simplistic talent tree and actively removed almost every active ability from it, leaving you with a choice of passives and procs to augment the spells in your base rotation. On paper, this sounds great; in practice, it gets relatively stale very quickly.

As such, we will cover some of the more favored talents that you will want to prioritize most of the time from the top of each tree on down, followed by mentioning some of the bigger situational talents that are likely only rarely useful. If you would like to see a list of every single talent's effect, as well as the abbreviations they are often known by in the community, please consult our Spell List and Glossary section instead.

These talents give you the core identity of being a Death Knight. You will find a good mix of Utility, Offensive, and Defensive options here.

Talent	Description/Effect
Death Strike	Your main Runic Power spender and does not cost any talent points for Blood Death Knights. When cast, you will heal for 25% of all of the damage taken in the past 5 seconds or whenever you last used Death Strike, whichever time is shorter.
Raise Dead	Summon a pet ghoul for 1 minute. It deals damage to your current target, but can be enhanced with Enfeeble to reduce the damage the target deals to you.
Heart Strike	Your main Runic Power builder. Additionally Heart Strike generates 15 Runic Power for a single rune spent (other spells generate 10 Runic Power per Rune spent). The amount of Runic Power generated can be increased more with Heartbreaker.
Mind Freeze	Mind Freeze is your interrupt; as a melee interrupt with a 15 yard range, it is particularly strong. You can grab Coldthirst to reduce its cooldown to 12 seconds and grant you 10 Runic Power when you successfully interrupt a target.
Anti-Magic Shell	Can prevent magic debuffs from being applied and also acts as a magic damage absorb shield.
Blood Boil	Mainly used as your AoE threat generation tool, it also applies Blood Plague to all targets hit. This talent can be enhanced further with Hemostasis to increase the power of your Death Strike.
Gloom Ward	This buffs all absorbs you generate and receive by 15% per rank. This works out to an effective 13% buff to Mastery: Blood Shield, Anti-Magic Shell, Anti-Magic Zone and Permafrost, but does not raise their respective absorb caps.
Runic Attenuation	For a single talent point, this gives you a large amount of Runic Power. It works out to a neat 50RP (+ haste) per minute in completely free, no-strings-attached, bonus Runic Power.
Anti-Magic Barrier	This both increases the amount of damage that Anti-Magic Shell can absorb and reduces the cooldown of it by 20 seconds. If you do not need the size or frequency increases, then skip this talent.
Vampiric Blood	When used, this will increase your maximum health by 30% and increase all of your healing and absorbs received by 30%. This will start as a 1.5-minute cooldown, but it can be reduced with Red Thirst.
Veteran of the Third War	What was once a Death Knight passive effect is now a talent. This increases your stamina by 20% and should not be skipped.
Icebound Fortitude	30% damage reduction on use as well as a stun immunity. It can also be used to remove stuns after you have been stunned.
Ossuary	This talent makes Bone Shield management important as whilst you are above 5 stacks of Bone Shield the cost of your Death Strike will be reduced.
Death's Caress	One of very few ranged spells for Blood Death Knights. It costs 1 Rune, generates 2 charges of Bone Shield. This will be used quite rarely but it is your only efficient spell option to use when you are not in melee range.

Talent	When to Consider
Blinding Sleet	This spell was previously only available for Frost Death Knights, but now, it's available for all 3 specs. It disorients and soft-interrupts all targets in a 12-yard cone in front of you for up to 5 seconds. As one of three such disorients in the game ( Dragon's Breath and Blinding Light being the other two), its usefulness cannot be understated.
Control Undead	Unfortunately, this talent may not see much play in Midnight as there are fewer Undead enemies present. However, when there are Undead enemies it can prove to be useful as you can make them your temporary pet and use their abilities.
March of Darkness	This provides a noticeable speed boost for the first three seconds of Death's Advance. It is a convenience you can choose to pick with one of the numerous utility points that Blood Death Knights can spend on its class tree.

This area of the tree is where you will find most of the core cooldowns and strong passives.

Talent	Description/Effect
Icy Talons	This increases your auto-attack speed. We take it primarily to get access to Gloom Ward and to path further down the left side of the class tree, but it has value on its own; it is a 9% buff to Permafrost and additional statistical chances to get Runic Attenuation procs.
Anti-Magic Zone	Your big raid cooldown. This reduces the damage taken by anybody in the zone by 15%. Its cooldown and duration can be enhanced with Assimilation. In raid, you should pre-assign it to help the raid with certain mechanics; in Mythic+, you can also assign it for the group, or in a pinch, assign it for yourself in rare cases where a tankbuster is magical damage and there is no reason to save it for the group.
Dancing Rune Weapon	This gives you 20% Parry and spawns an additional weapon which copies your attacks. The copied attacks also provide you with benefits. Marrowrend and Death's Caress generate Bone Shield charges for you, Heart Strike generates 3 bonus Runic Power points for you, Consumption's damage is copied, and Blood Boil applies additional Blood Plagues to the target.
Hemostasis	When you cast Blood Boil, each target hit will give you 1 stack of this buff. Each stack will increase the damage and healing of your next Death Strike by 8% (up to 40%).
Unholy Endurance	This modifies Lichborne to significantly extend its duration. The damage reduction this provided has been removed in Midnight.
Improved Bone Shield	10% Haste while you have Bone Shield active.
Insatiable Blade	Reduces the cooldown of Dancing Rune Weapon to 90 seconds, and causes it to grant 5 Bone Shield charges when you cast it. This does not trigger from Apex talent procs.
Everlasting Bond	This summons a second Rune Weapon and increases the duration of Dancing Rune Weapon to a total of 12 seconds. As with the main rune weapon, this will also replicate your attacks and give you the benefits.
Coagulopathy	One of two buffs to manage as a Blood Death Knight. Every time you Death Strike, you gain a stack of Coagulopathy, which lasts for 15 seconds. Each stack increases the damage of your Blood Plague by 10%.
Gorefiend's Grasp	Pulls every enemy near your target (which can be friendly or hostile) and silences anything it attempts to grip for 3 seconds. We recommend not using this on yourself, as enemies will instantly fan out around you when used.
Asphyxiate	If you are interested in Mythic+ and need the specific utility, you can grab Asphyxiate to gain a stun on a short cooldown.

Talent	When to Consider
Abomination Limb	You have to pick Abomination Limb or Gorefiend's Grasp to path down the tree. You should pick Abomination Limb if you specifically have a number of adds spawning around you at different times and your goal is to progressively grip them to you. There are two raid encounters in the first season of Midnight where this will likely shine, but it is otherwise an opt-in pick when Gorefiend's Grasp is massively stronger by default.
Grip of the Dead	If you are looking for a potent snare, Grip of the Dead is available. Any enemy that steps into Death and Decay is snared by 90%, decaying by 10% every second.
Unholy Bond	This amplifies the effect of your runeforges in the following way: Rune of the Fallen Crusader: 3% more Strength while it is active, and the healing it provides is increased by 20% Rune of Sanguination: 20% more damage on Death Strike, and 1.3% more damage per percent of missing health on your target. Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle: Strength and armor bonus increased to 6% (from 5%) Rune of Hysteria: Bonus RP generation increased to 24%, maximum Runic Power increased by 23

This area of the talent tree rounds off your character and makes the spec feel more complete.

Talent	Description/Effect
Insidious Chill	This slows the auto-attack speed of enemies that you auto-attack. Insidious Chill will stack and total a 20% attack speed reduction on whatever you auto-attack, which, if they are a melee, implies a 20% statistical damage taken reduction for you and whoever else happens to be tanking!
Will of the Necropolis	Will of the Necropolis absorbs an amount of damage equal to 35% of the damage you would take while below 30% if the ability went through with no absorbs up. You do not need to be below 30% for this to activate, and the caveat highlighted in italic matters: absorb effects will not factor into the calculation and allow Will of the Necropolis to absorb a significantly larger amount than it normally would.
Sanguine Ground	6% more damage and 5% more healing received from all sources while standing in your Death and Decay is a very worthwhile choice, particularly since you will already be maintaining near-100% uptime on this. It is also the most effective way to path to Red Thirst.
Iron Heart	This increases the duration of your Blood Shield by 2 seconds and increases the amount it absorbs by 20%.
Red Thirst	You essentially always take this unless the content you are doing is so trivial that Vampiric Blood uptime can be traded for even more raw damage. This effectively reduces Vampiric Blood's cooldown to 30-35 seconds under proper play.
Bloodshot	This will provide you with a boost to all your damage whilst you have Blood Shield active (Mastery). Death Strike always benefits from this effect.

Talent	When to Consider
Purgatory	If you need a Cheat Death for safety on Progression Raid Encounters or high end Mythic+ Key Pushing.
Umbilicus Eternus	On high target count scenarios where you need additional survival.
Unyielding Will	This talent is, to put it simply, bait of the highest order. In any theoretical case where the debuff cleanse would be worthwhile, the added 20-second cooldown on Anti-Magic Shell means that you could have just used Anti-Magic Shell instead. It also does not apply to any Lesser Anti-Magic Shell applied by Vestigial Shell
Carnage	This talent causes the plague consumption effect of Consumption to generate Mastery: Blood Shield. It does not include the base hit of the ability. The reset behavior was changed on 12.0.1 to trigger off effectively any type of damage as long as Mastery: Blood Shield is active, with the same 1.1ppm hasted proc chance as before. As a result, it is virtually useless for this purpose, and only serves to generate more 800%+ AP direct hits through sporadic resets when you take damage.

Ability	Description/Effect
Vampiric Strike	Death Strike has a 35% chance to change Heart Strike into Vampiric Strike. Vampiric Strike will deal Shadow damage instead of Physical (meaning that you gain no value from Bloodshot), heal you for 1% of your maximum health, and give you 1 stack of Essence of the Blood Queen. Essence of the Blood Queen is the central focus of the San'layn tree. Every time you gain a stack of Essence of the Blood Queen you will get 1% Haste for 20 seconds, and each stack refreshes the duration (up to 5 stacks, 7 with Frenzied Bloodthirst). The Haste gained from this effect is multiplicative, so the more Haste you have, the better this buff will be.
Newly Turned (Choice Node 1)	When you use Raise Ally, both you and the person resurrected will gain a 20% health absorption shield.
Vampiric Speed (Choice Node 1)	The movement speed of Death's Advance and Wraith Walk are increased by 10%. Casting either spell will give the four nearest friendly players a 20% movement speed buff for 5 seconds.
Blood-Soaked Ground (Choice Node 2)	While you are standing in your Death and Decay, you will take 5% less Physical damage and have a 5% increased chance to trigger Vampiric Strike.
Desecrate (Choice Node 2)	Every time Death and Decay ticks on an enemy affected by Blood Plague, it has a chance to collapse, dealing 150% of its remaining damage to all enemies inside it. This proc chance is per target, does not fall off based on target count, and contributes to both a small amount of damage and a slightly higher uptime on Visceral Strength through more frequent Crimson Scourge procs. It is worth noting that when Death and Decay collapses like this, it grants you all of the buffs it normally would have for the entire duration, including Cleaving Strikes' extension. It also instantly clears any Grip of the Dead debuff on any of the targets inside it.
Vampiric Aura (Choice Node 3)	Your leech is increased by 2%. When you cast Lichborne, it doubles, and the 4% bonus will be given to the four nearest friendly players.
Bloody Fortitude (Choice Node 3)	Increases the damage reduction of Icebound Fortitude by up to 20%, snapshotting its value depending on your current HP at time of hit. This bonus is at full value at 0% health. Additionally, if you get the killing blow on an enemy the cooldown of Icebound Fortitude is reduced by 3 seconds.
Thrill of Blood	Essence of the Blood Queen also grants you 0.2% Blood Shield mastery and 0.1% bonus AP per stack. This is tripled during Gift of the San'layn.
Infliction of Sorrow	When Vampiric Strike hits an enemy with Blood Plague the duration of Blood Plague is increased by 3 seconds and instantly deals 20% of the damage of Blood Plague.
Frenzied Bloodthirst	Increases the maximum amount of stacks of Essence of the Blood Queen by 2. You will also deal 6% more damage per stack with Death Strike.
The Blood is Life	Vampiric Strike has a chance to spawn a Blood Beast. The Blood Beast will attack your target for 10 seconds and explode for a potion of the damage it dealt. This explosion will also heal you.
Visceral Strength	When you consume a Crimson Scourge proc, you are given 12% Strength for 12 seconds.
Inevitable	Blood Plague deals up to 30% bonus damage based on the target's missing health.
Incite Terror	This debuff increases shadow damage taken by the enemy by 1% per stack for 15 seconds (up to 5 stacks, and each stack refreshes the duration of the debuff). Incite Terror is applied from casting Vampiric Strike or Heart Strike on the target. Vampiric Strike itself will deal 4% more damage per stack.
Pact of the San'layn (Choice Node 4)	Blood Beasts will now store 10% of the Shadow damage you deal.
Sanguine Scent (Choice Node 4)	The chance to trigger Vampiric Strike is increased by 15% if the target is below 35% health.
Transfusion	Casting Vampiric Strike increases the damage of any active Dancing Rune Weapon by 20% for 8 seconds. Individual applications can overlap, and this is a buff on the Dancing Rune Weapon unit itself.
Gift of the San'layn	While Dancing Rune Weapon is active Heart Strike is replaced with Vampiric Strike. The Haste bonus of Essence of the Blood Queen, the damage bonus of Frenzied Bloodthirst and the mastery bonus of the Patch 11.2 tier set are increased by 200% whilst Dancing Rune Weapon is active.

Ability	Description/Effect
Reaper's Mark	Reaper's Mark is a DoT placed on an enemy that lasts 12 seconds. Each time Shadow or Frost damage is dealt to the target it gains a stack, stacking up to 40 times (55 times with the Patch 11.2 tier set). If it reaches 40 stacks or times out on the target it will explode, dealing damage based on the number of stacks it had. If the target affected by Reaper's Mark dies, it is re-applied to the nearest enemy; if there are not enemies left alive, it instead fizzles (but still grants Exterminate stacks).
Wave of Souls	Applying Reaper's Mark to a target will fire Wave of Souls from you to your target and then back to you. Enemies hit will take 5% increased damage (per stack, stacking up to 2 times) to enemies if they are critically hit by this ability, when the wave returns to you, it will always critically strike.
Wither Away	Blood Plague will deal damage every 1.5 seconds instead of every 3 seconds, and the second scythe from Exterminate will apply Blood Plague to all enemies it hits.
Bind in Darkness	Blood Boil's damage is now Shadowfrost and is recoloured to be Blue (in line with the asthetic of the tree). Any Shadowfrost damage source grants two stacks to Reaper's Mark, four if it crits
Frigid Resolve	Permafrost stacks twice as fast (but its cap is not increased), and also tallies up 10% of any damage dealt by Exterminate.
Soul Rupture	When Reaper's Mark explodes, 10% of the damage dealt to the target will be dealt to nearby enemies.
Grim Reaper	Applying Reaper's Mark grants 3 stacks of Bone Shield. When Reaper's Mark explodes, it will deal up to 30% additional damage based on the missing health of the target.
Pact of the Deathbringer (Choice Node 1)	Once every 2 minutes you can trigger Death Pact at 50% effectiveness. When Reaper's Mark the cooldown of this effect (and Death Pact) is reduced by 5 seconds.
Rune Carved Plates (Choice Node 1)	Gain up to 7.5% damage reduction against Physical and Magic damage (1.5% per stack). Spending a rune will give a stack of magic damage reduction for 5 seconds and regenerating a rune will give a stack of physical damage reduction. Obtaining a stack of either effect will refresh the duration. With optimal play, you can maintain 5 stacks of this effect at all times as long as you do not get forced off a target.
Deathly Blows	Death Strike deals 5% bonus damage.
Swift and Painful	In single target, Reaper's Mark grants you 10% strength for 8 seconds when it detonates. Wave of Souls is 100% more effective against the target Reaper's Mark was cast on.
Dark Talons (Choice Node 3)	Marrowrend and Heart Strike randomly cause you to gain 3 more Icy Talons stacks. Death Strike now grants 2 stacks of Reaper's Mark, 4 if it critically strikes, as long as Icy Talons is active.
Reaper's Onslaught (Choice Node 3)	Reduces the cooldown of Reaper's Mark to 30 seconds, but causes it to only grant one Exterminate stack.
Death's Messenger (Choice Node 4)	The cooldown of Lichborne and Raise Dead is reduced by 30 seconds.
Expelling Shield (Choice Node 4)	If an enemy directly hits you with a Magic spell (no DoTs, no AoE) while Anti-Magic Shell is active, their casting speed will be reduced by 10% for 6 seconds.
Echoing Fury	Casting Dancing Rune Weapon grants you one Exterminate charge. This is currently bugged and grants two. Apex talent procs do not trigger this talent.
Exterminate	When Reaper's Mark explodes, your next two Marrowrend (one with Reaper's Onslaught) are empowered by Exterminate. Each Marrowrend costs 1 rune and triggers two scythes — the first deals very heavy damage to your target, while the second cleaves all enemies in front of you for a moderate amount of shadowfrost damage, and applies Blood Plague to them.

Since Battle for Azeroth, there is the option to go into "War Mode". Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:

• PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
• 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
• 10% more experience gained while leveling.
• Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will make yourself available for open-world PvP, and the possibility of being "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

1. Death Chain is a nice damage increase when pulling 3 or more enemies, though the 30-second cooldown prevents it from being used on every pull.
2. Necrotic Aura and Murderous Intent can be very strong when completing open-world content in a group but have very limited value in solo play.

Dark Simulacrum, Decomposing Aura, Strangulate, and Walking Dead all have limited value in PvE content.

Last Dance is a trap talent and should never be picked. You gain no additional uptime on Dancing Rune Weapon at the cost of one more global cooldown every minute due to the reduced cooldown.

While PvPing as Blood Death Knight can certainly be fun, you might also want to try out PvPing as either Frost or Unholy. Both of these specs will deal a lot more damage while being squishier.