Unholy Death Knight DPS Guide — The War Within (11.0.5)

The Unholy specialization currently provides high single-target burst as well as good AoE scaling. We are also one of the tankiest classes in the game, something that is very useful in all PvE content!

Strengths

• Frequent cooldown windows every 45 seconds.
• Solid Single target that does not require a lot of boss uptime, making it good for progression.
• Very high AoE burst potential
• Knockback prevention with Death's Advance.
• Anti-Magic Zone as a magic damage raid cooldown.
• Effective at range.
• One of the tankiest specs.

Weaknesses

• Limited mobility.
• Limited mythic+ utility.
• Long setup required in Mythic+.
• Defile covering ground mechanics.

The Unholy Death Knight has not received any direct changes for the 11.0.5 patch. Compared to launch, the most notable differences are the Festering Scythe build for Mythic+ now being recommended, as well as our bis passive trinket changing to Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg.

If you want to level an Unholy Death Knight, you can check out our leveling guide for tips and tricks for your journey.

Once you reach max level, a great way to customize your game to fit the way you want to play, but also to help you play better, is with add-ons. We recommend using some of the basic add-ons that are on our add-ons page (linked below) while you are leveling to not only get used to add-ons but also to help speed up your leveling. Since Unholy is a fairly complicated spec to play, it is heavily recommended that you use add-ons to clean up your screen and make your rotation easier.

Unholy Death Knight is a spec that is all about managing your resources and maximizing your burst potential with correct cooldown management.

If you are new to Unholy Death Knight and would like to learn the basics of the class, I recommend looking at the Spell Summary, as well as the Easy Mode page that is linked below.

We also have a guide for the Unholy Death Knight talents and rotations below.

Gear, enchants, consumables, and gems also play a big part in increasing your character's DPS. Linked below is a page to show you which enchants, consumables, and gems to use, as well as a stats page, where you can find more information on each stat and how they interact with your character.

The Unholy Death Knight is 100% viable in The War Within. We have strong burst, good cleave and great AoE potential, as well as being incredibly tanky!

The end-game of an Unholy Death Knight is very exciting since your burst is high, and your AoE potential is huge. Linked below are our Mythic+ and PvP guides!

If, after reading all these guides, you still find your performance lackluster, then check out the pages linked below for some tips and tricks that may answer any question you have. This is fairly common with Unholy Death Knight, as it is a clunky spec.