LF Summary of MoP for DPS DKs....Back from14 mo break--

[grant82 0]

Hey guys. Could someone give me a recap on the state of the DK class since MoP came out.

I have played end game raiding content for years in multiple classes, but I love my DK and want to come back to WoW. I would love to know the basics of where we fit relative to the other dps classes in end game content. Are we desirable in pugs? Frost vs. Unholy dps? If possible, the pvp situation on where we rank in BGs and arenas would be helpful.

A breakdown of the past year and where DKs are going would be greatly beneficial. Thanks.

Edited June 15, 2013 by grant82

[Tarazet 144]

We have a 2H Frost DK in our main group, and he's consistently one of our top 2 DPS. Has been even when he was a little behind on gear. Personally, I run Unholy and even without using the Festerblight mechanic that is so popular now (I don't have the gear or trinkets for it), I do pretty well. They use the same stat priority and same gear, and neither is particularly difficult to play, so you can try both and see what you like best as it stands.

[Lestaris 2]

Hey there.

Off the top of my head, I think DPS rankings were something like 2H Frost ≥ Unholy > 1H Frost, but they're all fairly close so it doesn't matter too much.

In a raid I would say they're fairly useful, bringing 2 buffs, a potentially very useful raid CD (AMZ; if talented), pretty good sustained and burst damage, and decent survivability (AMS is extremely useful for many things, as well as a large self-heal CD, etc).

One point to note, if you play at that level; All three DK playstyles (Unholy, Frost 1h/2h) are currently simming at pretty much the bottom of the DPS rankings for BiS Heroic T15. (Doesn't always translate into the game reliably, so take that as you wilI.

I personally don't PvP much so can't really comment on that side of things.

If you haven't played in a long time, a couple mechanical differences to note are the addition of the Soul Reaper ability, 2H having extremely strong Obliterates and 1H having extremely powerful Frost Strikes, and Blood Tap no longer being a baseline ability.

[grant82 0]

Hey thanks for the feedback guys. It is good to know that both Frost and Unholy are fairly equivalent at dps at this time. Do you think at 25 man endgame raiding are they equivalent to each other?

Another concern I have is that if DK's are really simming at the bottom of the dps meters, where are they at right now in 25 mans atm?

I am really considering coming back and playing full time with my DK. However, I don't want to put in weeks worth of effort to find that regardless of how good I am my DK will just be lower in dps then the other classes.

Anyone have opinions about what the highest dps classes are in order (in 25 man raid in equivalent gear/skill level)???

Any opinions would be great.

[Lestaris 2]

It really depends on your gear.

At BiS iLevels (high 540's), most other classes will outperform you assuming everyone plays correctly.

In LFR/Normal ToT gear, you should be more or less on par with everyone else. Edit: That said, it's not a huge difference (~10%), and shouldn't worry you too much.

At my iLevel (525) I can sustain about 140-150k DPS depending on the fight and overall luck with procs.

For a rough summary of the order of DPS classes, you'll want to check here. http://raidbots.com/dpsbot/

Edited June 17, 2013 by Lestaris

[grant82 0]

Thanks Lestaris. I was kind of afraid of this. Thanks for the advice and the link. You were very very helpful.

[Ceraius 34]

Overall I think Death Knights are in a good place right now. We may not be at the top of the meters, but its very rare for that little more output from some other classes would outweigh execution. I'd say play your Death Knight if thats what you want to play.

Also DW Frost has better AoE in comparison to 2H Frost, but 2H has higher single target damage. They have different stat priorities, so if you want to try out both Frost and Unholy, stick with the 2H.