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Starym

Frost Death Knight in the Shadowlands: Spec Highlights and Class Recommendations

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Update: the Frost pre-patch guide is ready and you can check it out here:
Frost Death Knight Shadowlands Guide

Frost DKs get some positive changes in the Shadowlands, from the addition of 2-handed weapons to a wide variety of choices for both Covenants and legendaries, and we're going to be taking a look at the spec with our guide writer Abyssalwave, covering the multiple Covenant choices, many powerful legendary options, skill and talent changes and more!

Exciting Changes for Frost Death Knights in Shadowlands

One of the best new features in Shadowlands is Covenants, and Frost Death Knights actually have somewhat of a choice in their pick after recent balancing. When it comes to new abilities Frost has gotten many new additions that are very welcomed, such as a raid cooldown. Frost has also gotten back the ability to use Two-Handed weapons allowing you to easily switch between Unholy, Frost, and Blood if you choose to!
 

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Newly added Baseline Spells and Passives

Anti-Magic Zone Anti-Magic Zone - is probably the best change to come for Death Knights so far in Shadowlands. Having a raid cooldown increases the usefulness of Death Knights in raid and dungeon groups. This cooldown does stack Multiplicatively however, meaning if you have 2 Anti-Magic Zone Anti-Magic Zones stacking on each other you get a 24% magic damage reduction, instead of 40%.

Lichborne Lichborne - is now baseline instead of just a PvP talent. This is now a 2 minute cooldown and gives you leech and immunity to charm, fear, and sleep for the duration. This is a good addition to the Frost Death Knight toolkit, the immunity to fear can be very useful in some encounters and the leech is very useful in most situations making this a fantastic personal cooldown.

Might of the Frozen Wastes IconMight of the Frozen Wastes – is a new passive that is activated when you equip a Two-Handed weapon, increases your Obliterate Obliterate damage by 35% and increases the amount of Killing Machine Killing Machine procs you generate. This gives Frost Death Knights the ability to equip two-handed weapons which allows switching between all 3 Death Knight specs very easily.

Frostwyrm's Fury Frostwyrm's Fury – has been made baseline. This is an interesting change and moves towards the model that Frost DK had in Legion where this ability was always baked into the rotation. This is a very impactful ability making it a difficult talent choice, so this is a welcomed change to the Frost DK toolkit rather than it being a talent.

Rune of Hysteria Rune of Hysteria – Increases your maximum Runic Power by 20 and your attacks have a chance to increase Runic Power generation by 20% for 8 seconds. This has good synergy with the Frost DK toolkit, however it is not nearly as impactful as either Fallen Crusader or Razorice making it a sub-par option as a Runeforge.

There were many other runeforges added, however Rune of Hysteria is the only new competitive one.
 

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Covenants

Night Fae

Generic Ability – Soulshape Soulshape – 1.5 min cooldown

The Generic ability granted by the Night Fae is Soulshape. This is a 12 second ability that teleports you forward 15 yards and increases your movement speed by 50% for the duration. This is a fantastic movement speed ability and fits very well for Death Knights which have had a lack of movement speed cooldowns.

Death Knight Ability – Death's Due IconDeath's Due (replaces Death and Decay Death and Decay) 30 second cooldown

The Death Knight ability for Night Fae is Death’s Due which replaces Death and Decay as a baseline ability. Death’s Due still does the ground effect of Death and Decay and the shadow damage, however enemies damaged by Death’s Due deal 1% reduced damage to you up to 8% maximum, and their power is transferred to you as an equal amount of Strength (also up to 8%). While standing in the effect your Obliterate Obliterate also cleaves an additional target. This is very nice to synergize with Breath of Sindragosa Breath of Sindragosa but also synergizes well with Obliteration Obliteration due to the Strength buff lasting the duration of Pillar of Frost Pillar of Frost. While this was the clear cut choice for a long time, it was recently nerfed but is still among the top picks.
 

Venthyr

Generic Ability – Door of Shadows Door of Shadows – 1 min cooldown

This generic ability, like Night Fae’s generic ability, helps Death Knights where they really need it. Since Death Knights have limited mobility this is a very welcomed generic ability, however it is a bit more niche and difficult to use than Night Fae’s Soulshape since that also increases your movement speed for a period of time. This ability is very versatile in allowing you to chose the location that you teleport yourself making it still a very useful generic ability.

Death Knight Ability – Swarming Mist IconSwarming Mist – 1 min cooldown

Surrounds you for 8 seconds increasing your Dodge by 10%, deals shadow damage every 1 second to nearby enemies and gives you 3 Runic Power for each enemy hit (up to 5). This ability is incredibly powerful in AoE/Cleave scenarios. With Breath of Sindragosa Breath of Sindragosa and with 5 enemies being his at once basically makes Breath of Sindragosa Breath of Sindragosa free while it is up. Even for single target scenarios this ability generates a good amount of resources although the damage should be increased.
 

Kyrian

Generic Ability – Summon Steward Summon Steward – 5 min cooldown

Call your steward to bring you a Phial of Serenity Phial of Serenity which on use restores 20% health and removes all diseases, poisons, curses, and bleeds affecting you. This can have many applications in PvE and PvP scenarios making it a useful generic ability.

Death Knight Ability – Shackle the Unworthy IconShackle the Unworthy – 60 second cooldown

A 30 yard range that deals Arcane damage over 14 seconds and reduces damage enemies deal to you by 5%. While Shackle of the Unworthy is active, each rune spent reduces its cooldown by 4 seconds. This deals significant single target damage, and after a recent buff is also decent for AoE, as the DoT actually now spreads with cleaving abilities. This buff has brought it closer in line to Venthyr and Night Fae in terms of power. The PvP applications of this Death Knight ability are fairly good especially if you can consistently reduce the cooldown of this ability by a significant amount.
 

Necrolord

Generic Ability – Fleshcraft Fleshcraft – 2 min cooldown

A 4 second channel that grants you an absorb shield equal to 20% of your max health for 2 mins, channeling near a corpse causes the shield to grow up to 50% of your max health. This has some applications in PvE content, however it seems most powerful in PvP scenarios such as world pvp and battlegrounds - to start a fight with an absorb shield or recover from a recent encounter. This seems to be a difficult ability to weave into a PvE rotation.

Death Knight Ability – Abomination Limb IconAbomination Limb – 2 min cooldown

Sprout an additional limb for 12 seconds, every 1 second it deals shadow damage to all nearby enemies and pulls an enemy to your location if they are further than 8 yards from you. This Death Knight Ability seems to have a perfect place in PvP scenarios, however it may have some application in Mythic+. Night Fae, Kyrian and Venthyr have much stronger Covenant abilities for PvE though so the utility may not be worth it.
 

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Talent Changes

Frost Death Knights have not had much of their talent tree changed so far in Shadowlands.

Hypothermic Presence Hypothermic Presence – Is a new talent that replaces Frostwyrm's Fury Frostwyrm's Fury in the level 45 talent row. This is a 45 second cooldown that reduces the Runic Power cost of your abilities by 35% for 8 seconds and is also off the GCD. This seems to fit perfectly with Breath of Sindragosa Breath of Sindragosa due to guaranteeing a consistent discount off your Breath cost thus increasing the uptime.

Runic Attenuation Runic Attenuation – Has been buffed to generate 5 Runic Power instead of the previous 3. This is a welcomed change and just simply buffs the talent to become even more viable.
 

The tree now consists of the following tiers:

Level 15 Talents:  Inexorable Assault Inexorable Assault    Icy Talons Icy Talons    Cold Heart Cold Heart

Level 25 Talents: Runic Attenuation Runic Attenuation    Murderous Efficiency Murderous Efficiency    Horn of Winter Horn of Winter

Level 30 Talents: Death's Reach Death's Reach    Asphyxiate Asphyxiate     Blinding Sleet Blinding Sleet

Level 35 Talents: Avalanche Avalanche     Frozen Pulse Frozen Pulse    Frostscythe Frostscythe

Level 40 Talents: Permafrost Permafrost    Wraith Walk Wraith Walk    Death Pact Death Pact

Level 45 Talents: Gathering Storm Gathering Storm    Hypothermic Presence Hypothermic Presence    Glacial Advance Glacial Advance

Level 50 Talents: Icecap Icecap    Obliteration Obliteration    Breath of Sindragosa Breath of Sindragosa
 

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Legendary Effects

For Frost Death Knights the legendary effects are currently incredibly powerful.

Absolute Zero IconAbsolute ZeroFrostwyrm's Fury Frostwyrm's Fury has a 50% reduced cooldown and freezes all enemies hit for 3 seconds. This makes Frostwyrm's Fury Frostwyrm's Fury a 1.5 min cooldown and offers fantastic utility in situations such as Mythic+ trash.

Biting Cold IconBiting ColdRemorseless Winter Remorseless Winter damage is increased by 15%, the first time Remorseless Winter Remorseless Winter deals damage to 3 different enemies you gain Rime Rime. This is from the Azerite power Frozen Tempest in Battle for Azeroth and offers consistent damage in AoE scenarios.

Koltira's Favor IconKoltira's Favor Obliterate Obliterate deals 10% increased damage and has a 15% chance to refund 2 runes. This is not only a significant damage increase to one of a Frost Death Knight’s strongest abilities but also offers a huge increase in resource generation.

Rage of the Frozen Champion IconRage of the Frozen Champion Obliterate Obliterate has a 15% increased chance to trigger Rime Rime and Howling Blast generates 8 Runic Power while it's active. This offers no downside to pressing your Rime Rime procs while Breath of Sindragosa Breath of Sindragosa is active thus increasing the duration overall. This is an extremely welcomed legendary and a very exciting addition.
 

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Conclusion

This is an overall an improvement for Frost Death Knights in Shadowlands. You now have access to Two-Handed weapons, which as of the current beta build have their own build dedicated to the weapon, and you have multiple Legendary options since more than 1 are very competitive. There are talent changes that need to occur since for instance Icy Talons Icy Talons , Inexorable Assault Inexorable Assault, Glacial Advance Glacial Advance, and Horn of Winter Horn of Winter have all not been changed in over 2 years, but have been nearly unplayable in PvE content. Pillar of Frost Pillar of Frost and Empower Rune Weapon Empower Rune Weapon were taken off the GCD which makes your cooldown windows a lot more simplistic and less frustrating. Overall Frost Death Knights are looking like a solid choice and fun spec to choose for Shadowlands.

 

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Other Spec Highlights:

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I have to disagree to an extent. It plays well but it's not in a good place as still, after years and years Breath is the ONLY viable build.

Icecap is such a fun build to play with Frostwelps, would love it if they added Welps to Icecap and Icy Citadel to Obliteration.

You might actually have 3 viable builds then instead.

Until there is more to Frost than Breath of Sindragosa, Frost is not in a good place.

As the author pointed out, there are too many talents that haven't been changed in years.

I honestly wouldn't mind it if Breath became baseline and they gave us a new talent.

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