Unholy Death Knight Leveling Guide From 55 to 80 for WotLK Classic

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Unlike other classes Death Knights start at level 55 so they have a considerable amount of talent points unlocked as soon as you create your character and progress through the Death Knight starting area. While you gain the points much faster than other classes it is important to have an idea of how you should spend them to avoid having to respec to take an important talent you may have missed because of how quickly you acquired the points.

1. — 3 points in Virulence
2. — 2 points in Vicious Strikes
3. — 3 points in Ravenous Dead
4. — 2 points in Epidemic
5. — 5 points in Necrosis
6. — 2 points in On a Pale Horse
7. — 3 points in Blood-Caked Blade
8. — 3 points in Impurity
9. — 2 points in Night of the Dead
10. — 1 point in Master of Ghouls
11. — 2 points in Impurity
12. — 2 points in Desecration
13. — 5 points in Desolation
14. — 1 point in Bone Shield
15. — 3 points in Crypt Fever
16. — 1 point in Morbidity
17. — 3 points in Wandering Plague
18. — 3 points in Ebon Plaguebringer
19. — 4 points in Rage of Rivendare

The Unholy Talent tree is filled with great choices so it is hard to decide what you take and when, but the points you have spent so far are focused largely on optimizing your pet damage via Night of the Dead and Master of Ghouls, taking full advantage of all of your runes with Desolation offering you a considerable damage increase every time you cast Blood Strike. Desecration allows you to kite and will sometimes enable you to kill monsters you may otherwise not have been able to thanks to its AoE slow. Wandering Plague will deal massive damage to large groups of enemies that survive long enough to allow your diseases to deal damage. You have also taken a number of passive damage increases that, while not noticeable in the rotation, will make killing enemies considerably easier. Necrosis ends up being a massive damage increase because of the amount of spell damage amplifiers you have throughout the tree such as Ebon Plaguebringer.

1. Level 60 — 1 point in Summon Gargoyle
2. Level 61 — 1 point in Rage of Rivendare
3. Level 62 — 1 point in Scourge Strike
4. Level 63 to 64 — 2 points in Morbidity
5. Level 65 — 1 point in Ghoul Frenzy
6. Level 66 to 68 — 3 points in Reaping
7. Level 68 to 69 — 2 points in Butchery

Scourge Strike will replace Plague Strike as your primary spender of Unholy runes. Summon Gargoyle is a massive DPS cooldown that benefits greatly from any buffs you have at the time of summoning it so make sure to take advantage of this. Ghoul Frenzy can be used to empower your ghoul; this is a buff that should only really be cast when you know the enemy you are fighting will last its duration otherwise the Rune is better spent on a Scourge Strike.

1. Level 70 to 72 — 3 points in Blade Barrier
2. Level 73 to 74 — 2 points in Two-Handed Weapon Specialization/
4. Level 75 to 80 — 5 points in Bladed Armor/

1. Apply and maintain diseases using Icy Touch and Plague Strike
2. Use Pestilence to spread your diseases in any situation you are fighting more than one target.
3. Use Blood Strike as your primary spender of Blood Runes against up to two targets. When fighting more than two targets you should be using Blood Boil as your primary spender of Blood Runes. Ensure you keep the buff from Desolation active as much as possible even when fighting more than one mob.
4. Use Scourge Strike as your primary spender of Unholy Runes when Blood Plague is already active on the target. Icy Touch should be the primary spender of Frost Runes.
5. cast Death Coil as your primary spender of Runic Power.
6. cast Death and Decay when fighting 3+ mobs and you are confident they will survive most of its duration.
7. Make sure you are auto-attacking at all times.

It is important to buy all abilities as you level as they are cheap and Death Knights have quite a few abilities that are extremely powerful in certain situations; you never know when you will need them.

Setting up an user interface and macros early on you will greatly improve the quality of your leveling experience. Check out the Unholy Death Knight Macros and Addons guides in the link below for the full list.

Once you achieve Level 80 you suggest you check out Unholy Death Knight Guide, which goes more in detail of how to play your Level 80 Unholy Death Knight.

Some of the most relevant pages to dive deeper into are:

• The Unholy Death Knight Talent builds guide offers a default build to maximize your damage and survivability as an Unholy Death Knight;
• Our Unholy Death Knight Rotation guide teaches you how to actually deal damage and survive in a variety of situations. It also includes tips on how to utilize your cooldowns and utility.
• Check out the Unholy Death Knight Stats guide if you would like to learn how each stat effects your survivability and threat;
• The Gear guide for Unholy Death Knight includes a list of gear to for you to acquire and where to find it;