Blood Death Knight Tank Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.1.0)

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.

Hero Talent Choice
Deathbringer
San'layn

2.

Best Talents for Blood Death Knight

Single Target Talents AoE/Cleave/Mythic+ Talents Talents Explained

3.

General-Purpose Single-Target Talents for Blood Death Knight

The Deathbringer hero talent tree adds predictable burst damage on a 45 second cycle.

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

San'layn adds a punishing and frustrating twist to the mix by forcing a significantly more rigid and complex rotation around Dancing Rune Weapon. In ideal circumstances, it is theoretically strong; in practice, mistakes are very heavily punished, and forced downtime can destabilize this even further.

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

3.

AoE/Mythic+/Delve Talents for Blood Death Knight

Deathbringer's appeal in Mythic+ is threefold; along with its predictable damage profile, the reduced cooldown on Lichborne simplifies cooldown planning, and the 100% healing amplification on Blood Plague is noticeable in almost every pack.

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

San'layn's hallmark feature in Mythic+ is its inconsistent, uncontrollable but ludicrous AoE burst when the stars line up and you proc The Blood is Life during Dancing Rune Weapon and the resulting blood beast expires before half of the pull dies. As its damage is unsplit up to 8 targets, it does make for some memorable moments, all while being less controllable, harder to play, harder to get value out of, weaker defensively and more punished by downtime.

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

3.

Talent Explanations for Blood Death Knights

The advent of The War Within has consolidated and streamlined the Blood talent tree on both the class and specialization sides. While a lot of the talent choices before were a matter of pathing or oppressive strength, the new talent tree has pushed some of the worst-tuned contenders out of the way of the main path.

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 niche 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.

Blood Death Knight The War Within Spell Glossary

3.1.

Talent Rows 1-4 Talents for Blood Death Knights

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.

3.1.1.

Noteworthy Talents

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.
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.

3.1.2.

Niche Talents

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 The War Within 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.

3.2.

Talent Rows 5-7 Talents for Blood Death Knights

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

3.2.1.

Noteworthy Talents

Talent	Description/Effect
Icy Talons	This increases your auto-attack speed. We take it primarily to get access to Empower Rune Weapon, 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. You will likely only pick this in raiding scenarios, but it is a very powerful defensive cooldown for the Raid.
Soul Reaper	This is a powerful single-target execute ability. This should only be used on targets below 35% HP, and when it expires, it will deal a large amount of damage to the target. If the target dies with Soul Reaper, you will be given the Runic Corruption buff (However, this buff is heavily reduced for Blood).
Dancing Rune Weapon	This gives you 40% 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 Runic Power for you, and Blood Boil applies additional Blood Plague's 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%).
Gloom Ward	This buffs all absorbs you generate and receive by 15%. This works out to an effective 15% buff to Mastery: Blood Shield, Tombstone, Anti-Magic Shell, Anti-Magic Zone and Permafrost. It is probably the strongest talent point in our entire tree.
Unholy Endurance	This modifies Lichborne to significantly extend its duration, and also turns it into a damage reduction cooldown. It is now even more worth pressing than before!
Improved Bone Shield	10% Haste while you have Bone Shield active.
Unholy Ground	This modifies Death and Decay. While you are in your own Death and Decay, you gain 5% haste. It is one of the three individual multipliers that cause us to hardcast Death and Decay even on single-target in The War Within.
Insatiable Blade	This makes Dancing Rune Weapon both more frequent and more rotationally powerful. 5 Bone Shield charges are generated when you cast Dancing Rune Weapon and when a Bone Shield charge is consumed, the cooldown of Dancing Rune Weapon is reduced by 5 seconds. This talent has great synergy with Tombstone.
Everlasting Bond	This summons a second Rune Weapon and increases the duration of Dancing Rune Weapon to a total of 14 seconds. As with the main rune \ weapon, this will also replicate your attacks and give you the benefits.
Coagulopathy	One of two new buffs to manage as a Blood Death Knight. Every time you Death Strike, you gain a stack of Coagulopathy, which lasts for 8 seconds. Each stack increases the damage of your Blood Plague by 30%.

3.2.2.

Niche Talents

Talent	When to Consider
Gorefiend's Grasp	If you need additional grip utility.
Asphyxiate	If you are interested in Mythic+ and need the specific utility, you can grab Asphyxiate to gain a stun on a short cooldown. Its value is significantly reduced compared to Shadowlands, as you will have two charges of Death Grip baseline.
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.
Blood Tap	This gives you the ability to generate 1 Rune on demand. The biggest issue with this talent is its placement on the spec tree.

3.3.

Talent Rows 8-10 Talents for Blood Death Knights

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

3.3.1.

Noteworthy Talents

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 is returning in a slightly buffed version for Dragonflight. At rank 2, it is a 35% pseudo-damage reduction, up from 20%.
Tombstone	This allows you to gain a massive amount of cooldown reduction on Dancing Rune Weapon. It also provides a surprisingly large amount of damage through Shattering Bone.
Sanguine Ground	5% healing and damage is just too good to pass up, and it also is the only way towards Iron Heart and Red Thirst.
Unholy Bond	This amplifies the effect of your runeforges.
Shattering Bone	This passive effect will do 10-15% of your damage in all content, and the main condition of it (being in Death and Decay is already fulfilled rotationally!)
Iron Heart	This increases the duration of your Blood Shield by 2 seconds and increases the amount it absorbs by 20%. Very powerful talent, and it only costs 1 point!
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.
Abomination Limb	This will deal AoE damage, grip targets towards you, and generate Bone Shield charges per tick. In total, you will get one Bone Shield charge every time it attempts to grip a target. Abomination Limb should be used as close to on cooldown as possible.
Bloodshot	This will provide you with a boost to your Physical damage whilst you have Blood Shield active (Mastery).
Bonestorm	This has been changed to consume five Bone Shield charges instead of all your Runic Power. Every second after that, it refunds a bone to you. This deals a large amount of periodic damage, does a decent amount of healing in AoE, triggers Shattering Bone and grants cooldown reduction on Dancing Rune Weapon as if all Bone Shield charges were properly consumed, making it a 25-second cooldown reduction on Dancing Rune Weapon every minute when played properly.

3.3.2.

Niche Talents

Talent	When to Consider
Death's Echo	Death's Echo has lost a significant chunk of its value after the changes to Cleaving Strikes. As it is now possible to gain 14 seconds of uptime on Death and Decay from a single cast, and you can proc Crimson Scourge during the last 4 seconds of that, chaining Death and Decay using the 2-charge rolling system that this talent provided is no longer that valuable. Instead, the bulk of its value is now for Mythic+, where the second charge on Death Grip is extremely valuable to soft-lock enemies.
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.
Vestigial Shell	A pretty good talent point, but by far not a core or necessary one. Every time you use Anti-Magic Shell, your two nearest allies get a Lesser Anti-Magic Shell that absorbs 425% of your AP in damage. While it holds, any magic debuff applied to them has its maximum duration halved.
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 provides ~1.4 resets per minute on either Consumption or Blooddrinker, and all of the damage dealt by both of these spells counts for Mastery: Blood Shield. It is the victim of talent point scarcity past the third gate. If you decide to still pick this, do not play this with Blooddrinker!

Ability	Abbreviation	Description/Effect
Vampiric Strike	VS	Death Strike has a 25% 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	-	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.
Vampiric Aura (Choice Node 2)	-	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 2)	-	Increases the damage reduction of Icebound Fortitude by up to 20%. This bonus is at full value when you are below 50% health. Additionally, if you get the killing blow on an enemy the cooldown of Icebound Fortitude is reduced by 3 seconds.
Infliction of Sorrow	-	When Vampiric Strike hits an enemy with Blood Plague the duration of Blood Plague is increased by 3 seconds (up to 39 seconds total duration) and instantly deals 10% of the damage of Blood Plague. Infliction of Sorrow also interacts with Gift of the San'layn by dealing the full damage of Blood Plague to the target after Vampiric Blood ends with your next Heart Strike.
Frenzied Bloodthirst	-	Increases the maximum amount of stacks of Essence of the Blood Queen by 2. You will also deal 3% 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 6% Strength for 8 seconds.
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 3)	-	Blood Beasts will now store 50% of the Shadow damage you deal.
Pact of the San'layn (Choice Node 3)	-	The chance to trigger Vampiric Strike is increased by 15% if the target is below 35% health.
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 is increased by 200% whilst Dancing Rune Weapon is active.

Ability	Abbreviation	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. If it reaches 40 stacks, the target is below 35% health (can only happen every 3 minutes per target), 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.
Bind in Darkness	-	Blood Boil's damage is now Shadowfrost and is recoloured to be Blue (in line with the asthetic of the tree).
Soul Rupture	-	When Reaper's Mark explodes, 10% of the damage dealt to the target will be dealt to nearby enemies. Enemies hit will deal 5% less physical damage for 10 seconds.
Grim Reaper (Choice Node 1)	-	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.
Reaper of Souls (Choice Node 1)	-	All Soul Reaper damage is buffed by 20%. Whenever you apply Reaper's Mark to a target, the remaining cooldown on Soul Reaper is reset and your next Soul Reaper is free and will detonate as if its target was in execute range.
Pact of the Deathbringer (Choice Node 2)	-	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 2)	-	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.
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.
Reaper's Onslaught (Choice Node 3)	-	Reduces the cost of Reaper's Mark to one rune and reduces it cooldown by 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 cast time will be reduced by 10% for 6 seconds.
Exterminate	-	When Reaper's Mark explodes your next two Marrowrend are empowered by Exterminate. Each Marrowrend costs 1 rune and will deal additional damage in two parts. The first part will hit your target for a lot of damage and have a 30% chance to apply Reaper's Mark. The second part will deal AoE damage.

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.