Death Knight Hero Talents — The War Within (11.2)

This page is specifically about Hero Talents in The War Within. If you want to learn more about the best regular talents for Frost Death Knight, check out our Talents page:

Both Rider of the Apocalypse and Deathbringer are competitive in all contents. However, Deathbringer tends to win out in both raid and Mythic+. Furthermore, it is easier to play which is a nice plus.

Deathbringer provides the new Reaper's Mark ability which we use with each Pillar of Frost window. It provides some nice extra procs and free resources for the window, both generating Killing Machines and reducing the cost of Obliterate/ Frostscythe. The build is slightly more flexible compared to Rider of the Apocalypse since it does not require the Frostwyrm's Fury talent. Furthermore, the utility value is slightly lower since we do not have Death Charge which is otherwise a very powerful movement spell. Finally, Reaper's Mark is significantly less random in season 3 compared to previous seasons since it cannot proc off itself, making Deathbringer a lot more predictable in terms of damage throughput!

Rider of the Apocalypse's main impact on your raid rotation is due to the usage of Frostwyrm's Fury. It changes from being primarily an AoE burst cooldown to instead becoming your primary Single Targer cooldown as it raises all four riders via the Apocalypse Now talent. It does comes with the annoying aspect of Mograine's Might which gets you chasing around Mograine whenever he spawns, as standing in his Death and Decay provides a 5% damage buff. It has a small synergy with 2H builds as the season 3 tier set increases Obliterate damage but it does not matter that much since 2H is best with all builds. Finally, you get the Death Charge ability which is a huge increase in mobility!

Deathbringer adds a nice chunk of damage in Mythic+ through abilities such as Wave of Souls and Reaper's Mark itself. Its damage profile is more even as each 45-second window has you using Reaper's Mark for nice burst. From a utility point-of-view, it does not necessarily run Frostwyrm's Fury which is a CC downgrade. Finally, Death Charge is super powerful in Mythic+ as well so losing out on it is also not great.

Rider of the Apocalypse does high burst damage with Frostwyrm's Fury being used every 1.5 minutes. It also does its damage quickly which is nice in lower keys, with the added benefit of being really fast with Death Charge which can help you keep up with a quick tank! Also does well in higher keys where a well-coordinated group can leverage the increased 1.5 min burst window!

2.

Best Hero Talent Builds for Frost Death Knight

Deathbringer Universal Build Rider of the Apocalypse Universal Build

3.

Best Deathbringer Build for Frost Death Knight

Deathbringer is a quite straightforward build. Grim Reaper is around 2% better than Reaper of Souls and Dark Talons is 5% better than Reaper's Onslaught in all situations. This 5% is a large number, which is primarily due to the desync of Pillar of Frost with Reaper's Mark.

For utility choices, Rune Carved Plates provides you with a nice passive raw defensive boost. Pact of the Deathbringer does give you protection against large hits, but Death Pact is not very strong and makes the talent a worse choice. Death's Messenger is our go-to option in the last choice node, giving both some extra defensive power and some DPS through the shorter cooldown on Raise Dead (0.2% DPS...). Expelling Shield provides no tangible benefit, so it is no real choice.

3.

Best Rider of the Apocalypse Build for Frost Death Knight

Rider of the Apocalypse is also quite locked in when it comes to choices. Fury of the Horsemen is generally stronger than A Feast of Souls (0.5%+) and thus is a default pick everywhere. For the utility choices, On a Paler Horse is probably the most powerful leveling talent we have but is not useful in any Raiding or Mythic+ content. Finally, Pact of the Apocalypse provides a useful amount of raw defensive power in all situations. Horsemen's Aid is a potential pick if you expect lots of magic damage and debuffs coming out in a given encounter.

Deathbringer has a very simple impact on our rotation. We gain the Reaper's Mark ability, which we want to use with each Pillar of Frost window! We can simply use Reaper's Mark and Pillar in a Macro, or press Reaper's Mark the GCD before if we want to minmax. This makes sure that we quickly stack up the debuff and gain the strength benefit of the explosion damage. We also gain a total of 3 guaranteed Killing Machine procs in our window as we consume the Exterminate procs. An important aspect of Deathbringer is to anticipate these procs so that you do not overcap on Killing Machines.

Rider of the Apocalypse's impact to your rotation is via the use of Frostwyrm's Fury. Since this becomes a major Single Target cooldown, we want to always combine it with Pillar of Frost! Use it the GCD before your enter your Pillar window. Furthermore, Mograine's Might makes it a good idea to stand in Mograine's Death and Decay whenever he spawns, something that can be quite annoying...