Death Knight Hero Talents — The War Within (Season 1)

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:

Deathbringer is generally the best raiding hero talent for the Frost Death Knight due to how well it works with Breath of Sindragosa. Reaper's Mark does a significant amount of damage and synergises well with our Pillar of Frost window. We use it just before, quickly stack up the debuff during the Pillar, and gain the big explosion. Furthermore, we get the benefit of Wave of Souls to amp up the burst even more.

Rider of the Apocalypse works well with pure Obliteration builds, doing comparable damage to the Deathbringer Breath build. It also has the benefit of great burst add AoE and great mobility.

For Mythic+, Deathbringer lags behind slightly due to bad synergy with Frostwyrm's Fury. It is still viable but brings a slightly more clunky and random gameplay.

Rider of the Apocalypse is our go-to Mythic+ Hero Talent. It has great synergy with Frostwyrm's Fury and provides a lot of nice utility, especially mobility.

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. Painful Death is significantly stronger (10%) than Swift End as it allows us to time Reaper's Mark with every Pillar of Frost window (with Icecap). Furthermore, we get a higher probability of chaining multiple Reaper's Marks after each other, leading to huge chunks of damage! Dark Talons vs Wither Away is a lot closer. Generally, though, Wither Away is equal to Dark Talons in pure Single Target, but a lot better in AoE. It is, therefore, the default pick in all content.

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 a lot stronger than A Feast of Souls 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 before each Pillar of Frost window! We simply go Reaper's Mark -> Pillar Macro. This makes sure that we quickly stack up the debuff and gain the strength benefit of the explosion damage. Furthermore, we also ensure that we buff the Pillar window with Wave of Souls by doing it this way. The exact timing does not matter that much here. If you end up using Reapers Mark in the first few GCDs of Pillar, it is fine as well; just never desync them.

Rider of the Apocalypse does not present a significant change to your rotation. The effects of the Riders themselves are passive and do not require you to react to them. The one exception is Mograine, who will cast Death and Decay and enable your cleave. When he does this, you do not need to use Death and Decay yourself! Furthermore, you want to make sure you use Frostwyrm's Fury at the start of your Pillar of Frost, to make sure your riders gain the most benefit from the Strength buff over its duration.