Death Knight Hero Talents — The War Within (11.1.7)

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

Rider of the Apocalypse specialises in Single Target damage through its minion buffing playstyle. We run Commander of the Dead to buff the horsemen we summon, thus driving us towards picking up other minion-based spells. It has the further benefit of running Clawing Shadows which is super nice in a raiding environment since we can keep DPSing at almost full power even when at range. The primary negative aspect is Unholy Aura and Raise Abomination. Unholy Aura requires you to stick close to the boss, sometimes much closer than regular melee. Raise Abomination is really slow and since we buff its damage a lot, any time it spends running around will impact us negatively (more-so compared to builds that do not buff minions as much). Finally, Death Charge is amazing mobility which really helps us in a raiding environment.

San'layn works really well in cleave and AoE fights. Death Coil does a ton of damage and with Improved Death Coil we get excellent cleave. Furthermore, we often run disease-heavy builds that work really well in AoE and cleave. The main negative drawback is the lack of Clawing Shadows as well as high uptime requirement to keep our Essence of the Blood Queen buff from dropping.

Rider of the Apocalypse presents a straight-forward and relatively low setup playstyle for Mythic+. Most of your damage comes from Epidemic, Bursting Sores and Virulent Plague and you start bursting without much ramp. The primary drawback is that you lose a significant amount of Single Target when building for Mythic+ with Rider and your cleave is pretty mediocre due to relatively low Death Coil damage.

San'layn requires more setup in Mythic+ compared to rider but has multiple strengths that make it desirable. High Death Coil damage in combination with Improved Death Coil gives it excellent cleave. Furthermore, the Mythic+ builds you run are not sacrificing as much Single Target compared to Rider. The main drawback is that the damage very much ramps during your pull, making it a lot worse in lower keys where stuff dies too quickly. Finally, Blood Beast presents some RNG (much less than what it used to do) and can feel pretty bad if it procs at the wrong time.

2.

Best Hero Talent Builds for Unholy Death Knight

Rider of the Apocalypse Universal Build San'layn Universal Build

3.

Best Rider of the Apocalypse Build for Unholy Death Knight

Rider of the Apocalypse is very straightforward to build, with the same setup being optimal for all scenarios (only having utility options being the real choices). The Horsemen you summon deal such a large amount of damage, making Fury of the Horsemen the best pick in all scenarios. 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 good pick if you expect lots of magic damage and debuffs coming out in a given encounter (which happens a lot).

3.

Best San'layn Build for Unholy Death Knight

San'layn has one build that is best DPS in all scenarios, picking up Pact of the San'layn to amp up all the damage you output. For the utility choices, Newly Turned is the go-to option to help any teammate you need to battle ress. However, Vampiric Speed is also solid, giving both you and your group better mobility. For Vampiric Aura versus Bloody Fortitude, we believe Bloody Fortitude provides the best direct benefit. Making Icebound Fortitude stronger the lower health you are empowers the cooldown significantly. Still, Vampiric Aura provides some nice passive healing and also helps your group slightly.

Rider of the Apocalypse most significantly changes your rotation by introducing the Chains of Ice proc from Trollbane. This should be tracked so that you can burst the Chains as quickly as possible when they are applied (giving Trollbane the opportunity to apply them again). Furthermore, Mograine will cast Death and Decay and enable your cleave. When he does this, you do not need to use Death and Decay yourself!

San'layn alters your rotation quite significantly due to the strong feedback loop with Infliction of Sorrow as well as the maintenance of your Essence of the Blood Queen buff. During Dark Transformation, you simply ignore Festering Strike altogether (except with Festering Scythe procs), instead spamming Vampiric Strike and Death Coil. Scourge Strike turns into Vampiric Strike during Dark Transformation (adding damage) as well as gaining a ton of damage via the Infliction of Sorrow Disease aspect, making it worthwhile to spam. Death Coil helps us generate Runes, as well as prolong the window via Eternal Agony. Furthermore, Death Coil becomes a significantly stronger ability via the Frenzied Bloodthirst talent, pushing out the use of Epidemic in AoE. We only really use Epidemic on huge pulls (7+).

Outside of your big Dark Transformation windows, you fish for procs of Vampiric Strike to extend your Essence of the Blood Queen buff. We use Death and Decay on Cooldown to leverage Blood-Soaked Ground as well as prioritising Death Coil to get a proc of Vampiric Strike and extend the Essence of the Blood Queen buff until our next Dark Transformation window.