Unholy Death Knight DPS Castle Nathria Raid Guide — Dragonflight 10.2.5

During the Dragonflight Pre-Patch, Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination, and Sepulcher of the First Ones will be simultaneously featured as Fated Raids. During this time encounters within each specific raid will include an additional mechanic and items will drop at increased item levels. If you would like to learn more general information about the Fated Raids system as a whole, please see our overview below. Otherwise, continue to use this page for specialization-specific tips.

On this page, you will find Unholy Death Knight specific information pertaining to each boss in the Castle Nathria raid.

This page does assume that you are decently familiar with the mechanics of each boss as we do not go through each mechanic on this page, only how certain mechanics would affect you as a Death Knight.

We recommend the following talent setup for all bosses, and you can import it easily with the following string:

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We advise you to use the following Legendary against Shriekwing: Deadliest Coil.

Recommended Covenant: Necrolord

• Anti-Magic Shell helps protect against the damage of Sanguine Ichor.
• We recommend running Wraith Walk for a quick way to line of sight.
• If you are unable to hide for Earsplitting Shriek, you can use Anti-Magic Shell to stop yourself from being Horrified.
• When Shriekwing is phasing, she teleports to the middle of the room to cast Blood Shroud. You are able to stand in her circle and continue DPSing her until she finishes her cast and knocks you back, but make sure you get knocked back to your group for the intermission.

For more information, please refer to our Shriekwing guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Huntsman Altimor.

1. Deadliest Coil
2. Frenzied Monstrosity

Recommended Covenant: Necrolord

• If you are using Unholy Blight, you should still make sure that Virulent Plague is up on each boss through the use of Outbreak.
• If you are targeted by Sin Seeker use Anti-Magic Shell before the cast goes off the prevent the Sin Seeker debuff.
• Death Grip can be used to group up the Shades of Bargast, however this should be organized with your raid so people are ready to DPS them.
• When Margore, Bargast, or Hecutis are at 35% health or below and in melee range, you should always use Soul Reaper on them, since that damage is shared with Altimor.
• You can pre-cast Anti-Magic Shell to prevent the application of Petrifying Howl from Hecutis. This should be done when you have cooldowns up and want to maintain uptime.
• On Mythic difficulty, if you are Necrolord covenant, be careful with your Abomination Limb usage when the Shades of Bargast are up, so you do not accidently grip them into melee range at a bad time.
• You can use Anti-Magic Zone on Hecutis if the tank needs to move him to help prevent his pulsing Nature damage.

For more information, please refer to our Huntsman Altimor guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Hungering Destroyer.

1. Deadliest Coil
2. Frenzied Monstrosity

Recommended Covenant: Necrolord

• Make sure to organize with your Raid Leader when and where to effectively use Anti-Magic Zone, in order to help prevent as much magic damage as possible.
• Use Death's Advance to prevent the pull mechanic of Consume, in order to quickly run out of range of the mechanic.
• Anti-Magic Shell can be used in order to soak the orb from your own Expunge. You can use this in order to stay in melee range for this mechanic and maintain uptime on the boss.
• Anti-Magic Shell can be used to prevent the damage from Gluttonous Miasma for a period of time. This can be very useful on Mythic difficulty since people soaking Gluttonous Miasma targets gain the Essence Sap debuff.
• Using Anti-Magic Shell before Volatile Ejection goes off can prevent the debuff and damage taken by the ability.

For more information, please refer to our Hungering Destroyer guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Artificer Xy'Mox.

1. Deadliest Coil
2. Frenzied Monstrosity

Recommended Covenant: Necrolord

• Death's Advance prevents the pull effect that starts with Phase 3.
• If you are targeted by a Fleeting Spirit, you can use Anti-Magic Shell in order to soak the spirit.
• Both Anti-Magic Shell and Icebound Fortitude can be used to soak the traps on the ground, making Death Knights one of the best classes for clearing the traps.
• If you accidentally get trapped, you can use Icebound Fortitude to break free. If you do this, try to clear other traps while you still have Icebound Fortitude active.

For more information, please refer to our Artificer Xy'Mox guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Sun King's Salvation.

1. Deadliest Coil
2. Frenzied Monstrosity

Recommended Covenant: Necrolord

• Sun King's Salvation seems like a big AoE/Cleave fight, however the most important damage during the fight is on the Shade of Kael'thas, making it a priority single-target encounter. You still want to utilize your AoE abilities, such as Death and Decay, Epidemic, and Abomination Limb (if you are Necrolord) when adds are up. Unholy still does very good AoE, even with single-target talents. On Mythic difficulty, make sure you have damage saved for Shade of Kael'thas, since breaking the damage shield of Unleashed Pyroclasm is very important.
• Phoenixes can be Death Griped and slowed with Chains of Ice in order to keep them CCed and out of the raid. Since so many adds are grip-able with Death Grip in this fight, it is recommended to use Death's Reach to increase the range of your Death Grip.
• Vile Occultists, Bleakwing Assassins, and Pestering Fiends are all able to be Death Grip-ed and gripped with Abomination Limb.
• If you are the Necrolord Covenant, be careful using Abomination Limb when the phoenixes are up, since Abomination Limb can accidentally grip them.
• Soul Infusers can be slowed with Chains of Ice and Death and Decay (with Grip of the Dead, if using the talent).
• Anti-Magic Zone is great when used for Ember Blast from the Shade of Kael'thas. Make sure to place it on the person with Ember Blast.

For more information, please refer to our Sun King's Salvation guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Lady Inerva Darkvein.

1. Deadliest Coil
2. Frenzied Monstrosity

Recommended Covenant: Necrolord

• You can use Anti-Magic Shell while Inerva is casting either Lightly Concentrated Anima, Concentrated Anima, or Highly Concentrated Anima, in order to always prevent the add from being cast on you. If you successfully prevent an add from being cast on you, then you have 1 less add to deal with during that phase. This means you usually want to save Anti-Magic Shell for add casts.
• Death Knights have an interrupt ability with a range ( Mind Freeze), so you want to make sure you are interrupting adds that are slightly out of range of other melee to maximize everyone's uptime on the boss.
• Anti-Magic Zone can be placed so that it covers all people affected by the add casts. Make sure to place this early, so they can position themselves correctly.

For more information, please refer to our Lady Inerva Darkvein guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against The Council of Blood.

1. Deadliest Coil
2. Frenzied Monstrosity

Recommended Covenant: Necrolord

• Make sure to correctly do the dance, so you can maximize your stacks of Fancy Footwork.
• Do not worry about cleave damage on this fight, since the bosses heal to full health. Passive cleave is okay, however do not worry about using abilities such as Death and Decay to cleave the bosses on this fight, unless it is to AoE down the Begrudging Waiters.
• Anti-Magic Zone should be used to help prevent the damage and quickly get rid of the stacks of Dancing Fever on Mythic difficulty.
• Begrudging Waiters can be gripped with Death Grip and Abomination Limb.
• If you are assigned to an interrupt on Mythic difficulty, try using the Spirit Drain conduit to benefit from having to Mind Freeze.

For more information, please refer to our The Council of Blood guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Sludgefist.

1. Deadliest Coil
2. Frenzied Monstrosity

Recommended Covenant: Necrolord

• Be careful not to move too far from your ally when affected with Chain Link.
• Death's Advance can be used on pull to prevent the knockback from the first Colossal Roar.
• Save your major burst cooldowns for Destructive Impact; this mainly means Army of the Dead, since the cooldown is so long and the damage is so high. Try to also have Apocalypse up for this, as well as Dark Transformation + Unholy Blight, and have 4 Festering Wounds ready for Apocalypse on Sludgefist.
• A common usage for Army of the Dead on Mythic difficulty is to use it first on pull then save for Heroism/Bloodlust with the fourth pillar break.

For more information, please refer to our Sludgefist guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Stone Legion Generals.

1. Deadliest Coil
2. Frenzied Monstrosity

Recommended Covenant: Necrolord

• Make sure to save Wraith Walk to easily move out for the Reverberating Eruption.
• Death Grip can be used to grip Stone Legion Skirmishers to the boss on Mythic difficulty.
• Death's Advance can be used to prevent the push back from Stonegale Effigy of the Stone Legion Skirmishers on Mythic difficulty.
• Icebound Fortitude can be used to prevent and get out of the stun from Ravenous Feast of the Stone Legion Goliath and the Crystallize if you are targeted with it.
• Anti-Magic Zone helps protect against some of the damage from Crystallize, Crystalline Burst, and Pulverizing Meteor.

For more information, please refer to our Stone Legion Generals guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Sire Denathrius.

1. Deadliest Coil
2. Frenzied Monstrosity

Recommended Covenant: Necrolord

• Pool Runic Power for Epidemic in order to quickly cleave down the adds in Phase 1; anywhere between 60 and 90 Runic Power should be enough.
• Death's Advance can prevent the knockback caused by Shattering Pain.
• Keep Virulent Plague on Remornia as well as Sire Denathrius through the use of either Unholy Blight or Outbreak.
• Clawing Shadows is commonly run on Mythic difficulty of this encounter due to how often you will be out of range of your target, due to many mechanics in the encounter. This talent allows you to have much higher uptime.
• Thanks to the passive of Death's Advance, you do not need to soak any Cleansing Pains in Phase 1, since the stacks will not slow you below 70% during the intermission. You can also use Death's Advance before the intermission to have 100% movement speed while running towards Sire Denathrius during March of the Penitent.
• Use Anti-Magic Shell to help prevent the damage from Blood Price. This is commonly used on the first Blood Price in both Phase 1 and 3.
• Frenzied Monstrosity is also a very powerful Legendary for this fight. Make sure to sim your setup to see which one is best for you.

For more information, please refer to our Sire Denathrius guide.