Unholy Death Knight DPS Gear and Best in Slot — 12.1

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Upgrading gear in Midnight continues to use the Crest system which lets you increase the item level of gear along tracks that relate to where you obtained the item, which harder content dropping gear that can be upgraded to higher Item Levels. For more information, read up on our dedicated page on how the gearing system works and what has changed in the Midnight expansion.

Be Careful With Early Crafts!

Many Embellishments and cantrips on items from the Venomous Abyss were changed less than 24 hrs before the beginning of Season 2, and as such many recommendations are now in flux and have to be re-evaluated. Due to these changes, we highly recommend to hold off on crafting an item on Day 1. Unless you don't mind the recrafting cost or potentially crafting a slightly suboptimal item early on, it might be worth waiting for a few days until things have settled.

Make sure to check back to see if this warning has been removed.

OverallMythic+Raid

This list contains the highest DPS setup from all sources for Unholy Death Knight. Keep in mind that there are many other setups that perform within the margin of error. This list is not the end-all-be-all list where any item that is not listed is far behind this specific selection.

This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available, your best next piece might look different in some spots than the below list.

FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?

In Midnight Season 2, catalysing an item retains its secondary stats (and ilvl). This provides a lot more flexibility in how we optimise our gear distribution. Due to this, we want the following pieces:

• Head: Baleful Grave-Knight's Casque from Twin Fangs
• Shoulders: Cinderfury Shoulderguards from Murder Row
• Chest: Reckless Spirit Breastplate from The Coiled Altar
• Gloves: Baleful Grave-Knight's Deathgrips from Entombed Sentinels
• Legs: Chausses of Unbound Rancor from Ula'tek

FAQWhich Items Should I Prioritise?

There are a couple of items that are very high priority in your BiS gear and that you want to prioritise from Great Vault and Voidcore usage:

• Maze-roa, Warlord's Fury from Coiled Altar: BiS weapon with higher ilvl and an extra effect making it significantly stronger (3%+) than any other option.
• Voracious Heart of Ula'tek from Ula'tek: BiS on-use trinket with a higher ilvl.
• Aqirbane Reliquary from Ula'tek: BiS neck with higher ilvl and an extra effect.
• Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique from Coiled Altar: BiS passive trinket that synergises with our BiS weapon.

Unholy Death Knight

1.1.

Overall Best in Slot

Baleful Grave-Knight's Casque Helm

Twin Fangs Empowered Rune of Avoidance

Baleful Grave-Knight's Deathgrips Hands

Entombed Sentinels

Aqirbane Reliquary Neck

Flawless Masterful Garnet Flawless Masterful Garnet

Ula'tek

Girdle of Toxic Regret Waist

Flawless Masterful Garnet

Coiled Altar

Baleful Grave-Knight's Gibbets Shoulders

Catalyst from Murder Row Amirdrassil's Grace

Baleful Grave-Knight's Greaves Legs

Catalyst from Ula'tek Forest Hunter's

Silken Voodoo Drape Cloak

Coiled Altar

Spellbreaker's March Feet

Arcanoweave Lining

Crafted by Blacksmithing Lynx's Dexterity

Baleful Grave-Knight's Breastplate Chest

Catalyst from Coiled Altar Mark of the Worldsoul

Band of the Amani Warlord Ring

Flawless Masterful Garnet

Altar of Fangs Eyes of the Eagle

Shirt

Sickening Signet of Atroxus Ring

Flawless Masterful Garnet

Voidscar Arena Eyes of the Eagle

Tabard

Voracious Heart of Ula'tek Trinket

Ula'tek

Spellbreaker's Bracers Bracers

Flawless Masterful Garnet

Crafted by Blacksmithing

Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique Trinket

Coiled Altar

Maze-roa, Warlord's Fury Main Hand

Coiled Altar Rune of the Apocalypse

Off Hand

This list contains the highest DPS setup from Mythic+ sources for Unholy Death Knight. This is not your best setup for Mythic+ but only from Mythic+.

FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?

In Midnight Season 2, catalysing an item retains its secondary stats (and ilvl). From Mythic+, we want to catalyse the following pieces:

• Head - Visor of the Predator
• Shoulders - Cinderfury Shoulderguards
• Chest - Desert Guardian's Breastplate
• Hands - Gauntlets of the Avian Sentinel
• Legs - Ancient General's Obsidian Pillars

TipsWhich Dungeons Should I Farm?

If you have limited time to play the game, we recommend to farm the following dungeons:

• Murder Row: Solid weapon and an okay trinket.
• Altar of Fangs: BiS ring.
• Voidscar Arena: BiS ring.
• King's Rest: Good waist and feet.

Unholy Death Knight

1.2.

Best Gear from Mythic+

Baleful Grave-Knight's Casque Helm

Catalyst from Voidscar Arena Empowered Rune of Avoidance

Baleful Grave-Knight's Deathgrips Hands

Catalyst from King's Rest

Graft of the Domanaar Neck

Flawless Masterful Garnet

Voidscar Arena

Girdle of Pestilent Purification Waist

Flawless Masterful Garnet

King's Rest

Baleful Grave-Knight's Gibbets Shoulders

Catalyst from Murder Row Amirdrassil's Grace

Baleful Grave-Knight's Greaves Legs

Catalyst from Altar of Fangs Forest Hunter's

Adherent's Silken Shroud Cloak

Crafted by Tailoring

Auric Puddle Stompers Feet

King's Rest Lynx's Dexterity

Baleful Grave-Knight's Breastplate Chest

Catalyst from Temple of Sethraliss Mark of the Worldsoul

Band of the Amani Warlord Ring

Flawless Masterful Garnet

Altar of Fangs Eyes of the Eagle

Shirt

Sickening Signet of Atroxus Ring

Flawless Masterful Garnet

Voidscar Arena Eyes of the Eagle

Tabard

Seed of the Devouring Wild Trinket

The Blinding Vale

Spellbreaker's Bracers Bracers

Flawless Masterful Garnet

Crafted by Blacksmithing

Resonant Bellowstone Trinket

Murder Row

Xathuux's Cleave Main Hand

Murder Row Rune of the Apocalypse

Off Hand

This list contains the highest DPS setup from Raid sources for Unholy Death Knight.

FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?

In Midnight Season 2, catalysing an item retains its secondary stats (and ilvl). From Raid, we want to catalyse the following pieces:

• Head - Skullguard of the Risen Sacrifice
• Shoulders - Swelling Sea Spaulders
• Chest - Reckless Spirit Breastplate
• Hands - Tier Piece
• Legs - Chausses of Unbound Rancor

TipsWhich Raid-Items Do I Want Most?

If you need to submit a list of highly-important items to your raidleader, or simply want to focus on the most important bosses and items, we got you covered!

• Maze-roa, Warlord's Fury: BiS weapon with higher ilvl and an extra effect making it significantly stronger (3%+) than any other option.
• Voracious Heart of Ula'tek: BiS on-use trinket with a higher ilvl.
• Aqirbane Reliquary: BiS neck with higher ilvl and an extra effect.
• Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique: BiS passive trinket that synergises with our BiS weapon.

Unholy Death Knight

1.3.

Best Gear from Raid

Baleful Grave-Knight's Casque Helm

Twin Fangs Empowered Rune of Avoidance

Baleful Grave-Knight's Deathgrips Hands

Entombed Sentinels

Aqirbane Reliquary Neck

Flawless Masterful Garnet Flawless Masterful Garnet

Ula'tek

Girdle of Toxic Regret Waist

Flawless Masterful Garnet

Coiled Altar

Baleful Grave-Knight's Gibbets Shoulders

Catalyst from Nymrissa Wavecaller Amirdrassil's Grace

Baleful Grave-Knight's Greaves Legs

Catalyst from Ula'tek Forest Hunter's

Silken Voodoo Drape Cloak

Coiled Altar

Spellbreaker's March Feet

Arcanoweave Lining

Crafted by Blacksmithing Lynx's Dexterity

Baleful Grave-Knight's Breastplate Chest

Catalyst from Coiled Altar Mark of the Worldsoul

Vile Alchemist's Band Ring

Flawless Masterful Garnet

Vashnik the Malignant Eyes of the Eagle

Shirt

Apex Brute's Claw Ring Ring

Flawless Masterful Garnet

Sszorak Eyes of the Eagle

Tabard

Voracious Heart of Ula'tek Trinket

Ula'tek

Spellbreaker's Bracers Bracers

Flawless Masterful Garnet

Crafted by Blacksmithing

Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique Trinket

Coiled Altar

Maze-roa, Warlord's Fury Main Hand

Coiled Altar Rune of the Apocalypse

Off Hand

Itemization

Enchants and Stat Priority

Looking to optimize your character? Check out our Enchant and Stat Priority guides for more information!

EnchantsStats

Unholy Death Knight favours a combination of one active trinket and one passive trinket. For active trinkets, Voracious Heart of Ula'tek is by far our best option with great synergy with our 1.5 minute Cooldowns. It also comes at a higher ilvl due to dropping from the final boss.

For passive trinkets, Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique is our best option. It is a direct damage passive trinket which synergises with our BiS weapon Maze-roa, Warlord's Fury.

Aim to pick up one trinket from each of these categories as a pair:

Unholy Death Knight Trinkets

On-Use - Voracious Heart of Ula'tek or, alternatively, Seed of the Devouring Wild
Passive - Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique or, alternatively, Gebbo's Bottomless Bag

There are quite a few other valuable trinkets out there, so make sure to click on our ranking chart to see if they are worth equipping.

Click for Unholy Death Knight Trinket Rankings

Ranking	Trinkets
S Tier	Voracious Heart of Ula'tek - Click for Details Best on-use by far which synergises nicely with our 1.5 minute cooldowns. It sits almost 4% ahead of the second best on-use so there is no real debate. Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique - Click for Details Best passive by a large margin. The damage proc is simply too strong, especially when combined with Maze-roa, Warlord's Fury - our BiS weapon.
A Tier	Gebbo's Bottomless Bag Darkmoon Dominion: Hunt Tattered Amani War Banner Gaze of the Alnseer (298 ilvl)
B Tier	Darkmoon Dominion: Blood Darkmoon Dominion: Void Magister's Alchemist Stone Seed of the Devouring Wild Resonant Bellowstone Blazebinder's Hoof Vile Vial of Volatile Venom Keeper's Seething Core
C Tier	Sapling of the Dawnroot Idol of the War Loa Ruby Whelp Shell Sszorak's Ferocity

Midnight's patch 12.0.5 introduced a new, yet familiar system: Nebulous Voidcore allows you to target loot from specific bosses or dungeons. Using it guarantees a drop from that source, though the exact item is still random. However, once you’ve obtained an item this way, future uses will prioritize items you haven’t collected yet from that pool.

Getting a guaranteed piece of loot from a specific dungeon or boss is very useful. In general, we recommend using these for raid encounters as you can obtain higher ilvl pieces that way. We recommend using them on the following bosses (if you do not have the item specified already). Always simulate yourself to find the best possible choice given your character's gear and stats!

• Coiled Altar for Maze-roa, Warlord's Fury and Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique.
• Ula'tek for Voracious Heart of Ula'tek and Aqirbane Reliquary.

Professions are a great way to gear up with your optimal secondary stats, as adding special items to the crafting process lets you pick and choose the exact secondary stats you want.

Deciding what to craft is a difficult task. Our BiS crafted items are Boots and Wrists, both with Crit Mastery and Arcanoweave Lining. However, crafting a 2H weapon early is often by far the largest upgrade possible and a significantly more efficient spend of your crests. It does sit quite a lot behind our BiS but still gives a strong early boost. Most people will craft a 2H in general.

Unholy Death Knight Crafted Gear Priority

• Spellbreaker's Bracers with Arcanoweave Lining
• Spellbreaker's March with Arcanoweave Lining
• Any item you do not have on Myth track yet.

For more information about crafting gear you can visit our Professions page.

Up to two of your crafted items can be Embellished. This is a similar concept as Unique-Equipped, as you can only wear two items that have the Embellished status. Some crafted items, many of which have powerful procs or beneficial effects by default, are considered Embellished. You can also add Embellishments from a variety of professions to any crafted item, adding the effect to this item either when creating it or at a later stage.

As there is a lot of competition for Embellishments, you will have to pick and choose the two strongest ones for your overall DPS output. Most of them provide very similar DPS benefits, even if the effects are entirely different. The two best choices for this are:

• For Raid: Arcanoweave Lining on crafted Boots and a crafted Wrists.
• For Mythic+: Arcanoweave Lining on crafted Boots and a crafted Wrists.

A strong alternative is to run Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt on a crafted 2H weapon. This is especially powerful early in the season as it allows you to get a high-ilvl weapon (which is the slot that provides by far the most benefit per point of ilvl). Therefore, always consider crafting a 2H early in the season.

You can add sockets to Helmets, Belts, and Bracers with the Miasmic Jewelbinder consumable that you can get if you do not select any of the choices in your Great Vault. Not picking a choice will grant you tokens, six of which can be traded in for the Miasmic Jewelbinder item that allows you to add a socket to the above piece of gear, if you acquired them in Season 2.

Myth Mistcrest is a currency you can use to upgrade your gear. Each piece comes in a specific leveling track where it can be upgrade to a specific max level. If you see an item with Myth 3/6, it means that it can be upgrade a total of 3 times to reach Myth 6/6. Since crests are limited each week and upgrading different items costs the same amount of crests regardless, you will want to prioritize your usage of them on items you plan on not replacing anytime soon, or that offer the biggest benefits.

Unholy Death Knight Crest Upgrade Priority

Weapon ➜ Trinkets ➜ Helmet/Chest/Legs ➜ Shoulders/Gloves/Belt/Boots/Rings

These are simply the items that tend to be the best to upgrade. Do not follow the priority blindly as there are cases where you would want to upgrade something else first. Always sim yourself to figure out what it your current best option.

Throughout this page and elsewhere in our guide, we regularly refer to the importance of simming yourself on Raidbots. This is because every character is unique, and each gear piece you have access to can change what is best right now for you.

While we do offer recommendations for gear and trinkets, these are not complete replacements for simming yourself. The only way to truly optimize your character to that degree is by making use of the tools available!

Optimization

Simulations and Tools

For further reading on how to truly maximize your character's potential, check out our guide on Raidbots!

Go to Guide

Bicepspump

Guide Author

Follow Bicepspump

This guide has been written by Bicepspump, a semi-hardcore player raiding with Pixelbased Lifeforms on Kazzak. He is heavily involved in the DK DPS theorycrafting community, testing hyoptheses and investigating the correct priority to use. He produces guide content on YouTube and frequently streams on Twitch.

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