If you are new to Unholy, this is a great place to start to get an
understanding of how the spec works. On this page we will discuss what
abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, how they
interact with each other and also with important cooldowns. If you already
have experience with Unholy and are comfortable with it in the current expansion, it is
recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.
Runic Power and Runes are your two primary resources. We have 6 Runes in
total
that passively generate over time, taking 10 seconds to recharge (decreased by
haste).
Runes are the most common resource we use for our abilities, which include
Festering Strike, Scourge Strike and Army of the Dead.
Spending Runes
generates 10 Runic Power per Rune used. We use Runic Power as our spender on
abilities such as Death Coil and Epidemic
Spells and passive abilities are unlocked as you level up and spend talent
points.
This page will simply list every single ability you can obtain, not recommending
any specific talent setups or rotations to use. If you want to understand
which abilities are best to pick up when leveling, please follow the below link.
These are the abilities that you obtain without selecting anything
in the talent trees.
Ability |
Abbreviation |
Description/Effect |
Death Coil |
DC |
Costs 30 Runic Power to cast, dealing Shadow damage to
the target. It can be cast on an Undead ally (including yourself) to heal it. |
Epidemic |
Epi |
Costs 30 Runic Power, dealing damage to any target
that currently has Virulent Plague on them. Also, splashes to nearby
enemies, dealing damage to up to 8 targets. |
Death and Decay |
DnD |
Costs 1 Rune and places a damaging area at the
target location, which persists for 10 seconds. If you have selected
Cleaving Strikes, also makes your Scourge Strike/
Clawing Shadows
cleave 7 additional targets. |
Death's Advance |
DA |
Death's Advance when activated, increases your movement speed by
35% and prevents you from being slowed below 100% of your movement speed for 10
seconds. It also grants you immunity from knockbacks. It has a passive ability
that prevents your movement speed from being reduced below 70%. |
Rune Strike |
- |
Costs 1 Rune and deals moderate damage. Is replaced
once we choose a specialisation ( Festering Strike for Unholy). |
Outbreak |
OB |
Costs 1 Rune and applies Virulent Plague to all enemies
near your target. |
Virulent Plague |
VP |
A Shadow damage DoT that erupts when the
target dies, dealing damage divided among all enemies. It is applied using
Outbreak, Raise Abomination or Dark Transformation (with Unholy Blight). |
Runic Corruption |
RC |
A passive that gives you a 1.6% chance per Runic
Power spent to increase your Rune recharge rate by 100% for 3 seconds. The
duration
scales inversely with Haste, always granting you the same total amount of 0.9
Runes whenever it procs. Runic Power abilities that get a "free" proc, such
as Dark Succor still proc this passive
as if they consumed the Runic Power. |
Dark Succor |
- |
A passive that grants you a free Death Strike
whenever you kill an enemy that grants honor or experience. Also increases the
healing
of the Death Strike by 10%. Importantly, you need to land the killing
blow
to retrieve the buff, meaning you will not get that many procs in Raids and
Mythic+. |
On a Pale Horse |
- |
A passive that grants 20% mounted movement speed. |
Anti-Magic Shell |
AMS |
Absorbs up to 30% of your maximum health in Magic
damage over 5 seconds, generating Runic Power based on the damage absorbed
(up to 30 Runic Power maximum).
This should be used to mitigate Magic damage throughout the fight, while the
added Runic Power will help increase your DPS. It also prevents any magical
debuffs from being applied to you. This can be very useful to dodge mechanics!
|
Death Grip |
- |
Pulls your target towards you. It also has a shorter GCD
compared to normal spells at 0.5 seconds. This means that you can quickly use
another ability after gripping something. |
Raise Ally |
- |
Costs 30 Runic Power and battle resses a targeted dead
ally, bringing them back to life (even in combat). |
Lichborne |
- |
Turns you undead for 10 seconds. This makes you immune
to charm, fear, and sleep, and grants you 10% leech. You can also activate this
ability to break any of these CCs, making it a useful tool if you are
accidentally
hit a mechanic that applies such a CC. |
Dark Command |
- |
Taunts the targeted enemy, forcing them to attack you. |
Runeforging |
- |
Allows you to apply a powerful Runeforge to your weapon,
acting as a (usually) better enchant. You do this in the Acherus Hold at the
Runeforges. |
Death Gate |
- |
Summons a gate that will teleport you to Acherus. Here you
can Runeforge your weapon, practice your rotation on target dummies, and change
the appearance of your Summon Gargoyle to a Valkyr. Using the
Death Gate
again will bring you back to your original location. |
Chains of Ice |
Chains |
Costs 1 Rune and slows your target by 70% for 8 seconds.
This is generally your primary way of slowing any given target. Great for when
you
need to kite dangerous mobs in the open-world or kill a fleeing enemy. |
Path of Frost |
- |
Costs 1 Rune and grants everyone in your group
the ability to walk on water. Breaks on any damage taken. |
Mastery: Dreadblade |
- |
Our Mastery, increasing our Shadow and Minion damage. |
Ability |
Abbreviation |
Description/Effect |
Death Strike |
DS |
Costs 45 Runic Power and constitutes our primary
mean of healing ourselves. The amount of healing increases with the damage we've taken
in the last 5 seconds, making it excellent to use after you have taken a big hit.
It heals for 25% of the damage taken with a minimum of 7% max hp healed every
time. |
Raise Dead |
- |
Summons a ghoul to fight with us for
1 minute. You spend talent points in the Unholy spec tree to make this ghoul
permanent,
as well as significantly improving its overall power and impact. The ghoul can
charge as well as stun, in addition to dealing damage. |
Mind Freeze |
- |
Interrupts your target. It has a 15 yards range, a benefit
over other melee interrupts that often require melee range. |
Blinding Sleet |
Sleet |
Blinds all targets in a cone in front of you for 5 seconds. When the
enemies are broken out of sleep via damage, or if the duration finishes, they
are slowed by 50% for 6 seconds. Great ability to stop a group of enemies from
casting, as well as controlling them efficiently. Your tank will love this
ability whenever they need to kite. |
Sacrificial Pact |
SacPact |
Costs 30 Runic Power and sacrifices your primary ghoul,
dealing AoE damage (linearly to 8 targets, square root afterward) and healing
you
for 25% of your maximum hp. Primarily used as an emergency heal as the damage
component
is not worth the hassle of resummoning the ghoul. |
Control Undead |
- |
Costs 1 Rune and controls the targeted Undead enemy for 2 minutes. This
requires that the enemy is sufficiently low-level (it does not work on bosses
and certain mobs in dungeons). Furthermore, it prevents you from having your
primary ghoul active. You can use the abilities of the dominated undead at
reduced effectiveness. Overall, this should only be used as a CC tool since the
damage loss of not having our primary ghoul active is too great. |
Icebound Fortitude |
IBF |
Provides a 30% damage reduction for 8 seconds,
additionally making you immune to stuns. It can be used when stunned as well to
break
out of the CC. Primary defensive cooldown for us with the added benefit of the
stun
break! |
Anti-Magic Zone |
AMZ |
Places a zone on the ground that reduces magic damage
taken by 20% for 10 seconds for everyone standing in it. The maximum amount
that can be absorbed is equal to
1.5 times your Maximum Health, increased by your Versatility. |
Asphyxiate |
Asphyx |
Stuns your target for 5 seconds. Simple single-target
stun with a range of 20-yard range. |
Death Pact |
- |
Heals you for 50% of your maximum health, as well as putting
a healing absorption for 30% of your maximum health. A panic-button heal
with a downside. The effective healing is only 20%, but you still find a lot of
instances where this provides the required breathing room for your healers or
you
need to bring you back to health. |
Wraith Walk |
WW |
Provides 70% movement speed for 4 seconds. Any ability
used during the channel will break the effect. Useful as a movement speed
increase in instances when you need to move between A and B without doing
anything
else. |
Abomination Limb |
Limb/AL |
Grows an extra arm for you for 12 seconds, dealing
AoE damage around you, as well as pulling a random enemy toward you every
second.
The enemy must be outside melee range to be liable to grip. Great utility tool
that will help your party group up any pack of mobs. It also provides three procs
of Runic Corruption across its duration. |
Soul Reaper |
SR |
Costs 1 Rune, deals low damage, and applies a debuff to your enemy. After 5
seconds, if the target is below 35% health, this debuff explodes, dealing heavy
ShadowFrost damage. If the target dies while under the effect of Soul Reaper,
you
gain Runic Corruption. |
Ability |
Abbreviation |
Description/Effect |
Festering Strike |
FS |
Costs 2 Runes, dealing Physical damage to the
target and infect them with 2-3 stacks of Festering Wound.
Festering Wounds can be burst using Scourge Strike,
dealing damage to the target. |
Scourge Strike |
SS |
Costs 1 Rune and deals Physical and Shadow
damage to the target, and bursting 1 Festering Wound stack. |
Raise Dead |
- |
Converts your baseline Raise Dead into a 30 seconds
cooldown, now summoning a permanent pet to fight for you. This permanent pet has
controllable abilities that charge, silence, root, and stun your enemies.
|
Dark Transformation |
DT |
Has a 1-minute cooldown (can be talented into 45 seconds CD) and transforms
your
ghoul into a more powerful version of itself for 15 seconds while also granting
them 100% Energy. The empowered ghoul that deals AoE damage has a longer stun
and
can interrupt by charging to a target. |
Defile |
- |
Replaces your Death and Decay. This new ability still
allows you to cleave with your Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows
with the Cleaving Strikes talent. In addition, every time a tick of
Defile damages an enemy, its size and damage grow. |
Apocalypse |
Apoc |
Bursts up to 4 Festering Wounds on your target,
summoning 4 members of the Army of the Dead. The
minions last for 15 seconds. It also generates 2 Runes on use. |
Vile Contagion |
VC |
Costs 30 Runic Power and spreads all Festering Wounds
from your primary target to up to 7 additional targets. This is a big AoE
cooldown
that works really well with Unholy Assault, generating up to 48
Festering Wounds
in just 3 GCDs. |
Army of the Dead |
AotDead |
Costs 1 Rune and summons several ghouls to fight at your side
for 30 seconds. The ghouls spawn over 4 seconds and are stunned for an
additional 4 seconds before starting to fight. |
Raise Abomination |
Abomination |
Summons an Abomination for 30 seconds that melees your target. It applies
one Festering Wound with each Melee, and applies Virulent Plague
to all targets around it. This cooldown replaces Army of the Dead. |
Summon Gargoyle |
Garg/Gary |
Summons a gargoyle to attack your enemy for 25
seconds. Every 1 Runic Power used increases the damage of the gargoyle by
1%. |
Unholy Assault |
UA |
Strikes the target and infects them with 4
Festering Wounds, while also increasing your Damage by 20% for 20
seconds. |
Ability |
Abbreviation |
Description/Effect |
Runic Attenuation |
RA |
Gives your auto attacks a chance to grant you 3
Runic Power. This provides around 30 Runic Power per minute, adding a
good amount of resources to our rotation. |
Improved Death Strike |
- |
Increases the healing of Death Strike by
60% and lowers its cost by 10 Runic Power. Effectively makes
Death Strike
a 35 Runic Power ability that heals for a minimum of 11% max health, or 40%
of damage taken in the last 5 seconds, whichever is greatest. |
Cleaving Strikes |
- |
Makes your Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows
cleave to 7 additional targets when standing in your Death and Decay,
hitting 8 total. Important to note that the cleave is based on you
yourself standing in the Death and Decay, not your enemy. This means that
we can cleave from range by dropping Death and Decay on our feet and then
using Clawing Shadows on enemies up to 30 yards away. This would cleave
8 yards around the primary target. The cleave buff persists for 4 seconds after
you leave your Death and Decay (making the total max duration 14 seconds). |
Anti-Magic Barrier |
- |
Lowers the cooldown of Anti-Magic Shell to
40 seconds and increases the amount absorbed by 40%. Useful for any situation
with heavy magic damage or frequent magic debuff applications (that you can then
ignore). |
March of Darkness |
- |
Grants you an extra 25% movement speed during the first
3 seconds of activating Death's Advance. |
Unholy Ground |
- |
Provides a 5% Haste buff whenever you stand in your
Death and Decay. It does not make the ability worthwhile to use in pure
Single Target but does present a nice boost to our AoE burst window. |
Enfeeble |
- |
Gives your primary ghoul a chance to apply a debuff to its
target, reducing its movement speed by 30% and making it deal 15% less damage to
you. |
Coldthirst |
- |
Grants you 10 Runic power and reduces the cooldown
of Mind Freeze whenever you successfully interrupt using the ability. A
nice additional to our resource generation, as well as providing overall more
interrupt
opportunities in any situation. |
Proliferating Chill |
PC |
Increases the number of targets hit by your
Chains of Ice from 1 to 2. It only affects additional enemies in close
proximity
of your primary target. |
Permafrost |
- |
Provides a shield on yourself based on 40% of your
auto attack damage. Provides a good deal of tankiness, both from passive
healing but also as prevention to one-shot mechanics. |
Veteran of the Third War |
VoTW/ Veteran |
Increases your stamina by 20%, making you
significantly tankier overall. |
Brittle |
- |
Grants your diseases a chance to apply a debuff to your
enemy, increasing the damage you do against them by 6% for 5 seconds. |
Death's Reach |
- |
Increases the range of Death Grip by 10 yards
and resets its cooldown whenever you kill an enemy granting experience or honor.
Useful in any situation where you need to grip adds as the extra range both
helps
with the distance, you can move them, as well as lowering how far you need to
run
yourself. The cooldown reset is mostly useful during leveling, as you need to
land the killing blow to gain the effect. |
Icy Talons |
IT |
Provides a 6% increase in attack speed for 6 seconds
every time we spend Runic Power, stacking up to 3 times. Provides a nice increase
in our Sudden Doom proc rate. |
Unholy Bond |
- |
Increases the effectiveness of our Runeforges by 20%.
This includes every aspect of the Runeforge, making
Rune of the Fallen Crusader
both increase its healing and strength gain, for instance. |
Ice Prison |
- |
Chains of Ice now also roots enemies for 4 sec, but its cooldown
is increased to 12 sec. |
Gloom Ward |
GW |
Increases the effectiveness of all absorbs on you by 15%.
Big survivability increases both from empowering our abilities, such as
Anti-Magic Shell and Anti-Magic Zone, as well as any healing coming
in the form of absorbs. Especially good with Disc Priests! |
Assimilation |
- |
Increases the amount absorbed by Anti-Magic Zone
by 10%, and its cooldown is reduced by 30 seconds. |
Grip of the Dead |
- |
Adds a 90% slow to your Death and Decay/ Defile, reducing
by 10% for every second. A great tool to help your tank kite and manage any
trash pack. It also helps to prevent targets from running away from you as you begin your
AoE burst, something that can otherwise be very frustrating. |
Suppression |
- |
Passively increases your Avoidance by 3%. This is increased to 9%
for 6 seconds when you suffer a loss of control effect. |
Blood Scent |
- |
Passively increases your Leech by 3%. |
Unholy Endurance |
- |
Converts your Lichborne into a proper
defensive cooldown, granting it 2 extra seconds of duration as well as a 15%
damage reduction for you. Adds to our already extensive kit of defensives! |
Osmosis |
- |
Your Anti-Magic Shell also increases healing received by 15%. |
Insidious Chill |
- |
Applies a stacking debuff with your auto attacks,
reducing the enemy's attack speed by 5% per stack up to 20% at 4 stacks. Helps
your tanks survive in a scenario (or yourself when doing open-world content).
Stacks with similar effects, such as Curse of Weakness. |
Runic Protection |
- |
Reduces your chance to be critically struck by 3% and increases your armor
by 6%. Small defensive boost. |
Blood Draw |
BD |
Heals you for a moderate amount if you drop below 30%
health. It can only occur once every 2 minutes. Also reduces damage taken by 10%
and Runic Power cost of Death Strike by 10 for 8 seconds after it triggers. |
Rune Mastery |
- |
Makes spending Runes give a chance to increase our
strength by 3/6% for 8 seconds. |
Subduing Grasp |
- |
When you pull an enemy (with Death Grip or Abomination Limb),
they deal 6% less damage to you for 6 seconds. Makes Death Grip a small
defensive Cooldown against bosses. |
Will of the Necropolis |
WotN |
Reduces the damage you take below 30% by
20/35%. It is a big boost to our survivability since the damage we take below 30%
is by far the most useful to mitigate. Effectively increases max HP by 16%
against one-shots. |
Null Magic |
- |
Reduces Magic damage taken by 10% and harmful debuff duration by 35%. A really
nice defensive boost against magic damage. |
Unyielding Will |
- |
Increase the cooldown of Anti-Magic Shell by 20 seconds but makes it
remove all negative debuffs on you when used. It can be incredibly powerful when dealing
with various raid mechanics. |
Death's Echo |
DE |
Provides an extra charge to Death's Advance,
Death and Decay and Death Grip. Nice increase in utility with the
the extra mobility and the additional grip. Also, a solid buff in AoE since we have
more freedom to enter multiple Death and Decay burst windows in any given
pull. |
Vestigial Shell |
- |
Anti-Magic Shell also applies two shields to nearby allies. These shields
absorb some Magic Damage (10% of your own AMS) and reduces the duration of Magic
effects by 50%. Nice defensive boost to your party, especially in Mythic+. |
Ability |
Abbreviation |
Description/Effect |
Festering Wound |
FW |
A debuff applied by Festering Strike
primarily. It can stack up to 6 on any given target. The
Festering Wounds
can be burst using Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows,
dealing shadow damage to the target. Can be talented in dealing AoE damage
as well with Bursting Sores. The wounds also burst on death. |
Sudden Doom |
SD |
Grants your auto-attacks a chance to make your next
Death Coil or Epidemic to cost 10 less Runic Power and critically
strike. Furthermore, Death Coil bursts a Festering Wound when
consuming a proc of Sudden Doom. The proc is based on a bad-luck-protection
system where each auto attack that doesn't generate a proc linearly increases
the probability of the next to proc. |
Foul Infections |
- |
Increases your Disease damage by 10% and their chance to critically strike
by 5%. |
Improved Festering Strike |
- |
Increases the damage of both our Festering Strike
as well as our Festering Wounds. Only increases the primary portion of
our Festering Wound damage, not the potential AoE portion we get from
Bursting Sores. |
Rune Mastery |
- |
Increases our maximum Runic Power by 10/20. |
Eternal Agony |
EA |
Increases the duration of Dark Transformation by
1 second every time you cast Death Coil or Epidemic.
Significantly
increases the uptime of Dark Transformation and heightens the priority
of spending Runic Power when the buff is active. |
Unholy Blight |
UB/Blight |
Applies Virulent Plague and Unholy Blight
to targets near your main pet each second over 6 seconds when you press Dark Transformation.
Unholy Blight lasts for 14 seconds
and stacks up to 4 times, dealing increased damage with each stack. This makes
Dark Transformation an even better Cooldown, conveniently applying DoTs
to all targets around our pet when we press DT! |
Festering Scythe |
Scythe |
Every 20 Festering Wounds you burst empowers your next Festering Strike
to become Festering Scythe for 12 seconds. Scythe deals Shadow damage to
targets in front of you and infects each one with 2-3 Festering Wounds.
It's very much like an AoE Festering Strike that generates a significant amount
of Wounds on your targets. |
Plaguebringer |
PB |
Makes Scourge Strike increase the rate at which
our diseases deal damage by 100% for 5 seconds. This acts as a buff on us,
meaning
all targets currently affected by disease will take more damage, regardless of
whether or not we hit them with the Scourge Strike. |
Clawing Shadows |
CS |
Replaces your Scourge Strike, increasing its range by 30 yards
and making it deal shadow damage. It can be leveraged with
Death and Decay
to cleave from range (since the cleave hits everything around your target,
not your character). |
Reaping |
- |
Increases the damage of Scourge Strike, Clawing Shadows,
Soul Reaper, Festering Strike and Death Coil by 30% on
any target below 35% health. An extra execute mechanic that brings a significant
amount of useful damage. Being good at execute is pretty much always a good
thing, since the last 35% of any boss fight is the most important! |
All Will Serve |
AWS |
Summons an archer with your Raise Dead ability.
This small minion attacks your enemies at range with a cleave attack. Dealing
100%
damage to its primary target and 50% damage to everything else in an 8-yard
radius. |
Ebon Fever |
EF |
Reduces the duration of Virulent Plague by half,
makes it tick twice as fast and deal 12% more damage. This is an overall 124%
increase in the raw DPS from the DoT but with lots more Runes being spent to
keep it up. |
Bursting Sores |
BS |
Makes your Festering Wounds deal AoE
damage when burst. This is a large portion of our damage in Mythic+, as the
ability scales quadratically with the number of enemies. Any target that dies
with Festering Wounds will also explode, dealing the splash damage from
every wound. |
Ghoulish Frenzy |
GF |
Provides a 6% attack speed and damage boost
to you and your primary pet whenever you use Dark Transformation. The
duration
of this buff lasts for as long as Dark Transformation is up, synergizing
well
with Eternal Agony. Only the damage that originates from you and your
main pet
is buffed, not that from any of your other minions. |
Magus of the Dead |
Magus |
Spawns a skeletal mage whenever you use Apocalypse
and Army of the Dead. This minion casts Shadowbolts and Frostbolts at your
target for 20 seconds. The Frostbolts slow the target. |
Improved Death Coil |
- |
Increases the damage of Death Coil by 15%
and makes it cleave to one additional target. Significantly buffs our cleave
potential at 2 targets. It does not count as two
Death Coils for buffing Summon Gargoyle, but does apply multiple debuffs with
Death Rot, Coil of Devastation and Rotten Touch. |
Harbinger of Doom |
Harbinger |
Makes your Sudden Doom trigger 30% more often
and adds the ability to accumulate 2 charges. Also increases the damage of your
Death Coil by 20% or Epidemic by 10% when they consume the proc.
Good synergy with other talents such as Doomed Bidding that work off SD
procs. |
Unholy Pact |
Pact |
Makes our Dark Transformation form a chain between
you and your primary ghoul for 15 seconds. This deals shadow damage to everyone
nearby. The chain only lasts for 15 seconds, regardless of your actual
Dark Transformation
duration. The AoE of the chain is very forgiving, hitting everything 8 yards
around you, your pet, as well as any point on the chain between you two. |
Pestilence |
- |
Gives your Death and Decay a 10% chance to generate
a Festering Wound every time it ticks. It gives you 1.1 Wounds per target
per use on average. |
Infected Claws |
IC |
Gives our primary ghoul's Claws attack a 30%
chance of applying a Festering Wound. This also works on the
Dark Transformation
empowered version Sweeping Claws, which is an AoE ability. Each target
hit
will have an individual chance of receiving a Festering Wound. This is
a major source of Festering Wound application in AoE scenarios. |
Menacing Magus |
- |
Your Magus of the Dead now cleaves on a total of 4 targets. Really
good cleave talent! |
Coil of Devastation |
- |
Adds a DoT to any target hit with your Death Coil,
dealing an additional 30% of its original damage. This DoT functions similarly
to
Mastery: Ignite where overlapping the DoT does not in any way decrease
the total
damage you gain from it. This is not something you need to track. |
Rotten Touch |
RT |
Increases the damage of your Scourge Strike/
Clawing Shadows by 50% against your target when you consume a proc of
Sudden Doom with Death Coil. Good synergy with Harbinger of Doom
which leads to 90%+ uptime on the debuff. |
Ruptured Viscera |
- |
Makes your minions from Apocalypse and
Army of the Dead explode when they expire, dealing damage to nearby
enemies. Generally, it is a difficult talent to leverage since you need to time its
damage 15-30 seconds in advance. |
Death Rot |
- |
Applies a debuff to any target hit by Death Coil
and Epidemic, increasing the shadow damage you do against them by 1%
for 10 seconds, stacking up to 10 times. Stacks twice if a proc of
Sudden Doom
is consumed. Relatively easy to keep up and a significant boost to our damage.
Makes
Epidemic is very useful in AoE scenarios since the debuff can be
applied
easily to all targets. |
Doomed Bidding |
- |
Consuming Sudden Doom summons a Magus of the Dead for 8 seconds.
Adds even more value to Sudden Doom and gives a really good feeling when
consuming the procs. |
Morbidity |
Morb |
Increases the damage your enemies take from you by 1/2%
for every disease you have active on them. Synergizes well with
Unholy Blight
and Superstrain that will provide an overall 4/8% damage buff whenever
they are all active. |
Festermight |
FM |
Increases your strength by 1% for 20 seconds every time
you consume a Festering Wound, stacking up to 20 times. Each individual
stack you generate will have its own 20-second duration. Really powerful in AoE
with large numbers of Festering Wounds being generated and popped. Also
brings value to Apocalypse to buff other Cooldowns. |
Decomposition |
- |
Virulent Plague sometimes flares up, dealing 50% of the damage it
dealt to the target over the last 4 seconds. This effect also increases the
duration of your active minions by 1 second, up to 3 seconds. Good synergy
with our diseases, but unfortunately, in a spot in the tree that makes it hard to pick up. |
Unholy Aura |
- |
Increases the damage your nearby enemies take from your minions
by 10/20%. Works in an 8-yard radius around you. Important to track on bosses
as some of them have hitboxes that do not work well with this talent. You sometimes
need to stand much closer to the boss than you might think for this to work. |
Superstrain |
- |
Makes Outbreak and Unholy Blight also
apply Frost Fever and Blood Plague at 80% effectiveness. They
deal 80% of their full damage, as well as granting 80% of the Runic Power and
80% of the healing effect. |
Commander of the Dead |
- |
Increases your Apocalypse, Army of the Dead
and Summon Gargoyle damage by 35% for 30 seconds when you use
Dark Transformation. The minions do not need to be active when
you use Dark Transformation and can gain the buff if summoned later. |
Ability |
Abbreviation |
Description/Effect |
Rider's Champion |
|
Spending Runes have a chance to summon a Horsemen for 10 seconds.
Randomly gets one out of four Horsemen:
- Mograine - Casts Death and Decay that follows his location around.
Provides the benefit from Cleaving Strikes once you pick up Mograine's Might.
- Whitemane - Casts Undeath on your enemy, a stacking DoT that can also
spread to nearby enemies, similar to Necrotic Plague of old times.
- Trollbane - Casts Chains of Ice on your target, slowing their movement
speed and increasing the damage you deal to them. Trollbane's Icy Fury
allows you to burst the chains, dealing heavy AoE damage.
- Nazgrim - Increases your strength by 3% when active. Nazgrim's Conquest
can significantly increase this benefit.
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On a Paler Horse |
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While outdoors, you are able to mount your Acherus Deathcharger in combat.
Huge increase to the speed at which you can quest in outdoor content. Unfortunately
does not worked in instanced content such as Raids, Dungeons, Battlegrounds and
Arenas.
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Death Charge |
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Replaces your Death's Advance, increasing the movement speed you gain
to 100% and mounting you for its duration. Breaks you free of any movement impairment effects when used. Furthermore,
allows you to keep fighting while on the mount. Immune to knockbacks when in effect.
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Whitemane's Famine |
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When Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows damages a target affected by Undeath it gains 1 stack
and infects another nearby enemy. Allows for you to quickly stack and spread the
debuff in conjunction with Cleaving Strikes.
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Hungering Thirst |
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The damage of your diseases and Death Coil are increased by 10%.
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Mograine's Might |
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Your damage is increased by 5% and you gain the benefits of your Death and Decay
while inside Mograines Death and Decay. Importantly, the 5% damage increase only
comes from Mograine's Death and Decay, not your own!
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Nazgrim's Conquest |
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Apocalyptic Conquest strength is increased by 3% every time an enemy dies.
Furthermore, each Rune you spend increases the Strength by 1%. Very powerful
for packs of mobs where weaker ones die quickly and early.
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Fury of the Horsemen |
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Every 50 Runic Power you spend extends the duration of the Horsemen
currently aiding you by 1 second, up to a maximum of 5 seconds. Solid way of
improving overall uptime of the Horsemen!
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A Feast of Souls |
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While you have 2 or more Horsemen aiding you, Runic Power spending abilities
deal 20% increased damage. Good synergy with Apocalypse Now but also have
good uptime outside of our main cooldown windows.
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Horsemen's Aid |
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When active, your Horsemen will occasionally cast Anti-Magic Shell
on you at 80% effectiveness. Great for extra Magic immunity and absorb.
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Pact of the Apocalypse |
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When you take damage, 5% is redirected to each active Horseman. Solid
passive damage reduction that increases significantly during your cooldowns.
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Trollbane's Icy Fury |
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Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows shatters the Chains of Ice cast by Trollbane,
dealing damage to all nearby enemies and slowing them.
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Mawsworn Menace |
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Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows deals 15% more damage and the cooldown of your Death and Decay
is reduced by 10 seconds (from 30 to 20). Provides the option of leveraging your
Death and Decay windows significantly more often. Reduces the cooldown
of Defile by 5 seconds.
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Apocalypse Now |
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Army of the Dead calls upon all 4 Horsemen to aid you for 20 seconds.
Great synergy with Raise Abomination since you then gain the burst every 90
seconds!
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Ability |
Abbreviation |
Description/Effect |
Vampiric Strike |
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Your Death Coil, Epidemic and Death Strike has
a 10% chance to make your next Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows
turn into Vampiric Strike. Vampiric Strike heals you for 2% of your maximum health
and grants you Essence of the Blood Queen, increasing you Haste by 1%, up
to 5% for 20 sec. This ability is primarily used during your Dark Transformation
window with the Gift of the San'layn talent, you can read about it further down!
Significantly changes our priority during these windows, and introduces a fishing
game where you try and extend your Gift of the San'layn buff between Dark
Transformation windows.
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Newly Turned |
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Raise Ally revives players at full health and grants you and your ally
an absorb shield equal to 20% of your maximum health. Significantly improves
Raise Ally which otherwise resses people at 60% health.
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Vampiric Speed |
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Death's Advance and Wraith Walk movement speed bonuses are
increased by 10%. Activating these abilities also increases 4 nearby allies
movement speed by 20% for 5 sec. Useful group utility that helps your group
movement.
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Infliction of Sorrow |
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Vampiric Strike extends the duration of your Virulent Plague
by 3 seconds, and deals 10% of the remaining damage to the enemy. After
Gift of the San'layn ends (after your Dark Transformation), your next
Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows consumes your Virulent Plague,
dealing 100% of the remaining damage to the enemy. This ability makes it incredibly
worthwhile to spam Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows during your
Dark Transformation. You increase the duration of your DoT, making the "10%
of remaining damage" add a significant chunk to each press. Furthermore, you
get a huge explosion after the window ends as you burst your DoT.
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Visceral Strength |
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When Sudden Doom is consumed, you gain 6% Strength for 5 seconds.
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Blood-Soaked Ground |
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While you are in your Death and Decay, your physical damage taken
is reduced by 5% and your chance to gain Vampiric Strike is increased by 5%.
Makes it worthwhile to use Death and Decay inbetween your Dark Transformation
to increase the chance of getting the Vampiric Strike buff and extend your
Essence of the Blood Queen buff.
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Frenzied Bloodthirst |
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Essence of the Blood Queen stacks 2 additional times (up to 7)
and increases the damage of your Death Coil and Death Strike
by 3% per stack. Has an impact on your Death Coil vs Epidemic
priority in AoE as it increases the value of Death Coil significantly (21%) at
max stacks.
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Incite Terror |
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Vampiric Strike and Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows
cause your targets to take 1% increased Shadow damage, up to 5% for 15 sec.
Vampiric Strike benefits from Incite Terror at 400% effectiveness.
A maintenance buff that is generally kept up by us doing the normal rotation.
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Vampiric Aura |
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Your leech is increased by 2%. While Lichborne is active, the Leech bonus
of this effect is increased by 100%, and it affects 4 allies within 12 yards.
Minor defensive buff as well as some group utility.
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Bloody Fortitude |
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Icebound Fortitude reduces all damage you take by an additional 20%
based on your missing health. Killing an enemy that yields experience or honor
reduces the cooldown of Icebound Fortitude by 3 seconds. Solid defensive boost
that is especially powerful during leveling.
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The Blood is Life |
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Vampiric Strike has a chance to summon a Blood Beast
to attack your enemy for 10 seconds. Every time it attacks, it stores
a portion of the damage dealt, exploding for 25% of the stored damage when it despawns.
This also heals you for the same amount.
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Pact of the San'layn |
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You store 50% of all Shadow Damage into your Blood Beast when it is active,
exploding for additional damage when it despawns. A huge increase in our DPS
when this aligns with our Cooldowns!
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Sanguine Scent |
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Your Death Coil, Epidemic and Death Strike
have a 15% increased chance to trigger Vampiric Strike when damaing
enemies below 35% health. Increases our execute as it makes maintaining Essence of the Blood Queen
significantly easier when the target is at low health.
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Gift of the San'layn |
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During Dark Transformation you gain Gift of the San'layn.
This increases the effectiveness of Essence of the Blood Queen by 100%, giving
you significantly more Haste. Furthermore, your Scourge Strike/ Clawing Shadows
is replaced by Vampiric Strike for the duration. Significant synergy with
Infliction of Sorrow as it allows you to stack up a huge Virulent Plague
duration, gaining a ton of extra damage from Infliction of Sorrow.
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