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Blood Death Knight Tank Starter Guide - Shadowlands 9.2.5
By Mandl
Last Updated:
2022/11/28
Changelog
Patch: 10.2.0
Table of Contents
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Guide Navigation
Rating: 4.4/5
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Welcome to our Blood Death Knight starter guide, which covers everything you need to start playing a new character in Shadowlands. While our other guide pages go into more individual detail, this simple starter guide covers all the basics in one place, whether you're a new Blood Death Knight, a returning player to Shadowlands, hardcore, or casual alike, it's the best place to get a beginners overview on the class. Included are basic talent builds, simplified rotations, stats, legendary recommendations, and more to get you started as quickly as possible.
Please keep in mind that this page is meant to get players started quickly as an introduction, and does not contain much in the way of detailed explanations, mechanics, competitive options, gearing, simulation comparisons, or nuance. For more in-depth information, including all those optimizations and more, check out the complete Blood Death Knight Guide pages linked in the navigation on the left-hand side of the page, and if you're leveling up in Shadowlands, you can take a look at our
leveling tips
.
S3 Season 3
S3 Cheat Sheet
S3 Mythic+
S3 Raid Tips
S3 Talent Builds
S3 Rotation
S3 Support Buffs
S3 Gear
S3 Tier Set Bonus
Overview
Abilities & Talents
Advanced Concepts
Stats
Consumables
Macros & Addons
WeakAuras
Common Terms
Mythic+
Common Questions
Leveling
Simulations
Hotfixes
PvP Overview
PvP Builds
Mage Tower
About the Authors
This guide has been written by Panthea, who raids in
Catalyst
(Tarren Mill-EU) and Mandl (Mandl#0001 on Discord). They are both tank multiclassers and Useful Minions for the
Acherus Death Knight community
, where they answer questions regarding death knights and discuss class and encounter strategies.
Best Blood Death Knight Covenant
All four of the covenants are viable as Blood, and provide different tools to fulfill your role. The differences are largely seen on the top-end of content types, where the
full
toolkit provided by a covenant choice is often put to the test.
That said, Kyrian edges out for Raiding generally, with Necrolord being situationally excellent for the utility it provides. Night Fae is also good in all content, but is mechanically and rotationally punishing to the player. Due to the rotational and mechanical cost of managing
Death's Due
stacks properly, we'd recommend exercising caution around this choice.
Even though some covenants may not be displayed in these tables,
all of them are within player error margin of each other
. Typically, for instance, even though Night Fae is better on simulations, it is not by enough to justify defaulting to it and the assumptions of massively superior knowledge of Blood Death Knight and encounter constraints make it a choice that may not be for everyone.
Best Blood Death Knight Covenants and Soulbinds for Raid
Single Legendary
Double Legendary
Kyrian
Mikanikos
Kyrian
Mikanikos
Night Fae
Niya
Night Fae
Niya
Necrolord *
Heirmir
Necrolord *
Heirmir
Necrolord is denoted with an * as it is
overall
weaker than the other covenants, but
invaluable
for the
Anduin Wrynn
encounter. Aiding Anduin in a gauntlet with grippable mobs that need to be kept away from the center of the room grants the raid
Force of Will
, which, if done well, is a
200%
damage increase for the entire raid and
90%
damage reduction. It is literally
the
covenant you have to level for this raid, purely because of this fight.
For Mythic+ specifically,
all four covenants are once again viable
and you can expect them all in top key leaderboards. If you are doing a certain dungeon,
unlocking its dungeon covenant bonus trumps personal preference or simulations
! (Particularly the Necrolord Plaguefall and Theater of Pain bonuses. There is nothing quite like 3 30% haste buffs stacking multiplicatively with one another)
We strongly recommend Kyrian or Necrolord for new Blood Death Knights. The point-and-shoot behavior of both covenant abilities, the well-rounded nature of both the abilities, soulbinds and conduits, and their relative ease of use make both very appealing choices. Kyrian also happens to be the strongest covenant in Mythic+ along with being one of the simplest options to manage.
That said, Night Fae can situationally shine with proper play and encounters that lend themselves to the tools it offers. For players looking for a rotational challenge, this is also a competitive option.
Best Blood Death Knight Covenants and Soulbinds for Raid
Single Legendary
Double Legendary
Kyrian
Mikanikos
Kyrian
Mikanikos
Night Fae
Niya
Night Fae
Niya
Necrolord
Marileth
Necrolord
Marileth
Strengths & Weaknesses in More Detail
Each and every covenant for blood death knight works differently, and in a lot of cases, the toolkit they provide will be what makes or breaks your choice. We decided to highlight, in detail, the things you should be aware of about each covenant below:
Best Raid Covenants
Covenants
Rating
Best Soulbind
Primary Strength
Weakness
Kyrian
Excellent
Mikanikos
Single-target damage,
Phial of Serenity
No real interaction beyond one cleanse per pull
Necrolord
Great
Emeni
Some indirect RP from not having to spend runes on
Marrowrend
, group buffs from Emeni, and grips!
Lower damage
Night Fae
Good
Niya
Lots and lots of damage reduction and mastery
Weak on fights with unplanned movement or heavy movement
Venthyr
Great
Theotar
Potentially the highest EHP choice out of the four; a teleport
Swarming Mist
is lackluster on low target counts
Best Mythic+ Covenants
Covenants
Rating
Best Soulbind
Dungeons
Weakness
Kyrian
Good
Mikanikos
The Necrotic Wake
Spires of Ascension
Shackle the Unworthy
feels unrewarding compared to other options
Necrolord
Great
Emeni
Plaguefall
Theater of Pain
Abomination Limb
forces you to adopt a 2min "big pull" tempo
Night Fae
Good
Niya
De Other Side
Mists of Tirna Scithe
No upfront burst compared to the other 3 covenants; highly rotationally dependent and kiting interferes with this even further.
Venthyr
Low Keys
: Great
High Keys
: Excellent
Theotar
Halls of Atonement
Sanguine Depths
No downside
Best Blood Death Knight Covenant
Kyrian Blood Death Knight GuideNecrolord Blood Death Knight Guide
Night Fae Blood Death Knight GuideVenthyr Blood Death Knight Guide
Best Blood Death Knight Legendaries
Best Single Legendaries for Blood Death Knights
Raid Legendary
:
Crimson Rune Weapon
Mythic+ Legendary
:
Crimson Rune Weapon
Best Double Legendaries for Blood Death Knights
Raid Legendaries
:
Crimson Rune Weapon
and
Rampant Transference
/
Abomination's Frenzy
/
Final Sentence
Mythic+ Legendaries
:
Crimson Rune Weapon
and
Rampant Transference
/
Abomination's Frenzy
/
Final Sentence
For Mythic+ specifically with no set pieces, and for all content once you have unlocked your 2-piece set bonus, we recommend
Crimson Rune Weapon
. The ability to have
Dancing Rune Weapon
on 70-80% uptime is a fantastic addition to the kit, both defensively and offensively. It simplifies Mythic+, it provides a ton of throughput, and the set bonus's strength and duration extension double whammies on top of its already strong power as a cooldown reduction tool. You even get a ton of rune regeneration rate between
Dancing Rune Weapon
!
Some of the other options available to us may be situationally niche, and we've made sure to list them in the legendary guide. Should you be unsure of how to craft those legendaries, our crafting guide should be able to help you there, too!
Blood Death Knight Legendaries Guide
Best Blood Death Knight Talents
The Blood Death Knight talent tree offers very little meaningful choice for general play, and particularly while levelling, with one exception: the first row. Here, if you're raiding, you will default to
Blooddrinker
for the increased single-target damage, whilst in other scenarios, you'll pick
Heartbreaker
instead, in order to benefit from the increased number of targets present.
Wev'e listed here the builds you will be using before and after you unlock your 2-piece set bonus:
As usual, our Blood Death Knight Talent Guide covers all the choices in depth, including meaningful information about why the default choices are the way they are, in addition to providing additional build variations for certain types of content (such as higher Mythic+ keys).
Blood Death Knight Talents Guide
Blood Death Knight Stat Priority
Blood Death Knights, and all tanks in general, prioritize
Item Level
over secondary stats. This is because, in addition to Strength, most gear pieces provide a significant amount of Stamina and Armor, both of which are very valuable defensively. In addition to this, all our secondaries are close enough offensively and defensively to not have to make difficult choices outside of
very
niche scenarios. As usual, you can find our more information on our Stats guide, or get an overview of what notable gear pieces are available to you in dungeons and raids on the Gear guide.
As such, our recommendation for generic play would be the following:
No set:
Item Level
>>>>> Versatility >= Haste = Crit = Mastery
2-piece set bonus:
Item Level
>>>>> Haste > Crit >= Versatility = Mastery
Strength
: Increases all damage done by native class spells, abilities, and auto attacks. Also provides additional armor through
Bone Shield
, and a small amount of Parry. Valuable offensively, and defensively vs. physical damage (95-99% of the damage in Shadowlands outside of special abilities is physical)
Haste
: Compresses the rotation by reducing the GCD and how quickly your runes recharge, thus providing a small amount of additional Runic Power for every additional
fully charged
rune this increase provides. This will typically be small, and as a result, typically a small but non-zero offensive and defensive gain. We gain 10% more of this stat from all sources through
Bone Shield
. With our 4-piece set bonus, the more haste you have, the more value you gain out of each global cooldown spent on
Heart Strike
!
Critical Strike
: Increases damage done by abilities, auto attacks, and trinkets, and provides Parry through
Riposte
. Great offensively, decent defensively against parryable incoming damage.
Mastery (
Mastery: Blood Shield
)
: Increases your Attack Power, and increases the size of the absorption shield you gain whenever you use
Death Strike
.
Versatility
: Increases damage done and reduces damage taken by half the amount.
Blood Death Knight Stats Guide
Blood Death Knight Enchants and Consumables
Shadowlands provides a relatively larger number of enchant types. We've listed the optimal ones below:
Slot
Enchant
Cloak
Soul Vitality
or
Fortified Leech
Chest
Eternal Skirmish
(DPS)
Eternal Stats
(general throughput)
Bracers
Shaded Hearthing
(Optional)
Gloves
Eternal Strength
Boots
Soul Treads
Rings
Tenet of Versatility
Weapon
Rune of the Fallen Crusader
Blood Death Knight Enchants and Consumables Guide
Best Blood Death Knight Rotation
This Blood Death Knight rotation uses the talent build listed above to outline a basic priority, balancing offense and defense. For the full rotation including talent variations, you can consult the Blood Death Knight Rotation Guide.
Marrowrend
if your
Bone Shield
is about to expire, or is missing.
Death Strike
if your health is low, or if your next ability would cause you to overcap Runic Power.
Blood Boil
if you have 2 charges, or if any enemies in range are not affected by
Blood Plague
.
Marrowrend
if you have 7 or fewer stacks of
Bone Shield
.
Heart Strike
if you have 2 or more runes.
Death and Decay
if you have a
Crimson Scourge
proc available.
Blood Boil
.
Blood Death Knight Rotation Guide
Back to Top
Our Blood Death Knight guides are always updated with the latest information from in-game experience, simulations, and logs; make sure to check our changelog to this page, by clicking on
View Changelog
at the top of the page. If you are interested in more in-depth Blood Death Knight guides for , make sure to browse the
Navigation Bar
below, and our list of
Related Guides
just beneath the
Table of Contents
.
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