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Frost Death Knight DPS Starter Guide - Shadowlands 9.2.5
By Bicepspump
Last Updated:
2022/11/28
Changelog
Patch: 10.1.7
Table of Contents
Rating: 4.6/5
(
8
Votes)
Guide Navigation
Rating: 4.6/5
(
8
Votes)
Welcome to our Frost 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 Frost 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 Frost 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
.
10.1.7 Season 2
10.1.7 Cheat Sheet
10.1.7 Primordial Stones
10.1.7 Mythic+
10.1.7 Raid Tips
10.1.7 Talent Builds
10.1.7 Rotation
10.1.7 Support Buffs
10.1.7 Gear
10.1.7 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 Author
I'm Bicepspump, a semi-hardcore player currently playing in Pescorus on Kazzak. You can often find me on the
Death Knight discord
discussing rotations and builds, on my stream (
B1cepspump
), running some juicy Mythic +, or on my
youtube channel
where I do video guides. Big shoutout to everyone on the Acherus discord that have given me valuable insight through numerous discussions. I take part in writing and optimizing the action priority list for SimulationCraft and continuously test different hypotheses using the SimulationCraft program. Please feel free to contact me on Discord as Bicepspump#6318, I'm always happy to have a healthy discussion! Outside of playing WoW, I work as a quant and enjoy playing other games such as Dota 2!
Best Covenants for Frost Death Knights
Best Covenants for Frost Death Knights
Best Frost Death Knights Covenants and Soulbinds for Raid
Single Legendary
Double Legendary
Necrolord
Marileth
Necrolord
Marileth
Best Frost Death Knight Covenants and Soulbinds for Mythic+
Single Legendary
Double Legendary
Necrolord
Marileth
Night Fae
Dreamweaver
Best Frost Death Knight Covenant
Kyrian Frost Death Knight GuideNecrolord Frost Death KnightGuide
Night Fae Frost Death Knight GuideVenthyr Frost Death Knight Guide
Best Frost Death Knight Legendaries
Best Single Legendaries
Raid Legendary
:
Koltira's Favor
for
Obliteration
,
Rage of the Frozen Champion
for
Breath of Sindragosa
Mythic+ Legendary
:
Biting Cold
Best Double Legendaries
Raid Legendaries
:
Koltira's Favor
+
Rampant Transference
for 2H
Obliteration
Phearomones
+
Rampant Transference
for DW
Obliteration
Biting Cold
+
Abomination's Frenzy
for
Breath of Sindragosa
Mythic+ Legendaries
:
Biting Cold
+
Rampant Transference
When it comes to upgrade order, it depends heavily on the content that you're focusing on and the build you want to play. Take a look at our legendary guide to learn more about the legendaries available to Frost Death Knights, or our crafting guide to find all the materials you need to craft them.
Frost Death Knight Legendaries Guide
Best Frost Death Knight Talents
The talents a Frost Death Knight chooses depends heavily on weapon choice. Below are solid builds that work well with dual-wielding as well as 2-handed gameplay.
Frost Death Knight Talents Guide
Frost Death Knight Stat Priority
Unlike previous expansions, primary stats such as Strength are much more important than they used to be, and secondary stats are close enough together that item level is usually more important factor when it comes to choosing gear. You can find out more about how stats work in the full Frost Death Knight Gear and Stat Priority guides.
Strength >> Mastery > Crit = Haste > Vers
Strength
: Increases all damage done by native class spells, abilities, and auto attacks. Previously one of the weakest stats, but now much more impactful, making raw item level much more important again.
Haste
: Compresses the rotation by reducing both the GCD as well as increasing the proc rate of most spells and trinkets.
Critical Strike
: Increases damage done by abilities, auto attacks, and trinkets. Also increases the proc rate of
Killing Machine
through the increased rate of critical hit autos.
Mastery
: Increases the frost damage you do. Importantly, this is only spells and abilities specific to the frost death knight, not trinkets or potions or other sources of potential frost damage.
Versatility
: Increases damage done and reduces damage taken by half the amount. Unlike Mastery, however, it affects all damage done including trinkets, potions, and enchantments.
Frost Death Knight Stats Guide
Frost Death Knight Enchants and Consumables
Frost DK Enchants
Cloak:
Enchant Cloak - Fortified Speed
- Speed is simply too good for a slow DK.
Chest:
Enchant Chest - Eternal Stats
.
Gloves:
Enchant Gloves - Eternal Strength
Rings:
Enchant Ring - Tenet of Mastery
.
Weapon (this choice changes depending on whether or not you have the 4p equipped):
DW Without 4p
-
Razorice
mainhand,
Rune of the Fallen Crusader
offhand in all situations.
DW Breath of Sindragosa with 4p
-
Rune of the Fallen Crusader
mainhand,
Rune of Hysteria
offhand.
DW Obliteration with 4p
-
Rune of the Fallen Crusader
mainhand,
Sinful Revelation
offhand.
2H Without 4p
-
Razorice
for Raids,
Rune of the Fallen Crusader
for Mythic +
2H With 4p
-
Rune of the Fallen Crusader
everywhere.
Levelling
-
Rune of the Fallen Crusader
mainhand,
Rune of Unending Thirst
offhand (if you have one)
Spectral Flask of Power
in all situations.
Potion of Spectral Strength
in all situations
Frost Death Knight Enchants and Consumables Guide
Best Frost Death Knight Rotation
This is a very simplified Frost Death Knight rotation. For the full rotation including talent variations, you can consult the Frost Death Knight Rotation Guide.
Remorseless Winter
.
Howling Blast
if you have a proc of
Rime
.
Obliterate
if you have a proc of
Killing Machine
or you have 4+ Runes ready.
Frost Strike
if you are about to cap Runic Power. (80+ Runic Power)
Obliterate
.
Frost Strike
.
Remorseless Winter
Howling Blast
if you have a proc of
Rime
.
Glacial Advance
if you're about to cap Runic Power (80+). Skip this step if you haven't talented into
Glacial Advance
.
Frostscythe
. Use
Obliterate
if you haven't specced into
Frostscythe
.
Glacial Advance
. Use
Frost Strike
if you haven't specced into
Glacial Advance
.
Frost Death Knight Rotation Guide
Conduits for Frost Death Knights in Shadowlands
S-tier
Everfrost
A-tier
Accelerated Cold
Brutal Grasp
B-tier
Unleashed Frenzy
Frost Death Knight Conduit Guide
Our Frost 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 Frost 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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! Click
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