Flavor

A Death Knight is often described as a Rogue in plate armor due to their use of runic energy and their damage dealing ability. They are also compared to druids for their ability to tank without a shield, and of course to Warriors and Paladins for their ability to do damage or tank. However, there really is no other class that plays even remotely close to the way a Death Knight plays, they are truly unique unto themselves.

Death Knights can use any type of armor in the game, however they will wear plate armor in almost all situations. Death Knights can also use almost any weapon in the game, as they can become proficient with one and two-handed swords, axes, and maces as well as polearms. Check out our WoW database to search for some of these weapons

The class may attract many different types of players.They can attract players that are looking for a strong melee class in plate but don’t want to play a Paladin or Warrior; they can be the choice for players that want to play a bad-guy type class, and players that want a challenge. Often, many players mistakenly choose to play Death Knights because they view them as an easy-to-play and over-powered class. While many players do this, they quickly find out that the class is a lot more balanced than they appear at first. In fact, due to a heavy reliance on managing their various forms of energy and cooldowns, they are an extremely complicated class to play to their full potential. 

As with any other class, the way a Death Knight plays out depends heavily on which of their three talent trees is focused on by the player. Their three talent trees are Blood, Frost, and Unholy. Blood improves a Death Knight’s melee and damage abilities and upgrades their ability to heal themselves. Frost works to improve a Death Knight’s tanking ability and improves their single target damage as well. Unholy focuses on increasing a Death Knight’s damage over time disease effects, as well as providing some Area of Effect abilities.

Death Knight Strengths

• Starts at level 55 with a full set of gear and can earn a complete rare (blue) set of gear by the time they are 57. 
• Level extremely fast through the first Death Knight zone and quest chain and are re-leased into the Outlands where they continue to level quickly until the mid-sixties.
• Very self reliant when soloing through Blood abilities that heal themselves as they deal damage.
• Runes and Runic energy recharge quickly, meaning that you can adventure almost non-stop.
• Death Knights are the best tank in the game when fighting casters with various spell-damage reduction and avoidance abilities.
• Can switch between tanking and damage dealing very easily, and can do both decently in a single talent build.

Death Knight Weaknesses

• In much the same way as Druids tank without a shield, so do Death Knights. This makes them take damage in a more erratic manner than Warriors or Paladins as they are subject to occasional strings of large unmitigated hits.
• Death Knights are a very complicated class to play well. One must manage runes, runic power and cooldowns to play them well and stay alive. When they have none of these left they are as good as dead.

Defining Spells and Abilities

Death Knights have many great abilities that separate them from other classes and make them a desirable class in the end-game. One of the abilities that fascinates players is one of the first Death Knight abilities, Death Grip. This is just one of their many abilities aimed against casters, as it allows them to pull an enemy from up to 30 yards away into melee range with them. 

Another great ability of the class is Army of the Dead, which allows them to summon a legion of ghouls to attack everything in the area. While on a long cooldown, it does allow for a big damage boost when fighting through an instance or raid boss. There is just something about watching an enemy being swarmed by ghouls that warms a Death Knight's cold heart. In situations where only a little additional help is required they can also raise a single corpse as a ghoul to assist in a fight.