Blood Death Knight Guide for Midnight Season 2 (Patch 12.1)

You need to understand how parry/block/dodge work in this game. Parry (and block, and dodge) works ONLY in the frontal cone in front of you. The frontal cone is 90 degrees (45 to the left, 45 to the right). This also applies to block and dodge. (BUT — we are talking about BDK, parry is what matters to us.)

You are very wary of mass mob crowd control. Mobs all stunned at once — they will all start hitting you at once. Parry did not proc, there was no absorb — you take lethal damage. What to do? Kite — step away. Again: puddle, step back — the mobs' auto-attacks desync and you take damage more predictably.

An important point to understand: your defensive spells reduce the damage you will take. That means they must be pressed BEFOREHAND, not after taking the damage. You are gathering mobs, they are coming to you? Do not wait for the mobs' first hits — press a save in advance. The boss is casting a tankbuster? Do not wait for the damage — press a save in advance. Magic damage is being cast on you? Press the green one (Anti-Magic Shell) before taking the damage — if the mob's cast applies some magic effect, it will not be applied to you. This works for all classes, all specializations: defensive spells should be pressed BEFORE taking damage — that way the healer has MORE time to help you, and you, as a BDK, have more time to heal yourself with Death Strike.

From the first block we must conclude: your positioning as a BDK is critically important. You have no right to keep mobs to your side, and never behind you — only the frontal cone, so that your parry mechanic works. Parry is the foundation of your survival. Even if you have little crit — Strength gives parry, your defensive spell DRW gives parry. Lots of mobs? They are moving? Spread the puddle (Death and Decay) and step back — so all mobs are in front. If you are running ahead of the mobs and about to pull a lot — slow the mobs with the puddle: puddle + Blood Boil — and run. The mobs are slowed — they do not hit you in the back.

In keys your puddle is your everything. The 90% slow lets you kite (step a few paces back from the mobs so they do not reach you with auto-attacks). No defensive spells? Puddle — step back. Gathering mobs, do not want them hitting you in the back? Puddle under yourself.

Right now WoW has a bug for BDK: PURELY magic damage is not counted toward the heal from Death Strike. If you take ONLY magic damage and press Death Strike — you get the MINIMUM amount of healing. To get healing boosted by damage taken, you must take combined damage: magic + physical. Example: the second boss of Cinderbrew Meadery. During the tankbuster you take purely magic damage — bring a couple of skeleton warriors from the pack on the right and do not kill them (do not cancel Raise Dead). During the tankbuster, alongside the magic, they will give you physical auto-attacks, which forces the game to count ALL the damage taken.

As a BDK you are most vulnerable at the start of a fight with mobs: you have no bones, you have no absorb, you have no RP. Most deaths happen exactly at this moment. Accordingly, the time for your saves is the start of the fight: you ran in, aggroed the mobs — when they reach you, you should have a defensive spell up: DRW / Icebound Fortitude.

Try not to press DRW and Icebound Fortitude at the same time — first one, then the other. Vampiric Blood — you can press on CD and together with other defensive CDs. In combat, with active RP spending, its CD is reduced to 30–45 seconds instead of 1.5 minutes. In tough moments (a big pull, the very start) — Vampiric Blood alone does not guarantee your survival.

Plan your defensive spells. When you make a run plan — look at where you will need DRW and Icebound Fortitude. Try to hold them. Planning is your everything.

Again — try to always keep RP (Runic Power) for at least one Death Strike. Two Death Strikes in a row is a possible mistake. Right now Death Strike works like a “bucket”: you take damage, it accumulates, when you press Death Strike it all “empties,” and a second Death Strike in a row heals nothing. The ability (Coagulating Blood) lets you track the amount of damage taken.