Frost Death Knight PvE Guide — Midnight

by Fouren

Updated 2 day ago

6 minutes readmin

1,091 views

About the Class

Frost Death Knight (FDK) is a melee fighter who can wield either a single two-handed weapon or two one-handed weapons. The class mechanic is that some abilities build up a resource while others spend it, so the class is perfect for players who want to follow a strict rotation to get the most out of their character.

Strengths

Very strong cleave damage, which lets you deal AoE damage while also dealing damage to a single important target.
A simple rotation that lets you quickly grasp the class and start showing good results.
Good defensive abilities, both for yourself and for your group/raid.

Weaknesses

A small number of abilities, which heavily limits the rotation. The class may feel boring to some players.
Single-target damage is inconsistent and may not be the highest.
If your abilities don't proc, there are downtimes in the rotation when everything is on cooldown.

Stat Priority

Death Knight Frost Stats Priority

Strength

Mastery

Critical Strike

Haste

Versatility

Talents

Death Knight Frost Mythic+ Build

No talent data

Rotation

Death Knight Frost Opener

Death Knight Frost Abilities Priority

Single Target

Obliterate — if you have a Killing Machine proc
Howling Blast — if you have a Rime proc
Frost Strike
Empower Rune Weapon — to generate a Killing Machine charge and 40 Runic Power
Obliterate — without Killing Machine

AoE

Obliterate — if you have a Killing Machine proc
Howling Blast — if you have a Rime proc
Frostscythe
Empower Rune Weapon — to generate a Killing Machine charge and 40 Runic Power
Obliterate — without Killing Machine

Best in Slot (BiS)

Don't forget to explore our class pages, where not only the best items in the slot are available, but also other alternatives for any class, spec or situation:

Death Knight: Gear

Two-Hand Weapon

Bellam's Final Judgment

One-Hand Weapon

Blade of the Last Twilight

Head

Crown of the Unrelenting Rider

Neck

Rotmaw's Sporeheart

Shoulders

Bloodchilling Pauldrons

Back

Silken Shroud of the Devoted

Chest

Carapace of the Unrelenting Rider

Wrists

Spellwrecker's Bracers

Hands

Bonegrips of the Unrelenting Rider

Waist

Chain of the Unrelenting Rider

Legs

Legguards of the Unrelenting Rider

Feet

Greaves of the Formless

Ring

Blossoming Ring of the Spore Caller

Ring

Sin'dorei Ring of Hope

Trinket

Banner of the Light's Company

Trinket

Gaze of the Aln Seer

Enchants, Gems, Consumables

Enchants

Weapon

Rune of the Fallen Crusader

Weapon

Rune of Razorice

Shoulders

Enchant Shoulder – Swiftness of Akil'zon

Head

Enchant Helm – Amplified Blessing of Speed

Back

Enchant Cloak – Chant of Winged Grace

Chest

Enchant Chest – Mark of Nalorakk

Wrists

Enchant Bracer – Chant of Armored Avoidance

Legs

Forest Rider's Armor Kit

Feet

Enchant Boots – Stalker's Chase

Ring

Enchant Ring – Nature's Wrath

Gems

Leveling

From the very first level you already have abilities to deal damage. Your main abilities at early levels will be Frost Strike and Death Strike. As you level up, you'll gain new abilities, getting closer to the main rotation. We recommend sticking to the ability priority from the rotation section.

Mythic+ Tips

If your group has few classes capable of interrupting spells, or you plan to fight a large number of casting mobs, be sure to take the Coldthirst talent. When you interrupt abilities, you gain 10 Runic Power and the cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds, letting you interrupt dangerous enemy spells more often.

Take the Asphyxiate talent if your group has no or not enough crowd control. Thanks to this ability, you can stun a target for 5 seconds, preventing it from casting dangerous spells.

Try to use the Death Grip ability as often as possible on mobs that channel spells continuously and stay in place. This ability will interrupt the spell cast and pull the annoying mob toward you.

Macros

Focus Interrupt

#showtooltip Mind Freeze
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] Mind Freeze

Cursor Asphyxiate

#showtooltip Asphyxiate
/cast [target=mouseover, exists] Asphyxiate

Cursor Raise Ally

#showtooltip Raise Ally
/cast [@mouseover,help,dead][] Raise Ally

Author

Fouren

Fouren has been playing World of Warcraft for over 15 years. He is an active player with 12 Cutting Edge achievements under his belt, and has reached the top 1% and 0.1% multiple times on various classes. His main classes are healers, particularly Holy Paladin.