Unholy Talents  

See Death Knight Talent Builds

The Death Knight Unholy tree represents the Death Knight's focus on his/her ability to weaken and destroy their foes through the use of diseases and minions in combat. The Death Knight uses this talent tree to summon the bodies of the dead to serve them, inflict frozen misery and wasting diseases on their targets, including drawing upon unholy magics to pull gargoyles from the ether or summon legions of the dead to destroy their enemies. In addition to the power of disease this talent tree grants them, Unholy specced Death Knights can also take on a truly Unholy presence.

Primary uses

When the class was developed, it wasn't designed to be "just another tanking role". With the existence of several tanking classes (Warriors, Paladins, Druids) already, this newest "tank class" is designed more around burst damage and individual player style as opposed to a predefined "role". To do this, each tree of the Death Knight class has been designed for multiple roles and effective threat management situationally. This includes a whole new take on the stances, called Presences in this case. The class has three different presences: Blood, Frost and Unholy.

• Rather than create a whole new itemization for one class, it has been decided that they are sharing itemization with the other tanking classes.
• In a deviation from the current standard, the Deathknight is designed to be played differently, i.e. the use of runes and the manner in which they are used.
• With this, the runes and their use are tied into the weapon of the Deathknight. The power of the rune used is channeled through the weapon.
• Unlike other classes, there are very specific rotations and combo points with this class. The "combo points" are gained from the placing of diseases on the target.

The primary design for this tree is focused around Disease, enhanced Frost damage and the use of minions pulled from the bodies of the dead to destroy enemies.

Tier 1

(5 points must be spent in the tree to open Tier 2 talents)

• Vicious Strikes (2 points) - Increases the critical strike chance by 3% and critical strike damage bonus by 15% of your Plague Strike, Death Strike and Scourge Strike.
• Morbidity (3 points) - Increases the damage and healing of Death Coil by 5% and reduces the cooldown on Death and Decay by 5 sec.
• Anticipation (5 points) - Increases your Dodge chance by 1%.

Tier 2

(5 points must already be spent in the tree)

• Epidemic (2 points) - Increases the duration of Blood Plague and Frost Fever by 3 sec.
• Virulence (3 points) - Increases your chance to hit with your spells by 1% and reduces the chance that your spells and diseases you cause can be cured by 10%.
• Unholy Command (2 points) - Reduces the cooldown of your Death Grip ability by 5 sec.
• Ravenous Dead (3 points) - Increases your total Strength 1% and the contribution your Ghouls get from your Strength and Stamina by 20%.

Tier 3

(10 points required to open this tree)

• Outbreak (3 points) - Increases the damage of Plague Strike, Pestilence and Blood Boil by 10%.
• Necrosis (5 points) - Your auto attacks deal an additional 2% Shadow damage.
• Corpse Explosion - Cause a corpse to explode for 82 Shadow damage to all enemies within 20 yards. Will use a nearby corpse if the target is not a corpse. Does not affect mechanical or elemental corpses.

Tier 4

(15 points required to open this tree)

• On a Pale Horse (2 points) - You become as hard to stop as death itself. The duration of all Stun and Fear effects used against you is reduced by 10%, and your mounted speed is increased by 10%. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
• Blood-Caked Blade (3 points) - Your auto attacks have a 10% chance to cause a Blood-Caked Strike, which hits for 25% weapon damage plus 12.5% for each of your diseases on the target.
• Shadow of Death - Increases your total Strength and Stamina by 2%. In addition, whenever you die, you return to keep fighting as a Ghoul for 45 sec.

Tier 5

(20 points required to open this tree)

• Summon Gargoyle - A Gargoyle flies into the area and bombards the target with Nature damage modified by the Death Knight's attack power. Persists for 1 sec per 8 runic power up to 1 min.
• Impurity (5 points) - Your spells receive an additional 5% benefit from your attack power.
• Dirge (2 point) - Your Death Strike, Obliterate, Plague Strike and Scourge Strike generate 2.5 additional runic power.

Tier 6

(25 points required to open this tree)

• Magic Suppression (5 points) - You take 1% less damage from all magic. In addition, your Anti-Magic Shell absorbs an additional 5% of spell damage.
• Reaping (3 points) - Whenever you hit with Blood Strike or Blood Boil there is a 33% chance that the Blood Rune becomes a Death Rune when it activates.
• Master of Ghouls - The Ghoul summoned by your Raise Dead spell is considered a pet and is under your control. Unlike normal Death Knight Ghouls, your pet does not have a limited duration.

Tier 7

(30 points required to open this tree)

• Desecration (5 points) - Your Plague Strikes have a 20% chance to cause the Desecrated Ground effect. Targets in the area are slowed by 50% by the grasping arms of the dead while you cause 5% additional damage while standing on the unholy ground. Lasts 12 sec.
• Anti-Magic Zone - Places a large, stationary Anti-Magic Zone that reduces spell damage done to party or raid members inside it by 75%. The Anti-Magic Zone lasts for 30 sec or until it absorbs + 2 * AP spell damage.
• Unholy Aura (2 points) - All party or raid members within 45 yards of the Death Knight move 8% faster. This effect does not stack with other movement improving effects.

Tier 8

(35 points required to open this tree)

• Night of the Dead (3 points) - Your next 10 Plague Strikes and Scourge Strikes lower the cooldown of Raise Dead by 15 sec and Army of the Dead by 30 sec per strike.
• Crypt Fever (3 points) - Your diseases also cause Crypt Fever, which increases the damage of other diseases on the target by 20%.
• Bone Shield - The Death Knight is surrounded by 4 whirling bones. While at least 1 bone remains, the DK takes 40% less damage from all sources and deals 2% more damage with all attacks, spells and abilities. Each damaging attack that lands consumes 1 bone. Lasts 5 min.

Tier 9

(40 points required to open this tree)

• Wandering Plague (3 points) - When your diseases damage an enemy, there is a chance equal to your melee critical strike chance that they will cause 33% additional damage to the target and all enemies within 8 yards. Ignores any target under the effect of a spell that is cancelled by taking damage.
• Ebon Plaguebringer (3 points) - Your Crypt Fever morphs into Ebon Plague, which increases vulnerability to magic by 4% in addition to increasing the damage done by diseases. Improves your critical strike chance with weapons and spells by 1% at all times.
• Scourge Strike - An unholy strike that deals 60% of weapon damage as Shadow damage plus 81, and an additional 40.5 bonus damage per disease.

Tier 10

(45 points required to open this tree)

• Rage of Rivendare (5 points) - Your spells and abilities deal 2% more damage to targets infected with Blood Plague. Also increases your expertise by 1.

Tier 11

(50 points required to open this tree)

• Unholy Blight - A vile swarm of unholy insects surrounds the Death Knight for a 10 yard radius. Enemies caught in the area take 16 Shadow damage per sec and are considered diseased. Lasts 20 sec.

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