Level 73 DK here. Been leveling almost completely as Frost (loving all the procs, the speed of the spec and runic generation). Also like that you can tag mobs in the distance with Howling Blast and using Chains of Ice, if talented, as another dps ability. Fun, fun and smooth. And I am never runic-starved.
Going through Outland, decided to switch the Unholy once I got to a new zone, so I respeced to Unholy. So far, Unholy doesn’t seem very satisfying. I talented into All Will Serve, Ebon Fever, Death’s Reach and Soul Reaper so far. Now, I know I’m about to get Dark Transformation, Apocalypse, Army of the Dead soon as I’m still 73.
I usually do Outbreak, Festering Strike (to get a festering wound) then Scourge Strike to pop a wound. I use Death & Decay only if 2 or more mobs are around, and use Soul Reaper as my only runic generator. So I think I’m getting the core right, but most of the time I’m out of runes even when questing - I never had that issue with Frost. Waiting for runes to come back so I can use abilities. Frost also seemed to flow much more smoothly too.
Am I missing something here? Does Unholy get better once I get those last abilities? I liked the idea of having 2 undead pets but they are mainly like cosmetic dots mainly.
It seems tons of people love Unholy, and before I switch back to Frost, wanted to get some input regarding Unholy as a spec. Thanks.
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Unholy and blood are terrible without a ton of haste.
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So how much haste are we talking about? Is that the only issue with Unholy?
There is no need to spam buttons. There is a somewhat strict balancing act for a while until you get into the last 2 expansions. The warmode talent to replace AotD is very nice as it generates festering wounds. At higher levels you’ll end up spamming off runic power with average amounts of haste.
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i only really enjoy unholy on larger groups of mobs who will live for a while. when you have time to spread a few wounds around, then pop a death and decay down and cleaveburst them all, it feels pretty good. i find unholy pretty one note for single target, and while levelling or world questing where nothing lives long enough to get a proper rotation going.
while learning the spec i would plop myself in front of the grouped 4 target dummies in zuldazar and just practice my aoe rotation for 10-20 minutes at a time, with my various cooldowns coming in and out of sync and affecting the way that rotation plays out, that is where the spec truly shines imo.
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20% is what you should aim for but realistically more is better for PvP at least
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It’s a nightmare without 20% haste like was said earlier. I had bad RNG luck, wound up with more Vers gear. Even with gems and enchants I could only get around 13% haste. Played horribly, so I went back to Frost. If I can get enough gear to get 20% I’ll probably swap back to Unholy. But I advise just playing Frost until you get adequate haste. Otherwise you are just going to be frustrating yourself. Best of luck.
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It feels a lot more complete at 120…
When you have all the correct traits and essences and gear
Until then you just feel like you’re noodling stuff
Unholy isn’t a spec you can just spam buttons on, slow down and pay attention to your runes and diseases. It will get better with dark trans and apoc.
You don’t wanna use Death and Decay just because there is more than 1 mob. Your only gonna use that when your trying to pop multiple wounds on multiple targets at once, after you’ve got it setup right - otherwise it just a waste of your runes, as it doesn’t do very much damage at all on its own. Realistically while leveling/questing your probably not gonna want to use death and decay at all. Things do get better once you get your army and abomination to help spread wounds in AoE. Also, as many people have said, you absolutely NEED haste, it is the lifeblood of unholy lol.
For leveling I would stick to Blood/Frost then endgame Blood or Unholy.
Unholy isn’t going to ever feel as satisfying (for me at least) as frost. Too much of the damage is tied up in passives like virulent plague, pets, dnd, festering wound, etc. that don’t deal a ton of damage by themselves, but when combined (especially in a multi target scenario) do a ton of damage.
If you’re looking for big satisfying number per button press, Unholy isn’t for you - at least not for single target. Frost will give you big satisfying button press numbers, if that’s what you’re looking for, and it’s competitive with Unholy. That said, in large pulls, hitting outbreak, getting festering wounds out, dropping dnd, then spamming scourge strike and epidemic is probably one of the most satisfying damage dealing things in the game for me currently. Watching yellow numbers explode over every mob on screen is amazing. Single target is kinda disappointing, even though the burst is great and sustained is competitive.
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Uh is great fun once hit level cap and it shine’s in mythic keys,i run at around 26-28% haste and the spec flows fine.I run bursting sore and epidemic spec for maximum Aoe.The burst in mythic+ on bosses is decent anywhere from 100k+ with army and hero.
It’s hard to say what’s fun when your only 73 and not in endgame gear and mobs melt even in low level dungeons,so your not really going too get a feel of how the spec really plays.
It’s not hard to get 2 basic sets of gear at 120 i’d suggest trying to do that first and try both frost and uh then make a choice.
Both specs are totally viable in raids and mythic+ unless your pushing cutting edge content,play the spec you enjoy.
If you want a spammy class with lots of procs, frost. If you want a class that actually feels like a death knight and not a weaker fury warrior with ice magic, unholy.
Unholy is a better themed and better made spec honestly at end game. It’s one of the few remaining specs that aren’t reliant on random procs to actually play.
Plus, frost just has so much resource generation both in runes and runic power that I hate playing it because it feels like a waste the whole time.
The only problem I have with Unholy is I find there’s lots of down time.
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Have almost 30% haste and it still has resource problems at times. It’s unfortunate it bogs down an otherwise fun spec. I think it needs like 50% haste to always have a button to press, which of course you can’t reach. Lol.
Contrary to popular belief haste doesn’t actually decrease downtime. If you look at the time spent outside of GCDs, it’s pretty much constant at most haste levels.
You mostly press 4 buttons as Unholy, so if you don’t enjoy the basic rotation you might not enjoy the spec.
I agree with Chaaka and Akumaorc. Blood and unholy are a majority haste mastery oriented. stack as much as possible. if you don’t youre wasting your time and youre just going to be bad. Leveling you should stick with frost/blood until you get to the latest xpacs. BFA I would definitely run either blood or unholy…unless you stat frost properly. I know quite a few frost dks topping dps charts so I wont take away from the TT
Unholy does get better with haste.
It’s not that ‘downtime’ gets eliminated with haste. Rather your GCD’s are quicker and it becomes slightly more fluid. I personally enjoy having some downtime in a rotation. I’m laid back, not ADHD and don’t want to be spamming buttons like a monkey on crack.
That said, I’m still hoping for a full spec overhaul in Shadowlands. Target swapping is still a vexing problem.
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