Two years have past since I typed out big walls of text with suggestions on how I’d go about reworking our class, and here I am again.
Death Knight’s need a massive overhaul, visually and mechanically our class is the worst of the three Plate wearers. Retribution Paladins are now the Gold Standard in regard to visual flair and their new talent overhaul gave them plenty of new and fun ways to play the class. On the other end of the spectrum is the Death Knight.
This is how I would go about reworking Death Knights.
Firstly, self-healing has gotten completely out of control for a lot of classes, which must make designing content extremely frustrating for the dev team. What ends up happening is instead of dying slow deaths to mechanical failures as the healers try to keep up, you just die from one shots because the design team has had to make outgoing damage so high to offset the new level of survivability classes now have.
I will be winding back the self-healing for Death Knights and moving that into damage reduction abilities. This will be a win for those that PvP as the majority of our defensives are massively nerfed whilst under Dampening. Also, a Blood Death Knight Should never be able to survive for large periods of time without a healer whilst doing current content as the dead group continually asks for them to stop fighting and die so they can release and retry the encounter.
Secondly, a melee class should predominantly deal damage whilst in melee range. The arms race that has been occurring since The Burning Crusade has resulted in melee classes being able to close distance far more reliably than ever before as well as having more ranged abilities. So as part of this rework, I am imagining that all melee classes would be having their gap closers reduced alongside a reduction in the ability to deal damage outside of melee range. This would be a big task no doubt, and ranged classes would probably also need tweaking to ensure the opposite doesn’t happen where a good Frost mage can become untouchable by melee.
Thirdly, button bloat will start to become an issue as time moves on, the new hero talents more than likely adding a few new buttons to the mix. So any chance I could either remove/change or merge ability functionality to save on button binds I took.
ANYWAY! Let’s begin.
General Overview
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Blood/Frost/Unholy runes return, adding a bit of rotational complexity and decision making instead of the spam whatever does the most damage per rune as it currently plays.
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New design philosophy for Runes and Runic Power. Rune type now influences the damage dealt by the rune weapon abilities that consume them. Dealing Physical, Frost and Shadow damage from Blood, Frost and Unholy runes respectively. Death runes will deal Necrotic damage.
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Runes are now used exclusively for empowering your rune weapon abilities and Runic Power is used to fuel spell abilities.
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I will be reusing the exact layout of the General Tree bar Row 10, where Row 9 is now the capstone talents, and Row 10 offering modifers to those talents. Talent tree labelling starts at 1:1 (Row 1:Column1) and works down the tree left to right. Any gaps in the tree you see below only mean that the talent in that talent node is left AS IS
Baseline Talents/Abilities
Blood Strike
1 Blood Rune
Strike the target, dealing X Physical damage and triggering damage from any diseases on the target instantly.
Plague Strike
1 Unholy Rune
Empower an unholy rune bathing your weapon in plague and strike your target, dealing X Shadow damage and infecting them with Blood Plague.
- Blood Plague
A disease that corrupts the targets blood, dealing X Shadow damage over 15 sec. Heals the death knight for X% of the damage dealt.
Thoughts: Spreading diseases is now significantly harder than pressing one button, the trade-off is significantly increased damage and utility from your diseases by being limited in the number of active targets they can be on at once. Unholy will have additional ways to apply diseases and AoE solutions for them.
Frost Strike
1 Frost Rune
Empower a Frost rune covering your weapon in foul ice and strike your target, dealing X Frost damage and applying Frost Fever.
- Frost Fever
A crippling diseases dealing X Frost damage over 15 sec. Each time it deals damage it gains 1 stack. Each stack both increases the damage it deals and reduces the movement speed of the afflicted target by 10%. Stacks up to 3 times.
Thoughts: The default Frost rune spender and applies Frost Fever.
Death Coil
30 Runic Power
20yd Range
Unleash a blast of unholy energy at the target, dealing X Shadow damage to an enemy or Y healing to an Undead ally.
Thoughts: Usable for all specialisations. Range was reduced as per the new design goals for melee classes. Damage increased to compensate. Could use a few more shiny effects to make it stand out a bit more.
Death and Decay
30 Runic Power
20yd Range
30 sec cooldown
Corrupt the targeted ground, dealing X Shadow damage over 10 sec to targets within the area.
Thoughts: Costs Runic Power as it is a spell effect and damage should be increased as it can no longer be used on demand as it requires runic power to be available. Cleaving Strikes is now removed with the intention to have AoE specific abilities without needing to stand in stuff either by having their own buttons, or merging AoE functionality into abilities that make sense to have it.
Icy Touch
15 Runic Power
20yd Range
Unleash the chilling touch of Northrend upon the target, dealing X Frost damage and purging 1 beneficial magical effect from the target.
Thoughts: We were designed around being anti-magic in WotLK and have lost almost all of these abilities since. We now take back what was once ours.
Death Grip
20yd Range
25 sec cooldown
No changes
Thoughts: Range reduced as part of the range reduction design focus, additional talent utility and upgrades available via talents to add more functionality.
Runic Corruption
For every 10 Runic Power spent, increase your rune regeneration speed by Haste % for X sec. Duration can stack. Rune regeneration is fixed at 10 sec.
Thoughts: Baseline rune regeneration would be set at 10 sec and is no longer reduced by Haste directly and instead regenerates faster whilst spending Runic Power. This will slow up the rotation allowing the death knight to better plan upcoming resource spending with the return of the Blood/Frost/Unholy rune types. The benefits to slowing rune regeneration down will be each time you press a button, it will feel significantly more impactful.
GENERAL TREE
1:1 Chains of Ice
10 Runic Power
20 yd Range
Shackle the target with icy chains, slowing their movement speed by 70% for 8 sec.
Thoughts: Now uses Runic Power as it is a spell and range spell reduced as per the new design strategy.
1:2 Death Strike
1 Blood Rune, 1 Unholy Rune
Infuses your rune weapon with vampiric energy striking the target dealing X Physical damage and Y Shadow damage. Heal for 200% of the Shadow damage dealt and gain 5% Leech for 5 sec.
Thoughts: Now uses runes again as per the new ability restructure for Runic Power/runes. No longer provides a flat percentage heal and instead rewards the death knight for the continued inflicting of suffering on others as per the lore regarding the dark hunger they suffer from.
1:3 Raise Dead
10+ Runic Power
20 sec cooldown
40 yd range
Raise a lesser undead minion to attack your target for 10 sec before the energy reanimating them expires. For every additional 10 Runic Power consumed, raise an additional minion up to maximum of 3.
Thoughts: Effectively a DoT effect but with a thematic visual. Consume from 10-30 Runic Power. One of the few ranged DK abilties capable of 40yds. Unholy would have more talents tied to improving lesser minions.
2:3 Epidemic
Increases the duration and total damage dealt by your diseases by 40%.
Thoughts: Nothing to see here, just a bit of filler making those DoTs more manageable and a little more dangerous. Increasing Disease DoT from 15 sec baseline to 21 sec. Spec trees will have further empowerment for diseases, especially Unholy death knights.
3:3 Permafrost
An icy carapace grows atop your armour, generating 0.5% of your maximum health as an absorb shield per sec, up to 10% of your maximum health. Upon reaching 10% the ice hardens increasing this effect by 100%.
Thoughts: A little more death knight flavour over the original Permafrost design, would ideally have a nice subtle visual effect for the death knight. Provides additional synergy with Gloomward.
3:4 Improved Death Strike
The vampiric bite of your Death Strike strikes deeper, increasing the healing done by X% and the Leech effect is increased by up to 100% based on your missing health.
Thoughts: More vampiric themes for death strike, rewarding the death knight for continued fighting. The Hunger grows more powerful as your life fades.
3:7 Energised Sinews
Your lesser minions movement, attack and cast speed is X% faster.
Thoughts: Improve your lesser minions up time on your target.
3:8 Degeneration
Blood Plague corrupts healing effects on the target, absorbing 25% of all healing done to the target and applying Degeneration to the target. Degeneration deals the absorbed healing as Shadow damage over 6 sec, dispelling this effect inflicts massive pain on the target dealing 200% of the remaining damage instantly.
Thoughts: I wanted a unique healing reduction effect for the death knight, something a little more fun than a flat damage reduction or absorb. The original Plague Strike completely negated heal over time effects and having a talent that unfairly targets one class over another wasn’t the way to go, so all healing is affected by Degeneration. Equality for all.
3:9 Enfeeble
Your lesser minions attacks have a chance to apply Enfeebled, reducing the damage the target deals to you by 15% for 3 sec.
Thoughts: Removed the slow functionality as part of the de-escalation of control effects.
4:5 Recurring Infection
Your diseases have a 15% chance to tick twice and add 3 sec to its duration.
Thoughts: A bit of extra power and functionality to diseases.
6:2 Choice Node
- Gloomward
Absorbs you generate reduce incoming damage by 15% whilst they hold.
- Rime Hardened Plate
Increases your Armour by 20%.
Thoughts: Current Gloomward favours particular healers over others which a talent should never do, so it now only affects your absorbs but is much stronger as a result. Physical damage is a particular weakness for Death Knights, how an undead warrior with no vitals suffers more Physical damage than other plate wearers makes no sense and this should be addressed with Rime Hardened Plate.
6:4 Choice Node
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Assimilation (No change)
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Reflection
Targeted enemy spells are unable to pass into or out of your Anti-Magic Zone, reflecting back to their source. Duration is reduced by 50%.
Thoughts: An ability called Anti-Magic Zone, that doesn’t Anti-Magic? Enemy spells will reflect back to the caster if its target is not in the same area as the caster, either inside or out of the AMZ.
6:5 Death Pact
2 min cooldown
Create a death pact, absorbs all incoming damage and healing for 5 sec. Once this duration ends, suffer the pacts effects dealing 100% of all damage absorbed minus any healing absorbed over 5 sec.
Thoughts: Death Pact as it currently operates is a disappointing defensive cooldown in PvE and PvP with dampening it’s all but useless. This rework of the ability will be a strong cooldown in group content and much less effective in solo play as self healing has been reduced across the board. Has good synergies with Gloomward and any other damage reduction abilities that can lessen the negative effects of the pact.
6:6 Choice Node
- Gorefiend’s Grasp
45 sec cooldown
Shadowy tendrils coil around all enemies within 15 yds of a hostile or friendly target, pulling them to the target’s location.
- Everlasting Grip
For 3 sec after casting Death Grip, you may cast the spell a second time without regard for its cooldown. Moving near an enemy’s corpse consumes their essence to reduce Death Grips cooldown by 2 second.
Thoughts: Gorefiend’s Grasp is a cool ability and having it limited to only Blood was the wrong choice. Cooldown is also reduced as Ring of Peace is a 45 sec cooldown and is just as powerful in the right circumstances, if not more so.
7:1 Icy Talons
Runic Power spenders increase your auto-attack speed by 3% for 10 sec, stacking up to 3 times.
7:2 Wraith Walk
Embrace the power of the Shadowlands, temporarily entering the Veil for the first 3 sec of your Death’s Advance fading from the physical realm, unable to be seen by the living. Entering the Veil removes all movement impairing effects and roots and increases movement speed by 70%. Taking any other action will end your Wraith Walk.
Thoughts: Having two buttons that do the same thing i.e. increase movement speed is redundant. Merged the functionality, with increased death knight flavour.
7:3 Runeforge Master
Increase the effectiveness of your runeforges by X% and your two-handed weapons can now have two runeforges etched upon them.
Thoughts: Increased power and accessibility higher in the tree. Ability to have 2 runeforges on a two-handed hopefully allow some different runeforge combinations. Concerns about frost dk dual wield are negated as Frost is now exclusively a dual wield spec utilising a 2h+1h offhand.
8:1 Chilblains
For each stack your Frost Fever gains, also reduces the targets attack and cast speed by 5%.
Thoughts: Didn’t make any sense it wouldn’t also affect your ability to cast spells or move. It is a much stronger effect now as it needs melee range to apply.
8:2 Blood Draw 2/2
Your Blood Plague healing is increased by X/Y%. When you fall below 35% health, your Blood Plague deals its periodic damage 1/2 sec faster.
Thoughts: Original blood draw was gimmicky. Now a flat sustain increase, with your vampiric hunger growing more ravenous as your life fades. You could possibly try to purposely stay below 35% health to trigger more damage from Blood Plague, but that is some risky business right there.
8:4 Death March
The dead march ever onward, nothing can slow the march of death. You can never be slowed below 100% movement speed, nor can you move faster than 100% movement speed whilst on foot.
Thoughts: You are not the fastest, but nothing but absolute destruction will slow your advance. I am not sure how overpowered this would be, but its fairly deep talent wise and definitely fits the flavour of a death knight. An unstoppable killing machine in plate trudging ever onward.
9:1 Dancing Rune Weapon
3 min Cooldown
Call forth another rune weapon to aid you for 12 sec, mirroring all your rune weapon abilities.
Thoughts: We must have more visual cooldowns, firstly so people can see what’s happening without needing a damn weakaura to tell them and secondly because dancing rune weapon is cool, and I want to use it more often regardless of the spec I am playing. Also Empower Rune Weapon is boring, any cooldown ability that just generates resources needs to go.
9:2 Instructor’s Lessons 2/2
Increase your Parry chance by 3/6%. Anytime you parry an attack, increase your Dodge chance by X% for 10 sec, stacking until you dodge an attack.
Thoughts: There are also way too many cooldowns for death knights and I would rather move damage from cooldowns into rotational abilities if possible. This talent now bolsters our defensive abilities against melee which has been a weakness since they removed Strength to Parry passive. Could be pretty strong passive defensive, but it is also very low in the tree, trading off against some strong offensive based talents.
9:3 Army of the Dead (Replaces Raise Dead)
10+ Runic Power
20 sec cooldown
40 yd range
Raise 2 lesser undead minions to attack your target for 10 sec before the energy reanimating them expires. For every addition 10 Runic Power consumed, raise 2 additional minions up to maximum of 6.
Thoughts: All death knights wield necrotic energies, and playing the necromancer is definitely part of the class fantasy that has not been fulfilled. Army can now be part of the rotation for a death knight should you choose providing a bit of ranged damage.
10:1 Hungering Rune Weapon (Child to Dancing Rune Weapon)
Instantly gain 6 sec of Runic Corruption and grants 20% Haste for the duration.
10:2 Deflecting Rune Weapon (Child to Dancing Rune Weapon)
Reduce the duration and cool down of Dancing Rune Weapon by 50% and increases your Parry chance by 25%.
Thoughts: A defensive and throughput option, slapping both points in should be strong, but obviously limiting additional capstone choices.
10:3 Choice Node (Child to Instructor’s Lessons)
- Supernatural Reflexes
You can dodge attacks from any direction including projectile spells and ranged attacks.
- Instructor’s Final Lesson
Parrying an attack increases your Parry chance by X% for 10 sec. This ability can stack but its duration is not refreshed.
Thoughts: Additional passive defensive abilities to aid the Tank or the solo player. Possible options for a more defensive PvP strategy as well. Definitely strong defensive abilities, but at this point in the tree, it needs to be strong or languish unselected.
10:4 Ruptured Viscera
Your lesser undead minions from your Army of the Dead leap and charge at your target and explode dealing X Physical damage each to all enemies within 10* yds. Deals reduced damage beyond X targets.
Thoughts: Sacrifice single target damage for increased area of effect damage, will also look awesome as the minions leap and charge at your target unleashing a satisfying explosion of gore.
10:5 Empowered Reanimation
Army of the Dead also raises 1 greater undead minion for 10 sec based upon your current specialisation.
- Blood conjures together a blood beast to attack the target, whilst the blood beast lives it absorbs X% of all damage taken by the death knight. If using Ruptured Viscera, it will explode when it dies or duration expires dealing X Physical damage to all enemies within 10 yds and releasing X Blood Worms from its corpse.
- Frost forms a frost revenant to assault his target, unleashing powerful attacks with its mace. If using Ruptured Viscera, its hammer attacks explode on the target, dealing X Frost damage to all nearby enemies.
- Unholy raises a plague walker to assault your target, its attacks increasing the damage your diseases deal to the target by X%. If using Ruptured Viscera, your lesser minion corpses begin to emit disease clouds dealing X Shadow damage and increasing the damage your diseases deal to targets within by X%.
And that is that. Any numbers provided are just for an indication on suggested ability strength. I plan on doing up a rework on how I think a Frost rework could look like sooner rather than later which will tie in these changes.
Let’s hope we see something decent regarding reworks from Blizzard in the future. They’re free to take any of my ideas here, I’d really enjoy playing a Death Knight like this.
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