Death Knight review

I have to admit it, I love playing the Death Knight. I thought it was just going to be a glorified ret paladin, but oh boy it's not. I'm having a really great time going down the Unholy tree, with my trusty (permanent!) ghoul by my side. Every once in a while a gargoyle will come down and join the group too!

I had a chance on my priest to heal a Death Knight tank. It didn't go that well since he hadn't been stacking any defense on and was 3 levels below the instance (go figure) but it looked really fun. Playing a tanking class that can also DPS (or even lead in DPS) will definitively solve the tanking shortage. I was skeptical but Blizzard really hit the nail right on the head with the Death Knight class.

One of the things I've noticed is that most Death Knights I've seen have not been gatherers of any kind. Hellfire Peninsula is jam packed with DKs, but it's also jam packed with herbs/mining nodes and unskinned animals! I'm making a killing on the AH on all the herbs and skins I'm collecting. I rolled my DK as a hordie on Cenarion Circle (I know there are some CC-horde who read here, hit me up on Diddykong), which means I was completely on my own for money/bags/etc. FIRST thing I did after talking to Thrall (quick side note: how COOL was running through your home city on your way to your leader? one of the coolest things I've done since escorting Windsor through Stormwind) was head over to the Herbalism trainer and Skinning trainer.

I decided I wouldn't step foot into Outland before I was at 300 of each. It only took me 3-4 hours to level both to 300, and even that was very profitable (herbs, not leather heh). Every time I would stop to pick an herb, I'd Death Grip something to me, kill, and skin it; so it went pretty fast to level both. I'm happy to say that I'm up over 600g now, even after spending 90g on a swift wolf (Orc ftw). Which leads me to my next point:

Why are all the DKs still riding the Deathcharger? Orcs, and even more so Tauren, just look silly on a horse. That's why the first thing I did when I dinged 60 was go to get a wolf. You already know Riding 150, so it only costs you 90g to pick up your race specific mount. (Thanks to Cait for suggesting we try this! Orc on a horse burns my eyes) And another thing:

Why are there DK corpses on the ground in Hellfire?! I never see my health go below 35%, even when I pull 4-5 mobs at a time (Even then my parry rating jumps up as an added defensive mechanism). Are these people aggroing and then going to get snacks or something? Here's a simple guide to DK aoe killing.

Firstly make sure you have Blood Presence on, so you heal for 2% of the damge you deal. When you're AoEing 4 mobs, that 2% will add up quickly!

1) On a single target, infect him with your two diseases. Icy Touch + Plague Strike.
2) Now, spread those diseases to the other targets. Pestilence.
3) Now, erupt the diseases on all the targets and /cheer at their pain! Blood Boil.
4) Use any special abilities gained from your talent tree. Unholy Blight, Gargoyle, Hungering Cold, etc
4) If need be, use their pain to heal! Death Strike.
5) Clean up! Death Coil.

Usually it wont get this far, but if mobs are still alive just rinse and repeat. Mobs won't usually last through two pestilence + blood boil combinations.

Haven't rolled a DK yet? Want to know what I think the best DK race is? Draenei. Self heal for the win. Couple that with the herbalism buff, Lifeblood (not to mention the Dreaming Glory buff), and you're an unstoppable killing machine.

I hope everyone is having as much fun with the Death Knight as I am. It was pretty intimidating at first to have all those new abilities that all seemed to do the same thing (oh look, this one does weapon damage plus X too, so does this one), but I'm feeling pretty confident about my DK now and I'm glad I stuck with him into Outlands.