Death Knight Beginner Guide
The Beginners Guide to the Spec's
First and foremost, these specs are not totally 100% dedicated to a certain role. I say this as Blizzard’s design intentions for our class are that every spec can dps, and every spec can tank. However, In saying this, there are tank talents and dps talents in every tree. This freedom allows Death Knights to choose their skills of choice, whether it be Scourge Strike, Howling Blast or Heart Strike (Unholy, Frost and Blood respectively), and keep to their spec no matter what role they choose to fill.
Nb: I’m not a theorycrafter, this is but my views after playing on beta. I’m sharing it with people who were not fortunate enough to get into beta so they may have an insight into each spec. If I am wrong, which I very well may be, let me know and I can change it, or start a discussion. Do not turn this into a flame war.
Talent Tree: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deathknight
Blood:
In my opinion, blood is the "full frontal" dps spec. They have a lot more heavy hitting melee rotations and rely less on burst than other specs. Blood has very little downtime due to skills like death strike (which should be your main 1F + 1U ability until you get obliterate), their blood presence passive and bloodworms all giving health back when damage is dealt. With less reliance on spell damage, Bloods dps scales well abilities that reduce enemy armor. Blood's raid buff is Abomination's Rage, granting 10% attack power.
Example Single Target Rotation 1: IT->PS->HS->HS->DS (or OB if you have it)
HS replaces BS for Blood DKs. Death Runes from OB/DS shake things up a bit for rotation 2.
Example Single Target Rotation 2: IT->PS->HS->HS->HS->HS
Frost:
This is the spec I know about the least, only speccing it a couple of times on beta.
Frost spec lays in between unholy and blood in that it uses dots and diseases a little more than blood and a little less than unholy. Frost is the dual wield spec of choice, and has a few more runic power options than the other specs. Frost relys on Frost Fever to amplify a lot of damage, especially Howling Blast, which is their main 1F 1U move. As Frost, IT must always come first in your rotations. Frost's raid buff is Improved Icy Talons, granting 20% haste.
Example Single Target Rotation 1: IT->PS->BS->BS->HB
Unholy:
Unholy is the spec I chose. It has more pet utility, however is not just a pet spec. Unholy is a lot more reliant on DoTs and Diseases, and as such, receives an extra disease whenever FF or BP is on a target. While Unholy lacks huge burst hits from runic power availbile in frost, unholy DKs BS and SS are amplified due to this extra disease; and their AE / DoT damage, cobbled together with the extra power their ghoul has makes up for it. As Unholy, your first strike should be Plague Strike to apply desecration, which not only srestricts enemy movement, but amplifies your own damage while you stand on it. Glyphs like the BS glyph, are very useful for Unholy as while on desceration, the enemy is considered snared. The SS Glyph also allows for skilled Unholy DKs to mix up rotations if the 25% chance procs. Unholy's raid buff is Ebon Plaguebringer, making enemies with BP of FF on them take 13% more spell damage.
Example Single Target Rotation 1: PS->IT->BS->BS->SS
IF SS is glyphed and procs, or there is enough time on the diseases anyway, a 2nd rotation could be
Example Single Target Rotation 2: SS->SS->SS
as the BSs come back as Deaths
