Frost Death Knight DPS Spell List and Glossary — The War Within (11.0.5)

Last updated on Oct 21, 2024 at 21:00 by Bicepspump 48 comments
General Information

On this page, we present you with all spells and procs that you need to understand as a Frost Death Knight in World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.0.5).

1.

Introduction

If you are new to Frost, this is a great place to start to get an understanding of how the spec works. On this page we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, how they interact with each other and also with important cooldowns. If you already have experience with Frost and are comfortable with it in the current expansion, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

2.

Main Resources of Frost Death Knights

Runic Power and Runes are your two primary resources. We have 6 Runes in total that passively generate over time, taking 10 seconds to recharge (decreased by haste). Runes are the most common resource we use for our abilities, which include Obliterate Icon Obliterate and Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter. Spending Runes generates 10 Runic Power per Rune used. We use Runic Power as our spender on abilities such as Frost Strike Icon Frost Strike and Glacial Advance Icon Glacial Advance

3.

Unlocking Abilities

Spells and passive abilities are unlocked as you level up and spend talent points. This page will simply list every single ability you can obtain, not recommending any specific talent setups or rotations to use. If you want to understand which abilities are best to pick up when leveling, please follow the below link.

4.

Frost Death Knight Baseline Abilities

These are the abilities that you obtain without selecting anything in the talent trees.

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Death Coil Icon Death Coil DC Costs 30 Runic Power to cast, dealing Shadow damage to the target. Can be cast on an Undead ally (including yourself) to heal it. Works to heal Afflicted affix!
Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay DnD Costs 1 Rune and places a damaging area at the target location, which persists for 10 seconds. If you have selected Cleaving Strikes Icon Cleaving Strikes also makes your Obliterate Icon Obliterate cleave 1 additional target.
Death's Advance Icon Death's Advance DA Death's Advance Icon Death's Advance when activated, increases your movement speed by 35% and prevents you from being slowed below 100% of your movement speed for 10 seconds. It also grants you immunity from knockbacks. It has a passive ability that prevents your movement speed from being reduced below 70%.
Rune Strike Icon Rune Strike - Costs 1 Rune and deals moderate damage. Is replaced once we choose a specialisation (Obliterate Icon Obliterate for Frost).
Runic Empowerment Icon Runic Empowerment RE A passive that gives you a 2% chance per Runic Power spent to instantly regenerate a Rune. Always picks a fully depleted Rune if possible, or the least depleted one if possible.
Dark Succor Icon Dark Succor - A passive that grants you a free Death Strike Icon Death Strike whenever you kill an enemy that grants honor or experience. Also increases the healing of the Death Strike Icon Death Strike by 10%. Importantly, you need to land the killing blow to retrieve the buff, meaning you will not get that many procs in Raids and Mythic+.
On a Pale Horse Icon On a Pale Horse - A passive that grants 20% mounted movement speed.
Death Grip Icon Death Grip - Pulls your target towards you. Also has a shorter GCD compared to normal spells at 0.5 seconds. This means that you can quickly use another ability after gripping something.
Raise Ally Icon Raise Ally - Costs 30 Runic Power and battle resses a targeted dead ally, bringing them back to life (even in combat).
Lichborne Icon Lichborne - Turns you undead for 10 seconds. This makes you immune to charm, fear, and sleep, and grants you 10% leech. You can also activate this ability to break any of these CCs, making it a useful tool if you are accidentally hit a mechanic that applies such a CC.
Dark Command Icon Dark Command - Taunts the targeted enemy, forcing them to attack you.
Runeforging Icon Runeforging - Allows you to apply a powerful Runeforge to your weapon, acting as a (usually) better enchant. You do this in the Acherus Hold at the Runeforges.
Death Gate Icon Death Gate - Summons a gate that will teleport you to Acherus. Here you can Runeforge your weapon and practice your rotation on target dummies. Using the Death Gate Icon Death Gate again will bring you back to your original location.
Path of Frost Icon Path of Frost - Costs 1 Rune and grants everyone in your group the ability to walk on water. Breaks on any damage taken.
Mastery: Frozen Heart Icon Mastery: Frozen Heart - Our Mastery, increasing all Frost damage we do. Doesn't work on damage sources from items.
Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter RW Costs 1 Rune, dealing AoE Frost damage around you for 8 seconds. It also slows all enemies affected by 20%. Our primary non-cooldown ability for AoE damage that is also worthwhile to press in Single Target. It can be significantly buffed with talents such as Gathering Storm Icon Gathering Storm, Biting Cold Icon Biting Cold and Everfrost Icon Everfrost. Learned at level 19.
Might of the Frozen Wastes Icon Might of the Frozen Wastes MotFW Increases the damage of Obliterate Icon Obliterate by 30% when wielding a 2-handed weapon. It also makes your auto-attack critical strikes guarantee procs of Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine. This doubles the proc rate of Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine for a 2-handed build. This is still less than a dual-wield build would generate by 28%. Learned at level 25.
Frostreaper Icon Frostreaper - Turns your Obliterate Icon Obliterates that consume procs of Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine into Frost damage. This is a significant damage boost due to multiple effects. No damage reduction from armor, damage increases from Mastery: Frozen Heart Icon Mastery: Frozen Heart as well as damage increase from Rune of Razorice Icon Rune of Razorice. Synergizes well with all spells that increase the proc rate of Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine, such as Obliteration Icon Obliteration and Icy Talons Icon Icy Talons. Learned at level 28.
Rime Icon Rime - Provides a 45% chance for Obliterate Icon Obliterate and a 22.5% chance for Frostscythe Icon Frostscythe to make your next Howling Blast Icon Howling Blast cost no Runes and deal 150% more damage. It still counts as spending a Rune for abilities such as Pillar of Frost Icon Pillar of Frost and Gathering Storm Icon Gathering Storm.
5.

Frost Death Knight Class Tree Active Abilities

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Death Strike Icon Death Strike DS Costs 45 Runic Power and constitutes our primary mean of healing ourselves. The amount of healing increases with the damage we've taken in the last 5 seconds, making it excellent to use after you have taken a big hit. It heals for 25% of the damage taken with a minimum of 7% max hp healed every time.
Raise Dead Icon Raise Dead - Summons a ghoul to fight with us for 1 minute. The ghoul can charge as well as stun, in addition to dealing damage.
Mind Freeze Icon Mind Freeze - Interrupts your target. It has a 15 yards range, a benefit over other melee interrupts that often require melee range.
Blinding Sleet Icon Blinding Sleet Sleet Blinds all targets in a cone in front of you for 5 seconds. When the enemies are broken out of sleep via damage or if the duration finishes, they are slowed by 50% for 6 seconds. Great ability to stop a group of enemies from casting, as well as controlling them efficiently. Your tank will love this ability whenever they need to kite.
Sacrificial Pact Icon Sacrificial Pact SacPact Costs 30 Runic Power and sacrifices your primary ghoul, dealing AoE damage (linearly to 8 targets, square root afterward) and healing you for 25% of your maximum hp. Primarily used as an energy heal as the damage component is not worth the hassle of resummoning the ghoul.
Control Undead Icon Control Undead - Costs 1 Rune and controls the targeted Undead enemy for 2 minutes. This requires that the enemy is sufficiently low-level (it does not work on bosses and certain mobs in dungeons). Furthermore, it prevents you from having your primary ghoul active. You can use the abilities of the dominated undead at reduced effectiveness. Overall, this should only be used as a CC tool since the damage loss of not having our primary ghoul active is too great.
Icebound Fortitude Icon Icebound Fortitude IBF Provides a 30% damage reduction for 8 seconds, additionally making you immune to stuns. It can be used when stunned as well to break out of the CC. Primary defensive cooldown for us with the added benefit of the stun break!
Anti-Magic Zone Icon Anti-Magic Zone AMZ Places a zone on the ground that reduces magic damage taken by 20% for 10 seconds for everyone standing in it. The maximum amount that can be absorbed is equal to 1.5 times your Maximum Health, increased by your Versatility.
Asphyxiate Icon Asphyxiate Asphyx Stuns your target for 5 seconds. Simple single-target stun with a range of 20-yard range.
Death Pact Icon Death Pact - Heals you for 50% of your maximum health, as well as putting a healing absorption heal for 30% of your maximum health. A panic-button heal with a downside. The effective healing is only 20%, but you still find a lot of instances where this provides the required breathing room for your healers or you need to bring you back to health.
Wraith Walk Icon Wraith Walk WW Provides 70% movement speed for 4 seconds. Any ability used during the channel will break the effect. Useful as a movement speed increase in instances when you need to move between A and B without doing anything else.
Abomination Limb Icon Abomination Limb Limb/AL Grows an extra arm for you for 12 seconds, dealing AoE damage around you, as well as pulling a random enemy toward you every second. The enemy must be outside melee range to be liable to grip. Great utility tool that will help your party group up any pack of mobs. It also provides three procs of Runic Corruption Icon Runic Corruption across its duration.
Soul Reaper Icon Soul Reaper SR Costs 1 Rune, deals low damage, and applies a debuff to your enemy. After 5 seconds, if the target is below 35% health, this debuff explodes, dealing heavy ShadowFrost damage. If the target dies while under the effect of Soul Reaper, you gain Runic Corruption Icon Runic Corruption.
6.

Frost Death Knight Spec Tree Active Abilities

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Frost Strike Icon Frost Strike FS Costs 25 Runic Power, dealing Frost damage to your target. This is our primary Runic Power spender in Single Target, forming part of our Core rotation.
Obliterate Icon Obliterate Oblit Costs 2 Runes, dealing Physical damage (or Frost damage if talented). Our primary Rune spender! It can be significantly buffed through a variety of procs and talents such as Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine, Frostreaper Icon Frostreaper and Obliteration Icon Obliteration. A major part of our Core rotation.
Howling Blast Icon Howling Blast HB Costs 1 Rune, dealing frost damage to your target and nearby enemies. The damage scales as square-root, meaning the damage per target decreases as you add additional targets. The total damage always increases. This spell also applies our DoT Frost Fever Icon Frost Fever to all targets hit. Frost Fever Icon Frost Fever deals Frost damage over 24 seconds and has a chance to grant you 5 Runic Power every time it ticks. The chance of gaining Runic Power is increased the more target that has the DoT on them. Generally only used with procs of Rime Icon Rime.
Glacial Advance Icon Glacial Advance GA Costs 30 Runic and deals Frost damage to enemies in a line, in the direction you are facing. Also applies Rune of Razorice Icon Rune of Razorice to all targets hit. A great way of spending Runic Power in AoE, as well as applying Rune of Razorice Icon Rune of Razorice to enemies. Useful with 2-handed builds to help build Rune of Razorice Icon Rune of Razorice in all situations.
Pillar of Frost Icon Pillar of Frost Pillar/ PoF Increases your strength by 25% for 12 seconds. Additionally, every Rune you spend when the buff is active increases your strength by an additional 2%. Iconic Frost DK cooldown that we leverage to boost our other cooldowns. It has multiple talents that directly interact with it, such as Enduring Strength Icon Enduring Strength, Frostwhelp's Aid Icon Frostwhelp's Aid and Obliteration Icon Obliteration.
Frostscythe Icon Frostscythe FsC Costs 2 Rune and deals Frost damage in a cone in front of you. It's a guaranteed crit and deals 4 times normal damage when it crits. Consuming Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine reduces the CD of Frostscythe Icon Frostscythe by 1 second.
Horn of Winter Icon Horn of Winter HoW Instantly grants you 2 Runes and 25 Runic Power. Good addition of resources to the rotation and especially good with Breath of Sindragosa Icon Breath of Sindragosa since it can be used to extend its duration. Unfortunately on the GCD, making it a bit tricky to use.
Empower Rune Weapon Icon Empower Rune Weapon ERW Either grants the Empower Rune Weapon Icon Empower Rune Weapon ability or provides an extra charge.
Chill Streak Icon Chill Streak CS Costs 1 Rune and throws a snowball at your enemy. This ball will bounce to the closest enemy within 6 yards for a total of 9 bounces. If there are no enemies to bounce to, the snowball can bounce of the player as well, making it useful in Single Target as well.
Frostwyrm's Fury Icon Frostwyrm's Fury FwF Calls down a dragon to breath frost damage to all enemies in a line in front of you, traveling 40 yards. Huge burst AoE cooldown that can be leveraged well on extra-large packs in Mythic+ or add spawns in Raid.
Breath of Sindragosa Icon Breath of Sindragosa Breath/ BoS Deals Frost damage in a cone in front of you dealing full damage to your primary target and 1/ sqrt(n) times as much on all secondary targets (n is the number of total targets). The ability will drain 16 Runic Power per second, stopping once you reach below 16. Alters your rotation significantly and presents an optimization problem to maximize its duration. Great cooldown both for Cleave, Single Target, and AoE, which great Frost Death Knights can leverage to excel!
7.

Frost Death Knight Class Tree Passive Abilities

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Runic Attenuation Icon Runic Attenuation RA Gives your auto attacks a chance to grant you 3 Runic Power. This provides around 30 Runic Power per minute, adding a good amount of resources to our rotation.
Improved Death Strike Icon Improved Death Strike - Increases the healing of Death Strike Icon Death Strike by 60% and lowers its cost by 10 Runic Power. Effectively makes Death Strike Icon Death Strike a 35 Runic Power ability that heals for a minimum of 11% max health, or 40% of damage taken in the last 5 seconds, whichever is greatest.
Cleaving Strikes Icon Cleaving Strikes - Makes your Obliterate Icon Obliterate cleave to 2 additional targets when standing in your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay, hitting 3 total. Important to note that the cleave is based on you yourself standing in the Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay, not your enemy. The cleave buff persists for 4 seconds after you leave your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay (making the total max duration 14 seconds).
Anti-Magic Barrier Icon Anti-Magic Barrier - Lowers the cooldown of Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell to 40 seconds and increases the amount absorbed by 40%. Useful for any situation with heavy magic damage or frequent magic debuff applications (that you can then ignore).
March of Darkness Icon March of Darkness - Grants you an extra 25% movement speed during the first 3 seconds of activating Death's Advance Icon Death's Advance.
Unholy Ground Icon Unholy Ground - Provides a 5% Haste buff whenever you stand in your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay. It does not make the ability worthwhile to use in pure Single Target but does present a nice boost to our AoE burst window.
Enfeeble Icon Enfeeble - Gives your ghoul a chance to apply a debuff to its target, reducing its movement speed by 30% and making it deal 15% less damage to you.
Coldthirst Icon Coldthirst - Grants you 10 Runic power and reduces the cooldown of Mind Freeze Icon Mind Freeze whenever you successfully interrupt using the ability. A nice additional to our resource generation, as well as providing overall more interrupt opportunities in any situation.
Proliferating Chill Icon Proliferating Chill PC Increases the number of targets hit by your Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice from 1 to 2. It only affects additional enemies in close proximity of your primary target.
Permafrost Icon Permafrost - Provides a shield on yourself based on 40% of your auto attack damage. Provides a good deal of tankiness, both from passive healing but also as prevention to one-shot mechanics.
Veteran of the Third War Icon Veteran of the Third War VoTW/ Veteran Increases your stamina by 20%, making you significantly tankier overall.
Brittle Icon Brittle - Grants your diseases a chance to apply a debuff to your enemy, increasing the damage you do against them by 6% for 5 seconds.
Death's Reach Icon Death's Reach - Increases the range of Death Grip Icon Death Grip by 10 yards and resets its cooldown whenever you kill an enemy granting experience or honor. Useful in any situation where you need to grip adds as the extra range both helps with the distance, you can move them, as well as lowering how far you need to run yourself. The cooldown reset is mostly useful during leveling, as you need to land the killing blow to gain the effect.
Icy Talons Icon Icy Talons IT Provides a 6% increase in attack speed for 6 seconds every time we spend Runic Power, stacking up to 3 times. Provides a nice increase in our Sudden Doom Icon Sudden Doom proc rate.
Unholy Bond Icon Unholy Bond - Increases the effectiveness of our Runeforges by 20%. This includes every aspect of the Runeforge, making Rune of the Fallen Crusader Icon Rune of the Fallen Crusader both increase its healing and strength gain, for instance.
Ice Prison Icon Ice Prison - Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice now also roots enemies for 4 sec but its cooldown is increased to 12 sec.
Gloom Ward Icon Gloom Ward GW Increases the effectiveness of all absorbs on you by 15%. Big survivability increases both from empowering our abilities, such as Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell and Anti-Magic Zone Icon Anti-Magic Zone, as well as any healing coming in the form of absorbs. Especially good with Disc Priests!
Assimilation Icon Assimilation - Increases the amount absorbed by Anti-Magic Zone Icon Anti-Magic Zone by 10% and its cooldown is reduced by 30 seconds.
Grip of the Dead Icon Grip of the Dead - Adds a 90% slow to your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay/ Defile Icon Defile, reducing by 10% for every second. A great tool to help your tank kite and manage any trash pack. It also helps to prevent targets from running away from you as you begin your AoE burst, something that can otherwise be very frustrating.
Suppression Icon Suppression - Passively increases your Avoidance by 3%. This is increased to 9% for 6 seconds when you suffer a loss of control effect.
Blood Scent Icon Blood Scent - Passively increases your Leech by 3%.
Unholy Endurance Icon Unholy Endurance - Converts your Lichborne Icon Lichborne into a proper defensive cooldown, granting it 2 extra seconds of duration as well as a 15% damage reduction for you. Adds to our already extensive kit of defensives!
Osmosis Icon Osmosis - Your Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell also increases healing received by 15%.
Insidious Chill Icon Insidious Chill - Applies a stacking debuff with your auto attacks, reducing the enemy's attack speed by 5% per stack up to 20% at 4 stacks. Helps your tanks survive in a scenario (or yourself when doing open-world content). Stacks with similar effects such as Curse of Weakness Icon Curse of Weakness.
Runic Protection Icon Runic Protection - Reduces your chance to be critically struck by 3% and increases your armor by 6%. Small defensive boost.
Blood Draw Icon Blood Draw BD Heals you for a moderate amount if you drop below 30% health. It can only occur once every 2 minutes. Also reduces damage taken by 10% and Runic Power cost of Death Strike Icon Death Strike by 10 for 8 seconds after it triggers.
Rune Mastery Icon Rune Mastery - Makes spending Runes give a chance to increase our strength by 3/6% for 8 seconds.
Subduing Grasp Icon Subduing Grasp - When you pull an enemy (with Death Grip Icon Death Grip or Abomination Limb Icon Abomination Limb), they deal 6% less damage to you for 6 seconds. Makes Death Grip Icon Death Grip a small defensive Cooldown against bosses.
Will of the Necropolis Icon Will of the Necropolis WotN Reduces the damage you take below 30% by 20/35%. Big boost to our survivability since the damage we take below 30% is by far the most useful to mitigate. Effectively increases max HP by 16% against one-shots.
Null Magic Icon Null Magic - Reduces magic damage taken by 10% and harmful debuff duration by 35%. A really nice defensive boost against magic damage.
Unyielding Will Icon Unyielding Will - Increase the cooldown of Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell by 20 seconds but makes it remove all negative debuffs on you when used. Can be incredibly powerful when dealing with various raid mechanics.
Death's Echo Icon Death's Echo DE Provides an extra charge to Death's Advance Icon Death's Advance, Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay and Death Grip Icon Death Grip. Nice increase in utility with the the extra mobility and the additional grip. Also, a solid buff in AoE since we have more freedom to enter multiple Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay burst windows in any given pull.
Vestigial Shell Icon Vestigial Shell - Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell also applies two shields to nearby allies. These shields absorb some Magic Damage (10% of your own AMS) and reduces the duration of Magic effects by 50%. Nice defensive boost to your party, especially in Mythic+.
8.

Frost Death Knight Spec Tree Passive Abilities

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine KM Gives your critical auto-attacks a chance to make your next Obliterate Icon Obliterate or Frostscythe Icon Frostscythe a guaranteed critical strike. It has built-in bad-luck-protection with an increasing probability of getting a proc every time you fail to get one. The chance scales as 30% -> 60% -> 90% -> 100%, meaning you cannot have more than 3 crit auto-attacks in a row without getting a proc! For 2H, the probability is 100% when you get a crit auto. Proc stacks up to two times.
Everfrost Icon Everfrost EF Applies a debuff to any enemy damaged by your Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter, increasing the damage they take from Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter by 6% for 8 seconds, stacking up to 10 times. In a similar way to Gathering Storm Icon Gathering Storm, this debuff can be extended at 10 stacks with sufficient extension of Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter. You have slightly more leeway here and only need to extend Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter by 5 seconds to roll the debuff.
Unleashed Frenzy Icon Unleashed Frenzy - Gives a 2% stacking strength buff every time you deal damage to an enemy with an ability that costs Runic Power. Lasts for 6 seconds and stacks up to 3 times. Provides an ability to track in your core rotation where you need to prioritise Runic Power abilities every so often to maintain it at full uptime.
Improved Frost Strike Icon Improved Frost Strike - Increases the damage of your Frost Strike Icon Frost Strike ability by 10/20%.
Runic Command Icon Runic Command - Increases your maximum Runic Power by 10/20, bringing the total to 110/120. This stacks with our Hysteria Icon Hysteria Runeforge, bringing the total up to a potential 140.
Improved Rime Icon Improved Rime - Increases the damage increase of Rime Icon Rime from 150% to 225%.
Improved Obliterate Icon Improved Obliterate - Increases the damage of our Obliterate Icon Obliterate ability by 10%.
Biting Cold Icon Biting Cold BC Increases the damage of Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter by 35% and generates a proc of Rime Icon Rime when Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter has dealt damage to three unique targets. Big boost overall with the most impact in AoE. Both from the raw damage as well as the guaranteed Rime Icon Rime proc!
Frigid Executioner Icon Frigid Executioner - Increases the damage of Obliterate Icon Obliterate by 15% and gives the ability a 15% chance to refund its cost when used. Good boost for builds that focus heavily on Obliterate Icon Obliterate damage and provides a nice amount of extra resources to the rotation.
Rage of the Frozen Champion Icon Rage of the Frozen Champion RotFC Increases the chance for Obliterate Icon Obliterate to generate a proc of Rime Icon Rime by 15%. Also makes your Howling Blast Icon Howling Blast that consumes a proc of Rime Icon Rime generate 6 Runic Power. Brings a nice amount of resources to our rotation. Both from more GCDs being used on free Howling Blast Icon Howling Blasts as well as more Runic Power being generated overall. Specifically synergizes well with Breath of Sindragosa Icon Breath of Sindragosa!
Cold Heart Icon Cold Heart CH Gives a stacking buff every 2 seconds that makes your next Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice deal magic damage. Stacks up to 20 times (over 40 seconds) and deals damage for every stack consumed. Synergizes with Proliferating Chill Icon Proliferating Chill as the damage is applied to both enemies that are hit with Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice.
Enduring Strength Icon Enduring Strength - Provides a 15% strength buff after your Pillar of Frost Icon Pillar of Frost buff fades. The base duration is 6 seconds, and every Obliterate Icon Obliterate and Frostscythe Icon Frostscythe critical strike extends this by 2 seconds. Extends the buff window and synergises well with our longer cooldowns such as Breath of Sindragosa Icon Breath of Sindragosa.
Icecap Icon Icecap - Reduces the cooldown of Pillar of Frost Icon Pillar of Frost by 15 seconds. From 60 to 45 seconds. This is both good value due to more Pillars, but also nice since it aligns well with both Chill Streak Icon Chill Streak and Horn of Winter Icon Horn of Winter
Frostwhelp's Aid Icon Frostwhelp's Aid Whelp Summons a mini dragon when we use Pillar of Frost Icon Pillar of Frost, dealing damage in a straight line ahead of us up to 40 yards away. Also gives a 8% Mastery buff for every target hit, stacking up to 5 times. Great boost for our Pillar of Frost Icon Pillar of Frost window in AoE, but does ninja pull a lot if you are not careful.
Murderous Efficiency Icon Murderous Efficiency ME Gives a 25% chance to generate a Rune when you consume a proc of Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine with Obliterate Icon Obliterate. Good synergy with any build that generates a lot of Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine procs, especially Obliteration Icon Obliteration.
Inexorable Assault Icon Inexorable Assault IA Provides a stacking buff on yourself every 8 seconds. Obliterate Icon Obliterate and Frostscythe Icon Frostscythe consume a proc to deal additional Frost Damage. Stacks up to 5 times. Importantly, the extra Frost damage is independent of whether Obliterate Icon Obliterate or Frostscythe Icon Frostscythe crits and does not synergizes with any procs of Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine. For Frostscythe Icon Frostscythe, it only hits your primary target, not gaining any benefit from the AoE part of the ability.
Gathering Storm Icon Gathering Storm GS Increases the duration of Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter by 0.5 seconds, and its damage by 10% for every Rune you consume. This stacks to 10. With sufficient Rune use, you can extend this buff for 20 seconds when your Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter becomes available. Recasting the ability with retain the stacks and reset the duration to 8. This is a significant DPS increase and is something you should aim to do when possible.
Cryogenic Chamber Icon Cryogenic Chamber CC Each time Frost Fever Icon Frost Fever deals damage, 15% of the damage is stored in your next cast of Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter, stacking up to 20 times. Adds a single big hit to you casting Remorseless Winter Icon Remorseless Winter, so no synergy with other Remorseless Winter talents.
Piercing Chill Icon Piercing Chill - Makes your Chill Streak Icon Chill Streak apply a debuff whenever it hits a target, increasing the damage of Chill Streak Icon Chill Streak by 10%, stacking. This is a good damage increase whenever you have low target counts, being the most efficient with 2 stacked targets. Loses power with large target counts as the debuffs are unlikely to stack up very high.
Enduring Chill Icon Enduring Chill EC A 20% chance to increase the total amount of bounces by 1 every time Chill Streak Icon Chill Streak bounces. This will increase the total amount of bounces from 9 to 11.25 (in an infinite duration case) on average. This will be roughly 2 extra bounces in real scenarios. Requires the pack to live for the initial 9 bounces before it takes effect.
Bonegrinder Icon Bonegrinder - Provides a stacking 1% critical strike buff whenever you consume a proc of Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine. The buff lasts for 10 seconds. Using a proc of Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine at 5 stacks consumed the buff, granting 10/20% increased Frost damage for 10 seconds. Great synergy with Obliteration Icon Obliteration that is almost guaranteed to trigger this buff after each Pillar of Frost Icon Pillar of Frost window.
Smothering Offense Icon Smothering Offense - Increases auto-attack damage by 10%. Also increases the number of times that Icy Talons Icon Icy Talons can stack by 2, thus increasing the proc rate of Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine and other talents that synergise with auto attack hits.
Absolute Zero Icon Absolute Zero AZ Reduces the cooldown of Frostwyrm's Fury Icon Frostwyrm's Fury to 90 seconds and adds a 4-second stun to any target you hit with the ability. Overall a nice boost to our AoE burst potential where we can leverage our burst significantly more often.
Avalanche Icon Avalanche - Provides some extra AoE damage whenever we consume a proc of Rime Icon Rime, as well as applying a stack of Rune of Razorice Icon Rune of Razorice to all targets hit. Opens up for multiple builds to pick up another Runeforge that is not Rune of Razorice Icon Rune of Razorice, indirectly making this talent very powerful.
Icebreaker Icon Icebreaker - Makes your Rime Icon Rime also grant 30/60% increased damage to your primary target. Makes Howling Blast Icon Howling Blast hit hard on single-target and increases the priority of not overlapping procs of Rime Icon Rime.
Obliteration Icon Obliteration Oblit Makes your Frost Strike Icon Frost Strike, Glacial Advance Icon Glacial Advance, Frostscythe Icon Frostscythe and Howling Blast Icon Howling Blast generate a proc of Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine if used during your Pillar of Frost Icon Pillar of Frost. Overall, it adds a significant amount of procs to your rotation and converts your Pillar of Frost Icon Pillar of Frost window into a big damage cooldown. Introduces a "weaving" game style where you alternate between generating and consuming procs of Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine.
Icy Death Torrent Icon Icy Death Torrent IDT Your auto attack crits have a chance to deal Frost damage in a cone in front of you. Good passive damage throughput that requires you to always think about your position to deal effective AoE damage.
Shattering Blade Icon Shattering Blade SB Makes your Frost Strike Icon Frost Strike consume your Rune of Razorice Icon Rune of Razorice debuff at 5 stacks, increasing its damage by 100%. Makes Frost Strike Icon Frost Strike sometimes hit hard, but does give us a period of Rune of Razorice Icon Rune of Razorice downtime whenever we utilize this effect. Essentially requires us to Runeforge Rune of Razorice Icon Rune of Razorice to be useful.
Hyperpyrexia Icon Hyperpyrexia - Runic Power abilities sometimes deal 45% of their damage over 4 sec. Just a passive DPS boost to any ability that consumes Runic Power. This includes the free Glacial Advance Icon Glacial Advance you get from Arctic Assault Icon Arctic Assault.
The Long Winter Icon The Long Winter TLW During Pillar of Frost Icon Pillar of Frost, auto-attack critical strikes increase the duration by 2 seconds, up to 6 seconds. Even more value for crit autos, increasing the value of Crit and Haste for us.
Shattered Frost Icon Shattered Frost SF When Frost Strike Icon Frost Strike consumes 5 stacks of Rune of Razorice Icon Rune of Razorice, 65% of the damage dealt is also dealt to nearby enemies. Deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets. Makes Dual-Wield Obliteration Icon Obliteration builds viable for Mythic+ and turns Frost Strike Icon Frost Strike into your AoE Runic Power spender.
9.

Rider of the Apocalypse Hero Talents

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Rider's Champion Icon Rider's Champion Spending Runes have a chance to summon a Horsemen for 10 seconds. Randomly gets one out of four Horsemen:
  • Mograine - Casts Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay that follows his location around. Provides the benefit from Cleaving Strikes Icon Cleaving Strikes once you pick up Mograine's Might Icon Mograine's Might.
  • Whitemane - Casts Undeath Icon Undeath on your enemy, a stacking DoT that can also spread to nearby enemies, similar to Necrotic Plague of old times.
  • Trollbane - Casts Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice on your target, slowing their movement speed and increasing the damage you deal to them. Trollbane's Icy Fury Icon Trollbane's Icy Fury allows you to burst the chains, dealing heavy AoE damage.
  • Nazgrim - Increases your strength by 3% when active. Nazgrim's Conquest Icon Nazgrim's Conquest can significantly increase this benefit.
On a Paler Horse Icon On a Paler Horse While outdoors, you are able to mount your Acherus Deathcharger in combat. Huge increase to the speed at which you can quest in outdoor content. Unfortunately does not worked in instanced content such as Raids, Dungeons, Battlegrounds and Arenas.
Death Charge Icon Death Charge Replaces your Death's Advance Icon Death's Advance, increasing the movement speed you gain to 100% and mounting you for its duration. Breaks you free of any movement impairment effects when used. Furthermore, allows you to keep fighting while on the mount. Immune to knockbacks when in effect.
Whitemane's Famine Icon Whitemane's Famine When Obliterate Icon Obliterate damages a target affected by Undeath Icon Undeath it gains 1 stack and infects another nearby enemy. Allows for you to quickly stack and spread the debuff in conjunction with Cleaving Strikes Icon Cleaving Strikes.
Hungering Thirst Icon Hungering Thirst The damage of your diseases and Frost Strike Icon Frost Strike are increased by 10%.
Mograine's Might Icon Mograine's Might Your damage is increased by 5% and you gain the benefits of your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay while inside Mograines Death and Decay. Importantly, the 5% damage increase only comes from Mograine's Death and Decay, not your own!
Nazgrim's Conquest Icon Nazgrim's Conquest Apocalyptic Conquest Icon Apocalyptic Conquest strength is increased by 3% every time an enemy dies. Furthermore, each Rune you spend increases the Strength by 1%. Very powerful for packs of mobs where weaker ones die quickly and early.
Fury of the Horsemen Icon Fury of the Horsemen Every 50 Runic Power you spend extends the duration of the Horsemen currently aiding you by 1 second, up to a maximum of 5 seconds. Solid way of improving overall uptime of the Horsemen!
A Feast of Souls Icon A Feast of Souls While you have 2 or more Horsemen aiding you, Runic Power spending abilities deal 20% increased damage. Good synergy with Apocalypse Now Icon Apocalypse Now but also have good uptime outside of our main cooldown windows.
Horsemen's Aid Icon Horsemen's Aid When active, your Horsemen will occasionally cast Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell on you at 80% effectiveness. Great for extra Magic immunity and absorb.
Pact of the Apocalypse Icon Pact of the Apocalypse When you take damage, 5% is redirected to each active Horseman. Solid passive damage reduction that increases significantly during your cooldowns.
Trollbane's Icy Fury Icon Trollbane's Icy Fury Obliterate Icon Obliterate shatters the Chains of Ice Icon Chains of Ice cast by Trollbane, dealing damage to all nearby enemies and slowing them.
Mawsworn Menace Icon Mawsworn Menace Obliterate Icon Obliterate deals 10% more damage and the cooldown of your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay is reduced by 10 seconds (from 30 to 20). Provides the option of leveraging your Death and Decay Icon Death and Decay windows significantly more often.
Apocalypse Now Icon Apocalypse Now Frostwyrm's Fury Icon Frostwyrm's Fury calls upon all 4 Horsemen to aid you for 20 seconds. Great synergy with Absolute Zero Icon Absolute Zero since you then gain the burst every 90 seconds! This actually also works with our Dragonflight Season 4 tier set, summoning 4 Horsemen whenever we use Pillar of Frost Icon Pillar of Frost!
10.

Deathbringer Icon Deathbringer Hero Talents

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark 2 Rune, 45 seconds cooldown ability that deals Shadowfrost damage and applies Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark when used. Every time you deal Shadow or Frost damage, one stack is added to the 12 seconds debuff. After 12 seconds or when reaching 40 stacks, it explodes and deals damage per stack.
Wave of Souls Icon Wave of Souls Casting Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark sends a wave through the enemy that returns to you, dealing Shadowfrost to enemies in its path. Critical strikes from the wave increases the Shadowfrost damage that the enemy takes for 15 seconds, stacking twice. The returning wave always critically strikes, so you are guaranteed at least one stack of the damage debuff.
Soul Rupture Icon Soul Rupture When Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark explodes, 20% of the damage is dealt to nearby enemies. Enemies hit by the explosion deal 5% reduced physical damage to you for 10 seconds.
Swift End Icon Swift End Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark Mark cost is reduced by 1 Rune and its cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds. This makes it a 1 Rune cost ability at a 30 seconds cooldown.
Painful Death Icon Painful Death Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark deals 10% increased damage and Exterminate Icon Exterminate empowers an additional Obliterate Icon Obliterate, reducing its cost by 1 Rune. Exterminate Icon Exterminate has a 30% chance to apply Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark (up from 20%), potentially leading to multiple back-to-back Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Marks if you are lucky.
Blood Fever Icon Blood Fever Your Frost Fever Icon Frost Fever has a chance to deal 30% increased damage as Shadowfrost. Helps stack up Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark since you get an additional hit. Furthermore, applies extra stacks via Bind in Darkness Icon Bind in Darkness.
Grim Reaper Icon Grim Reaper Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark explosion deals up to 30% increased damage based on your target's missing health. Also applies Soul Reaper Icon Soul Reaper to targets below 35% health. This does stack with your own application of Soul Reaper Icon Soul Reaper, as it acts like a DoT on your target, ticking every 5 seconds.
Dark Talons Icon Dark Talons Consuming Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine or Rime Icon Rime has a 25% chance to increase the maximum number of active Icy Talons Icon Icy Talons stacks by 1, up to two times. Brings the max from 3 to 5 stacks (7 with Smothering Offense Icon Smothering Offense), increasing your attack speed by 42% when at 7 stacks. Great synergy with Killing Machine Icon Killing Machine proc chance, Icy Death Torrent Icon Icy Death Torrent, Smothering Offense Icon Smothering Offense and The Long Winter Icon The Long Winter to name the most obvious talents.
Wither Away Icon Wither Away Frost Fever Icon Frost Fever deals its damage in half the duration and the second scythe from Exterminate Icon Exterminate applies Frost Fever Icon Frost Fever. Essentially doubles the DPS you get from you Frost Fever DoT, as well as synergising well with Blood Fever Icon Blood Fever and Cryogenic Chamber Icon Cryogenic Chamber.
Bind in Darkness Icon Bind in Darkness Shadowfrost damage applies 2 stacks to Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark and 4 stacks when it is a critical strike. Furthermore, Rime Icon Rime empowered Howling Blast Icon Howling Blast deals Shadowfrost damage. Creates great synergy with Blood Fever Icon Blood Fever as well as Wave of Souls Icon Wave of Souls which deal Shadowfrost damage and guarantees Crit (in the case of Wave of Souls).
Pact of the Deathbringer Icon Pact of the Deathbringer When you suffer damage of more than 25% of your max health, you instantly cast Death Pact Icon Death Pact at 50% effectiveness. Can only occur every 2 minutes. When Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark explodes, the cooldowns of this effect and Death Pact Icon Death Pact are reduced by 5 seconds. Some useful defensive ability with instant heal on big hit. The cooldown reduction brings the cooldown of Death Pact Icon Death Pact down to 1 minute 50 seconds, from 2 minutes, so not a very strong effect.
Rune Carved Plates Icon Rune Carved Plates Each Rune spent reduces the magic damage you take y 2% and each Rune generated reduces the physical damage you take by 2% for 5 seconds, up to 5 times. Provides a solid amount of defensive value as you tend to maintain high stacks for most of fights.
Death's Messenger Icon Death's Messenger Reduces the cooldown of Lichborne Icon Lichborne and Raise Dead Icon Raise Dead by 30 seconds. Some extra defensive value due to Lichborne Icon Lichborne being a relatively strong defensive cooldown with Unholy Endurance Icon Unholy Endurance. Furthermore, a small DPS upgrade due to Raise Dead Icon Raise Dead lower cooldown.
Expelling Shield Icon Expelling Shield When an enemy deals direct damage to your Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell, their cast speed is reduced by 10% for 6 sec. Generally useless for DPS Death Knights.
Exterminate Icon Exterminate After Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark explodes, your next Obliterate Icon Obliterate costs no Runes and summon 2 scythes to strike your enemies. The first scythe deals Shadowfrost damage and has a 20% (30% with Painful Death Icon Painful Death) to apply Reaper's Mark Icon Reaper's Mark. The second scythe deals AoE damage around your target (and applies Frost Fever Icon Frost Fever with Wither Away Icon Wither Away).
11.

Changelog

  • 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
  • 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
  • 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
  • 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
  • 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
  • 22 Apr. 2024: Updated for Season 4.
  • 22 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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