Unholy Death Knight PvP Best Races and Racials — The War Within (11.0.5)
Racial bonuses can provide interesting PvP benefits. Here are the best races to choose for each faction. The races are sorted from highest impact in arena to lowest. However, all races below have their own unique ways of making an impact in a PvP match.
This page is part of our Unholy Death Knight PvP Guide.
Best Alliance Races for Unholy Death Knight PvP in Order
- Human
- Dwarf
- Pandaran
Human Racials
The Human racial bonus ( Will to Survive) is a great way to get out of stuns. If you think you will be the focus target versus teams with multiple stuns, this race allows you to play Relentless. This will help increase your overall survivability. It is also important to note that Humans also have The Human Spirit. This increases your secondary stats (Haste, Critical Strike, Mastery, Versatility). This is another beneficial reason to play Human.
Gnome Racials
The Gnome racial bonus ( Escape Artist) removes any movement speed reduction effects on you. With only a 1-minute cooldown, this can be used both defensively or offensively. You can use this to help kite incoming damage or use it to remove slows on you while chasing down an enemy. Another racial that Gnome provides is Expansive Mind. This will increase your maximum Resource, which helps with not running out of resources.
Best Horde Races for Unholy Death Knight PvP in Order
- Orc
- Blood Elf
- Pandaran
- Troll
Orc Racials
The Orc racial bonus ( Hardiness) is great for reducing the duration of stuns on you. This is absolutely the best Horde racial to have if you are primarily focusing on PvP. In addition to Hardiness, Orcs also have the Blood Fury racial. This is off the global cooldown and should be used when you are using your burst rotation.
Troll Racials
The Troll racial bonus ( Berserking) grants you a large amount of Haste. You should activate this ability right before you are using important cooldowns or to cast crowd control faster. Another racial to note is Da Voodoo Shuffle. This significantly reduces the duration of slows on you and will help when kiting enemy players that are focusing you.
Blood Elf Racials
The Blood Elf racial bonus ( Arcane Torrent) has multiple effects. The primary use for this ability is that it removes 1 beneficial effect from all enemies in range. This is great for removing abilities such as Blessing of Protection from Paladins or Soul of the Forest from Restoration Druids. The other effect is that it restores resources based on what specialization you are.
Pandaren
The Pandaren racial bonus ( Quaking Palm) is a 4-second incapacitate that can be used on an enemy target in melee range. It has a 2-minute cooldown and will break to any damage. This is a great racial to help your team set up crowd control before it expires.
Changelog
- 21 Oct. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.5.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for War Within Launch.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Reviewed for War Within Prepatch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.0.
- 01 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5.
- 05 May 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.
- 21 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 30 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 22 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
- 31 Jul. 2022: Reviewed for Shadowlands Season 4.
- 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 02 Mar. 2022: Updated for Patch 9.2.0
- 11 Dec. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.1.5.
- 04 Jul. 2021: Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.1.
- 05 Dec. 2020: Minor addition of Troll to Horde races.
- 14 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands pre-patch.
Other PvP Guides
Keator is a Rank 1 Death Knight and has been playing Death Knight since Wrath. After having raided in US Top 50 guilds for multiple expansions, he decided to dive into PvP where he found his passion. He also streams occasionally on Twitch.
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