Boring DK Dps Guide (pre 3.2)

I offered to help a member raise his dps, so instead of trying to whisper information in a confusing manner, I thought it'd be better to just make a post here to make it accessible to all. I don't know everything, but I have spent a lot of time researching and experimenting with dk dps. If you have any questions/comments/suggestions/insults, please let me know. This guide is divided into 2 sections: Preparing for the Fight and Fighting. I did spend some time on this, so it'd be nice to see at least one person actually read it.

Preparing for the Fight

Speccing

Blood
There is one blood spec and here it is
http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?cid=6&tal=23050205300033132310230013500000000000000000000000000000230230302003200000000000000000

There are only 2 options for blood spec: either mark of blood or vampiric blood and either Dancing Rune Weapon (DRW) or Unholy Blight. I prefer blight, but for pure single target dps, DRW is better if glyphed and used properly.

Blood suffers in aoe (with unholy blight it's about equal) but excels in single target. You need about 5% armor penetration from gear to see this build shine.

Unholy

I would recommend unholy for most dk's. Unholy has the highest dps if your ebon plague is up...by a good deal. THe problem is that only one dk in the raid can have their ebon plague apply.

Here is the cookie cutter build (you must have these points):
http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?cid=6&tal=23050000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000230200332003215203140003133151

This leaves you 8 points to do with as you please. Most grab 2 handed weapon specialization and Dark Conviction in Blood. A black ice build in Frost is also possible.

Frost

I am currently specced frost and use this build: Xannatos

Of the 3 specs, frost has the lowest single target dps and actually cheats by inflating its numbers with big aoe bursts. On patchwerk, the build will be disapointing, but on most fights it will be pretty impressive. There are perhaps 3-4 encounters in naxx and ulduar combined that do not have aoe adds of some sort, not to mention the trash.


Gearing
Compared to other melee classes, dk gearing is relatively simple. You want to stack hit until capped (8%) and then just stack attack power. Always use strength gems/enchants over attack power ones because of Blessings of Kings. DO NOT GEM CRIT. Only gem crit if you are hit capped and need to fill a yellow socket. In which case use the str-crit orange gem. Even then, it might be better to use expertise gems if you're pushing 5k attack power buffed. Also, stay away from haste as much as possible. It is one of the worst melee stats. For frost especially, it is terribad. I shouldn't have to say this, but NO SPELLPOWER PLEASE.

As for secondary stats (those other stats at the bottom of gear, not gemmed stats), armor penetration is a HUGE dps boost for blood, but doesn't do much for frost and unholy. For frost and unholy, you might as stick with crit.

For gear decisions, use this guide from Elitist Jerks. It is outdated (3.08), but probably still relevant

Stat (rating) Unholy Blood Frost
1 AP 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000
1STR 2.4847 2.5570 2.3650
1HIT 2.4748 2.6609 2.4046
1APR 0.5447 1.0456 0.7628
1EXP 1.3914 1.7023 1.2453
1CRT 1.1240 1.1453 1.1894
1HASTE0.6214 0.5640 0.4978



Glyphs

Minor:
Pestilence
Raise Dead
Horn of Winter

Major:

Blood
Death Strike
Glyph of Dark Death or Glyph of Disease
DRW or Unholy Blight depending on spec

Unholy
Unholy Blight
Scourge Strike
Glyph of Disease, Glyph of Dark Death, or Glyph of Ghoul

Frost
Frost Strike
Obliterate
Disease (There is a frost fever only rotation that uses howling blast to apply frost fever. In this case, you would use glyph of howling blast. The advantage of this build is that you would never have to use pestilence or icy touch or plagues strike...just howling blast, obliterate, frost strike. This is only a theoretical style concocted by my brother and I have never attempted it)

Fighting

(1st of all, keep horn of winter up...on every cooldown..always)

Unless you can't get through a rotation because the mobs have little hit points, DO NOT START WITH DEATH AND DECAY. I know it's tempting, but don't do it. Also, don't use blood boil. It's a serious dps drop and gives you unneeded aggro.


Being a good dk dpser is about 2 things:
1. Knowing your specs rotation
2. Knowing the priority of abilities

1. Each spec has its rotation used to maximize it's big hitters. Blood has the sloppiest rotation, frost is the tightest, and unholy is somewhere in between.
-Blood Rotation: Death Strike (DS)> Icy Touch (IT)> Plague Strike (PS)>Heart Strike (HS)>HS>DS>HS>HS>HS>HS
The goal here is to be hitting with heart strike with diseases on as much as possible. Death strikes give you dead runes and gives you abominable might. The above rotation is sloppy because there is down time and diseases will expire, requiring you to use death runes to put IT and PS back on. I would only recommend blood for somewhat advanced players.

Unholy Rotation: IT>PS>Blood Strike (BS)>BS>Scourge Strike (SS)>SS>SS>SS
This rotation is very strong because with SS glyph, you can go the entire fight without reapplying diseases.

Frost Rotation: IT>PS>BS>BS>Obliterate (or howling blast if multipe mobs)>Obliterate....dump frost strikes whenever possible...reapply diseases as needed

2. Priorities
Blood: Your goal is to hit with heart strike as many times as possible with both diseases up. Using death strikes early converts runes to death runes allowing you to do more HS over a period of time.

Unholy: your goal is to hit with scourge strikes as many times as possible with both diseases up. Using Blood Strikes early converts runes to death runes allowing you to do more SS over a period of time. Once you get this rotation going, you may not have to reapply diseases for a good amount of time, allowing you to do extra SS.

Frost: Your biggest hitter is frost strike. But obliterates do a lot damage and howling blasts rack up huge aoe numbers. You want to use those 3 abilities as often as possible. Always have at least frost fever up and never let your runic power fill up (always frost strike dump). Use blood strikes early for more obliterates/howling blasts in the long-run. Keep icy talons up with icy touch (or howling blast with glyph)

Websites
This is a limited guide. For more info, wisp me (Xannatos or Tecumsehh) or go to Elitist Jerks, Wow Forums, or Deathknight.info.