Introduction to the Unholy Death Knight
The Unholy specialisation currently provides moderate single target damage, as well as excellent cleave damage against 4+ targets. It is better in this regard when compared to many other specialisations.
Unholy Death Knights are currently very powerful, especially in a group where you are able to do consistently large pulls. This spec also offers some high burst in the game in both single-target and AoE situations. Unholy has strong survivability but lacks mobility, meaning positioning is very important on some encounters.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Unholy Death Knight
Strengths
- Strong single target, AoE, and cleave DPS
- Excellent damage-mitigation capabilities
- Has ability that provides immunities to knockback and movement-impairing effects
Weaknesses
- Poor target switching due to Festering Wound application
- Lack of damage immunity
- Low movement speed
- A variable amount of ramp-up time before it can deal effective DPS
Talents
Rotation for the Unholy Death Knight
The Basic rotation for Unholy Death Knights is as follows:
- Cast
Outbreak to apply
Virulent Plague on the enemy.
- Cast
Army of the Dead just before the pull
- Click
Soul Reaper when you have less than 2 full Runes available.
- Cast
Dark Transformation on cooldown.
- Use
Apocalypse when there are 4 or more
Festering Wounds on the target.
- Cast
Festering Strike to apply
Festering Wounds on the target.
- Use
Scourge Strike when there are at least 1
Festering Wounds on the target.
You can use the recommended Addon ConRo for help with your rotation, it can be found in our Addons Guide here
Cooldowns
Army of the Dead should normally be channelled before the pull, but also used for high burst during a fight.
Apocalypse should be used when you have 4 stacks of
Festering Wounds.
Stat Priority
The stat priority for the Unholy Death Knights is:
- Haste
- Critical Strike/ Versatility
- Mastery
Usually a higher item level piece of gear will be a bigger upgrade than a lower item level piece of gear even with better stats.

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