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Secrets Of Deathknight PVP
By Luke Egan | May 30, 2010
The first step to effective Deathknight PvP is knowing your moves. One of the most universally helpful moves to master right away is the use of Mind Freeze, which is the primary DK spell interruption attack. Most trees reduce or remove the runic power cost, making this an effective spell. There i
Deathknight are masters of controlling and restricting enemy movements. Chains of Ice is a powerful slowing spell, and classified as such for the purposes of other classes’ snare resisting talents – for example, Chains of Ice doesn’t activate the Arms Warriors’ second wind talent. The spell can be used effectively in combination with Deathgrip to keep an enemy away from your healer almost indefinitely. Watch out for Gnomes though, who can break free of Chains of Ice with greater ease than other races. Deathgrip can also be used to position enemies in front of a stationary hidden ally to execute stealth combination attacks. Another viable tactic is to use Chains of Ice in combination with Deathgrip to keep ranged enemies within melee range, where you can overwhelm them with strike attacks.
Another important group of abilities are your baseline defensive spells. The most powerful of these (when supported by a glyph) is Icebound Fortitude, giving a mighty 40% damage protection shield. Without glyphs, the best defensive spell is Death Pact, which lets the Deathknight consume one of his undead minions to restore 40% of your health – it is roughly comparable to the Paladin skill, Lay on Hands, for regaining the advantage in a losing fight. There is also Anti-Magic Shell for those looking to deal with dangerous Mages, Warlocks, and others. Anti-Magic Shell gives a 75% baseline magic defense for five seconds. Improved with talents, it offers full magic protection for longer, and unlocks Anti-Magic Zone, a powerful spell which will be covered later.
In addition to baseline defensive spells, which are all improved by their respective talent lines, are talent unique spells. The most potent of those spells is arguably Rune Tap from the Blood talent tree. Rune Tap, with full talent support and its related glyph, becomes a potent 30% self heal, as well as a 10% group heal on a very quick 30 second cool-down. In Frost we find Unbreakable Armor, a spell that boosts your armor by 25% and your strength as well – it does give a noticeable edge in melee versus melee combat situations. Last but not least, we have the most popular talent line, Unholy, with its two unique defensive spells, Anti-Magic Zone, which absorbs roughly 20,000 damage from spells with a bubble shaped dome that you can hide group members under, and Bone Shield. Bone Shield offers a slight damage increase and a 20% damage reduction on a one minute cool-down.
On the topic of gearing for Deathknight PvP, you’ll of course want to stack stamina, strength and crit rating; but your first priority is reaching the 5% basic hit cap, which will move failed special moves off the table. Another tip for stats is to put Spell Penetration on your cloak. Nothing is quite as frustrating as a fully resisted attack spell, which will happen from time to time, particularly when facing alchemists in battle grounds. According to Arena Junkies, the general stat priority for Deathknight is “Hit capping, spell penetration capping (approximately 135 rating), strength, crit, agility/haste”. In terms of professions, engineering, with its various gadgets like the parachute, rocket boots/gloves and mind controlling helmet add on is a solid choice. Jewelcrafting and blacksmithing are also good choices for getting better gems and free sockets. Enchanting gives ring enchantments for a mixed bag of stats. Now that gathering professions offer bonuses as well, you can basically pick whatever you enjoy.
Unholy is the most poplar PvP talent spec right now due to the fact it best defines the whole notion of a Deathknight, with its superior summoning of undead abilities and great defensive options. It’s also not lacking in terms of offensive power either. It is possible to sacrifice some talents to dip deep enough into Blood for improved Rune Tap and still retain the majority of the power of Unholy, though you may have to sacrifice some personal attack power or your advanced ghoul summoning abilities. Because of the chaotic situations of PvP, there is no real rotation; however, one thing you can do is practice stacking diseases on multiple targets. The target dummies can be helpful for this.
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