This article is part of a directory: WoW Wrath Classic (WotLK): Complete Guide Directory
Table of contents

  • World of Warcraft- Wrath of the Lich King Classic box art
    World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic
    Platform:
    PC
    Developer:
    Blizzard
    Publisher:
    Activision
    Genre:
    MMORPG
    Multiplayer:
    Online Multiplayer
    ESRB:
    Teen
    Released:
    2022-09-26
    Franchise:
    Warcraft

Death Knight PvE Guides

how to play blood death knight in wow wotlk classic wrath

how to play frost death knight in wow wotlk classic wrath

how to play unholy death knight dk in wow wotlk classic wrath

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This guide will get right down to business showing you the Stat Priority you should take as an Unholy DK in WotLK. After breaking down the basic priorities, we will go into more specifics on caps and other situations that may require more finesse of your stat choices. If you are looking for our full Unholy DK Guide for Wrath, go here.

Unholy Death Knight Stat Priority - Wrath of the Lich King Classic

Priority

Stat

Cap / Conversion Details

1

Hit Rating

Aim For 263 Cap / 32.8 Hit Rating = 1% Hit Chance

2

Strength

1 Strength = 2 Attack Power

3

Haste

25.21 Haste Rating = 1% Attack Speed Boost

4

Critical Strike

45.91 Crit Rating = 1% Crit Chance

5

Expertise

32.8 Expertise Rating = 1% Decrease to Parry or Dodge

6

Armor Penetration

13.8 Armor Pen Rating = 1% Armor Penetration Value

7

Attack Power

1 Attack Power = 1 Attack Power

8

Agility

62 Agility = 1% Crit Chance

1. Unholy DK Hit Rating Cap

For the Unholy DK in WotLK, the main thing you need to know is you want to achieve at least an additional 8% to hit. This is where the 263 Hit Rating comes in, you can use the calculation below:

  • 263 Hit Cap / 32.8 Hit Rating = ~8% Hit Needed

The 32.8 in the equation represents the fact that it takes 32.8 Hit Rating to convert to 1% of Hit.

Additional Hit Rating beyond 263 is still very good for the Unholy DK and should still be sought after. The more you stack, the more likely your dual wield hits are to land, as well as your AoE spells: Death and Decay and Blood Boil. The more likely these are to hit, the better your AoE game will be!

2. Strength Priority

Strength will be the main primary stat you want to stack as much of, with no cap at all. Agility also helps, but it does not give any attack power for a Death Knight. We'll go over Agility more in the last section of the priorities.

Strength converts to Attack Power at the following rate:

  • 1 Strength = 2 Attack Power

3. Haste Priority Explained

Haste is the third most important stat for a Death Knight. It will decrease the time between attacks, making you hit much more often. Having a high Hit Rating from our previous discussion will power up Haste even more, as you will hit more often and swing more often. As an Unholy Death Knight, you benefit from haste even more than other DKs as it will increase all of your Pet Haste as well!

  • 25.21 Haste Rating = 1% Attack Speed Boost

It will take 25.21 Haste Rating to achieve a 1% faster attack speed.

DK wotlk

4. Critical Strike Rating Cap

Although Critical Strike Rating is usually seen as a great stat, it lacks in comparison to the Hit and Haste stats for DKs in WotLK. When you land a Crit, you will do double the damage, but it does take a lot more of the stat to convert to 1% Crit Rating compared to the other previously explained stats.

  • 1% Critical Strike Chance = 45.91 Crit Rating

You will need to gather 45.91 Critical Strike Rating to convert to 1% additional chance to crit as a Death Knight.

5. Expertise Explained

The Expertise stat will decrease the chances that your enemies will Parry or Dodge your attacks. You can think of this like a Hit Rating almost. Hit Rating will allow you swings to make it to the enemy, but they will still have a chance to parry that hit, or to dodge it completely. If you increase your expertise, those likelihoods will decrease and more of your hits will actually damage the enemy.

  • 32.8 Expertise Rating = 1% Decrease in Chance to Parry or Dodge
  • 1 Expertise "Point" = 8.2 Expertise Rating

Level 83 Enemies will have a 6.5% chance to Dodge or Parry your attacks. Therefore you need about 214 Expertise Rating to hit the cap and make sure no attacks are Dodged or Parried.

It is worth noting that other buffs and talents will reduce this rating requirement.

If you use our Unholy DK Guide for WotLK, you will be using the Rage of Rivendare talent which increases your Expertise by 5. As noted above, each Expertise point is worth 8.2 Expertise Rating. Therefore with this talent you will only need 173 Expertise Rating to hit cap.

Other Considerations of Expertise are if your race has Sword, Axe, or Mace Specialization Racial Abilities. For the full set of Expertise Rating Cap depending on your scenario, see below. For this example we will assume you use the required Rage of Rivendare talent.

Expertise Cap Scenario

Level 83

Level 82

Level 81

Level 80

Only Rage of Rivendare

173

157

156

140

Human w/ Sword or Mace

148

132

116

99

Dwarf w/ Mace

132

116

99

83

Orc w/ Axe

132

116

99

83

6. Armor Penetration

Armor penetration is beneficial against enemies with high armor values. This will allow you to ignore a portion of their armor and thus do more damage. It is much lower in priority compared to any of the other stats listed previously, but still worth mentioning. Here is how it is calculated:

  • 13.8 Armor Pen Rating = 1% Armor Penetration Value

If you had exactly 13.8 Armor Penetration Rating, it would mean your attacks ignore 1% of the enemy's armor; That 1% will deal its full damage.

7. Attack Power & Agility for Death Knights

Both Attack Power and Agility are very straight forward. They are the least important of all the stats listed and should only be taken if no other options from above exist. Strength will be a much better stat to convert to Attack Power, and Critical Strike Rating is a much better stat to stack Crit than Agility. Agility gives no benefit to any stat other than Crit Chance for Death Knight; it does not even grant Attack Power.