Death Knight DPS Shopping List

[rokku]

So, I'm level 80 and slowly getting rid of my cruddy gear. However, right now it's still a mix-and-match of PVP and PVE gear, and obviously is not ideal for what I want - a DK that can hold his own in dungeons, and in the wider world (of warcraft). [Note: I've pretty much given up on PVP other than Wintergrasp now]

You can see from my profile on Wowhead that I currently have a gearscore of 1768; I've seen mentions on here of people getting GS of ~5k soon after dinging 80, and I'd like to know how!

I've put together an alternative spec based on the best non-raid gear I could find from the upgrade options offered by Wowhead, as well as gems which offer strength and crit hit additionals.

The idea behind this is to put together an ideal shopping list, so I can stop arseing about and try and get a focus on getting decent gear, so I can then enjoy myself in dungeons without worrying about underperforming - right now, it's to the point where I may as not even be present (DPS ~1200 if I'm lucky).

So (tl;dr) could someone please give me DK-specific advice on this? The reason I chose non-raid gear is that (and correct me if I'm wrong) I'll have a hard time getting into a raid with the gear I have now, and I'm not a member of a raiding guild...

Thanks in advance

[splob]

i have a similar problem i have a 1.5gs on wowhead usualy in hc's i come 2nd/3rd in dps recount heres my profile http://www.wowhead.com/profile=eu.eonar.splob
got titansteel destroyer last night boosted my gearscore by nearly 400

[antacus]

Keep in mind that as you raise your GS that the game will place you in higher groups. Example:

• My GS was 1500 and I ranked 3-4 on recount while the rest of the group was GS 1600
• Raise GS to 2000 and I still rank 3-4 on recount while the rest of the group was GS 2200
• Raise GS to 2400 and I still rank 3-4 on recount while the rest of the group was GS 2600
• And so on ... never ending battle

I currently am GS 4800 and tend to get 1-2 on recount finally. As a DPS mage it was down right embarrassing being last for that long

[rokku]

Oh ok... perhaps I need to look at my rotation, then... I think right now it's something like IT, ST, HS HS HS etc. I read on a thread on the WOW EU forums that as a DPS in 5-man's, one should do disease-less rotation. Any thoughts on that from DK-ers? I might try it tonight when I get home...

[Krayzee]

Lmfao, diseaseless rotation? DK DPS relies on diseases to keep your runic power up.

[Kamchak]

Oh ok... perhaps I need to look at my rotation, then... I think right now it's something like IT, ST, HS HS HS etc. I read on a thread on the WOW EU forums that as a DPS in 5-man's, one should do disease-less rotation. Any thoughts on that from DK-ers? I might try it tonight when I get home...

I am not getting into the GS or not to GS argument here, but that is not the determining factor in raising DPS.
If you are a caster, you should first focus on maxing your spell power, then hit ratio.
If you are melee you should first max your hit ratio, then strength.
Why GS is not the beginning and end of your DPS..... I can have a 5900 GS, but be wearing PvP gear. My DPS in a heroic will be around the output of a 3200 GS player.
Better performance does not always come with a higher GS. There is more to gear choices than GS.
Check elitistjerks.com for your maximum setup for hit ratio, spell power, etc.

[antacus]

Very very true and I have made reference to this in the past with a friend that lives in his PVP equipment set. All GS does is give an idea of where you stand in reference to equipment levels and not to the type of equipment. I always assume PVE equipment since that is what I do but there are other sets out there.

As well as using elitest jerks as Kamchak suggested download and use their program "rawr" and you can tweak your character to the 9s. I still can't get the 6,700 DPS average the program says I should be BUT I am doing a lot better then I was before I started tweaking

Rawr will give you suggested rotations, at least for mage it does, if you look at the umm... at work and forget ... under edit there is a copy stats to clipboard or some such. Paste it into a text file and should be in there.

[BusterBrownMan]

I'd shoot for T9 and triumph badge gear, as well as the spikeguards. The 4p is pretty good, even more so if you're unholy. There is a i219 two handed mace from NPoS which would be a pretty nice upgrade.
Also rawr or a spreadsheet(if dps dks have one) is the way to go.

[Werderx]

Lmfao, diseaseless rotation? DK DPS relies on diseases to keep your runic power up.

If you are in an epic group... or at least one with ICC gear, the mob will be dead before your diseases will tick hence making it more viable to give spike dmg.

rokku,
Best bet for you is to grind out the Tier9 stuff. Get the shoulders and hands first as they are cheaper (40 badges each). Then you want to go for your legs and chest. Save the helm to come from the Badge vendor (non-tier9).

Make sure your hit is 8ish%. If you are alliance, you can get away with 7% as long as you have a Draenei in the group.

It's not as big of a deal, but you should also have your Expertise at 26.

You can get player made boots and gloves ilvl 245+.

You want to open up Shadowvault dailys and max it out as they are your only source for a good head enchant. There quest chain starts in Dalaran where the launch pad (or whatever its called) is.

Hodir is you only source for a shoulder enchant.

And as i hope you know by now... stack the crap out of strength. There are only a couple of instances when you would actually gem for a socket bonus.

[Werderx]

Oh, and at this time... when you get your 4p T9, don't replace it until you have 2p T10. There is nothing currently that gives better DPS.

[Werderx]

I've seen mentions on here of people getting GS of ~5k soon after dinging 80, and I'd like to know how!
Thanks in advance

They get ilvl 264 player made stuff, and have saved their daily badges to get the 245 stuff.

[rokku]

Werdex, thanks greatly for that detailed advice! I have the shoulder enchant already but I will have to get it again when I get my t9 shoulder piece

I can see that this is going to be a long, ongoing process!

[rokku]

Also big thanks to the rest of you; will give Rawr a go but as a couple of you have stated, I should concentrate on getting the badges for tier 9.

[Werderx]

I looked at your talent build for the Blood spec.

There is a few things you can do to maximize your DPS. First things first, you will need to drop some of your survivability talents and trust your healers. yes yes that can be easier said than done. LOL

Also, since you are in the blood tree, your primary "Secondary DPS" is your Death Coil since you have "Sudden Doom". You will want to follow this talent up with "Morbidity" in the Unholy tree. This will really make "Sudden Doom" shine.

I see that you have Black Ice to help with your Death Coil. While Black Ice and Morbidity will buff your Death Coil the same amount, you get far more benefits from going into the Unholy tree.

Here is my suggested Blood spec: http://eu.wowarmory.com/talent-calc....00000000000000
Also.... you seem to be missing a 3rd major glyph, have Glyph of Scourge Strike, and Glyph of Ghoul.
Ref: http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-ta...=Reliq&group=1

You need to replace the 2 and add in the 1. =P
My suggestion:
Major
[Glyph of Dancing Rune Weapon]
[Glyph of Death Strike]
[Glyph of Dark Death]*
[Glyph of Disease]*

*You will either use GoD or GoDD as your 3rd glyph, depending on which build you choose to go for.

Minor
[Glyph of Horn of Winter]
[Glyph of Pestilence]
[Glyph of Raise Dead]
Ref: Elitist Jerks

[rokku]

Thanks again, especially for taking the time for such a response. I really appreciate it.

I've respec'd to what you recommend, and also bought the glyphs and applied them. I also made sure my rotation matched the dark death one mentioned in that EJ thread (since I went with the Dark Death glyph), and my DPS against the lvl 80 practice dummies is up around 2600 from about 1500 earlier

Now to try it out in a dungeon