A Gnome Death Knight appropriately named Nutshell from Mug’thol reported on the forums that he had completed the requirements for the upcoming Achievement Insane in the Membrane. The Achievement, to be implemented in Patch 3.1, requires a character to gain Exalted reputation with the Steamwheedle Cartel (Everlook, Booty Bay, Ratchet, and Gadgetzan), Darkmoon Faire, Ravenholdt, the Shen’dralar, and Honored with the Bloodsail Buccaneers. Unlocking this Achievement also rewards the fitting title ‘the Insane’, arguably one of the cooler titles in the new patch.

Most of the faction reputations listed aren’t easy to grind, particularly the little known Ravenholdt faction in Hillsbrad Foothills. Most players who have been playing for years are unlikely to have considerable reputation with them nor the come-and-go Darkmoon Faire and the Dire Maul-based Shen’dralar. It’s an impressive feat for any character, and even more impressive for a Death Knight — Nutshell might possibly be the first one to complete it. Considering Loremaster Nutshell has 5870 Achievement points to date, it’s probably not that surprising the player made the grind. To all of this, Bornakk simply responded, “you’re insane.”

Here we present to you the top rated Death Knight Talent Builds. These builds will scare you, these builds will even shock you but most of all these builds will help you. As of today there has not been any success stories while being a Death Knight solely from the fact that they have not been out as long as a Mage, or a Warlock, or even a Rogue. Below are the top Death Knight builds alive and they will be sure to help you.

PVE Builds

Oh Bloody Frost, is this Death?

We have all seen it. We all fear it. The new class, the Death Knight, scares almost every other class in the game. With the new Death Knights ability to heal, damage, and even tank almost makes the Death Knight invincible. Just because you have a slight advantage being already higher level this does not mean you know how to play your class, this simply means you are even more confused and for all those Death Knights that need help or just advice read the following.

Blood PvE [45/26/0] – This beast of a build will make sure you are doing your damage while keeping up buffs and heals on yourself and allies. With the Death Knight comes new strategy and with new strategy is a new mind and a new way to play, its just up to you to embrace it.

Frost PvE [10/51/10] (Thanks to Nathrezim) - Another hard hitting frenzy build is by using Frost. This Frost build will keep you swinging fast while keeping an eye on your runic power. Death Knight builds like this is common these days just for the fact that people like to do more damage and well, this is kind of it.

Unholy PvE [7/0/64] – Being Unholy is not all about death and torment, it is about living, and living long. The build will narrow down on your defense against stuns and the like while unlocking special summons such as the bombarding Gargoyle.  You will also be able to keep control of your Ghoul without the time duration like without the talent point, also your mount is 20% faster.

PVP Builds

Some like it hot, well we like it cold!

Do you ever get that blood boiling feeling about you that wants you to rip apart every soul that has though about Frostmourne? Yeah me either, just curious. Anyways, we want you to be able to have a successful PvP life and with that you need some help, because lets face it, you do not know jack about it. That is why you are going to read below to check out these builds right?

Blood PvP [62/0/9] – Have you ever wanted a pet sword? Now is your chance! You will have the end talent “Dancing Rune Weapon” which will enable you to summon your Rune Sword to fight along side of you. This is the the typical “I will do more damage to you” build and there is nothing more about it, you can pretty much call yourself a Rogue with more benefical suped up powers, oh yeah, and you can not stealth.

Unholy PvP [0/14/5] -  This will be your typical terminator styled build, because you will be armored to the core. This Death Knight build will allow you to increase your Strength, Stamina, and Armor while being able to use the Unholy tree to compliment your summons.

Frost PvP [0/60/11] – There is nothing really to say about this build other than you are a crazy, frenzied, suped up Frost Mage. That is simply all I can say about it, you even have a form of Frost Nova, jeez. You will just need to keep your cooldowns in check and you will be pretty unstopable with this.

Furthermore, as a Death Knight continues to use runes, he/she generates runic power. This will
enable the user to unleash special abilities that consume runic power. This is very similar to the
warriors Rage meter.
Summons:
One of the core abilities of the Death Knight is to summon the undead. These creatures can add
extra damage to the Death Knight’s already impressive arsenal.
Raise Dead – raise a ghoul from creature or player corpses. When used on a corpse of a friendly
player, that player can control the actions of the ghoul.
Army of the Dead – call forth a group of undead followers for a limited time. These creatures
can attack the target of the Death Knight but only lasts for a short time.
Summon Deathcharger – summon a level 40 deathcharger land mount. At higher levels, a quest
can be taken to obtain the epic version.
Class Roles:
As a Tank – the Death Knight will benefit from using Frost Presence to generate increased
threat and defense. One interesting note is that Death Knights do not use shields. This makes
for an interesting tanking experience.
As a Melee DPS – All the Death Knight Talent trees can contribute to DPS with different play
styles. Blood focuses on high damage and HP regeneration while Frost uses frost damage. The
Unholy tree enables the use of disease, summons, and shadow damage.
Weapons:
The Death Knight can equip the following weapon types
• Axes
• Polearms
• Swords
• Maces
Why go Death Knight?
The Death Knight is the first hero class introduced to World of Warcraft. Picking a Death Knight
has many advantages over the normal classes. One apparent reason is that you immediately start
at level 55 with a full set of gear and a free normal mount. You can also easily solo because of
the Death Knight’s innate anti-magic resistances and blood magic self-heals.

    Whatever your play style is, you can go from melee DPS to tank with a few gear changes. The
Death Knight is a fearsome warrior and can dish out and take damage hand in hand.
Of course, they had to balance this hero class in some areas (but as far as we can tell so far, not
many):
• Death Knights cannot use shields, thus cannot effectively block attacks while tanking.
• Managing runes and abilities can be complicated to the beginner and might pose a challenge
to veterans.
• Leveling to 68 can only be done in the starting area, so if you had plans to group up with
your ‘Druid’ leveling mate, you can forget it!
Fortunately for Death Knights, Blizzard has made the starting area so much fun you won’t want
to leave it. The rewards for Death Knight specific quests are pretty incredible as well – all blues
– adding more incentive to stay put!
Whatever character you decide to level to 80, the main goal of course is to have fun. And from
what we see, fun is definitely on the cards for everyone. Whether you want to quest, concentrate
on professions, raid, or conquer dungeons, this guide is here to help you get through the
tough parts.

Frost Builds

Unholy Builds

I know for a fact that a lot of WoW subscribers had stopped playing a good while before the launch of The Wrath of the Lich King expansion. I was actually one of them! I had grown very tired of the guild drama and silly mistakes while taking down Akil’zon (the eagle boss) in Zul’Aman. And eventually I just decided to try other things. Warhammer was just coming out at the time and I hopped over for a couple of months. But eventually, the call of Warcraft started to seep into my being and as the launch of the new expansion neared, I found I couldn’t resist the urge to finally play a new class in WoW, the Death Knight.

Now please understand, I’m not one of those players that picks a class and lives and dies by it. I have played every single class in WoW. Some I liked more than others, like the warrior, shaman, and warlock. But I played them all. And to tell you the truth, I never really found my niche. This led to toon hopping and many, many alts. Which ultimately led to boredom because of all the incessant leveling and grinding I had to do. I state this mainly because I really want you to understand that my opinion of the new Death Knight class is a meaningful one, since I have played them all extensively. With that said, I will go on to explain why the Death Knight really is a hero class.

To begin, all Death Knights start in an instanced area, one that other characters(classes) can’t get to and one that once the death knight has completed it, can never return to. You start your journey beside the Lich King (yes the Lich King!) He whispers sweet nothings in your ears and you are his slave – there to do nothing but his bidding. You spend most of this time gearing up your newly born death knight, earning talent points, and getting your stallion. This is all done within a series of quests leading up to the betrayal of the Lich King. He basically sends you on a death mission which is uncovered by Tirion Fordring. Fordring then assaults the Lich King with none other than Ashbringer and the Lich retreats to Northrend. This sets the stage for the basis of the Wrath of the Lich King and explains why the death knights no longer serve the evil king.

You are then sent to the real world and have to walk through your races main city. The walk of shame includes citizens and guards spitting at you, throwing rotten fruits at you, and many vocal cheap shots. You finally make your way to your leader – in my case it was the king of Stormwind – and you vow to join forces and fight together against the Lich King.

Now that I’ve explained a little about how the death knights have become a playable class, I’d like to go into more depth about the actual class and what makes them so utterly awesome! This class has it all and when I say that I really do mean it.

The Death Knight fights by using runes. All Death Knights have 2 blood runes, 2 frost runes, and 2 unholy runes. There is also a fourth rune – the death rune – which can act as any of the 3 aforementioned runes. Most of their skills require a specific rune to be used. Other skills require runic power. Runic power builds up when you use skills that require a rune. Some build more than others but the basic skill will build about 10 runic power. Below is a display of your character’s portrait and where you can keep track of your runes cool down and availability.

Notable Skills: These are the skills that all Death Knights can get regardless of your talent specialization.

So just with these basic skills you can have a second hearthstone to Eastern Plaguelands, a reverse charge where you can bring an enemy to you instantly, the ability to spread disease without wasting more runes, be able to heal yourself, slow people down, and even ride your mount on water! You also get 2 forms of silence that I couldn’t fit in the image. Death and Decay is worth a mention here too as it is an AOE.

The Talent Trees: You can choose from a specialization in either Blood, Frost or Unholy. Blood is single target DPS; frost is the tank; and unholy is AOE (Area of Effect). I happened to choose unholy and therefore that is all I will cover as I don’t feel experienced enough in the other trees. So what skills does a death knight get from the Unholy Tree that stand out?

There are other skills of note that I couldn’t fit though such as Unholy Blight and Summon Gargoyle. Basically in the end you have a character that can have a constant ghoul / pet out to help it fight, that can ride and walk extremely fast, explode corpses, maintain protection against magic and even with physical damage with bone shield and lastly to have another AOE (plus Death and Decay).

With most classes there is always something they are weak against. Whether it be lack of interrupts for casters (magic damage dealers), mobility, protection, etc. With a Death Knight, you have it all! You have AOE dots (Damage over Time), pets, slowing abilities, interrupts, a taunt, many shields, a way to heal yourself, and the list goes on!

Not once while levelling my Death Knight (who is currently 69) have I ever felt like I was missing something. If anything, playing a Death Knight makes the player feel spoiled. I would guarantee that anyone who would give this class a chance would be more than happy with it. It takes a little slice out of every classes pie and combines it to make a very fun class: the Death Knight. And yes, the Death Knight really is a hero class.

HP Pool: This is of obvious importance to any tank, but again, as you’ll be focusing on obtaining uncritable, it’s important to consider how best to maximize Sta/HP without sacrificing defense.

Strength: In addition to being your primary threat generation stat (EVERYTHING scales with AP) strength doubles as an avoidance stat for DKs thanks to the passive ability Forceful Deflection, which adds an amount equal to 25% of total strength to your parry rating.

To sum it up before I get into the actual list, the heirarchy weight I’m using to determine the list looks something like this:

Defense (Until Uncritable) > Sta/Str > Dodge Rating > Parry Rating

Strength is our biggest threat generation stat, but others to consider in making gear choices are Expertise, Haste, and Hit Rating.

Head:

Ground Tremor Helm
Binds when picked up
Head Plate
1760 Armor
+48 Strength
+93 Stamina
Meta Socket
Red Socket
Socket Bonus: +12 Stamina
Equip: Increases defense rating by 61 (12.4 @ L80).
Equip: Improves hit rating by 37 (1.13% @ L80).

Drops from Moorabi in (H)Gundrak

Enchant: Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector
Requires Argent Crusade – Revered
Use: Permanently adds 37 stamina and 20 defense rating to a head slot item. Does not stack with other enchantments for the selected equipment slot.

Neck:

Chained Military Gorget
Binds when picked up
Neck
+41 Strength
+75 Stamina
Equip: Increases defense rating by 33 (6.71 @ L80).
Equip: Increases your dodge rating by 32 (0.81% @ L80).
Equip: Improves hit rating by 21 (0.64% @ L80).

Costs 25 Emblems in Dalaran

Shoulder:

Iron Dwarf Smith Pauldrons
Binds when picked up
Shoulder Plate
1625 Armor
+58 Strength
+87 Stamina
Equip: Increases defense rating by 36 (7.32 @ L80).
Equip: Increases your parry rating by 40 (0.81% @ L80).

Drops from General Bjarngrim (H)Halls of Lightning

Enchant: Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle
Requires The Sons of Hodir – Exalted (Lesser Inscription will also suffice until you can get Exalted)

Use: Permanently adds 20 dodge rating and 15 defense rating to shoulder armor. Does not stack with other enchantments for the selected equipment slot.

Back:

Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions
Binds when picked up

Back
140 Armor
+31 Strength
+64 Stamina
Requires Level 78
Requires The Wyrmrest Accord – Honored
Equip: Increases defense rating by 43 (10.12 @ L78).
Equip: Improves hit rating by 25 (0.88% @ L78).

Purchased for approx. 20g from Wyrmrest Accord at Honored

Enchant: Enchant Cloak – Titanweave
Permanently enchant a cloak to increase defense rating by 16.

Chest:

Breastplate of the Solemn Council
Binds when picked up
Chest Plate
2166 Armor
+49 Strength
+117 Stamina
Requires The Wyrmrest Accord – Revered
Equip: Increases defense rating by 76 (15.45 @ L80).
Equip: Increases your expertise rating by 56 (6.83 @ L80).

Purchased for approx. 52g from Wyrmrest Accord at Revered

Enchant: Enchant Chest – Greater Defense
Permanently enchant chest armor to increase defense rating by 22

Wrist:

Bindings of Dark Will
Binds when picked up
Wrist Plate
948 Armor
+42 Strength
+66 Stamina
Equip: Increases defense rating by 27 (5.49 @ L80).
Equip: Increases your parry rating by 30 (0.61% @ L80).

Drops from Salramm the Fleshcrafter in (H)CoT: Stratholme

Enchant: Enchant Bracer – Fortitude
Permanently enchant bracers to increase Stamina by 12.

Hands:

Gauntlets of Vigilance
Binds when picked up
Hands Plate
1308 Armor
+51 Strength
+34 Agility
+76 Stamina
Equip: Increases defense rating by 34 (8 @ L78).

Reward from The Reckoning in Storm Peaks

Enchant: Enchant Gloves – Armsman
Permanently enchant gloves to increase threat caused by 2% and increase parry rating by 10.

Waist:

Waistguard of the Risen Knight
Binds when equipped
Waist Plate
1218 Armor
+58 Strength
+87 Stamina
Equip: Increases defense rating by 42 (8.54 @ L80).
Equip: Increases your dodge rating by 33 (0.84% @ L80).

BoE drop in Drak’Tharon Keep

Legs:

Daunting Legplates
Binds when equipped
Legs Plate
1831 Armor
+54 Strength
+93 Stamina
Equip: Increases defense rating by 88 (20.71 @ L78).

Created by Blacksmithing

Enchant: Frosthide Leg Armor
Use: Permanently attach frosthide armor onto pants to increase Stamina by 55 and Agility by 22.

Feet:

Sabatons of Draconic Vigor
Binds when picked up
Feet Plate
1489 Armor
+44 Strength
+85 Stamina
Requires The Wyrmrest Accord – Revered
Equip: Increases defense rating by 58 (11.79 @ L80).
Equip: Improves hit rating by 29 (0.88% @ L80).

Purchased for approx. 37g from Wyrmrest Accord at Revered

Enchant: Enchant Boots – Greater Fortitude
Permanently enchant boots to increase Stamina by 22.

Ring1:

Gal’darah’s Signet
Binds when picked up
Unique-Equipped
Finger
+26 Strength
+54 Stamina
Equip: Increases defense rating by 36 (9.81 @ L76).
Equip: Increases your expertise rating by 20 (3.27 @ L76).

Drops from Gal’darah in (N)Gundrak

Ring2:

Dragonflight Great-Ring
Binds when picked up
Unique-Equipped
Finger
+26 Strength
+58 Stamina
Requires Level 78
Equip: Increases defense rating by 38 (8.94 @ L78).
Equip: Improves hit rating by 24 (0.85% @ L78).

Drops from Cache of Eregos (N)The Oculus

Trinket1:

Essence of Gossamer
Binds when picked up
Unique-Equipped
Trinket
+111 Stamina
Equip: When struck in combat has a chance of shielding you in a protective barrier which will reduces damage from each attack by 140, up to a total of 4000 damage absorbed. Lasts 10 secs.

Drops from Hadronox in (H)Azjol-Nerub

Trinket2:

Seal of the Pantheon
Binds when picked up
Unique-Equipped
Trinket
Equip: Increases defense rating by 65 (15.3 @ L78).
Use: Increases armor by 3570 for 20 sec. (2 Min Cooldown)

Drops from Loken in (N)Halls of Lightning

Weapon:

Titansteel Destroyer
Binds when equipped
Unique-Equipped
Two-Hand Mace
507 – 761 Damage Speed 3.40
(186.5 damage per second)
+124 Strength
+105 Stamina
Equip: Improves hit rating by 54 (1.65% @ L80).
Crafted by Blacksmithing