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Wrath Classic (WotLK) Unholy Death Knight DK Leveling Guide

Death Knights are the signature class of Wrath Classic. And Unholy DK’s are one of, if not the best, leveling specs in the entire game. They also have 20% increased mount movement speed from On A Pale Horse, making them great for farming as well.

Wrath Classic (WotLK) Unholy Death Knight DK Leveling Guide

We also have a Wrath Classic (WotLK) Blood Death Knight DK leveling guide.

Best Unholy DK Talent Build for Leveling

Here are some great leveling specs for Unholy Death Knights. Keep in mind that they’re fully focused on leveling / open-world content and are not really ideal for raiding or PvP.

AoE Leveling Build

If you love to pull multiple mobs and mow them down, this is the spec for you.

Talent Build Link

Major Glyphs:

Minor Glyphs:

Notes:

Standard Leveling Build

A more standard leveling build for Unholy DK. There are many different options here, and you could go down the Frost instead of Blood as well to get Improved Icy Touch, Runic Power Mastery, and Icy Talons.

Talent Build Link

Major Glyphs:

Minor Glyphs:

Best Unholy DK Glyphs for Leveling

Glyphs are a new feature of WotLK, and you should definitely acquire them before leveling.

Major Glyphs

Major Glyphs can provide significant gameplay and DPS improvements.

Note: The third glyph slot is not unlocked until level 80.

Minor Glyphs

Minor glyphs are more about providing convenience or cosmetic changes. You don’t really need them, but it’s recommended to get them regardless.

Unholy DK Leveling Rotation

Keep in mind that this full priority rotation will generally not be used while fighting normal mobs.

The rotation of an Unholy Death Knight while leveling generally revolves around maintaining your diseases on the target and spending your runes.

Single-Target Skill Priority:

  1. Use Icy Touch & Plague Strike to keep diseases up on the target(s).
  2. Use Pestilence to refresh diseases and spread them to additional targets. (If using Disease Glyph)
  3. Use Ghoul Frenzy.
  4. Use Blood Strike to spend your Blood Runes on 1 or 2 targets. Use Blood Boil if there are 3 more targets.
  5. Use Scourge Strike to spend your Unholy Runes when both diseases are up and won’t expire soon.
  6. Use Icy Touch to spend your Frost Runes.
  7. Use Death Coil to dump your Runic Power.
  8. Cast Death and Decay.

AoE Skill Priority:

  1. Use Icy Touch & Plague Strike to apply and maintain diseases,
  2. Use Pestilence to spread diseases to additional targets.
  3. Use Blood Tap.
  4. Cast Death and Decay.
  5. Use Blood Boil.
  6. Use Ghoul Frenzy.
  7. Use Death Strike when needed.

DPS Cooldowns:

Survivability:

  • Death Pact – Sacrifices your ghoul for a lot of HP. Use as a last resort.
  • Bone Shield – Use on cooldown.

Additional Skills:

  • Raise Dead – Don’t forget about your ghoul friend!
  • Horn of Winter – This is your “Battle Shout.” Keep the buff up at all times.

Unholy DK Presences

As an Unholy DK, you’ll generally want to be in Blood Presence while leveling. You’ll get increased movement speed while specced into Improved Unholy Presence.

New Skills While Leveling

These are the relevant skills to learn for Unholy DK while leveling from 70 to 80. You won’t need to go to the trainer at any level not listed.

Level 72

  • Raise Ally (NEW) – This is a mini-battle res. Not really useful for leveling unless in a group.
  • Blood Boil (Rank 3)

Level 73

Level 75

Level 76

Level 78

Level 79

Best Addons for Leveling

Questie

Questie has become an essential component of WoW Classic. It will show every single quest, quest mob, and quest item on the map for you. It also has some extra features, such as announcing to the party when a quest has been completed, which is really useful when leveling with other people.

RestedXP

Without a doubt, this is the best leveling addon out right now. It’s a complete leveling guide for all classes and both factions. It now also includes 1-80 for Wrath Classic.

Just having an in-game addon to follow while leveling is already pretty useful, but having one that contains a fully tested and optimized route is on another level.

What makes RestedXP the best is that’s been made by the fastest leveling speedrunners in WoW Classic. These guys speed-level on Twitch for fun. They’ve regularly leveled in record time while on fresh servers, all while only following the in-game guide. The proof is in the pudding.

With that said, it’s a paid guide. Whether or not it’s worth your money is up to you.

Best Leveling Professions for Unholy DK

The absolute best professions to use while leveling any character are Mining and Herbalism. You’ll be able to mine nodes and gather herbs while questing, making a ton of extra gold in the process. This is especially true on the release of an expansion as the prices for ore and herbs will be very high.

Once you get to level 80, or if you don’t really need gold, then I recommend picking up Jewelcrafting and Engineering. These are the two likely BiS professions for DPS classes in Wrath Classic.

Jewelcrafting + Blacksmithing is also a great combo because you can socket the exclusive epic gems from Jewelcrafting into the extra socket provided by Blacksmithing.

Looking for more Wrath Classic guides? Check out these:

Profession Leveling Guides: