DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

A general priority guide for Frost Death Knight abilities and cooldowns. Helpful for understanding the spec's fundamentals and getting comfortable with core synergies. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: Midnight (12.0.1).

Single Target

Ensure Empower Rune Weapon is ready before engaging.

• Empower Rune WeaponView detailsUse if you have 2 charges.
• Reapers MarkView detailsApply to target.
• Pillar Of FrostView detailsUse on cooldown.
• Breath Of SindragosaView detailsActivate for burst damage.
• Frostwyrms FuryView detailsUse if no active Reapers Mark or Exterminate.
• ObliterateView detailsUse with 2 Killing Machine stacks or Exterminate.
• Howling BlastView detailsUse with Rime.
• FrostbaneView detailsUse when it procs.
• Frost StrikeView detailsUse to avoid Runic Power capping.
• ObliterateView detailsUse with Killing Machine.
• Empower Rune WeaponView detailsUse to generate Killing Machine.
• Frost StrikeView detailsUse as filler.
• ObliterateView detailsUse without Killing Machine.
• Howling BlastView detailsUse as filler.

Start with Empower Rune Weapon and Reapers Mark. Use Pillar Of Frost and Breath Of Sindragosa for burst. Prioritize Obliterate with Killing Machine and Howling Blast with Rime. Avoid Runic Power capping with Frost Strike.

AoE

• Empower Rune WeaponView detailsUse if you have 2 charges.
• Reapers MarkView detailsApply to target.
• Pillar Of FrostView detailsUse on cooldown.
• Frostwyrms FuryView detailsUse if no active Reapers Mark or Exterminate.
• FrostscytheView detailsUse with 2 Killing Machine stacks or Exterminate.
• Howling BlastView detailsUse with Rime.
• FrostbaneView detailsUse when it procs.
• Glacial AdvanceView detailsUse to avoid Runic Power capping.
• FrostscytheView detailsUse with Killing Machine.
• Empower Rune WeaponView detailsUse to generate Killing Machine.
• Glacial AdvanceView detailsUse as filler.
• FrostscytheView detailsUse without Killing Machine.
• Howling BlastView detailsUse as filler.

For AoE, prioritize Frostscythe with Killing Machine and Glacial Advance to manage Runic Power. Use Frostwyrms Fury during Pillar Of Frost for max DPS.

Cooldowns

• Pillar Of FrostView detailsUse on cooldown to boost Strength.
• Frostwyrms FuryView detailsPair with Pillar Of Frost for max effectiveness.
• Reapers MarkView detailsUse on cooldown, ensuring no overlap on existing marks.

Use Pillar Of Frost and Frostwyrms Fury together for burst. Apply Reapers Mark on cooldown, avoiding overwriting active marks.

New to Class? Try Assisted Rotation

Patch 11.1.7 introduced new features that make it eaiser to pick and play new characters. These new settings can be enabled from settings » gameplay enhancements:

• Single-Button Assistant
• Assisted Highlight
• Cooldown Manager

If you are new to World of Warcraft or a certain class, enabling Assisted Highlight and Cooldown Manager can help you learn which abilities to prioritize and use.

While the Single-Button Assistant can be a much easier and more accessible way to play the game, it does come with a slight performance hit due to a small GCD penalty, as you will have to wait 25% longer in between spells and abilities.

To see which specs are best with the Single-Button Assistant feature, you can check out our DPS Rankings which uses SimC to sim every class using this feature.