DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

This rotation offers a general priority list for Unholy Death Knight abilities, along with key cooldowns at the bottom. It's based on a standard build and is here to help while we work on a smarter, build-aware system. If you are very new to the game or this class, we added info on the new assisted rotation features at the bottom of this guide. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: The War Within (11.2).

Single Target

Ensure Virulent Plague is active before engaging.

• Soul ReaperView detailsUse if target is below 35% health.
• OutbreakView detailsMaintain Virulent Plague on the target.
• Death CoilView detailsUse with 80+ Runic Power or Sudden Doom proc.
• Festering StrikeView detailsApply Festering Wound if target has 2 or fewer stacks.
• Scourge StrikeView detailsBurst Festering Wound stacks.
• Clawing ShadowsView detailsUse if talented and Festering Wound is present.

Maintain Virulent Plague with Outbreak, use Soul Reaper during execute phase, and manage Festering Wound stacks with Festering Strike and Scourge Strike. Spend Runic Power with Death Coil to avoid capping.

AoE

Ensure Death And Decay or Defile is active for cleave.

• Death And DecayView detailsUse to enable cleave with Scourge Strike or Clawing Shadows.
• Festering ScytheView detailsGenerate Festering Wound stacks on multiple targets.
• EpidemicView detailsSpend Runic Power for AoE damage.
• Scourge StrikeView detailsBurst Festering Wound stacks during Death And Decay.
• OutbreakView detailsMaintain Virulent Plague on all targets.

Use Death And Decay to enable cleave, generate Festering Wound stacks with Festering Scythe, and burst them with Scourge Strike. Spend Runic Power with Epidemic for AoE damage.

Cooldowns

• Army Of The DeadView detailsUse at the start of the fight or major burst phases.
• Dark TransformationView detailsUse on cooldown, aligning with other major abilities.
• Unholy AssaultView detailsUse to apply Festering Wound and boost damage.
• ApocalypseView detailsUse with 4+ Festering Wound stacks.
• Summon GargoyleView detailsUse during burst phases, prioritizing Death Coil to maximize damage.
• Raise AbominationView detailsUse on cooldown for AoE and disease application.
• Soul ReaperView detailsUse when target is near 35% health to trigger execute effect.

Align Army Of The Dead, Dark Transformation, and Summon Gargoyle for burst phases. Use Unholy Assault and Apocalypse to manage Festering Wound stacks effectively. Soul Reaper should be used during execute phases.

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.