Unholy Death Knight DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

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. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: The War Within (11.1.5).

Single Target

Ensure Virulent Plague is active before engaging.

Use if target is below 35% health.
Maintain Virulent Plague on the target.
Use at 80+ Runic Power or with Sudden Doom procs.
Apply Festering Wound if target has 2 or fewer stacks.
Burst Festering Wound stacks.

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

AoE

Ensure Virulent Plague is applied to all targets.

Use at the start of the pull.
Enable cleave and deal AoE damage.
Spread Festering Wound to nearby enemies.
Burst Festering Wound stacks in Defile.
Spend Runic Power on 3+ targets.

Start with Raise Abomination and Defile, spread Festering Wound with Vile Contagion, and burst them with Scourge Strike. Use Epidemic to spend Runic Power on multiple targets.

Cooldowns

Use as you engage the boss.
Use on cooldown for cleave and pet damage.
Use on cooldown, ideally with other CDs.
Use on cooldown and prioritize Death Coil during its duration.
Use on cooldown, ideally with 4 Festering Wound stacks.
Use in AoE to spread Festering Wound.

Use Army Of The Dead and Dark Transformation early, align Unholy Assault and Apocalypse with other cooldowns, and prioritize Death Coil during Summon Gargoyle.