DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

A general priority guide for Unholy 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 Virulent Plague is active before starting.

• OutbreakView detailsIf Virulent Plague is not active.
• Festering StrikeView detailsIf < 4 Lesser Ghoul stacks before Dark Transformation.
• Soul ReaperView detailsIf target < 35% health.
• PestilenceView detailsAfter Dark Transformation ends.
• Army Of The DeadView detailsUse on cooldown.
• Dark TransformationView detailsUse on cooldown.
• PutrefyView detailsIf 2 charges or Virulent Plague is not active.
• Death CoilView detailsIf Sudden Doom proc or > 80 Runic Power.
• Scourge StrikeView detailsIf Lesser Ghoul stacks are available.

Maintain Virulent Plague with Outbreak, build Lesser Ghoul stacks with Festering Strike, and prioritize Soul Reaper during execute phases. Use Dark Transformation and Army Of The Dead on cooldown, and spend Sudden Doom procs with Death Coil.

AoE

• OutbreakView detailsIf Virulent Plague is not active.
• Festering StrikeView detailsIf < 6 Lesser Ghoul stacks before Dark Transformation.
• PestilenceView detailsAfter Dark Transformation ends.
• Army Of The DeadView detailsUse on cooldown.
• Dark TransformationView detailsUse on cooldown.
• Death And DecayView detailsIf enemies will remain inside.
• EpidemicView detailsIf Sudden Doom proc or > 80 Runic Power.
• Scourge StrikeView detailsIf Lesser Ghoul stacks are available.

For AoE, maintain Virulent Plague with Outbreak, build Lesser Ghoul stacks with Festering Strike, and use Death And Decay for stationary targets. Spend Sudden Doom procs with Epidemic and prioritize Dark Transformation and Army Of The Dead on cooldown.

Cooldowns

• Army Of The DeadView detailsSync with Dark Transformation for max pet damage.
• Dark TransformationView detailsUse with Army Of The Dead or during add spawns for AoE.
• PutrefyView detailsSave charges for Dark Transformation or Soul Reaper during execute.

Coordinate Army Of The Dead and Dark Transformation for maximum synergy. Use Putrefy strategically during execute or to enhance Dark Transformation windows.

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.