WotlK: Death Knight talent builds showcased in three action clips

by Matt Warner Jul 21st 2008 at 11:00AM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Betas, Fantasy, Video, Classes, PvP, PvE

With the WotlK NDA crushed and thrown away there's an information upheaval. WoW Insider is sorting through the overload and what will set WotlK apart from TBC is the Death Knight. It's the first new class introduction since World of Warcraft launched in 2004. Sure, there is some cause for concern. The big question on many minds is will the class be over powered? If you aren't in the beta maybe the following three videos will help you decide. Each video showcases a different talent tree: Unholy, Frost, and Blood. The videos are courtesy of Leiah, WotlK beta tester and MMOG blogger at World of Feedback.

The video above displays the Death Knight thrashing around in the Pools of Aggonar and specialized in Unholy. What stands out is the Death and Decay, a powerful AE ability, which leaves a wake of destruction in its path. When used in conjunction with Corpse Explosion and two Blood tree talents: Butchery and Vendetta, a lethal combo ensues as each kill returns 6% health and 20 runic power. Lichborne, Bone Armor, and Death Gate are also used. You can also see the sacrificial ghoul explode and deal 2,000 extra damage. The other two Death Knight build videos are after the break.

This time around the Death Knight is specialized in the Blood tree. Rampaging through Andorhal you can see the devastating tank and spank with little downtime between pulls. Death Knights don't melt but demolish faces. While only level 57 it has a lot of room to dominate, the early build gains its strength from the life-stealing blood worms spawned from Infested Corpse. The healing and regenerative abilities from Butchery and Vendetta enhance the build's prowess. Two talents that will more than likely become the DK staple for quick leveling.

The last segment takes place in Terrokar Forest and showcases a strict Frost build. The better abilities are further down the Frost tree, but this could be the new PvP build that radically changes arena compositions. The AOE freezing trap lasts for 10 seconds in PvP and 26 seconds in PvE. Blood Boil will take care of any diseases beforehand. Supposedly this Frost build isn't that great for leveling but it might be beneficial in group oriented situations. Still, it looks like this is the slowest leveling build because killing enemies occurs at a slower rate than the other two builds that use Vendetta and Butchery.

The Death Knight looks overpowered in the videos that utilize the Vendetta and Butchery talents. The Frost build could also be devastating in arena comps. Changes are likely to be made but based on the present talent builds what do you guys think. Is the Death Knight class overpowered or not?

[Via WoW Insider]

Tags: area-effect, betas, blizzard, blizzard-entertainment, blood, death-and-decay, death-knight, dk, unholy, video, world-of-feedback, world-of-warcraft, wotlk, wotlk-beta, wow, wrath, wrath-of-the-lich-king

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Kaoy said on 5:33PM 7-21-2008

Unholy Looks good if your sticktly a solo Player. Good damage and nice AoE, but your DPS per opponent is low. AoE parties is pretty much the only group activity it would work for.

Blood will probably be the most common. High burst damage and quick pulls, with just a little freeze trap added in for a bit more damage, it seems. With the life staling slugs in pay, that seems like it could go on for ever, so long as they don't get themsevles mobbed.

Frost seems like it would be best for Raids and team PvP. The Cool down on that AoE Frost trap seems a little high, so that amazing burst damage won't happen to often. The player showed a certain since of humour while resting with thier opponents frozen solid. All in all, the 1st and 3rd builds looked like decent Crowd control in PvP(forse the healer to run or Just out right freeze them solid for 10 seconds). They may replace other DPS classes on some people PvP group roster for those reasons. The 2nd build looks like its a bit of a Jack-of-all-trades. I would like to see how it handles with out the slugs, since those would be hard to keep in PvP, as they appear to be spawned from the bodies of enemies. With Ven and Butch going, it might still be a good tank and have a nice DPS. Just on the grounds that it uses alot of magic, I doubt it will share the same weakness faced by Paladins, so I wonder how they plan on balancing them.