Blood Death Knight Mythic+ Guide

11.0.2 - The War Within

Last Updated:August 26, 2024|Change Log|FAQ

Welcome to the Blood Death Knight Mythic+ guide for the World of Warcraft patch 11.0! This guide covers everything you need to know to understand your character! Are you starting out and leveling up from 70? Check out the leveling guide!

Overview

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight
Blood Death KnightMythic+
Single-Target
Excellent
AoE
Strong
Utility
Excellent
Survivability
Excellent
Mobility
Average
Blood Death Knight Mythic+ BIS

Hero Talents

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight
  • San'layn and ‍Deathbringer are both very competitive with each other and influence your gameplay in different ways. ‍San'layn requires you to utilize ‍‍Vampiric Blood as a damage cooldown while ‍Deathbringer only introduces a new ability that augments ‍Marrowrend but does not otherwise change your gameplay.
  • Deathbringer has better output and is easier to use, so the rest of this guide assumes you have this talent.
Deathbringer
San'layn
  • Reaper's Mark
    • The explosion grants you Exterminate.
  • Grim Reaper
    • This allows you to apply an additional Soul Reaper to targets below 35% HP.
  • Bind in Darkness and Blood Fever
    • Transforms Blood Boil to deal Shadowfrost damage and gives Blood Plague a chance to deal extra Shadowfrost damage therefore contributing more stacks to Reaper's Mark.
  • Exterminate + Painful Death
    • With this talent combination, Reaper's Mark empowers your next 2 Marrowrend casts.
      • Marrowrend now costs 1 Rune and summons two scythes dealing damage to all enemies around your target, applying Blood Plague and dealing considerable damage to them.
      • Additionally, they have a 30% chance to apply a new Reaper's Mark to the target.
    • Exterminate does not stack above 2 which means you need to use up all procs before a new Reaper's Mark explodes.

Defensive Choice Nodes

  • Pact of the Deathbringer or ‍Rune Carved Plates
    • Pact of the Deathbringer is not a good enough talent to consider. Rune Carved Plates is incredibly strong as it is a passive damage reduction based on what abilities you use.
  • Death's Messenger or ‍Expelling Shield
    • ‍Death's Messenger is the clear choice here as ‍Expelling Shield does not work in PvE content on casts where it matters.
  • Vampiric Strike
    • Death Strike has a 10% chance to transform your next Heart Strike into Vampiric Strike.
    • Vampiric Strike heals you for 1% of your max HP and also grants you 1 stack of Essence of the Blood Queen.
  • Blood-Soaked Ground
    • While standing in your Death and Decay, you take 5% less physical damage and the proc chance of Vampiric Strike is increased to 15%.
  • Frenzied Bloodthirst
    • Allows Essence of the Blood Queen to stack up to 7 and increases your ‍ Death Strike damage by 3% per stack.
  • Visceral Strength
    • Consuming Crimson Scourge procs grants you 6% strength for 8 seconds.
  • Gift of the San'layn
    • Vampiric Blood now grants you Gift of the San'layn which replaces Heart Strike with Vampiric Strike for its' duration.
    • Essence of the Blood Queen effectiveness is also increased by 150% during Vampiric Blood.

You maximize your damage through Essence of the Blood Queen which is maintained by using Vampiric Blood on cooldown.

To keep the buff active 100% of the time, you need to get 1 Vampiric Strike proc outside of your Vampiric Blood window and use it to extend the duration for another 20 seconds.

Because of the nature of RNG, this does not always happen. When you are in ‍Vampiric Blood you want to build your stacks back up as quickly as possible if they have fallen off, or press ‍Vampiric Strike to extend the duration of the buff immediately if you are at max stacks.

Defensive Choice Nodes

  • Vampiric Speed or Newly Turned
    • Default pick since it's a nice bonus to mobility, Newly Turned can be swapped to if you are the main combat resser.
  • Bloody Fortitude or Vampiric Aura
    • Bloody Fortitude increasing the potency of ‍Icebound Fortitude is simply too good to give up as 2% Leech sometimes increasing to 4% even for 4 allies is just not good enough.

Talents

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight
Mythic+ Build
Blood Death Knight Mythic+ Build

When to use this spec

This is the default loadout going into any Mythic+ unless specified otherwise. You have to adjust the class talent tree based on the utility needed for the dungeon. To make your life easier, dungeon-specific talent loadouts are available in the Dungeon section.

Gameplay Altering Talents

Discover all talents that significantly alter your gameplay within the Spec and Class Talent trees. This section gives a concise overview of these talents and their applications but for a more detailed look check out the Rotation and Deep Dive sections below.

Spec Tree

  • Bone Collector
    • Gain 1 charge of Bone Shield when pulling an enemy.
  • Ossuary
    • While above 5 charges of Bone Shield your Death Strike costs less Runic Power.
  • Improved Vampiric Blood
    • Improves all aspects of your Vampiric Blood.
  • Heartbreaker
    • This provides a nice bonus to your Runic Power generation.
  • Hemostasis
    • Blood Boil gives you stacks to improve your Death Strike. The more enemies you hit the more beneficial this is.
  • Insatiable Blade
    • This is crucial for reducing your Dancing Rune Weapon cooldown. See the Deep Dive for a more detailed explanation!
  • Everlasting Bond
    • Duplicating Dancing Rune Weapon magnifies this cooldown's potency.
  • Reinforced Bones
    • With this, you now can have a maximum of 12 charges of Bone Shield.
  • Red Thirst
    • This provides a huge cooldown reduction for your Vampiric Blood.
  • Shattering Bone
    • Makes it so that losing stacks of Bone Shield deals a lot of damage to nearby enemies.
  • Purgatory
    • A Cheat Death every 4 minutes.

Class Tree

  • Improved Death Strike
    • Very important talent to make your Death Strike much stronger.
  • Cleaving Strikes
    • Enables ‍Death and Decay to cleave more targets and extend your ‍Death and Decay duration. Details in the Deep Dive.
  • Anti-Magic Barrier
    • Lowers the cooldown of your Anti-Magic Shell and makes it stronger.
  • Icy Talons
    • With this, you obtain a new buff to upkeep.
  • Grip of the Dead
    • Death and Decay now has a huge slow.
  • Unholy Endurance
    • Lichborne now becomes a potent defensive ability.
  • Insidious Chill
    • This reduces the enemy's attack speed and is more or less your party buff.
  • Death's Echo
    • This grants you an additional charge of Death and DecayDeath Grip and Death's Advance making them easier to use and juggle correctly.

Hero Talents

  • Rune Carved Plates
    • Provides you with a nice bonus damage reduction .
  • Death's Messenger
    • Offers both defensive and offensive value.
  • Wither Away
    • Numerically the best pick.
  • .Painful Death
    • Grants Exterminate a 30% chance to apply Reaper's Mark on the target.

Rotation

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight

Tier Set

  • 2-Set: While you have one or more Bone Shield charges, the damage you take is reduced by 2.0%. Losing a Bone Shield charge has a chance to reduce the damage you take by an additional 1.0%, up to 3.0% for 6 sec.
  • 4-Set: Your damage is increased by 1% per active Bone Shield charge. Taking damage while below 6 Bone Shield charges has a chance to generate 1-2 Bone Shield charges.

Opener

  • The Goal of your opener is to make sure you have all the benefits of Death and Decay active while min maxing Bone Shield stacks with Dancing Rune Weapon and Tombstone + Bonestorm to maximize CDR through Insatiable Blade while also getting all your offensive cooldowns rolling.
  • Deathbringer adds one more button to your opener.
Blood Death Knight Opener Mythic+
  • Death's Caress has a travel time and should be cast while running in for the pull.
  • When casting Tombstone and Bonestorm make sure to stand in your Death and Decay to gain the maximum benefit from Shattering Bone.

Priority List

This is the standard priority list, follow this unless a Boss or scenario requires you to hold some abilities listed here.

  1. Never drop your Bone Shield! Use Marrowrend or Death's Caress to keep it active.
    • Maintain 5+ Stacks of Bone Shield to make use of Ossuary, dropping below 5 is ok if Dancing Rune Weapon is coming up soon.
  2. Cast Abomination Limb + Raise Dead on cooldown unless a fight requires you to hold it.
  3. Keep up your Death and Decay buff, check out the Deep Dive section for more info.
  4. Use Reaper's Mark on cooldown.
    • Consume your Exterminate buffs before casting the next Reaper's Mark.
  5. Cast Soul Reaper if the Target is below 35% HP.
  6. Cast Dancing Rune Weapon on cooldown.
  7. Cast Tombstone on cooldown under the following conditions:
    • You are standing in Death and Decay for Shattering Bone.
    • You have 5+ Stacks of Bone Shield.
    • Your Insatiable Blade talent provides you with 20/25 seconds of cooldown reduction for Dancing Rune Weapon.
  8. Cast Bonestorm on cooldown under the following conditions:
    • You are standing in Death and Decay for Shattering Bone.
    • You have 10+ Stacks of Bone Shield.
    • Your Insatiable Blade talent provides you with 20/25 seconds of cooldown reduction for Dancing Rune Weapon.
  9. Spend Runic Power on Death Strike when you are about to overcap or Coagulopathy is about to fade.
  10. Cast Consumption on cooldown.
  11. Cast Blood Boil to avoid overcapping on stacks.
  12. Cast Heart Strike to consume runes as a filler.

Defensive Cooldowns

  • Vampiric Blood
    • Most of the time you want to use Vamp Blood as much as possible when you take any form of damage. Holding it is only really required if you need to survive a big hit or are about to have downtime on the Boss, and it can't get full value.
  • Dancing Rune Weapon
    • Generally use this on cooldown unless you need the parry for some special situation, more detailed info is in the Deep Dive below.
  • Anti-Magic Shell
    • One of the strongest defensives when it comes to magic damage. In general, it can be used when taking magic damage, in a lot of scenarios delaying it and using it to immune mechanics is the best usage this ability can have. Make sure to keep an eye out during the specific sections on what to immune and how to make the most out of Anti-Magic Shell.
  • Icebound Fortitude
    • An amazing defensive for general damage reduction, use this as much as possible in a fight without overlapping it with other cooldowns unless it's needed. It can also be held to immune a stun mechanic, but this is rather rare.
  • Lichborne
    • Nice and small defensive when specced into Unholy Endurance provides you with 10% Leech and 15% DR which makes it a good button to press when you just need a little bit of help, in an AoE scenario it becomes more worthwhile since leech is really strong in AoE. Also, if you get feared for some reason, press it!

Offensive Cooldowns

  • Abomination Limb on cooldown, every time it tries to grip an enemy you get 1 stack of Bone Shield because of Bone Collector.
  • Reaper's Mark
    • New Hero Talent make sure to press it on cooldown.
  • Tombstone on cooldown under the following conditions:
    • 1. You are standing in Death and Decay for Shattering Bone.
    • 2. You have 5+ Stacks of Bone Shield.
    • 3. Your Insatiable Blade provides you with 25 seconds of cooldown reduction for Dancing Rune Weapon.
  • Bonestorm on cooldown under the following conditions:
    • You are standing in Death and Decay for Shattering Bone.
    • You have 10+ Stacks of Bone Shield.
    • Your Insatiable Blade talent provides you with 20/25 seconds of cooldown reduction for Dancing Rune Weapon.

Deep Dive

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight

Death Strike Healing and Absorb

Death Strike is what makes you a Blood Death Knight. This ability is the core of your class! Understanding how it works and how to properly use it is very important for maximizing your damage, staying alive, and being the best tank out there through your incredible self-sustain.

  • Death Strike heals you for a % of your maximum HP and the healing is increased this healing based on your damage taken in the last 5 seconds. This makes Death Strike an ineffective source of healing when you haven’t taken a meaningful amount of damage in the last 5 seconds.
    • Environmental and friendly fire damage are not counted in the damage taken formula and are the main cause of self-healing issues. Environmental damage can come from a lot of sources such as Boss room AoE damage, and affix damage like Storming.
  • Your healing from Death Strike is now multiplied by a lot of different abilities and stats:
    • Versatility is a multiplier for Death Strike healing.
    • Voracious also increases your Death Strike healing as well as your Mastery: Blood Shield value.
    • Hemostasis only multiplies your Death Strike healing, but does not increase the size of your Mastery: Blood Shield.
  • Mastery: Blood Shield is the other important mechanic of Death Strike:
    • The generated Shield from Mastery: Blood Shield is based on the full healing value which includes overhealing.
    • The absorb is purely physical and does not work on magic damage at all.
    • The absorb is increased by your Mastery stat value.
    • Voracious increases the Healing and value of your Shield, whereas Hemostasis does not.
    • The maximum value that Mastery: Blood Shield can have is your max HP. This dynamically updates with HP buffs such as Vampiric Blood and Rallying Cry for example.

Managing Death Strike

Now that you learned how Death Strike works, let's talk about how to use it to gain the most damage and survivability out of it.

  • For damage, you want to use Death Strike when you are getting close to overcapping your Runic Power or when you can afford to spend all your Runic Power to just do damage to a target.
  • If you want to use Death Strike properly to heal up or counter certain mechanics, it all comes down to a good gameplay flow:
    • Take your damage taken in the last 5 seconds into account when Death Strike is being used. Most of the time you want to Death Strike after tank mechanics or taking a lot of damage. This benefits you with both a big heal and big absorb shield right after using Death Strike.
    • Most of the time, using 2 Death Strikes back to back is not a good idea since using 1 already tops you and gives you a big absorb. There are scenarios where you would want to use Death Strikes back to back, but they are rarer than just using 1 with precise timing.
    • Timing Death Strike correctly against magic damage is very important, since your Mastery: Blood Shield does not help you at all against this type of damage.
    • Stacking up the absorb to be ready for tank mechanics can be quite handy but often comes at a great cost since generating big shields takes a long time if you don't take enough damage to feed into your Death Strike healing.

With all this info you are ready to fully understand and utilize Death Strike to the max. Always keep in mind tanking is not set on a rotation or rigid flow of abilities, getting a good gameplay flow going and having proper Death Strike usage comes with experience and practice.

Death and Decay Optimization

  • Maintaining high uptime on Death and Decay is important for both your damage and healing done as a Blood Death Knight because of these effects:
    • Unholy Ground and Sanguine Ground.
    • Because of Shattering Bone, whenever you use Bonestorm or Tombstone stepping out of your Death and Decay effect costs you a lot of damage.
  • The main idea is to always use Death and Decay whenever it's not active, and you have it off cooldown. Cleaving Strikes grants you a lot of extra duration and quality of life benefits for your Death and Decay.
  • Here are the advantages provided by Cleaving Strikes:
    • You walk out of Death and Decay and retain the benefits for 4 seconds.
    • Death and Decay duration runs out and this buff appears afterwards.
    • Walking in and out of Death and Decay always refreshes the buff regardless of Death and Decay duration.
  • Due to Cleaving Strikes giving you another 4 extra seconds of Death and Decay the rotation to upkeep this effect is very nice and smooth even without Death's Echo.
    • The average uptime without Death's Echo is around 93% which is already very good.
    • With Death's Echo you never drop the Death and Decay buff when playing correctly.
  • Here is a timeline of how a good Death and Decay usage with Cleaving Strikes looks. Just pressing it off cooldown.
Blood Death Knight Death and Decay Mythic+

Dancing Rune Weapon

Dancing Rune Weapon is one of the most important spells in the Blood Death Knight's arsenal and has a lot of things that are not that obvious at first!

It is essential for both damage and defensive value when playing the class, and these are the key features you should know about the ability.

  • The Weapon more or less counts as an untargetable "guardian" and always follows the target you used the ability on. This means when that target dies it follows you and attacks your current target.
  • Dancing Rune Weapon spawns behind the target so it can pull more enemies when used on far away targets.
  • Each weapon you summon duplicates certain spells and gives you the benefits, so let's talk about them:
    • Marrowrend grants you 9 Stacks of Bone Shield (3 Stacks per weapon).
    • Death's Caress grants you 6 Stacks of Bone Shield (2 Stacks per weapon).
    • Heart Strike grants you 15 Runic Power instead of 5 (each weapon casts Heart Strike generating 5 Runic Power).
    • Blood Boil now applies 3 individual debuffs of Blood Plague (1 Debuff per weapon extra) the health transfer does not increase you still only benefit from your own Blood Plague.
      • The same goes for Blood Plague applied from Death's Caress.
    • Death Strike does more damage as the ability is copied by the weapon but the heal is not increased.
    • Reaper's Mark does NOT get copied but, Soul Reaper on the other hand does. (1 Soul Reaper per weapon extra when the Mark expires or explodes)

All of these great benefits in addition to getting a 40% parry chance buff makes gaining Cooldown Reduction on Dancing Rune Weapon one of the most important things you can do. Keep that in mind while playing and make the most out of your CDR and your Dancing Rune Weapon.

Understanding Mechanics

Rotational min-maxing is just one aspect of mastering a specialization, but there are numerous other key mechanics that influence your performance. Use the following guides to improve them.

Dungeons

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight

← Scroll for more Bosses

Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
City of Threads
The Stonevault
The Dawnbreaker
Mists of Tirna Scithe
The Necrotic Wake
Siege of Boralus
Grim Batol
Blood Death Knight Mythic+ Ara-Kara, City of Echoes

Boss Tips

Avanoxx

  • Alerting Shrill does a good amount of AoE damage and summons 4 eggs stacked in a corner of the room. These eggs hatch into Starved Crawler, who then cast Hunger and fixate on the other players in your group.
    • Your goal is to keep the boss away from them because if Avanoxx gets close she eats them and gets a stack of Insatiable per Crawler eaten.
      • The boss receiving any stack of Insatiable likely results in a wipe.
  • Gossamer Onslaught spawns Vile Webbing under every player while being cast so stacking up with your group or melee friend is recommended to conserve space.
  • Voracious Bite is the tank mechanic, hitting you for 3 strikes back to back inflicting a 50% damage taken increase per stack which ends up being a 150% damage taken increase for the following melee swings.
    • Using Vampiric Blood for every single one is recommended.

Anub'zekt

  • Impale is aimed at you while tanking the boss, resulting in a huge frontal cone that you can aim. You don't need to tank this mechanic but you need to aim it away from the team as best as possible.
  • Burrow Charge
    • The boss targets a player in your group and proceeds to go underground and charge that player, immediately afterwards he casts Impale so make sure to aim that frontal well.
  • Infestation spawns a Ceaseless Swarm, just don't stand in it.
    • You can Anti-Magic Shell before Infestation runs out so it does not spawn Ceaseless Swarm.
  • During Eye of the Swarm the boss creates a zone in front of the boss that is a "safe space". It moves together with the bosses' facing, so you are responsible for moving the zone around.
    • Impale is being cast during the phase making the "safe zone" even smaller. Make sure you aim it at either side of the safe zone and not in the middle.
  • Throughout the fight Bloodstained Webmage spawn casting Silken Restraints at someone random during the fight.
    • Make sure to drag the boss close to them to cleave them down.
    • Use Death Grip to get them under the boss to cleave them down easily.

Ki'katal the Harvester

  • Cosmic Singularity requires you to stand in Grasping Blood while the cast is finishing.
    • Outplay this mechanic with Death's Advance but make sure you do not stand under the boss. Otherwise, you get the Faded debuff.
  • Cultivated Poisons does a lot of damage to you while also shooting out waves to dodge when it expires.
    • Use Vampiric Blood to tank this debuff.
    • You can also pre-use Anti-Magic Shell to immune the application.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Trilling Attendant - Resonant Barrage
    • Ixin - Horrifying Shrill
    • Bloodstained Webmage - Revolting Volley
    • Blood Overseer - Venom Volley
  • Pay extra attention to these casts:
    • Sentry Stagshell - Alarm Shrill
      • A really long cast that needs to get disrupted.
    • Nerubian Hauler and Hulking Bloodguard - Massive Slam
      • A short stun that ramps in damage done per cast.
Blood Death Knight Mythic+ City of Threads

Boss Tips

Orator Krix'vizk

  • Chains of Oppression creates a circle around the boss preventing anyone from moving more than 10 yards away from the boss. You are responsible for dragging the boss and the team around so keep that in mind.
  • Subjugate is a big magical tank hit that reduces your movement speed by 30% for 10 seconds after being hit.
    • Utilize Anti-Magic Shell as much as possible here.
  • Terrorize is not a tank frontal so you can dodge it when it happens.
  • Shadows of Doubt creates balls to dodge when dispelled, make sure to dodge these.
    • If you would get hit, use Icebound Fortitude to break the stun.
  • Vociferous Indoctrination is a big group AoE mechanic that creates Lingering Influence after being cast.
    • Move the boss quickly after this cast is finished to guarantee no one stands in the pool on the ground afterwards.

Fangs of the Queen

  • The first tank mechanic, Shade Slash from Nx, deals damage to you and leaves behind an echo of the boss. You want to move the boss out of this echo as Duskbringer creates a big circle AoE around the boss and any echo left behind.
  • Synergic Step happens at 100 Energy. The 2 bosses jump away and swap their ability sets.
  • After Vx becomes the attacker, the other tank mechanic Rime Dagger activates. It does a bigger hit to you and applies Freezing Blood which makes stacking together with your group mandatory to remove this debuff.
    • Utilize Anti-Magic Shell to deal with this mechanic.

The Coaglamation

  • Viscous Darkness summons orbs around the room that need to be soaked before they touch the boss.
    • Corrupted Coating gets applied by soaking a orb.
    • Anti-Magic Shell immunes the application of Corrupted Coating.
  • Oozing Smash is the magic tank hit which slows you afterwards.
  • Blood Surge
    • Position the Boss at the edge of the room to maximize the amount of usable space as Blood Surge creates a pool under the boss.

Izo, the Grand Splicer

  • Shifting Anomalies shoots 3 orbs towards players for this mechanic. Make sure to keep the boss together with the whole group and dodge as a group when needed.
  • Splice
    • Can be immuned with Anti-Magic Shell.
  • Tremor Slam
    • This mechanic requires you to run out of melee and be ready to pick up aggro on the Ravenous Scarab spawning afterwards.
  • Umbral Weave
    • Applies webs to all players in the group, rooting them unless destroyed. As with Shifting Anomalies, keep the boss close to your group.
  • Process of Elimination
    • This mechanic creates a big circle around you that can not hit anyone but yourself. Step away from the team to not hit them while tanking this mechanic.
    • Use Vampiric Brood on every single one.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Sureki Silkbinder - Silk Binding
    • Herald of Ansurek - Twist Thoughts
    • Covert Webmancer - Mending Web
  • Pay extra attention to these casts:
    • Eye of the Queen - Void Rush
    • Royal Venomshell - Venomous Spray
Blood Death Knight Mythic+ The Stonevault

Boss Tips

E.D.N.A.

  • Seismic Smash does massive physical damage to you and is very dangerous.
    • Seismic Reverberation is applied after tanking the hit.
    • This debuff is a magic dot that can be dispelled.
      • When dispelled you gain Stone Shield.
      • The goal is to tank the first Seismic Smash and get dispelled to receive Stone Shield for the following one.
    • Use Vampiric Blood or any other defensive necessary whenever tanking the first one.
    • Do not use Anti-Magic Shell since it immunes Seismic Reverberation.
  • Volatile Spike spawns spikes under 3 random players. For this stack up with your group.
  • Refracting Beam targets random players which can then clear the Volatile Spikes.
    • Position the boss in a line towards the spikes to make clearing easy.
    • With Anti-Magic Shell you can immune the Volatile Spike debuff stacks.

Skarmorak

  • Crystalline Smash summons 3 Crystal Shards around the room.
    • Move the boss from Crystal Shard to Crystal Shard and kill them one after another while letting the Crystalline Eruption debuff fall off between kills.
  • Unstable Crash summons Unstable Energy per player.
    • Don't soak these as a tank, leave them for your DPS and Healer.

Master Machinists Brokk and Dorlita

  • Activate Ventilation
    • Creates flame pools on the ground. Check early for a safe space for Scrap Song.
  • Molten Metal
    • Help interrupt this mechanic.
  • Scrap Song
    • Move the boss to the side of the room to avoid the cube in the middle of the room.
  • Blazing Crescendo
    • Similar to Scrap Song, position the boss at one of the tips of the cube to avoid the lava waves.
  • Igneous Hammer
    • Deals high magic damage. Use Anti-Magic Shell or Vampiric Blood here.

Void Speaker Eirich

  • Void Corruption
    • Applies a debuff to you that you need to clear with Void Rift.
    • Immune the application of it with Anti-Magic Shell whenever possible.
  • Entropic Reckoning
    • Drop a zone when the cast is finished so be sure to place your circle at the edge of the room.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Ghastly Voidsoul - Howling Fear
    • Void Bound Howler - Piercing Wail
  • Pay extra attention to these casts:
    • Void Bound Despoiler - Void Storm
    • Forge Loader - Molten Mortar
    • Rock Smasher - Smash Rock
    • Cursedforge Honor Guard - Shield Stampede
  • Cursedforge Stoneshaper - Earth Burst Totem
    • Earth Burst Totem casts Earth Burst which needs to be killed before it goes off.
Blood Death Knight Mythic+ The Dawnbreaker

Boss Tips

Speaker Shadowcrown

  • Darkness Comes
    • When flying out and coming back be ready to interrupt Shadow Bolt.
  • Obsidian Beam
    • This mechanic's initial hit always hits you as a tank.
    • It deals a lot of damage so make sure you press a defensive here.
  • Collapsing Night
    • Targets 2 ranged players if available and spawns void zones under them.
    • Tank the boss towards the edge of the platform and rotate whenever this happens to min max the room.

Anub'ikkaj

  • Dark Orb
    • Tank the boss in an open space so the orb can be aimed as far away as possible.
  • Terrifying Slam
    • Find a corner to stand against so the knockup is prevented as much as possible.
    • Use Death's Advance to immune the knockup.
  • Animate Shadows
    • Spawns Animate Shadows that cast Congealed Darkness.
    • Be ready to pick up aggro and interrupt them if needed.

Rasha'nan

  • Arathi Bomb
    • The explosion can be immuned by Anti-Magic Shell.
  • Erosive Spray
    • Use Anti-Magic Shell to immune Lingering Erosion during this cast.
  • Acidic Eruption
    • Interrupt this after flying to the boss to start stage 2.
  • Tacky Burst
    • This prevents you from moving away from the boss. Make sure you always stick to the boss and never leave melee.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Nightfall Shadowmage - Ensnaring Shadows
    • Nightfall Commander - Abyssal Howl
    • Nightfall Darkcaster - Tormenting Beam
  • Pay extra attention to these casts:
    • Anub'ikkaj and Ixkreten the Unbreakable - Terrifying Slam
    • Nightfall Dark Architect - Usher Reinforcements
    • Anub'ikkaj and Deathscreamer Iken'tak - Dark Orb
    • Anub'ikkaj and Ascendant Vis'coxria - Shadowy Decay
Blood Death Knight Mythic+ Mists of Tirna Scithe

Boss Tips

Ingra Maloch

  • Spirit Bolt
    • Interrupt this cast whenever possible.
  • Repulsive Visage
    • This fear can be immuned by Lichborne and Anti-Magic Shell.
  • Embrace Darkness
    • Forces you to hit Droman Oulfarran.
  • Bewildering Pollen
    • This frontal is aimed at you so don't aim it at the ranged team.
  • Droman's Wrath
    • Save damage abilities for this phase.

Mistcaller

  • Patty Cake
    • This cast is solely for you and needs to be interrupted by you.
  • Freeze Tag
    • Summons Illusionary Vulpin fixating Freeze Tag Fixation on a player.
    • Use Chains of Ice on it to slow it.

Tred'ova

  • Consumption
    • Interrupt this after breaking the shield on the boss.
  • Accelerated Incubation
    • Summons Gormling Larva, make sure to pick them up and bring them under the boss for cleave damage.
    • Marked Prey makes them fixate on a player so support them with your slows.
  • Mind Link
    • Utilize Anti-Magic Shell to immune the link on you.
  • Coalescing Poison
    • This creates a big circle around the boss while sucking you in. Run against it to not die.
    • Use Death's Advance to immune the suck in.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Drust Harvester - Harvest Essence
    • Spinemaw Staghorn - Stimulate Resistance
  • Pay extra attention to these casts:
    • Drust Spiteclaw - Dying Breath
      • This debuffs enemies as well as players.
    • Tirnenn Villager - Overgrowth
    • Drust Boughbreaker - Furious Thrashing
      • Triggers at 50% HP of the Drust Boughbreaker.
    • Mistveil Defender - Mist Ward
      • Big zone to move the enemies out of.
    • Mistveil Stalker - Mistveil Bite
    • Mistveil Stinger - Anima Injection
    • Spinemaw Staghorn - Acid Nova
Blood Death Knight Mythic+ The Necrotic Wake

Boss Tips

Blightbone

  • Heaving Retch
    • Spawns Carrion Worm, utilize your slows while killing these.
  • Fetid Gas
    • Position the boss close to other pools to maximize room usage as Fetid Gas creates a pool under the boss.
  • Crunch
    • Physical tank hit.

Amarth, The Harvester

  • Land of the Dead
    • Move the boss close to the Reanimated Crosbowman while interrupting the Reanimated Mage.
    • Use Death Grip to get any far away adds closer to each other.
  • Unholy Frenzy
    • If your group can't purge this Enrage effect, watch your health since the boss starts doing a lot more damage.
  • Necrotic Bolt
    • Interrupt this as much as possible.

Surgeon Stitchflesh

  • Awaken Creation
    • Always make sure to pick up Stitchflesh's Creation. They spawn in one of the back corners of the room looking at the boss.
    • Position the Stitchflesh's Creation in the middle of the room to make aiming Meat Hook easy.
  • Sever Flesh
    • Physical tank hit.
  • Escape
    • After this is cast position Stitchflesh's Creation in the middle.

Nalthor the Rimebinder

  • Comet Storm
    • Stack up with your melees to dodge this mechanic together.
  • Icy Shard
    • This tank hit is being cast at you all the time and does high physical damage to you.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Corpse Harvester - Drain Fluids
    • Stitched Vanguard - Meat Shield
    • Skeletal Marauder - Rasping Scream
    • Corpse Collector - Goresplatter
  • Pay extra attention to these casts:
    • Zolramus Necromancer - Grim Fate
    • Skeletal Marauder - Gruesome Cleave
      • Fast frontal cast.
    • Flesh Crafter - Throw Cleaver
      • This spell also does damage to enemies and should be aimed at any enemy to deal extra damage.
        • Help with this by positioning the mobs in front of the Flesh Crafter.
    • Loyal Creation - Spine Crush
      • A big circle cast that can't be disrupted as it recasts until the cast is finished once.
Blood Death Knight Mythic+ Siege of Boralus

Boss Tips

Chopper Redhook

  • On the Hook
    • The boss is fixating on players and is not tankable. You are responsible for the adds.
    • Every 25% boss HP he calls in 1 Irontide Cleaver and 1 Irontide Powdershot
  • Irontide Cleaver
    • Heavy Slash
      • Aim this frontal away from any team member and any Heavy Ordnance.
  • Irontide Powdershot
    • Is standing still most of the time casting Molten Slug
    • Drag the Irontide Cleaver close and focus them down or Death Grip them in.

Dread Captain Lockwood

  • Mass Bombardment
    • Applies Sighted Artillery, move with your melee team.
  • Fiery Ricochet
    • Avoid stacking up on this mechanic.
  • Clear the Deck
    • This is a very fast frontal so aim it away from any players.
  • Withdraw - Be ready to pick up the following adds:
    • Ashvane Deckhand
      • Crimson Swipe
        • Another fast frontal to aim away.
    • Ashvane Cannoneer
      • Broadside
        • Long cast frontal that should be aimed away from the group.
      • Unstable Ordnance
        • Pick this up and use the ExtraActionButton to shoot the boss down.

Hadal Darkfathom

  • Crashing Tide
    • A frontal that needs to be aimed away from the group whenever possible.
  • Break Water
    • Bait the water pools away from the statue in the middle.
  • Tidal Surge
    • Summons 2 waves that need to be dodged back to back. Be ready to move the boss to a safe spot and aim Crashing Tide away from the group when it is about to be cast as this can be a deadly overlap.

Viq'Goth

  • Putrid Waters
    • You can pre use Anti-Magic Shell but it's never 100% since only 2 people get affected by this debuff.
      • If you are standing in a different position than anyone else you can see the animation come from the boss towards you and use Anti-Magic Shell well before it hits you.
  • Demolishing Terror
    • Hull Cracker
      • Don't leave melee of the Demolishing Terror.
    • Slam
      • This knocks you back. Walk back to the Demolishing Terror afterwards.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Ashvane Commander - Bolstering Shout
    • Bilge Rat Tempest - Choking Waters
    • Bilge Rat Pillager - Stinky Vomit
  • Pay extra attention to these casts:
    • Scrimshaw Enforcer - Slobber Knocker
      • Casted frontal cone that is hard to see.
    • Irontide Raider - Iron Hook into Savage Tempest
    • Blacktar Bomber - Fire Bomb
    • Ashvane Commander - Azerite Charge
    • Irontide Powdershot - Molten Slug
    • Ashvane Spotter - Sighted Artillery
    • Bilge Rat Demolisher - Crushing Slam
Blood Death Knight Mythic+ Grim Batol

Boss Tips

General Umbriss

  • Skullsplitter
    • Deals 2 instances of physical damage over 2 seconds, while also applying a bleed to you.
  • Commanding Roar
    • Summons Shadow Breath so be sure to position the boss in the safe lane.

Forgemaster Throngus

  • Forge Weapon - Summons one of the following 3 weapons:
    • Molten Mace
      • Kite the boss during this duration, don't tank him.
      • While walking he leaves behind Molten Pool so kite him at the edge of the room.
    • Molten Flurry
      • Physical damage cast while applying Molten Spark to party members.
    • Fiery Cleave
      • This frontal can be baited by anyone in the group. Bait this into a wall if possible.

Drahga Shadowburner

  • Invocation of Shadowflame
    • Invoked Shadowflame Spirit casts Flaming Fixate.
    • Slow it with Chains of Ice or grip it away with Death Grip.
  • Shadowflame Bolt
    • This cast is always on you, interrupt when it is ready.
  • Twilight Buffet
    • Position the boss in a new corner whenever Twilight Buffet is coming up.
    • Twilight Wind spawns after, drag the boss away from them to make it easy for the group.
  • Devouring Flame
    • This frontal breath is always aimed at you, position it away from the group into a wall if possible.

Erudax, the Duke of Below

  • Shadow Gale
    • Position the boss in the middle of this circle and adjust when it starts shrinking.
  • Void Surge
    • Summons Void Tendril
      • Immune Depth's Grasp to clear Void Tendrils with Anti-Magic Shell and Icebound Fortitude.
  • Void Infusion
    • Summons Twilight Hatchling
      • When killed they explode with Shadow Wound.
  • Crush
    • Physical and magical damage hit. This knocks you back so watch out for Void Tendrils.
    • Immune the knockback with Death's Advance.

Trash Tips

  • Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
    • Twilight Earthcaller - Mass Tremor
    • Twilight Beguiler - Sear Mind
  • Pay extra attention to these casts:
    • Twilight Destroyer - Umbral Wind
      • You can LoS this cast.
    • Twilight Overseer - Reckless Tactic
      • Purge it if needed.
    • Molten Giant - Molten Wake
    • Twilight Lavabender - Ascension and Dark Eruption
      • Ascension triggers at 50% HP and starts pulsing Scorching Heat group damage.
    • Twilight Warlock - Enveloping Shadowflame
    • Twilight Enforcer - Ramping Rage
    • Mutated Hatchling - Shadow Wound
    • Faceless Corruptor - Corrupt and Mind Piercer

Affixes

The Affix system got revamped going into The War Within Season 1 retiring most Affixes as well as introducing new kiss-curse ones while also changing on which key level these appear.

  • +2 Affixes -- Rotates on a weekly basis
    • Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
    • Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
    • Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
    • Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
  • +4 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis
    • Tyrannical
    • Fortified
  • +7 Affix
    • Challenger's Peril
  • +10 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis, is always the opposite of the +4 Affix
    • Tyrannical
    • Fortified
  • +12 Affix
    • Xal'atath's Guile -- Replaces the +2 Affix

Following you get some useful tips for handling different Mythic+ Affixes as a Blood Death Knight.

  • Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
    • Blinding Sleet as many orbs as possible.
  • Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
    • The Void Emissary follows you, keep it close to the pack and target it whenever it's up.
  • Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
    • Watch behind you and collect any orbs flying into melee, intercept them before they hit any enemies.
  • Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
    • This is a healing absorb that can be dispelled, you passively deal with it.

Stat Priority

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight

Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Dungeons as a Blood Death Knight. For more detailed information, visit the Stats and Attributes guide.

Blood Death Knight Mythic+ Stats

Higher Item level items are better in most scenarios. For an accurate representation of what item to equip you should use Simcraft! A static "Stat Priority" is just a starting point and can easily shift depending on your individual gear.

All secondary stats are affected by diminishing returns. Click here to learn more!

Tertiary

  • Avoidance - Great stat to reduce the damage intake of "Area of Effect" abilities.
  • Leech - Provides additional healing through damage dealing.
  • Speed - Niche tertiary that can be very useful and has been proven useful in the past. This makes managing certain mechanics a lot easier.

In general, Leech is really strong for tanks, especially in AoE scenarios it can be by far the best stat you can have.
Avoidance is great but most of the time tanks are not struggling to survive the typical Area of Effect abilities.

Gear

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight
Overall BiS
Farmable Alternatives
SlotItemLocation
HeadSoaring Behemoth's GreathelmThe Dawnbreaker
NeckSureki Zealot's InsigniaSikran
ShoulderExhumed Centurion's SpikesRasha'nan Tier / Catalyst
CloakWings of Shattered SorrowRasha'nan
ChestExhumed Centurion's BreastplateBroodtwister Ovi'nax Tier / Catalyst
WristEverforged VambracesCrafting
GlovesExhumed Centurion's GauntletsSikran Tier / Catalyst
BeltCannoneer's ToolbeltSiege of Boralus
LegsExhumed Centurion's ChaussesKy'veza Tier / Catalyst
BootsShattershell GreavesSilken Court
Ring 1Seal of the Poisoned PactQueen Ansurek
Ring 2Ring of Earthen CraftsmanshipCrafting
Trinket 1Ovi'nax's Mercurial EggBroodtwister Ovi'nax
Trinket 2Ara-Kara SacbroodAra'kara, City of Echos
WeaponUlgrax's Morsel-MasherUlgrax

Below you are presented with a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.

SlotItemLocation
HeadSoaring Behemoth's GreathelmThe Dawnbreaker
NeckElder's Hemolymphal PeriaptCity of Threads
ShoulderSwarm Monarch's SpauldersAra-Kara, City of Echoes
CloakSwarmcaller's ShroudAra-Kara, City of Echoes
ChestDark Priest's CarapaceThe Dawnbreaker
WristVociferous Subjugator's BracersCity of Threads
GlovesRope-Scored GauntletsSiege of Boralus
BeltCannoneer's ToolbeltSiege of Boralus
LegsLegplates of Unholy FrenzyNecrotic Wake
BootsBallast SinkersSiege of Boralus
Ring 1High Nerubian SignetThe Dawnbreaker
Ring 2Ring of Dun AlgazGrim Batol
Trinket 1Skarmorak ShardThe Stonevault
Trinket 2Ara-Kara SacbroodAra-Kara, City of Echoes
WeaponDrustlord's GreataxeMists of Tirna Scithe

Trinkets

Below you can find active and passive alternatives to our recommended trinkets. Do note that some trinkets are better than others depending on the raid boss.

Active Trinket alternatives

  • Foul Behemoth's Chelicera
    • Strong trinket for both defensive and offensive value.
  • Skarmorak Shard
    • Decent on use trinket for mastery.
  • Swarmlord's Authority
    • Haste statstick, that gives a good all-around absorb on use every 1min.
    • Due to having only haste as a stat, only recommended if the absorb is needed.
  • Mad Queen's Mandate
    • Damage on use, nerfed for tanks by 33% compared to a DPS spec.

Passive Trinket alternatives

  • Ceaseless Swarmgland
    • Passive trinket that does damage and provides little damage reduction.
  • Void Pactstone
    • Trinket proc does some damage and provides haste, not the best.

Embellishments

It's recommended to hold your Spark of Omens craft and wait for further tuning.

  • 2x Elemental Focusing Lens.
    • Craft preferred on Rings, Neck, Bracers.
    • It's possible to put on any crafted piece.

Remaining Sparks

  • Crafted items are 636 item level and regular items are 639 on max item level, therefore, it's a small loss to equip crafted items outside of your 2x Embellishments unless you don't have access to other high item level gear on that slot.

Simcraft

To find the best combination of gear available to you or identify the best possible upgrades, visit our Simcraft guide to learn how to utilize Simcraft easily and effectively.

Consumables

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight
  • Phials
    • Flask of Tempered Versatility
    • Flask of Tempered Aggression
  • Food
    • Feast of the Divine Day
    • Feast of the Midnight Masquerade
  • Combat Potion
    • Tempered Potion
    • Potion Bomb of Power -- Group potion, this is a DPS loss for you.
  • Health Potion
    • Algari Healing Potion
  • Weapon Stones
    • Ironclaw Whetstone -- Usable on Sword, Axe, Polearm.
    • Ironclaw Weightstone -- Usable on Mace.
  • Augment Rune
    • Crystallized Augment Rune
  • Sockets
    • Deadly Sapphire
    • Culminating Blasphemite -- Unique, use one of each gem colour to enhance your Blasphemite.
      • Versatile Emerald
      • Versatile Ruby
      • Versatile Onyx

Enchantments

HeadNerubian Gemweaver
NeckMagnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x
CloakEnchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace
ChestEnchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance
WristEnchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Speed
Nerubian Gemweaver
BeltNerubian Gemweaver
LegsStormbound Armor Kit
BootsEnchant Boots - Scout's March
Ring 1Enchant Ring - Radiant Critical Strike
Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x
Ring 2Enchant Ring - Radiant Critical Strike
Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x
WeaponRune of the Fallen Crusader
Blood Death Knight Mythic+

You buy ‍Nerubian Gemweaver from the Great Vault Vendor to add sockets to your Helm, Wrists and Belt.

Races

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight

For min-maxing a Blood Death Knight in Mythic+ Dungeons, different racial traits can provide a tremendous benefit to your characters. If this is not your top goal, picking a race that fits your style works just as well.

  • Stoneform -- Dwarf
    • Is very valuable because you can dispel yourself or remove dangerous bleed effects.
    • On top of that using Stoneform gives you 10% physical DR which can be used as a small extra 8 second personal when tanking.
    • Use-case examples:
      • Cultivated Poisons, Ki'katal the Harvester (Ara-Kara, City of Echoes)
      • Gut Shot, Dread Captain Lockwood (Siege of Boralus)
      • Putrid Waters, Viq'Goth (Siege of Boralus)
      • Skullsplitter, General Umbriss (Grim Batol)
      • Curse of Entropy, Drahga Shadowburner (Grim Batol)
  • Shadowmeld -- Night Elf
    • Can be very useful when doing any kind of skip in Mythic+
    • Run past basically any mob and then cast Shadowmeld to make them reset. Even works on mobs that have stealth detection if you get enough distance before you Shadowmeld
  • Rocket Jump -- Goblin
    • Do a small jump in the direction your character is facing.
    • While you're in the Rocket Jump animation you are placed on a global cooldown until your character lands.
  • Arcane Torrent -- Blood Elf
    • Strong racial to dispel or purge enemies, the value is very limited but sometimes can come in handy.
  • Spatial Rift -- Void Elf
    • Spawn a shadow traveling into your facing direction, and activate again to teleport to the rift.
    • Maximum range of 100 yards.

Recommendation

As a tank picking a racial for damage is a small gain that it's not worth it most of the time. If you care about min-maxing your DPS go with the highest DPS racial.

That being said the recommended race for Mythic+ is either Night Elf or Dwarf both offer unique features one being more tactical with Night Elf skips and the other being more reliable when it comes to your survivability.

Macros

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight

Discover recommended macros for Blood Death Knight for Mythic+ and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.

Macro Import Guide Video

Taunt Macros

Taunt Macro --- This macro either casts Dark Command at your target or your mouseover (very handy to pick up mobs)

#showtooltip Dark Command
/cast [@mouseover,exists,harm][@target,exists,harm] Dark Command

Boss 1 Taunt --- Casts Dark Command on Boss1

/cast [@boss1] Dark Command

Boss 2 Taunt --- Casts Dark Command on Boss2

/cast [@boss2] Dark Command

Mouseover Macros

Focus Macros

Utility Macros

Addons

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight

Below, you see a screenshot of the author's User Interface for their Blood Death Knight, outlining which addons are used and how they are utilized in Mythic+ to make your life easier.

Blood Death Knight Mythic+
Blood Death Knight Interface in Mythic+

Addons

Weakauras

Changes this Patch

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight

Patch 11.0.2

Patch 11.0.1

FAQ

Patch 11.0.2 - The War Within
Blood Death Knight

Q: Why do I keep dying?

Credits

Written By: Meeres

Reviewed By: Miniaug

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