Blood Death Knight Raid Guide (2024)

When to use this spec

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

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 andDeep Divesections 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
  • Enables‍Death and Decayto cleave more targets and extend your‍Death and Decayduration. Details in the Deep Dive.
• Anti-Magic Barrier
  • Lowers the cooldown of your Anti-Magic Shell and makes it stronger.
• Enfeeble
  • Gives a defensive proc to your Raise Dead pet.
• Icy Talons
  • With this, you obtain a new buff to upkeep.
• Unholy Endurance
  • Lichborne now becomes a potent defensive ability.
• Insidious Chill
  • This reduces the enemy's attack speed and is more or less your Raid buff.
• Unyielding Will
  • This increases your cooldown of ‍Anti-Magic Shell by 20 seconds.
  • But also makes it so that you can use ‍Anti-Magic Shell to remove magical debuffs when activated.
• 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.

When to use this spec

This Talent build is sacrificing around 3% damage to get Massgrip and get some more utility going, this is nice for some Bosses.

Talent Adjustments

Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.

Spec Tree

• Added
  • Gorefiend's Grasp
    • Your mass-grip ability is very useful for getting any adds stacks together.

• Removed
  • Hemostasis
    • This talent provides a nice bonus to damage on your Death Strike.

When to use this spec

This loadout is dropping extra Heart Strike for extra Vampiric Blood uptime and healing. This is a ~2% DPS loss.

Talent Adjustments

Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.

Spec Tree

• Added
  • Improved Vampiric Blood
    • +4 sec uptime and 10% healing during Vampiric Blood.

• Removed
  • Improved Heart Strike
    • 30% Heart Strike damage.

Phase 1

Add Tank

• When tanking the adds in P1, it is worth holding your Cooldowns on the pull. That way you have them to keep aggro off your DPS players when the adds spawn.
  • Holding Dancing Rune Weapon is especially big for aggro.
• When your team has an Evoker call for Cauterizing Flame to cleanse Rending Bite after you reach too many stacks. Oftentimes you dodge them so when you are unlucky, cleanse them.
  • Stoneform also works and is amazing as a personal defensive tool!
• You can pre-use Anti-Magic Shell to immune the stun from Static Jolt cast by the add.
  • Icebound Fortitude should be used to break the stun from Static Jolt if the cast went off.
• Since Boss mechanics don't hit you while you are tanking the adds 50 yards away, using defensives when tanking Earthweavers with their Burrowing Strike is a good thing to do. This stacks up quite fast and increases your damage taken a lot. Use defensives late into tanking these adds unless they die really fast.
  • Having Vampiric Blood at the end of the casts is really nice and can help you survive.
• Make sure to always aim Tremors away from the ranged and melee players (preferably into the wall). Keep in mind the cast time, and dodge it yourself at the last second so you have a higher chance of stacking up multiple casts in the same position to create more space.
• Lastly, make sure to keep dragging the 2 spawning packs together and assign kicks or other stops while dragging when fighting the caster packs.
• Use Death Grip to grip caster adds when needed.

Boss Tank

• The most important thing to know is how you are breaking the eggs on this fight. Make sure to learn the tactic your guild is running!
• Mechanics like Wildfire and Icy Shroud can be quite annoying when tanking the boss since they oftentimes overlap with Mortal Wounds. For this use defensives during the overlaps.
• Making use of externals when tanking the boss Mortal Stoneclaws. It is super important since you want to stay healthy during the Mortal Wounds debuff.
  • Dropping low and trying to heal up with a -% Healing debuff is really difficult. Make sure to pre-use defensives.
• Pre-using Anti-Magic Shell to immune Crushing Stoneclaws from the tank mechanic, Wildfire and Icy Shroud is very strong.
  • If Anti-Magic Shell is not available use Vampiric Blood.

Phase 2

• During P2 both tanks are now on the boss and the damage the boss does ramps up every 30 seconds due to Broodkeeper's Fury.
• The key to this phase is alternating both tanks' defensives properly to deal with the newly added tank explosion mechanic of Stoneslam Detonation which is applied after Mortal Stoneslam.
• In this phase Death Knight has it really easy since you can use Anti-Magic Shell every time right before Mortal Stoneslam hits and immune both Crushing Stoneclaws and the new explosion Stoneslam Detonation negating the mechanic fully.
  Below is a timeline of P2, with you tanking the first Tank mechanic.

• If for some reason you do not have Anti-Magic Shell ready make sure to pre-use at least 1 or 2 Death Strikes to top yourself and generate a big shield. Pair this with other defensives such as Icebound Fortitude or Vampiric Blood.
• The important part about the tank mechanic is that after taking it, you have a 90% healing reduction for 12 seconds from Mortal Suffering while exploding for a lot of magic damage after with Stoneslam Detonation.
  • Most of the time, this kills you if don't go into this mechanic with lots of defensives up to stay at high HP after the initial hit.
• Lastly Frozen Shroud and Wildfire do a decent amount of magic damage to you. Overall it's not too bad, but keep this in mind if you can't Anti-Magic Shell the tank mechanic.

Special Tips and Tricks

• A DPS/healer player with an immunity can taunt right before Mortal Stoneslam takes all the deadly debuffs and just immunes them outside the raid group giving you and your tank partner more time to regenerate defensives.
• Using Blessing of Sacrifice can be quite dangerous for the paladin in this fight so make sure he is ready when you call for it.
• Dwarf Stoneform is a really strong defensive in this fight both for its bleed removal and the 10% physical damage reduction.

Phase 1

• Electrified Jaws is the only tank mechanic in P1 and this is easy to handle. The initial damage is quite low because the important part is the debuff after which Increases your physical damage taken by 100% and gives you a magic DoT.
  • When taunting this debuff from the other tank it still lasts for the next melee swing meaning you take 1 swing with +100% damage taken. Be ready for this and press a defensive such as Vampiric Blood or Icebound Fortitude.
• Hurricane Wing can be immuned with Death's Advance.
  • When tanking the boss, face her away from the raid to make it easier for them.
• Volatile Current spawns Sparks that need to be dealt with, as a Blood Death Knight your toolkit has the following:
  • Use Mind Freeze to kick 1 spark and remove 1 stack.
  • On the other hand Blinding Sleet removes 1 stack from all Sparks in front of you and should be used every 2 waves.
  • Death Grip removes 1 stack from 1 Spark, it's best used on far away Sparks since it is single target.
  • Gorefiend's Grasp if talented also removes 1 stack from all Sparks in range of the grip.

Intermission 1

• In the first Intermission, your main struggle is going to be picking up aggro from all the adds which spawn when breaking the Shield of the Ruiners.
  • For this be ready to have Death and Decay down and hold at least 1 charge of Blood Boil so you can generate initial threat.
• Apart from that, make use of Death Grip to move Acolyte (caster adds) with you or out of Lightning Devastation.

Phase 2

• Electrified Jaws still exists with the same rules as P1.
• Hurricane Wing is now Tempest Wing this does not how easy it is to handle with Death's Advance.
  • Just press it and stand still, avoid nearby players, and still actively move through the wave to take as little damage as possible.
• Fulminating Charge is a non-tank mechanic but it can be quite nice to help out when possible, meaning if a DPS player is struggling to move out of the Raid step into his circle (closest to him) take the debuff and "free" him.
  • Since the debuff is not meant for tanks the damage is quite low and easy to tank.
• Volatile Current still exists, and using all CC on this is the best thing you can do to help out your Raid team.
  • It is important to not use Gorefiend's Grasp on the last 2 waves before the next intermission so Gorefiend's Grasp is ready to be used there.

Intermission 2

• Agree on which tank takes which Stormfiend. One important note is that they don't melee swing but use a ranged magical attack instead. This means that even if you are not in range of them but you have aggro you get hit by their attack.
• During this Intermission the whole raid is busy and generally, there won't be much healing going towards the tanks so whenever you are tanking the Stormfiend and they are not casting anything consider pressing a defensive.
• Storm Break spawns adds from every Stormfiend, here you can make use of Gorefiend's Grasp when the small adds meet in the middle of the room to grip them together and slow/stun them.

Phase 3

• P3 is the most interesting phase for tanking since the boss casts Raging Storm and starts spawning Storm's Spite.
  • The main goal is to soak as many of these as possible when tanking to lessen the stacks on the whole Raid group.
  • While not tanking the boss you should be walking around the boss soaking them.
  • You are the best tank against this mechanic so soak as much as possible.
• Thunderous Blast is the new tank mechanic, it's different from the other Phases. Now it is a frontal cone during which you need to use defensives to lessen the impact of the debuff damage on the raid after Thunderous Energy.
  • Make use of Anti-Magic Shell and Vampiric Blood every single time you take this mechanic. Pre-use them to negate as much damage as possible.
  • Asking for Absorb Externals or Normal Externals and making use of any Absorb trinket in the game is powerful here and recommended.
  • Aiming it away from the raid or any other players is important since if anyone but the tanks gets hit they blow up and probably cause a wipe.
• Thunderstruck Armor is the debuff after taking the explosion, similar to P1 and P2 you have this up for a few melee swings when taunting off your tank partner so be ready to use defensives such as Icebound Fortitude and Lichborne when taunting and pool some runic power to cast Death Strike.
• Magnetic Charge is a new mechanic for non-tank players, it grips you to their position when the debuff runs out.
  • Use Death's Advance to not get pulled so you can keep the boss facing in a good position and help the raid.
  • On top of that, you can soak Storm's Spites that are now far away from the relocated raid.
• Fulminating Charge + Tempest Wing are same as P2.

Special Tips and Tricks

• Blood Elves Arcane Torrent removes stacks from the Sparks and can be a really strong racial on this fight.
• Playing higher Versatility on this fight can be quite nice since a lot of the damage taken in this fight is magical.

Phase 1

• In this Phase it's important to position the boss correctly for Echoing Fissure, most of the time you want to it into a corner far away from the broken wall you want to pass.
• Use Calamitous Strike to break walls, it is important to note that this ability knockbacks into the wall and far behind it so aim yourself correctly before it goes off.
  • On top of that your tank partner can taunt during the cast and the target does not swap.
  • Don't use Death's Advance before this hits you. This prevents you from being knocked back which means not breaking any walls, therefore you wipe.
  • Getting gripped back after you break a wall works well.

Phase 2

• In this phase, you have to drag the boss depending on your guild's strategy, same with which wall to break with Sunder Shadow.
• Sunder Shadow knocks you back a small amount and leaves an image of you behind while you can pass through walls. It is important to note here that you always need to leave melee range to break walls. Oftentimes this causes you to take quite a lot of damage while being unable to generate Runic Power and Death Strike.
  • So with this just run behind the wall you desire to break and use Vampiric Blood + Anti-Magic Shell
  • Should there be a Volcanic Heart in the way, also use Icebound Fortitude or Lichborne right before it goes off so you keep the damage reduction for the most amount of time.
• Don't underestimate the damage you can take walking away from the boss with Sunder Shadow especially when he follows it up with a Umbral Annihilation. It's all magic damage after all!
• When Corruption is cast avoid pressing Blood Boil and Heart Strike to not cleave the mind controlled players.

Phase 3

• In P3 the boss positioning is relevant to which portals become available when Sunder Reality is cast, so position the boss properly.
• After Sunder Reality is cast, portals open and adds spawn close to them. The problem here is aggro especially since the adds are gonna be spread out here. Make sure to have Blood Boil charges ready and look out for any potential Death Grip on distant mobs.
• During this, one of the 2 tanks also gets Calamitous Strike from the boss make sure to outplay the knockback with Death's Advance to not break any walls.
  • On top of that, you now have a huge damage taken increase which can be quite dangerous while tanking the adds. Make sure to use defensives here or get a Blessing of Protection from a Paladin to cleanse the debuff.

Special Tips and Tricks

• In P3, position the boss close to the portals so the melee players can have full uptime while also being safe from Ebon Destruction.

Phase 1

• Burning Claws is the main mechanic for tanks in P1, Blazing Blast triggers at the end of the debuff making it crucial to keep defensives and absorbs through the entire duration.
  • While having this debuff make sure to use‍Anti-Magic Shellwhen‍Scorching Bombgoes off to get value from both magic damage absorb towards the explosion and immuning the stacks of‍Scorching Bomb.
• Moving the boss while Drifting Embers is going on is nice and can lead to melee players dodging the mechanic better.
• Always make sure to bait Searing Breath away from the ranged players unless your guild's strat says otherwise. What this means is don't stand with your back towards the range camp.

Phase 2

• After playing the Intermission reposition the boss for Abyssal Breath. Don't keep him too close to the edge but more towards the inner circle of the room.
• Abyssal Breath spawns a lot of adds, one of them is going to be a tank add, make sure to to pick it up. It casts Empty Strike increasing your damage taken.
• As a Death Knight you have a ranged kick with Mind Freeze so make sure to keep an eye on Cosmic Volley and help kick it.
• With Blinding Sleet you can AoE Stop Blasting Scream whenever needed.
• Void Claws is the new main tank mechanic in this phase, it does a good amount of damage to you so make sure to have Vampiric Blood for it when you get it and cast a Death Strike to stay healthy.
  • With this mechanic opposed to P1 you don't need to use defensives throughout the duration but toward the end when it explodes.
  • When the debuff expires it explodes, run this out of the raid, and don't hit anyone with this mechanic.
• Infinite Duress is a debuff on a non tank-player. This when dispelled triggers Dread a decent knockback that can sometimes be quite problematic. To counter this just cast Death's Advance right after the dispel and you won't be knocked back.

Solo Intermission

• If you are handling the solo outside phase make sure to have Death's Advance and Anti-Magic Shell ready before going into Intermission:
  • Before all players go in together make sure to request a Blessing of Protection to immune Destabilize. If you do not have a Blessing of Protection ask for externals and at a minimum use both Icebound Fortitude and Lichborne.
  • After that, you want to press Death's Advance to stay in the middle of the room and taunt the boss towards. NOW press Anti-Magic Shell to immune the application of Infinite Duress.
  • Meet the Boss in the middle he casts Cosmic Ascension run towards where he came from all the way to the edge waiting for the cast to finish and the crystal Astral Formation to spawn under you.
  • The Boss re-appears and walks towards you be ready with a Vampiric Blood since he is about to cast Void Slash.

Here is a Timeline of how it should look if everything goes right:

Phase 3

• In P3 tanks have a unique job, the new Void Slash mechanic is a frontal cone that can't hit anyone but the current tank.
  • Most of the time 1 tank is taking 2 stacks of it and then going down into the Emptiness Between Stars since the explosion would kill the raid-team.
• Stand inside either Astral Formation or in one of the falling Motes of Oblivion to gain stacks of Oblivion.
• Every Cosmic Ascension is quite dangerous since the boss flies up and you have to break uptime run to out and meet the boss who is ready to swing at you. Here it is recommended to have Vampiric Blood up.
• Scouring Eternity make sure to pre-position the Boss behind a crystal so you are safe from this mechanic.
• Embrace of Nothingness is the big soak mechanic on non-tank players if your tactic is to help and soak this make sure to press strong defensives such as Icebound Fortitude and Anti-Magic Shell
• Infinite Duress again is present, you can immune this by using Death's Advance.

Special Tips and Tricks

• Dwarf Stoneform is a really strong utility in this fight when you want to do the solo Intermission on a non-immunity class or Anti-Magic Shell is not ready. Since you can self-dispel Infinite Duress.

Phase 1

Smolderon as a fight is very scripted and there is only 1 random factor that determines how the fight plays out.

After each World In Flames Intermission it is random which tank gets the first debuff.

Depending on if you get the first or second debuff the fight and how you play it changes a tiny bit so the following section is split to cover both scenarios.

First Overheated

• Getting the first Overheated debuff means you want to step away from the tanking position and your tank partner wants to taunt the boss to get Brand of Damnation on him.
• While your tanking partner is getting hit by the mechanic you have to look for a nice position to stand in and be ready to taunt the boss.
• During the cast of Brand of Damnation taunt the boss and don't be in the circle of the mechanic. Defensives are not needed here at all since you are just tanking the boss with his normal melee swings.
• After this, you are going to be taking on the 2 Brands of Damnation for the Phase.

SecondOverheated

• When your tank partner gets Overheated first you need to act fast since you need to have aggro of the boss. This means taunting the boss and getting ready to take Brand of Damnation.
  • Follow to steps below on how to handle Brand of Damnation.
• After coming back to the boss you have to get ready to receive the second Overheated of the fight. With this debuff, position yourself well and wait for your tank partner to take Brand of Damnation taunt the boss, and play it out until intermission starts.

Managing Brand of Damnation

• It's time to talk about Brand of Damnation how to use your defensives and prepare for the hard part of the fight.
  • Ideally, you want to pool some Runic Power and have either Lichborne or Icebound Fortitude ready to use.
  • Right before the cast finishes you want to use any defensives lasting longer than 8 seconds since after the hit you receive 2 new debuffs Cauterizing Wound and Searing Aftermath.
  • Cauterizing Wound is a big healing absorb and when removed it drops an exploding zone under you. To clear this after the mechanic hits you, walk away from the stack of players a bit and press 1 or 2 Death Strikes.
  • After that Searing Aftermath is your next concern, so you took the mechanic cleared your healing absorb, and topped your HP. With that base while running out press Death's Advance and bring this debuff either behind or in front of the Raid team with the most possible distance between you and the players since there is a drop off to the damage.
  • Right before Searing Aftermath explodes make sure to press Anti-Magic Shell or press it right before entering Smoldering Ground since you immune getting the debuff meaning you are not gonna take any dot damage while standing in fire aslong as Anti-Magic Shell is active.
  • After Searing Aftermath exploded get ready to walk back to the Raid you want to pay attention to the Lava Geysers timer. Since this can be baited by tanks too, make your way back either close to Lava Pool or wait out the timer (usually a few seconds) and then walk back to the boss.

Intermission

• Intermission is the easiest part for tanks, the boss goes AFK and nothing really happens, make sure to pick up your 5 Ignited Essence to min max your damage.
• Watch out when using Death's Advance since the knockback of the intermission cast World In Flames gets immuned and the orbs might spawn too close to the boss to be soaked by you.
• Lingering Burn of the fire rings can be avoided by pressing Anti-Magic Shell before the ring explodes.
  • Keep in mind using it late in the Intermission causes it to maybe not be ready when you have to play the first Brand of Damnation.

Managing Wild Mushrooms

• Wild Mushrooms are the main mechanic throughout the whole fight, they are fairly easy when executed correctly.
• Basically the Boss casts Wild Mushrooms and summon 2 type of mushrooms 1 Poisonous Mushroom and 1 Blazing Mushroom
  • Both of them need to be soaked by 1 tank each, otherwise they explode and wipe the raid.
  • When soaked you receive a debuff making you take 500% more damage from the next mushroom of the same color for the next set.
  • With that in mind, it's quite simple what the goal is, soak 1 color -> soak the other color and repeat
  • At the start of the fight, you and your tank partner should decide who does which color first and from then on the rotation just flows naturally.
• Tips for the mushrooms
  • Cutting it too close to the edge of the mushroom might not work properly and make it explode on the Raid so make sure to take an extra step inside just to be safe.
  • The mushrooms are spawning quite fast after another so be ready to walk quickly to the next one. With Death's Advance you should have no problem getting from 1 to the other.
  • The damage of the mushrooms is not too high but soaking them plus some raid damage can be quite dangerous at times. Make sure to also use Vampiric Blood and Death Strike the boss while running between mushrooms.

Phase 1

• When players break Mass Entanglement small treants spawn, make sure to pick them up using Blood Boil.
• While sometimes treants can spawn further away from melee when players break their root, use Death Grip to grip them under the boss so they can be cleaved down.
• After Fire Beam make sure to move the boss to a further away position making it easy to dodge for the Raid.

Phase 2

• The only added mechanic in P2 is Flaming Germination which spawns Seed of Flame Here 2 things are important for tanks:
  • First, make sure to always keep the boss close to the dispel fire zones caused by Fiery Growth since the seeds can not spawn in the fire and so you can control the area where they spawn in a better way.
  • Try to always soak a seed right behind you when tanking the boss in the middle-ish so the boss stays in range for every player in the raid when the seeds are happening.

Phase 3

• In P3 all mechanics mentioned above are happening together, but the way to handle them stays the same.
• For the Boss movement consult with your guild and check what tactic you are running.

Special Tips and Tricks

• Death's Advance can be used to not get pushed back by Typhoon.
• This makes it easier for you to dodge Fire Beam.

Phase 1

• Same as Tindral a lot of specifics come down to the tactic your guild/Raid picks on this Boss so I am going to give more overall tips and tricks for the fight.
• Predator is a special tank mechanic that makes the boss leap after you and hit you with a melee swing. Nothing special, just keep in mind that if you run far away from him he leaps to you same when the boss goes away during certain boss abilities.
• Fyr'alath's Bite is the tank mechanic in P1 + 2 always make sure to aim it in a set direction and don't change this last second because in P2 you can't hit any Souls with it.
• P1 make sure to position the boss nicely for your melee players to still swing when placing the Dream Rend.
  • Make use of Anti-Magic Shell before walking into the fire patch on the ground to immune the ticking debuff.
  • The direction the Boss faces is important for the placement of Dream Rend since the boss keeps turning while he is casting and the direction he faces when the cast finishes determines the position.
  • The Dream Rend suck in can be prevented by pressing Death's Advance
• Blaze during this mechanic since you are a tank, don't move around too much just tank it, and if anything move inside your line so you don't shift the position.

Intermission

• Everything here comes down to the tactic your guild uses and what WeakAura you follow. Generally, you can soak a ball of the opposite color once when pressing Vampiric Blood + Anti-Magic Shell + Icebound Fortitude.
  • This consumes all of your defensives so only do it when strictly necessary.

Phase 2

• Greater Firestorm spawns the 2 Colossus adds during the Shadowflame Devastation phase. Normally both tank's circles stack on top of each other so make sure to use Anti-Magic Shell for this mechanic.
• In P2 Death Grip and Gorefiend's Grasp shine.
• Make sure to grip far away Screaming Souls in with Death Grip and when pushed close enough together cast Gorefiend's Grasp to stack them up.

Phase 3

• In P3 the tanking is changing a bit making it a bit harder since you take more damage over time from the new tank buster Infernal Maw with the stacking debuff.
• Normally tanks hold a‍Corrupted Seedor‍Seed of Amirdrassil during P3.
  • Important to note is that Infernal Maw counts towards a mechanic that will explode the seed and wipe the raid so if you ever hold the seed and the tank mechanic is about to hit you drop it before.
• For cooldowns for every single Infernal Maw combo, you can have Vampiric Blood ready
  • Have enough runic power saved up to Death Strike after each hit.

Special Tips and Tricks

• Playing higher Versatility on this fight can be quite nice since a lot of the damage taken in this fight is magical.

Below you are presented 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.

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

/cast [@boss1] Dark Command

/cast [@boss2] Dark Command