DEATH KNIGHT in WotLK: Was it Any Good Though?

I've actually waited so long to do this you have no idea the amount of comments I got my original wasn't any good those videos being like haha when's death night though mate and I've decided today is the day I figured it would fit well alongside my current look back into Wrath of the Lich King as a whole imagine if we end up going to northrend eventually - for real anyway we're gonna go full row back enjoy the slightly modded intro hi my name is Willy I'm gonna be looking back at the new class of Wrath of the Lich King and answering a very simple question was it any good though let's look at the death line here the points I'm gonna be looking out there leveling experience how good they were at it and how fast they could level the class quests what they were and how well they fit PvE dungeon and rate performance open-world battlegrounds and arenas and TSS the effects they had as well as the looks the first new class to be introduced to World of Warcraft on the second expansion in it's been a long time coming when Blizzard announced during the expansion features that were gonna be gained the Deaf Knights the crowd went wild deaf Knights for the longest time had been parred Warcraft dating back to the RTS games and had always been a central part of the story surrounding the Frozen Throne and nor friend offices fateful journey purging Stratholme leading his men to the frozen north and destroying their ships and even defeating Illidan Stormrage chance for players to get their hands on this legacy hat players drooling even a world of warcraft previously we had had run-ins with death Knights and they were always big characters baron Riven Duran the four horsemen and vanilla the first death knight ever created by the former Lich King knows all being Terran golfing din the black temple had also fallen aside from the lore though this class is just cool like paladins they'd always been such grand figures towering over others on their undead steeds plate armor raising the dead and bringing a belt ease previously from the RTS games into WoW itself enough intro though this class has so much to be said about it let's just see how good the death knight was in breath of the lich king starting off as we always do at the start with leveling now death Knights were special boys in Wrath of the Lich King the hero class what does hero class mean you ask no idea but they get loads of good stuff for free so hey that's pretty cool in order to create a deaf Knight you needed to have a character at least level 55 then deaf Knights would become available to make yourself why well because deaf night started at level 55 starting at level 55 gave them a great many advantages over other classes instead of the first dozen or so levels being you pressing one button death Knights got loads of cool toys thrown at them straight away it was actually quite a lot to get your head around but honestly you couldn't really go to wrong for reasons we'll be checking out later in the video not only this but they also start with a full set of green gear in most slots making them instantly competitive at dealing with the first enemies that were thrown at them on top of this they're starring area gave a loads of rare tier rewards by the time you were done with your initial quests and you're out into the open world you were considerably out gear a fresh 60 and will crush your way fruit Burning Crusade content and PvP early on simply because you're at a disproportionately high power level because you just got so much stuff for free and this is one of many many factors that made death Knights such a blast to play from the get-go and after the intro question low 58 and could go straight into TBC content in Outland as for the remainder of the questing journey you have to take into account that by this point in the game questing itself had changed quite considerably as for other classes in this series before classic came out questing was far more of a threat back then and while we're in full swing of classic at the moment and I'm sure you can all tell me the dangers that come with taking on three or so mobs the same level of you come wrath it could still be a threat if you're under geared but definite went under geared they were pretty over geared actually is that this point is worth talking about the class design philosophy behind death Knights Blizzard wanted a class that would be able to DPS or tank using all three of their specializations this was an unprecedented attempt to shape a class in this way now as you may know by Wrath of the Lich King DPS classes have offense accordance to improve their damage and tanking classes have defensive talents and abilities to reduce damage taken so if we want all three specializations to be able to perform in both roles death Knights are going to need some a very strong baseline tools to support this and they did too strong in fact on release I spawned fortitude anti magic shell and def strike were the main three but each talent tree contained very strong improvements to defensive options not purely just DPS talents in DPS trees or vice versa for example blood have both hysteria and vampiric blood frost had hunger and cold and on break armored an unholy had bone shield and scourge strike simply put the death knight toolkit was bigger and more well-rounded than pretty much any of a class of the time simply so they could compete well in both roles and back in the day closer to the launch of RAF the Lich King I remember deep guessing as blood and tanking as frost as long as you played reasonably well you could pretty much do whatever you wanted death Knights on Raphael each King launched may have been the class with the most viable specializations to ever have existed in WoW and it was so much fun to play from at least the point of view of the person playing the death knight and you can bet you a super happy with this new class the sheer power level and options available to you made you a king in any form of content tanking amazing DPS fantastic PvP unstoppable so this is why I say you couldn't really go wrong with Def Knight leveling and even later on in the expansion where the death knight frankly just got a bit more balanced it was still great at blasting through levels and we'll talk more about how the class got separated out into its different specializations which brings us to the class quest once again by the refere which king era these things were largely a thing of the past I always liked these in which they were more of a common occurrence however def Knights had their own set of quests that I suppose you could call class quests as their introduction to the game these took part in a Kuras the ebon hold floating above the Eastern Plaguelands this necropolis served as the starting zone for death Knights and told you their story how you fought against humans and Crusaders of the lands firing cannons submitting a death charger to your will from the Shadow Realm burning pillaging destroying controlling a colossal frost straight to freeze your enemies it was really something else and it was the first time a class had got this starring zone treatment all to itself they sighed a little 55 after all so you could hardly just pop one in the Elwynn forest and call it a day it would have been kind of strange seeing a soldier of the Lich King killing kobolds next to a level to human priest wouldn't it and it all ended with your grand assault upon lights hope chapel alongside allegiance of undead and other death Knights and we come to see how the assault fails Arthas our former commander making an appearance himself and being stopped in his tracks by tyrion fordring the battle ends up being lost but you are redeemed and freed from the lich king's grasp as terian calls for the formation of the argent crusade a new fighting force to combat the armies of the Lich King following this there's the fo memorable first time making your way through the capital city via storm wind or Orgrimmar forced to go in foot in shame booed through the streets as you go and then finally granted your place in your faction and you by thrall or Varian a very memorable moment for sure after that well it's on which to Outland unless you went in quested in vanilla content for some reason which i guess you couldn't theory i don't remember really it being a thing though perhaps that would be the play these days as Outland would be so packed it's interesting to think about let's talk PvE now it's important that we talk about the fact that death Knights were rebalanced shall we say into their niches throughout the expansion release death Knights were insane for the reasons we went over earlier eventually blood became a tanking speck frost more single target with burst AoE and a wholly consistent a OE with good single target honestly due to death a Knights toolkit you can still do each role as each specialization but realistically you aren't going to compete with an equally geared and skilled player unless the stars align with props it's important to know that and for this we're going to be looking at popular builds on what death Knights bring to a raid or group for that particular role before we get into the actual specializations though we need to talk a bit more about certain mechanics that death Knights have they didn't just have one resource they had to first of all runic power this was gained by using abilities that required rooms and there was spent on other abilities that needed runic power like death coil as for runes you have six of them to blood to frost and to unholy various abilities needed one or two rooms for example many of your most powerful attacks like death strike needed one and holy and one frost room there were also death brooms these counted as any type of room and we're generated through a number means mainly talents like death rune mastery on top of this the death Knights got enchants for free through rune forging Stoneskin gargoyle for tanking razor ice usually on the off hand if you're frost and fallen Crusader on the main hand or two hand as of holy there were many more rooms than this though take a look through these remember any of them at all we also had presences these are kind of like stances but didn't require certain presences to use certain abilities the way warriors do these were more of an added benefit to the way you were playing blood presence increasing damage by 15% and healing you for 4% of damage dealt unholy increased attack and movement speed by 15 as well as reduced energy CD of abilities by 0.5 seconds and frost increased stamina by 8% reduce physical damage taken by 8% increased armor contribution from items by 60% and increased threat generated next ask for buffs for the raid the death knight was also very much wanted first of all Horn of winter their standard buff for the raid a nice extra one 5/5 agility and strength remember the debuff cap as well as Group y buffs were both totally removed in wrap for the Lich King so an optimal composition just got a whole lot more accessible going into frost games your rate improved IC talents giving everyone an extra 20% melee haste very nice deep in unholy you could unlock the ebon plague ability increasing magic damage on the target by 13% once again a pretty huge buff flood gave abominations my giving 10% extra attack power also in Wrath the Lich King many different classes and specializations could essentially use the same certain D buffs this was to make a 10-1 raid comp more flexible so they were def Knight wasn't especially required if no one else could provide these buffs it was very welcomed so just for a comparison strength of Earth totem could also do the strength and agility buff and bounce druid or warlocks could do the 13% spell damage with that said let's talk and holy the primary focus of this specialization is sustained AoE arguably one of the top specializations in the game for this purpose that's not to say they can't compete on single target either however but that AoE is the real prize here and there are many talents to boost up your diseases a good amount like epidemic impurity wandering plague urban plague bringer rage of ribbon derp and black ice also at the push of one button pestilence all these mega boost adult dots are spread to every single target nearby at a deafened decay and blood boil on top and you are blasting on the damage mirrors you know what the best thing about this is though pestilence instantly spreads the ebon plague bring a debuff to all other targets that's 13% extra magic damage taken the only other methods of doing this are from rune kim's or locks which both require single target spells this makes known holy def Knight a very important addition to fights with frequent ads or high volumes of ads and holy uses glyphs such as icy touch of the ghoul and Horn of winter as for usage single-target for blood swapping targets or fights we've ads spread out you can give and holy some consideration for the extra room speed frost should only be considered when of the defensive cooldowns are down for the extra stamina and damage reduction however the holy should also have bone armor pretty much all the time giving them an extra passive 20% damage reduction the specialization is a real all-rounder that brings great rage agility personal survivability and solid damage in all circumstances and it can be the go-to for leveling for the same reasons next up frost to the second a damage dealing specialization even though it was kind of designed to be the main tanking spec from the offset things just worked out differently sometimes than intended so of how enhancement shamans potentially could have been a tank spec in vanilla but I digress frost is the big single target specialization for Def Knights with potential to lay down some numbers on multiple target fights as well this specialization is based around hard-hitting dual wielding attacks that can have a bit of variation on specialization talents like annihilation rime merciless combat threat ifthis Arion and guile of gore fiend all add up a big time the single target on this specialization games quite a large portion of its damage from physical attacks like auto attacks with blood cake blade as well as obliterate and dose of cold steel whilst bursts they re coming from howling blast are lining up with rime and killing machine procs to completely delete huge packs of enemies and whilst the AoE is less consistent than unholy the single target pulls ahead with a Talon tree as well as always bringing improved IC talents for that suite plus 20% male haste Frost uses glyphs like obliterate frost strike and disease presence usage is much the same as unholy overall finally Blood what ended up being the tanking specialization this was the first tank you expect to go around with a to convert instead of them lesser classes that needed something called a shield and honestly it really boosted up the number of tanks you saw in Wrath of the Lich King which was a very welcomed thing by this point to the game also just to know there is a huge amount of flexibility when it comes to DK blood tells gear your ability and what buffs your group needs the way that decays tanked was very unique compared to others most other tanks focus on taking less damage and relying on healers to keep them alive death Knights mainly focused on just kneeling them sell and they were really good at healing themselves talents like room and improved room tap vampiric blood we lived in Acropolis and improved Deathstrike made them extremely sturdy and very much in control of their damage intake more so than other tanks on top of this they had hysteria which is essentially a male version of power infusion but lasting about twice as long very nice on your most geared male a class blood death knight tanks would of course want frost presence perhaps popping on and holy to get between mobs they use talents like rune tan and vampiric blood and disease and it's kind of funny how most the specializations for Def Knights don't use the same presence as they're linked to really now for PvP so as mentioned earlier release def Knights were over-the-top mega over tuned pretty much rolled everything there's not really much to look into here we're going to be looking at death Knights in PvP from later on in the expansion where they have been toned down a bit in power level PvP was where death Knights were able to take full advantage of their wide tool curve talents that crossed over CC and damaged a full effect once again each specialization was just fine in PvP blood having a great cooldown base kit with strong burst from hysteria and dancing room weapon and defensive options from bring tapping from parry blood frost was quite similar but orangy reliant with rhyming killing machine proc slowing up it did however bring hunger and cold and AOE hearts do you see every one minute that could be made free with a glyph which made timing based comps with this spec very dangerous most of the time though you ran into an holy death Knights the reason being is sort of like in PvE this specialization was just all-around good split pressure we were high damaging diseases hunts like desecration making pillar hugging and non option a permanent pet with master of ghouls don't forget this pet had a stun north as well at all kit very strong defensive options through icebound fortitude and T magic shell and zone bone armor lich born and death strike made them really sturdy specialization was just unrelenting also ad unholy blight making dispelling impossible for its duration on top of this death Knights had death grip strangulate and chains of ice baseline and this constant pressure gave us comps like TSG which was warrior death knight paladin to DPS with no resource mortals strike and just the sheer pressure made a real stop comp at low brackets and still competitive high up decays were top performers in PvP throughout the whole expansion finally we come to the TSS and similar TV CTO sets have been separated out to fit each specialization gone with the days of Blizzard deciding your classes getting a healing tear set and that's it and for deaf nights they had two sets one for tanking and one for their DPS specializations also there were ten and the twenty five month ESS the twenty five sets had a recolor as well as better stats that year set bonuses were the same each set for different specializations also look the same finally each tier was comprised of five pieces but only had two and four tier set bonuses so let's have a look what we got tier seven coming from naxxramas and the hands from obsidian sanctum was the valorous scourge boneset the two set for tanks giving more Kraton plague strike and some extra duration on icebound fortitude decent bonuses for both offense and defense as for the DPS set more quick chance on your big spender abilities for unholy and frost and some extra resources are very nice to enforce at all so this set looks amazing I still use up my death knight today absolute best looks wise for me tier 8 the conquerors a dark room set coming from Ottawa the tanking pretty similar to how the preview tier was war offense on the to set more defense on the 4 set the DPS set was quite similar the force that was a nice extra contributor to the damage multiplier on those respective abilities as well looks wise again this set of really great solid set of shoulders on this set as well for no more boys tier 9 came from trial of the Crusader almost the triumphant Vasari instead try saying that three times at this point we can see how the death knight has evolved no longer is it just set bonuses that could benefit any potential tanking spec but more tailored for blood with increases to damage for heart strike as well as the universal blood strike the fourth set giving a short cooldown on vamp blood which was already only one minute baseline the DPS set once again pretty simple small strength Brock and some extra damage on it doll looks-wise I don't know what it is I've never been too big of a fan of this set can't really say why finally tier 10 from Icecrown Citadel the sanctified scourge Lord set tanking set being very strong extra death in 2k damage for better AoE threat and the 4 set making your blood tap into a strong defensive cooldown blood tap already only having a 1 minute cooldown baseline and is something that already could be further upgraded through a number of means the DPS set following suit more damage on main abilities even on heart strike still DPS was still a possibility the force set being a bit more interesting rewarding playing around your broom usage correctly for a nice damage buff looks wise it's a return to form for me very Lich King II if that makes sense overall the Deaf Knight was an absolute monster extremely popular upon release and found its space eventually in Azeroth is a versatile DPS and a tank the wood in expansions to come set an example of how tanking can be more than reacting but preparing for damage to come in so the Deaf Knight was it any good though well the question almost feels rhetorical at this point doesn't it yeah they were great a blaster play a very welcome addition as a new tank and despite the over tuned launch they became a bit more in line by the end of the expansion and remain a very popular class to this day I know I played one on release for a good while and remember those times well anyways do we have any death knight enthusiasts in here at all was interesting to look back to just how they used to be just maybe a few guys are interested I could look into monks too and maybe even demon hunters it's entirely down to you guys you'll have to let me know as always I do hope you enjoyed this video and I will see you in the next one if you like what you see give the video a like and subscribe as there's plenty more to come as always thank you all so much for watching take care bye [Music]

Channel: WillE

Views: 444,378

Keywords: the burning crusade, tbc, phase 4, zg, zul'gurub, arathi basin, Blackwing Lair, BWL, top 10 wow, epic mount, grind, wow, gold, gold guide, best farm vanilla, World of Warcraft, WoW Classic, classic, Vanilla, shadowlands, asmongold, madseasonshow, pvp, pve, raiding, azerite traits, classic wow beta, blizzard, twitch, mage, rogue, shaman, warrior, paladin, hunter, druid, warlock, priest, ion hazzikostas, 8.3

Id: nzESEsEYMLc

Length: 19min 10sec (1150 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 01 2020