Death Knight Shopping List (55-70)

According to Ratingbuster, the Defender's Gauntlets you can get as a quest reward for The Rock Flayer Matriarch are better than Bloodbane's Gauntlets of Command.

+30 health
+0.04 crit
+0.04 dodge

It's not much, but every little bit helps.

Jame, I did some research about which Sigil a DK should use pre-Naxx, and I was suprised to learn that if you are thinking the EoH Sigil is the best I saw some research on either thottbot, or wowhead, that the starting sigil acually gives more DPS then the extra 3.76% crit chance from the Sigil of Haunted Dreams. Also I didn't compare the ones from Venture Co., like Sigil of Wild Buck, but they don't much better. So, in short, keep that level 55 blue sigil until you get the 25-man Naxx one, or the one from Arenas.

Also IMO, and I couldn't stress that enough, Blizzard made the best sigils Unholy. For example http://thottbot.com/i42620. Also, I know this is irrelevant, and I am long-winded, the only 213 item level sigils are unholy-based.
"Like sands through an hourglass, so are the the days of our lives." Yet, you can't flip life upside-down and restart.

It was already said by others but there is a sword you can get at lvl 66 in Halaa(Nagrand) if you don't find a group to do Ring of blood:

It all depends if your faction is in control of the Halaa in Nagrand:

for the Alliance:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30597
sold by Aldraan

for the Horde:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30570
sold by Coreiel

Both are in limited stock so if you hear your faction captured the halaa run like hell and get one ^_^

Hope it helps

Adamantite Battlegear
Chest 67
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=23507
Gloves 66
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=23508
Bracers 66
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=23506

Socket with +12 Str/+24 AP gems

Legs, Inkling's Leggings from
Whelps of the Wyrmcult
Level 65

Neck
Necklace of the Deep
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32508
Level 65 societ with 2 +12 str gems

"The most passionate kiss leaves a bleeding chestwound."

Are you going to make a list of gear that best for the DK for lvls 71-80

i noticed that if u r n battle u cant mount (duh) but can use Death Coil 2 heal ur ghoul. the thing is when outta battle mount up and then un-mount 2 fully restore any missing health from ur ghoul (as long as its still alive [duh]). not sure if it works with poisons and other stuff like that on them but @least u nvr have 2 use bandages or RP 2 restore health on it outta battle.

At 78 I changed my spec to 32:37 for dualwielding.
I used the 1h maces that you could get from the Horde exhibition in Vengeance Landing!

Greetz

[Murkblood Avenger's Legplates] can obtained at the same time as the chest in the same area. At this level Critical strike rating is a fine trade off for a few strength. And you if you lazy like me and got the whole Fel Iron Plate set you will still get both set bonuses.

Has anyone a similar Guide for instance loot only, since this is a great guise but in my honest opinion i can and most likely will be running instances through my leveling specially if there is a loot there i want?

This may sound really, really whiny, but there is a better ring then Keleseth's Signet Ring. For the quest, Cleansing the Waters, from Amaan the Wise you can get Amaan's Signet Ring which has the EXACT same stats as Keleseth's Signet Ring except that the Amaan's Signet Ring has 1 more hit rating. You should probably mention that in your guide. Awesome DK guide btw and keep it up!

If you say plz because it is shorter than please, then I will say no because it is shorter than yes.

Hi Jame,

I love your guides and have been using them to level my Death Knight through BC.
I have a suggestion for improvement of the gems mentioned in the shopping list.
The new Northrend green gems go for 5g or less on the AH on my server, so I would suggest getting the following for the Circle's Stalwart Helmet :

Bold Bloodstone +12 STR

Inscribed Huge Citrine +6 STR +6 Crit

Sovereign Shadow Crystal +6 STR +9 STA

If you have some more cash to spend, you can buy Perfect cut quality versions of these gems, to give you +2 extra stats on each gem.

With these gems, some other equipment also becomes very nice to have.
I just picked up Fearless Girdle in Zangarmarsh yesterday for instance (quest The Terror of Marshlight Lake). With the above gems, this gives +30 STR +25 STA +12 Def +6 Crit +3 Hit, a big improvement over the starting Girdle and much better than the Fel Iron Plate Belt if you ask me.

So my tip of the day: for leveling in Outland, look for gear with sockets and put Northrend gems in them !

cheers,

Indek

There is a cheaper and almost as great alternative to the Blade of Misfortune , Hellreaver Illidan - Level 70 Hunter, OJman

Hi. Very nice and useful guide! Thanks.
I have 1 question. Is the Glyph of Death's Embrace a good choice really? Because I still don't get the idea about the healing effect of Death Coil?! When does it heal? Who does it heal? I mean... friendly Undead?! Is it suppose to heal the DK when he uses his Lichborne talent (Frost)? Cuz that makes you undead? And if it is so then I don't think this glyph is a good choice because I'm not speccing in Frost nor does your guide tell to. If it's not relevant to the Lichborne talent then what's the purpose of Death Coil and also the Glyph of Death's Embrace?
Thanks.

Now that Wrath is out, is it still worth collecting these items?

Isn't there a turn in for bone fragments in Light's Hope Chapel? Is there a reason they weren't included?

Not entirely true, Jame. You don't need to be a Smith to wear these although you DO need to be a level 350+ Smith to get the 2/4 hit rating boost. I have these shoulders on my 70 Paladin and he has never picked up smithing, ever.

Thanks for the great guide though, Jame. I look forward to using it to level my DK

Truckadin
Dark Iron US

So before you have Scourge Strike you use Death Strike in your dps rotations, after you get it would it be a good idea to change out the Death Strike glyph and get the Scourge Strike one?

Sorted by "power" and I didn't (I hope) included those on list already and tried to find only stuff up to level 67 or so because everyone will be 70 in Nagrand/BEM anyway. I also avoided long quest chains.

1) Head:
[64] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25589 (quest)
[62] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31145 (BoE)
[62] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25930 (quest)

2) Neck:
[64] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25562 (quest)
[60] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25914 (quest)

3) Shoulder:
Nothing big enough to mention.

4) Back:
[62] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31143 (BoE)
[62] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25927 (quest)
[59] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27730 (quest)

5) Chest:
Noting better than blue chest already in guide. Doing that elite quest is strongly recommended as it will last you to Northrend - just drop +6 stats on it.

6) Wrist:
[65] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31714 (quest)
[63] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31175 (BoE)

7) Gloves:
[64] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31180 (BoE)

Waist:
[63] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31151 (BoE)

9) Legs:
[61] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25782 (quest)
[64] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25585 (quest)

10) Feet:
[61] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28074 (elite quest)
[60] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31125 (BoE)
[63] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25951 (quest)

11) Finger:
[63] http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31820 (elite quest)

NOTE:
a) Many items have good chunk of hit rating. Remember that over hit cap (we can assume 5% for leveling) this stat is useless and item may loose its goodness.
b) Yes I included some leather and mail items. NEVER pass on good leather/mail, armor is weak stat.

If anyone is wondering those are values I used:
Strength=2.3, Agility=0.8, Stamina=0.5, HitRating=2, CritRating=1.1, Ap=1, ExpertiseRating=1.4, HasteRating=0.6, ArmorPenetration=0.5
+ green gems with mostly STR on it (unless socket bonus was better)

Please note that:
- those values may be incorrect, DK is new class after all
- those values was made for Unholy, mostly that means that Blood and Forst will most likely use different values
- you can use Pawn mod to automatically count and show total item stat value in tooltip, makes gearing easier but remember to not trust it blindly (values I posted may be incorrect, you can be on hit cap etc.)

One trinket to let you know about Jame is Death Knight's Anquish. ( http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=38212 )

It's a reward from the second part of a 4 part quest line in Borean Tundra, (req lvl 68 to start) found here: http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?quest=11956

Also, the final part of the quest rewards Death Knights with the Axe of Frozen death ( http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=38237 ) which I think makes a fantastic upgrade from the Honed Voidaxe.

The quest up to Death Knight's Anguish is easily soloable at 68. The final part of that chain, however, is a group quest that I did at about lvl 72 with another low 70s priest backing me up.

Basically, in beta my DK had his Soul Harvester's Charm and Signet of the Dark Brotherhood up until I replaced the Charm with the Death Knight's Anquish at about lvl 70. The Axe of Frozen Death replaced for me the lvl 66 Halaa sword since the Honed Voidaxe quest was impossible on beta, and capturing Halaa was super easy (both because of population: no people to help with Voidaxe quest, no horde to defend Halaa from being bombed)

Hope that helps.

Nice guide, thanks!

Just wanted to mention the following, in case its not fixed in the live version on release day, since you've got Glyph of Death Strike on the DK shopping list:

As of the last beta build, Glyph of Death Strike was bugged if you take the Rage of Rivendare or Tundra Stalker talents

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=12065280478&sid=2000

I'm not sure but wouldn't the crusader enchant be the best choice before 60 and perhaps even after until 65(with 65 the procc will still give you 80Str)? It's procc gives you 100Str and with each lvl beyond 60 you lose about 4% if I'm not mistaken. The good thing about this enchant is that even your ghoul will benefit from it (at least I think he will if not nvm me ;( )

I was wondering what you think about the ragesteel set?
IE http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=33173

What is the reason you chose Aldor and not Scryer ?

Updated consumables section. Amount was calculated on estimated time it would take to go from 58 to 80, but maybe it's not enough.

Any input would be appreciated.

Just bought a Demon-Forged Hauberk of the Soldier.
It's mail but has 475 Armor +24 Strength, +24 Crit Rating, +37 Stamina - Avg Buyout Price: 50g. This is a bit better than the Beast plate imo because the crit rating translates to more melee crit and also functions as spell crit.

Cloak of Darkness
Binds when equipped
Back
101 Armor
+23 Strength
+25 Stamina
Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +2 Critical Strike Rating
Requires Level 70
Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 24 (1.09% @ L70).

I can make this cloak, probably with the +stam enchant and a Balanced Nightseye. It's not that expensive to make since nethers are on the AH now and the primal shadows can be farmed while doing dailies and quests in Nagrand and Netherstorm. If you run Kara you can get the soul essences for your friendly tailor to make the soulcloth, or just buy it directly.You might want to check which is cheaper, the essences or the soulcloth. I worked out a trade with a tailor friend to supply netherweave and we both got essences so she could level up her tailoring. She then sold the bonus soulcloth.

Well I just finished gathering all my mats for the engineer grind to 375 so I guess it's safe to post that the -best in slot- helm for levels 62-70+ is the engineer helm crafted at lvl 62 with 350 engineering

Furious Gizmatic Goggles
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32461

It is a bit expensive and stupid to level out engineering for this alone, but for those that are leveling engineering anyway or going for a hog [like me] this is a very nice upgrade and will last a modest 10~ levels. It gives engineering levels (reagents give levels too) and with todays nether prices it is relatively cheap compared to the 50g~ per level khorium power cores you are already going to be making anyway.

Can't find any green plate helms from wotlk on wowhead at mo so the next best thing would be a level 77(obtained at) blue helm? probably better in a green I'm sure?

The beauty of the Armour Vellum is that you can apply enchants to your blue gear as soon as you complete the final death knight starter quest.

Here is a list of what I have prepared for my death knight, I actually decided to double this so that when I hit 70 and get the outland blues I will have an instant set of enchants to slip on and continue the northrend grind with that extra small edge.

Feet - Surefooted (over 35)
Void Crystal (2), Large Prismatic Shard (4).

Exceptional Stats - Chest (over 35)
Large Prismatic Shard (4), Arcane Dust (4), Greater Planar Essence (4)

Enchant Cloak - Spell Penetration (over 35)
Greater Planar Essence (2), Arcane Dust (6), Primal Mana (2)

Enchant Bracer - Brawn (over 35)
Arcane Dust (6)

Enchant Gloves - Major Strength (over 35)
Arcane Dust (12), Greater Planar Essence

Nethercobra Leg Armor (no vellum required)
Heavy Knothide Leather (4), Cobra Scales (4), Primal Air ( 8 ), Primal Nether

Armor Vellum II x5
Celestial Ink = Violet Pigment ("Commonly obtained when milling Firebloom, Purple Lotus, Arthas' Tears, Sungrass, Blindweed, Ghost Mushroom, and Gromsblood.")

In total you would need...
Void Crystals = 2
Large Prismatic Shard = 8
Arcane Dust = 28
Greater Planar Essence - 7
Primal Mana = 2

Heavy Knothide Leather = 4
Cobra Scales = 4
Primal Air = 8
Primal Nether = 1

Firebloom, Purple Lotus, Arthas' Tears, Sungrass, Blindweed, Ghost Mushroom or Gromsblood = 25 (5 for each Vellum)
Common Parchment = 5