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Lichborne: BlizzCon 2013 news for Death Knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. BlizzCon 2013 bought with it a new expansion, Warlords of Draenor, and while we did learn a lot about upcoming changes, very few of it was actually class-specific. Mostly what we got in class specific news was the level 100 talents, which, while awesome, will likely change pretty significantly even between now and the beta, to say nothing of when Warlords of Draenor goes live. That said, there were still a lot of very interesting system changes that herald great things for death knights, and we'll go over those today as well. New Talents and Skills The level 100 talents continue the storied tradition of level 90 talents in that they very obviously take their cue from the prime death knight, Arthas himself, the Lich King. They also address something we've talked about before, ability bloat. Instead of adding new skills, 2 of them simply replace existing things.
Lichborne: The Underhold raid loot for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. The Underhold is the third section of the Siege of Orgrimmar, and will be opening up for Flex raiders this week. With that in mind, today we'll look at the loot that drops for the 3 bosses contained within. As before, the same disclaimers from the last two weeks apply. While "Best in Slot" is all well and good, "Best in Slot" also assumes you are playing at the top of your game, using very specific rotations, talents, and glyphs, and using cooldowns at the proper times, and that the gear you're picking up is mostly heroic or heroic warforged gear. Also, upgrades are upgrades, so if you're wielding Raid Finder gear from Throne of Thunder, even non-optimal flex gear from Siege of Orgrimmar is probably going to be an upgrade. Keep that in mind when grabbing gear as well.
Lichborne: Patch 5.2 loot for death knights, part 3
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. This week, we'll face down the final few bosses of Throne of Thunder to see what loot they have. After that, we'll take a look at our valor point offerings and the world bosses of patch 5.2 for their loot. This will round out our look at patch 5.2's loot, and as with the last 2 weeks, the same disclaimers apply. Since this is based on PTR information, drops can change. In addition, this preview focuses on normal gear, so your gearing priorities may change if you get thunderforged gear or heroic gear.
Lichborne: More death knight loot from patch 5.2's Throne of Thunder
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. We continue our loot preview this week by delving into the Forgotten Depths and Halls of Flesh-Shaping in the Throne of Thunder. The same disclaimers apply as did last week. Since this is based on PTR information, drops can change. In addition, this preview focuses on normal gear, so your gearing priorities may change if you get Thunderforged gear or heroic gear. With that in mind, lets dig in and see what the next six bosses of Patch 5.2's Throne of Thunder raid have to offer.
Lichborne: Patch 5.2 Last Stand of the Zandalari loot preview for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. With the PTR getting closer to release, it's about time to start looking forward to that most cherished of patch rituals, the changing of the gear. Today, we will look at the first few bosses of Throne of Thunder and see what they have in store for death knights. There are a few words of warning to offer here. First, this is based off PTR Info, which means they may or may not decide to adjust, remove, or add loot before it goes live. Second, this information is based off normal mode raid loot. You may find monkey wrenches thrown into the gearing process courtesy of both heroic gear and Thunderforged gear, which can be 6 ilvls higher than usual for the item. You will have to make your own judgement calls in cases where you have access to that gear. Adding to the complication is the fact that tier gear won't be Thunderforged, meaning you may have to give up some Thunderforged gear despite the higher ilvl in order to keep set bonuses. We'll first look at the bosses in the The Last Stand of the Zandalari, the first section of the Throne of Thunder.
Lichborne: Terrace of Endless Spring gear for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. Terrace of Endless Spring is the last raid of tier 14, but features the same item levels as the Heart of Fear. If you didn't find an upgrade there, chances are you'll find it here. As with previous weeks, we'll be examining the loot on a boss by boss basis, in order to give you a better idea about which bosses to spend your Elder Charms of Good Fortune on. In addition, our analysis will be based primarily on normal gear drops. If you are raiding LFR or heroic tiers, your gear choices may vary a bit based on item levels.
Lichborne: Heart of Fear gear for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. Heart of Fear, which will open up this week, is the next step up from Mogu'shan Vaults. As a result, the ilevels are a bit higher and the gear just a bit more desirable. We'll be checking out the loot on a boss by boss basis, in order to give you a better idea about which bosses to spend your Elder Charms of Good Fortune on. As with last week, our analysis will be based primarily on normal gear drops. If you are raiding LFR or heroic tiers, your gear choices may vary a bit based on item levels.
Lichborne: Mogu'shan Vaults loot for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. It's actually more important than ever to know what loot drops from what bosses in raids in Mists. This is because, if you've been collecting Elder Charms of Good Fortune, you'll have the option when a boss dies to spend one for a chance at extra loot. Knowing what loot is available means you can be better informed when you spend coins. With that in mind, let's take a quick look at the bosses of Mogu'shan Vaults and figure out if their loot is worth spending charms on. This analysis is made on the basis of the normal 25-man raid drops. If you are running raid finder, many valor point choices may pull ahead because of superior item level. On the other hand, you do have a highly limited number of valor points due to the 1000 per week cap, so in some cases you may want to "settle" for the raid drop so you can use your valor points to buy something else. In addition, DPS will want to maintain 7.5% hit and 7.5% expertise at the raid level. This can usually be accomplished via reforging, but there may be times you take an "inferior" piece of gear to hit one of those caps.
Lichborne: Heroic dungeon gear for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. In the past, dungeons have been seen as a stepping stone to raids. If you stopped there, so be it, but the goal was generally to get past them and get on to bigger things. With challenge modes now in game, it may be that 5-man groups will be seen as a pinnacle of end game activity. With that in mind, getting the good gear out of these dungeons may be more important than ever. This week, we'll take a look at heroic dungeon drops. For the most part, in comparing these pieces, we will be focused on getting parry and dodge for tanks, critical strike and haste for unholy and two-hand frost, and haste and mastery for dual wield frost. Note, of course, that you still want to get 7.5% hit and expertise each as DPS, so that may override other gear choices at time. Note that Scenarios will also have a chance to drop an item level 463 item, so if you do Scenarios, keep an eye out for those. However, since they are all items with randomly generated prefixes, it's difficult to preview them in a gear list, so just know they exist.
Lichborne: Mists of Pandaria reputation gear for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. One of the first things you'll likely do once you hit level 90 in Mists of Pandaria is start looking into reputations. Faction reputation reward gear, at least at the start of an expansion, is one of the quickest and easiest ways to get the item level for heroic dungeons and raids. In Mists of Pandaria, however, it's a bit different. Valor and honor point gear is now on reputation vendors, and if you want it, you will actively have to grind out those reputations (via dailies, no less, as tabards no longer grant reputation in dungeons). This week, we'll take a look at the gear offered by these factions, and how it stacks up for death knights. Note that we will cover only those factions that offer gear specific usable for death knights to better their tanking or DPS. I hope getting rep for Tillers, Anglers, and Loremasters for the awesome vanity gear goes without saying.
Lichborne: The top death knight DPS gear of patch 4.3
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. I will be honest: I am still not impressed with our tier 13 set. The whole bone motif just isn't working for me. The set bonuses are also a little iffy for me, what with half of them being sort of OK and half sort of lackluster. It all leaves a bit of a lukewarm feeling. That said, I'm not too disappointed with the final tier of Cataclysm, because we have definitely received some pretty nice surprises from the itemization team. Every tier should have those one or two items that make you stop and look again, items that, more than their superior stats, have a look or feel that just makes you feel warm and fuzzy and makes you want to get it no matter what the cost. We'll look at some of those items from the Dragon Soul raid today, starting with everyone's favorite sword that summons horrible visions from the depths of the earth, Gurthalak, Voice of the Deeps.
Lichborne: Death knight tips for End Time
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. In patch 4.3, the very first new dungeon you'll set foot in is End Time. Despite being set in the future, it's the first dungeon the storyline takes you to, and even the Dungeon Finder won't let you go to the other two dungeons until you have the achievement for clearing out End Time. The loot you'll grab from here will be ilevel 378, which means it'll be mostly sidegrades for those who have been keeping up on their valor points and/or raiding Firelands. It's still a great chance to fill out your off-sets or gear up a newer or more casual death knight, for sure. With that in mind, today we're taking a quick look at the fights and loot of the End Time dungeon. This guide will focus primarily on the role of the DPS or tank death knight in the dungeon. Keep a lookout for a more complete guide for all roles, classes, and fights coming to the site soon.
Lichborne: Patch 4.2 raid gear for the death knight tank
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. As far as raid content goes, Firelands does feel a little short, in theory, with only seven bosses. That said, there's still enough gear to make it just difficult enough to figure out exactly what to wear. This week, we'll check out the various ilevel 378 tank gear you can pull out of Firelands, then figure out exactly how it all fits together and what pieces you should be aiming for.
Lichborne: Buy your death knight some patch 4.2 valor gear
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. Now that patch 4.2 has been out a few weeks, if you've been faithfully raiding or queuing up for your random dungeons, you should have a pretty good chunk of valor points ready for use. That means it's time to start thinking seriously about what you should buy. This week, we'll be taking a look at the new valor point gear from patch 4.2 and figuring out what each brings to the table for you.
Lichborne: Grab some new patch 4.2 pre-raid gear for your death knight
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. With patch 4.2 live, raiders have the Firelands raid to get through, but casual players and non-raiders need not despair. You have your own little patch of Firelands to tackle, with a robust set of dailies that have the potential to unlock new gear upgrades. This week, we're going to take a look at those gear upgrades, as well as some other stuff you can do to get your gear upgraded without killing a single boss in the new Firelands raid. Most of the stuff we'll be discussing is ilevel 365, which means it's only barely an upgrade (or possibly even a sidegrade) from ilevel 359 stuff -- but if you're still wearing ilevel 333 or 346 stuff, this should mean a pretty big leap in power for you.
Lichborne: New death knight gear coming in patch 4.1
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. Patch 4.1 looks likely to drop any week now, so now's a good time to find out what the patch can do for you, gear-wise. The two new dungeons, Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub, appear to have been completely itemized, so we can probably feel relatively safe in looking at the gear that drops from them. The gear is all ilevel 353, which puts it below raid and valor point gear but above most current heroic dungeon drops. Therefore, casual raiders, non-raiders, and new level 85 death knights will probably find a lot to like in the stuff coming out of this dungeon. Let's take a look at the gear. For the most part, these will be clear upgrades over your ilevel 346 heroic options, but in cases where there's a better or competitive old heroic option, I will mention it. Note that this information is from the patch 4.1 PTR and may therefore change when the dungeons go live.
Lichborne: Pre-heroic Cataclysm gear for DPS death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. Join World of Warcraft's first hero class as we head into a new expansion and shed the new kid on the block label. Now that Cataclysm's been out for around a week, a lot of us have managed to hit level 85, with more dinging every day. Now that you're 85, though, what do you do? If this were Wrath, you'd grab a few reputation or BoE blues, hit the minimum ilevel for heroics, and start queueing. In theory, you could do that for Cataclysm -- but to be honest, you'd probably fail hard. Dungeons are tough, and you won't have dudes in tier gear to drag you through. Almost everyone's going to be just about the same for the next few months: complete newbies who are still trying to get raid groups together and still trying to learn new rotations and stat weights for level 85. With that in mind, there is one thing you can do to give yourself an edge in heroics: Gear up. This week, we're going to look at various dungeon, quest, and reputation drops to find the stuff that'll do the best job at getting you ready for heroic dungeon runs. I've put the better stuff near the top of the list, though sometimes the second or third choice may be better for you based on your stat needs or spec. I have mentioned justice point items in these lists with the understanding that a lot of us stockpiled 4,000 justice points at the end of Wrath, and you can earn justice points for normal dungeons in the random dungeon finder. That said, don't feel like you need to stay in normal dungeons until you grab all the justice point gear. Just pick up some of the second or third choices and get to heroics, where you'll earn those points a bit faster.
Lichborne: The death knight beta diaries, part 2: Dual wielding in Deepholm
Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly source for news, guides, tips and opinions on the death knight class. Our adventures in beta continue, as promised, with a new zone and a new spec. With Hyjal behind us, the next logical zone to head to is Deepholm, and such is where I headed, after a suitably epic breadcrumb quest sequence. My spec was dual wield frost. Just to give you an idea of where I'm coming from with this testing, I should note that I have been equipping quest rewards if they're itemized for death knight usage, even if they're downgrades, in order to get an idea of how much survivability and damage potential your average casual death knight will have.
Lichborne: The death knight beta diaries, part 1: Unholy in Hyjal
Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly source for news, guides, tips and opinions on the death knight class. With the Cataclysm beta well under way, the death knight class does still have some bugs and glitches to work out and maybe even a bit of balancing work needed. But for now, the beta is definitely where the action is, as we work out some of the major changes to our rune systems and trees and figure out where the future of the class is headed. With that in my mind, I'll be playing through the beta for the new few weeks using various builds and heading to various zones and dungeons, getting a feel for how a death knight plays in Cataclysm. This week, we're headed for Mount Hyjal as a freshly copied-over level 80 unholy DPS death knight. Note that for the most part, I plan to discuss only specific items and death knight mechanics and will do my best to keep out actual zone and quest plot line spoilers, but if you're afraid of spoilers from item names or discussion of quest mechanics, some of them may appear in this column.
Lichborne: Gearing for new level 80 tank death knights
Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly source for tips, tricks, guides and discussion for the death knight class. So you've just dinged level 80, and you're ready and willing to take on one of the toughest jobs at the end game, that of the tank. But how do you get prepared and geared so that you have a decent chance of grabbing a slot in a 10- or 25-man ICC raid so that you can see the Lich King die before Cataclysm? Let's give you a few tips and a list of gear to shoot for to get you in top pre-raid shape.
