Dreaming about Death Knight PvP
February 1st, 2010 -- Posted in WOW PvP | Comments OffOf course, while I tell all my friends that I’m finally making a toon I’ll be happy to tank with, what I’m really thinking about is PvP. I had initially wanted to make a Death Knight class when the game was announced, Death Knights being my favorite Hero in Warcraft 3. I thought Warlocks were the going to be it, considering the Death Coil spell, but I ended up never making a Warlock at all. But now here’s the real deal. Plate armor, badass Rune weapons, Deathchargers, and all things ooky, spooky, and vile. Sounds like a lot of fun to me.
Death Knights are an unknown variable in the PvP equation, fairly certain to throw class balance in for a loop. A majority of players will create Death Knights because the barrier of entry is so low (like myself, for example). Getting a Level 55 character right off the bat removes a huge chunk of the frustration in leveling an alt — skipping repetitive content. Throw in the fact that Death Knights get an entirely new starting zone, an easier grind to Level 70, and I’m willing to bet more than a few people will actually get to Level 80 on a Death Knight. This means man players will know how to play a Death Knight — and how to counter them. While abilities will surely change, observing how the class develops now will allow us to have a better grasp of how to play — and fight — a Death Knight when the finally go live (oh, the irony).
The spellcaster’s bane
Death Knights are a caster’s nightmare, with abilities like Anti-Magic Shell and Strangulate, which is a Counterspell that silences and damages opponents. Within melee range, I can even use Mind Freeze for pure caster torture. Mind Freeze is a spell interrupting ability on a 10 second timer… if it interrupts a spell cast, it also locks out that school for 4 seconds. Timed right, it will make casters cry and go into a fetal position. The only consolation that casters have is that it eats up Runic Power, which Death Knights need to generate and manage like Rage. [CLARIFICATION: Mind Freeze apparently costs 1 Frost Rune to use, but the talent Aneurysm states that "In addition, Mind Freeze consumes no runic power," which means it eats Runic Power somewhat, but does not seem to be part of the spell cost]
When engaging full health and all, I’ll probably want to go with all guns ablaze (or swords aswingin’, as it were) and have Unholy Presence up. Death Knight abilities aren’t on the subtle side, so I’m thinking I’d like to unload as much damage as possible, and Unholy Presence helps towards that, the reduced Global Cooldown contributing to faster attacks. With the Rune system and a 1 second GCD, it’s quite possible to open with up to six abilities in succession, with a 4 second downtime before the first spent Rune is back up. After those six seconds, it’s highly likely that I’ve built up enough Runic Power to unleash another spell. From the look of things, Death Knight combat will hardly be dull. continue reading »