Frost Death Knight Raid and Mythic+ Talent Builds

The Frost Death Knight specialization offers three different playstyles for endgame PvE content in World of Warcraft: The War Within. Players can choose between the Dual-Wield (DW) Obliteration build, the 2-Hand (2H) Obliteration build, and the Dual-Wield Breath build for raids. However, for Mythic+ content, players should typically focus on the two Obliteration builds.

The DW Obliteration build offers fast gameplay and utilizes frequent Killing Machine procs, Razorice-consuming Frost Strikes, and other auto-attack-focused talents. In contrast, the 2-handed version of the Obliteration build is slower but emphasizes powerful Obliterates to do most of its damage. Finally, the DW Breath build focuses on the Breath of Sindragosa talent and aims to maximize its availability for high burst damage every two minutes. Here are the best talent builds for these three playstyles in Raid and Mythic+ in The war within.

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TWW Frost Death Knight Raid Build: Dual Wield Annihilation

• Frost DW Obliteration Raid Import String: CsPAtbMOTHlnKIwUyAn+DK70SzAYGjZMzYYGzMzMzMmZmJGDDGmZGzMMzMzMzMLzMAAAAAAAAAAAAbmtZzsMDjFGWmZbaoZsgZMjZA

The DW Obliteration Raid build is recommended over the other two playstyles because it is easy to execute and excels in all situations. This build features a fast and proc-heavy playstyle, fueled by the fast auto-attack speed from using two one-handed weapons.

The main damage window revolves around the Pillar of Frost Talent that grants considerable strength and mastery while also allowing Killing Machine procs through the Extinction Talent. This synergy enables Arctic Attackin combination with avalanche and the Rune of Razorice enchantment to quickly generate five stacks of Razorice. Frost Strike can then consume these stacks with Shattering Blade. Dual-Wield also uses the Icy death stream And The long winter Talents due to more frequent critical hits with autoattacks. Faster autoattacks also lead to more consistent Killing Machine procs outside of Pillar of Frost and more frequent uses of Razorice.

Flex Points

There are two flex points in the Frost specialization tree that players can adjust depending on the encounter. The first choice is between Unstoppable attack And Fury of the Frostwyrm. While Frostwrym's Fury falls a bit short of Inexorable Assault in single-target situations, it provides a great AoE burst for fights where it is needed. The second choice is between Cold streak And Shattered FrostChill Streak excels in pure single-target encounters, while Shattered Frost excels in fights with two or more targets.

Talent selection

At the moment, Deathbringer is the preferred hero talent tree for DW Obliteration, as Rider of the Apocalypse falls behind in performance and sacrificing a talent point for Absolute zero. Plates decorated with runes, Painful deathAnd Messenger of Death are important talent decisions because their alternatives are weaker. The main decision for the players is between Dark claws And AtrophyAlthough Dark Talons is slightly ahead of Wither Away, it requires high availability on Icy Claws the better choice. In encounters with significant downtime, Wither Away is the better talent option.

The class tree offers a wider range of flexible talents that players can swap out depending on the situation. While crowd controls (CC) and interrupts are generally unnecessary in most raid encounters, Blinding sleet, SuffocationAnd Thought frost can be valuable if needed. Anti-Magic Zone and its upgrade, assimilation, are a good choice when a defensive raid cooldown is required. March of Darkness And Ghost walk are both optional mobility talents that can be swapped out when other utilities are more beneficial. Zero magic And Rune protection are flexible talents that can be swapped out in encounters with little or no magic or physical damage absorption. Soul Reaper can also be replaced since the DPS increase is minimal in the DW Obliteration build.

TWW Frost Death Knight Raid Build: 2-Handed Annihilation

• Frost 2H Obliteration Raid Import String: CsPAtbMOTHlnKIwUyAn+DK70SzAYGjZMzYYGzMzMzMmZmJGDDYbmZMzwMzMzMzsMzAAAAAAAAAAAAsZ2mNzyMMWYYZmtphmxCmxMmBA

The 2-handed Obliteration build falls slightly behind the DW version overall, but remains a viable option. This build relies on Obliterate as the primary source of damage, as Razorice is applied much more slowly. The talent setup is almost identical to the DW versionbut replaces Shattering Blade with Persistent coldbecause the 2H build is less dependent on Frost Strike to deal damage.

Once again, Unstoppable attack And Fury of the Frostwyrm can be exchanged depending on the encounter. Players also have the option to Cryo chamber instead of Enduring Chill and switching to Atrophy in fights with AoE. Glacier advance is another talent that can be used in place of Enduring Chill and Frost Strike in strong area-of-effect situations.

Just like Dual-Wield, players can swap out the class tree talent points as needed. Deathbringer also remains the best choice for the hero talent due to its better performance compared to Rider of the Apocalypse.

TWW Frost Death Knight Raid Build: Dual Wield Breath

• Frost DW Breath Raid import string: CsPAtbMOTHlnKIwUyAn+DK70SPGAzYMjZGDzYmZmZmxMzMxYYMgZGjZMzMzMzMLzMAAAAAAAAAAAAbmtZzsMDjFGWmZbaoZsgZYMDA

The DW Breath build focuses on the The Breath of Sindragosa Talent that deals high burst damage every two minutes. This playstyle is quite demanding and may not be suitable for every type of encounter, as Breath of Sindragosa requires maintaining high uptime whenever it is active. However, in the right hands and situations, the Breath build can produce a very high damage output.

In the past, Breath builds have struggled with damage outside of their Breath of Sindragosa windows. However, unlike previous expansions, Breath builds now also have access to talents like Extinctionwhich improves performance when Breath is on cooldown. In addition to the usual choices between Unstoppable attack And Fury of the FrostwyrmThe most important decision for this build is between Arctic Attack And The long winter. Although the damage difference is negligible, The Long Winter slightly outperforms Arctic Assault in pure single-target encounters. On the other hand, Arctic Assault gains an advantage with each additional target, so it is recommended to default to Arctic Assault if players don't want to constantly swap talents between encounters.

The class and hero talent trees remain the same as the other two raid builds, but March of Darkness gains value by helping to maintain Breath of Sindragosa's uptime during movement-intensive battles.

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TWW Frost Death Knight Mythic+ Build: Dual-Wield Obliteration

• Frost DW Obliteration M+ import string: CsPAtbMOTHlnKIwUyAn+DK70SDgZGjZMzYYmZmZmZGGmJzYYYGMzYmhZmZmZmZZmBAAAAAAAAAAYzsNbmlZYsww2MbTDNjFMzMjZA

The DW Obliteration build offers the best performance for Mythic+ and is similar to the Frost tree setup used in the raid version. Shattered Frost And Fury of the Frostwyrm are used instead of Cold streak And Unstoppable attack This ensures that the Frost Death Knight can excel in both multi- and single-target situations, which is crucial for Mythic+. Unfortunately, there is no wiggle room in the Frost tree, as every point is mandatory for DW Obliteration.

The situation of hero talents remains the same as the rest, with Deathbringer being the best choice. Plates decorated with runes And Messenger of Death are better defensive talents than their alternatives, while Painful death allowed Sign of the Reaper align with Pillar of Frost Cooling down. Unlike Raid, Atrophy becomes the default option due to its advantage in AoE scenarios.

Mythic+ places great emphasis on interrupts and CCs, which Thought frost And Blind sleet Default selection in the class tree. Suffocation can be added if the team needs additional stuns while Anti-Magic Zone serves as a solid defensive option for the team. Control Undead sees limited use in Season 1 of The war withinbut can be valuable for The Necrotic Wake. If Asphyxiate and AMZ are not needed, mobility nodes like March of Darkness And Ghost walk can be used to support fights that involve a lot of movement. Smell of blood is also an option for survival when no other benefit is needed.

TWW Frost Death Knight Mythic+ Build: 2-Handed Annihilation

• Frost 2H Obliteration M+ import string: CsPAtbMOTHlnKIwUyAn+DK70SDgZGjZMzYYmZmZmZmZGGmJzYYGgZGzMmZmZmZmZZmBAAAAAAAAAAYzsNbmlZYsww2MbTDNjFMzMjZA

The 2-Hand Obliteration build has slightly less damage than Dual-Wield, but remains a viable option. Players can choose to use the exact same build as DW, focusing on Arctic Attack And avalanche to set up their Razorice consumption. Compared to DW, the majority of the damage contributions shift from Icy death stream, Arctic Attack, Shattering BladeAnd Shattered Frost towards extinction.

The recommended approach is to replace Shattering Blade and Shattering Frost with Glacier advance And Cryo chamber. In this setup, players replace Frost Strike with Glacial Advance in the rotation when facing multiple targets. Another option is to use Absolute zero instead of the Cryo Chamber, which offers more frequent AoE and CC bursts at the cost of slightly lower overall damage.

The class and hero talent tree structure remains the same as in the DW version.