Frost DK DPS Guide

[Charon]

Thanks for clearing that last bit up Airowird. I've been DW Frost since I convinced my guild at the time to let me switch from tanking to DPS in early Wrath, and it USED TO WORK. Guess they changed that.

[Jaquo]

You should be using your trinkets earlier in the PoF macro (If they are strength bonuses), so PoF increases the strength gained from that aswell.

[IT_ZiggyyY]

This help me out tremendously i cant express how glad i am to have come across this site, my dps went from only doing 10k with decent gear and shot up to almost 17k 0_0 for me thats ALOT and now im kicking the **** outta my friends and doing wonderful in pvp, now im going to be searching for new gear knowing exactly what i need and what to do in reforging them if needed thank you again. one question is if any of you can perhaps explain, does not have to be in detail just a break down of the difference bettween pvp and pve gear, what i should be looking for stat wise to fit each need. ty

[Krekentaur]

Why exactly would you use 3/3 in Epidemic and 2/3 in Virulence? Theoretically, with 2/3 epidemic and 3/3 in virulence, the extra damage you do with your diseases outweighs the 2 seconds of downtime you get from 2/3 epidemic (28 sec diseases), since you should be Plague Striking halfway through your Outbreak CD. You could say your Oblit wouldn't do as much damage during that period, but chances are, you will see more damage done with harder hitting diseases than the 2 seconds of your Oblit hitting for 6% less.

[Leucifer]

Why exactly would you use 3/3 in Epidemic and 2/3 in Virulence? Theoretically, with 2/3 epidemic and 3/3 in virulence, the extra damage you do with your diseases outweighs the 2 seconds of downtime you get from 2/3 epidemic (28 sec diseases), since you should be Plague Striking halfway through your Outbreak CD. You could say your Oblit wouldn't do as much damage during that period, but chances are, you will see more damage done with harder hitting diseases than the 2 seconds of your Oblit hitting for 6% less.

Well, for starters..........

I have found these specs to perform the best, however, yours doesn't have to be exact. Do as you please. This is simply an outline you can follow when specing into Frost

That aside.....
It depends on how much movement you're having to do, how many targets you're switching between, etc. I mean, what's worth more? One extra tick of a disease? Or an extra 10% on the previous ticks? What's your break-even point? Simple math tells me that, to make up the difference of an extra 10% on any DoT, I'd need to extend the basic DoT out to an 11th tick in order to make it up.

So, your extra 10% might put you ahead there. How much damage are we really talking about though? Over the course of a 10 minute fight? Being generous and saying each tick does an extra 1000 damage per tick, one tick every 3 seconds, you're looking at an extra 200k damage over the length of that fight, or approx 333.3 dps.

Can you make up 333.3 dps by ensuring your Obliterates are always landing on a two disease stacked target? Can you make up that 333.3 dps by making sure you're not having to expend one or two runes just to refresh a disease? We're talking about making up for what amounts to a 2% dps loss for a 15k dps DK.

Here's what I'd suggest, evaluate your playstyle HONESTLY..........

1) If you as a DK are using plague strike well before blood plague drops off, go for the extra 10% damage. You'll do better as you're wasting a rune anyway and refreshing a disease well before it's time is up. You'll have more to gain from learning how to manage the rotations and learning how to maximize uptime of diseases anyway. Your problem at this point really is, you're not using runes efficiently.

2) If you're a DK that is having some trouble keeping diseases up on the target, and understands the idea of evenly spacing disease timings and are generally efficient with maximizing disease uptime versus use of plague strike / outbreak to refresh diseases, but is having some dropoff due to cooldowns on runes, or movement, go with the extra 4 seconds. You understand maximizing uptime of diseases but are having issues making maximum use of that time and runes. You're now learning how to play the DK in a rhythmic manner versus just mashing buttons and can likely benefit more from having some wiggle room to keep in rhythm.

3) If you are a top notch DK who is able to who is able to successfully minimize disease downtimes efficiently, utilizing outbreak and plague strike at the complete extent of a disease's uptimes (meaning, you're running the class about as damn well as humanly possible).... then switch back to the +10% disease damage, as you're running extremely tight margins and are probably trying to squeak out a tiny percentage increase on dps anyway. This person is a REALLY good DK who is.....
a) Maximizing disease uptime. Period. You lose maybe 1 tick per minute.
b) Minimizing movement and maximizing time on their target to ensure max autoattack strikes and specials.
c) Efficiently making use of runes and maximizing Obliterates on the target

Most people will probably fall into #2.

Maybe you fall into #3 Kreken. That's not for me to judge. I'm aiming this at anyone who might be browsing this looking to improve their play as a DK. For those people, understand the spec really boils down to those 3 factors, in addition to not dying and putting the raid at risk.

[Leucifer]

DK's in General...........

I ripped this off from Elitist Jerks. It's from a VERY OLD post in their forums but it's still true. Additional comments in bold from me.....

The Seven Commandments of Rogue DPS

1) Don't die - This goes for DK's too. Your DPS goes screaming down to zero.
2) Don't do anything that risks wiping the raid - Raid DPS goes screaming down to zero.
3) Maximize your time on target - This is true for ANY melee dps. Autoattack counts for a fat chunk of your dps.
4) Don't let your energy cap out - DK version... Spend runes wisely. Develop a rhythm. Make efficient use. Don't sit on them too long, but also don't force a rune blackout that leaves you hanging waiting to reapply diseases and unable to max on procs. Learn the balance point.
5) Don't let Slice n Dice Drop - DK version..... Don't let diseases drop off. They benefit everything you do.
6) Use Spreadsheets to Figure out your Best Cycle ..... DK version.... Learn your ability priorities/rotations
7) Use your cooldowns...... DK version.... Use your cooldowns!!!!!

(Original Post at: http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t24301-rogue_pve_dps/
Special thanks to Original Poster: Vulajin of <Serious Casual> / Mal'Ganis (US). )

Thank you to Vulajin at Elitist Jerks for the education you provided me. Time and time again I've come back to this post in particular in order to educate the new people I've taught. - Leucifer

[Krekentaur]

Thanks for the reply. I just found it a little odd because I don't see that too often. Anyway, nice guide and keep up the good work.