The Gaming Lizard

Testing for the PTR has been going on for about a week and the latest update see Blizzard handing out more goodies for Deathknights while swinging the nerf bat at others (Poor ole trees).

It's easy to see that Blizz has been watching Frost DPS closely as they said they are via the multiple fixes to Frost. While Blood and Unholy has nothing in store for them, save a small nerf to Scarlet Fever, it's still early into the PTR although the lack of posts by Blues, especially by Ghostcrawler is extremely disturbing.

Perhaps the backlash has sent GC into hiding?

• Dark Simulacrum now works on numerous additional spells in dungeon encounters.

Rejoice....to errr dungeoneers. Dark Simulacrum is our iconic level 85 spellsteal that is lacking PVE wise. While stealing spells like Chain Lightning from the Tempest Witches in TOT is a dps increase, most powerful spells are locked out of the stealable range. Maybe this is a minute steps towards the spell being useful in raiding enviroment.

• Raise Ally has been redesigned to be a battle resurrection, analogous to Rebirth. It is instant cast, but costs 50 Runic Power to use, and has a 10-minute cooldown. It shares the same global battle resurrection cap with Rebirth and Soulstone.

The best news to have come out from the PTR, Raise Ally is now a Brez! No longer your bear tank has to shift out to rezz that stupid DPS who enjoys a hot, flaming bath at the risk of his personal health. While Raise Ally in its current form is a fun spell, the ghoul is gimmicky and provides little DPS.

• Blood Shield now only works while in Blood Presence.

Interesting change that's certainly aimed at PVPing Blood DKs. The Glyph of Dark Succor saga sees many up in arms about the apparent immortality of Blood DKs in arenas and battlegrounds. Blood Shield working only in the appropriate presence will ensure that Blood DKs choose either 17% healing and sacrificing defenses or having more mitigation by trading off some heal heals.

• Death Strike self-healing no longer generates threat.

While Frost DKs are facing threat issues, it hardly comes from the healing. Pretty weird change although any threat mitigation, however small, is welcomed.

• Blood of the North (passive) now permanently converts both Blood Runes into Death Runes. There is no longer any proc interaction with Blood Strike required to activate Death Runes.

The biggest change to Frost playstyle sees the total removal of Blood Strike from our rotation. This change is a god send for situations where you have a free Blood Rune and either Frost/Unholy, ending up Blood Striking for a measly amount of damage. Giving us permanent Death Runes will get rid of the above situation.

However, it also runs the risk of "boring"-fying our buttons. Removing Blood Strike, we now only need to push Oblit, Howling Blast, Frost Strike and the occasional Outbreak and Horn of Winter once diseases start rolling. I hope to see more dynamic playstyle changes to Frost although that seems highly unlikely.

• Frost Strike now deals 130% of weapon damage, up from 110%.

On live, the damage difference between using KM on FS and on Oblit can range from 10k-20k, resulting in huge dps losses should you be unlucky enough to have KM up when your runes are on CD. Increasing FS damage will close that gap a little and 2H Frost will likely see the most benefits from this.

• Howling Blast damage has been increased by 20%. To compensate, the area-of-effect splash now does 50% of the single-target damage, down from 60%. The net result of this change leaves the area-of-effect damage roughly the same as 4.0.6 numbers.

Another amazing change to Frost's damage. And yes, the last line is accurate. Frost 2H will get the most out of this change once more due to the higher usage of Oblit.

• Glyph of Raise Ally is now Glyph of Death Gate, and makes Death Gate cast 60% faster.

I would rather the glyph retains its name and reduce the Runic Power needed to rezz. Casting Death Gate 60% faster is lame, especially when the Ebon Hold holds few interests. Great for escaping on PVP servers I guess.


Testing is still underway so we may see more DK changes coming up. Unholy is in a good place regarding core mechanics although it might need a little buff from all the nerfing in 4.0.6. Frost DW still need a lot of work compared to 2H. Hopefully next PTR patch will bring us even more good news!