Death knight

Classes
Class races	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Ev	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Quests	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Abilities	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Trainers	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Armor sets	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Useful macros	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Class Halls	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior

This section concerns content related to Wrath of the Lich King.

This article is about the hero class in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. For lore, see Death Knight. For other uses, see Death knight (disambiguation).

The Death Knight will be the first hero class in World of Warcraft, set to be introduced in the new expansion, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Currently it is the only planned hero class to be introduced in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

Overview

Once certain criteria are met, players will be able to create a new death knight character, which will start at a high level. The exact level has not yet been determined, but a senior producer of Blizzard says it will be somewhere around level 60 or 70.

The Death Knight is intended as an alternative, advanced class for end-game use only. The death knight combines martial prowess with dark, necromantic energies. Players might be familiar with the death knight from previously released Warcraft games -- most recently, in the campaigns for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne expansion, the former paladin Arthas became a death knight and wrought havoc across Azeroth before fusing with the spirit of Ner'zhul to become the Lich King. It is important to note that these particular Death Knights are based upon those created by the Lich King in Warcraft III, not those of Orcish origin as seen in WarCraft II.

Death Knight as depicted in the Wrath of the Lich King trailer

The Death Knight is the first hero class in World of Warcraft. At a high and undertermined level, a player will be able to create a Death Knight. This is a second and separate character from your original character. The Death Knight starts at a high level somewhere around 60 or 70 with multiple spells and abilities ready to use. Within this quest chain the character learns to master the power of the Death Knight and learns to use this new power for their will. Blizzard is currently exploring various options as to how the Death Knight will play and the types of abilities at its disposal, and they will reveal more information about this new class as they get further along in development.

There is no restriction to how many Death Knights you can create, and you can create a new character on any realm, as any other class.

The trailer depicts a cinematic of a character being surrounded by the undead minions of the Lich King, and waking up as a Death Knight. However, official information indicates that a Death Knight is created as a new character after being unlocked by an existing character (exact procedure and required level are still being decided), and the player does not lose access to the unlocking character.

The way death knights were portrayed in past Warcraft games is certainly a source of inspiration for Blizzard, but they are still determining how best to capture that feel within the mechanics of World of Warcraft, and haven't made any final determinations on specific abilities. But in general, the death knight can be considered a hybrid class that combines damage dealing and tanking. They will wear plate armor, but naturally will have an array of unique abilities as well, a few of which are listed below.

Runes as shown at BlizzCon 2007

The death knight uses a unique rune-based resource system to govern his spells and abilities. Three rune types: blood, frost, and unholy, each with an attached color and symbol. Death Knight players will have to carve these runes into their weapons anytime outside combat, so they'll have to choose which sort of runes to emphasize in their spec. As they use their abilities, the runes will be exhausted. After a period of time the runes will refresh.

Races

According to a panel at BlizzCon 2007, the Death Knight is planned to be available to every race at this time, though the list may change in development. This has been confirmed at the Leipzig Games Convention 2007. After all, all races can be tempted by a darker path...

Abilities

• [Army of the Dead] - Spell summons undead minions (ghouls) to fight for Death Knight. These creatures run around and attack things at random.
• Unholy Embrace - Target is embraced by a silhouette of darkness for 6 seconds, corrupting any healing spells and effects cast upon or currently affecting the target to cause damage for 50% of their healing potential instead of restoring health. Any damage shields cast upon or currently affecting the target will also be instantly consumed, dealing 50% of their absorption potential in damage. Once afflicted with Unholy Embrace, the target cannot be afflicted with Unholy Embrace again for 1 minute.
• Death and Decay - An area-of-effect damage spell.
• [Blood Boil] - A damage-over-time ability that after the duration refreshes two of your blood runes.

Miscellaneous information

• Designed to fulfill both tanking and DPS roles.
• Can tank without a shield, using two-handed weapons or dual-wielding. It's possible shields may not even be usable.
• May only use bladed weapons, currently 1H and 2H swords and axes.

Concept artwork

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  Death Knight concept art

• 

  Death Knight concept art

External links

DeathKnight.info A forum for discussing the Death Knight

Unholy Aura Deathknight News & Information