PvE Blood Death Knight

The Blood specialization for Death Knights in Mists of Pandaria is a tanking specialization with a focus on self healing and damage mitigation.

Blood Death Knights are not subjected to the same massive revamps as most other specializations in MoP Classic. Most of the effects they had in Cataclysm Classic are also present in MoP Classic, being added as direct passive effects once the specialization is learned. However, some effects are not turned automatically to passives upon selecting the specialization, with effects such as Blood Tap, Death Pact, and Runic Empowerment being Talents instead of basic effects. In contrast, Some fan-favorite effects are gone, such as Abomination’s Might, Blood-Caked Blade, Blade Barrier, and Bladed Armor.

Vengeance has been revamped to provide 1.5% of the Unmitigated Damage taken as Attack Power without any actual Health Pool Cap added, meaning that Blood Death Knights have a surprisingly higher overall Damage Output. In addition, Riposte has been added as a new passive that turns 75% of all your Parry & Dodge Chance into Critical Strike Chance. This new effect can lead to insane Damage Outputs and extremely powerful Blood Shield procs since Forceful Deflection is still a part of their kit, even if it doesn’t appear in their spellbook (Thanks, Blizzard). Thankfully, Mastery: Blood Shield remains the same with the starting 50% Physical Damage -> Absorption effect at 0% Mastery, with each point adding 6.25%, stacking infinitely.

Otherwise, Blood Death Knights keep most of the defensive spells we are accustomed to, such as Vampiric Blood, Rune Tap, Anti-Magic Shell, and Icebound Fortitude. In MoP Classic, thanks to the Talent System overhaul, they can acquire new defensive abilities such as Purgatory, Anti-Magic Zone, Lichborne, Death’s Advance, and Conversion, with each effect being suited for a different type of encounter.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

• Varied & Powerful Defensive Tools
  Blood Death Knights have access to various defensive-oriented active and passive effects, making them one of the hardest specializations to kill. They retained most effects that made them nigh-immortal, such as Vampiric Blood, Icebound Fortitude, Anti-Magic Shell, Rune Tap, and Mastery: Blood Shield. In addition, they gain the option of variety depending on the encounter with Lichborne, Anti-Magic Zone, Purgatory, Death Pact, and Conversion being available picks through the newly revamped Talent System.

• Strongest Self-Heal Tools in the Game
  Blood Death Knights possess the most potent Self-Healing tools in the game, with Death Strike, Rune Tap, Vampiric Blood, Blood Parasites, Death Pact, and Conversion being the abilities that maintain their reputation as nigh-immortal tanks.

• Incredible Damage Output
  It is no secret that Blood Death Knights started pumping damage in Cataclysm Classic, yet their MoP Classic version is expected to be even more insane in terms of how much damage they can dish out. Not only do they get access to Riposte, which is seemingly broken when considering it combines with Forceful Deflection, but Vengeance now ensures they can even compete with DPS specializations.

Weaknesses

• Gear Dependent
  Blood Death Knights rely on a considerable amount of Mastery, Haste, Strength, and Parry & Dodge Chance to be effective. Without the proper Gear/Stats, Blood Death Knights can be very squishy despite their very potent self-healing.
  
• Limited Mobility Tools
  While this can be considered a buff compared to the previous Cata Classic version, where Blood Death Knights had no mobility, the reality is that their situation is still bad compared to other tanks. They now have On a Pale Horse by default and can also access Death’s Advance through the revamped talent system, but they can’t keep up with Charges or Rolls used by other tanks such as Protection Warriors, Feral Druids, or Brewmaster Monks.

Best Races

While racial effects were extremely important in the previous versions of WoW, their importance has been overall reduced in MoP Classic, with the effects now acting as slight bonuses instead of actual game-changing mechanics. Alliance races are better for tanking overall due to their defensive and expertise-related racials.

Horde

The best race for Blood Death Knights for Horde is Tauren due to Endurance, followed by Troll with Regeneration/Berserking, and Goblin, thanks to Time is Money, which gives Haste.

• Tauren: Endurance, Cultivation, Nature Resistance, War Stomp.
• Troll: Berserking, Da Voodoo Shuffle, Regeneration, Beast Slaying, Bow Specialization, Throwing Specialization.
• Goblin: Time is Money, Rocket Barrage, Rocket Jump, Best Deals Anywhere, Better Living Through Chemistry, Pack Hobgoblin.
• Pandaren: Bouncy, Epicurean, Gourmand, Inner Peace, Quaking Palm.
• Orc: Blood Fury, Axe Specialization, Hardiness, Command.
• Blood Elf: Arcane Torrent, Arcane Resistance, Arcane Affinity.
• Undead: Will of the Forsaken, Cannibalize, Shadow Resistance, Underwater Breathing.

Alliance

The best Alliance race for Blood Death Knight is Dwarf due to Stoneform, followed by Night Elf with Elusiveness.

• Dwarf: Stoneform, Explorer, Mace Specialization, Gun Specialization, Frost Resistance.
• Night Elf: Elusiveness, Quickness, Shadowmeld, Wisp Spirit, Nature Resistance.
• Human: Sword Specialization, Mace Specialization, Will to Survive, The Human Spirit, Diplomacy.
• Draenei: Gift of the Naaru, Heroic Presence, Shadow Resistance, Gemcutting.
• Worgen: Darkflight, Flayer, Viciousness, Aberration.
• Gnome: Shortblade Specialization, Engineering Specialization, Escape Artist, Expansive Mind, Arcane Resistance.
• Pandaren: Bouncy, Epicurean, Gourmand, Inner Peace, Quaking Palm.

We hope this guide has been able to help you decide if PvE Blood Death Knight is the class/spec for you. Check out our other sections, such as talents, gear, gems, etc, to get more information and improve your performance as a Blood Death Knight in Mists of Pandaria Classic!