PvE Blood Death Knight Rotations & Cooldowns

Blood Death Knights have a relatively easy rotation in Mists of Pandaria Classic, we’ve outlined optimal single-target and AoE rotations and defensive cooldowns and utility spells and abilities.

Single-Target Rotation

1. Always stay in Blood Presence
2. Cast Bone Shield before engaging & upkeep it
3. Cast Army of the Dead as an opener before pull
4. Cast Outbreak at the beginning of the fight once in range.
5. Cast Dancing Rune Weapon at the beginning after Outbreak for extra Threat Generation & Parry Chance.
6. Cast Death Strike to spend initial Frost & Unholy Runes. (Main FIller)
   • Cast Death Strike to heal yourself and generate Runic Power/Death Runes & Blood Shield
   • Only reserve using Death Strike if you stack Scent of Blood quickly.
7. Cast Heart Strike to spend Blood Runes until the target reaches 35% HP
8. Cast Rune Strike to spend Runic Power
9. Prioritize casting Empower Rune Weapon after you consume all your initial runes & Runic Power.
10. Cast Boiling Blood (If Roiling Blood specced) to refresh diseases & every Crimson Scourge proc
11. Cast Soul Reaper to spend Blood Runes when the target is below 35% HP
12. Cast Horn of Winter when you have nothing else to use

Bone Shield & Dancing Rune Weapon no longer have costs, making them easier to use. Empower Rune Weapon also represents a strong threat generation tool after the first complete rune expenditure. Death Strike is the primary source of your self-healing and Blood Shield generation, while Rune Strike is the primary Runic Power spender. You will use Death Strike for all your Death Runes, while Heart Strike is the main Blood Runes spender.

Thanks to Roiling Blood, Blood Boil now acts as a way to refresh your diseases, conveniently spreading them to any other possible target during fights. Soul Reaper is a new ability acquired in MoP Classic that acts as the primary Blood Runes spender once the target reaches 35% HP, effectively working as an execute ability. As a reminder, waiting for Scent of Blood stacks is not worth waiting unless you quickly stack them. Failing to heal yourself & generate a Blood Shield stack with a Death Strike continuously can lead to a swift death.

AoE Rotation

1. Always stay in Blood Presence
2. Cast Bone Shield before engaging
   • Refresh Bone Shield when available
3. Cast Outbreak at the beginning of the fight once in range and cast 1 x Blood Boil to spread diseases
   • Cast Pestilence instead of Blood Boil if you’re not using Roiling Blood
4. Cast Death Strike to spend initial Frost & Unholy Runes. (Main Filler)
   • Cast Death Strike to heal yourself and generate Runic Power/Death Runes & Blood Shield.
   • Only reserve using Death Strike if you stack Scent of Blood quickly.
5. Cast Death and Decay when Crimson Scourge procs.
6. Spam Blood Boil with your Blood Runes if more than 4 targets
   • Cast Blood Boil with Crimson Scourge if Death and Decay is on cooldown.
7. Spam Heart Strike with your Blood runes if 3 or less targets
8. Cast Rune Strike to spend Runic Power
9. Cast Soul Reaper to spend Blood Runes when the target is about to die to benefit from a Haste buff.

The AoE rotation is similar to the Single-Target rotation, with only one major change: the Blood Runes expenditure. You will want to use Heart Strike for fights with 3 or fewer targets and Blood Boil against more than 4 targets. Death Strike will remain the main filler for your Death Runes, while Rune Strike still acts as the primary place to spend Runic Power.

Defensive & Utility Cooldowns

• Heal Empowerment:
  • Vampiric Blood – Empowers all healing you receive while boosting your maximum HP.
• Self-Healing:
  • Death Pact – Huge heal that restores 50% of your HP pool, now cost-free!
  • Rune Tap – Consumes 1 x Blood Rune to restore 10% of total HP.
  • Conversion – Consumes Runic Power to heal 3% total HP per tick.
• Major Defensives:
  • Icebound Fortitude – Reduces all damage taken by 50% and provides stun immunity.
  • Anti-Magic Shell – Prevents harmful effects and absorbs 75% Magic Damage up to 50% of your total HP.
  • Anti-Magic Zone – Creates a barrier that reduces all Magic Damage taken by the entire raid by 40%.
  • Lichborne – Provides immunity to Charm & Fear and allows self-healing with Death Coil
• Crowd Control:
  • Death Grip: Pulls a target, taunting it in the process.
  • Gorefiend’s Grasp – An improved version of Death Grip that pulls all nearby enemies to the selected target.
  • Strangulate – Silences a target for 5 seconds.
  • Chains of Ice – Debuff that massively slows a target
  • Necrotic Strike – Ability to deal damage and reduce cast speed for mobs by up to 50%.
  • Mind Freeze – Interrupt ability.
• Revive:
  • Raise Ally – Fast in-combat resurrection spell.
• Buff:
  • Horn of Winter – Attack Power buff by 10%.