PvE Blood Death Knight Stat Priority & Reforging

When tanking as a Blood Death Knight you should prioritize Mastery first, then Hit and Expertise to 7.5%, and Stamina as the primary stats.

Stat Priority

1. Mastery
2. Hit (Hit Chance)
3. Expertise
4. Stamina
5. Parry (Parry Chance)
6. Dodge (Dodge Chance)
7. Haste
8. Strength
9. Armor

Mastery is the most important stat to increase survivability due to the Mastery: Blood Shield mechanic. Blood Death Knights start with a 50% Death Strike heal conversion to Blood Shield, amplified by 6.25% with each Mastery point. This stat is important because it adds the highest amount of mitigation they can receive against Physical Damage, especially considering that Blood Shield can theoretically be stacked infinitely.

Hit is significant for this specialization. You will need a 7.5% Hit Chance to never miss against level 93 bosses, with each 340 Hit granting a 1% Hit Chance.

Expertise is almost as important as Hit Chance, ensuring attacks against higher-level mobs can’t be parried or dodged. You need 7.5% Expertise to ensure your attacks can’t be dodged and 15% Expertise to avoid being parried. 340 Expertise results in 1% Expertise.

Stamina is a core primary stat that increases the your HP and increases your Effective Health Pool. Previously it was tied to the Vengeance mechanic in Cataclysm Classic but this is changed in MoP. You will want to stack as much Stamina as possible besides Mastery to ensure higher survivability.

Parry is a stat that adds to overall avoidance, allowing you to parry attacks from mobs and bosses. Blood Death Knights also benefit from Forceful Deflection, a passive inherent to their class, which turns a portion of their Strength into additional Parry. You will primarily want to stack Parry over Dodge since it’s the most potent mitigation tool besides Mastery: Blood Shield. An amount of 952 Parry grants 1% Parry Chance before diminishing returns. In addition, Rune of Swordshattering grants an automatic 4% Parry Chance.

Dodge is the other stat that adds to overall avoidance. Dodge Chance is slightly weaker than Parry Chance however it is also important to stack Dodge to increase overall avoidance due to Parry having diminishing returns.

Haste is a stat that increases a the Rune Power regeneration rate. Since all Death Knight abilities now have a 1.0 second Global Cooldown this stat is not as impactful as it was in Cataclysm Classic.

Strength is an primary stat for the class. It increases all your Attack Power and adds to your overall Parry due to Forceful Deflection. Since Strength is innate to the class, it will automatically be found on all your gear pieces, meaning that you should not need to gem or enchant additional Strength.

Armor is a stat that reduces all Physical Damage received by a percentage. This stat works with your Stamina, resulting in your Effective Health Pool. You will gain armor from your gear pieces without prioritizing the stat specifically. You will only want to prioritize gaining more of this stat from specific consumables.

Reforging

Reforging can only be performed on secondary stats, with stats such as Stamina and Strength not being changeable. You should prioritize reforging your gear pieces to acquire the 7.5% stat caps for Hit Chance & Expertise, after which you will prioritize Mastery for the survivability-oriented build. After Mastery, you will prioritize Parry/Dodge Chance, followed by Haste.

1. Hit Chance (7.5%)
2. Expertise (7.5%)
3. Mastery (Whenever Possible)
4. Parry Chance
5. Dodge Chance
6. Haste

Below, you can see an example of the Reforge Interface!