How to Unlock Death Knight Hidden Artifact Weapon Appearances

Author: Luxrah
Date: July 2, 2023
Updated: July 2, 2023
Expansion: World of Warcraft

Death knights were once the Lich King’s loyal servants, and their artifact weapons are themed around this background. This guide will cover how to unlock the hidden appearances for all three death knight artifact weapons. To unlock the additional color tints for these appearances, see our main Hidden Artifact Weapon Appearances guide.

Blood

Weapon: Maw of the Damned (Two Hand)
Hidden Appearance: Touch of Undeath
Hidden Effect: The Maw Must Feed (Stacks up to 10 times)
Unlocked By: Twisting Anima of Souls

death knight blood touch of undeath green

How to Unlock Touch of Undeath

The Twisting Anima of Souls has a chance to drop from the final chest in a scenario in Suramar. The scenario is entered as part of the ! Withered Army Training World Quest. There are a few things you must do before you can access this quest.

Unlocking World Quests

First you must unlock World Quests for the Broken Isles by completing ! Uniting the Isles. This requires earning Friendly reputation with the four major Legion factions. The quickest way to earn reputation with each faction is by completing quests in their associated zones. Here are the factions and their zones:

When you have reached Friendly with all four factions, visit Archmage Khadgar in The Violet Citadel in Dalaran to complete the quest ! Uniting the Isles.

Unlocking Withered Army Training

Next you must complete the main storyline quests in Suramar to earn the Nightfallen But Not Forgotten achievement and unlock World Quests for Suramar. You will need to be at least level 45 to do these quests. Here is a complete list for convenience:

Nightfall
Arcanist Kel’danath
Chief Telemancer Oculeth
Feeding Shal’Aran
Masquerade
The Light Below

With World Quests unlocked for Suramar, First Arcanist Thalyssra in Shal’Aran should offer the quest ! Building an Army. Complete this and you will be able to access ! Withered Army Training.

The Withered Army Training Scenario

The ! Withered Army Training quest can be completed once every three days. You must have 400 Ancient Mana to start the quest. You can use more Ancient Mana to bring additional withered with you, which makes the scenario easier. To start the scenario, speak with First Arcanist Thalyssra and tell her “I’ve come to help the withered with their combat training.”

Once you start the scenario you’ll be sent into the Ruins of Falanaar where your goal is to collect treasure without losing all of your withered. There is no timer for this scenario and you can take as long as you want. The scenario ends when you run out of withered or you die. Players have reported that it’s not enough to start and fail the scenario; you need to earn a minimum of 400 points in order to have a chance of seeing the item in your chest. Higher scores likely increase your chances, but that’s unconfirmed.

Don’t be tempted to immediately pick up every large chest you see. You want to keep enough withered with you to be able to continue. Some doors require a certain number of withered to enter. Small chests can be picked up without expending any withered. Killing enemies also increases your score. Ideally, you want to clear out as much as you can before you start expending withered to collect large chests.

If a withered begins to run away, you’ll need to chase after it and quickly click on it to stop it from abandoning you altogether.

When the scenario is over you will be able to collect loot from the treasure chests you found inside. The Twisting Anima of Souls has a chance to appear in one of these chests, but is not a guaranteed drop. You may need to do this scenario several times before you see it. The scenario can be done every three days.

first arcanist thalyssra withered army training — First Arcanist Thalyssra in Shal’Aran

glimmering treasure chest withered army training — First Arcanist Thalyssra in Shal’Aran

Frost

Weapon: Blades of the Fallen Prince – Frostreaper (Main Hand) and Icebringer (Off Hand)
Hidden Appearance: Dark Runeblade
Hidden Effect: Soulblade (Your attacks will sometimes spawn a Memory of Arthas, who can be clicked for unique dialogue and a buff.)
Unlocked By: Runes of Darkening

How to Unlock Dark Runeblade

The Runes of Darkening drops from The Soultakers, a World Boss in Stormheim. It has also been reported to drop from Deathbringer Saurfang and The Lich King in Icecrown Citadel and The Four Horsemen in Naxxramas. The Soultakers is the only guaranteed drop.

Unlocking World Quests

Before you can face The Soultakers you must first unlock World Quests for the Broken Isles by completing ! Uniting the Isles. This requires earning Friendly reputation with the four major Legion factions. The quickest way to earn reputation with each faction is by completing quests in their associated zones. Here are the factions and their zones:

When you have reached Friendly with all four factions, visit Archmage Khadgar in The Violet Citadel in Dalaran to complete the quest ! Uniting the Isles.

The Soultakers World Boss

The Soultakers are one of 11 World Bosses in the Broken Isles, and only one is active during any given week. If they are active, then you will be able to see their World Quest icon on the map. They are actually a trio of bosses: Captain Hring, Reaver Jdorn, and Soultrapper Mevra. All three need to be defeated for the encounter to be over. After killing them, your item will appear in your bags. You do not get it by looting a corpse.

/way Stormheim 78.2 8.6 The Soultakers

Unholy

Weapon: Apocalypse (Two Hand)
Hidden Appearance: Bone Reaper
Hidden Effect: Apocalyptic Deathblade (You have a chance on hit to kill enemies who are below 20% health, and will sometimes leave enemy corpses looking rotten and swarmed with flies.)
Unlocked By: The Bonereaper’s Hook

How to Unlock Bonereaper

To earn The Bonereaper’s Hook you have to use Army of the Dead, which has a chance to summon a special Army of the Dead minion. Army of the Dead is a talent in the unholy tree that requires level 51 to learn. When this special minion spawns, he will say “Why have I been brought back to fight for you?” When the minion despawns, he will drop Professor Putricide’s Lost Journal. The journal will tell you about Putricide’s Secret Lab and allow you to access it.

There is a trapdoor leading to the lab inside Professor Putricide‘s room in Icecrown Citadel. To access the room, you must first kill Lord Marrowgar and Lady Deathwhisper to take the elevator up. You’ll then board a gunship and speak with its captain to start an air battle. Use the cannon to destroy the enemy airship. Defeat Deathbringer Saurfang to enter the inner citadel. Now you’ll have to defeat Festergut and Rotface and use the Gas Release Valve in their rooms. Finally, head up the hallway toward the central room and kill the Flesh-eating Insects. This will allow you to enter Professor Putricide‘s room and access the trapdoor.

Inside the secret room you will find an abomination named Stitchwork, a level 45 normal enemy. Killing him will give you The Bonereaper’s Hook.

professor putricide icecrown citadel — Professor Putricide’s room in Icecrown Citadel

About the Author

Luxrah

I've been playing World of Warcraft on and off since vanilla, usually as a healer or caster and often as a guild leader. I play both retail and classic. I also love RPGs, sandboxes, and sims.