Thread: Unholy Dps Pve(3.3.3 Updated)

Why Unholy For Dps?
Why do it?

Why spec Unholy when you could go Blood which claims to hold superior (or, at the least, equivalent) single target sustained dps, superior single target burst, Hysteria, and Abomination's Might to its name?

Why spec Unholy when you could go Frost which claims to hold equivalent single target sustained dps, superior AoE burst, Improved Icy Talons, and a more dynamic rotation to its name?

Why?

This question is vital to the understanding of anything in this thread. After all, if there were no reason to spec Unholy over the alternatives, why would this thread even exist?











Fortunately, Unholy has more than its fair share of upsides, thus it's an easy argument to make. The more notable advantages of Unholy include:

• Superior Sustained AoE Dps
  Unholy is, unarguably, the strongest spec in the game at this role. No one - caster or melee - can top an Unholy DK on any fight with significant AoE, not if the DK knows his stuff. The lead in this area isn't a matter of a couple percent; it's quite significant (varying on the exact number of mobs - the more, the larger the gap becomes). With the previous tier of content being heavily AoE-centric, this virtue came to shine and gave the spec its claim to fame. Although AoE isn’t quite as omnipresent in ICC as it was in TotC/TotGC, it’s still important on a number of fights.
• Superior Sustained Single Target Dps
  Up until the current patch, Unholy’s one greatest weakness had always been sustained single target dps. It had been the flaw in an otherwise near perfect spec. With the reworking Scourge Strike received, this is no longer the case. Unholy can keep up with – and surpass, in the current tier – both Blood and Frost in this area.
• Superior Raid Utility
  Abomination's Might and Improved Icy Talons, although obviously excellent, can be provided by other classes and other specs with the exact same potency. Ebon Plague, on the other hand, cannot be. Warlocks and Moonkin cannot provide their magic damage debuffs on multiple targets at the same time - not without incredible hardship and the sacrifice of their entire personal dps (or a majority thereof). What more is that Ebon Plague does something no other class or spec in the game can do: It increases disease damage by 30% - a significant amount. If your raid contains at least two DKs, one being you, it is always worth it for one to go Unholy for EP alone, even if you ignore the other strengths of the spec. Not only that, but with Devouring Plague being 10-15% of a shadow priest's damage, it's 3-5% more additional dps for them. EP is often underestimated and simply clumped together with CoE/EM, when it provides huge benefits which those two debuffs do not. It’s a must for almost any raid.
• Superior Survivability
  Bone Shield provides a near-passive 20% damage reduction. That's 20% less damage from every single AoE, every single nuke, every single add melee hit you take - everything. It's highly underrated, but can be the difference between life and death in a million and one situations. Vampiric Blood and Unbreakable Armor, although excellent from a tanking point of view, don't compare for dpsers. Both are active cooldowns which cost you dps to use. Bone Shield is essentially passive and grants you dps.

The fact of the matter is, speccing Unholy makes you unique. It provides you with tools which no other class or spec can bring. It provides you with dps in an area (AoE) which no other spec can hope to reach. Everything Blood* and Frost bring to the table, on the other hand - be it their raid buffs, their single target dps, their survivability, their playstyles, whatever - can be matched or, in several cases, surpassed by others in a raid – often by the Unholy DK itself.

In the world of increasing homogenization, this fact makes Unholy one of the most "different" specs around today and, as such, it becomes one of the most valuable. The same cannot be said about Blood or Frost.

Whether you choose to spec it or not, is completely up to you. Blood and Frost are obviously not worthless and, depending on your typical raid composition and current level of progression, may in fact be ideal. It all depends on your personal circumstances, and there honestly is no right or wrong answer - at least not one which can be provided by others, only by yourself.

The point is: Unholy is more than worthy of its raid spot. Anything to the contrary is utterly incorrect, be it coming from some random forum troll, a fellow guildmate, or an ignorant Blood/Frost DK.

*Hysteria aside.

Specs


Generalized Spec


With this latest patch and hot-fix to Scourge Strike, there are a couple truly viable spec, which are listed below. Unholy Dual Wielding is no longer considered competitive – although it didn’t lose dps with this patch, it simply didn’t gain near as much as 2H builds did. Improved Unholy Presence specs *did* lose dps with this patch, and as such fell to the wayside.

[Single Target]
17/0/54 without Reaping
The most optimal single target build before 2P T10 and/or several pieces of ICC gear. With the moderate buff to Scourge Strike along with the reworking of GoIT, ten second rotations are a thing of the past as Epidemic is once again most optimal. Reaping, on the other hand, doesn’t quite win out before the aforementioned gear level. Even with the secondary shadow portion of Scourge Strike being unable to crit, a Blood subspec is still vastly superior to a Frost variant – as although Scourge Strike now does more damage, less of its damage is shadow than the various version (when we still didn’t take Black Ice). Otherwise, the spec is fairly self-explanatory. Your auto-attack will be the highest percent of your total damage, followed by your Scourge Strike and then your Ghoul. Scourge Strike will be your hardest hitting individual ability, followed distantly by Death Coil and its subsequent Unholy Blight.

14/0/57 with Reaping
Once you attain 2P T10 and/or several pieces of ICC gear, Scourge Strike scales upward enough to make Reaping a dps gain once again, making this build the most optimal for single targets. With Dark Conviction being the weakest talent on a single target, the points for Reaping are taken from there. Aside from that, this spec is identical to the one already mentioned. Your Scourge Strike will be the highest percent of your total damage, followed by your auto-attack and then your Ghoul. Scourge Strike will be your hardest hitting individual ability, followed distantly by Death Coil and its subsequent Unholy Blight.

[Multiple Target / AoE]
17/0/54 without Reaping
The most optimal multi-target / AoE build . Compared to its single target variation, it simply sacrficices points from Necrosis to fill out Morbidity, due to the huge gain of the DnD cooldown. The damage loss is rather minor on single target encounters relative to the large amount of damage gained on multiple target / AoE encounters, and as such if you don’t have the luxury of using your dual spec for two dps specs, this could be considered the superior “general” spec. Your auto-attack will be the highest percent of your total damage, followed by your Scourge Strike and then your Ghoul. Scourge Strike will be your hardest hitting individual ability, followed distantly by Death Coil and its subsequent Unholy Blight.


Optional Talents











Although this spec does not have any free floating points to spend on whatever you choose, one can take points from Dark Conviction, the weakest single target dps talent, or from Necrosis, the weakest multi-target dps talent, at a relatively minor dps loss in favor of the utility provided by other talents:

• Ghoul Frenzy – This talent should only be taken if you have trouble keeping your Ghoul alive. If you do, it becomes invaluable, as a dead Ghoul is a large portion of your dps down the drain (due to 30 seconds of absolutely zero Ghoul damage, followed by your Ghoul doing reduced damage for the remainder of the fight from missing buffs). If you don’t have issues with your pet going down, then skip this talent. In nearly every case it will be a strict dps loss.

• 
  
• Improved Unholy Presence –Unholy Presence is occasionally taken in Blood Presence builds solely for the run speed increase, which some consider worth the sacrifice. How much of a dps boost the run speed increase itself is is very difficult to calculate. The value varies drastically from fight to fight. The best option to determine its worth is to try it out yourself, see if you notice a difference and, if you do, decide whether or not it is worth the two talent point. There is no right and wrong answer as to whether or not one should spec into IUP

Glyphs
Major










Single Target

• [Glyph of Dark Death]
• [Glyph of the Ghoul]
• [Glyph of Icy Touch]

Multiple Target / AoE

• [Glyph of Death and Decay]
• [Glyph of Disease]
• [Glyph of Icy Touch]

Minor

• [Glyph of Blood Tap]
• [Glyph of Pestilence]
• [Glyph of Raise Dead]

The major glyphs are set in stone for Unholy. No matter which of the “optional” talents you take, no matter what gear level you are currently at, no matter what tier of content you are currently progressing through, no matter whether or not you take Reaping, you’ll use the same three glyphs depending on if the encounter is primarily single target or multiple target.

The same goes for the multi-target glyphs.

It’s important to note that as of this patch, Glyph of Disease will no longer cause Pestilence to ‘roll’ the AP value present when you applied diseases. Instead, whenever you case Pestilence to refresh them, diseases will look at your current value of AP (and then use that number until you cast Pestilence again). As such, one doesn’t have to worry about lining up trinket procs at the start of the encounter. This makes GoD non-competitive for a single target, but still a must for a multiple target encounter.

None of the minor glyphs will have any large impact on your dps, so which you choose is largely up to you. Glyph of Pestilence is the one exception – although it won’t increase your dps on paper or in a simulator, a 50% range increases on Pestilence is generally considered a godsend for AoEing, and to go without it would be rather silly.






Generalized Rotation




Single Target


Builds with Reaping
PS – IT – BS – BS – SS – DC – HoWSS – DC – SS – SS – DC – (DC)
The final Death Coil of the rotation is placed in parentheses as you will not always have the RP to perform it every two rune refreshes.

With Epidemic being taken once again, your rotation reverts back to the traditional Unholy one. Priority wise, it is the same as ever: Apply diseases (PS - IT), dump your RP if its capped (DC), burn your blood runes for Desolation and/or Death Runes (BS - BS), use your FU strike (SS), dump your RP (DC), use Horn if you have an extra gcd and are unable to do anything else (HoW).

In situations where you have additional RP thanks to Anti-Magic Shell, Revitalize, or Rapture, there are three places where you can afford the GCD: at the very end of the first set of runes, at the very end of the second set of runes and, if you still have excess runic power after using up those two spots, in place of the Horn of Winter. Unlike in patch 3.2.2, Death Coil is no longer our hardest hitting ability. It is not worth delaying the entirety of your rotation for it. Dump any extra runic power in the three spots specified and, if you are still over capping on RP after that, so be it. Let it rot.

Multi-Target / AoE
Initial: IT – PS – Pestilence – DnD – DC – HoW
As its name suggests, you perform the initial segment of the rotation with your first set of runes, then alternate between the second and third order of abilities for the remainder of the fight (or until diseases fall off). Do not make the mistake of repeating the initial rotation after the third; it’s unnecessary with [Glyph of Disease].

Blood Striking to proc Desolation is a larger net dps gain than Blood Boiling, for those who are curious. If Desolation is already up, then Blood Boiling becomes the clear winner, of course.

One common mistake players make is to Death and Decay before spreading their diseases. Doing so is a bad move (from a dps point of view. Tanking is another matter). Although it might seem like a dps gain to use Death and Decay initially so it is off cooldown sooner, it loses a lot of damage if your diseases aren’t on the target (15% from Rage of Rivendare, 13% from Ebon Plague, so on). As well, spreading your diseases sooner means more raid dps thanks to Ebon Plague.




Gearing and Stat Weights




Stat Weights


Basically:
T8/T9 Content: Hit > Strength > Crit Rating > ArP >= Expertise > Haste > Agility
T10 Content: Hit > Strength > ArP > Crit > Haste > Expertise > Agility

ArP has always scaled amazingly well with itself, which is part of the reason why, up until now, Unholy has been in Blood's shadow (at least in terms of single target dps). Now that the majority of Unholy's damage is affected by it, thanks to Scourge Strike, this scaling applies to us as well, making it a much more attractive stat.

Haste has decreased moderately in value due to the fact that our rotation is no longer GCD limited as it was in 3.2.2. The main reason haste used to be of such worth was due to it reducing the spell GCD, which in terms helped alleviate the GCD limitations of the spec, for large gains in dps. With Epidemic and Reaping we now have numerous empty GCDs, and thus all haste does is increasing our (and our pet’s) white damage, making it a decent, but unspectacular stat.

Aside from that, the general order of the weights are relatively unchanged. And, as such, the following are the currently theorized stat weights for Unholy DKs:

T9 bonuses are included in the iLvl 245/258 weights (TotC) and T10 in the iLvl251/264/277 weights (ICC), to best simulate the realities of those tiers. In addition, a non-Reaping build/rotation is utilized in the ilvl 245/258 set weights, while a Reaping build/rotation are utilized in the others, to best reflect what's most optimal at those gear points.
Stat iLvl 245/258 iLvl 251/258 iLvl 264 iLvl 277 Attack Power 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00Strength 3.06 3.03 3.03 3.01Crit Rating 2.16 1.95 2.10 2.23ArP Rating 2.01 2.25 2.49 2.92Expertise Rating 1.63 1.72 1.77 1.93Haste Rating 1.75 1.93 2.01 2.09Agility 1.55 1.36 1.48 1.58MeleeHit (<8%) 3.62 3.75 3.92 4.34SpellHit (8%-11%) 0.60 0.60 0.62 0.67WeaponDPS 6.67 7.21 7.42 7.86WeaponSpeed 25.55 26.56 29.41 33.29Armor 0.028 0.028 0.028 0.028

Set Bonuses
These are the average weights of the set bonuses for Unholy DKs. As you can see, T10 is absolutely incredible for Unholy (and Blood/Frost, for that matter), and the sooner you can attain it, the better. Both bonuses are very strong, and worthy successors to the ridiculousness of 3.2.2 4P T9.

A non-Reaping build/rotation is utilized in the ilvl 245/258 set weights, while a Reaping build/rotation are utilized in the others, to best reflect what's most optimal at those gear points.
Set Bonus iLvl 245/258 iLvl 251/258 iLvl 264 iLvl 277 2T7 96.67 126.26 136.92 144.784T7 86.67 163.21 167.08 179.102T8 95.36 95.08 95.38 98.514T8 311.67 349.18 376.29 414.932T9 147.54 106.56 106.54 107.464T9 465.38 431.15 446.15 508.962T10 243.33 314.75 340.00 374.164T10 401.67 409.84 432.31 473.13
All currently known loot sans Shadowmourne:
Slot Item Name Head [Sanctified Scourgelord Helmet]Shoulders [Sanctified Scourgelord Shoulderplates]Chest [Sanctified Scourgelord Battleplate]Hands [Sanctified Scourgelord Gauntlets]Legs [Scourge Reaver's Legplates]Neck [Lana'thel's Chain of Flagellation][A] Back [Winding Sheet][H] Back [Garrosh's Rage]Wrists [Polar Bear Claw Bracers]Waist [Coldwraith Links]Feet [Blood-Soaked Saronite Stompers]Ring [Ashen Band of Endless Might]Ring [Might of Blight]Trinket [Deathbringer's Will]Trinket [Death's Verdict][Non Human] Weapon [Oathbinder, Charge of the Ranger-General][Human] Weapon [Glorenzelg, High-Blade of the Silver Hand]

Trinkets
There's a common misconception that trinkets are somehow harder to evaluate than other items. They (generally) aren't. A trinket's value comes down to nothing more than:

Trinket Value = (Amount of Passive Stat x Passive Stat's Weight) + ((Amount of Proc/Use Stat x Proc/Use Stat's Weight) x Proc/Use Uptime)

Simple, no?

Unfortunately, however, there is the reason I put generally in parenthesis earlier: Blizzard does not make internal cooldowns (and, thus, uptimes) visible from an item's tooltip or datamined information, which can make trinkets difficult to eyeball in value. As such, the following table includes the handful of top trinkets ranked by their relative value (at current gear points) with the uptime of the trinket's proc/use effect, as well as any other information of note:

Proc/Use uptimes are approximate; they will vary based on specific fight mechanics, RNG, and such.
Ranking Trinket ICD Proc/Use Uptime Notes BiS [Deathbringer's Will] 105s 28% Procs 700 Str/Crit/Haste. Equal chance per proc. Mutually exclusive with [Deathbringer's Will].BiS [Death's Verdict] 45s 33% Horde Version: [Death's Choice].2nd [Deathbringer's Will] 105s 28% Procs 600 Str/Crit/Haste. Equal chance per proc. Mutually exclusive with [Deathbringer's Will].3rd [Whispering Fanged Skull] 45s 33% Mutually exclusive with [Whispering Fanged Skull].4th [Death's Verdict] 45s 33% Horde Version: [Death's Choice].5th [Whispering Fanged Skull] 45s 33% Mutually exclusive with [Whispering Fanged Skull].6th [Mark of Supremacy] 120s 17% Ranking assumes all hit is used.7th [Blood of the Old God] 45s 15% Ranking assumes all hit is used.8th [Herkuml War Token] 0s 96% Uptime based on five minutes of continuous combat. Ramp-up time of ~25 seconds. 9th [Tiny Abomination in a Jar] 0s N/A Ranking assumes all hit is used. Mutually exclusive with [Tiny Abomination in a Jar].10th [Pyrite Infuser] 45s 15% Assumes all hit is used.11nd [Tiny Abomination in a Jar] 0s N/A Ranking assumes all hit is used. Mutually exclusive with [Tiny Abomination in a Jar]12th [Darkmoon Card: Greatness] 45s 33% N/A.13th [Comet's Trail] 45s 20% N/A.14th [Grim Toll] 45s 20% Ranking assumes all hit is of use. Surpasses [Comet's Trail] in end of TotC/beginning ICC gear.15th [Mjolnir Runestone] 45s 20% Surpasses [Comet's Trail] in end of TotC/beginning ICC gear.16th [Dark Matter] 45s 20% N/A.17th [Needle-Encrusted Scorpion] 45s 15% Surpasses [Dark Matter] in end of TotC/beginning of ICC gear.
If you have access to neither of those [Sigil of Awareness] becomes a moderate third, with [Sigil of the Vengeful Heart] bringing up the rear, in a rather distant fourth place.

Gemming and Enchanting


[top]Gemming


Generally speaking, when it comes to gemming, you want to go for strength gems – [Bold Cardinal Ruby] or [Inscribed Ametrine] – in all slots. When to use which is discussed below in more detail.

With the exception of meta-gem requirements, also discussed below, you never want to use blue or purple gems, as socket bonuses are not large enough to make them worth one’s while.


[top]Meta-Gem


There are two meta-gems of interest to an Unholy DK: [Chaotic Skyflare Diamond] and [Relentless Earthsiege Diamond]. Although crit rating is superior to agility on a one-for-one basis, the latter meta-gem has laxer requirements: one red, one yellow, and one blue gem as opposed to two blue gems.

Regardless of which gem you use, you use a [Nightmare Tear] to knock out (one of, in the case of the Chaotic Skyflare Diamond) the blue gem requirement(s). You may only use one Nightmare Tear in your gear, and it will count as a red, yellow, and blue gem, all at once.

So how does one decide whether using a second blue gem to activate the Chaotic Skyflare Diamond is worth it over simply using the Relentless Earthsiege Diamond, which is activated solely by the Nightmare Tear?

Stat iLvl 245/258 iLvl 251/258 iLvl 264 iLvl 277 Attack Power 18 18 18 17Strength 6 6 6 6Crit Rating 9 10 9 8 ArP Rating 9 8 7 6 Expertise Rating 11 11 10 9Haste Rating 11 10 9 8Agility 12 14 12 11Hit Rating 5 5 5 4

[top]Runeforges


There is currently only one viable Runeforge for PvE DPS: Rune of the Fallen Crusader.

The alternative enchants/runes do not even come close.





[top]Consumables and Cooldowns




[top]Consumables


Flask: [Flask of Endless Rage]
Potion: [Potion of Speed]
Secondary Potion: [Indestructible Potion]
Food: [Dragonfin Filet]
Pet Food: [Spiced Mammoth Treats]

Pop an [Indestructible Potion]about 5 seconds prior to the actual pull for a free 97 AP (thanks to Bladed Armor) in the first two minutes of the fight. If used before combat, you will still be able to use an additional potion mid-fight.


[top]Cooldowns


As an Unholy DK, you only have two cooldowns - Army of the Dead and Summon Gargoyle. Maximizing their use is essential to maximizing one’s dps.


[top]Army of the Dead


Army of the Dead went through some changes with this last patch. On the one hand, it now has a shorter cooldown – 6 minutes talented (10 untalented) as opposed to 10 minutes talented (20 unalented) – and the channeling time of the spell went from 6 seconds to 4 seconds. On the other hand, it now does less damage – 50% of its previous amount.

Similar to a Blood or Frost DK’s Ghoul or your own Gargoyle, Army of the Dead will take a snapshot of your AP, haste, and hit at the time summoned. Changes in these stats after you have casted the spell will have no effect on the summoned minions, and other stats – crit, ArP, and the like – will have no effect period. On top of this, your Army of the Dead ghouls will receive the 90% AoE damage reduction from your Night of the Dead talent that your other pets receive.

The most optimal time to use Army of the Dead will vary from boss to boss, but is typically right before the beginning of an encounter. Using it mid encounter can lead to lost dps time, as the spell is channeled, and can also open the possibility of the spell getting interrupted by a fight mechanic, hurting the value of the spell. That said, if you are unable to cast it before the fight begins (or if it comes back off cooldown mid-fight) it is still worth casting mid-fight – ideally during a phase transition or similar period of down-time, but even on a Patchwerk-esqe fight it would be worth it – simply not as large a gain as using it immediately before the pull.

One note about Army of the Dead is that although the summoned ghouls will not taunt a boss, they will taunt most adds present on boss encounters. Keep this in mind as it can cause a wipe if used inappropriately… or prevent one if used intelligently.


[top]Summon Gargoyle


Summon Gargoyle isn't terribly complex in its use. Your Gargoyle scales with your attack power and haste based on the moment it was cast, and will retain those exact stats for its entire duration. Try to wait on using it until all of your procs coincide, however, don't let this make you miss an opportunity to cast it. Summoning your Gargoyle three times in a fight is better than only summoning it twice, regardless of procs. As such, figure out how many times you'll be able to use it based on the fight length. Try and use it at some point during Heroism's duration - it needs to be popped AFTER Heroism is cast, while the buff is active on you, to benefit (unlike a Moonkin's treants). This is also the time to pop your Potion of Speed.

Also remember, your Gargoyle has horrid AI. It will not attack Yogg-saron’s brain if summoned within the brain room (but will attack the brain if you summon it before entering the brain room) and will (usually) only melee XT Deconstructor’s Heart. Get familiar with odd instances such as these; know when your Gargoyle will and will not attack, so you don't waste 60 RP.

Your Gargoyle will follow the same commands you give your Ghoul (i.e, follow, stay, attack, etc), so you can move it out of AoEs such as Shock Blast – however you are best off simply waiting until immediately after such spells to go off to summon it.





[top]Basic Combat Mechanics





Some elementary numbers to remember when raiding.

• Glancing blows (only on bosses) happen 24% of the time on auto-attacks and cannot be critical hits. A glancing blow deals 70% damage.
• You need 263 hit rating (8%) to be 2H melee white (auto) and yellow (special) attack hit capped against bosses. With a Draenei this number decreases to 231 hit rating (7%).
• The spell hit cap is 445 hit rating (17%). Assuming Virulence and Misery this number decreases to 289 hit rating (11%). With a Draenei, it goes to 262 hit rating (10%). The only dps skills that are affected by this are Death Coil, Icy Touch, Death and Decay, Pestilence and Blood Boil.
• You need 26 expertise (6.50%) to be expertise soft capped which means your attacks will no longer be dodged.
• All melee classes suffer a 4.8% crit suppression vs bosses when using melee attacks.
• All spell attacks have a 3% crit suppression vs bosses.

[top]Ghoul Specific Mechanics





With your Ghoul being one of your highest sources of damage, and the primary tool which sets an Unholy DK apart from other DKs, there are some basic numbers to know about it.

• Ghouls work like most permanent pets, receiving a portion of your stats and can be buffed by the raid.
• In terms of Paladin blessings, your Ghoul will receive the same blessings that the rogues are given. If no rogue is present, your Ghoul will need blessings given individually.
• Ghoul Strength (with talents + [Glyph of the Ghoul]) = 331+1.52*Master'sStrength.
• Ghouls receive 100% of your haste rating.
• Ghouls have AoE mitigation, 45% for each point in NotD. This is both physical and magical damage reduction.
• Ghoul hit rating rounds down. So if you have 7.99% hit rating, the ghoul will have 7% hit rating.
• Ghouls gain expertise based on your hit rating. So if you had 131 hit (4%), the pet gains 13 expertise. 263 hit (8%), the pet gains 26 expertise. The Draenei hit aura does not give expertise to the pet.
• Ghouls benefit from the 15% haste of Unholy Presence, but not the 15% damage of Blood Presence.

Professions
Jewelcrafting
42 Strength (or Hit) gain. The best dps profession for a Death Knight, both due to the raw numbers, and due to the customizability of it – being able to choose which stat you need.

Blacksmithing
40 Strength (or Hit) gain. The second best dps profession, following Jewelcrafting. Similar to JC, gains some value due to the fact that you can choose which stat you need.

Engineering
Hyperspeed Accelerators (340 haste for 12 seconds per minute), Flexweave Underlay, and Nitro Boosts (24 crit rating) at the cost of your preexisting glove, cape, and boot enchant, as well as [Saronite Bomb]s (which are off the GCD). Unlike other professions, it’s difficult to calculate the Engineering’s raw value. At any rate, it’s usually a somewhat moderate third choice, behind the above two, although it can surpass them on certain fights.

Skinning
40 Crit Rating gain. A moderate fourth. Uncustomizable.

Enchanting
80 AP gain. A distant fifth. Uncustomizable. Tied with Leatherworking, Inscription, and Alchemy.

Leatherworking
80 AP gain. A distant fifth. Uncustomizable. Tied with Enchanting, Inscription, and Alchemy.

Inscription
80 AP gain. A distant fifth. Uncustomizable. Tied with Enchanting, Leatherworking, and Alchemy.

Alchemy
80 AP gain. A distance fifth. Uncustomizable. Tied with Enchanting, Leatherworking, and Inscription.

Tailoring
Swordguard Embroidery, grants 400 AP for 15 seconds, which averages out to ~100 AP over time. When you subtract from this the lost agility, it comes out behind all of the above professions. It does have a slight advantage in the sense that you can time the proc with others for a stronger Gargoyle, but that doesn’t significantly increase its worth.

Mining
60 Stamina gain. Utterly worthless for dps.

Herbalism
Self heal. Utterly worthless for dps.

Frequently Asked Questions

The most basic first; what presence should I be in and why?
Blood Presence is always the superior option. In the previous patch Unholy Presence was moderately competitive at certain gear points due to the GCD reduction aspect and the fact that our rotation was GCD constrained. Considering the latter is no longer the case, thus making the former now of absolutely zero value, the comparison between the two presences simply comes down to the damage verse the haste. 15% damage is an increase of approximately 12.75% dps, when you consider that it affects all of our damage except ghoul, gargoyle, and army. 15% haste, on the other hand, is only an increase of maybe 7.5% dps, as it only affects auto-attack (and auto-attack related, such as Necrosis, BCB, and Bryntroll) damage and pets.

Not just that, but Scourge Strike double dips into the 15% damage buff of Blood Presence, increasing its value and cementing it as the clear choice.

Double dips? I see that mentioned a lot in regards to Scourge Strike, but never an explanation of what it means.
The short, simple answer: If a buff or talent affects the damage of Scourge Strike once, it single dips. If it affects the damage of Scourge Strike twice, thus boosting the damage by more than the stated amount, then it double dips and is of increased worth.

The long answer: The new Scourge Strike is split into two actual hits; the first being physical damage and the second being shadow damage. The damage of the shadow portion is entirely dependent on the damage of the physical. What this means is that anything that increase the damage of the physical portion – be it a stat, a buff, a debuff, or a talent – will also increase the shadow portion by the same proportion. Outbreak, for example, increases the damage of the physical strike by 20% and by doing so, the shadow strike is increased by 20%, causing the Scourge Strike to do 20% more damage overall than it otherwise would, as the talent states.

However, some buffs and talents will affect the physical strike (thus increasing the damage of the shadow strike) but then also affect the shadow strike directly. Blood Presence, as previously mentioned, is one such buff. It will increase the damage of the physical strike by 15% which will then increase the damage of the shadow strike by 15%. On top of that, however, it will then go and buff the damage of the shadow strike by 15% yet again, meaning while the physical portion had its damage increased by 15%, the shadow portion had its damage increased by 32.25%. Thus the amount Blood Presence increased your overall Scourge Strike damage will be greater than the stated 15%.
Bone Shield, Desolation, Two-Handed Weapon Specialization, Blood Presence, Ferocious Inspiration, Sanctified Retribution, and Arcane Empowerment are all buffs or talents which are double dipped.

Cool and all, but does that explain why the shadow portion of Scourge Strike deals more than the stated 75% of the physical portion?
Yes, it does. Double-dipping is the culprit. After you factor in all of the previously mentioned buffs and talents, you’ll find that the shadow portion will ultimately deal 107.3 % of the physical portion (less partial resists), hence making them near identical, and explaining the almost total lack of gap between the two parts you’ll notice in parses.

Speaking of Scourge Strike, mine outdamages two Blood Strikes and I don’t have 2P T10! Surely that means I should take Reaping, right?
Yes, due to the changes of the last patch, one’s Scourge Strike is almost always going to outdamage two Blood Strikes, the reason for the almost being severely low gear points as the exceptions. However, no, that fact in and of itself does not make Reaping a worthwhile talent.

Opportunity cost. You can’t simply look at what you gain by taking Reaping; you also what you lose by taking it, and that’s three points in Dark Conviction/Bladed Armor/Necrosis (depending on spec specifics). Thus for Reaping to be a solid investment, your Scourge Strike needs to outdamage two Blood Strikes by enough so as to be more damage than three points in any of those aforementioned talents. Such isn’t the case until you acquire 2P T10 and/or have a solid amount of ICC gear (specifically an ICC weapon and a moderate amount of ArP).

You briefly mentioned partial resists before. Can’t you just gem/enchant some spell penetration to eliminate them?
No, you cannot. Bosses will always partially resist a certain fraction of your magical damage. Such is unavoidable, regardless of spell penetration. Simply live with it.

What about misses and dodges though? Hit and expertise will eliminate those two, right, so we obviously want to hit those caps, correct?
Yes, the chance to miss and the chance to be dodged can be eliminated completely by hit and expertise respectively. However, although the hit cap is worth going out of your way to reach, the expertise cap is not. It simply doesn’t affect enough of our damage to be worthwhile, and due to the fact that our rotation now contains extra GCDs, losing one occasionally because we have to repeat an ability thanks to a dodge isn’t that big of a deal.

How do racials stack up?
Orc is the superior Horde dps race, without question. 5 Expertise, 5% pet damage, and Blood Fury are simply amazing racials, and perfect for an Unholy DK.

Assuming your raid doesn’t already have five of them, Draenei are the best for Alliance. Although Gift of the Naaru is essentially worthless, 1% hit for yourself and four others is quite nice. If your raid does already run with enough Draenei to cover everyone with the aura, then Humans come next, with 3 Expertise (which is of debatable worth, with all the best weapons being axes) and Every Man for Himself, an excellent racial whose worth is difficult to quantify into a specific amount of damage.

What about a Black Ice build? Is it competitive?
No. Black Ice is an excellent talent... in a vaccum. Point for point, it's superior to Dark Conviction, Bladed Armor, and Necrosis. Unfortunately, due to how the Frost tree is arranged, you have to all but literally waste 5 talent points to get to it, which doubles the point:dps ratio, and simply kills the talent.

If it were to ever be moved up a tier, or if you could pick up a real dps talent along the way, BI specs (in the form of 7/10/54) would become the way to go. Until then, forget it.

Last patch Unholy DW was pretty much neck and neck with Unholy 2H, yet I no longer see it listed as a viable build. What happened?
Scourge Strike. As Unholy, it all comes down to SS these days, especially as gear progresses. SS simply does not scale with a one hander as well as a two hander, for obvious reasons.

What more is the fact that Unholy Blight was nerfed, which hurts Unholy DW more (proportionally) than it hurts 2H.

Alright, so I have two pieces of tier 10, as well as a moderate amount of ICC gear in general. From what you say, I should be able to use Reaping and gain dps, but Kahorie’s Simulator doesn’t seem to agree?
Either you are making an error in your use of the simulator, or your gear is simply insufficient (remember, there is a reason I use generalities and not specifics for Reaping).
If it’s the former, the error likely lies in your rotation. You cannot use the default “Reaping” rotation to test a Reaping build. Illogical, yes, but true nonetheless. It will not give you optimal results for various reasons due to technicalities of the sim. What you must instead use is the following:

<Rotation><Rotation><PlagueStrike retry="1" /><IcyTouch retry="1" /><BloodStrike retry="1" /><BloodStrike retry="1" /><ScourgeStrike retry="1" /><DeathCoil retry="0" /><DeathCoil retry="0" /><ScourgeStrike retry="1" /><Horn retry="1" /><ScourgeStrike retry="1" /><ScourgeStrike retry="1" /><DeathCoil retry="0" /><DeathCoil retry="0" /></Rotation></Rotation>
Rune Strike with any ability
#showtooltip WhateverAbility/cast !Rune Strike/cast WhateverAbility
An elementary Gargoyle Macro
#showtooltip Summon Gargoyle/use potion of speed/use trinket 13/use trinket 14/cast Summon Gargoyle

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