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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsDeath Knights will use sigils
by Eliah Hecht 
Jul 27th 2008 at 8:00PM
Exactly what weapons Death Knights will be able to wield has been the subject of some controversy. Originally, it was speculated by Blizzard that one- and two-handed swords and axes would be the extent of it. Currently in the beta, polearms and one- and two-handed swords, axes, and maces are usable. Daggers, fist weapons, staves, wands, and ranged weapons are not (updated with verified information).
But not many people have talked about what's going to go in that ranged slot. A moment's thought reminds us that every other class that can't use ranged weapons or wands (Druids, Shamans, and Paladins) have Relics in those slots. If you're not familiar, Relics are class-specific items that typically provide a boost to particular spells; they come in different flavors for the different classes. Druids get Idols, Shamans get Totems (confusing, yes), and Paladins get Librams.
Wrath will add one more to the list: Sigils, for Death Knights. So far only one has been implemented in the beta – Sigil of the Dark Rider, one of the first quest rewards in the DK's starting chain. Blood Strike, as far as I can tell, is meant to be a staple skill for many DKs, like Heroic Strike for Warriors, so this should come in handy. And unlike Paladins, DKs have plenty of ranged spells, so pulling shouldn't be problematic – they even have a spell that brings the enemy straight to them, Scorpion-style. Get over here!
Filed under: Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
makishima Jul 28th 2008 3:39PM
"If you are using HS as 30% of your attacks you are playing the game wrong."
There's always one...
Sanaje Jul 28th 2008 9:08AM
From my experience in the beta, I wouldn't call bloodstrike the heroic strike of the deathknights per se. We've got 5 strikes in total, 6 if specced deep enough into each tree, and blood is usually part of a 3-strike cycle for me (starting with the diseases). Afterwards is either a heartstrike or another blood and an icy touch. Finish it off with a deathcoil and an obliterate/deathstrike and any normal mob is dead.
What makes bloodstrike more appealing though is that if specced far enough into Blood for sudden doom, it becomes preferable over Heartstrike (one teir over it) due to the chance of a free deathcoil crit.
I imagne that in any other tree, bloodstrike becomes fairly useless - have to say I haven't tried anything else but blood yet, since its so stupidly good for leveling.
Badger Jul 28th 2008 10:00AM
Yep, Sanaje is 100% correct.
Death Knights are literally *incapable* of treating Blood Strike in the same way that Warriors are capable of spamming Heroic Strike, due to the time restrictions on Rune application.
Personally, I'm not that far into the level progression (I'm only about 1/3 of my XP bar toward 58) but my current cycle of strikes is Plague Strike, Blood Strike, Frost Strike. I don't really have a "rotation" to the application of my special abilities, but that's the sequence in which I deploy my Strikes.
You almost always want to use Blood Strike after Plague Strike, though. Blood Strike's damage output is buffed noticeably by any Diseases that are already on the target, and Plague Strike actually *creates* those Diseases, so ...
Ryan Jul 30th 2008 7:39PM
Unfortunately the sigil doesn't have a "look" yet. Blizzard is using a placeholder cube with a white-and-blue checker pattern. I guess Blizzard is still trying to design the look.