Lichborne: Why I play a death knight
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Mar 13th 2012 at 2:00PM
You know, starting at level 55 and not being a vanilla WoW class, you arguably have to go through a unique process to decide to play this class. It's true that you make a conscious choice to play what class you play, but somehow, starting from level 1, it's as much a dabbling as anything, a solid start point that could branch off. With a death knight, you're already in the game. You make a solid choice to leap from one class to another. It's probably more true of those of us who started at the beginning of Wrath, deliberately choosing to leave our mains to start anew, but on some level I think it can apply to just about anyone who plays a main death knight.
With this in mind, I thought it might fun this week to establish why we play our class, focusing on my own reasons for playing it and sticking with it.
A storied history
I will admit, I tend to be sort of a sap when it comes to stories. I like stories that are clashes between good and evil, with defined boundaries. I like my knights in shining armor fighting the forces of darkness. Some people find that too simple and tidy, but if I want shades of gray, I can find plenty of that in real life. Sometimes, I just want to kick some evil ass.
Of course, this weirdly enough is tempered by a love of the whole lawful evil ideal. I love powerful evil empires that believe in strength, discipline, and dominance. Nothing quite gets to the heart of that like the trope of the dark knight. He has a code of honor, but rather than protecting the weak, he dominates them. He fights with sword and shield, but he conquers rather than liberates. He believes in what he does. He may have past trauma, and he may just believe the good guys are hypocrites, but you understand why he fights even as you understand his goals and methods are evil.
This is probably why growing up, I liked fictional characters like Lord Soth, the Nazgul, and Arawn Death-Lord. This is probably why my favorite character in EverQuest was an Erudite Shadowknight. Driven from the main Erudite city for their heresy, the shadowknights of the evil citadel of Paineel both fought to spread their doctrines of fear and dominance and to avenge themselves against the "good" Erudites.
When I first heard of WoW, I was dedicated to the idea of playing an undead death knight for this reason. The undead seemed to have a nice, lawful evil society that spread death and destruction even as they ostensibly claimed to have been wronged by their living sisters and brothers, and the death knight was the ultimate expression of the idea of a martial knight.
Unfortunately, my friends decided to play Alliance, and death knights weren't even a beginning class, so I was stuck with other characters until Wrath came along. You can understand why I leapt on the death knight when the expansion hit, though. While death knights are ostensibly good, they have that edge of darkness and rage tempering them that feeds my love for powerful lawful evil dark knights.
Why we fight
Of course, lore and backstory is all well and good, but to really stick with a character and class in a game, I still need to like how they play. Luckily, death knights scratched that itch too. As long as I've been playing RPGs, whether they be pen-and-paper, early text MUDs, or later MMOs, my instinct has been to go for the hybrid types, the ones who can generally hold their own in a front line fight but also provide some sort of extra "flash" or utility, be that some extra offensive magic, a couple of heals, or even some buffs and debuffs. I like having that balance of swords and sorcery to keep things interesting. In past games, I've found that with knight-type characters or sometimes even bard or ranger types.
In WoW, before the death knight came along, it was difficult to find a character like that. I just couldn't get into the paladin, if only because they seemed too caster-like and not physical and in your face enough. As it was, I found myself splitting my time between druid and hunter. The druid delivered a better balance of melee and utility, but unfortunately, shapeshifting meant I spent much of my time as a pure melee player, having to shift to provide any of the extra stuff I liked to do. I got good at it, but it didn't feel the same. The hunter didn't require me to shift and provided some interesting utility in the form of traps and shot debuffs, but it didn't really have the in-your-face component, although having a pet in melee helped a little.
That, then, was another reason for going after the death knight. It provided a heavy melee bruiser who also had a good selection of interesting utility and magical flavor that felt more visceral than a paladin but less closed off and limited than a druid. In story, theme, and in-game play, death knight seemed like a match made in heaven for my preferences.
The love affair continues
Of course, it's one thing to start a character; it's another to keep on. Sure, I write about death knights, but if I ever truly could not stand my death knight, it'd be sort of dishonest for me not to walk away. Luckily, I'm still in love with it for some reason.
Part of it, I think, is the disease rotation. As much as I complain about the annoyance of applying diseases, it feels like one of my favorite parts of being a death knight. Having the constant presence of diseases on my target makes it feel like I'm always contributing and always in the heat of battle, especially combined with the debuffs I can give.
The flexibility of the specs helps as well. With unholy, I can play a pseudo pet class, feeling sort of like a knight-commander as I direct "troops" into battle in the form of pets and get a mage-knight feeling that no other class really replicates through the use of Death Coil and diseases. Blood has the self-healing that I love, even if it's been scaled back in Cataclysm. Being a self-sustaining vampire is fun from both a gameplay and look and feel, in addition to providing additional gameplay options via extreme soloing. Finally, frost allows me to use Howling Blast to cut devastating swathes across the battlefield, while at the same time allowing me to sate my lust for swinging around heavy weapons via Frost Strike and Obliterate.
All of these not only have a distinct feel to them, but they allow for a nice shake-up in playstyle with a simple respec, while still holding to the core game play of a front-line heavy hitter with a good suite of debuffs and magical backup.
It's hard for me not to like the death knight. In story, flavor, and gameplay, the class really is the full package. So now I'm curious: How did you come to play a death knight? What keeps you playing?
Learn the ropes of endgame play with WoW Insider's DK 101 guide. Make yourself invaluable to your raid group with Mind Freeze and other interrupts, gear up with pre-heroic DPS gear or pre-heroic tank gear, and plot your path to tier 11/valor point DPS gear.Filed under: Death Knight, (Death Knight) Lichborne
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ylspeth Mar 13th 2012 1:31PM
For me, it is a combination of the story and the game play. I like the idea Trigonometry is a former hero who has lost her soul. I found this the idea so inspiring I made my first foray into comics just to tell her tale. :)
As far as what you say about the lawful evil alignment, I suppose that factors into it. Anti-heroes are more interesting than flawless heroes. However, to me the important thing is who the death knight was, who they are now, and who they might be in the future.
How much can you take away from a person and have them remain a person? If you take away too much, does that individual become a person again when enough is returned?
Deep stuff. Probably beyond what most players consider when choosing a class.
I suspect many players look at the whole black armor, skulls, and spikes thing and think the class looks cool. Evil does have a certain sense of fashion. :)
Game play wise, the death knights (especially frost) are very intuitive. Everything just seems to flow for me. I especially like the "cold destructiveness" of Trig's abilities. They are very immersive. I feel like I'm in battle when I play her.
Additionally, I feel like I am constantly doing something. I just can't get into classes where I push a button then wait.
Stella Mar 13th 2012 2:12PM
I play a Death knight because I play a Paladin. I have every possible race/gender combination possible for Paladins. And that's because I love their lore.
I maintain that any one who's into Paladin lore should play a Death knight. It adds a whole new dimension into the flavor of a Paladin.
j0ust Mar 13th 2012 2:22PM
Why I play a deathknight?
Because I wanted to be a Nazgul ever since I saw Ralph Bakshi's animated Lord of the Rings movie.
Also, because as a kid I was fascinated by Darth Vader.
Yeah, I'm weird like that...
Amanda A. Mar 13th 2012 2:23PM
I also had the combination of storyline and gameplay. However, my storyline isn't quite the lawful evil sort-- in fact, just the opposite.
A year and a half ago, I decided I wanted to reroll on an RP server. In order to get gold and other resources for when I would reroll my main, I made a death knight, based on a minor character from a story I was writing. My plan was to level to 80, and then restart the main, with the DK funding her.
What happened was I really, really enjoyed my DK. The playstyle was fun, and he was a compelling character to play. He's a draenei, and he's actively trying to live up to the expectations of his people, find a cure to the Endless Hunger, and find redemption. It's actually a fun thing to play out. So... he ended up as my main.
vegetto375 Mar 13th 2012 2:26PM
I came for the Lich King, I stayed for the Blood. :D
threesixteen Mar 13th 2012 2:28PM
stupid question: if you play an undead DK, does the "Lichborne" talent become redundant and Death Coil basically is an auto-heal?
razion Mar 13th 2012 2:45PM
Forsaken are treated for gameplay purposes as Humanoids, rather than Undead. This is why priests can't use Shackle Undead on Forsaken, and why Rogues can Sap Forsaken and why they can also be Polymorphed, and so on. To directly answer your question, no, it is not redundant. Death Coil will not be a heal for a Forsaken unless you use Lichborne--just like everyone else.
Ilmyrn Mar 13th 2012 2:45PM
No. Story-wise you're undead, yeah (Actually, story-wise, you're undead no matter what race of DK you play), but gameplay-wise you're still a humanoid.
Way back in Beta, undead (Forsaken) players were considered Undead, with all the immunities to CC implied by that. It was as unbalanced as you could get, if a bit more realistic. Of course, they were also uniquely vulnerable to priests and paladins.
Paul Mar 13th 2012 2:46PM
Undead characters are classified as humanoids for balance and pvp purposes so no
derek9849 Mar 13th 2012 2:55PM
@threesixteen Lichbourne and Will of the forsaken are the same spell so just don't put a point in it. if you cast will of the Forsaken and spam death coil on urself yes it will heal yourself.
I play a Death Knight because it has great Lore and is a great all round class. Great single target dps and great aoe damage without having to change specs a plate self healer with resource management. Unlike most classes if you cast something out of rotation it doesn't affect them too much but for a Death Knight it can be devastating. People say you can just face roll with Death Knights but it's so not true to be competitive on the dps meters you really have to know what your doing. The Death Knight has so much to manage it puts some other classes to shame. Runic stones, runic power, diseases, Pet buffs and the pet itself (as it has it's own abilities with PVP in mind). There's no point in a raid when I get bored you always have something to concentrate on. An example is when I'm in an Instance will I use my runic power up now and get a dps boost or shall I save it and boost my pet to Dark transformation for the next pull. I've played all classes at some point and the Death Knight it my favourite.
Been playing a Death Knight since mid Wotlk and still love it!
Bogoradwee Mar 13th 2012 5:42PM
Last I checked (twenty seconds ago) WotF does NOT make you considered undead, and is NOT the same thing as Lichborne. Lichborne has a 10 second duration, while WotF has a zero second duration.
Killik Mar 14th 2012 4:59AM
Lichborne and Will of the Forsaken have the same spell icon. They are not the same spell. See above - Forsaken (and all) Death Knights are classed as Humanoids so that weird conflicts like this don't happen.
Danstewart77 Mar 13th 2012 3:01PM
Because progressing past heroic Yor's was a pain in the ass on my prot pally. :(
I do miss tanking on my pally, but frost dps is a hell of a lot more fun than Ret.
crevan Mar 13th 2012 3:21PM
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/kzj9kc7ktrad2cnq/analyze/hd/source/?s=4771&e=5014
This is the main reason I play a death knight. I created the char to be a frost tank, but the active mitigation model of blood really got me hooked. I like the fact that I rely on myself for survival as much, if not more, than on the healers.
GSTETINA86 Mar 13th 2012 3:25PM
I play a Death Knight for the lore. the story is by far, to me, the greatest story line in the game. having played WC3 when wrath launched i got my main to 80, and rolled a DK, and havent looked back since. I felt like there was a purpose while playing the DK. yeah the other classes could say that to, but it felt more real on the DK. Its almost like walking in Arthas' steps to a degree. Also having to pretty much solo him one time (when the raid went south) was about as epic as the game has ever been for me!
Jyotai Mar 13th 2012 3:54PM
Speed leveling and long expacs have been around long enough now that the concept of a main seems dated.
I have 9 level 85s. 7 of them are geared enough to do DS. 4 of those have done the first boss. 2 have done the first 4, one is further up. One is about to go in for the first time tonight.
Several more toons could be 85s if I felt like it - they're close enough. I expect to hit Pandaria with 11 85s on launch day, all ignored so that my 12th 85 can be a monk.
I'm behind the norm.
So why is my main a druidwarriordeathknightpriest? Cause well... its too easy to level.
Back when Wrath was new, and I showed up for raid night one day with a shiny new DK and said "tonight I'll be tanking on this and not the warrior" people raised eyebrows and wondered how nuts could somebody possibly be to have leveled a second tank, and why when one already worked fine and had a raid spot.
Now?
People might wonder why I only have 6 so far, when its easy to have 8 and still not have any repetition - 4 on each faction, 1 for each class.
So I guess I'm really responding not so much with 'why I play an X' as I am questioning the blogger's having a main.
Why do you still have a main? :)
Zyrend Mar 13th 2012 5:45PM
Personally I have a main because that's the character I use to collect over 100 mounts, over 150 companions, grind out reputations, earn achievements, and do any number of time-consuming tasks that I don't want to do over and over on multiple characters. My main is exactly what the word suggests: the main character I want to play on. It doesn't mean I don't like to play my alts, but for them I only grind out the stuff I really want specifically for them. Otherwise they just serve as a change of pace once in a while, whereas my main is more like my identity within the World of Warcraft, and the character I enjoy playing the most.
ravyncat Mar 13th 2012 4:07PM
The character I played up until level 55 was a Ret. Paladin. She wasn't my first WoW character, but she was the first I learned how to play. I learned that what I really enjoy is melee from her. I also enjoyed the idea of being a holy warrior, but sometimes she just felt too good and pure. So I decided I wanted to make a Death Knight because they seemed like anti-paladins to me.
I also thought they looked cool as hell! I love the glowy blue eyes and the weird voices.
(The pally still exists but is not played much because I hate what they did to ret this expansion.)
Originally I was going to make my DK the undead version of my Paladin, but she started getting her own character on the selection screen and that...personality for lack of a better word...has stayed consistent.
(Though they are both Draenei.)
The DK starting area sealed the deal for me. I loved everything about it. I loved being evil and collecting skulls. I loved the redemption found in the events at Light's Hope Chapel.
I love the gloomy atmosphere of Archerus. I love all the Ebon Blade quests. Hell, I even love their tabard. I just plain love their story.
(Every alt I have gets exalted with them. It is a requirement.)
My DK was my first 80 and then my first 85. She is the only character I have ever seriously raided on. And she is the only character I have never been bored with.
I love the way DKs play. I enjoy all three specs--which is almost unheard of for me.
Frost was my original spec and it is my spec of choice now because I love the furious pace of it. That said I also love Unholy for the super ghoul you can make! I laugh every time. The gargoyle is fun too but not as groovy.
Unfortunately I haven't played Unholy much this expansion because Frost was just so much better. It was the reverse in Wrath!
I rarely tank (because I am bad at it) so I use my Blood spec to solo things and that has its own special appeal for me.
The fun perks like Deathgrip and Army of the Dead make me cackle happily every single time I use them. (To forestall any complaints--I use them responsibly in groups, if I use them at all.) I love Path of Frost--especially since it now cuts fall damage if you jump off of something or are thrown into the air. It is so fun to run across water.
(I love doing this on my shammy too!)
I just can't see a time when my Death Knight wouldn't be my main. I have a lot of love for her and for the class as a whole.
runzwithscissorz Mar 13th 2012 4:42PM
I play my DK right now as my new main. The thing is, I don't think I ever want to roll a new one. Its not because I don't like the class or think leveling is too much work. Its because I only need the one I have. I can re-roll a priest, or a mage, a million times over, all over the place, but to replace my Death Knight for a new level 55, on any other server in the game, is like replacing your old faithful dog that you had to put down. Its not the same when you replace it with a puppy. My Death Knight is the only toon that I have cared enough about to level to 85 and bring into heroics.
The only other class that I feel the same way about is the Warlock, and he's not 85 yet.
Zyrend Mar 13th 2012 5:39PM
When I started playing WoW in vanilla, I had a serious lack of identity within the game. I've always been a fan of melee classes, but the choices I had just didn't speak to me. I flip-flopped between Rogue and Warrior, while dabbling in the other classes here and there. It didn't help that I wasn't that crazy about the races either, except for Gnomes, but my friends played Horde.
When BC hit I found a favorable Horde race in Blood Elves, and while I've always loved Paladin characters from a lore perspective, the BC WoW Paladin just didn't do it for me. So I ended up with a Blood Elf Rogue main. I enjoyed it, but still felt a sense of detachment.
Then along came Wrath, and with it Death Knights. At first I just wanted to try it out to see what it was like, but as soon as I did I knew I was rolling a Death Knight main. Everything from heavy armor, to lifestealing, spells, minions, and the option to dual wield or go 2h, it all resonated with me. It was the first class to "click" with me and I enjoy it more than any other class to this day. I also love the lore of a fallen paladin struggling with finding his own redemption.
My previously-Blood Elf DK is now a Goblin because the one constant I've loved since vanilla was the quirkiness of Engineers, and I don't see myself looking for a new main anytime in the foreseeable future.