Blood Death Knight Tank Artifact Talents/Traits and Relics (Legion 7.2.5)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 4. Contents
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. Active Mitigation and Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Main Resource
  • 3. Basic Abilities
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. Active Mitigation
  • 6. Defensive Cooldowns
  • 7. Offensive Cooldown
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Tier 1 (Level 56) Talents
  • 3. Tier 2 (Level 57) Talents
  • 4. Tier 3 (Level 58) Talents
  • 5. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 9. ChangeLog
• ×Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression
  • 2. Relic Choice
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Rotation
  • 2. Taunting
  • 3. Survival Cooldowns
  • 4. Optional Read: Mastering Your Blood Death Knight
    • 4.1. Runes and Runic Power
      • 4.1.1. Runes
      • 4.1.2. Runic Power
    • 4.2. Artifact Ability
    • 4.3. Detailed Cooldown Usage
      • 4.3.1. Anti-Magic Shell
      • 4.3.2. Dancing Rune Weapon
      • 4.3.3. Vampiric Blood
      • 4.3.4. Icebound Fortitude
      • 4.3.5. Tier 6 Talents
    • 4.4. Death Strike and Blood Shield
    • 4.5. Bone Shield
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
    • 1.1. Survivability
    • 1.2. DPS-oriented
    • 1.3. Balanced (Recommended)
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Death Knights
      • 1.1.1. Raise Ally
      • 1.1.2. Mind Freeze
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Blood Death Knights
      • 1.2.1. Gorefiend's Grasp
      • 1.2.2. Death Grip
      • 1.2.3. Death and Decay
      • 1.2.4. Blessing of Protection Cancelaura Macro
      • 1.2.5. Gorefiend's Grasp Self-Grip Macro
  • 2. Addons
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Death Knights
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.3. GTFO
      • 2.1.4. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 2.1.5. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.6. Recount / Skada / Details!
      • 2.1.7. Omen Threat Meter
      • 2.1.8. Grid and GridClickSets (Optional)
      • 2.1.9. Compact Runes
    • 2.2. Specific Addons for Blood Death Knights
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Best in Slot List
  • 2. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 3. Legendary Items
  • 4. Loot Competition
  • 5. ChangeLog

General Information

This page shows you how to level up the Artifact and how to choose the right Relics for your Blood Death Knights. It is updated for World of Warcraft Legion 7.2.5.

The other pages of our Blood Death Knight guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Reviewer

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Volstatsz, a Blood Death Knight theorycrafter and moderator for the Acherus Death Knight community. You can follow him on Twitter.

1. Artifact Progression

For the first 35 Artifact points, we currently recommend the following path, which along the way will pick up important survivability traits (such as Rattling Bones and Vampiric Fangs as quickly as possible.

1. Consumption
2. Sanguinary Affinity
3. Vampiric Fangs
4. Rattling Bones
5. Bonebreaker
6. All-Consuming Rot
7. Unending Thirst
8. Iron Heart
9. Veinrender
10. Umbilicus Eternus
11. Mouth of Hell
12. Grim Perseverance
13. Skeletal Shattering
14. Blood Feast
15. Dance of Darkness
16. Meat Shield
17. Coagulopathy
18. The Hungering Maw

The order of Mouth of Hell and Grim Perseverance+ Skeletal Shattering is up to personal preference. Mouth of Hell is a quality of life improvement for the pull rotation (with Dancing Rune Weapon active, one Marrowrend will give you a full set of 9-10 stacks of Bone Shield, leaving 4 runes to build Runic Power). It also makes Dancing Rune Weapon a meaningful DPS cooldown, but choosing Mouth of Hell delays reaching all 3 golden traits, slightly.

After the first 35 points have been placed, we recommend the following order.

1. Fortitude of the Ebon Blade
2. Carrion Feast
3. Vampiric Aura
4. Souldrinker
5. Vampiric Fangs
6. Veinrender
7. Dance of Darkness
8. Bonebreaker, All-Consuming Rot, Meat Shield, Iron Heart, Grim Perseverance, and Coagulopathy, in any order
9. Concordance of the Legionfall

2. Relic Choice

When choosing which Relics to use, always take the one that grants you the highest item level, regardless of the benefit it offers. When having to choose between Relics that grant the same item level, prioritize those that improve Carrion Feast, Veinrender, or Dance of Darkness.

3. ChangeLog

• 12 Jun. 2017: Updated relic recommendation.
• 23 May 2017: Updated relic recommendation.
• 28 Mar. 2017: Updated Relic recommendations.
• 27 Mar. 2017: Added path for the Artifact traits added in Patch 7.2.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Made a change in Relic recommendation for AoE situations.
• 04 Oct. 2016: Slightly redesigned the Artifact path, removed one of the two alternative paths, and updated Relic recommendations.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Added.