Sigils and Where to Upgrade Them

Sigils are for Death Knights what Librams are for Paladins or Totems are for Shaman: This is our Relic-slot item. It gives us a class-specific, Trinket-like Equip bonus, such as an attack power buff toward or after using a certain ability. When you complete the quest "Into the Realm of Shadows" below Acherus, you'll get your first one, the [Sigil of the Dark Rider], alongside your Deathcharger spell. This will do you great through Outland and through the first part of Northrend, until the first upgrade becomes available at level 74. Let's take a look at the Sigil upgrades we have to choose from:

• At level 74, get your undead rear over to Grizzly Hills and the Venture Bay PvP area. For a mere 30 Venture Coins, obtainable in a half-hour of questing at worst unless your server has some crazy hard-on for Venture Bay, you have a choice of three shiny new Sigils: The [Sigil of the Frozen Conscience] (unsurprisingly my favorite!), the [Sigil of Arthritic Binding], and the [Sigil of the Wild Buck]. Frozen Conscience, as you can guess from the name, is great for Frost with a buff to Icy Touch. Arthritic Binding is good for Unholy, as it buffs Scourge Strike. Wild Buck seems intended for Blood just by process of elimination, but as it buffs Death Coil (Blood's only real good Runic Power dump) it would be fine for Unholy as well.


• At level 80 you'll primarily hit up the Emblem vendors for your Sigil upgrades. 15 Emblems of Heroism will get you the [Sigil of the Unfaltering Knight] for tanking or the [Sigil of Haunted Dreams] for DPS, 25 Emblems of Valor will get you the [Sigil of Awareness] for DPS, and 19 Emblems of Conquest will get you the [Sigil of Deflection] for tanking or the [Sigil of the Vengeful Heart] for DPS.


• I'm not going to go into detail on those at this point, though, because Emblems of Triumph have become the common currency. For 25 of them you can get the [Sigil of Insolence], an upgraded version of Deflection which lets your Rune Strikes proc more delicious Rune Strikes. DPSers can get the [Sigil of Virulence], which gives a Strength proc to bread-and-butter DPS abilities from every spec. Both are excellent for their intended uses, and with the new cross-realm LFG system raining Emblems on our heads any serious Death Knight who's been level 80 for more than a week should absolutely have the one for their preferred role.


• There are also two Sigils available for 30 Emblems of Frost each, the [Sigil of the Bone Gryphon] for tanking and the [Sigil of the Hanged Man] for DPS. However, as they have a stacking buff rather than a flat buff and even at full stacks they do not have a significantly better buff that the Triumph Sigils (+30 Dodge over Deflection, +19 Strength over Virulence) you may want to just keep those Emblems of Frost tucked away for T10 instead unless they get a buff at a later date. They aren't bad, but they're still not a significant upgrade. Note that the uptime for Hanged Man will generally be better than Bone Gryphon, and it will be better for Frost or Unholy than it will for Blood due to the frequency of the trigger ability in your respective rotation. It is worth noting that they are the first Sigils to use a different tooltip graphic.


• I'm not an expert on Death Knight PvP, so I'll just touch on the PvP Sigils, all available with Honor and/or Arena Points: The [Deadly Gladiator's Sigil of Strife] is currently 15,300 Honor, the [Furious Gladiator's Sigil of Strife] is 6,400 Honor and 350 Arena Points, and the [Relentless Gladiator's Sigil of Strife] is 1,150 Arena Points. All are held in rather poor regard, so Death Knights interested in PvP should probably just get one of the PvE DPS Sigils listed above.

So don't forget to upgrade your Sigil while upgrading the rest of your gear. There are excellent buffs to be had from them!

It's Just The Gear You Want, Part 2

In yesterday's post I went over the drops from the normal version of the new Frozen Halls instances that Death Knights will want to look out for. Today we'll discuss the Heroic drops. Now, in Heroic mode the Frozen Halls are nothing to sneeze at, so you will have to work for that iLevel 232 gear, especially from the Pit of Saron or Halls of Reflection. So put on your srs face and keep your fingers crossed for these:

Heroic Mode:

• The Heroic Godfather of Souls has the [Weeping Gauntlets] for DPS Knights, with Crit and Haste. In general, you'll see more Haste on the DPS drops on Heroic, not the Best Stat Ever for DKs but good for those Killing Machine procs. He also drops [Nighttime], an excellent one-handed axe with Haste and Armor Pen. I have a friend who's already dual-wielding them.


• The Devourer of Souls here drops some good solid tanking boots, the [Black Spire Sabatons], as well as the Crit/Haste [Pauldrons of the Devourer]. It also drops the painful-sounding [Needle-Encrusted Scorpion], but with a huge base Crit bonus and an Armor Pen proc, expect to have to fight all the other DPS for it.


• Forgemaster Garfrost loves the DW Frost types on Heroic, with the [Shoulderplates of Frozen Blood]'s Expertise for tanks and [Malykriss Vambraces]' Crit-and-Hit for DPS. He also drops the [Barbed Ymirheim Choker], but it's another general-DPS item that's better suited to an Agility-based class.


• There's only one thing worth looking for from Ick, but it's a doozy: [Ick's Rotting Thumb], an excellent tanking trinket with Dodge and an HP on-use effect. Mmm.


• Scourgelord Tyrannus still isn't giving up his T10, but he does give up two excellent tanking drops: the [Icebound Bronze Cuirass] and a good solid tanking one-hander, [Rimefang's Claw]. For DPS, the [Tyrannical Beheader] has excellent stats for Blood, and the [Frost Wyrm Ribcage] is another Crit/Haste armor item. The [Band of Stained Souls] is another solid but, for a DK, unremarkable general DPS ring.


• This time through it's Falric who drops nothing of note for DKs of any spec, though if you really, really need an upgrade you can ignore the Shield Block on [Falric's Wrist-Chopper]. His bestest friend Marwyn drops the [Orca-Hunter's Harpoon], and while the enchant effect on it will stop traffic in Dalaran, the Agility makes it more of a Hunter/Druid weapon. Still, if you Need Upgrades Badly, you could do worse for two-handers.


• Once they're back on safe ground (and I'm still not going to spoil it!) tanks can look forward to the [Fossilized Ammonite Choker], with all the usual tanking stats. There's also the [Second Helm of the Executioner] for tanks, but again, it has Shield Block. DPSers have a better chance of a useful drop from there, with [The Lady's Promise], and excellent plate DPS ring, the [Grinning Skull Boots], with a solid Crit/Armor Pen combo perfect for Unholy, and the [Black Icicle], a one-handed mace with Crit/Hit. I'm personally hoping for a second of that last one.

So there you are. While you're at it, you'll be racking up [Emblems of Triumph] that you can spend on other upgrades you might need including T9 pieces, as well as some [Emblems of Frost] you can start saving for the new Sigils and maybe even some T10.

Later this week I'll be back with a look at the story of the Frozen Halls (with spoilers!) and how it ties in with the themes and origins of the Death Knights.

It's Just The Gear You Want, Part 1

It's been about a week since patch 3.3 dropped, and by now I'm sure all the level 80s out there are well aware that what truly lies inside the Frozen Halls is delicious, delicious lewts. Bosses in Normal mode drop iLevel 219 epics, with a jump to 232 in Heroic mode, making this an excellent place for casuals or players who just plain haven't been lucky with drops to do some make-up work. Here's a breakdown of what my Ebon Blade brethren will want to roll Need on:

Normal Mode:

• Tanks will want to be on the lookout for the ridiculously oversized [Lucky Old Sun] from Bronjahm, the Godfather of Souls in the first part of the instance chain, the Forge of Souls. He also drops the [Minister's Number One Legplates], with the delicious Hit and Crit that Frosty DPSers need. And be sure to turn up his music while you're there.


• The next stop is the Devourer of Souls, who drops the [Legplates of Frozen Granite] for tanks with great Hit for DWers and the [Lost Reliquary Chestguard] with more of that Hit-and-Crit perfect for Frost DPS. He also drops the [Sollerets of Suffering], but the Shield Block makes it less than ideal for DKs, and the [Accursed Crawling Cape], which is fine as a general DPS cloak but the Agility makes it better for non-Strength-based classes.


• Also keep an eye out for the [Plated Grips of Korth'azz], which are a BoP trash drop. You may also encounter the [Titanium Links of Lore], but again, the Shield Block makes it less than perfect.


• Going through the portal to the Pit of Saron, we find Forgemaster Garfrost, who drops [Garfrost's Two-Ton Hammer] for those of a two-hander inclination. He also drops the [Ring of Carnelian and Bone], but again, it's more of a general DPS item than a plate-specific one. Hold out for...


• ...The next boss, Ick, who has an actual plate DPS ring, the [Purloined Wedding Ring]. He also drops the [Bent Gold Belt] for DPS types. Both of these have Crit and Haste, which is not bad at all for Frost DPS.


• At the end of this instance we get to our brother in Death Knighthood, Scourgelord Tyrannus. Sadly, he's a bastard and won't drop the T10 he's wearing. What he does drop is the [Scourgelord's Frigid Chestplate], which is interesting for a tanking piece as it doesn't actually have any Defense on it. It does have Expertise on it, great for a DW tank, so if you can spare the Defense or make it up elsewhere (maybe the new Rune of the Nerubian Carapace?) this is excellent. He also drops the [Painfully Sharp Choker] for plate DPS, with Armor Pen that's especially good for Blood and Unholy types.


• I'm not going to spoil the Halls of Reflection for you, but the first boss you'll fight will be Falric. The only thing of interest from him is the one-handed sword [Ghoulslicer]. His fellow captain Marwyn drops nothing of interest to DKs on Normal.


• At the end of the instance (which I will not spoil!) you have a chance for [Mourning Malice], an amazing-looking two-handed sword with Crit and Expertise, or the [Hate-Forged Cleaver] for DWers. The [Tapestry of the Frozen Throne] is an excellent plate DPS cloak, with Crit/Hit. The [Crystalline Citadel Gauntlets] also drop at the end, but note the Shield Block.


• Also keep an eye out for the [Eerie Runeblade Polisher], another BoP trash drop, and a perfect cloak for DK tanks to use to, uh, polish their runeblades.

Tomorrow I'll be back with a run-down of all the loot you can't live without from the Heroic version of these dungeons, and later in the week I'll get into some of the lore of the place. Stay tuned!

Welcome to Chill of the Grave!

I know, there are already so many WoW blogs out there, why start another one? Well, for one thing, because my boyfriend was getting tired of me keeping him up all night debating to myself the relative merits of Glyph of Death and Decay and Glyph of Obliterate. I'm a writer deep down in my bones, and a chatty one too, so this is largely a place for me to talk about things.

It's also a place to provide information for people who want to actually learn to play this class, though I'm more interested in debate than simply saying "This is how you have to do things or you fail". While there are definitely things you have to follow, there's plenty that is open to your own personal playstyle, and I believe all valid ways of playing the game are, well, valid. I prefer debating the advantages and disadvantages of one thing vs another to outright declaring that one is the only way to do things. I personally prefer to play as DW Frost, both in my Tanking and DPS roles, and that's the view I'm going to bring to this blog, but I don't think other specs are wrong. In fact, if this blog catches on, I'll look into getting Blood and Unholy columnists, too. I'm planning to approach things more in the fashion of sites like Mania's Arcania than Elitist Jerks. So expect that to be the attitude of the blog going forward: Informing and discussing decisions, not making them for you.

I'm also planning to do something most class sites don't: Discuss the lore of the class. I'm a creative type and an RPer at heart, and part of what made me so certain I would love playing a Death Knight from the start is the compelling lore around which the class is based. Expect to see discussions of lore and write-ups/reviews of things like the Death Knight manga in between posts about PvE mechanics and tanking.

And just who am I? My main is Dariahn of Thorium Brotherhood, Forsaken Death Knight of the RP guild Hand of the Blightcaller. I don't do much in the way of progression at the moment because of time limitations, but I do weekly 10-mans, roflstomp Heroics, and stay abreast of everything going on with the class. I was raid-tanking in Burning Crusade as a Forsaken Prot warrior, and I knew from the announcement of the Death Knight class that the combination of tanking capability and Forsaken-esque lore was going to make me love them. Since before I could roll one I was determined to learn to play the class well, and I like to think I've done a pretty good job of it.

So check back every so often! I hope to update at least once a week, ideally more, with assorted thoughts and opinions on WoW's most misunderstood class, and always feel free to comment!