Frost Deathknight Gearing Guide

In Season 3 of Dragonflight, we will be able to acquire a new tier set! This can be obtained from raid bosses in Amirdrassil, the Dreams Hope. We will also be able to craft tier pieces with the Creation Catalyst from week 1 of the season. You will want to get this tier set as it is an excellent bonus to your throughput!

Season 3 Tier Set

• 2 Set Bonus: Chill Streak’s range is increased by 4 yds and can bounce off of you. Each time Chill Streak bounces your damage is increased by 4% for 12 sec, stacking up to 5 times.
• 4 Set Bonus: Chill Streak can bounce 2 additional times and each time it bounces, you have a 30% chance to gain a Rune, reduce Chill Streak cooldown by 5 sec, or reduce the cooldown of Empower Rune Weapon by 6 sec.

2 Set Bonus Discussion

This 2 set bonus is what makes Chill Streak a viable and also required single target talent. Before, you would only ever be able to use Chill Streak properly if you had at least more than 1 target within range of your current target for Chill Streak to bounce between them. However with this new tier set bonus, it can bounce off of you making it usable for single target encounters. It also provides a solid damage bonus which stacks up to 5 times for a total of 20% additional damage for 12 seconds on the final bounce. The increased range is also a very welcome buff to Chill Streak itself, before it was quite a small bounce radius which made slight mob movements a big damage loss for this talent, so the extra range also helps a lot.

As our tier set completely revolves around Chill Streak, you will want to talent into it in all scenarios while using this tier set in Season 3.

4 Set Bonus Discussion

The big win for Breath of Sindragosa here is with this 4 set bonus. The main reason why is because it reduces the cooldown of Empower Rune Weapon, as well as giving you Runes. While it is only a 10% for Empower Rune Weapon cooldown reduction to proc per bounce, it happens often enough to have an effect on your rotation and overall Runic Power gain to help in sustaining Breath of Sindragosa. Each of the individual effects have a 10% chance to proc with each bounce, but we ideally want Runes and Empower Rune Weapon cooldown reduction.

However, this 4 set is quite volatile and is subject to some very heavy RNG at times, which can make it unreliable to plan/play around. The best way to play with this 4 set is to use Chill Streak off cooldown, and then adapt to whatever your current remaining cooldown on Empower Rune Weapon is. This makes planning your cooldowns even more tricky and less deterministic than they already were. It’s also fairly likely that you will get at least one or two Runes from a Chill Streak cast, so it can also come in clutch when you are getting unlucky with Runic Empowerment procs.

For Obliteration this set bonus is mostly good for the additional Runes during Obliteration windows, but the cooldown reduction on Empower Rune Weapon is also welcome. Chill Streak itself also does a decent amount of damage now, so additional cooldown reduction on Chill Streak is also a decent proc for Obliteration as you are much less hampered by not getting Empower Rune Weapon cdr procs compared to Breath of Sindragosa. Basically, any proc is good for Obliteration!

Which bosses drop tier pieces?

• Piercing Gaze of the Risen Nightmare: from Tindral Sageswift, Seer of the Flame
• Skewers of the Risen Nightmare: from Smolderon
• Casket of the Risen Nightmare: from Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle
• Thorns of the Risen Nightmare: from Igira the Cruel
• Greaves of the Risen Nightmare: from Larodar, Keeper of the Flame

Optimal Gear (Best in Slot)

The tables below aim to give you a general list of gear that is good for Frost Death Knight, these lists are not a perfect replacement for simming your character.

Frost Death Knight Raid Best in Slot List

These lists will provide the Best in Slot gear for a raid environment, using gear from both Mythic+ and the raid itself, including both Breath of Sindragosa and Obliteration builds.

Breath of Sindragosa Raid Best in Slot

Obliteration Raid Best in Slot

Frost Death Knight Mythic+ Best in Slot List

This list will provide the Best in Slot gear for doing M+ keys focusing on damage output.

Obliteration M+ Best in Slot List

Notable Items

Fyr’alath the Dreamrender - Death Knights this season have a legendary weapon which they can obtain from the new raid, Amirdrassil the Dreams Hope. This is a random drop from Fyrakk the Blazing, with a bad luck protection system built in for each time the weapon does not drop, so you will eventually get it! This is an insanely powerful weapon and the best 2H in the game. Not only is it the highest item level, but it also has an on use ability and passive damage effect (without losing any secondary stats for it, which is really big!). Bare in mind however, that 2H Breath of Sindragosa isn’t very viable, and this weapon is only strong for the Obliteration builds. The on use is a channeled ability and you cannot do anything else while this ability is channeling. You will want to use this before you use your Pillar of Frost as the ability does not affect the throughput of your other cooldowns so you don’t want to use it during your Obliteration window. The weapon ability also has a 2 minute cooldown, so it will naturally not align with your other abilities as long as you use it on cooldown.

Cataclysmic Signet Brand - This trinket is one of the best trinkets for single target from Smolderon in the new raid Amirdrassil, the Dreams Hope. This is a trinket that scales up in damage throughout an encounter, so for very short encounters you may not see it’s full potential (I only recommend using this trinket in raids or very high tyrannical mythic plus keys). Also, due to how much Crit we are using as Frost, this trinket can also crit so it’s also going to gain a lot of damage from that too.

Pip’s Emerald Friendship Badge - Frost this late into an expansion scales exceptionally well with secondary stats, even when they are hitting diminishing returns. This trinket buffs you with a steady flow of secondary stats throughout an encounter, which plays well into Breath of Sindragosa (which is less burst oriented, and more of a sustained damage profile) and Obliteration (due to the high frequency of Obliteration windows).

Accelerating Sandglass - This is a strong trinket that gives you consistent haste throughout a boss encounter. Haste is an important stat because it increases the proc rate of Rune of Hysteria, which will then result in more Breath of Sindragosa uptime. This is not as good as Pip’s Emerald Friendship Badge but it’s still a solid alternative.

Porcelain Crab - This trinket is another strong passive stat proc, similar to Accelerating Sandglass except this scales better in AoE/Cleave scenarios. In AoE encounters you will want to replace your Cataclysmic Signet Brand with this trinket and use it alongside Pip’s Emerald Friendship Badge. Frost values secondary stats very heavily, so trinkets like this are very strong for it, especially because Breath of Sindragosa is a consistent and sustained damage profile, so rng procs play well into it.

Mirror of Fractured Tomorrows - This is a strong 3 minute on use trinket for Frost in burst scenarios. This won’t be as good as Pip’s Emerald Friendship Badge and Cataclysmic Signet Brand in raids. However, Cataclysmic Signet Brand is not very good in short boss encounters due to the way in which it does damage, it takes time to ramp up. So, if you are doing very fast boss kills, you can replace Cataclysmic Signet Brand with Mirror of Fractured Tomorrows and have an absurd opener during Bloodlust.

Crafted Embellishment Gear

Allied Wristguard of Companionship - This embellishment is one of your best in this season. Since the nerfs to other embellishments in Season 3, the stat gain embellishments gain a lot more value and will be the best options, simply because of the increased value of secondary stats this late into the expansion, as well as the nerfs to Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch.

Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl with Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch - This embellishment is a decent option for your second best Embellishment in conjunction with Allied Wristguard of Companionship early on, until you are able to get at least 6+ gems, then you can use Elemental Lariat instead. It mainly shines in single target, and doesn’t scale particularly well in AoE scenarios, so I would recommend using a different embellishment such as Signet of Titanic Insight with Blue Silken Linen or Elemental Lariat.

Elemental Lariat - Similarly to Season 2, Lariat is a solid option once you have at least 6+ sockets in your gear. Generally I don’t recommend using this embellishment early on in the season as you won’t be able to get the max benefit out of it. Once you have acquired enough sockets however, then this can be used over Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl with Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch for single target encounters. In AoE this can replace your Signet of Titanic Insight or Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl (with Blue Silken Linen).

DISCLAIMER: The next embellishments are currently simming very well, however they are quite inconsistent when you are taking frequent damage throughout a boss encounter. While these embellishments do give you the best damage gain when you have high uptime on the buff, the reality is that your uptime is going to greatly depend on the scenario you are in. If you are frequently dipping below 90% health, then these embellishments won’t be that worthwhile and you are better off using the more consistent options above.

Signet of Titanic Insight or Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl (with Blue Silken Linen) - This embellishment provides a lot of Mastery while you are above 90% health which can be very strong for Frost (due to the increased Frost damage from Mastery: Frozen Heart). Currently these embellishments are giving the most total throughput, however they can be quite inconsistent if you are frequently taking damage (which is typical during progression) so I generally don’t recommend using Blue Silken Linen until you are comfortable with the content you are doing, and can maintain at least 40% uptime throughout an encounter (most importantly during your cooldown windows).