Death Knight Updated for Wrathgate

Death Knights have had a good introduction since they were released in the Death Knight Deluxe Starter. With the release of Icecrown in a few days, DKs will gain even more power on the competitive playing field. Not a tournament player? neither am I! here is a nice DK I am building that combines power, utility and will be good for raids or PVP.

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Type Qty Krog the Deathfist Hero 1 Anti-Magic Shell Ability 3 Hysteria Ability 3 Lesson of the Grave Ability 3 Pestilence Ability 3 Mind Freeze Ability 3 Vanessa Fairgraves Ally 4 Grogmar Deathgore Ally 4 Hanthal Lightward Ally 4 Swift Timber Wolf Ally 4 Rukdara Dreadhand Ally 4 Silent Crusader Equipment 3 Colossal Skull-Clad Cleaver Equipment 3 Breastplate of Undeath Equipment 3 Blade of the Empty Void Equipment 3 Split Greathammer Equipment 2 Brothers in Death Quest 4 The Overseer's Shadow Quest 4 Conversing with the Depths Quest 4 No One to Save You Quest 4
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I've been disappointed with my death knight builds- until now. Death Knights can be a bit pricey because the core cards are found in the deluxe starter. This deck features an ally rush combined with a mix of powerful abilities and meaningful equipment. Let's have a look. I haven't built an alliance equivalent, but I am sure allies and the hero can be swapped out easy. I prefer to play red Death Knight.

Krog the Deathfist is handy in PVP situations, but isn't really helpful in raid situations. Anti-Magic Shell is an all around great card for preventing non melee damage. Be sure to use it against the greatest value of non melee damage, though. Some bosses in Naxxramas spurt out shadow damage- and this card is the perfect answer to that problem, as long as it isn't destroyed first. Hysteria is a card I had to improvise on- only because I wanted to play corpse explosion, but I couldn't because Krog was Blood spec. Instead, I put in Hysteria, which coincidentally enough is a very good card. This card allows you to put 1 damage on a hero or ally you control in exchange for assault 4. This will increase your DPS and allow your hero to attack sometimes. With a proper combination, you can swing with a weapon and add assault to that attack. If you are far into the game, try stacking Hysteria. Lesson of the Grave is a new card from Wrathgate that allows you to exhaust a non-hero DK you control rather than pay the cost of the card. Lesson of the Grave allows you to pull an ally from a graveyard and rez it as a ghoul! Remember though, the raid rules state that you cannot pull an ally out of a boss's graveyard. Ask your buddies for a sacrifice. Pestilence is a well known ability inside the actual MMO, and it will be annoying for any opponent to deal with it.

Mind Freeze is almost a staple in Death Knight decks- giving DKs an interrupt plus exhausting their opponent's resource row. You can also play Arcane Torrent to take advantage of the Blood Elf race. Vanessa Fairgraves is also a staple ally card for red DKs; when she dies, she comes back as a ghoul! Oh my, more ghouls. I'm not even going to comment about the awesome new DK card coming out in Icecrown that deals with ghoul production. Grogmar Deathgore is in there as a cheap ally, but you can use his effect if you have a weapon equipped. Also, if you use The Betrayer of Humanity in your deck, he is a good sacrifice for it. Hanthal Lightward is in there to protect against enemies with Assault, and he is very useful in raids. Swift Timber Wolf is a mount card put in this deck to accent the hero's race and to take advantage of what the card has to offer: extra Assault for your hero! Rukdara Dreadhand barely made the cut in this deck, but you can use her effect well if you need a quick wipe of the opponent's field in combination with pestilence.


Silent Crusader is a nasty little surprise included in Wrathgate. This card is going to upset rush strategies and any boss. Colossal Skull-Clad Cleaver is a VERY nice weapon if you can keep combining it with cards like Rukdara and Pestilence. Breastplate of Undeath was thrown in there as a last minute card to give the DK some armor. Blade of the Empty Void is a great generic DK weapon with benefits- include it in a tanking DK deck. Trust me, it can come in handy. Split Greathammer is also a very nice card that I threw in at the last minute. Looking at the quest set, these cards accent my DK really well, and the rewards speak for themselves. If you really wanted to power up this deck, you can replace some allies with orc allies and run the location Orgrimmar.

I am sure people will have a few complaints about that deck- and I'm sure I will too; this is what testing is for.The deck costs $43.00 through TCG Player and $47 through CoolstuffInc. Give it a try! This is a derivative of my old DK deck, and it seems a lot more powerful. Testing will tell...