Death Knights are formidable warriors of death, capable of delivering strong and competitive dps in a raid environment, while also being some of the most durable tanks with great self-sustain. Being a hero class, Death Knights can choose pretty much any race available, with the exception of the newly-introduced Dracthyr.
As such, Death Knights have a lot of options available to them. Whether your focus will be PvP and challenging the highest echelons of the Arena, or tackling some of the hardest Mythic raid bosses, you’ll always have a strong race that will fit your criteria.
Today we’ll discuss some of the WoW best races for Death Knights, and explain why you should strongly consider them for your own Death Knight character.
If your main focus is PvE and you don’t really see yourself sinking countless hours into practicing PvP, then picking a race for your Death Knight will be a lot simpler. What you really want in this case is a race that can grant the most dps possible, while also providing some much-needed mobility, given how slow Death Knights are. This will help you dodge key boss mechanics while doing some of the hardest raids in WoW.
For a PvE Death Knight playing on the Alliance side, Worgen will be a top-tier choice. Not only do Worgens look incredible in all types of armor, especially plate, but they bring some incredibly useful utility with the Darkflight racial trait. This will allow you to gain a massive speed boost every two minutes, which can make a big difference in difficult encounters. They also have a passive crit chance boost, which is always helpful in all scenarios.
Horde Death Knights will almost always go for Orcs as their main Death Knight race. Orcs have three great racial perks, all of which synergize greatly with the Death Knight class.
Hardiness passively reduces stun duration, which can be helpful during certain mechanics in WoW Mythic+ dungeons. Blood Fury is an excellent cooldown that boosts your attack power, and can be used in conjunction with your other procs and trinkets to truly pump insane dps when you really need it.
Lastly, the Command trait increases the damage of your pets, which applies to your Unholy DK spec and bumps the damage of your ghoul and gargoyle.
When it comes to PvP, priorities change a bit. Instead of focusing on raw damage output, players usually prefer more defense and crowd control. Luckily, both factions have some great choices for WoW PvP players looking to main Death Knights.
The Alliance top pick for Death Knights will almost always go to Humans due to their insanely powerful Will to Survive racial ability. This gives Human Death Knights a free PvP trinket, allowing them to swap in a second PvE dps trinket that will greatly increase their overall pressure in the arena.
Alternatively, you can choose Dwarves for their Stoneform, which will remove all magic, bleed, disease, curse and poison effects, while also reducing damage taken. This racial ability can completely counter certain classes, making it an extremely strong pick in this case.
@ Blizzard
Orc will always be a top pick for almost any class when it comes to PvP, but in order to spice things up, we’ll be picking Trolls instead.
Trolls are an interesting choice for several reasons. First, they look incredibly unique, making your Death Knight stand out. But more importantly, they have some cool abilities that will help you in PvP.
Da Voodoo Shuffle passively reduces the duration of movement impairing effects. Given how slow Death Knights are inherently, this passive ability helps them stay on top of their target, especially if they are constantly getting slowed. Regeneration bumps their health regeneration rate, allowing them to passively gain hp in prolonged battles.
Finally, you can add Troll’s Berserking ability into your burst macro and enjoy a massive haste boost for a short duration. Your entire undead army will also benefit from this haste proc.
While the aforementioned races will work best in both PvE and PvP, you still have an option to explore all the other races.
Perhaps you really like the look of Night Elves and that appeals to you the most, or you frequently farm WoW gold so a Nightborne becomes an easy pick for their free, portable mailbox. All those combinations can work, and you can explore each one and see what works best for you.
Read Next: Best Races for Warriors in World of Warcraft
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