Since you can’t run a pug these days without getting 100 tells from Death Knights, I’ve compiled a set of questions to tell apart the good ones from the ones who shouldn’t get an invite. I have made this guide because I know that many leaders are frustrated over how inflated the Death Knight class is with bad players, but can’t weed out the good ones because of a lack of knowledge of the class.

Point values are denoted in [brackets]. If the question returns true, then points are added. If false, there is no point change (Hence, higher scores are worse).

First: Things that can be decided by armory:

TALENTS
[5] Does the player have more than 60 points in any one tree?
[2] Does the player have any of the following talents for a PvE DPS build (Subtract point value for every talent included)? (Scent of Blood, Vendetta, Blade Barrier, Bloodworms, Icy Reach, Toughness, Chilblains, Unholy Command, Outbreak, Improved Rune Tap*)
[2] Does the player have any of the following talents for a tanking build (Add two for every talent included)? (Vendetta, Bloodworms, Chilblains)
*EXCEPTION: 21/50/0 build or close variant
[5] Is the player blood without at least 1/2 ilvl 213 epics?

GEAR/GEMS
[1] Gems should never include (for PvE DPS) blue stamina gems, ArP gems, haste gems, agility gems, resilience gems, spell penetration gems, any spell caster gems, etc. Rack a point for each inappropriate gem.
[Dear Lord, why are you still thinking about inviting him?] Does the player have spell power gear?
[5] Is the player gemming for things other than hit when they are not at the hit cap (8%)? Hybrid gems are fine if they have hit (purple gems don’t count against the DK), but if a person is using, for example, crit rating gems instead of hit rating gems, rack up 5 points. Expertise is also important for strike-heavy builds like blood, but not as important for unholy. The expertise cap is 26.
[3] Does the player have an appropriate enchant? It’s Swordshattering or Stoneskin Gargoyle for tanks, and ONLY Fallen Crusader for DPS. Cinderglacier or Razorice? Rack up points. (EXCEPTION: Dual Wielding DKs should have Fallen Crusader in their MH, but it is disputed at the moment whether Cinderglacier or Fallen Crusader is better for the offhand. It is clear, however, that Razorice is best for the OH if you’re running with FFB mages or frost DKs).
[5] Is your tank DWing? Dual Wielding facilitates parry hasting on bosses, and it a very poor choice.PLAYING (General)
[2] Does your DK DPS not use Death Grip to do things such as bringing a caster into a tank’s AOE, or geting a mob off of the healer/ranged?
[4] Is your DK DPS not using Strangulate/Mind Freeze to assist in interrupting spell casts?
[3] Does your DK tank not regularly use cooldowns such as Icebound Fortitude and/or Vampiric Blood?
[5] Does your DK DPS open up with Death and Decay on a single target?
[5] Does your DK DPS or Tank know how to Raise Dead/Death Pact in a pinch?
[5] Does your DK not use diseases? (51/0/20 diseaseless spec exempt)

And now, for some things that cannot be determined by Armory:

PLAYING (Blood)
[3] Does he use DRW at <100 RP?
[3] Does he not use Mark of Blood at strategic moments?PLAYING (Frost)
[3] Does your frost DK use Howling Blast without frost fever on the target?
[4] Does he use HB even when there are CC’d targets in the area?
[3] When AoEing, does he HB without using pestilence first?
[2] Does he not realize that Obliterate is best for single target unless Killing Machine is up?

PLAYING (Unholy)
[5] Does your Unholy DK use Obliterate?
[5] Does your Unholy DK not have Unholy Aura? If he does not, ask him why. If he thinks it is a bad talent, rack up 5 points. It is fine if he does not have it because his guild has another regular raiding UH death knight with Unholy Aura
[5] Is Gnaw on auto-cast?
[3] Does he not know how to use his ghoul well, getting him to the focused targets and not leaving him attacking something random?
[4] Does he break CC with Unholy Blight?
[3] Does his Gargoyle go away prematurely?

As a general rule, if a DK is scoring 15+ points, you’re better off waiting for better to come along. Hopefully someone will find this of some use. Point values may need some tweaking to be more realistic.

by Dankone

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Tags: death-knight, grading-scale, group, world-of-warcraft, wotlk, wow, wow-guide