With the release of the WoTLK in mid November 2008, a new class, The Death Knight, was introduced. The Death Knights are WoW’s first Hero Class. What this ‘Hero Class’ exactly means is unknown because they have not proven to be very different then other classes except for the facts that you need to have a level 55 or higher level character to create a Death Knight, that the Death Knight will start as a level 55 upon being created and that the Death Knight uses Runic Power to be able to use his abilities.
You are liable to enter the game as level 55 characters when you create a Death Knight, which is loyal to the Lich King, Arthas. You can start off fully armed with green gear and 4, 12 slot bags and 20 silver in Acherus – The Ebon Hold, which occurs in the Eastern Plaguelands. As soon as you start asking questions near the Ebon Hold, you will be honored with the blue item and talent points. Thus up on reaching the level 57 or so, you are given the regular amount of talent points along with full blue gear for that level.
I will not take away the fun by explaining the quest chain but I can tell you that the quest chain is cool and rewarding. You can reach level 58 in just an hour or two by doing the quests around The Ebon Hold so even if you do not intend to play a Death Knight it is nice to at least pick up some cool lore. Once you hit 58 you are able to go to the Outlands though and you know that the leveling there isn’t time-consuming, so who knows; even if you didn’t plan to play a Death Knight, you might still get stuck playing one because it is a cool class.
A Death Knight is a melee class that can wear most of the melee weapons. One can equip two one-handed weapons or choose for one two-handed weapon. He can serve as a melee damage dealer or as a tank. A Death Knight however, cannot equip a Shield. They are able to wear plate armor and are able to get a very high parry chance.
As mentioned earlier, Death Knight is a melee fighter, since he uses Runic Power for his peculiar abilities. With the use of certain abilities, he can have 6 runes. These runes enable the Death Knight to gain some Runic Power, although they have a cooldown. This Runic Power is useful for other special abilities that cost merely Runic Power without placing a rune on cooldown.
One of the first quests you will come across is called “The Emblazoned Runeblade”. This quest will give you the ability called Runeforging. This ability can be used to forge a rune on the DK’s weapons.
Frost, Blood, and Unholy are the three talent trees of the Death Knight. Each tree is advantageous in its own way. However, it is up to the player, whether to use the talent tree separately or in combination.
The benefits of a Death Knight are that starting with him at 55 level is very easy to continue the fight with both tank and dps for a long duration. They look not only cool some sort, but also have a Ghoul and Gargoyle pet. The flip side of playing a Death Knight is that the one who wants to play a Death Knight cannot find groups and raids.
