No one could ever accuse me of being focused when it comes to World of Warcraft. The game has tons of distractions and tons of side characters I just can't stop playing. Sure, sometimes I use a side character to do legacy raids after my main character gets locked out (which requires a cosmetic change), but there are just too many appealing classes and specs to choose from and I just can't decide on one. War Within might have changed that.
Hero Talents are Blizzard's latest attempt to add some color to the 10 levels added in the expansion. Rather than simply expanding on each spec's existing talent tree, Blizz has introduced more separate, smaller trees with talents you can actually build your character around. One common feature of these trees is their emphasis on the fantasy of the class. This is never more evident than with the edgelord Death Knight.
(Image courtesy of Blizzard)
Both DK Hero talent trees are intriguing, but from the moment they were revealed, I decided to tether my horse to the Knight of Apocalypse, and the moment I unlocked my first talent, I was hooked. The start of a new expansion is always exciting, but leveling up a character has never felt so fun.
The highlight here is the horse-focused abilities. This is a spec for Horse Girls and Horse Boys. One of the first talents you can choose is “Ride the Pale Steed,” which allows you to mount your Archeus Deathcharger in combat as long as you're outside. Previously, only Paladins got the thrill of summoning a horse in combat, and that was only for a brief period of 3 seconds. But with “Ride the Pale Steed,” you can stay mounted as long as you like, giving you incredible mobility. It looks ridiculously cool to tower over your foes and slice them down with your scythe (or weapon of choice, why not your scythe?).
You can also loot and harvest while riding the Death Charger, eliminating all of the downtime that typically occurs when switching from on foot to riding. The Death Charger is ground-only, but I've never found that to be a huge obstacle. I'd simply fly over to an area with a quest and quickly switch back to my horse until I was ready to leave.
(Image courtesy of Blizzard)
The Deathcharger also got a welcome shine. It's a remarkable transformation, upgrading a now very old model into the sexy Mouthworn Charger, a ghostly horse previously only available in Shadowlands' endless Torghast dungeon. I dropped out of Shadowlands pretty early on and didn't spend much time in dungeons, but now I feel vindicated. To everyone who worked hard on their horses: I respect your dedication, but my laziness has been proven right once again.
On a Pale Horse shares its talent slot with Death Charge, which has a smaller area of effect but is arguably the better choice when you're indoors. It summons a Death Charge for 10 seconds, during which you're immune to movement effects and knockback, and your movement speed is increased by 100%.
Mustering the troops
(Image courtesy of Blizzard)
The cavalry theme continues from start to finish. As soon as you hit level 71, you get “Rider's Champion”, which gives you a chance to summon one NPC Death Knight cavalryman every time you use a rune. Each cavalryman assists you in a different way. Mograine casts a mobile Death and Decay that follows you. Whitemane casts Undeath on a target and gains stacks every time he deals damage. Trollbane slows his target's movement with Chains of Ice and also increases the damage he takes. Nazgrim increases his strength by 3% in Apocalyptic Conquest.
There are other talents within the tree that buff the rider, such as “Rider's Aid”, which gives the rider the ability to cast Anti-Magic Shell on both themselves and their rider, and “Nazgrim's Conquest”, which buffs Apocalyptic Conquest by an additional 3% when an enemy dies, plus 1% for each rune spent.
My companions really make my Unholy DK feel like a battlefield commander. Not just with pets, but with a whole bunch of awesome guys. On top of that, I've added the final talent in the tree, Apocalypse Now, which allows me to summon all four knights at once when I use Army of the Dead/Awaken the Abomination or Wrath of the Frostworm. Combine them with my undead pets and I have a literal army at my disposal.
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Apocalypse Now gives you an incredible 90 second burst of damage. Every 3 minutes, you become an absolute beast. The utility and damage potential is immense, but the fantasy aspect of the class is just as important. I've never felt more like a Death Knight before, and riding away with my comrades after another victory in V-formation is so much fun. I feel fearsome and unstoppable, an undead monstrosity minutes away from firing a WMD, always astride my trusty Death Charger.
Thanks to the quick leveling in Mists of Pandaria Remix, I now have more side characters than I ever have before, a warband that covers every class and pretty much every spec, but I barely think about them at all. Of course, there are quite a few super-interesting hero talent trees that I'd love to dig into at some point, but for now I'm a Knight of the Apocalypse spreading the plague with my awesome BFFs.
