I know many of you are scratching your head right now thinking, “Rune Strike? Isn’t that for tanking?” Well, you can wipe the dead skin cells off your keyboard because I’m about to show you how Rune Strike can be beneficial to a Blood/Unholy Death Knight in PVP. Keep in mind that Frost will never want to use Rune Strike, as your RP is best served cold with a Frost Strike.

I haven’t used Rune Strike since I was leveling, What does it do again???

Well you aren’t alone since not everyone tanks. Rune Strike makes your next auto attack strike the target for 150% weapon damage plus [150 * AP * 10 / 10000]. It is only usable after you dodge or parry, which is actually more often than you would think, and it cannot be dodged, parried, or blocked.

That doesn’t seem so great. . .

Beyond the tooltip there is a hidden buff that people forget about. Rune Strike counts as an auto attack. This means that Necrosis (Rank 5) will add 20% more damage as shadow, and Blood-Caked Blade (Rank 3) has a 30% chance to add 25% weapon damage plus 12.5% for each disease on your target.

Sounds a little better but can we have some numbers?

With both Necrosis and a Blood-Caked Blade proc while having both of my diseases on my target, I have crit for over 12.5K damage on rogues. Keep in mind that this is with improved Blessing of Might, Sigil of Virulence, Rune of the Fallen Crusader, Darkmoon Card: Greatness (Str), and Abomination’s Might (Rank 2) all proccing and up at the same time giving me over 8000AP.

Now 12.5K damage isn’t an average crit for my Rune Strike, however I do crit for 9.5K+ on average with an attack that cannot be dodged, blocked, or parried. This can make the difference in killing a rogue that pops Evasion, a warrior that uses Shield Block, or a hunter that uses Deterrence.

Now since I average 4750 hits and 9500 crits with Rune Strike, this comes out to 237.5 – 475 damage per runic power. With my Death Coil typically hitting and critting for 3500-7000, netting 87.5 – 175 damage per runic power, you can begin to see where the advantage is.

How do I fit Rune Strike into my rotation?

Since Rune Strike needs to be activated, cannot be activated unless it procs, and you must have enough RP, I like to macro it to all of my melee attacks. Here is an example and explanation of one such macro.

#showtooltip Heart Strike
/cast !Rune Strike
/cast Heart Strike
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

This macro will enable Rune Strike if available, cast Heart Strike, and clear screen errors that would show up if Runes Strike is not available. On mouse over it shows the tooltip for Heart Strike, and since there is an ! in front of Rune Strike, it will not disable it if it is already enabled. You can also use this to enable Rune Strike if your target is not within melee range, making your first attack use Rune Strike as soon as you are within range.

When you are fighting a class that can get away from you and your Death Grip is not available, you can still cast Death Coil since the RP is not consumed by Rune Strike until the attack is used. This also allows you to take a step back and use Death Coils and Icy Touches to break through the defense of Hand of Protection, or while you have it on yourself if running with a Paladin.

Can I use this tactic in PVE also?

Outside of PVP, this tactic can still be used, and I have seen an increase of 500-800 DPS depending on the encounter using these macro’s on raid bosses. Just keep in mind that if you do not have Subversion (Rank 3), and you are running with an under geared tank, you will really need to be careful since Rune Strike pulls a lot of threat.

About Breathless

Formerly a member of HordeInvestments on Malygos (PVE) as Breathless and newly transferred to Rivendare (PVP) joining New Era as Breathlessdk, I am a Blood DK that enjoys playing and learning everything I can about my class.

Outside of the World of Warcraft, I am a 24 year old Helpdesk Technician that spends my down time reading and learning everything I can to better myself in both worlds.

If anyone finds any new advantages or disadvantages of using Rune Strike as DPS, if you have any other tips, or specific questions about what was written here, please feel free to contact me.

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So you want to Frost Strike?