Death Knight build

[Nightbringer]

I'm thinking that my new hero will be a Death Knight. I did not progressed so far as to get those sets so I do not care much about the gear. What I'm interested in is what kind of choices would be the best for it? I'm split about its identity. I definately want heavy armor. I want my hero to be melee focused. I want him to be tough as nails and I want minions, zombies.

I was thinking about soldier + necromancer build. While Soldier has feeling of making my hero as I want it to be, it lacks flavor. Its abilities just do not fit Death Knight well. Shaman also does not fit with all his totems, elemental damage and pets who simply does not work well with Death Knight. Soldier has similar issue, his Field Command and Squad Tactic is not kind of synergy I would necessary like with my pets. I'm thinking of going with Occultist and Necromancer. Specing up in Vitality, Poison, Curses. Yet, I think I might lack punshing and staying power as a real Death Knight should have.


Maybe you could come with some better suggestions for a Death Knight build?

A rough sketch of what I'm thinking about:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/D2pKAgaN

[Faust Wither]

without skill "harbinger of soul" you will lack of vitality power. rotting fumes is bad combination with unstable anomaly, becaus it make blight fiend paused for casting it, so only blight burst is good combination with unstable anomaly. aspect of guardian already supporting poison damage high enough if you only had one pet, you don't need master of death. btw you class is near to be called dreadlord than a death knight.

[Nightbringer]

Just some quotes around of what I mean:

For Ice Death knight:

Their class fantasy is ice. They should be like a glacier. Slow to get there, but impossible to stop. They should be a frozen juggernaut that you know is coming, and you can only look in horror as you try to escape but their constant barrage of snow and ice slows you down to the point where you inevitably falter.

They should wield a giant two hander, not two little swords.

For Unholy Death Knight:

I imagine a powerful, plate-clad necromancer slowly advancing on the battlefield behind a wall of the gnashing teeth and tearing claws of a horde of zombies, spreading plague and death where ever he goes.


For Blood Death Knight:

In undeath, some death knights find a special affinity for the blood and bone of the living. They carve into their enemies, sustaining themselves with deadly sanguine strikes, while using the bloody, shattered remains of the dead to fortify their own defenses. These crimson-soaked knights bend the very rules of mortality to control the frontlines of the battlefield.



It is roughly how I imagine Death Knight. There are a lot of variations, but you can get a common theme about them. I also understand that this game lacks a lot of tools necessary to be like this. I have to play around poison, vitality drain to get similar feeling of slow inevitability via poisons and curses.


I ask, because I do not know how to build it. I just threw talents your way to get general jist of what I want, but I really do not know how to build it. I want pets, but I do not want to be strong on their own. I want to be that unstoppable juggernaut, but without warrior talents, I'm not sure I will be able to feel like that.

[Faust Wither]

indeed, cabalist is a poor choice to be "unstoppable juggernaut" i spend my 500+ hours play to cabalist, cabalist has very weak deffensive at late game (lv 45+) died from bosses(purple font not star) with 3,4 hit, as far i know, cabalist is good to be summoner, as for vitality or poison caster and can easy maxed resistance. maybe soldier+occultis can be more "unstoppable juggernaut", but it more close with a "Hell Knight" or "Baron of Hell" you know Blood and Fire.

[Nightbringer]

Yea, I'm also confused. Maybe there is something in devotion tree which would supplement my survivability? Like having Mark of Torment with some protection talent from devotion tree might be enough. Death Knights like all hybrids have to make multiple trade offs in their build. They need heavy armor, two handed blades, but also they must supplement their own powers with magic. It is cool idea, but it is kinda difficult to make it work.

[Valkez]

I see you're coming from WoW. Death Knights here aren't quite like the Lich King's ones, really. Like I explained you in the other thread, you have to choose what you want to deal damage with, pets or character. They use different gear (not only for the endgame), so if you want a decent army of skeletons, you'll have to sacrify your own damage, and viceversa.

Your current sketch is kinda like your Warlock's really. Drain Essence is just like Albrecht's Ray, but drains hp so I suppose you could still find an use for it... on lower difficulties at least. Your lone pet is going to be terribly weak though. No Bonds of Bysmiel, no Call of the Grave... and I'm not sure how would you transition into Ultimate. Again, pet builds have no heavy armor, and if you don't buff them, you might as well not use them at all.

I would still suggest you to go the Revenant way with whatever vitality build you like (autoattack, Bloody Pox, Drain Essence, Bone Harvest, take your pick). You will still be in for a challenge on Ultimate though...

[Nightbringer]

Well, Death Knights do not really need pets. They are more like supporting tool rather than dealing damage. It is Necromancer who relies on armies of skeleton. I'm more interested it for flavor reasons and Mark of Torment seem to fit in quite well. Pets are secondary really. The core of the build is being that juggernaut of death. Not in a sense of warrior who dish out a lot of damage, but being a massive tank with giant "fackoff" sword and auras who drain and weaken enemies.

[Nightbringer]

Officially, Death Knight is when you mix up Soldier and Necromancer. Hmm, I will take a look and will try to come up with something which fits what I have in mind better.

[Faust Wither]

if you love legend, lore and fantasy, actualy death knight Class is a reference of "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" , the "Red Horse" is a "bloody" death knight, "Black Horse" is a "plague/poison" death knight, "Pale Horse" is the true Death Knight that bring death and manipulate soul, one more White Horse is close as a Paladin that thirst for justice.

[Nightbringer]

There are plenty of ways to build a death knight and I would appreciate any of the suggestions if you could throw them in character builder.

[Faust Wither]

the best way to search build is forum:
compilation of death knight build(necro+soldier)
http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?p=653028#post653028

compilation of witch blade build(occultis+soldier)
http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?p=653063#post653063