Best Races For Death Knights

Key Takeaways

• Death Knights are resurrected warriors, starting from Acherus in
  WoW
  for an epic journey.
• Choosing the right race boosts Death Knight stats and skills for an effective gameplay.
• Mechagnomes, Forsaken, Dwarves, and Blood Elves make ideal Death Knights with unique racial traits.

According to the lore of World of Warcraft, the Death Knight was once a great warrior, fallen in battle and brought back to life by the Lich King. The terrifying idea is a cool place to start with a new character’s story.

When players decide to take on a role such as that of a Death Knight, a class introduced with World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic expansion in 2008, one of the initial steps is deciding on a race. Not every race in WoW has access to the Death Knight class, and others aren’t as good at providing the stats a Death Knight should have for better leveling.

Updated December 8, 2024, by Kristy Ambrose: Death Knights, like every other playable class in World of Warcraft, will never stop changing, along with everything else in the land of Azeroth and its ever-widening realms of adventure. This game turned the MMO genre into a major category in the entertainment industry in 2004 and is now celebrating its 20th anniversary with some creative and compelling expansions. For those who prefer vanilla, the Classic servers are still up and running, which includes both the Hardcore and Cataclysm varieties.

Normally, the different races of Azeroth have their unique starting areas. However, all Death Knights begin their journey from
Acherus: The Ebon Hold
, a location in the Eastern Plaguelands. Only the Death Knight has a starting area based on class instead of race.

1 Mechagnome

How To Unlock: Finish the Quest Chain To Mechagon

• Racial Traits: Hyper Organic Light Originator, Combat Analysis, Mastercraft, Emergency Failsafe, and Skeleton Pinky

The Mechagnome race is a strange blending of different ideas to form a race of highly evolved if diminutive creatures that can be hugely useful in battle. While a Death Knight will normally be a much larger, imposing creature, there are specific reasons that this half-mechanical gnome subset makes a great Death Knight, especially for a Tank build.

Combat Analysis allows them to learn about their enemy so quickly they can learn to defeat them far more easily as the battle continues. Other party members will love Mastercraft because it gives everyone access to a repair bot and Cooking recipes. Skeleton Pinky is a lockpick, so no Rogue is needed, and the other skills include abilities that self-heal and distract enemies away from allies.

2 Forsaken

How To Unlock: One Of The Original Classic Races

• Racial Traits: Cannabailize, Shadow Resistance, Touch of the Grave, Will of the Forsaken

For those who are more strict about the lore of WoW, the Forsaken makes the most sense as a Death Knight. In the days of Classic, the race also known as the Undead only had the two buffs of Cannabalize and Will of the Forsaken. Just on their own, these were considered some of the most OP racial traits in the game.

Cannabilize negates the need for carrying food and Will of the Forsaken breaks any kind of fear mechanic. Both of these are great for melee fighters of any class, and the Death Knight is a close-range class regardless of the build. Increased resistance to Shadow damage is always a bonus, and Touch of the Grave is an ability that returns hit points to the Death Knight when they make both physical attacks and cast spells.

3 Nightborne

How To Unlock: Complete The Suramar Questline

• Racial Traits: Arcane Resistance, Ancient History, Cantrips, Arcane Pulse, Magical Affinity

They’re Night Elves, hidden in the land of Suramar and previously aligned with the Burning Legion, but now they’re aligned with the Horde. Like their Alliance counterparts, the Nightborne have some natural resistances and affinities to arcane magic, a handy skill for starting a Death Knight character.

Ancient History is a buff for those choosing Inscription as one of their primary professions, and Arcane Pulse is an AoE ability that damages and snares nearby enemies. Cantrips is an ability that can summon a handy mailbox anytime, anywhere, and Magical Affinity gives the Nightborne’s spells a higher damage output. Death Knights take the role of either tanks or DPS characters, so all of these abilities make the class even more effective.

4 Goblin

How To Unlock: Introduced In The Cataclysm Expansion

• Racial Traits: Best Deals Anywhere, Better Living Through Chemistry, Rocket Barrage, Pack Hobgoblin, Rocket Jump, Time Is Money

Goblins are another Horde race that could easily contend for being one of the best Death Knight options in World of Warcraft. The reasoning behind their capability is simply that the role of a Death Knight comes with the huge weakness of being unable to escape combat situations when the worst danger presents itself.

What any Death Knight needs is a quick way to survive in this situation. This is provided by the Goblin ability Rocket Jump, which can jump players forward far enough to escape negative effects and brutal numbers of enemies. Goblins also come with Time is Money, which helps with haste boost; and Rocket Barrage, which helps with extra damage.

5 Dwarves

How To Unlock: One Of The Original Classic Races

• Racial Traits: Frost Resistance, Explorer, Stoneform, Might of the Mountain

The entire idea of a Death Knight is that they stay in any fight until they win or die. As such, Dwarven Death Knights are common in Azeroth. They can stay in a fight for a long time because they have the right traits to be heavily armored and good in melee combat, and are not likely to try running away anytime soon since they are short and slow.

The best Dwarf trait for becoming legendary Death Knights is their racial trait Stoneflesh, which allows them to clear debuffs every two minutes. Secondly comes their Might of the Mountain racial, which can help players with self-healing.

6 Worgen

How To Unlock: Introduced In The Cataclysm Expansion

• Racial Traits: Abberation, Altered Form, Running Wild, Viciousness, Flayer, Darkflight, Calm of the Wolf

One of the biggest considerations about choosing a race in World of Warcraft is its appearance. Players might want to make sure the racial and passive traits of their race match well with the class they’re using, but the lore of their character and appearance can also be huge factors. The Worgen looks the part in heavy armor, especially the plate armor of a Death Knight.

One of their passive traits gives players an extra critical hit chance, which is useful in combat. One of their racial abilities, Darkflight, helps players escape. This is a particularly useful trait for Death Knights, who tend to move quite slowly and struggle to escape when overwhelmed.

7 Troll

How To Unlock: One Of The Original Classic Races

• Racial Traits: Berserking Da Voodoo Shuffle, Beast Slaying, Regeneration

One of the potential roles for a Death Knight is to be a tank that has to absorb a lot of damage and stay in battle for a long time. Trolls are perfect for this because of a higher health regeneration rate than normal. With these traits, they are ideal for the role of a Death Knight.

Trolls also have a passive that reduces the lasting time of movement impairs, allowing them to escape when needed, another significant aspect for a Death Knight. Trolls are also naturally big creatures that look the part wearing the heavy armor of a Death Knight, which helps to create lore for a character.

8 Night Elf

How To Unlock: One Of The Original Classic Races

• Racial Traits: Quickness, Nature Resistance, Wisp Spirit, Touch of Elune, Shadowmeld

In the days when Warcraft was an RTS game, the Night Elves were a reclusive society with a distrust of most other races, but especially the Orcs, who invaded their native Azeroth and started chopping down their beloved trees. The Night Elves have evolved since then as one of the Alliance’s core races and was also where the Demon Hunter class originated. They also make ideal Death Knights.

Quickness gives the Night Elf a better chance to dodge attacks and improves their movement speed, Wisp Spirit gets the player to their corpse and back to leveling faster, and any kind of damage resistance is also handy. The best addition for a Death Night might be Touch of Elune, which increases critical strike during the say and haste rating at night.

9 Orcs

How To Unlock: One Of The Original Classic Races

• Racial Traits: Command, Blood Fury, Hardiness

The main face of the Horde forces is the Orcs, and for good reason. New Orc characters get to explore some of the most brilliant and fun lands and characters at the beginning of their journey. What’s more, any Death Knight needs one thing above all others, and that is the extra strength to do damage to their opponents and win battles.

Melee damage and strength are hugely important to Unholy Death Knights. Orcs generally have great strength and physicality in World of Warcraft, making them ideal choices for such a position. Their “Blood Fury” gives them one of the best attack buffs available in the whole game, which is also very useful to this class.

10 Draenei

How To Unlock: Introduced In The Burning Crusade Expansion

• Racial Traits: Gemcutting, Gift Of The Naruu, Heroic Presence, Shadow Resistance

The Jewelcrafting profession was introduced in the same expansion that also gave Azeroth the Draenei, so it makes sense that one of their innate racial abilities is a buff to this profession. Other popular classes for this race are Shamans and Paladins because of abilities like Shadow Resistance and Heroic Presence, which also work well for Death Knights.

Gift of the Naruu speeds up a character’s natural healing abilities, so this is ideal for any character who fights primarily in melee range, which is often the Death Knight’s role as either tank or DPS. They also have one of the best racial mounts in the game, the majestic and graceful Elekk.

11 Human

How To Unlock: One Of The Original Classic Races

• Racial Traits: Diplomacy, Human Spirit, Will to Survive

The racial trait, The Human Spirit, boosts all secondary stats from all sources, making Humans a good option for practically every class in the game, and could be one of the most overpowered racial traits in the game. Their lore, starting area, and general popularity all help as well, and the NPCs are generally well-rounded and interesting.

Playing as a human is a good choice for beginners to World of Warcraft because they make it easy to get to grips with the game and world. Human Death Knights work well as they have similar strength to the Orcs, though without quite the same level of bulk and pure strength. The Will To Survive trait removes stun effects similar to the Forsaken ability, Will of the Forsaken.

12 Blood Elf

How To Unlock: Introduced In The Burning Crusade Expansion

• Racial Traits: Arcane Resistance, Arcane Torrent, Arcane Affinity, Arcane Acuity

Blood Elves, allied to the Horde, are the best for playing as a Death Knight with a Blood build, thanks to their arcane powers. While Death Knights are traditionally one of the most tank-like classes in the game, there are some gaping weaknesses in the Death Knight style that have to be addressed if players wish to survive.

Arcane Torrent is the best emergency save for a Death Knight in World of Warcraft. It allows Death Knights to dispel enemy effects while gaining back the Runic power that most of the Death Knight abilities will require. All of this, in addition to the great appearance and lore of Blood Elves, make them one of the most surprisingly great options for Death Knight status.