Frost Death Knight DPS Gear and Best in Slot — 12.0.5
On this page, you will find the best gear, trinkets, and best in slot item recommendations for your Frost Death Knight in World of Warcraft 12.0.5. From crafted items to advice on how to use your Crests to upgrade gear, we got you covered!
Best in Slot Gear Guide for Frost Death Knight
With the release of Midnight, all items have been squished to a much more reasonable level, capping out at 289 ilvl in Season 1.
Upgrading gear in Midnight continues to use the Crest system which lets you increase the item level of gear along tracks that relate to where you obtained the item, which harder content dropping gear that can be upgraded to higher Item Levels. For more information, read up on our dedicated page on how the gearing system works and what has changed in the Midnight expansion.
FAQAre Two-Handed or One-Handed Weapons Better?
Two-Handed weapons are currently slightly better when running the recommended
Breath of Sindragosa build in Raid. One-Handed weapons are viable and are less than 2%
behind. For Mythic+, One-Handed weapons generally bring more AoE as they synergise well with
Frostbane builds. We still recommend the Two-Handed Breath build in Mythic+
but you ideally want to be able to run both setups depending on situation.
This list contains the highest DPS setup from all sources for Frost Death Knight. Keep in mind that there are many other setups that perform within the margin of error. This list is not the end-all-be-all list where any item that is not listed is far behind this specific selection.
This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available, your BiS gear might look different in some spots than the below list.
In some non-Tier slots, a max ilvl Craft can technically be optimal since you can customize the secondary stats to your liking. Your mileage here may vary.
FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?
Overall Best in Slot
Shirt
Tabard
Off Hand
This list contains the highest DPS setup from all sources for Frost Death Knight. Keep in mind that there are many other setups that perform within the margin of error. This list is not the end-all-be-all list where any item that is not listed is far behind this specific selection.
This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available, your BiS gear might look different in some spots than the below list.
In some non-Tier slots, a max ilvl Craft can technically be optimal since you can customize the secondary stats to your liking. Your mileage here may vary.
TipsWhich Dungeons Should I Farm?
- Maisara Caverns: Your tied BiS 2H weapon drops from this dungeon.
- Pit of Saron: BiS shoulders and solid ring, weapon and belt.
- Algeth'ar Academy: BiS ring, solid weapon and the best M+ trinket.
Best Mythic+ Gear
Shirt
Tabard
Off Hand
This list contains the highest DPS setup from all sources for Frost Death Knight. Keep in mind that there are many other setups that perform within the margin of error. This list is not the end-all-be-all list where any item that is not listed is far behind this specific selection.
This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available, your BiS gear might look different in some spots than the below list.
In some non-Tier slots, a max ilvl Craft can technically be optimal since you can customize the secondary stats to your liking. Your mileage here may vary.
TipsWhich Raid-Items Do I Want Most?
Light Company Guidon: BiS on-use that is significantly better than any alternative. Drops from Imperator Averzian. who also drops our Tier-Set chest and our BiS Boots.
Gaze of the Alnseer: BiS passive trinket that is significantly better than any alternative. Drops from Chimaerus.
Bellamy's Final Judgement: BiS weapon that does have an equivalent option from Mythic+. Still a very strong upgrade in most cases. Dropped from Lightblinded Vanguard.
Sin'dorei Band of Hope: BiS ring with Crit Mastery that will help you get to your perfect stat balance. Drops from Belo'ren.
Best Raid Gear
Shirt
Tabard
Off Hand

Trinket Recommendations for Frost Death Knight in Season 1
Frost Death Knight favours a combination of one active trinket and one
passive trinket. For active trinkets,
Light Company Guidon is
our best option with great synergy with our 1.5 minute Cooldowns. It does grant
Haste which is not considered a great stat, but there are no other 1.5 minute
cooldown trinkets with stat effects. Our second-best option is
Algeth'ar Puzzle Box
which unfortunately comes with a 2 minute cooldown, reducing its power
for us.
For passive trinkets,
Gaze of the Alnseer is our best option. It is followed
by a large number of good options like
Radiant Plume,
Vessel of Tortured Souls,
Heart of Ancient Hunger
and
Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt.
Aim to pick up one trinket from each of these categories as a pair:
There are quite a few other valuable trinkets out there, so make sure to click on our ranking chart to see if they are worth equipping.
Click for Frost Death Knight Trinket Rankings
| Ranking | Trinkets |
|---|---|
| S Tier |
Best on-use by far which synergises nicely with our 1.5 minute cooldowns. It does grant Haste
which is not considered a good stat. However, there are no alternative
1.5 minute cooldown trinkets that provide on-use stat effects.
|
| A Tier |
|
| B Tier |
|
| C Tier |
|
| D Tier |
|
Ascendant and Nebulous Voidcores (Bonus Rolls)
Midnight's patch 12.0.5 introduces two new, yet familiar systems:
Nebulous Voidcore allows you to target loot from specific bosses or dungeons.
Using it guarantees a drop from that source, though the exact item is still random.
However, once you’ve obtained an item this way, future uses will prioritize items you
haven’t collected yet from that pool.
Ascendant Voidcore enhances Hero- and Myth-track gear that has already reached
its maximum item level, as well as fully upgraded Radiance-Crafted items. It provides an
extra power boost similar to past Turbo Boost upgrades, but can only be applied to weapons
and trinkets.

Nebulous Voidcore Recommendation
Getting a guaranteed piece of loot from a specific dungeon or boss is very useful. In general, we recommend using these for raid encounters as you can obtain higher ilvl pieces that way. We recommend using them on the following bosses (if you do not have the item specified already). Always simulate yourself to find the best possible choice given your character's gear and stats!
- Imperator Averzian for
Light Company Guidon. - Chimaerus for
Gaze of the Alnseer. - Lightblinded Vanguard for
Bellamy's Final Judgement. - Belo'ren for
Sin'dorei Band of Hope.
Ascendant Voidcore Recommendation
Prioritising the item upgrade is relatively simple, start with your weapon and then follow-up with your trinkets.
Best Crafted Items for Frost Death Knight
Professions are a great way to gear up with your optimal secondary stats, as adding special items to the crafting process lets you pick and choose the exact secondary stats you want.
Deciding what to craft is a difficult task. Our BiS crafted items are
Cloak and Wrists, both with Crit Mastery and
Arcanoweave Lining.
However, crafting a 2H weapon early is often by far the largest upgrade possible
and a significantly more efficient spend of your crests. It also sits only
0.5% behind the BiS setup. We generally recommend crafting a 2H weapon
unless you have looted a strong 2H already. If you are keen on a Dual-Wield setup,
always craft a 1H weapon as it is bis in combination with crafted wrists with
Arcanoweave Lining.
For more information about crafting gear you can visit our Professions page.
Best Embellishments for Frost Death Knight
Up to two of your crafted items can be Embellished. This is a similar concept as Unique-Equipped, as you can only wear two items that have the Embellished status. Some crafted items, many of which have powerful procs or beneficial effects by default, are considered Embellished. You can also add Embellishments from a variety of professions to any crafted item, adding the effect to this item either when creating it or at a later stage.
As there is a lot of competition for Embellishments, you will have to pick and choose the two strongest ones for your overall DPS output. Most of them provide very similar DPS benefits, even if the effects are entirely different. The two best choices for this are:
- For Raid:
Arcanoweave Lining on crafted Wrists and a crafted Cloak. - For Mythic+:
Arcanoweave Lining on crafted Wrists and a crafted Cloak.
A strong alternative is to run
Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt on a crafted
2H weapon. This setup is 0.5% behind the BiS setup but provides a significant
amount of early power. We recommending to sim yourself to get a better understanding
of the choices relevant for your specific character. For Dual-Wield builds,
it is actually better to run a crafted weapon as the offhand, so make sure to
always run one of those with
Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt.
Adding Sockets to Gear
You can add sockets to Helmets, Belts, and Bracers with
the
Radiant Jewelbinder consumable that you can get if you do not select any of the choices in
your Great Vault. Not picking a choice will grant you tokens, six of which can be
traded in for the
Radiant Jewelbinder item that allows you to add a socket to the above piece
of gear, if you acquired them in Season 1.
Crest Usage
Myth Dawncrest is a currency you can use to upgrade your gear. Each
piece comes in a specific leveling track where it can be upgrade to a specific max
level. If you see an item with Myth 3/6, it means that it can be upgrade a total of
3 times to reach Myth 6/6. Since crests are limited each week and upgrading different items
costs the same amount of crests regardless, you will want to prioritize
your usage of them on items you plan on not replacing anytime soon, or that offer the
biggest benefits.
These are simply the items that tend to be the best to upgrade. Do not follow the priority blindly as there are cases where you would want to upgrade something else first. Always sim yourself to figure out what it your current best option.
Evaluating Upgrades
Throughout this page and elsewhere in our guide, we regularly refer to the importance of simming yourself on Raidbots. This is because every character is unique, and each gear piece you have access to can change what is best right now for you.
While we do offer recommendations for gear and trinkets, these are not complete replacements for simming yourself. The only way to truly optimize your character to that degree is by making use of the tools available!

Changelog
- 20 Apr. 2026: Updated for 12.0.5 with turboboost recommendations.
- 28 Mar. 2026: Resolved an issue with bis neck source.
- 16 Mar. 2026: Updated for Midnight Season 1 with BiS gear, crafting and trinkets.
- 26 Feb. 2026: Updated for Midnight launch with pre-season bis.
- 10 Feb. 2026: Clarified 2H vs DW paragraph.
- 25 Jan. 2026: Updated bis to represent breath build.
- 19 Jan. 2026: Updated for Midnight pre-patch changing to DW, adding more haste and adding level items section.
- 14 Dec. 2025: Updated dungeon neck.
- 30 Nov. 2025: Reviewed and updated for Patch 11.2.7.
- 16 Nov. 2025: Updated some trinket recommendations to push prism.
- 05 Oct. 2025: Added Puzzling Cartel Chips.
- 02 Sep. 2025: Updated BiS to match deathbringer stat priority.
- 10 Aug. 2025: Updated BiS list and trinke tier list.
- 04 Aug. 2025: Updated with Patch 11.2. New BiS list, artifact cloak, new tier sets and new trinkets.
- 27 Jun. 2025: Updated best D.I.S.C effect and improved wording in multiple spots.
- 23 Jun. 2025: Updated best D.I.S.C effect after tuning.
- 15 Jun. 2025: Added the new D.I.S.C belt to the bis list as well as a dedicated section for the belt. Minor trinket tier list updates.
- 27 Apr. 2025: Updated Cartel wording and recommendations as well as BiS list.
- 21 Apr. 2025: Updated for Patch 11.1.5.
- 24 Feb. 2025: Updated BiS lists, trinket tier lists, embellishments, crafting recommendations and tier set portion.
- 18 Dec. 2024: Updated Cyrce's gems after news sims.
- 17 Dec. 2024: Updated BiS lists to include Cyrce's Circlet after buffs.
- 15 Dec. 2024: Update for Patch 11.0.7, adding Cyrce's Circlet.
- 26 Oct. 2024: Added back missing trinkets in BiS list.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Updated BiS list crafted pieces.
- 14 Oct. 2024: Updated BiS passive trinket and added some delve trinkets.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Updated for The War Within Season 1.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Updated all gear for Season 4.
- 22 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Updated for Patch 10.2.5.
- 29 Nov. 2023: Added Legendary with proper link to bis.
- 22 Nov. 2023: Updated drop location from dawn upper and lower and changed Breath m+ bis trinkets to mirror and porcelain.
- 07 Nov. 2023: Updated BiS Lists and Embellishment recommendations after Sporecloak nerfs.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for patch 10.2. Added new bis lists, trinkets and embellishment.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.7.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Added 10.1.5 dungeon recommendation.
- 01 Jun. 2023: Added m+ embellishment recommendation.
- 31 May 2023: Added neltharion trinket as new bis for frost 2H oblit.
- 08 May 2023: Updated after trinket tuning.
- 01 May 2023: Updated all gear for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.