Death Knights gain new rune set, new cosmetic changes
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Aug 9th 2008 at 4:00PM
It's been said that Death Knights are supposed to be a specifically recognizable class, part of their heroic bearing coming in that distinctness. We've already seen some of it with the inclusion of glowing eyes, and now there's more implemented with these beta builds.
All Death Knight Races have the option of taking on a selection of darker skins and gaunt, undead, or angry looking faces. In addition, the Death Knight's glowing eyes now look more more integrated and natural on almost every race, in my opinion. The changes look better on some races. Humans, especially, look very much changed, to the point where Human females can look a lot like Forsaken females without the hunchback or protuding bones.
You can see some of the new looks in the Gallery below, courtesy of tipster Damir.
Death Knights also got another small cosmetic change in the form of new runes. The new runes are a bit bigger and more distinct, and I personally find them easier to keep track of. I'm glad to see the change. You can see the runes here (thanks to tipster chaud and wotlkwiki for that picture).
EDIT: There are no Forsaken pictures in the gallery because there do not seem to be any new looks for Forsaken Death Knights. This is understandable -- They're already dead, after all. You can check our older Death Knight gallery for Forsaken shots, if you wish.
Filed under: News items, Expansions, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Kroax Aug 18th 2008 12:50PM
There's still some nasty bugs with the appearance. If you select a troll and scroll through the faces, half of them will end up... Faceless. I mean, blank, nothing, zip. There's also a weird bug where you somteimes can pick a certain haircolor, and all of a sudden you can't on some races. I'm pretty sure this will get fixed rather soon though as these are very apparent bugs.
Presbutan Aug 9th 2008 4:11PM
Nice looking skins, think I'll stick with my idea of making a male troll Death Knight. I'm curious about the runes though, I see Blood, Frost, and Unholy, but there is a forth green one. Which rune is that?
kabshiel Aug 9th 2008 4:16PM
Death. It counts as any rune type. Personally, I think the runes are kind of dumb-looking, but at least they're much easier to see. I guess substance has to beat out style sometimes.
Suzaku Aug 9th 2008 10:53PM
Green us unholy, actually. Purple is death. They changed the colorscheme because green was the predominant color in the unholy tree.
I also agree, I don't really like the new runes. They don't even really look like runes, more like icons. Nothing like the runes that were actually on the runeblades in all of the art, which actually looked like some sort of lettering.
TenaciousMike Aug 9th 2008 4:16PM
With the new distinct look, I'll go ahead and say gnome DKs are okay. No more pink haired happy babies!
Sal Aug 9th 2008 4:56PM
The skin for that male gnome is actually the creepiest looking one. I won't be rolling on, but I will back you up :).
jbodar Aug 10th 2008 3:14AM
Fear the walking-dead midgets!
Jason Aug 9th 2008 4:23PM
I don't really like the glowing eyes. They should've just made them blue, white or black for all I care, but no glow. To many races have glowing disco-eyes these days.
I know, I know, it's not really an issue though. :)
Lancetfluke Aug 9th 2008 4:27PM
Just out of interest - no undead skins in the gallery; can undead not be Death Knights?
Super Guest Man 9000 Aug 9th 2008 4:44PM
They probably just forgot to add pics of undead to the gallery.
Endra Aug 9th 2008 4:29PM
Very nice. The old glowy eye particle effect looked rushed. These look much better (at least from a frontal view). The new skins look great as well. Choosing a race for my DK is going to be the hardest decision I'll be making in Wrath. >.>
Zep Aug 9th 2008 4:31PM
1. Gnome death knights are REALLY REALLY REALLY SCARY LOOKING.
and 2.
NO DUH undead can be death knights; they're like, The Real Death Knights(tm).
Ametrine Aug 9th 2008 5:38PM
Gnome Deathknights = DEMON BABIES
zomg Aug 10th 2008 1:27PM
holy crap! did you guys see the female dwarf. wtf that was weird looking.....and strangely arousing.
CursedSeishi Aug 9th 2008 4:34PM
yeah, besides its hard enough not to make an undead character that looks semi-alive, so what else could blizzard do to make the undead more undead? Remove all the skin and make em skeletons? :P
Bootsanator Aug 9th 2008 5:56PM
YES
Xino Aug 9th 2008 4:35PM
This is supposed to be showing the new semi-undead skins for the various races. That's why you don't see any pics of forsaken, it's not like they need a new skin to look undead.
Derick Aug 9th 2008 5:36PM
Honestly, Undead were the ones I was most wanting to see....
:(
Aracross Aug 9th 2008 6:51PM
I'm the only one who thinks that female taurens DK are awesome?
Badger Aug 10th 2008 12:01AM
You're not alone. Tauren Female DKs look ridiculously bad-ass in-game.