Presence

Death knights use Presences, self-only buffs that work much like warriors' or monks' stances or hunters' aspects. Each Presence brings its own benefits and is suitable in a different situation. While their names correspond to the three death knight specializations, there is no direct link beyond this and the Presences have no effect on what abilities can be used at a given time. However, each specialization grants a passive improving their respective Presence (see below).

There is no cost for shifting between Presences, but doing so will cause any stored Runic Power to be lost (unless Glyph of Shifting Presences is chosen). Presences have no duration, and a death knight will remain in their current Presence until they choose to switch to another one. It is not possible (nor desirable) for a death knight to ever not be in a Presence; the only way to leave one Presence is to switch to another.

Presences have no cooldown, but switching between them will trigger a standard global cooldown.

The three Presences are:

• Blood Presence - Increases threat generated, increases armor and stamina and reduces damage taken.
• Frost Presence - Increases Runic Power generation and reduces duration of crowd control effects.
• Unholy Presence - Increases attack and movement speed and increases rune regeneration.

Frost Presence is the first Presence available, known by all death knights upon creation, while the other Presences are learnt at later levels.

Although Presences are not tied to specializations, each death knight spec provides a passive bonus to the corresponding Presence:

• Blood: Improved Blood Presence
• Frost: Improved Frost Presence
• Unholy: Improved Unholy Presence

• Glyph of Shifting Presences