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Comment by Leviatharan

Back in Wrath, DoT effects weren't able to critically strike. Instead, the DK's unique interaction with their DoTs came in the form of Wandering Plague, a talent deep in the Unholy tree that gave diseases a chance on each tick, based on the DK's crit chance, to deal the full damage of the tick in a radius around the infected target. Combined with Pestilence to spread our base diseases, Ebon Plague to amplify the damage of disease and magic effects, and Unholy Blight (a runic power dump unique to Unholy that treated all enemies around the caster as diseased as long as the caster kept it rolling), Wandering Plague made Unholy the master of Area-Effect damage, a crown disputed only by Affliction Warlocks who spammed Seed of Corruption.

It was removed in Cataclysm, with the comment from developers being that it was "passive damage", something they were trying to eliminate at the time (which is now considered passé).

Recently, a weakened form of Wandering Plague has returned in the form of Reaper's Harvest - which, given developer habits with class-specific bonuses released right before an expansion (including our Tier 15 bonus spawning ), presumably was pushed out to test the addition of Virulent Plague in Legion.
It would seem they consider it worthwhile.

We're back, boys.

Comment by rodalpho

The devs told us exactly how Unholy abilities work in PvP at the link(s) below.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/20747314610#2

I'm pasting it here as they typically delete the beta forums after release.

Clawing Shadows deals 75% damage in PvP
Virulent Plague deals 75% damage in PvP
Dark Arbiter's Val'kyr Strike deals 70% damage in PvP
Epidemic deals 85% damage in PvP

Comment by Shatofu

Unholy was the DOT spe, based on disease. "WAS"
This is the only UH dot, it deals literaly NO DAMAGE, it is random, and the erupt effect breaks all CC. I don't even use it in PvP.
If at least the erupt was not divided between targets...

EDIT : Damage is even reduced in PvP, lol

Even Frost DOT deal more damage. sad expansion

Comment by kellva

I'm new to Unholy DKs so I came here to learn the rotation. I tried to follow what was listed, but was stumped by this Virulent Plague. I could not find a spell/cast that was called Virulent Plague. Finally, I saw Virulent Plague on a mob I was killing. I only cast Outbreak. The light went on. The spell, Outbreak, is where Virulent Plague comes from. I got a headache looking for this plague's location....

Comment by Darkedex

Can anyone tell me why this does less damage than "Frost Fever"? I thought DK Unholy was the one with the diseases

Links WeakAuras Export

Virulent Plague

Virulent Plague
100 yd range
Instant

A disease that deals (155.25% of Attack power) Shadow damage over 27 sec. It erupts when the infected target dies, dealing (28.8% of Attack power) Shadow damage to nearby enemies.

(1s cooldown)

Buff

Virulent Plague	Disease

Suffering (17.25% of Attack power) Shadow damage every 3 sec.
Erupts for (28.8% of Attack power) damage split among all nearby enemies when the infected dies.
27 seconds remaining

Spell Details

Duration

27 seconds

School

Shadow

Mechanic

n/a

Dispel type

Disease

GCD category

n/a

Cost

None

Range

100 yards (Vision)

Cast time

Instant

Cooldown

n/a

GCD

0 seconds

Aura proc chance

100%

Effect #1

Apply Aura: Periodic Damage (127)
Interval: 3 seconds (AP mod: 0.1725)
Radius: 10 yards
PVP Multiplier: 0.85

Effect #2

Dummy
Value: 30
PVP Multiplier: 1
Server-side script

Effect #3

Apply Aura: Mod All Damage Done % by Caster
Radius: 10 yards
PVP Multiplier: 1
Affected Spells:

	Blood Plague	Frost Fever	Rune Strike
	Howling Blast	Death Strike	Blood Boil
	Scourge Strike	Festering Strike	Unholy Blight
	Marrowrend	Heart Strike	Blooddrinker
	Frostscythe	Unholy Assault	Clawing Shadows
	Consumption	Apocalypse	Soul Reaper
Show 14 More
	Reaper's Mark	Unholy Blight	Outbreak
	Death's Caress	Harrowing Decay	Helchains
	Helchains	Shackle the Unworthy	Abomination Limb
	Abomination Limb	Superstrain	Blood Boil
	Horrid Experimentation	Glacial Contagion

Effect #4

Apply Aura: Mod Damage Taken From Caster Pet %
Radius: 10 yards
PVP Multiplier: 1

Effect #5

Apply Aura: Mod Damage Taken From Caster %
Radius: 10 yards
PVP Multiplier: 1

Flags

Is Ability
Aura is Debuff
Ignore Line of Sight
Cannot miss
Requires a wand
Do Not Display Range
Not In Spellbook
Aura Never Bounces
Suppress Weapon Procs
Always AOE Line of Sight
Periodic Can Crit
Aura Points On Client
Do Not Log Aura Refresh
Bypass Visibility Check
Use Spell Base Level For Scaling
Allow Class Ability Procs
Nameplate Personal Buffs/Debuffs
Do Not Consume Aura Stack On Proc
Periodic Refresh Extends Duration

Guides

Best Unholy Death Knight Conduits Unholy Death Knight Rotation Guide

Virulent Plague

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