World of Warcraft Guides

At the Wrath of the Lich King launch, you can only create a death knight on the same realm where you have an existing level 55 or higher character; however in the future Blizzard plans to allow the creation of death knights on any realm, provided that you have at least one level 55 character somewhere.  And no, you do NOT have to sacrifice that character!

Any class is able to create a death knight, provided that you have at least one level 55 character on the realm that you wish to make your death knight. You can still play your death knight with your friends on another realm though, as Blizzard are allowing players to create their death knight and then transfer it to another realm, either via a free character move or a paid character transfer. Normal fees still apply. You can also transfer your character to another one of your accounts, subject to the usual restrictions on character account transfers.

If you play on a PvE realm, you will be able to create a death knight on the opposite faction but the standard restrictions for character creation apply for PvP realms. Be aware when making your death knight that you will only be able to have one death knight per realm at any one time. Should you delete a death knight, you will still be able to create a new one.