Hello DK friends! Lately, I’ve been running the Shattering Blade DW build because I don’t really like the feeling of the BoS build. I wanted to start dabbling with Blood and Unholy which are 2H specific builds and I don’t want to keep up with technically 3 weapons as most BIS slotted weapons are crafted and they eat up a lot of crests.
I’ve been searching around WoW Head but they mainly have builds for DW (SB and BoS) with no talent guides on 2H Frost.
I was wondering if anyone had a decent 2H Frost build that they could share? I know ill probably lose some DPS but ill gain the ability to easily maneuver to each Spec without all the gear upkeep/bloat
Thanks in advance for help given!
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AFAIK, and while I also prefer 2h for frost, the rework skewed it even more in favor for DW than it was previously regardless of being a shattering build or not which is why you don’t see as many guides if any for it.
Yep, that’s why I figured I would reach out here to see if anyone has a build for 2H. I dont want to throw random percent’s around but 2H is down pretty bad from a Shatter or BoS DW build. I’ll honestly take the hit to be able to play all three specs and not have to maintain the multitude of weapons.
Appreciate the reply!
Icy Veins has a guide for frost that includes 2h recommendations. I’ve also gotten some recommendations from other posters as well when asking about it. That being said, 2h is noticeably worse than dw. I use a 2h weapon anyways though since I’m not doing the highest end content (meaning mythic raids and +12 and above keys) and have a very strong preference for 2h weapons and non-Breath builds.
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Thanks! I’ll go check that out. For some reason I was checking YouTube, Forums and WoWHead and didn’t even think about IcyVeins!
I also have the same result after simming every 2H build I can put together. The closest I can get is about -60k a second when comparing to any of the DW builds.
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My survival hunter sims better at 593 than my 2h frost DK at 610. It’s not a good situation at all. I stick with 2h frost though since it’s always been one of my favorite specs in the game (and I hate both dw and breath).
Frost will probably need another rework in 12.0 to rework or remove most of the talents that rely on auto attacks to get better parity between dw/2h since dw gets significantly more auto attacks. I was concerned in 11.0 with the addition of Icy Death Torrent and The Long Winter and it’s been as bad as I thought unfortunately.
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Similar situation to what I have. I prefer 2H but dont mind DW Shatter. My situation is similar because a rouge 10 iLvls below me will slam me in raids and keys if I use 2H. Hopefully it gets better but we’ll see.
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Parts of me wishes I didn’t hate dw. Back in the day prior to Legion (WoD specifically) I thought I’d be ok with dw if I could use the 2h Obliterate based gameplay with dw, but then it was forced during Legion/BfA; the Legion artifact was an abomination when I wanted a 2h instead of Blizz destroying it to force dw, which made it even worse. The fact that it was forced led to lots of resentment and I wound up hating dw frost. It didn’t help that I couldn’t find hardly any 1h weapons that sheathed on the back, all of which I either didn’t like or got tired of with no good alternatives. I have even less desire to play my rogue, enh shaman, or DH after realizing that there are no 1h weapon models I like. I simply cannot stand dw.
I love frost, as long as I’m using a 2h weapon. For me personally there’s no other option.
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Yep, really two things you said resonated.
2H is a nice fantasy that feels good to hit big Oblit crits.
The second, wanting to play optimal on Unholy as well as Frost takes a bit of a time commitment to manage the various weapons needed whereas if I had a viable 2H frost build, I could just switch out to Unholy / Blood seamlessly.
Currently, I have to keep up with double 1 handers and those are both crafted as well as a 2H which is also crafted if I want to do the same content on Unholy. It just doesn’t feel good overall.
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That is another thing - being able to switch seamlessly between all 3 specs using the same weapons. That’s a factor why I like having SMF fury available for warriors that go between tank and dps - it’s easier for prot warriors to get another 1h weapon than have to get 1-2 2h weapons. The same is true for blood DKs that prefer frost over unholy or situations like yours where you go between all 3 specs.
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The best build for 2h is BoS according to the paper sims.
Through real world feely craft I swap out Frigid Executioner for Rage of the Frozen Champion. Still a net of 15% more obliterate damage with MotFC. RotFC smooths out the rotation. It helps BOS last longer, get a lot of juicy rime hits, and reduces the time I’m waiting for resources.
2h is usable. People rarely notice I’m 2h. I have actually gotten a few pats on the back when they do because my damage wasnt absolute garbage.
Example from just now. Not too bad for my ilvl and 2h.
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/bC2cnMT1Bawtfh3N#fight=33&type=damage-done
If blizzard would just use their existing tuning knob and buff MotFW 2h would be on par. Better yet, just bake Fallen Crusader into MotFW. Not sure why this is so tough for blizzard to figure out.
Not being able to play shatter is degenerate design. Again. Bake FC into MotFW.
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You sir, are a god among men.
Thank you for this and its exactly what I was looking for, minus the Breath but If I have to use it to get past easily swapping specs without all the gear bloat, I’m down.
Again, thanks for taking the time to post this, much appreciated.
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I play 2h riders, with long winter and no shatter/BoS.
It’s decent enough to get through 99% of content. I’m often top dps in my groups, but that just means I would have been even higher if I were DW.
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I play mostly riders 2h. It does decent enough dmg to do the content i want (mythic+ and casual raids)
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This is the build i use if you’re interested. It does feel satisfying to crit 2m obliterates i’l tell you that.
I mained a 2H Frost Dk in Dragonflight and the second I saw these new talents, I knew it was over for 2H. I don’t want them to be skewed one way or the other, I just want it to be fair so that in the long run no one gets bullied out of what they like because Blizzard forgot how numbers work. I played 2H before I had the legendary which was a big no no and still did enough DPS to put classes far better to shame. The issue comes into the set bonuses and cooldowns. Chill Streak was a fire and forget spell but in DF it gave a 20% damage bonus that you could pile into Pillar’s window, so as long as you set it up well then you could full send your KM procs and hit for well above standard value but the removal of that set bonus set 2H back by a LOT. Then the talents came and made it easier for Breath build (people that don’t like to play the game) to get down to a final node than Obliterate builds did. This got fixed, which was a step in the right direction, but they made a new passive that blasts wind forward in a cone that procs significantly less for 2H than it does for dual wield. So mathwise, you are weaker up front and now you’re weaker in the back end too.
Regardless, if you still want to do 2H frost, the build is largely the same as any other Obliterate builds. Maximize your gathering storm damage, your shattering blade damage, and your KM damage with mastery. Haste isn’t your friend. Crit to 20% or so, mastery to the moon, the rest goes to haste.
This may change with different stats or higher ilvl gear and/or trinkets but with my gear, SB DW Deathbringer barely outperforms 2H Rider for Single Target. And by barely, I mean not even 20k DPS difference on the dummy. All of my weapons are ilvl 606.