Frost LW CS build?

Classes Mage
1

Hey all

so I have this frost mage alt I’ve been enjoying but as I am starting to push higher keys and read up more on it I am noticing that most folks keep referencing freeze by water ele as the only way to shatter CS due to Frost Nova being on GCD. I run LW for keys and have been using FN to shatter my CS. At first I thought I was doing it wrong and should listen to the guides and other mages but honestly my aoe dmg was too high for that to be the case so I hit the training dummies and after a small sample size of 10 attempts for each method i got the following data set
3 targets, one cast
CS by itself avg 31k dps
CS with water ele freeze avg 46k dps
CS with Frost Nova avg 49.5k dps

Now its a small set of data with a variable so I don’t exactly claim that these are entirely accurate numbers but from what I can see FN clearly is able to shatter CS in place of freeze.

So my questions are
Why is the community under the impression that FN doesnt work? It is a haste threshold sort of thing that makes it possible? Or just the range makes it inefficient?
Is running a LW/CS/TV build viable utilizing FN for shatters in higher level keys?

Sorry if I am missing something and sound like an idiot but It just seems like the info I have read and have heard is at least questionable. Any expert mages out there have a take on this?

Thanks

2

I suspect it’s almost exclusively a range thing and being able to reliably do it from a distance.

3

It’s a mix of things. One factor is FN if used in groups with other players, most likely they would break your FN before the GCD to CS is available because it has such a weak damage limit. Unlike Pet Freeze which you can land as, or just before CS does its thing. Another would be range, as stated above, having to be in the thick of things could mean extra work for your healer because our hp/defenses are lacking compared to other classes. I havent had much chance for high key play, so I eill leavr that for someone else to answer.

The issue to using dummies to compare is the lack of other people. See if you can get a couple friends, preferably melee, and try again.

4

The low damage limit makes more sense but i am throwing FN after CS while the comets are already falling. Maybe I will dive into some lower group content and experiment more.

Thanks for your input!

5

Also your own Frost Nova deals (4.4775% of Spell power) as damage while pet nova does not.