So with the new Ice Strike as a passive (makes it so when you spend maelstrom stacks you have a chance to turn Frost Shock into Ice Strike which buffs your next Frost Shock and has a 40 yard range) I see that we’re still taking the old one that adds a new button to our rotation.
I tried asking in the shaman discord but no one answered my question. Why take the active ice strike and not the passive? Is it because of the RNG aspect?
Someone who PvE’s can correct me if this is wrong but I believe you would still want the active Ice Strike because you basically use it to fill a global in your rotation when Stormstrike / spenders aren’t available, so having it on demand is just better than a proc. I would guess that it’s not a huge difference either way.
In addition to what the previous poster said ice strike is a main hand attack so it procs doom winds. Meaning having it available for doom winds can be important.
Ahhhhh okay, the filler I already kinda knew but didnt think about the doom winds interaction. Thanks 
I am about to go test this again, but I am pretty sure spending the proc does not put frost shock on cooldown. Just as a point to make about sacrificing an available filler. I can’t speak to the value of the doom winds proc.
Yea just tested it, and spending the passive ice strike proc still leaves frost shock available to cast if you should still need to use it.