Prep yourselves, this is a bit of a long one. This is PvP Specific so if you don’t have anything constructive to add, move along please. TLDR is the bottom paragraph.
I made a post at the end of last expansion going over the state of Frost Dk’s and their place in the current meta and state in PVP with some ideas on how to improve their kit. Well, with the release of TWW from the end of Dragonflight, I’d say there has been much improvement even some semblance of those ideas being in the new hero talents but there is still… more that needs to be done. It doesn’t help that they keep getting gutted in the first couple weeks EVERY expansion making it one if not the lowest picked class/spec combos in PVP in the game. So I wanted to list some more ideas that I think could help the spec tremendously.
First off lets talk about damage and talents. With the New hero talents especially Deathbringer (particularly what I play), I feel it synchronizes well with CD’s and can make for some enjoyable moments, but the damage is still a bit low in PVP. In order to maximize it’s output you need incredible amount of setup and most likely use of big defensive CD’s to counter the counterplays. (Medallion, Icebound, Lichborne). While the uptime has been increased with Pillar and big Damage CD’s, the spec still suffers with it. If Frost DK’s need to be Glass Cannon, then let’s bring the Cannon up more. So what can be done? Well I I’d love to say just buff the main 3 abilities to compensate (which I’d take still), but let’s think outside the box a bit.
Looking at talents, there are some that could be merged, removed, or become baseline.
- Icecap is boring IMO and Pillar should just be a 45 sec CD. Just remove or make it do something else.
- Dead of Winter PVP talent is 99% of the time mandatory because of the setup in burst which limits choice for comps and fighting comps. the 10 sec CD reduction should be baseline to remorseless winter and the stun should be baked into Absolute Zero talent alongside Frostwyrm’s Fury stun.
- Deathchill is a dead talent and basically provides the same utility as Ice Prison in the Class Tree that was added this expansion. Just remove it.
- Cold heart should just be removed or actually worth taking, not sure if anyone takes this even in PVE currently.
But I do want to dive into Glacial Advance a some. I think there is an opportunity to massively buff this ability and incorporate it into the rotation in all forms of play. The reason would be is that it’s one of the only abilities that uses runic power aside from Frost strike, Deathstrike, and Death Coil. The latter two being a defensive and borderline useless for Frost unless it’s to be used with Lichborne, more on that later. I propose Glacial Advance be severely buffed so that is a decent hitting ability even outside of Pillar go’s. You can do this by just putting like a 15-20 second CD on it. This will allow that when you need to Runic power dump, which is often, at least one of your abilities can be a Glacial Advance. Of course buffing that, you would need to tune Artic Assault at the bottom.
Next biggest thing is survivability. I know DK’s are like “anticaster” but even AMS lately doesn’t feel great with the damage casters are putting out unless you take every AMS buffed talent possible. They need an ability that is FROST exclusive. If you compare to other classes in the game, it’s crazy that they do not have more. Like I’m honestly thinking about every class and I can’t think of any other class that doesn’t have some sort of immunity and/or damage reduction that is 30% or less other then warrior but even that has a heal attached to it. Even Unholy with Lichborne/Death Coil heal is way better because it’s buffed up through their talents and actually helpful. So here are some ideas for a PVP talent which I think would work because it could be a solid but not mandatory choice if you are confident in your healer on your team. If so, then opt into another utility option.
- “Cold Blooded” - When Lichborne is active, the passive leech is increased up to 50% for the duration.
- “Succulent Feast”- After every 200 Runic power spent Gain the effects of Dark Succor.
- “Icebound Will” - Increase the damage reduction of Icebound Fortitude by 30% and its duration by 2 seconds. (Similar to a buffed Astral Shift from Shamans.)
- “Cryostasis” (Would replace Rot and Wither PVP talent) - Your Death and Decay turns into a blue mist. When you or Ally’s enter into it, gain Cauterizing Frost. When enemies enter into it, they are afflicted with Cauterizing Decay.
“Cauterizing Frost”- when remaining in Death and Decay effected by Cryostasis gain a shield for 5% of maximum health every second stacking up to 6 times. Can only occur once every 90 seconds.
“Cauterizing Decay” - Enemies remaining in Death and Decay effected by Cryostasis receive a debuff that absorbs healing up to 5% of maximum health every second stacking up to 6 times. Can only occur once every 30 seconds.
A few examples there I think any of which would greatly help.
Overall/TLDR I think the spec is very close to being really good. Just Tune the damage in Pillar Go’s and outside of it, make a couple talents baseline, add a survivability PVP talent and boom. What are your thoughts?