Frost Death Knight DPS Guide — The War Within (11.2)

Frost received a significant rework in Patch 11.2 with a larger number of new, removed and changed talents.Furthermore, we have received new tier sets that are now Hero-Talent specific. This means that instead of having one tier set for each spec, we now have one tier set for Rider of the Apocalypse and one for Deathbringer.

The guide has been updated with the new talent tree as well as new talent builds. Furthermore, the rotation has been updated to accomodate for the new playstyle with the rework. Finally, the gear page has been updated to contain our new bis gear as well as the new gear pieces. This includes the new Reshii Wraps cloak!

The Frost playstyle has changed in a number of ways. Importantly, Frostscythe is now our AoE Rune-spending ability that completely replaces the usage of Obliterate when we hit multiple targets. Furthermore, Breath of Sindragosa has been completely redesigned, now costing an up-front of 60 Runic Power and then being extended with Killing Machine and Rime procs. This fits into our natural rotation in a much smoother way and synergises heavily with Obliteration and the new Empower Rune Weapon. Finally, Rime now procs off Frost Strike and Glacial Advance, and Glacial Advance is baseline!

Below is a summary of the important changes for the patch as well as their impact.

• The following talents have been removed:
  • Abomination Limb - A loss of utility for a spell that saw some nice uses where we needed to grip multiple mobs in a short space of time.
  • Unholy Ground - A talent that incentivised Death and Decay usage in Single Target and made boss movement feel even worse.
  • Absolute Zero - This effect is now baked in to the baseline Frostwyrm's Fury, increasing the power of that talent significantly.
  • Chill Streak - Somewhat controversial talent that came with some annoying downsides (not jumping off dead enemies).
  • Cold Heart - Initially a Legendary effect in Legion, this has not been picked for a long time.
  • Enduring Chill - Removed with Chill Streak.
  • Piercing Chill - Removed with Chill Streak.
  • Frostwhelp's Aid - Removed with some of its effect baked into Frozen Dominion.
  • Horn of Winter - On-use resource Cooldown that used to be a large part of our active resource management. We now get a somewhat similar effect, but off the GCD, with the new Empower Rune Weapon.
  • Icecap - Removed with the effect baked into Pillar of Frost by default.
  • Improved Frost Strike - Removed and replaced by Runic Overflow that affects both Frost Strike and Glacial Advance.
  • Improved Obliterate - Removed with the effect baked into the new Frostreaper.
  • Improved Rime - Removed with the effect baked into the new Northwinds.
  • Shattered Frost - Removed and replaced with Frostbane that has a similar interaction but avoids having to tab-target to burst Razorice.
• The following talents have been added:
  • Unholy Momentum - Replaces the old Unholy Ground simply providing the effective Haste buff (lower value) without the Death and Decay requirement.
  • Frostbound Will - Adds value to Rime by adding a Cooldown reduction to Empower Rune Weapon whenever you consume it.
  • Runic Overflow - Improved Frost Strike but now also benefitting Glacial Advance, a natural improvement.
  • Icy Onslaught - Adds a stacking damage as well as resource cost to Frost Strike and Glacial Advance until you proc Runic Empowerment. Fundamentally trades cost for damage for you primary Runic Power spenders.
  • Frostbane - Glacial Advance (both actively as well as through Arctic Assault) trigger a proc for an empowered Frost Strike that deal AoE damage. Brings back Frost Strike in AoE with good Dual-Wield synergy ( Glacial Advance is now baseline).
  • Killing Streak - Allows for the consumption of two Killing Machine, helping with heavy Obliterate/ Frostscythe pressure while also providing a nice Haste buff.
  • Northwinds - An upgraded version of Improved Rime that adds some nice extra two-target cleave for Rime.
  • Frostreaper - An upgraded version of Improved Obliterate that adds a cleave proc to Obliterate.
  • Howling Blades - Adds Killing Machine as a proc off Rime, increasing the proc's value and reducing the need for natural Killing Machine procs.
  • Frozen Dominion - Adds an automatic cast of Remorseless Winter winter to Pillar of Frost while removing the ability itself as an active ability. Removes a button from your rotation while giving a free, more powerful (2 seconds longer) Remorseless Winter that always aligns with your Cooldowns. Also gives a nice Mastery buff for even more burst.
• The following talents have been updated:
  • Anti-Magic Zone lasts for two seconds less, absorbs 15% instead of 20% magic damage and has a 4 minute Cooldown up from 2 minutes. The amount it can absorb is uncapped however. Assimilation brings the Cooldown down to 3 minutes and duration up to 8 seconds. - Overall a nerf in most scenarios since we did not hit the absorb cap very often.
  • Death Grip now has a 15 seconds cooldown - Same as Blood Death Knights thus removing a utility disadvantage against them.
  • Breath of Sindragosa now costs 60 Runic Power to cast, lasts for 8 seconds and is extended by consuming procs of Rime and Killing Machine - A huge change for Breath and the core mechanics of the talent. Instead of defining a completely new rotation, the talent now reinforces your core rotation by increasing the priority on proc consumption.
  • Empower Rune Weapon now works in a completely different way. It is off the GCD still but now gives 40 Runic Power and a stack of Killing Machine, as well as dealing some AoE damage. Furthermore, with Obliteration it makes your next Obliterate/ Frostscythe free - This is your new resource-managing tool that also injects a ton of predictable procs of Killing Machine in your rotation.
  • Frostscythe now has no Cooldown but only gains its 4x crit damage when consuming Killing Machine - It effectively replaces Obliterate in AoE scenarios (when talented).
  • Rime now procs off Frost Strike and Glacial Advance (was Obliterate and Frostscythe) - This fundamentally changes our core rotation and how we prioritise to avoid overcapping procs, making it more natural in a way.
  • Might of the Frozen Wastes now also increases Frostscythe by 30% - A big win for 2H builds in AoE.
  • Cleaving Strikes now grants 20% increased damage to Frostscythe when Remorseless Winter is active - A very positive change, removing Death and Decay from our AoE rotation and naturally fits in Remorseless Winter instead.
  • Glacial Advance and Frost Strike now cost 35 Runic Power and Glacial Advance is now baseline - A resource balance as well as a natural change that provides us with an AoE Runic Power spender by default.
  • Exterminate now does not have a change to re-apply Reaper's Mark - This is a significant nerf (which has been counteracted somewhat with buffs) well a huge decrease in the amount of randomness Deathbringer has. You would previously get these insanely lucky streaks of multiple reapplications. This is now gone which is a very good change.

The Frost Death Knight did not receive any specific changes for the 11.1.7 patch. However, all specs now have a built-in Combat Assistant that helps new players execute their rotation.

The guide as a whole has been reviewed, updating outdated information and simplifying the structure of the rotation guide. Furthermore, the new belt ( Durable Information Securing Container) has been added to the gear page.

The Frost Death Knight received buffs for the Deathbringer hero talents. Exterminate got buffed by 30%, Wave of Souls by 25% and Reaper's Mark by 30%. This made Deathbringer significantly more powerful and the general go-to Hero Talents in 11.1.5.