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#2257699 Feb 21, 2010 at 02:26 PM
13 Posts
Being that frost has always been my favorite spec to play, I've been trying to figure out a good one for pvp in 3.3.3. I'm thinking primarily 2v2 right now, because those are the only arenas I'm currently working on. I would definitely change some things for a 5v5 team... and possibly even for a 3v3 team.

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deathknight#BLlDSFK7TR4cPD,3akORe,11573

The Good: This should end up having more burst damage than any other spec. In arenas, this seems to be my biggest downfall... not enough burst damage to take players down quick enough. The high amount of spell damage would be fantastic for the more heavily armored foes. Runic power would be generated faster than in any other spec, meaning much more frequent DC's and FS's. Hungering Cold is awesome, period. Deathchill & Unbreakable armor are a really good combo (and possibly macro) to use for a finishing damage burst. Lichborne & Icy reach are essentially required for arenas. Blood talents add to overall damage & runic power generation.

The Bad: No ghoul. That's a big loss in itself. Changing from the standard Unholy spec, you're losing a lot of DoT damage and DC damage. Lichborne/DC healing is a lot less effective. You don't get Ebon Plague, which is really useful when your healer gets time to toss out some damage (especially dots). No Anti-Magic Zone or Bone Armor, both of which are really helpful. Unholy Command really sucks to lose, as DG is used almost as soon as it's ready, every time. There's also lower survivability in this spec, without Blade Barrier and Toughness. You're a little more vulnerable to slows, stuns, and fears without Toughness and On A Pale Horse.

Other Thoughts: You shouldn't worry about crit change with this spec. Between Killing Spree and Deathchill, you can control what you want to crit pretty well. Str, AP, Stam, and Res. are the only stats you want. You don't need any Agi. Haste, or Crit, if given the choice. Rune Tap is really nice for when your heals are CC'd, but might not be necessary. Really, the 5 points used to obtain imp. rune tap would probably be better spent on Toughness or Black Ice. Scent of Blood goes really well with Icy Talons, but I think it could be swapped for Blood of the North. Also, removing all the Imp. Icy Touch talents would allow you to have Black Ice & Toughness as well as the blood talents. Hungering Cold glyph could be swapped for Frost Strike glyph for a little more damage, but you'd lose the reliability of that free HC.

A good strategy for Frost pvp is to start by just beating lightly on somebody until you've got your runic power, procs, and diseases up. Always have frost fever up. I rarely use Icy Touch; it's not in my standard rotation. Chains of Ice will keep frost fever up, and you won't accidentally waste a Killing Spree proc with it. BS, PS, and OBL are the main abilities you should use on your target until you're ready to kill. Your frost runes will probably be used for CoI on the 2nd target, either to keep him away from your heals, or to try and get a LoS opportunity for your DPS bomb. Until you're ready to pull the pin on your DPS grenade, avoid using HB & FS. They're best used once you've got a killing spree proc ready, and by using Obl a lot you'll hopefully have a freezing fog proc ready as well. I like to save hungering cold (if I can) until I'm ready to kill, and then drop it near his partner when I'm ready to finish him off. If you' have a freezing fog proc ready, use it right before HB. It's a good idea to save Strangulate for this time. Trinket and DG should be ready too, in case your target tries to get away after you blow your cooldowns. When you're all set, Deathchill + Unbreakable Armor + Obl spam+ Frost Strike spam + Empower Rune Weapon = dead. If it's possible, this would be a great time for your partner to do any damage they can as well. If you fail, switch targets. There's a good chance the other team panicked and wasted some of their important cooldowns as well.

Obviously this still has to be tested with the upcoming changes, but I have pretty high hopes for builds similar to this. I'm going off of various strategies I've read, as well as the tricks that worked for me while attempting frost pvp. Any input would be great, especially if I'm doing something terribly wrong here. Let me know what you think.
#2257748 Feb 21, 2010 at 02:41 PM
13 Posts
This is an alternate version with some of the less useful blood talents swapped for more DPS frost talents:
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deathknight#BLlj7ocU0gq-N,3akORe,11573

One more alternate build that trades all the Imp Icy Touch talents and some Blood talents for Black Ice, Toughness, Blood of the North, and Unholy Command. This may be the build I stick with.
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deathknight#_clcclivpJSF,3akORe,11573