As we are all aware crit dmg is getting cut in 10.1 from 175% to 150%. This will particularly target frost mages since our burst rely heavily on big GS crit followed by lances crits. However blizz did think about that and comprehend this with following buffs;
- Frostbolt damage increased by 116% in PvP combat (was 100%).
- Comet Storm damage increased by 8% in PvP combat.
- Flurry damage increased by 8% in PvP combat.
- Ebonbolt damage increased by 12% in PvP combat.
- Frost Bomb damage increased by 12%.
- Ice Lance damage increased by 34% in PvP combat (was 20%).
- Glacial Spike damage reduced by 5% in PvP combat (was 15%)
Now if we add our new tier set bonus which is
Flurry and Ice Lance damage increased by 10%. Flurry causes an explosion on impact, dealing 50% of its damage to nearby enemies, damage reduced beyond 5 targets.
We can clearly see where our spec is going.
And this is right direction.
Yes I said it.
The changes feels somehow like respond to heavy melee meta.
In one of my previous threads I discussed a new mage pvp talents, and in conclusion frost will be running frost bomb along with ring of fire and orb talent. A new bomb talent is another tool in kite / short cast / instant cast gameplay which will further help us against melee meta. We can also clearly see gameplay more focused on FB procs with both 4set and bomb talents.
In 10.1 we are dumping GS for shatter, and instead of scary big GS we will be gunning down frostbolts fishing for big ones supported by big BF flurries (8% dmg increase). This is a good change because it’s already hard to cast GS since players are already aware of it and will prioritise interrupting it.
I rate changes made to frost gameplay as good changes. Especially after cut in CC durations, controlling the game will be even less possible / impactful, and meta is switching towards damage gameplay. And in that meta the team who deal more damage wins so it’s good to reduce enemy team damage by kiting it which frost mage will be doing even better in next season.