09-15-2005, 07:42 AM
Having secured a fair amount of +dmg items, I've decided to respec Kateley to a frost/arcane build. Fire is getting old after 10 months.
However, after poring over a fair amount of literature and fiddling with the talent calculator repeatedly, I'm still coming away without a build I'm comfortable with and with many questions.
First of all, I can't decide if I should go with a 31 Arcane/20 Frost build, or a 21 Arcane/30 Frost.
In the first case, I'll go all the way down to Arcane Power, via PoM and Arcane Instability.
However, after poring over a fair amount of literature and fiddling with the talent calculator repeatedly, I'm still coming away without a build I'm comfortable with and with many questions.
First of all, I can't decide if I should go with a 31 Arcane/20 Frost build, or a 21 Arcane/30 Frost.
In the first case, I'll go all the way down to Arcane Power, via PoM and Arcane Instability.
- Arcane Talents (31 points)
# Improved Arcane Missiles - 5/5 points
Gives you a 100% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while channeling Arcane Missiles.
# Arcane Concentration - 5/5 points
Gives you a 10% chance of entering a Clearcasting state after any damage spell hits a target. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next damage spell by 100%.
# Evocation - 1/1 point
While channeling this spell, your mana regeneration is active and increased by 1500%. Lasts 8 seconds.
# Improved Arcane Explosion - 5/5 points
Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 1.5 seconds.
# Improved Counterspell - 2/2 points
Gives your Counterspell a 100% chance to silence the target for 4 seconds.
# Arcane Meditation - 4/5 points
Allows 12% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting.
# Presence of Mind - 1/1 point
When activated, your next Mage spell with a casting time less than 10 seconds becomes an instant cast spell.
# Arcane Mind - 4/4 points
Increases your maximum Mana by 8%.
# Arcane Instability - 3/3 points
Increases your spell damage and critical strike chance by 3%.
# Arcane Power - 1/1 point
When activated, your spells deal 35% more damage while costing 35% more mana to cast. This effect lasts 15 seconds.
Frost Talents (20 points)
# Improved Frostbolt - 5/5 points
Reduces the casting time of your Frostbolt spell by 0.5 seconds.
# Ice Shards - 5/5 points
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Frost spells by 100%.
# Improved Frost Nova - 2/2 points
Reduces the cooldown of your Frost Nova spell by 4 seconds.
# Cold Snap - 1/1 point
When activated, this spell finishes the cooldown on all of your frost spells.
# Piercing Ice - 3/3 points
Increases the damage done by your frost spells by 6%.
# Arctic Reach - 2/2 points
Increases the range of your Frostbolt spell and the radius of your Frost Nova and Cone of Cold spells by 20%.
# Shatter - 2/5 points
Increases the critical strike chance of your frost spells against frozen targets by 20%.<>
[st]Looks good on paper, but I'm wondering whether the points into Shatter are worth anything when you don't put points into Frostbite as well. As I understand it, without Frostbite, the only way to freeze targets would be with Frost Nova. And we all know how long one of those lasts. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to pull off a Frostbolt before a mob gets loose again.
The 21 Arcane/30 Frost has me with...- Arcane Talents (21 points)
# Improved Arcane Missiles - 5/5 points
Gives you a 100% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while channeling Arcane Missiles.
# Arcane Concentration - 5/5 points
Gives you a 10% chance of entering a Clearcasting state after any damage spell hits a target. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next damage spell by 100%.
# Evocation - 1/1 point
While channeling this spell, your mana regeneration is active and increased by 1500%. Lasts 8 seconds.
# Improved Arcane Explosion - 5/5 points
Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 1.5 seconds.
# Improved Counterspell - 2/2 points
Gives your Counterspell a 100% chance to silence the target for 4 seconds.
# Arcane Meditation - 2/5 points
Allows 6% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting.
# Presence of Mind - 1/1 point
When activated, your next Mage spell with a casting time less than 10 seconds becomes an instant cast spell.
Frost Talents (30 points)
# Improved Frostbolt - 5/5 points
Reduces the casting time of your Frostbolt spell by 0.5 seconds.
# Ice Shards - 5/5 points
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Frost spells by 100%.
# Improved Frost Nova - 2/2 points
Reduces the cooldown of your Frost Nova spell by 4 seconds.
# Cold Snap - 1/1 point
When activated, this spell finishes the cooldown on all of your frost spells.
# Piercing Ice - 2/3 points
Increases the damage done by your frost spells by 4%.
# Arctic Reach - 2/2 points
Increases the range of your Frostbolt spell and the radius of your Frost Nova and Cone of Cold spells by 20%.
# Shatter - 5/5 points
Increases the critical strike chance of your frost spells against frozen targets by 50%.
# Ice Block - 1/1 point
You become encased in a block of ice, protecting you from all physical attacks and spells for 10 seconds, but during that time you cannot attack, move, or cast spells.
# Improved Cone of Cold - 2/3 points
Increases the damage dealt by your Cone of Cold spell by 25%.
# Frostbite - 5/5 points
Gives your chill effects a 15% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds.<>
[st]This looks to me to be a more PvE, non-raid build, with freezing/shattering optimised with full investments into Frostbite and Shatter.
However, I'm wondering whether Presence of Mind will be all that useful in a Frost build, given that Frost Bolt is the only thing with a casting time. Always seen PoM as something you pair with Pyroblast.
Maybe drop PoM for Ice Barrier, and turn it into a 31 Frost/20 Arcane build instead?
On a more general note, similiar with the fact that you can't have Presence of Mind AND Combustion on a Fire/Arcane build, I note that you can't have the two yummies of Arcane Power and Ice Block in a Frost/Arcane build.
I know that Cold Snap paired with Ice Block is something that would be great for the Geddon fight, but is Arcane Power worth more than that?
- Arcane Talents (21 points)