Frost has received new target caps on a total of three abilities. This is both big nerfs (
Frostscythe) but also big buffs (
Breath of Sindragosa).
Frostscythe is now capped at 5 targets, a significant nerf to the ability on multiple levels.
- Damage doesn't scale past 5 targets.
- Razorice application isn't done as effectively (Previously spread to all targets with Razorice equipped on your mainhand).
- Fewer hits means fewer crit opportunities. Icecap CD reduction now doesn't scale past 5 targets.
The damage reduction is in itself very significant. With a 2H equipped, the total damage of a
Killing Machine buffed
Frostscythe on 5 targets is only ~25% more than a single target
Obliterate Killing Machine Critical Strike. With Dual Wield, the damage difference is 55% in
Frostscythe's favor. This will definitely open up for other talent combinations. Neither
Avalanche nor
Frozen Pulse has an AoE cap.
Razorice application can be done with
Glacial Advance instead, pushing this talent forward in the new meta!
Breath of Sindragosa and
Howling Blast now follow the sqrt-formula
The total damage output of an ability that scales with the sqrt-formula is the following:
damage ~ 1 + (n - 1) / sqrt(n)
Where n is the number of targets. The abilities deal the same amount of damage to a single target, but scale differently on subsequent targets. This used to be linear.
In our case,
Howling Blast will be somewhat better at 3 or fewer targets, equal at 4 and worse beyond.
Breath of Sindragosa will be significantly better at low target counts. It's only at 11 targets that it'll deal less damage than the BFA version. The overall output at 2 targets is
30% higher compared to BFA. It looks to me like
Breath of Sindragosa will be the king of cleave in Shadowlands!