Confusion - 3.2 Frost Spec

[Masto]

As I have plans on getting back into WoW very soon, I decided I'd start tanking as well as SS spamming with my Rouge. I've always wanted to tank and as I will be leading a progression focused guild I feel it's only a natural transition. So, please have a gander at this Frost Spec I've been looking at for 3.2 and give me feedback about what I've done wrong and why, it would be much appreciated.

12/51/8 - No Acclimation with instead Ravenous Dead AND Two-Handed Wep Spec

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The glyphs I felt were solid choices, however if any better ideas come to mind, do tell.

I feel confident in my picks up the Frost tree but its Acclimation that's bugging me. Should I dish out 3 points and get it? If yes, then the last 2 points are spent on either a 4% dmg boost or a 2% Strength boost. I feel if I end up getting Acclim, then the 2% STR is the winner.

HOWEVER, I'm thinking no to Acclimation as with those 3 points (thanks to the change to Blood of the North) it will allow me to get both Ravenous Dead AND 2HWS. But maybe my DPS brain isn't looking at mitigation like it should.

[vine]

Spec looks solid other than Merciless Combat which I see as having little to no use as a tank, it's a dps talent. And no point using Glyph of Disease as Frost with the HB Glyph, your diseases will be reapplied long before they expire, I'd swap that out for Frost Strike for higher single target threat.

[Esch]

Spec looks solid other than Merciless Combat which I see as having little to no use as a tank, it's a dps talent.

Faster something dies, the less time it can try and kill you. Any situation where it's a DPS race, this talent shines.

Generally speaking, Acclimation is extremely situational. I can name several fights it's great on, but for most, it's meh. If you're struggling on a specific fight (Iron Council, Hodir, Razorscale) where resists can be useful, then pick it up. Otherwise, pass.

Consider Hungering Cold & Deathchill instead of Lichborne. HC is good for applying Frost Fever (and stalling a pack of mobs) & uses RP instead of a rune, while Deathchill gives you a 100% crit, such as on an opening HB. Outside of PvP, Lichborne is very limited.

The Glyph of Disease depends a lot on whether your running 1 or 2 disease rotations. If one (just Frost Fever), then Frost Strike glyph would be better. If you're opting to use Plague Strike to get Blood Plague on targets, then Glyph of Disease is worth the slot so you can Pestilence to sustain it and use Death Runes for more Obliterates/HBs.

[Inaara]

With the changes to the frost tree taking Merciless Combat fits into the 2H frost build perfectly, that is if you aren't taking icy talons..... which I hate taking. I would rock something like this for the 2H build.

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[Silveronfire]

lichborne is far from limited....esp if you dont have a handy shammy for certain fear fests. it can give you a great "oh crap" save.

I agreee Meciless Combat is subpar, not useless but certainly not in the must have grping. personally I take the imp icy talons for the grp buff as my 10m ulduar progression grp does not have a frost spec dps dk or an enh shammy.

I have seen little use for hungering cold. with glyph of HB, I tend to just pull with that, and due to the huge amount of aoe present in most raids the cc effect will go down in less than a second in all but the rarest of cases.

All in all, I like your build...would not use it personally but I see how it can be effective.

[Masto]

Agree with your spec choice Inaara. Virulence > Ravenous obviously :S

Esch's and Inaara's reasoning on MC is the same as mine. But let me expand on Inaara's - it more than fits in for the 2H spec, as with 3.2, I've found that I was struggling to find OTHER talents for my spare points.

Icy Talons - such a steep investment for something another class can bring to the table
RPM - PvP based as your RP should never reach 100 anyway with you spamming FS/RS. Its just Vigor for DKs.
Icy Reach - PvP based
Nerves of Steel (and thus ToT) - Only with a gun to my head would I ever take dual wielding for a class that has the option to utilize 2H, and well at that
Chillbains - again, PvP based
Hungering Cold - Silveronfire is dead on here
Endless Winter - AGAIN PvP based

So really, on top of Merciless Combat's usefulness (of which it has plenty), but it's just the best option when deciding on where to dump those 2 points that the change to Blood of the North has given you.

Again, I have little to no experience with tanking, other than my knowledge of the fundamental mechanics of melee combat and the game in general.

[VerticalEvent]

I like Icy Talons - you should have Frost Fever up 100% of the time, and the increase in haste means more Rune Strikes, which means more threat. Merciless Combat is fine if you don't have anywhere else to put talents to, but, since you shouldn't be outputting that much damage and you should have a strong hold on agro by that point, the talent is moot, in my opinion. Can you rally argrue with 25% increase in rune strikes?

As far as I can recall, Lichborne is only good at one boss -Auriaya, and she fears you every minute or so, so it doesn't help all that much.

I think points into Morbidity then Ravenous Dead is better suited - there's a few bosses I can think of (Second boss of Military, Thorim arena) where having Death And Decay down almost 100% of the time is the most useful thing you can do.

On Dual Wielding - I recomend reading into the thread in Theorycrafting on 3.2 on DKs. We've been discussing DW vs 2-H and it seems that Dual Wielding might be a better option of a 2-H weapon, or at least, comparable.

[Inaara]

I like Icy Talons - you should have Frost Fever up 100% of the time, and the increase in haste means more Rune Strikes, which means more threat. Merciless Combat is fine if you don't have anywhere else to put talents to, but, since you shouldn't be outputting that much damage and you should have a strong hold on agro by that point, the talent is moot, in my opinion. Can you rally argrue with 25% increase in rune strikes?

As far as I can recall, Lichborne is only good at one boss -Auriaya, and she fears you every minute or so, so it doesn't help all that much.

I think points into Morbidity then Ravenous Dead is better suited - there's a few bosses I can think of (Second boss of Military, Thorim arena) where having Death And Decay down almost 100% of the time is the most useful thing you can do.

On Dual Wielding - I recomend reading into the thread in Theorycrafting on 3.2 on DKs. We've been discussing DW vs 2-H and it seems that Dual Wielding might be a better option of a 2-H weapon, or at least, comparable.

You misread, I don't think that Icy Talons is bad, but if there's a DPS Frost DK or an Enhancement Shammy there is no reason to take the talent, it takes away from other strengths and the practically perfect talent progression path of the frost talent tree.

In 3.2 DW tanking will definitely be an option, I have posted a simple weapon comparison in the thread you mentioned but my comparison represents the "best" weapon options that Ulduar has to offer. While i've picked up two Titanguard - Item - World of Warcraft I don't really want to DW tank until i've got two Sorthalis, Hammer of the Watchers - Item - World of Warcraft. It is unfortunate that XT stopped dropping them after our pally and warrior picked one up >_<. I emphasize that your 1 handed tanking options have to be good. Don't expect to be some bad ass DW tank rocking 2 RSoC.