The Gaming Lizard

While 4.2 is still a good few months away, once again Deathknights are lamenting about the up-coming nerfs to hit them very hard in their asses (including my Worgen). Of all the nerfs that Frost DKs are about to received, one change has generated more uproar than the rest. The nerf?

"Hungering Cold now has a 1.5-second cast time."

Such a strange move indeed, when Frost DKs have them on instant casts for like over 2 years. When the talent was originally implemented, it was optional and few chose to skip over this for other utility talents since its usage in the raiding scene is limited.

When Cataclysm strikes, it was changed to become a pre-requisite for Howling Blast, the 31st talent. Still, it was a skill few uses, save for epic BGs and Arena where a 10sec mass freeze comes into play.

What made the nerf hurt even more is a particular change for mage:

"Ring of Frost is now instant, down from 1.5 sec cast time."

Ring of Frost serves the same purpose as Hungering Cold so it is easy for (immature) people to simply glance at the change before foaming at the mouth and declaring that Blizz is Rapturing Deathknights.

BUT, similar as the 2 spells might be, their applications and usage differs greatly. And so, this blog post will attempt to compare and contrast the 2 spells to see if we are comparing lemons to oranges (citrus fruits) or apples to oranges and to see if the sky really is falling for Deathknights.



It's easy to see that Deathknights have a slight advantage over mage....on paper but in reality, ranged attacks will always have the upper hands.

In BGs, a mage can simply cast it on a horde of players and gleefully watch them freeze while DKs have to run into the horde and cast it. Now, they have to stand still for 1.5 secs and hope no one interrupts it. In Arena, the same thing happens. A DK WILL get interrupted while a Mage can cast it although moving out is relatively easy for an alert team.

3 seconds is a long time to move out as compared to a 1.5 sec cast. And DKs will have an element of surprise as compared to the visual of RoF taking effect.

That is not forgetting Diminishing returns. In a one-on-one (TOTALLY NOT BALANCED AROUND 1V1 GAMES), a DK offers more control against melees since Chains of Ice is a snare while HC is counted as a Disorient. Compare this to a Mage whose CC and big-crits-basing-Deep Freeze shares the same DR as RoF now and the Mage's controlling powers is diminished (but still effective none the less!)

Against ranged, RoF offers no protection if the Mage cast is around him. Only melee players will be affected (once more!) while range can continue to shoot death at the poor guy. The same goes for HC although DK has the advantage of already being in range for his targets.

Thus, in conclusion, what Blizzard has done is to make HC the same as RoF, instead of buffing the latter (which might have caused even more uproar!) So fellow Deathknights, the sky is NOT falling! (as least with regard to this change)