Frost Death Knight Hero Talent Showdown in The War Within - Deathbringer vs. Rider of the Apocalypse

The War Within Geposted vor 2 tagen von khazakdk

Not sure what Hero Talents to play for your spec in The War Within? Check out all the released articles in the 'Hero Talent Showdown' series:
Hero Talent Showdowns in The War Within
Frost DK
Havoc DH
Restoration Druid
Augmentation Evoker
Beast Mastery Hunter
Arcane Mage
Brewmaster Monk
Holy Paladin
Holy Priest
Shadow Priest
Outlaw Rogue
Subtlety Rogue

Enhancement Shaman
Affliction Warlock
Protection Warrior

For more information on Hero Talents coming in the War Within, check out our Hero Talents Overview.

The War Within Hero Talents Overview

Frost Death Knight in the War WithinHero Talent Showdown: Deathbringer vs. Rider of the ApocalypseMal des SchnittersExterminieren Deathbringer

Strengths

Weaknesses

Mal des SchnittersMal des SchnittersExterminierenMal des SchnittersExterminieren Rider of the Apocalypse

Strengths

Weaknesses

Sofortige ApokalypseWhat's Changed?DeathbringerQualvoller TodSchnelles EndeSchnelles EndeMal des SchnittersQualvoller TodMal des SchnittersMal des SchnittersSäule des FrostsEiskappeRider of the ApocalypseFestmahl der SeelenSchlundgebundene BedrohungAuslöschenHorn des WintersAnd the Winner Is...

Class Fantasy & Visuals: Rider of the Apocalypse & Deathbringer (Tie)
It is hard to argue against Rider of the Apocalypse for best class fantasy, especially if you did the Legion class campaign that saw us raise not only the new Four Horsemen but also their mounts. However, Rider of the Apocalypse lacks a visual for the player. If you are not mounted with Todessprint, the visual aspect is entirely contained to your summoned minions. Summons that are hard to keep track of during frantic combat. In this regard, Deathbringer does much better. The double scythes summoned by Exterminieren are hard to miss and fit better into a spec that traditionally focuses more on its damage than summons to do damage for it. Neither Hero Talent Tree has a monopoly on flavor and the distinct fantasies should provide something for everyone.

Fun & Rewarding Gameplay: Deathbringer (Winner)

Deathbringer provides the ideal gameplay hook for a Hero Talent Tree. We get an extra button to press and can put some thought towards how and when we use our new ability. Is there a priority target coming we need to burst down quickly? Can I line up Unbarmherziger Winter to provide faster stacks? These concerns do not warp the rotation but rather play hand-in-hand with things you already want to do. Exterminieren rolling to proc another Mal des Schnitters adds a source of randomness to player damage that will either be fun or frustrating, depending on your feelings towards RNG. Some will enjoy the high rolls, but others will find losing agency over their output frustrating.

Conversely, Rider of the Apocalypse provides no gameplay to think about or react to beyond lining up Furor des Frostwyrms with our other cooldowns to leverage Sofortige Apokalypse. The free Tod und Verfall from Mograines Macht can slightly alter the AoE rotation by delaying your Tod und Verfall cast, but this is only relevant at particular times. If you want to fully optimize your rotation while playing Zertrümmernde Klinge, then Festmahl der Seelen may slightly alter your priorities, but this is a niche scenario. Overall, Rider of the Apocalypse's gameplay leaves something to be desired.

Difficulty: Deathbringer & Rider of the Apocalypse (Tie)

Neither Deathbringer nor Rider of the Apocalypse adds difficulty to playing Frost. The active components of each Hero Talent Tree fit into the existing gameplay without upsetting any priorities. Both require little attention to fully utilize, so it is hard to claim any added difficulty.

Defensiveness & Utility: Rider of the Apocalypse (Winner)

Todessprint pushes Rider of the Apocalypse ahead in utility. Neither tree offers particularly remarkable defensive options; all options are passive and will not be something you look to when you are in trouble. Especially given the lack of control over talents like Unterstützung der Reiter or Pakt des Todesbringers. However, Rider of the Apocalypse picks up the utility where Deathbringer stumbles. Todessprint offers unparalleled mobility as a direct upgrade to Unaufhaltsamer Tod, meaning it gets a second charge with Echo des Todes. 10 seconds of 100% increased movement speed on top of knockback immunity takes Death Knights from famously slow to one of the fastest classes in an encounter.

Conversely, Deathbringer has no utility. The supposed utility choice node offers neither utility nor a choice. Todesbote provides more uses to abilities that already see low use. Abstoßender Schild is so weak and clunky that it will need help finding any use case, much less a good one. I am particularly disappointed by the lack of changes to this talent. We will not get any good use out of it with the current design, as covered in my initial Deathbringer review:

Requiring an enemy to damage your Anti-Magic Shell works against the goal of the talent. We want to slow casts to give us more time to react and stop them. Many enemies with important casts are often meleeing the tank right before the cast, offering no opportunity to use this. When we can use it, using a defensive with a 40-second cooldown to slow a cast is rather expensive for a weak benefit. We will still need to commit additional resources to stop the cast

Leveling: Rider of the Apocalypse (Winner)
Just like in the utility breakdown, Todessprint puts Rider of the Apocalypse over the edge. Although Deathbringer offers more controlled burst damage, speed often bottlenecks leveling. Todessprint provides incredible speed to aid in mob gathering or moving to quest objectives. Keeping that speed while attacking makes Rider of the Apocalypse the easy choice while leveling in The War Within.

Deathbringer will do fine for leveling, thanks to Mal des Schnitters jumping to new targets if the afflicted mob dies before Mal des Schnitters detonates. However, it has no particular advantage in helping the leveling process outside of raw damage.

Mythic+: Deathbringer (Winner)

Deathbringer plays better into Mythic+ in both design and tuning. Mal des Schnitters offers consistent priority target burst while maintaining strong AoE output through Welle der Seelen, Seeleneruption, and Exterminieren. Dahinsiechen also substantially boosts AoE out by buffing not only Frostfieber but also Blutfieber by providing more proc opportunities. Deathbringer also wins in tuning on top of its stronger design for bursting frequent trash packs. It currently puts a comfortable gap between it and Rider of the Apocalypse in both beta Mythic+ and sims.

Rider of the Apocalypse will help you burst more on 90s intervals, but between guaranteed windows from Sofortige Apokalypse, you are subject to random timing on your Horsemen. The random timing will be particularly annoying when Horsemen proc right as a pack dies, and they waste their duration on the run to the next pack. Additionally, Rider of the Apocalypse has no interaction with Meisterschaft: Gefrorenes Herz. This alone is enough to upset the balance in favor of Deathbringer, which does scale with Meisterschaft: Gefrorenes Herz. Mastery is a strong stat in multi-target content as it scales all of our AoE abilities. Rider of the Apocalypse getting zero benefit from a significant portion of our stat budget means it will always struggle to find a place in Mythic+.

Raid: Deathbringer (Winner)

Deathbringer slots better into raid unless you have a specific need for Todessprint. Rider of the Apocalypse may have a place if 90-second burns are needed, but current tuning keeps Rider of the Apocalypse behind Deathbringer for the same reason as Mythic+. The Hero Talent Tree gets no value from our Mastery stat budget. Even if this issue is fixed, there is a further wrinkle with Sindragosas Hauch builds needing to sit on Furor des Frostwyrms so that the guaranteed uptime on Festmahl der Seelen from Sofortige Apokalypse lines up with Sindragosas Hauch. Potentially losing casts of a cooldown on top of needing to dedicate talent points to take Absoluter Nullpunkt puts Rider of the Apocalypse at a disadvantage on throughput that it needs to overcome through tuning. Unfortunately, the tuning is currently not there.

Best Overall: Deathbringer (Winner)

It should be no surprise that Deathbringer takes the overall. Although it lacks utility, it wins on two key points: we can control when we start Mal des Schnitters and all direct damage in the tree scales with Meisterschaft: Gefrorenes Herz. A stronger design and stronger tuning pushes Deathbringer in the lead as the goto Hero Talent Tree for Frost when The War Within launches.

Hero Talent Feedback Deathbringer

Hero Talents don't override what matters to a class. You should feel like you're playing your spec with a twist or a boost and not as if the things you care about have become unimportant or been replaced.

Mal des SchnittersQualvoller TodSchnelles EndeMal des SchnittersMal des SchnittersSchnelles EndeSchnelles EndeMal des SchnittersSchnelles EndeQualvoller TodTodesboteAbstoßender SchildTodesboteAbstoßender Schild Rider of the ApocalypseBase Frost Death Knight Gameplay & TalentsEiskappeSindragosas HauchAuslöschungZertrümmernde KlingeSchneidendes EisFroststoßZertrümmernde KlingeTötungsmaschineRaureifRunenRunenmachtShould You Play Frost Death Knight in the War Within?AuslöschungSindragosas HauchAuslöschungAuslöschenMacht der gefrorenen ÖdnisFroststoßZertrümmernde KlingeMacht der gefrorenen ÖdnisTodesgriffTodesgriffHeimtückische UnterkühlungAcherus, the Death Knight class DiscordTwitch

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