Frost has received new target caps on a total of three abilities. This is both big nerfs (
Faux de givre) but also big buffs (
Souffle de Sindragosa).
Faux de givre is now capped at 5 targets, a significant nerf to the ability on multiple levels.
- Damage doesn't scale past 5 targets.
- Trancheglace application isn't done as effectively (Previously spread to all targets with Trancheglace equipped on your mainhand).
- Fewer hits means fewer crit opportunities. Chape de glace 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
Machine à tuer buffed
Faux de givre on 5 targets is only ~25% more than a single target
Anéantissement Machine à tuer Critical Strike. With Dual Wield, the damage difference is 55% in
Faux de givre's favor. This will definitely open up for other talent combinations. Neither
Avalanche nor
Onde gelée has an AoE cap.
Trancheglace application can be done with
Avancée glaciale instead, pushing this talent forward in the new meta!
Souffle de Sindragosa and
Rafale hurlante 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,
Rafale hurlante will be somewhat better at 3 or fewer targets, equal at 4 and worse beyond.
Souffle de 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
Souffle de Sindragosa will be the king of cleave in Shadowlands!