A Fix to the AOE Post.

They have changed Blizzard. Completely changed the way frost AOE works. This small change to blizzard makes the frost AOE spec much easier to work with, and much more efficient.

Blizzard can crit.

This is certainly not a brand new thing. It's been in affect since the Echoes of Doom patch.

With the way blizzard works now, there is no reason to skip over some of the talents in Frost when specing for AOE.

The talent that used to be avoided...

Frostbite
This used to be a no no, because this would cause random mobs to be frozen into place too long as your group trudged towards their certain death. Not the case now. If you have Frostbite, then Blizzard will proc it, which will in turn make Shatter cause Blizzard to crit. The mob wont stay frozen long enough to break up your grouping, and it adds a serious amount of extra damage.

The new hotness

Finger of Frost
This is a new talent, we just got it in 3.0.2. Why is it good for AOE? Same reason that Frostbite is. This will give you a shatter with your Blizzard, without freezing the mobs in place.

Shattered Barrier
Some say that this is also a must have for AOE now as well.

My stand on it is that if your really AOE grinding, then being hit by all those mobs long enough the break your ice barrier, and get the free nova, is far too risky. When I AOE grind, it's never less that 20 mobs, which can still drop my pigtailed clothie butt really fast. i don't like being that close to the mobs that are supposed to be no where near me.

Chilled to the Bone
Once you can get to it, this is another very good AOE talent. Not for the increased damage, but for the 10% speed reduction. This combined with both Improved Blizzard and Permafrost add up to a 85% speed reduction to targets getting pummeled by your much improved Blizzard.

An oldie but a goodie

Ice Shards
Ice Shards is another good talent that might have been passed up before for a pure AOE spec. This will give 100% more critical damage to your Blizzard crits, which will happen a lot.

With these improvements, what do we end up with?

This spec at 70, for pure AOE.

And this spec at 80, again just for AOE purposes.

I went into the fire tree for the 80 spec to grab the increased crit to Blizzard, Cone of Cold, and Arcane Explosion.

Keep in mind that these are not a must, just a little tip from someone who has spent a lot of time researching this spec. As always, spec how you want, and make sure your having fun.

Its's your $15 right?