I have a level 74 Glacial Tome of Rolderathis which I really wanted to like for my Trozan’s spellbreaker, but I’m finding the proc very underwhelming in practice.
- I’m not a fan of the slow-pitch underhand lob projectile mechanic in general.
I’d be happy to overlook this if the effects were worthwhile, but they aren’t.
- Damage is underwhelming, even with +1200% cold damage.
- Radius is also small.
- You pay power for the proc
Compare to the Ice Nova on Iceskorn Talons. 4 times the area of effect, 70% more damage per hit, and a 17% faster recharge, equals 8 times the dps if you’re triggering it on cooldown; both items have identical chances to trigger. And you get the Iceskorn proc for free! Granted, Iceskorn has no freeze effect, but that leads to my next points:
- Bonus to Trozan’s clearly indicates this tome is intended for Arcanists
- Trozans Arcanists can safely be assumed to have also trained Olexra’s Flash Freeze
- Freeze proc therefore adds minimal value for the item’s intended users
Anything I can freeze is already gonna get froze. Anything immune to OFF is also going to be immune to Touch of Rolly. There’s no benefit here. Now, a non-Arcanist could certainly pick the book up to use for his sole source of freeze, but in that case the Trozan’s bonus is wasted item budget.
So, as it stands, I would not choose even a perfect double green Rolderathis’ Tome over legendary options like Aldanar’s Vanity or the Tome of the Arcane Wastes, for any build of any class. Here are my proposals/requests; choose any or all as you think best:
- Remove the power cost from the proc
- Change the missile type
- Increase the cold damage of the proc
- Change the +3 skyshards to +3 night’s chill or something in the Wind Devil line if you want this to be a freeze item for nightshades or shamans
- Add freeze resist reduction if you want this to be an arcanist item which is useful to arcanists
Assuming that you’re not looking to change the item concept and the intended audience is Trozan’s arcanists, I think that adding freeze resist reduction changes the item dynamic significantly. As things stand, the utility of the item is obviated by OFF while the damage is to yawn for. You could fix this in two ways: by significantly boosting the damage, or changing the utility proposition; freeze resist reduction would be an excellent way to accomplish that.