Frost DW vs 2HFollow

How much of a difference is there in DPS between these 2 specs if any? I've looked online but haven't found anything recent, meaning post launch of Cataclysm.

Does anyone have experience with both specs that can speak to how they differ in DPS or have numbers to post?

Also, rotation wise, how different are they, what is 2H most damaging ability over time, Obliterate or Frost Strike?

EJ also says that DW frost doesn't pull ahead of 2H unholy until you are in heroic raid gear. Until then, it is the other way around, with 2H Unholy being 10% ahead of DW.
edit: did you actually mean 2H frost? Who plays that?!
Personally? I think that 10% isn't that much anyway, so would stick with whatever playstyle you prefer and think looks cooler, weapon wise.
For example, if I were to get a mixture or two of either Lava Spine and Soul Blade I would switch to them. Otherwise I will stick to 2H.

Edited, Jan 28th 2011 8:00pm by InsanityShade

What kind of rotation were you using for your Frost 2H? I purchased dual-spec to try this Frost 2H leveling I've heard so much about, but it lagged behind quite a bit in DPS from my 2H Unholy build, and it also left me with much less HP. But it felt like I was playing the spec wrong, as I was primarily using Howling Blast and Frost strike...and only those. Problem was that I couldn't hit them a lot because of Rune CD and not enough rune power.

Does anyone use anything but Frost Fever for Frost anyway while leveling? With a Killing Machine proc, you can pretty much one-shot stuff with Obliterate up until Northrend.

For leveling, 2h Frost is the fastest of all the specs. At least, that's what some guide I read somewhere said. Not just because of the Frost Strikes, but because Unholy Presence (which you should be using as 2h Frost) increases your movement speed, which is king while leveling.

That's the guide I read as well.

For pre-80 leveling, though, I recommend DW if you have the heirlooms. You can't spam Frost Strike (at a reduced GCD), but your Obliterate crits pretty much one-shot everything, even in Northrend. Mine currently crit for 7-8k at level 72 without Fallen Crusader up.

Most of my (single target) fights go like this: Howling Blast > Obliterate > loot. I tried the 2h build with my heirloom sword, but in my experience, it wasn't as fast, and I did less DPS in dungeons.

On a side note, Lichborne + Death Coil is win. One Coil heals me for about half my health at these levels.

Damage differences between dual-wield and 2-hand are negligible for leveling purposes. Pale Horse is going to speed up your XP/hour more than either weapon specialty. Frost is so dependent on burst anyway that nothing lives long enough to make any reliable comparison. When was the last time a quest mob lived through even one rune cycle? In my experience, only the elites.

So apparently Frost DW and 2-hand are essentially equal now?

Interesting...