BoS advices for scrubs

[DirtyShirley]

Hi all, I've been a lurker for some time and just registered to post this. Let me start by saying that I am by no means a reliable authority or theorycrafter on death knights, in fact I'm just some mook who has just started with death knight this expansion and jumped on the BoS bandwagon when I got the ring. The following are just observations and experiences I have running through normal Nighthold with the BoS build and spying around on warcraftlogs. I'm not sure if what I'm saying will even help the more experienced people playing this spec, because it only reinforces what they've been doing, but I think it will help people who think they don't have the legendaries to stay breathing long enough, or are anxious of mechanics cutting short their breath.
Anyways, the first big thing I realized is that Breath of Sindragosa is the second most important skill in the Breath of Sindragosa build. The most important is actually Rime. If you look at the top scoring DKs on warcraftlogs, their Howling Blast contributes about 2 to 3 times more damage than BoS. Most of them have the Hat, which doesn't affect BoS in any way, but directly buffs Howling Blast damage.They all use Freezing Fog. They're basing their gear and talent not around Breath of Sindragosa, but Rime, so really while they picked BoS as a talent they're actually doing the Rime build. In that respect, the role of Breath of Sindragosa in the Rime build is:
1) Generate runes through RE but without spending GCDs like Frost Strike
2) Deal extra damage
3) Not get in Rime's way as much as the other two talents
As you might have known Obliteration sacrifices Rime procs for Killing Machine procs, and Glacial Advance eats runes that could be used for Obliterate, which procs Rimes. BoS, meanwhile, has the potential of generating more runes, and with the 4 piece will start benefiting from Rime as well.

I think it's obvious, when I look at the top DK parses on warcraftlogs, to see what it is they're trying to do. They're not trying to min-max BoS duration, but Rime damage. To that extent there are a whole bunch of things you can stack on Rime at once. Of the things that buffs Rime damage:
1) PoF
2) Food, Flask, Runes
3) Mastery
4) the Freezing Fog talent - +30%
5) the Blast Radius trait - +30%
6) Relics that buff BR - up to +30% more
7) either the Helm or the Bracer, or both

And of the things that buff Rime frequency:
1) the 2-piece bonus
2) The Belt and the Ring
3) Runic empowerment via BoS/FS

In short, instead of thinking of this build in terms of how you can prolong and maximize BoS's damage, you should think of this build in terms of how much can you buff the frequency and damage of Rime. This is not to say that you should just not give a hoot about the duration of your breath, of course, Breath is still your 2nd biggest damage dealer, and it's well worth sacrificing two or three Rimes to keep Breath up for at least the whole duration of PoF, but it means that you're far from being entirely useless when Breath is down. When BoS is down it just means that you're back to spending RP less efficiently with Frost Strike, but you can still Obliterate and try your luck with Rime procs. PoF comes off cooldown once in between Breaths, so you can count that as your fun-sized burst window. There are also advantages to having shorter Breath - you can also participate in mechanics if needed, instead of insisting on sticking your face in the boss for a full 70 seconds. In some of my runs we lacked ranged people, so on Trillax for example I have to lug my DK around to help them blow up robots, or on Krosus I have to preemptively run back to soak the green swirlies farther away on the bridge. I mean if you don't have the biggest D in your raid, at least you can help them in that area.
I think, even if you're a scrub like me, BoS will be worth using the moment you get your 2-set, simply due to the fact that the other two talents don't jive as well with the bonus. Until the NH run last night most of my runs are basically me being carried, but after I realized the power of Rime my DPS improved by a lot. On single target fights, when I do mechanics properly, I place at about ~80 parses for my ilvl, and on cleave fights I place at about 95. Keep in mind that I only have 1 relic that buffs Blast Radius so far, insufficient mastery, and neither the Helm or Bracer, just the Ring and Kil'jaeden's, a glorified stat stick. I'd be glad to hear the feedback from other more experienced people about my view on the build, and I hope it helps you guys who are ambivalent about the BoS build. TY