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I have always wondered a couple of things regarding our rotation when multiple targets are present. First of all, whether Flamestrike is even worth casting, and if it is, under what circumstances?

Also, if we are talking about 6+ stationary targets that are grouped together, does blizzard or arcane explosion pull ahead in damage? I typically use blizzard, especially during times of large haste gains, but I'm not positive regarding Blizzard/AE's credibility.

Lastly, the synergism between Frozen Orb and FoF ticks. Launching a frozen orb at a large group of enemies generates a huge number of FoF charges, and sometimes I wonder whether it's optimal to just spam glyphed ice lance until Frozen orb fades, or to ignore the FoF charges and continue spamming Blizzard/Arcane explosion. For example, when I was progressing on heroic garrosh, I would launch a frozen orb during phase 1 when the first set of adds come out, and spam glyphed ice lance on garrosh for pretty insane damage (over 1.5M burst), and I don't see that kind of damage from simply spamming blizzard.

Any input is appreciated!

I plugged my stats (with a focus on all out haste) into the TheoryCraft-O-Matic
Here are the DPETs for some of the spells in question at 5 targets (Which is really where our AoE starts to scratch at our single target numbers depending on your mastery)

From this it's easy to devise a priority rotation based on the DPET values:

Frozen Orb > Frostbomb > Nether Tempest > > Livingbomb > Frostfire Bolt (Brain Freeze) > Icelance (FoF + Glyph) > Flame Strike > Cone of Cold (Glyphed) > Blizzard

If you don't have a spell, simply remove it from the rotation. Keep in mind that all DPET values assume the full duration of the spell is being utilized. For example, flame strike will DoT mobs that are hit with it - If the mob dies before the DoT run it's course, the dpet of that ability falls.

The DPET of abilities will change depending on the number of targets you have. We'll look at 6 targets now to see how the AoEs overtake single target.
With these new values, the rotation is:
Frozen orb > Frostbomb > Nether Tempest > Flame Strike > Cone of Cold (Glyphed) > Livingbomb > Frostfire Bolt (Brain Freeze) + Icicle > Icelance (FoF + Glyph) > Blizzard

But let's go to 10 targets
Frozen orb > Frost bomb > Flame Strike > Cone of Cold (Glyphed) > Nether Tempest > Livingbomb > Blizzard




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So, that's a lot of information, but I hope it makes the process of figuring this out easier to understand. What can we take away from this?

As we increase the number of targets, the gains on the following spells increase dramatically:
Frozen Orb
Frost Bomb
Flame Strike
Cone of Cold (Glyphed)
Blizzard

And the following spells remain stagnant (or increase slightly in the case of living bomb)
Nether Tempest
Living Bomb
Icelance
Frostfire Bolt

Given enough targets, the eventual rotation would be:
Frozen Orb > Frost Bomb > Flame Strike > Cone of Cold (Glyphed) > Blizzard

So, to answer your original questions:

First of all, whether Flamestrike is even worth casting, and if it is, under what circumstances?

Absolutely! As you can see above, 6 targets who will live through it's DoT duration is where you'll want to start using it.

Also, if we are talking about 6+ stationary targets that are grouped together, does blizzard or arcane explosion pull ahead in damage? I typically use blizzard, especially during times of large haste gains, but I'm not positive regarding Blizzard/AE's credibility.

Blizzards DPET is always better than Arcane Explosion, but at the expense of having to stand still to cast it. Arcane Explosion isn't much of a loss, but can be cast on the move while running through a pack of mobs.

Lastly, the synergism between Frozen Orb and FoF ticks. Launching a frozen orb at a large group of enemies generates a huge number of FoF charges, and sometimes I wonder whether it's optimal to just spam glyphed ice lance until Frozen orb fades, or to ignore the FoF charges and continue spamming Blizzard/Arcane explosion.

For the stats I plugged into TheoryCraft-O-Matic, you can start ignoring FoF charges in favor of using Blizzard at 9 targets.

At that amount of targets their DPET values came out to be:
Ice Lance + Glyph + FoF - 305442
Blizzard - 334935

Impressive, thanks for taking the time to give me this information.

So basically flamestrike is very powerful, but only if we can guarantee if the mobs will be still for the duration that the DoT effect is up. Blizzard is similar since the targets have to stay still.

Thanks so much again, this helps a lot.