1.0 - The Frost Mage
Frost mages represent a mixture of mana efficiency and damage, being quite capable of matching fire mage damage throughout earlier dungeons such as Karazhan before being slightly to moderately surpassed within Serpent Shrine Cavern and other such mid-level raids by Arcane & Fire.
However, Frost does have a ressurgence at the true end-game section such as Black Temple and the Sunwell, but in between theses raids you can also make up for it by hogging the PvP spotlight with immensely superior CC and survivability.
Frost may not be quite as deadly as fire, but it certainly has a lasting power other mage builds lack, and many players use frost very effectively.
This guide is simply intended to provide a general overview of the Frost Mage. For a more in-depth and highly detailed resource on this class, check out this killer Mage Guide, here.
2.0 - Talent Builds
11/0/50 Frost
2.1 - Spell Rotation
Frost Bolt Spam - Summon Elemental (When Avaliable) - Icy Veins (Also When Avaliable)
2.2 - Leveling Frost Build
19/0/42 Frost/Arcane Leveling Build
10 – 14 Improved Frost Bolt
15 – 16 Improved Frost Nova
17 – 21 Ice shards
22 – 24 Piercing Ice
25 – 29 Shatter
30 – 31 Arctic Reach
32 – Icy Veins
33 – Cold Snap
34 – 38 Improved Arcane Missiles
39 – 43 Arcane Concentration
44 – 46 Frost Channeling
47 – 49 Elemental Precision
50 – Ice Barrier
51 - 70 Expand more into the Arcane Tree for Meditation and finish off the frost as well with water elemental
Leveling Spell Rotation(Assuming Max Range):
Frostbolt - Frostbolt - Frostbolt - Frost Nova if within range - Continue Frostbolt spam and perhaps finish with a wand if possible.
If Clearcasting becomes active - Arcane Missiles
3.0 - Frost PvP Build
17/0/44 Frost/Arcane Arena Build
21/0/40 Frost/Arcane PvP Build
NOTE: The below section is nearly identical for all three specializations of mage, this is due to the usage of almost entirely the same stats for any mage no matter the talent build/elemental specialization.
4.0 - Number Crunching
Spell Hit - 12.6 = 1%
Spell Critical - 22.1 = 1%
Spell Penetration - 1 = 1 Lost point of Resistance
Spell Haste - 15.7 = 1%/0.025 seconds off of Global Cooldown & Spell Cast Time
Spell Damage Coefficients:
Frostbolt = 81.4% OR 91.4% W/Empowered Frostbolt
Blizzard = 114.3%( or 14.2% per wave)
Spell Hit Cap W/ (3/3) Elemental Precision = 164 For Fire & Frost/126 (Frostbolt Only)
Spell Hit Cap W/ (5/5) Arcane Focus = 76 for Arcane
Spell Hit Cap W/ (3/3) Elemental Precision & (3/5) Arcane Focus = 126 for Fire, Frost & Arcane
4.1 - Spell Hit, Crit, etc.
The Numbers above detail the percentage to which each point of +Spell Damage actually effects any given spell. For instance, 1 point of spell damage does not automatically equal an increase of one damage, rather it will increase it to a percentage as listed above.
If the spell you're looking for isn't listed above then simply take the base casting time(without talents) and divide it by 3.5. However, a different formula will apply to AoE spells.
Defacto Priority:
Spell Hit(Until Capped) - Spell Damage OR Haste - Spell Critical
What to shoot for when entering Karazhan & Heroics:
If you simply want to make certain you're good to begin attempting karazhan and heroics try aiming for the stats below as an absolute minimum, surpassing them however is recommended to make things overall quite easier.
Additionally, you can downgrade these stats somewhat for the easier heroic dungeons as Karazhan is definitely more challenging than most if not all of them.
Spell Hit: 90
Spell Damage: 600
Spell Critical: 20%
Health: 6,000
Mana: 7,000
What to shoot for when heading into 25-Raids:
These numbers should cover you for passing Karazhan into the 25-man raiding content, statistics such as spell hit will be notably harder to achieve prior to gearing up in Karazhan & Heroics quie a bit. Otherwise if you have this or higher by the time you eclipse Karazhan you'll be fine.
Spell Hit: 10%
Spell Damage: 800+
Spell Critical: 22% or 32% W/ Winter's Chill
Health: 7,000+
Mana: 9,000
4.2 - Gems
[Runed Living Ruby]
[Great Dawnstone]
[Quick Dawnstone]
[Veiled Noble Topaz]
[Unstable Topaz]
4.3 Enchantments
Head: Glyph of Power
Shoulders: Aldor/Scryer Inscription
Back: Spell Penetration
Chest: Exceptional Mana
Wrist: Spellpower
Hands: Major Spellpower
Legs: Runic Spellthread
Weapon: Major Spellpower
5.0 - PvE Gear Guide
Note: As this is a PvE gear guide I'll only list the PvP rewards capable of being obtained via Honor, arena rewards are however viable alternatives to many pieces of gear.
Many pieces of gear will be equally useful to both fire, frost, and arcane mages, the only few pieces that really differ are Spellfire Vs. Frozen Shadowweave and a couple little rings.
Head:
[Annihilator Holo-Gogs] - Crafted
[Spellstrike Hood] - Crafted
[Hood of Oblivion] - Arcatraz
[Incanter's Cowl] - Mechanar
Neck:
[Vindicator's Pendant of Subjugation] - PvP Reward
[Brooch of Heightened Potential] - Shadow Laybrinth
[Hydra-fang Necklace] - Heroic Underbog
[Torc of the Sethekk Prophet]- Quest Reward
Shoulders:
[Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders] - Crafted
[Fel-tinged Mantle] - Heroic Magister's Terrace
[Duskhallow Mantle] - Normal Magister's Terrace
[Gladiator's Silk Amice] - PvP Reward
[Mana-Etched Spaulders] - Heroic Slave Pens
Back:
[Cloak of the Betrayed] - Normal Magister's Terrace
[Cloak of Arcane Alacrity] - (60) Badges of Justice
[Sethekk Oracle Cloak] - Sethekk Halls
[Cloak of the Black Void] - Crafted
Chest:
[Frozen Shadoweave Robe] - Crafted
[Scarlet Sin'dorei Robes] - Heroic Magister's Terrace
[Robe of the Crimson Order] - World Drop BoE
[Warp Infused Drape] - Botanica
Wrist:
[Bracers of Nimble Thought] - Crafted BoE
[Bindings of Raging Fire] - Magister's Terrace
[Vindicator's Silk Cuffs] - PvP Reward
Hands:
[Gloves of Arcane Acuity] - Normal Magister's Terrace
[Studious Wraps] - (60) Badges of justice
[Manaspark Gloves] - Normal Underbog
Belt:
[Belt of Blasting] - Crafted BoE
[Girdle of Ruination] - Crafted BoE
[Vindicator's Silk Belt] - PvP Reward
Legs:
[Spellstrike Pants] - Crafted
[Legwraps of Sweltering Flame] - (100) Badges of Justice
[Breeches of the Occultist] - Heroic Black Morass
[Battlecast Pants] - Crafted BoE
Boots:
[Frozen Shadoweave Boots] - Crafted
[Boots of Incantations] - (75) Badges of Justice
[Vindicator's Silk Footguards] - PvP Reward
[Sigil-Laced Boots] - Arcatraz
[Shattrath Jumpers] - Quest Reward
Rings:
[Fused Nethergon Band] - (60) Badges of Justice
[Band of Frigid Elements] - Heroic Sethekk Halls
[Ashyen's Gift] - Reputation Reward
[Sparking Arcanite Ring] - Heroic Old Hillsbrad
[Band of Arcane Alacrity] - Normal Magister's Terrace
[Seal of the Exorcist] - (50) Spirit Shards
[Seer's Signet] - Reputation Reward
[Band of Dominion] - BoE World Drop
Trinkets:
[Darkmoon Card: Crusade] - Darkmoon Card Deck
[Icon of the Silver Crescent] - (41) Badges of Justice
[Scryer's Bloodgem] - Reputation Reward
[Sorcerer's Alchemist Stone] - Crafted
[Arcanist's Stone] - Heroic Old Hillsbrad
Two-Handed Weapons:
[Gladiator's War Staff] - PvP Reward
[Terokk's Shadowstaff] - Heroic Sethekk Halls
[Sun-infused Focus Staff] - Normal Magister's Terrace
Main-Hand:
[Scryer's Blade of Focus] - (150) Badges of Justice
[Jaded Crystal Dagger] - Heroic Magister's Terrace
[Gladiator's Spellblade] - PvP Reward
[Blade of Wizardry] - BoE World Drop
[Blade of the Archmage] OR [Stormcaller] - Reputation Reward
Off-Hand:
[Fetish of the Primal Gods] - (35) Badges of Justice
[Flametongue Seal] - (25) Badges of Justice
[Lamp of Peaceful Radiance] - Arcatraz
[Star-Heart Lamp] - Black Morass
Wand:
[Carved Witch Doctor's Stick] - (25) Badges of Justice
[Nether Core's Control Rod] - Arcatraz
[Voidfire Wand] - Normal Mana-tombs
[Gladiator's Touch of Defeat] - PvP Reward |
