Welcome to the Frost Mage Mythic+ guide for the World of Warcraft patch 11.0! This guide covers everything you need to know to understand your character! Are you starting out and leveling up from 70? Check out the leveling guide!
Overview
Frost Mage
Frost MageMythic+
Hero Talents
Frost Mage
- Spellslinger is the main hero talent used in both single and AoE scenarios. Frostfire is around 14% lower in Single Target although it becomes better the more targets you fight.
Spellslinger
Frostfire
- The main feature of the Spellslinger hero talent tree is the addition of a new passive spell, Frost Splinter, and your interaction with it. Frost Splinter is a projectile that applies a debuff that stacks and deals frost damage over time.
- You can trigger it with a variety of ways:
- Splintering Sorcery triggers it whenever you consume Winter's Chill.
- Augury Abounds causes Icy Veins to conjure 8 Frost Splinters and procs an additional one whenever you conjure a Frost Splinters during the effect.
- Splintering Orbs allows your Frozen Orb to conjure them.
- Shifting Shards grants your Shifting Power the ability to fire a barrage of Frost Splinters at random enemies around you.
- On top of that, there are a bunch of passive interactions that grant you some damage, cooldown reductions and other stuff:
- Controlled Instincts makes your Frost Splinters splash if they hit a target under the effect of Blizzard.
- Volatile Magic makes embedded Frost Splinters explode whenever they are removed.
- Spellfrost Teachings grants you a chance to reset the cooldown of Frozen Orb and increase its damage from the direct damage of Frost Splinters.
- Splinterstorm triggers whenever you have 8 or more embedded Frost Splinters and shatters them all. This deals their remaining periodic damage instantly, while also applying Winter's Chill to its target.
- Frostbolt is replaced with Frostfire Bolt.
- Frostfire hero talent tree revolves around new Frost and Fire mastery buffs. You get a bunch of new interactions with both of them and the only way to gain those effects is to cast a relevant spell school for the mastery. So for Fire Mastery that is going to be fire spells and for Frost Mastery frost spells, except for Frostfire Bolt which generates both of the mastery buffs.
- There are 2 passive effects that interact with Frost and Fire mastery in the Frostfire tree:
- With Excess Frost reaching maximum amount of Frost Mastery stacks causes your next Flurry also cast Ice Nova at 200% effectiveness and on top of that, when you consume Excess Frost, the cooldown of Comet Storm is reduced by 5 seconds.
- With Excess Fire reaching maximum amount of Fire Mastery stacks causes your next Ice Lance to apply Living Bomb at 150% effectiveness. When this Living Bomb explodes, you gain Brain Freeze.
- The rest of the passives in the tree interact with you casting certain spells and gaining different buffs:
- Isothermic Core makes your Comet Storm to also call down a Meteor at 100% effectiveness onto your target's location.
- Frostfire Infusion makes your frost and fire spells have a chance to trigger an additional bolt of Frostfire Bolt which generates both Frost and Fire mastery.
- Due to Severe Temperatures, casting damaging frost and fire spells increases the damage of your next Frostfire Bolt.
- Frostfire Empowerment makes your frost and fire spells to have a chance to activate a buff that causes your next Frostfire Bolt to be instant, deal increased damage, explode and gain you maximum benefit of Frostfire Mastery.
- Flash Freezeburn makes your Icy Veins grant you Frostfire Empowerment.
Talents
Frost Mage
Spellslinger
When to use this Spec
This is a default talent build to use in low, mid and high Mythic+ keys.
Gameplay Altering Talents
Discover all talents that significantly alter your gameplay within the Spec and Class Talent trees. This section gives a concise overview of these talents and their applications but for a more detailed look check out the Rotation and Deep Dive sections below.
Spec Tree
- Fingers of Frost
- Causes your next Ice Lance to deal damage as if the target is frozen.
- Shatter
- Greatly multiplies the critical strike chance of your spells against frozen targets.
- Glacial Spike
- Allows you to consume Icicles and deal massive amount of damage to your target.
- Requires 5 Icicles.
- Splitting Ice
- Makes your Ice Lance and Glacial Spike hit a second nearby target.
- Ice Caller
- Reduces the cooldown of Frozen Orb each time Blizzard deals damage.
- Freezing Rain
- Makes Blizzard an instant cast during Frozen Orb and increases its damage done.
- Freezing Winds
- Passively gain Fingers of Frost during Frozen Orb.
- Coldest Snap
- If Cone of Cold hits 3 or more enemies, it resets the cooldown of Frozen Orb, Comet Storm and applies Winter's Chill to every enemy that got hit.
- Icy Veins
- Your main offensive cooldown.
- Grants 20% haste and summons a water elemental which also increases your frost damage by 15% with the Frigid Empowerment buff.
- Thermal Void allows Ice Lance and Glacial Spike to extend Icy Veins duration.
Class Tree
- Quick Witted
- Causes your interrupt spell have a lower cooldown if you successfully landed it and become one of the best interrupt in the game.
- Time Manipulation
- Allows your Dragon's Breath be on a very short cooldown so you have it up for every trash pack where you need stops.
- Ice Cold
- Paired with the Cryo-Freeze functionally, it makes you immune for the duration of Ice Block without losing the ability to cast compared to normal Ice Block. There are very few situations where this doesn't work.
- Shimmer
- Allows you to blink during casting, your main mobility feature and should be made use of at all times.
Hero Talents
- Slippery Slinging
- Your default pick since other talent interacts with a very niche ability that is currently not played.
- Reactive Barrier
- Has more general use compared to the other choice but both talents could be good in different situations.
- Volatile Magic
- Outperforms Unerring Proficiency.
Rotation
Frost Mage
Tier Set
- 2-Set: Ice Lance damage increased by 8%.
- 4-Set: Damage dealt by Fingers of Frost enhanced Ice Lances invoke a Frigid Pulse, dealing Frost damage to nearby targets. Damage reduced beyond 8 targets.
Single-Target
Spellslinger
Opener
- Your goal is to maximize extending your Icy Veins while not overcapping on procs such as Brain Freeze and Fingers of Frost. Below, you can see an example of how your opener may look like using our recommended Spellslinger talent build:
- It may look like the opener is just simply spamming Ice Lances, but in fact it strictly follows the priority list and every time Ice Lance is casted it is either with Fingers of Frost proc or Winter's Chill up on the target.
- Always keep an eye on your Brain Freeze or Fingers of Frost procs and make sure to spend them and not overcap. More about priority of your procs in Deep Dive.
- With the addition of Spellslinger hero talents, don't miss out on Frozen Orb getting refreshed and extra Winter's Chill stacks from Splinterstorm.
- This is just is an example of the opener as it may heavily vary depending on many procs you can get.
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
Icy Veins Priority List
- Cast Ice Lance if the target is affected by 2 stacks of Winter's Chill.
- Cast Flurry if the target has no Winter's Chill and
- The last spell you have casted was Frostbolt.
- The last spell you have casted was Glacial Spike.
- Cast Frozen Orb on cooldown.
- Cast Ice Lance with Fingers of Frost or if the target is affected by Winter's Chill.
- Cast Comet Storm on cooldown if the target is affected by Winter's Chill.
- Cast Shifting Power on cooldown if Frozen Orb and Comet Storm are on cooldown.
- Cast Glacial Spike at 5 Icicles.
- Cast Flurry
- Cast Frostbolt.
Outside of Icy Veins Priority List
- Cast Icy Veins on cooldown.
- Cast Flurry if the target has no Winter's Chill and
- The last spell you have casted was Frostbolt.
- The last spell you have casted was Glacial Spike.
- Cast Ice Lance at 4 Icicles with Fingers of Frost or Winter's Chill up.
- Cast Frozen Orb on cooldown when you don't have maximum stacks of Fingers of Frost.
- Cast Comet Storm on cooldown if the target is affected by Winter's Chill.
- Cast Shifting Power on cooldown if Frozen Orb and Comet Storm are on cooldown.
- Cast Glacial Spike at 5 Icicles.
- Cast Ice Lance with Fingers of Frost or if the target is affected by Winter's Chill.
- But your previous spell wasn't a Glacial Spike
- Cast Frostbolt.
Cleave
Spellslinger
Opener
- Your goal is to maximize extending your Icy Veins while not overcapping on procs such as Brain Freeze and Fingers of Frost. Below, you can see an example of how your opener may look like using our recommended Spellslinger talent build:
- Cleave rotation is pretty similar to single-target, but still has few minor changes in priority of the spells.
- This is just an example of the opener as it may heavily vary depending on many procs you can get.
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
- Cast Icy Veins on cooldown.
- Cast Flurry if
- The last spell you have casted was Frostbolt, and you have Brain Freeze.
- The last spell you have casted was Frostbolt, and you have 3+ Icicles.
- The last spell you have casted was Glacial Spike and the target does not have Winter's Chill.
- You are at 4 Icicles and have no Fingers of Frost.
- You are at 3 or 4 Icicles and at maximum amount of charges.
- Cast Comet Storm if the last spell you have casted was Flurry or Cone of Cold.
- Cast Glacial Spike at 5 Icicles and target is affected by Winter's Chill or you have Flurry charges.
- Cast Frozen Orb on cooldown and when you don't have maximum stacks of Fingers of Frost.
- Cast Cone of Cold on cooldown if Comet Storm and Frozen Orb are on cooldown, target has no Winter's Chill and you fight 3 or more enemies.
- Cast Shifting Power on cooldown if Icy Veins, Frozen Orb and Comet Storm are on cooldown.
- Cast Glacial Spike at 5 Icicles.
- Cast Ice Lance with Fingers of Frost or if the target is affected by Winter's Chill.
- But your previous spell wasn't a Glacial Spike
- Cast Frostbolt.
AoE
Spellslinger
Opener
- Below, you can see an example of how your opener looks like using the recommended Spellslinger spec in AoE with 8 enemies:
- The opener may slightly vary depending on the amount of targets you fight and if you have Time Warp or not. If so, follow priority list and change accordingly. In general, it just means that you may cast Blizzard and Frozen Orb 1 or 2 extra times in your opener.
- AoE rotation can be overwhelming and bloated with many procs, just make sure to cast Blizzard, Frozen Orb and Comet Storm as often as possible.
Priority List
- Cast Icy Veins on cooldown.
- Cast Cone of Cold if your previous spell was Comet Storm
- Cast Frozen Orb on cooldown.
- Cast Blizzard on cooldown.
- Cast Comet Storm on cooldown.
- Cast Shifting Power if Icy Veins, Frozen Orb and Comet Storm are on cooldown.
- Cast Flurry at 4 Icicles and no Winter's Chill effect.
- Cast Glacial Spike
- Cast Flurry if
- There is no Winter's Chill and you have Brain Freeze.
- There is no Winter's Chill and you don't have Fingers of Frost.
- Cast Ice Lance with Fingers of Frost or Winter's Chill.
- Cast Ice Nova
- Cast Arcane Explosion (For max AoE on pulls if there are 7 or more targets, and you are above 30% mana)
- Cast Frostbolt
Deep dive
Frost Mage
Winter's Chill and Procs
Frost Mage's rotation is centered around optimizing Brain Freeze and Fingers of Frost.
Casting Ice Lance with the Fingers of Frost buff into a target affected by Winter's Chill is pointless and should be avoided. In situations where you have both Fingers of Frost and Flurry charges, your goal is to spend Fingers of Frost procs first and only after that cast Frostbolt into Flurry.
However, sometimes you may find yourself sitting with both Fingers of Frost and Brain Freeze procs, due to Frostbolt proccing each of them at the same time or a Frozen Orb giving you Fingers of Frost while you already have Brain Freeze. In that case you should always prioritize Flurry over Ice Lance and never risk gaining another Brain Freeze proc and wasting it.
Utilizing Flurry
There are two things that are important to know about Flurry. First is to know that Flurry travel time is shorter compared to Frostbolt or Glacial Spike. Because of this, Flurry doesn't need to be casted before but can be casted right afterward. Another thing is that Flurry consists of multiple projectiles, each applying a stack of the Winter's Chill debuff, you can have maximum amount of stacks on the target while also buffing your previous cast with a shatter effect.
Minmaxing Water Jet
One of the most important abilities related to your water elemental pet from Icy Veins is Water Jet. While it may seem negligible, if you truly want to achieve the maximum performance for your class, you should remove it from auto-casting and press it manually whenever you need it. Aside from just damage, Water Jet also generates you a Brain Freeze proc, most powerful proc you can get. So it's important to not overlap it with your actual procs and wasting the proc.
Shattering
Shattering means utilizing your Shatter talent in variety of ways. It's very important to keep using Shatter combos since the whole Frost Mage spec depends on it. While it's easy to do on single target and done passively through Fingers of Frost proc and Winter's Chill debuff from Flurry, it's important to remember that you can also achieve it through spells like Frost Nova, Ice Nova and Freeze on any mob that can be frozen.
Below you can see an example of Shatter combo, where Ice Nova is being used instead of Flurry and you have no charges left of it for Glacial Spike:
During AoE you also should be aiming to Shatter your Comet Storm with Frost Nova and Ice Nova, if you have more than 50% haste, or Freeze if you don't, since it's off GCD and comes from a pet in case your Cone of Cold is on cooldown.
Below you can see an example of AoE Shatter combo, where Freeze is used instead of Cone of Cold if it's on cooldown:
Spymaster's Web
By far the strongest on use trinket this season which also works in a unique way.
You passively generate stacks that grant you Intellect. Later on you can trade accumulated stacks for a 20 second Intellect buff which gets stronger the more stacks you've traded.
The play with this trinket would be to wait for maximum amount of stacks and then use it with your Icy Veins.
Understanding Mechanics
Rotational min-maxing is just one aspect of mastering a specialization, but there are numerous other key mechanics that influence your performance. Use the following guides to improve them.
Dungeons
Frost Mage
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Boss Tips
Avanoxx
- Use defensives on Alerting Shrill.
- Avoid kiting Starved Crawlers into the boss else the boss receives Insatiable.
- Use your crowd control to keep them stacked.
- AoE them down as soon as possible.
- Plan movement well because of Vile Webbing.
Anub'zekt
- Be ready to react with Shimmer when you're targeted by Burrow Charge.
- Kill Bloodstained Webmages fast and interrupt Silken Restraints.
Ki'katal the Harvester
- Use defensive while you're affected by Cultivated Poisons since this is the main damaging ability of the fight.
- When you're affected by Grasping Blood you can use any form of crowd control instead of killing it to cancel your root.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Resonant Barrage from Trilling Attendant.
- Horrifying Shrill from Ixin.
- Revolting Volley from Bloodstained Webmage.
- Venom Volley from Blood Overseer.
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Alarm Shrill from Sentry Stagshell
- A really long cast that needs to get disrupted.
- Massive Slam from Nerubian Hauler and Hulking Bloodguard
- A short stun that ramps in damage done per cast.
- Alarm Shrill from Sentry Stagshell
Boss Tips
Orator Krix'vizk
- Use your defensives during Vociferous Indoctrination.
- Always keep an eye on your tanks positioning and follow him. Otherwise it is very easy to get gripped with Chains of Oppression through the pool that is left from Vociferous Indoctrination, which very dangerous.
Fangs of the Queen
- Watch out for Knife Throw. Use defensives if you're targeted by this ability.
- Make sure to position yourself close to the boss to maximise cleave uptime since Shadow Shunpo targets a random player.
The Coaglamation
- Use your defensives for Dark Pulse. This happens at 100 boss energy.
- Save big defensives such as Greater Invisibility and Ice Cold to stand in puddles in order to save encounter space when soaking orbs.
Izo, the Grand Splicer
- Shifting Anomalies moves onto player's location. Thus it is recommended to move together as a group throughout the whole fight to dodge the mechanic easier as it's going to be much more predictable. As a bonus it is also going to be easier to deal with Umbral Weave this way.
- Use your defensives for Splice since it's the highest damage event during this fight.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Web Bolt from Sureki Silkbinder.
- Grimweave Blast from Covert Webmancer.
- Mending Web from Covert Webmancer.
- Twist Thoughts from Herald of Anurek.
- Void Wave from Sureki Unnaturaler.
Boss Tips
E.D.N.A.
- Always stack up to spawn Volatile Spikes close together to ensure you can detonate them all with 1 Refracting Beam.
- Use defensives for Earth Shatterer.
Skarmorak
- Use your defensive before Unstable Crash happens or while you have multiple stacks of Unstable Energy.
- Generally crystal shards die to passive cleave but swap to them if they are not dying.
Master Machinists Brokk and Dorlita
- It is important as a Mage to save Counterspell as it is easy to Shimmer and interrupt Molten Metal when the boss jumps away.
- Use your defensive during Exhaust Vents and Blazing Crescendo.
Void Speaker Eirich
- Use your defensives on Entropic Reckoning.
- Make sure to utilize Shimmer and place Entropy away from the group. Following this logic, the farthest Void Rift should be consumed by you first so the group members with less mobility can reach the closer ones.
- Unbridled Void is a cone so it becomes wider the further away you are. Keep that in mind and try to position yourself closer to the boss when possible to make it easier to dodge for yourself or be ready to close the distance with your mobility.
Trash Tips
- Focus down Earth Burst Totem from Cursedforge Stoneshaper. They have a low amount of health but are not affected by AoE abilities.
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Howling Fear from Ghastly Voidsoul.
- Censoring Gear from Turned Speaker.
- Piercing Wail from Void Bound Howler.
- Restoring Metals from Forgebound Mender and Cursedforge Mender.
- Arcing Void from Cursedheart Invader.
Boss Tips
Speaker Shadowcrown
- Do not try to Shimmer over Obsidian Beam. It still applies the dot to you which deals a ton of damage.
- Consider using a defensive if you're affected by Collapsing Night. Getting out of this quickly is important since it deals a lot of damage every 0.5 seconds.
- Be careful while using Shimmer on the ship as it bugs out half of the time there.
Anub'ikkaj
- Be ready to shoot Dark Orb into a desirable path.
- Use defensives for the Dark Orb and Shadowy Decay.
Rasha'nan
- Be ready to deliver Arathi Bomb as it is very easy to do as a Frost Mage due to your high mobility.
- Be aware of Erosive Spray. It applies Lingering Erosion which is dangerous when combined with other damage events.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Night Bolt from Nightfall Shadowmage.
- Ensnaring Shadows from Nightfall Shadowmage.
- Tormenting Beam from Nightfall Darkcaster.
- Umbral Barrier from Nightfall Darkcaster.
Boss Tips
Ingra Maloch
- Interrupt Spirit Bolt every time a non-tank player is targeted.
- Try to avoid Tears of the Forest pools behind or around you whenever Repulsive Visage is about to happen as it may fear you right into them.
- Try to line up your cooldowns with Droman Oulfarran's Droman's Wrath to gain a huge DPS boost. This happens when Droman Oulfarran reaches 20% health.
Mistcaller
- Help CC the Illusionary Vulpins to prevent them from reaching their target.
- If your group is not crowd-controlling the Illusionary Vulpins, be sure to kill it quickly.
- Use your defensives during the Guessing Game.
Tred'ova
- When casting Acid Expulsion the boss tries to predict the movement of the players from the previous Acid Expulsion. Try not to move too much during it to make dodging later on easier.
- Save Alter Time and Shimmer to quickly break Mind Link.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Spirit Bolt from Drust Harvester.
- Harvest Essence from Drust Harvester.
- Nourish the Forest from Mistveil Tender.
- Bramblethorn Coat from Mistveil Shaper.
- Stimulate Regeneration from Spinemaw Staghorn.
- Stimulate Resistance from Spinemaw Staghorn.
Boss Tips
Blightbone
- Use defensives if you're targeted by Heaving Retch.
- Make sure to always have distance between you and Carrion Worms as their bites are very deadly.
Amarth, The Harvester
- If any adds are still alive during Final Harvest, you can try sniping them with a Dragon's Breath to crowd-control them. With them crowd-controlled, the boss doesn't cast Tortured Echoes even though an add is alive. Be careful though as Dragon's Breath breaks from any damage so you need to be really precise with it.
- Be ready to interrupt casters that spawn from Land of the Dead so it is easier to gather them.
Surgeon Stitchflesh
- Always be ready to Shimmer towards Surgeon Stitchflesh's grandstand to line up Meat Hooks whenever you are targeted.
Nalthor the Rimebinder
- Be ready to Shimmer into a corner when targeted by Frozen Binds in a bad spot.
- Whenever you get targeted by Dark Exile, always make sure to use Mirror Image when you fight the add downstairs. That is going to allow you to deal with it easily without taking any damage from add.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Drain Fluids from Corpse Harvester and Corpse Collector.
- Necrotic Bolt from Zolramus Sorceror & Zolarmus Necromancer.
- Rasping Scream from Skeletal Marauder.
- Frostbolt Volley from Reanimted Mage.
- Goresplatter from Corpse Collector.
- Repair Flesh from Flesh Crafter.
Boss Tips
Chopper Redhook
- Line up your cooldowns with the boss walking over Bombs, which afflict him with Heavy Ordnance.
- Watchout for Bombs and plan your movement accordingly.
Dread Captain Lockwood
- Always keep in mind that boss phases at 66% and 33% and there is a short delay before the intermission starts. So make sure to not use big cds right before the intermission.
- Focus down the Ashvane Cannoneer during the intermission to quickly use Unstable Ordnance to get the boss down from the ship.
Hadal Darkfathom
- Be careful where you position yourself during Break Water as they leave water pools which may make hiding from Tidal Surge harder than it should be.
- If you can't find a safe spot for Tidal Surge, you can try using Shimmer or Alter Time to teleport over the waves. It is very risky and should only be used as a last resort.
Viq'Goth
- Be ready to utilize Alter Time whenever Slam knockback from the Demolishing Terror is coming.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Brackish Bolt from Irontide Waveshaper.
- Watertight Shell from Irontide Waveshaper.
- Water Bolt from Bilge Rat Tempest.
- Choking Waters from Bilge Rat Tempest.
- Bolstering Shout from Ashvane Commander.
Boss Tips
General Umbriss
- Make sure to keep track of Shimmer and Alter Time to always have an easy time dealing with Shadow Breath and not dying to it by accident.
- Try to place Rumbling Earth on the edges of the room.
- Use defensives for Commanding Roar.
Forgemaster Throngus
- Use defensives during Blistering Heat.
Drahga Shadowburner
- Use defensive during Twilight Buffet.
- Watchout for your teammates and help them with slowing the add if anyone is struggling with it.
- Keep in mind that Drahga Shadowburner at the start is not the main boss and doesn't have that much HP so don't overcommit to it. Valiona that appears later on also dies at 50% so plan accordingly.
Erudax, the Duke of Below
- Use defensives during Abyssal Corruption and Void Surge.
- Be careful with AoE as killing Twilight Hatchling applies a Shadow Wound on your group which may lead to bad overlaps with Shadow Gale.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Earth Bolt from Twilight Earthcaller.
- Mass Tremor from Twilight Earthcaller.
- Shadowflame Bolt from Twilight Beguiler.
- Sear Mind from Twilight Beguiler.
Affixes
The Affix system got revamped going into The War Within Season 1 retiring most Affixes as well as introducing new kiss-curse ones while also changing on which key level these appear.
- +2 Affixes -- Rotates on a weekly basis
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
- +4 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis
- Tyrannical
- Fortified
- +7 Affix
- Challenger's Peril
- +10 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis, is always the opposite of the +4 Affix
- Tyrannical
- Fortified
- +12 Affix
- Xal'atath's Guile -- Replaces the +2 Affix
Following you get some useful tips for handling different Mythic+ Affixes as a Frost Mage.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
- Dragon's Breath, Supernova and Blast Wave are all great tools for this affix.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
- Important to kill this instantly as it reduces damage taken for all nearby enemies.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
- Use your mobility to your advantage and soak as much as possible.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
- Can't do much on this affix, Diverted Energy is a decent talent so that your healer can prioritize dispelling other players in the group.
Stat Priority
Frost Mage
Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Mythic+ dungeons as a Frost Mage. For more detailed information, visit the Stats and Attributes guide.
Be careful to not get too much Critical Strike as its value drastically drops once you reach more than 30% due to Shatter talent.
Higher Item level items are better in most scenarios. For an accurate representation of what item to equip you should use Simcraft! A static "Stat Priority" is just a starting point and can easily shift depending on your individual gear.
All secondary stats are affected by diminishing returns. Click here to learn more!
Tertiary
- Avoidance - Great stat to reduce the damage intake of "Area of Effect" abilities.
- Leech - Provides additional healing through damage dealing. The damage of your pets does not heal you thus Leech is a great tertiary for you since most of your damage is coming from your own spells.
- Speed - Niche tertiary that can be very useful and has been proven useful in the past. Makes playing certain mechanics a lot easier.
Gear
Frost Mage
Best in Slot
Farmable Alternatives
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Hood of Violet Rebirth | Tier / Catalyst |
| Neck | Sureki Zealot's Insignia | Sikran |
| Shoulder | Beacons of Violet Rebirth | Tier / Catalyst |
| Cloak | Royal Emblem of Nerub-ar | Ulgrax the Devourer |
| Chest | Runecoat of Violet Rebirth | Tier / Catalyst |
| Wrist | Consecrated Cuffs | Crafting |
| Gloves | Jeweled Gauntlets of Violet Rebirth | Tier / Catalyst |
| Belt | Acrid Ascendant's Sash | Queen Ansurek |
| Legs | Coattails of Violet Rebirth | Tier / Catalyst |
| Boots | Assimilated Eggshell Slippers | Broodtwister Ovi'nax |
| Ring 1 | Seal of the Poisoned Pact | The Silken Court |
| Ring 2 | Experiment 08752's Band | City of Threads |
| Trinket 1 | Ara-Kara Sacbrood | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Trinket 2 | Spymaster's Web | Silken Court |
| Weapon | Sovereign's Disdain | Queen Ansurek |
| Off-Hand | Vagabond's Torch | Crafting |
Below you are presented with a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Abominable Visage | The Necrotic Wake |
| Neck | "Emergency Stop" Keychain | The Stonevault |
| Shoulder | Reanimator's Mantle | The Necrotic Wake |
| Cloak | Anvilhide Cape | The Stonevault |
| Chest | Arachnofrost Vest | City of Threads |
| Wrist | Crimsonborne Bracers | Grim Batol |
| Gloves | Gory Surgeon's Gloves | The Necrotic Wake |
| Belt | Cord of the Pious Warder | Siege of Boralus |
| Legs | Archaic Venomancer's Footwraps | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Boots | Membranous Slippers | The Dawnbreaker |
| Ring 1 | Experiment 08752's Band | City of Threads |
| Ring 2 | Devout Zealot's Ring | The Dawnbreaker |
| Trinket 1 | Unbound Changeling | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Trinket 2 | Ara-Kara Sacbrood | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Weapon | Modgud's Blade | Grim Batol |
| Off-Hand | Overflowing Umbral Pail | The Dawnbreaker |
Trinkets
Below you can find active and passive alternatives to our recommended trinkets. Do note that some trinkets are better than others depending on the mythic+ dungeon.
Active Trinket alternatives
- Treacherous Transmitter
- Good on-use trinket that lines up with Icy Veins but requires you to do "tasks" that may become a slight hindrance at times.
Passive Trinket alternatives
- Unbound Changeling
- Very strong passive trinket that buffs all secondary stats.
- Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj
- Very strong passive trinket that buffs a random secondary stat.
- Gale of Shadows
- Good stat stick that ramps up over time.
- Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg
- Good passive stat stick.
- Harvester's Edict
- Good passive trinket that either deals some damage or buffs your Mastery.
- Hadal's Nautilus
- Good passive damage trinket.
- Satchel of Misbegotten Minions
- Good passive damage trinket.
Embellishments
- 1x Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension
- Only crafted on your main hand or off-hand weapon. Craft it on your main hand for more power early on or on your off-hand for long-term BiS.
- 1x Writhing Armor Banding
- The optimal slots to craft on are Wrists, Boots or Waist depending on your available gear.
or
- 1-2x Elemental Focusing Lens
- Deals a decent amount of damage in Single-Target.
- The optimal slots to craft on are Wrists, Boots or Waist depending on your available gear.
or
- 1-2x Dawnthread Lining
- The optimal slots to craft on are Wrists, Boots or Waist depending on your available gear.
Simcraft
To find the best combination of gear available to you or identify the best possible upgrades, visit our Simcraft guide to learn how to utilize Simcraft easily and effectively.
Consumables
Frost Mage
- Phials
- Flask of Alchemical Chaos -- maximum DPS.
- Flask of Tempered Versatility -- less DPS but more survivability.
- Food
- Feast of the Midnight Masquerade -- default
- Combat Potion
- Tempered Potion
- Health Potion
- Algari Healing Potion -- a big burst of healing
- Weapon Oil
- Algari Mana Oil -- default
- Oil of Deep Toxins
- Augment Rune
- Crystallized Augment Rune
- Sockets
- Masterful Emerald
- Culminating Blasphemite -- Unique, use one of each gem color to enhance your Culminating Blasphemite.
- Masterful Sapphire
- Quick Onyx
- Masterful Ruby
- Masterful Amber
Enchantments
| Head | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Neck | Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Cloak | Enchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace |
| Chest | Enchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance |
| Wrist | Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Avoidance Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Waist | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Legs | Sunset Spellthread |
| Boots | Enchant Boots - Scout's March |
| Ring 1 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Ring 2 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths |
You buy Nerubian Gemweaver from the Great Vault Vendor to add sockets to your Helm, Wrists & Waist.
Races
Frost Mage
For min-maxing a Frost Mage in Mythic+, different racial traits can provide a tremendous benefit to your character. If this is not your top goal, picking a race that fits your style works just as well.
- Stoneform -- Dwarf
- One of the most potent racials in Mythic+ currently and historically.
- Dispels Magic and Bleed debuffs.
- Use-cases:
- Cultivated Poisons, Ki'katal the Harvester (Ara-Kara, City of Echoes)
- Putrid Waters, Viq'Goth (Siege of Boralus)
- Curse of Entropy, Drahga Shadowburner (Grim Batol)
- Shadowmeld -- Night Elf
- Also one of the most potent racials in Mythic+ historically.
- Use-cases
- Run past basically any mob and then cast Shadowmeld to make them reset. Even works on mobs that have stealth detection if you get enough distance before you Shadowmeld.
- Blood Fury -- Orc
- Strong DPS racial but lines up poorly with Icy Veins.
- 20% reduced Stun duration on you which can be useful in some Mythic+ dungeons.
- Escape Artist -- Gnome
- Free yourself from roots.
- Rocket Jump -- Goblin
- Do a small jump in the direction your character is facing.
- While you're in the Rocket Jump animation, you are placed on a global cooldown until your character lands.
- Berserking -- Troll
- Weak DPS racial for a Frost Mage which lines up poorly with Icy Veins.
- Reduce the duration of movement impairing effects by 20%.
Recommendation
Dwarf and Night Elf abilities have such a big impact on your Mythic+ experience that you need to use either of them if you're serious about pushing keys with your Frost Mage.
Macros
Frost Mage
Discover recommended macros for Frost Mages during Mythic+ dungeons and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.
Cursor Macros
Cursor Blizzard -- Casts Blizzard on your cursor without confirmation.
#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] BlizzardIcy Veins & Freeze -- Allows you to have both Icy Veins and Freeze on the same keybind and have Freeze at your cursor. Useful since you can't use Freeze unless you summoned your water elemental with Icy Veins and put it on cooldown so they are self excluding.
#showtooltip
/cast [nopet] Icy Veins; [@cursor] FreezeMouseover Macros
Utility Macros
Addons
Frost Mage
Below, you see a screenshot of the author's User Interface for their Frost Mage, outlining which addons are used and how they are utilized in Mythic+ dungeons to make your life easier.
Addons
WeakAuras
Changes this Patch
Frost Mage
Patch 11.0.2
Patch 11.0
FAQ
Frost Mage
Q: Why is my Water Jet always on cooldown?
Credits
Written By: Wexi
Reviewed By: Hopeful