Frost Guide [11.2.0]

1. Introduction

This guide will cover everything you need to know about playing Frost in PvE content. Frost is an extremely flexible spec providing good sustained damage on Single Target, Cleave, and AoE.

Mage continues to have a desirable progression spot due to the Arcane Intellect raid buff and its Ice Block immunity.

Strengths:

Good mobility, especially during micro movement.

Excellent 2-target cleave thanks to Splitting Ice.

Strong defensive kit.

Time Warp, Arcane Intellect, & the class tree provide a wide range of dungeon utility.

Strong consistent passive slows.

Drawbacks:

No spread AoE, execute or meaningful funnel damage.

Competes with the other mage specs for similar strengths.

Extremely low passive tankiness. Defensive kit is all proactive which requires spec comfort or encounter knowledge.

Main raid utility is Arcane Intellect which does not make stacking the class appealing.

The full patch notes can be found here: The War Withing - Ghosts of K'aresh Update Notes

General
  • The effectiveness of Frost's Mastery has been buffed substantially.
  • Both the cooldown and the duration of Blizzard is now 15 seconds.
  • Time Anomaly has been removed.
FrostfireSpellslinger
  • Spellfrost Teachings has been redesigned: Instead of having a full reset chance, direct damage from Splinters now reduces the cooldown of Frozen Orb by 0.5 seconds.

The full patch notes can be found here: The War Within - Undermine(d) Update Notes

GeneralFrostfireSpellslinger

2. Spells & Abilities

Damage Spells:
  • Icy Veins - Primary DPS cooldown that can be cast off the Global Cooldown. Summons a Water Elemental for its duration and provides a +20% Haste and +15% damage boost.
  • Frostbolt - Filler ability with low damage. Has a chance to generate Fingers Of Frost and/or Brain Freeze.
  • Flurry - Instant cast ability that launches 3 projectiles, each applying 2 stacks of Winter's Chill. Can hold up to 2 charges.
  • Ice Lance - Instant cast ability that deals tripple damage to frozen targets. Only worth casting with Fingers Of Frost or into Winter's Chill.
  • Glacial Spike - High damage ability with a long cast time. Requires 5 Icicles to cast.
  • Ray of Frost - Channeled high damage ability that generates two stacks of Fingers Of Frost during its duration.
  • Frozen Orb - Instant cast AoE ability that launches an orb which travels forward until it collides with an enemy. Always grants Fingers Of Frost the first time it deals damage and has a chance to generate more as long as it's active.
  • Comet Storm - Instant cast AoE ability that calls down several comets on and around your target after a short delay.
  • Blizzard - Ground targeted AoE abilitiy. Is instant cast and provides cooldown reduction to Frozen Orb if talented.
Defensive Spells:
  • Ice Barrier - Small shield for 60 seconds.
  • Mirror Image - Creates 3 copies of your character for 40 seconds. While an image is active your damage taken is reduced by 20%, and taking direct damage causes an image to dissipate.
  • Alter Time - Snapshots your current location and health. The spell can be reactivated again within 10 seconds to return you to said location and health.
  • Ice Block - Immunity that prevents all damage and debuffs but renders you unable to perform other actions while its active.
  • Greater Invisibility - Turns us invisible immediately and provides a 60% damage reduction. Can be used to fizzle several targeted boss abilities.
Other Utility Spells:
  • Shifting Power - Channeled spell that deals very low AoE damage and reduces all your remaining cooldowns by 12 seconds.
  • Arcane Intellect - Increases your raids/groups Intellect by 3% for 1 hour.
  • Blink - Teleports you 20 yards forwards. Our main mobility tool.
  • Spellsteal - Steals or purges 1 beneficial magic buff from an enemy target.
  • Remove Curse - Dispels all curses from a friendly target.
  • Cone Of Cold - Frontal cone AoE that damages and slows all targets hit.
  • Dragon's Breath - Frontal cone AoE that damages and disorientates all targets hit.
  • Blast Wave - Knocks back, slows and damages all nearby enemies.
  • Frost Nova - Freezes, roots and damages all nearby enemies.
  • Freeze - Ground targeted ability that freezes and roots all enemies. Can only be cast while your Water Elemental is active.

3. Talents


Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYGbmtZwMMmFDmZGNGzMmhhZmZYmZmZmxMzMzMmZwMQAAgZmtlllZm2AAAAAAwAAAAAAAAA


Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYGbmtZwMMmFDmZGNGzMmxMMjZwDMzMzMzMzMzMzwMmBCAAMzstssMz0GAAAAAAGAAAAAAAAA


Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMzYzsZwMMzsYgxMNGzMmZmhZMDegZmZmZmZmZmZGmxMQAAgZmtlllZm2AAAAAAwsAAAAAAAAA


Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMzYzsZwMMzsYgxMNGzMmZmhZMDMzMzMzMzMzMzMzMmBCAAMzstssMz0GAAAAAAsAAAAAAAAA


Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMzYzsZwMMzsYgxMNGzMmZmhZYgZmZmZmZmZmZmZmxMQAAgZmllllZm2AAAAAAwsAAAAAAAAA


Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYGbmtZwMMmFDmZGNGzMmhhZmZYmZmZmxMzMzMzMDMzyMNzsNLAAAoFAAAAAAMAAAAAAAAA


Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYGbmtZwMMmFDmZGNGzMmxMMMDegZmZmZmZmZmxMzMmZWmpZmtZBAAAtAAAAAAgBAAAAAAAA


Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYGbmtZwMMmFDmZGNGzMmhhZmZGmZmZGmZmZmZmZgZWmpZmtZBAAAtAAAAAAgBAAAAAAAA


Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMzYzsZwMMzsYgxMNGzMmZmhhZwDMzMzMzMzMzMmZmxMzyMNzsNLAAAoFAAAAAAMLAAAAAAAAA


Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMzYzsZwMMzsYgxMNGzMmZGMMDzMzMzMzMzMzMmZmxMzyMNzsNLAAAoFAAAAAAYBAAAAAAAA

4. Spec Overview

4.1 Shatter

Frost's core mechanic revolves around the passive talent Shatter, which drastically increases your critical strike chance against enemies while they are frozen. Your critical strike chance against frozen enemies is: (Crit Chance * 1.5) + 50%

A spell that benefits from Shatter is commonly referred to as ‘shattering’ that spell. It is worth mentioning that ALL our spells that deal damage or damage over time can be shattered.

The main ways of benefitting from Shatter are:

4.2 Winter's Chill

An enemy affected by Winter's Chill is considered frozen for as long as the debuff persists. Winter's Chill has a base duration 8 seconds and can stack up twice. When Frostbolt, Glacial Spike or Ice Lance hits a target affected by Winter's Chill, the spell will benefit from Shatter and consume one stack. An Ice Lance that is cast with Fingers Of Frost will not consume any stacks. Our other spells like Ray of Frost, Comet Storm, Frozen Orb and even Blizzard do benefit from Winter's Chill, but do not actually consume stacks.

If the target lacks Winter's Chill we apply it by casting Frostbolt or Glacial Spike followed by Flurry. We can do this because Flurry is three separate projectiles that each hit the target in sequence with a small delay. The precasted Frostbolt or Glacial Spike will shatter and consume a stack from the first or second projectile, and the last Flurry projectile will refresh the stacks back to 2.

In the following 'Shatter Combo' the precasted Frostbolt is shattered by queueing a Flurry while Ice Lance is used to consume the remaining stacks of Winter's Chill:

FrostboltFlurryIce LanceIce Lance

4.3 Icicles & Glacial Spike

Casting Frostbolt or Flurry always generates 1 Icicles. Both spells have a small chance to generate 2 Icicles when talented into Splintering Cold. Shattering an Ice Lance while Hailstones is talented also generates 1 Icicles. Up to 5 Icicles can be stored at once and normally they can be considered a passive damage source without rotational impact.

However, when talented into Glacial Spike, our Icicles become a combo points like ressource instead. Glacial Spike is one of our hardest hitting abilities and requires 5 Icicles to cast, consuming them in the process. Generating more Icicles while Glacial Spike is already available is commonly referred to as 'overcapping' on Icicles. In the Shatter Combo Glacial Spike will replace any of the casts around Flurry, depending on your Icicles.

If you are at (5) Icicles and there is no Winter's Chill on the target you shatter it as a precast:

(5) Glacial Spike ➜ (0) Flurry ➜ (1) Ice Lance ➜ (2) Ice Lance

If you get to (5) Icicles during the Shatter Combo you substitute one of the Ice Lance casts with it:

(3) Frostbolt ➜ (4) Flurry ➜ (5) Glacial Spike ➜ (0) Ice Lance

(2) Frostbolt ➜ (3) Flurry ➜ (4) Ice Lance ➜ (5) Glacial Spike

Note that in the last example you are casting Glacial Spike into the last stack of Winter's Chill and should therefore not follow that cast up with another Ice Lance. Your Ice Lance travels faster than Glacial Spike and will steal the Winter's Chill from it. You can ignore this rule if you have Fingers Of Frost active.

4.4 Proccs

Baseline Frost has two main proccs:

Frostfire has three additional proccs:

5. Rotation

Frostfire

Spellslinger

5.1 Filler Rotation

Frost's main gameplay loop revolves around maximising the amount of Glacial Spike that you cast and shatter. While working towards your next Glacial Spike you generate Icicles by casting Ice Lance and shattering them either with Fingers Of Frost or into Winter's Chill. Once you can not shatter more Ice Lance, start casting Frostbolt/Frostfire Bolt as a bottom line filler and follow it up with a Flurry to reapply stacks of Winter's Chill. This simple yet dynamic Filler Rotation is the central core rotation of Frost. All other spells like Ray of Frost, Comet Storm, Frozen Orb and Shifting Power are cooldowns that get cast occasionally at specific points in the Priority. Note that Icy Veins is not explicitly included in the Priority Lists, but should generally be used as often and effective as possible.

This Filler example is starting with (1) Icicles and 1x Fingers Of Frost and shatters every spell in the sequence:

(1) Ice Lance ➜ (2) Frostbolt ➜ (3) Flurry ➜ (4) Ice Lance ➜ (5) Glacial Spike ➜ (0) Frostbolt ➜ (1) Flurry ➜ (2) Ice Lance ...

With the 11.2 Augur's Ephemeral Plumage 4pc Tier Set Bonus you will passively accumulate more stacks of Cold Front. You NEED to have the actual Cold Front talent for the Tier Set Bonus to work, and should therefore have it talented in every build once you've acquired the Tier Set! As Spellslinger, only ever cast Glacial Spike if you can shatter it either into Winter's Chill or with a followup Flurry. Contrary to previous iterations, do not queue Flurry when casting Frostbolt with 4 or more Icicles.

This Filler example is starting with with (4) Icicles and no other proccs. There is no Flurry queued after the Frostbolt because this would overcap on Icicles:

(4) Frostbolt ➜ (5) Glacial Spike ➜ (0) Flurry ➜ (1) Ice Lance ➜ (2) Ice Lance ...

With the 11.2 Augur's Ephemeral Plumage 4pc Tier Set Bonus every time you cast Glacial Spike you will also trigger a greater Pyroblast. This Pyroblast does benefit from Shatter but ONLY if your target already has Winter's Chill applied the moment your Glacial Spike finishes its cast. Although the Pyroblast does not consume any stacks of Winter's Chill, the interaction is still impactful enough to alter the Filler Rotation. As Frostfire you should now hold Flurry until you have at least 3 or more Icicles.

In practice this means:

This Filler example is starting with (0) Icicles and no other proccs:

(0) Frostfire Bolt ➜ (1) Frostfire Bolt ➜ (2) Frostfire Bolt ➜ (3) Flurry ➜ (4) Ice Lance ➜ (5) Glacial Spike ...

This Filler example is starting with (1) Icicles and 2x Fingers Of Frost:

(1) Ice Lance ➜ (2) Ice Lance ➜ (3) Flurry ➜ (4) Ice Lance ➜ (5) Glacial Spike ➜ (0) Frostfire Bolt ...

5.2 Single Target Priority

This Priority assumes you are playing the Boltspam Rotation and have all of Death's Chill, Cold Front, Slick Ice and Deep Shatter talented.

This Priority assumes you are playing without Glacial Spike and have Shifting Shards talented.

  1. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and your previous cast was Glacial Spike.
  2. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and you have 3 or more Icicles. This includes queueing Flurry when casting Frostfire Bolt with 2 or more Icicles.
  3. Cast Comet Storm if your target has Winter's Chill.
  4. Cast Ray of Frost if your target has 2 stacks of Winter's Chill.
  5. Cast Glacial Spike.
  6. Cast Frozen Orb.
  7. Cast Shifting Power when all of Icy Veins, Frozen Orb, Comet Storm and Ray of Frost are on cooldown.
  8. Cast Shifting Power when all of Icy Veins, Frozen Orb and Comet Storm are on cooldown.
  9. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost or into Winter's Chill.
  10. Cast Frostfire Bolt.
  11. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and your previous cast was Glacial Spike.
  12. Cast Flurry if you are currently casting Frostfire Bolt with 2 or more Icicles.
  13. Cast Comet Storm if your target has Winter's Chill.
  14. Cast Glacial Spike.
  15. Cast Shifting Power when Icy Veins is not running and both Icy Veins and Comet Storm are on cooldown.
  16. Cast Ice Lance only if your target has 2 stacks of Winter's Chill.
  17. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost only if you have exactly 0 Icicles.
  18. Cast Frostfire Bolt.
  19. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and your previous cast was Glacial Spike.
  20. Cast Flurry if you are currently casting Frostbolt. Do not queue Flurry if this would overcap Icicles.
  21. Cast Flurry if you are currently casting Frostbolt.
  22. Cast Frozen Orb.
  23. Cast Comet Storm if your target has Winter's Chill and Icy Veins is not running.
  24. Cast Ray of Frost if your target has exactly 1 stack of Winter's Chill and Icy Veins is not running.
  25. Cast Shifting Power when Icy Veins is on cooldown and you have less than 2 Flurry charges.
  26. Cast Shifting Power.
  27. Cast Glacial Spike if you can shatter it.
  28. Cast Blizzard when Freezing Rain is active and Icy Veins is not running.
  29. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost or into Winter's Chill.
  30. Cast Frostbolt.

Opener: FrostboltFlurryIcy Veins + Frozen Orb then follow the priority list above. Try to precast the Frostbolt around 2 seconds before pull so it impacts together with the followup Flurry the moment the boss is engaged. We pair Icy Veins with Frozen Orb instead of the initial Flurry to be in combat for Augury Abounds.

Opener: Frostfire BoltIcy Veins + FlurryComet StormFrozen OrbShifting Power then follow the priority list above. Try to precast the Frostfire Bolt around 2 seconds before pull so it impacts together with the followup Flurry the moment the boss is engaged.

Opener: Frostfire BoltIcy Veins + FlurryComet Storm then follow the priority list above. Try to precast the Frostfire Bolt around 2 seconds before pull so it impacts together with the followup Flurry the moment the boss is engaged.

5.3 Cleave Priority (2 targets)

This Priority assumes you are playing without Glacial Spike and have Shifting Shards talented.

  1. Cast Flurry at a target without Winter's Chill if your previous cast was either Glacial Spike or Comet Storm. This includes target-swapping to the off-target.
  2. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and your previous cast was Frostfire Bolt.
  3. Cast Comet Storm.
  4. Cast Glacial Spike.
  5. Cast Frozen Orb.
  6. Cast Blizzard with Freezing Rain active.
  7. Cast Shifting Power when all of Icy Veins, Frozen Orb and Comet Storm are on cooldown.
  8. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost.
  9. Cast Ice Lance if your target has 2 stacks of Winter's Chill.
  10. Cast Frostfire Bolt. Optimally, always swap and target the enemy with the least stacks of Winter's Chill.
  1. Cast Flurry at a target without Winter's Chill if your previous cast was Glacial Spike. This includes swapping to the off-target.
  2. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and you are currently casting Frostbolt.
  3. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and you are either currently casting Frostbolt or have a Cold Front ready.
  4. Cast Ice Lance with 2 stacks of Fingers Of Frost.
  5. Cast Frozen Orb.
  6. Cast Comet Storm if a target has Winter's Chill and Icy Veins is not running.
  7. Cast Shifting Power when Icy Veins is on cooldown and you have less than 2 Flurry charges.
  8. Cast Shifting Power.
  9. Cast Glacial Spike if you can shatter it.
  10. Cast Blizzard with Freezing Rain active.
  11. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost.
  12. Cast Frostbolt during Icy Veins until you have 10 stacks of Death's Chill.
  13. Cast Ice Lance into Winter's Chill.
  14. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost or into Winter's Chill.
  15. Cast Frostbolt.

Opener: FrostboltFlurryIcy Veins + Frozen Orb then follow the priority list above. Try to precast the Frostbolt around 2 seconds before pull so it impacts together with the followup Flurry the moment the boss is engaged. We pair Icy Veins with Frozen Orb instead of the initial Flurry to be in combat for Augury Abounds.

Opener: Frostfire BoltIcy Veins + FlurryComet StormFlurry the off-target ➜ Frozen OrbShifting Power then follow the priority list above. Try to precast the Frostfire Bolt around 2 seconds before pull so it impacts together with the followup Flurry the moment the boss is engaged.

5.4 AoE Priority (3+ targets)

This Priority assumes you are playing without Glacial Spike and have Shifting Shards talented.

  1. Cast Cone Of Cold if your previous cast was Comet Storm.
  2. Cast Freeze against freezable targets if your previous cast was either Glacial Spike or Comet Storm.
  3. Cast Ice Nova against freezable targets if your previous cast was either Glacial Spike or Comet Storm.
  4. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and your previous cast was Glacial Spike.
  5. Cast Frozen Orb.
  6. Cast Blizzard.
  7. Cast Frostfire Bolt during Icy Veins until you have 12 stacks of Death's Chill.
  8. Cast Ice Lance if you have 2 stacks of Excess Fire and Comet Storm is ready.
  9. Cast Comet Storm.
  10. Cast Glacial Spike.
  11. Cast Flurry if you have Excess Frost.
  12. Cast Shifting Power when all of Icy Veins, Comet Storm and Blizzard are on cooldown.
  13. Cast Frostfire Bolt if you have Frostfire Empowerment and no Excess Fire.
  14. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost or into Winter's Chill.
  15. Cast Frostfire Bolt.
  1. Cast Cone Of Cold if your previous cast was Frozen Orb.
  2. Cast Ice Nova against 5 or more targets to consume the Winter's Chill debuff applied by Cone Of Cold in the very last moment of its duration.
  3. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and your previous cast was either Glacial Spike or Frostbolt.
  4. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and your previous cast was Frostbolt.
  5. Cast Flurry if you have a Cold Front ready.
  6. Cast Freeze against freezable targets if your previous cast was Glacial Spike.
  7. Cast Frozen Orb.
  8. Cast Blizzard.
  9. Cast Comet Storm.
  10. Cast Shifting Power.
  11. Cast Ice Lance with 2 stacks of Fingers Of Frost.
  12. Cast Glacial Spike if you can shatter it into Winter's Chill.
  13. Cast Frostbolt during Icy Veins until you have 9 stacks of Death's Chill.
  14. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost or into Winter's Chill.
  15. Cast Shifting Power if Icy Veins is not running.
  16. Cast Frostbolt.

Opener: BlizzardIcy Veins + Frozen OrbCone Of ColdFrozen Orb then follow the priority list above. Try to precast the Blizzard around 2 seconds before pull so it impacts the moment the boss is engaged.

5.5 Tips and tricks

The following concepts should not be seen as a rigorous guide but rather what the idea of 'good gameplay' is based upon.

  1. ABC - Always Be Casting!

    Doing nothing for an extended period of time in a fight will tank your DPS a lot more than doing some rotational mistakes.

  2. Plan ahead.

    Plan your movement and think in advance where you want to be when the next boss mechanic happens. Always move during your global cooldowns and make good use of Blink, Ice Floes and Alter Time.

  3. Use your cooldowns.

    Dont press your cooldowns blindly but also do not sit on them for too long. Timing them around certain boss events like damage amps or add spawns can sometimes be sensible.

  4. Use your defensives.

    While most of our defensive cooldowns are proactive we are one of the tankiest classes in the game when cycling through Ice Cold, Coldest Snap, Greater Invisibility, Mirror Image, Alter Time and Prismatic Barrier.

6. Stats & Gearing

6.1 Stats

Due to the large Intellect stat budget on items, item level will usually be an upgrade. Stat weights vary depending on your current gear and talents. To produce an accurate stat priority or to accurately compare items you must sim yourself.

  • Haste reduces the cast time of our spells, our global cooldown, and the cooldown and duration of Blizzard.
  • Versatility provides a flat damage increase and damage taken reduction.
  • Critical Strike increases the critical strike rate of our abilities and therefore the effectiveness of Shatter.
  • Mastery provides a flat damage increase to various Frost spells and increases the damage of Icicles.

Generally for Frostfire, prioritise stats like so:

  1. Haste
  2. Versatility
  3. Critical Strike
  4. Mastery

Generally for Spellslinger, prioritise stats like so:

  1. Mastery
  2. Haste
  3. Critical Strike
  4. Versatility

6.2 Best in Slot

With the high variety of available loot, enchants, gems and crafted gear there is a plethora of different gear combinations that will all match the highest possible DPS. Simming your character on Raidbots and simply equipping/aiming for what comes out of Top Gear and Droptimizer is the recommended and most sensible approach to gear your character.

While there is not one single set of BIS gear, there still are items that will be part of almost every individual BIS gear combination. Those are:

6.3 Trinkets

Because all active trinkets share a short cooldown with each other, we generally want to avoid equipping two active trinkets. Below is a list of good options for the current Season. For up to date trinket data please refer to the sims page.

6.4 Crafting

The following Embellishments are recommendations. Which of these you choose as your crafts will vary based on your loot luck. Sim yourself for best results.

7. Consumables

8. Racials

Frost generally has more impactful DPS racials than some of the other specs in the game. Utility racials still remain powerful and are worth consideration. For up to date racials data please refer to the sims page of the site.

Horde
  • Tauren - Brawn makes Tauren the best Horde race for Frost. It does the same DPS as Dwarf but lacks the utility.
  • Goblin - Rocket Jump is one of the few useful utility racials while Time is Money keeps the race somewhat competitive for DPS.
Alliance

9. Macros

Macro Icy Veins, all usable equipment and all racials into one key. The numbers in /use 11, /use 12, ..., each refer to a certain equipment slot:

#showtooltip
/cast Icy Veins
/cast Blood Fury
/cast Berserking
/use 11
/use 12
/use 13
/use 14
/use 2

Automatically cast ground targeted abilities wherever your mouse cursor is, saving you a click. Example with Blizzard, works for all other ground targeted spells:

#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] Blizzard

Utilize a single keybind to cast Icy Veins with the first press and Freeze with the second press at the mouse cursor location:

#showtooltip 
    /cast [nopet] Icy Veins; [@cursor] Freeze

Can be used to cancel Ice Block and immediately Blink. Useful when Ice Blocked in a void zone as you'll Blink out and take no damage. Also works with Shimmer:

#showtooltip
/cancelaura Ice Block
/cast Blink

Counterspell. Prioritizes Mouseover > Focus > Target:

#showtooltip Counterspell
/cast [@mouseover,harm][@focus,harm][harm] Counterspell

Spellsteal. Prioritizes Mouseover > Focus > Target:

#showtooltip Spellsteal
/cast [@mouseover,harm][@focus,harm][harm] Spellsteal

Mouseover Remove Curse:

#showtooltip Remove Curse
/cast [@mouseover]Remove Curse

10. Advanced

10.1 Cancelling Alter Time

Alter Time snapshots our current location and health. The spell can then be reactivated within 10 seconds to return us to said location and health. However if the buff expires we will be returned regardless, which sometimes we may not want to do.

If we cancel the Alter Time buff, it will not automatically be activated at the end of the duration, allowing us to stay where we are.

/cancelaura Alter Time

11. FAQ

Q:

When do I swap to the new rotations for Patch 11.2?

A:

For both Spellslinger and Frostfire the new rotations are performing just as good even without the new Tier Set Bonus, so you can play them right away.

Q:

Why is there no checkbox for Death's Chill in the single target rotations?

A:

We do not actively play around Death's Chill in single target and treat it as a passive.

Q:

Can we spread the Ignite from the 11.2 Frostfire Tier Set Bonus with Fire Blast?

A:

Good one. No, we can't.

Q:

What is the Boltspam rotation and how can I sim it?

A:

Boltspam is a Single Target rotation for Frostfire that focuses on casting Frostfire Bolt and casts Ice Lance only at very specific times to generate Icicles. While this rotation does sim a little bit higher it comes at the cost of being extremely immobile. Raidbots automatically switches to Boltspam once you have all of Death's Chill, Cold Front, Slick Ice and at least one point of Deep Shatter talented.

Q:

Why is there no Frozen Orb in the Frostfire Boltspam rotation?

A:

It is currently not worth to cast it in this rotation. Use it as a movement button instead!

Q:

When casting Glacial Spike into the last stack of Winter's Chill, can I queue an instant Frostfire Bolt when Frostfire Empowerment is up?

A:

Yes. Both spells will impact at the same time and benefit from Winter's Chill.

Q:

As Frostfire do I need to track Frost Mastery and Fire Mastery?

A:

No. We dont play around them.

Q:

As Spellslinger why is my 11.2 Tier Set Bonus not working?!

A:

You need to have Cold Front talented for it to work.

Q:

With a Glacial Spike Spellslinger build, why is there no Comet Storm in the Single Target and Cleave rotations?

A:

It is only a very small gain to use Comet Storm in Glacial Spike builds, which makes it not worth the effort. Use it as a movement button instead!

Q:

As Spellslinger why do my Frost Splinter keep hitting random target dummies in Dornogal?

A:

Splinter targeting is bugged on dummies. There are additional, isolated ones on the pillars right above where the other dummies in Dornogal are - practice on those instead..

Q:

As Spellslinger why is my Frost Splinter damage so low in Details, am I doing something wrong?

A:

Logs and sims automatically combine most of the different splinter damage sources into one.

Q:

Is there a target count where we stop casting Glacial Spike in AoE?

A:

No. Always cast it, and as Spellslinger always shatter it into Winter's Chill.

Q:

Why does my Cone Of Cold not reset Comet Storm or Frozen Orb?

A:

The talent Coldest Snap requires you to hit at least 3 targest for its effect.

Q:

Why does Cold Snap not reset my Cone Of Cold?

A:

The talent Coldest Snap disables all cooldown reductions for Cone Of Cold, including Cold Snap, Shifting Power and Time Manipulation.

Q:

How do I sim against freezable targets?

A:

Paste your SimC output into Raidbots and scroll all the way down. Then enter target_level=80 into the "Custom APL and SimC Options" field.

Q:

How do I sim Mythic+?

A:

There is no single sim that will represent a Mythic+ dungeon. Looking at the results of multiple Patchwerk sims with different numbers of targets and various settings can help you understand what is good in different situations. Note that very short sim durations and fight styles other than Patchwerk can be misleading and are therefore NOT recommended.

Q:

What stat percentages should I aim for?

A:

Nothing, you don't aim for specific percentages of stats. There are very few stat breakpoints in the game that are of utmost importance, and any that are will be reflected in sims. You equip the gear that gives you the most DPS with almost no thought on what stat percentages that leaves you at.

Q:

Should I use Pawn?

A:

No, it's an outdated addon, based on an outdated way of thinking about the game. It relies too heavily on stat weights being an accurate method of comparing gear, which they aren't. Just use top gear and never think about stat weights ever.

Q:

What should I set my Spell Queue Window to?

A:

If you don't know why you're changing it leave it at the default (400). You can print out your current Spell Queue Window by entering this command /dump GetCVar("SpellQueueWindow") ingame.

Q:

Should I use Arcane Momentum?

A:

Generally I would advise against it as it's more error prone and currently has multiple different bugs.

Q:

My sim says this thing gives X stat, but in game I get Y?

A:

Raidbots takes it's tooltips from Wowhead. They may not necessarily lineup with the values being used by the sim. Always check the HTML report.