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 both 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.

2. Spells & Abilities

3. Talents

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Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYGbmtZBzwYWMYmZ0YMzYGGmxM4BmZmZGzMzMzMzMzYGIAAwMz2yyyMTbAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAA

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Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYGbmtZBzwYWMYmZ0YMzYGmZGmhZmZmZGzMzMzYmBzMLz0MzysAAAgWAAAAAAwAAAAAAAAA

Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYGbmtZBzwYWMYmZ0YMzYGGmxMYmZmZGzMzMzYmZGzMLz0MzysAAAgWAAAAAAwAAAAAAAAA

Talent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMzYzsZBzwMziBGz0YMzYmZGGmBPwMzMzMzMzMzYmZGzMLz0MzysAAAgWAAAAAAwsAAAAAAAAA

4. Spec Overview

4.1 Shatter

The core mechanic of the spec is Shatter. Spells against enemies who are frozen benefit from Shatter, and have a greater chance of being struck a critical strike. Your critical strike chance against frozen enemies is:

(Critical Strike chance * 1.5) + 50%

The main way of gaining Shatter in PvE is through Winter's Chill via Flurry and Fingers Of Frost, with most rotational decisions involving maximising the number and effectiveness of both these abilities. During this guide I will refer to you causing a spell to gain the Shatter effect as ‘shattering’ that spell.

If a target has no Winter's Chill we can shatter 3 spells instead of 2 by casting either Frostbolt or Glacial Spike first and then following that cast up with a Flurry. We can do this because Flurry is three separate projectiles that each hit the target in sequence with a small delay. The Frostbolt or Glacial Spike will consume a stack from the first or second projectile, and the last Flurry projectile will refresh the stacks back to 2.

4.2 Winter's Chill and Procs

The frost mage rotation revolves around maximising the impact of your two procs, Brain Freeze and Fingers Of Frost, while maximising the number of these procs through casting Frostbolt and Frozen Orb.

• Flurry applies Winter's Chill to the target - causing your next 2 spells to deal damage as if the target were frozen. Each Flurry bolt refreshes the duration and stacks of Winter's Chill.
• Brain Freeze refunds a charge of Flurry and increases the damage of your next Flurry by 50%. Should a Frostbolt give you a Brain Freeze when you already have one, there is a small grace window that allows you to spend the old Brain Freeze and still gain the new one.
• Fingers Of Frost causes your next Ice Lance to deal damage as if the target were frozen.

A target is either frozen or not frozen, there is no additional damage benefit to casting a Fingers Of Frost Ice Lance into a Winter's Chill. However Casting a Fingers Of Frost Ice Lance into a target that already has Winter's Chill will not consume Winter's Chill.

Frostfire has three additional proccs.

• Excess Fire makes your next Ice Lance deal small AoE damage and grants both Brain Freeze and Excess Frost. It can stack up to 2 and is granted by casting Comet Storm or by spending Frostfire Empowerment.
• Excess Frost makes your next Flurry cast an Ice Nova and reduces the remaining cooldown of Comet Storm by 3 seconds. It can stack up to 2 and is granted by consuming Excess Fire or by spending Frostfire Empowerment.
• Frostfire Empowerment makes your next Frostfire Bolt an instant cast that deals AoE damage and a guaranteed crit. It grants both Excess Fire and Excess Frost.

Spellslinger has one additional proc.

• Spellfrost Teachings resets the cooldown of Frozen Orb and increases all damage dealt by Frozen Orb by 15% for a short duration. It has a chance to proc every time your Frost Splinter deals direct damage.

5. Rotation

5.1 Filler Rotation

The main gameplay loop of Frost in single target revolves around four abilities: Frostfire Bolt, Flurry, Ice Lance and Glacial Spike. The goal here is to maximise the amount of Glacial Spike that we cast and to shatter as many spells as possible.

The main gameplay loop of Frost in single target revolves around four abilities: Frostbolt, Flurry, Ice Lance and Glacial Spike. The goal here is to maximise the amount of Glacial Spike that we cast and to shatter as many spells as possible.

1. Always cast Glacial Spike as soon as you have 5 Icicles. Follow up Glacial Spike with a Flurry, unless there are already stacks of Winter's Chill on your target.
2. Cast Glacial Spike as soon as you can shatter it. Always follow up Glacial Spike with a Flurry, unless there are already stacks of Winter's Chill on your target.
3. Prioritize casting Ice Lance while working towards the next Glacial Spike if they benefit from either Fingers Of Frost or Winter's Chill.
4. Once you are out of both Fingers Of Frost and Winter's Chill, start casting Frostfire Bolt as a bottom line filler. If you have 3 or fewer Icicles while casting Frostfire Bolt, always follow it up with a Flurry to shatter it and to reapply Winter's Chill. If you have 4 Icicles while casting Frostfire Bolt, directly follow it up with a Glacial Spike instead.
5. Once you are out of both Fingers Of Frost and Winter's Chill, start casting Frostbolt as a bottom line filler. Always try to follow up Frostbolt with a Flurry to shatter it and to reapply Winter's Chill, regardless of Icicles.

All other spells like Ray of Frost, Comet Storm, Frozen Orb and Shifting Power are cooldowns that get woven inbetween the filler rotation at specific points in the Priority. Note that those also benefit from Winter's Chill, but do not consume any stacks.

  Frostfire Filler Examples

  Spellslinger Filler Examples

5.2 Single Target Priority

Frostbolt ➜ Flurry ➜ Icy Veins + Frozen Orb then follow the priority list below. 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 because if you are not already in combat with the boss when Icy Veins is cast it will not generate Frost Splinter from Augury Abounds which will cost you a lot of initial burst.

Frostfire Bolt ➜ Icy Veins + Flurry ➜ Comet Storm ➜ Frozen Orb then follow the priority list below. 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.

1. Cast Icy Veins
2. Cast Flurry if you won't overcap on Icicles and:
• your target has no Winter's Chill and your previous cast was Frostfire Bolt, Glacial Spike or Comet Storm
• OR you have Excess Fire and Excess Frost
3. Cast Comet Storm
4. Cast Glacial Spike
5. Cast Ray of Frost if your previous cast was Flurry
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 Winter's Chill
10. Cast Frostfire Bolt
11. Cast Icy Veins
12. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and your previous cast was Frostbolt or Glacial Spike
13. Cast Comet Storm outside Icy Veins and your target has Winter's Chill
14. Cast Frozen Orb unless Icy Veins will be ready in the next 30 seconds
15. Cast Ray of Frost if your previous cast was Flurry
16. Cast Glacial Spike if you can shatter it
17. Cast Shifting Power if you are out of Flurry charges
18. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost or Winter's Chill
19. Cast Frostbolt

5.3 Cleave Priority

This rotation is specifically for 2 target Cleave. The key differences from the single target rotation include a higher priority on Ice Lance, the use of Blizzard when talented into both Ice Caller and Freezing Rain, and actively stacking Death's Chill during our main Icy Veins.

This rotation is specifically for 2 target Cleave. The key differences from the single target rotation include managing Frostfire Empowerment, the use of Blizzard when talented into both Ice Caller and Freezing Rain, and actively stacking Death's Chill during our main Icy Veins.

If you are currently casting Glacial Spike while your main target has Winter's Chill, you can swap to the second target during the Glacial Spike cast and queue another Flurry at the second target to shatter both cleaving Glacial Spikes. This only works when talented into Splitting Ice. Make sure to consume the Winter's Chill from your second target before swapping back.

Frostbolt ➜ Flurry ➜ Icy Veins + Frozen Orb then follow the priority list below. 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 because if you are not already in combat with the boss when Icy Veins is cast it will not generate Frost Splinter from Augury Abounds which will cost you a lot of initial burst.

Frostfire Bolt ➜ Icy Veins + Flurry ➜ Comet Storm ➜ Frozen Orb then follow the priority list below. 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.

Frostfire Bolt ➜ Icy Veins + Flurry ➜ Frostfire Bolt ➜ Frostfire Bolt then follow the priority list below. 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.

1. Cast Icy Veins
2. Cast Frostfire Bolt if your main Icy Veins buff is active and you have less than 5 stacks of Death's Chill
3. Cast Flurry if you won't overcap on Icicles and:
• your target has no Winter's Chill and your previous cast was Frostfire Bolt, Glacial Spike or Comet Storm
• OR you have Excess Fire and Excess Frost
4. Cast Comet Storm
5. Cast Frozen Orb
6. Cast Blizzard if Freezing Rain is active
7. Cast Glacial Spike
8. Cast Ray of Frost if your previous cast was Flurry
9. Cast Frostfire Bolt if Frostfire Empowerment is active and you have no Excess Fire
10. Cast Shifting Power when all of Icy Veins, Frozen Orb, Comet Storm and Ray of Frost are on cooldown
11. Cast Shifting Power when all of Icy Veins, Frozen Orb and Comet Storm are on cooldown
12. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost or Winter's Chill
13. Cast Frostfire Bolt

1. Cast Icy Veins
2. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and your previous cast was Frostbolt or Glacial Spike
3. Cast Ice Lance with 2 stacks of Fingers Of Frost
4. Cast Comet Storm outside Icy Veins with Winter's Chill
5. Cast Frozen Orb unless Icy Veins will be ready in the next 30 seconds
6. Cast Ray of Frost outside Icy Veins if your previous cast was Flurry
7. Cast Glacial Spike if you can shatter it
8. Cast Shifting Power when you are out of Flurry charges
9. Cast Frostbolt if your main Icy Veins buff is active and you have less than 8 stacks of Death's Chill
10. Cast Blizzard
11. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost or Winter's Chill
12. Cast Frostbolt

5.4 AoE Priority

AoE for Frost starts at 3+ targets. The priority list below assumes you have Comet Storm and at least one of Ice Caller or Freezing Rain talented.

Against freezable enemies try to shatter Glacial Spike into Winter's Chill first before using your Water Elemental's Freeze or Ice Nova - the high splinter generation from Signature Spell is more valuable. Frost Nova is currently not worth casting since it deals extremely low damage.

Against freezable enemies if you have just cast Glacial Spike or Comet Storm, shatter those with your Water Elemental's Freeze and Ice Nova with high priority. Do not use Novas before, during, or right after casting Cone Of Cold, since Cone Of Cold already applies Winter's Chill by itself to all targets. Frost Nova is currently not worth using since it deals extremely low damage.

Blizzard ➜ Icy Veins + Frozen Orb then follow the priority list below. Try to precast the Blizzard around 2 seconds before pull so it impacts the moment the boss is engaged.

1. Cast Icy Veins
2. Cast Frostfire Bolt if your main Icy Veins buff is active and you have less than 12 stacks of Death's Chill
3. Cast Cone Of Cold if your previous cast was Comet Storm
4. Cast Frozen Orb
5. Cast Ice Lance if you have 2 stacks of Excess Fire and Comet Storm is ready
6. Cast Blizzard
7. Cast Comet Storm unless Cone Of Cold will be ready in the next 10 seconds
8. Cast Comet Storm
9. Cast Ray of Frost if your target has Winter's Chill and you are talented into Splintering Ray
10. Cast Glacial Spike
11. Cast Flurry if:
• your target has no Winter's Chill
• OR you have Excess Fire and Excess Frost
12. Cast Frostfire Bolt if Frostfire Empowerment is active and you have no stacks of Excess Fire
13. Cast Shifting Power when all of Icy Veins, Frozen Orb and Comet Storm are on cooldown
14. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost or Winter's Chill
15. Cast Frostfire Bolt

1. Cast Icy Veins
2. Cast Cone Of Cold if:
• your previous cast was Comet Storm or Frozen Orb
• AND both Frozen Orb and Comet Storm are on cooldown
3. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill and your previous cast was Glacial Spike
4. Cast Frozen Orb
5. Cast Blizzard
6. Cast Frostbolt if your main Icy Veins buff is active and you have less than 15 stacks of Death's Chill
7. Cast Comet Storm
8. Cast Ray of Frost outside Icy Veins, your target has Winter's Chill and you are talented into Splintering Ray
9. Cast Glacial Spike if you can shatter it
10. Cast Shifting Power
11. Cast Ice Lance with Fingers Of Frost or Winter's Chill
12. Cast Flurry if your target has no Winter's Chill
13. Cast Frostbolt

5.5 Tips and tricks

6. Stats & Gearing

6.1 Stats

Frost stats weights are a little closer than some other specs, and 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. Intellect
2. Haste
3. Critical Strike
4. Versatility
5. Mastery

Generally for Spellslinger, prioritise stats like so:

1. Intellect
2. Haste
3. Critical Strike
4. Mastery
5. 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:

• certain Trinkets (see section 6.3)
• at least 4 pieces of the current Tier Set (see the sims page)
• 2 crafted gear pieces with Embellishments (see section 6.4)

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 of the site.

• Candle Confidant - beats all other available trinkets in pure single target. Can only be obtained on Heroic Track through the weekly delve map bounty and delve vault.
• Mister Lock-N-Stalk - our second best single target trinket after Candle Confidant.
• Eye of Kezan - decent raid trinket that gets better with longer fight lengths. Not recommeded for M+ since the stacks drop out of combat.
• Mug's Moxie Jug - good all-round trinket that will sim better if you have low crit chance.
• Ingenious Mana Battery - decent stat stick trinket. You have to set your loot specc to Arcane to be able to loot it.
• Synergistic Brewterializer - sims very high but the barrels do not get automaically damaged by AoE nor cleaved by Splitting Ice. Generally not recommended for Frost since actively switching and destroying the barrels can be difficult/annoying.

6.4 Crafting

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

• Duskthread Lining and Dawnthread Lining are very powerful if you can maintain uptime and are the recommended Embellishments for M+. The best slots to craft this in are Bracers Consecrated Cuffs and Cloak Consecrated Cloak.
• Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension on the Offhand slot Vagabond's Torch paired with a Writing Armor Band on either the Bracer Consecrated Cuffs the Cloak Consecrated Cloak slot is a very strong choice for raids and single target.
• Elemental Focusing Lense is also a good choice when a weapon craft is not optimal for you because you already have a weapon with a high itemlevel. The best slots to craft this in are Bracers Consecrated Cuffs and Cloak Consecrated Cloak.

7. Consumables

• Flask: Flask of Alchemical Chaos
• Food: The Sushi Special or Feast of the Midnight Masquerade
• Weapon Oil: Algari Mana Oil
• Rune: Crystallized Augment Rune
• Combat Potion: Tempered Potion - try to always use this together with your Icy Veins cooldown.
• Health Potion: Algari Healing Potion


• Chest: Crystalline Radiance
• Weapon: Sophic Devotion is the best choice for single target while Authority of Radiant Power is a little bit better for AoE.
• Legs: Sunset Spellthread
• Ring: Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste is one option. The Top Gear tool in Raidbots can help you to determine the best ring enchant for your current gear and talents.
• Bracers: Devotion of Avoidance
• Cloak: Chant of Burrowing Rapidity
• Feet: Defender's March


• Gems: Culminating Blasphemite is really powerful for Frost. You should have at least one Ruby, one Emerald, one Onyx and one Sapphire socketed into your gear to empower it. The Top Gear tool in Raidbots can help you to determine the colors.

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.

• 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.

• Dwarf - Might of the Mountain makes Dwarf the best race for Frost. It does the same DPS as Tauren but has additional utility with Stoneform.
• Void Elf - Spatial Rift is one of the few useful utility racials while Entropic Embrace keeps the race somewhat competitive for DPS.

9. Macros

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

#showtooltip
/cancelaura Ice Block
/cast [nochanneling] Frostbolt
/targetenemy [noexists][dead]

#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] Blizzard

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

#showtooltip
/cancelaura Ice Block
/cast Blink

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

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

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

10. Advanced

/cancelaura Alter Time