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
GeneralThe full patch notes can be found here: The War Within - Undermine(d) Update Notes
GeneralTalent Import String: CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYGbmtZwMMmFDmZGNGzMmhhZmZYmZmZmxMzMzMmZwMQAAgZmtlllZm2AAAAAAwAAAAAAAAA
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:
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:
Frostbolt ➜ Flurry ➜ Ice Lance ➜ Ice Lance
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.
Baseline Frost has two main proccs:
Frostfire has three additional proccs:
Frostfire
Spellslinger
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 ...
Opener: Frostbolt ➜ Flurry ➜ Icy 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: Frostbolt ➜ Flurry ➜ Icy 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: Blizzard ➜ Icy Veins + Frozen Orb ➜ Cone Of Cold ➜ Frozen 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.
The following concepts should not be seen as a rigorous guide but rather what the idea of 'good gameplay' is based upon.
Doing nothing for an extended period of time in a fight will tank your DPS a lot more than doing some rotational mistakes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Generally for Frostfire, prioritise stats like so:
Generally for Spellslinger, prioritise stats like so:
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:
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.
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.
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.
HordeMacro 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
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
When do I swap to the new rotations for Patch 11.2?
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.
Why is there no checkbox for Death's Chill in the single target rotations?
We do not actively play around Death's Chill in single target and treat it as a passive.
Can we spread the Ignite from the 11.2 Frostfire Tier Set Bonus with Fire Blast?
Good one. No, we can't.
What is the Boltspam rotation and how can I sim it?
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.
Why is there no Frozen Orb in the Frostfire Boltspam rotation?
It is currently not worth to cast it in this rotation. Use it as a movement button instead!
When casting Glacial Spike into the last stack of Winter's Chill, can I queue an instant Frostfire Bolt when Frostfire Empowerment is up?
Yes. Both spells will impact at the same time and benefit from Winter's Chill.
As Frostfire do I need to track Frost Mastery and Fire Mastery?
No. We dont play around them.
As Spellslinger why is my 11.2 Tier Set Bonus not working?!
You need to have Cold Front talented for it to work.
With a Glacial Spike Spellslinger build, why is there no Comet Storm in the Single Target and Cleave rotations?
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!
As Spellslinger why do my Frost Splinter keep hitting random target dummies in Dornogal?
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..
As Spellslinger why is my Frost Splinter damage so low in Details, am I doing something wrong?
Logs and sims automatically combine most of the different splinter damage sources into one.
Is there a target count where we stop casting Glacial Spike in AoE?
No. Always cast it, and as Spellslinger always shatter it into Winter's Chill.
Why does my Cone Of Cold not reset Comet Storm or Frozen Orb?
The talent Coldest Snap requires you to hit at least 3 targest for its effect.
Why does Cold Snap not reset my Cone Of Cold?
The talent Coldest Snap disables all cooldown reductions for Cone Of Cold, including Cold Snap, Shifting Power and Time Manipulation.
How do I sim against freezable targets?
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.
How do I sim Mythic+?
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.
What stat percentages should I aim for?
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.
Should I use Pawn?
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.
What should I set my Spell Queue Window to?
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.
Should I use Arcane Momentum?
Generally I would advise against it as it's more error prone and currently has multiple different bugs.
My sim says this thing gives X stat, but in game I get Y?
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.