Well, we’re all glad all that nasty Fire has gone away. Now it’s time for – wait, what? – slime, tentacles and lots of apostrophes, apparently. Well, hell, slime and tentacles freeze. So, if you want a guide to freezing Deathwing’s bits off as a Frost Mage, read on for all the info on talent specs, glyphs, gems and reforging, stats and rotation / priority systems for Frost Mages in Patch 4.3.
Updated Nov 29th for Patch 4.3
Frost Mage changes in Patch 4.3
Nada. Nothing. Nil. Notting. It’s all quiet on the Frozen front.
Our Tier 13 Set Bonuses are interesting – and damn complicated. Check out Arcane Brilliance on the subject if you want more information there – as of yet there are no firm guidelines to give.
Frost Mage Rotation / Priorities
Like most DPS classes in Cataclysm, frost Mages don’t have a rotation. Instead, they have a fairly simple and flexible priority system – cast the highest-priority spell you can at any time.
Keep Molten Armor and Arcane Brilliance up at all times.
Try to keep one stack of Fingers of Frost up at all times.
- Top Priority: If it’s off cooldown and you have Fingers of Frost, cast Deep Freeze.
- Second Priority: Cast Flame Orb and Freeze (from your elemental) whenever they are off cooldown.
- Third Priority: Cast Frostfire Bolt if Brain Freeze is up. If you have Fingers of Frost, Brain Freeze is not up and Deep Freeze is on cooldown, cast Ice Lance.
- Fourth Priority: If you have nothing else to do, cast Frostbolt.
Use Icy Veins whenever it’s off cooldown for maximum DPS, or save for burn phases if needed.
If you need to do a lot of damage in a very short space of time, use your Cold Snap ability to reset all your cooldowns after you’ve cast Flame Orb, Freeze, Deep Freeze, and Icy Veins.
Advanced DPS: Much of Frost DPS revolves around Fingers of Frost maintainance. See the Icy Veins guide linked below for more details on this.
AOE: Alternate using Flamestrike and Blizzard.
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Frost Talent Spec
This is the standard frost talent spec for 4.3
For slightly increased damage in dungeons and other multi-target situations, you can take 2 points in Piercing Chill, 2nd tier in the Frost Tree, instead of Reactive Barrier in the second-to-top tier. Ice Shards, third tier in Frost, may be useful if you need to slow a large pack of adds for a specific fight.
Stats, reforging and gemming for frost
Intellect is the most important stat for frost followed by Hit, then Crit, then Haste. Mastery is your worst stat. Crit becomes worse than Haste after you hit 33% Critical Chance.
Reforging: Reforge to the Hit Cap (1,742). If you hit this, then reforge to Crit until 33%, then Haste. Reforge from Mastery (and Spirit if you have any) first. After that, reforge Crit or Haste depending on if you’ve hit 33% Crit.
Gems: Use a Brilliant Inferno Ruby unless the socket bonus provides 10 or more Intellect or 20 or more of another stat. In that case, use Veiled Demonseye for blue sockets and Reckless Ember Topaz / Potent Ember Topaz for yellow sockets.
Frost Mage enchants
Several professions can provide better enhancements than these – Inscription, Tailoring, Engineering all have potential buffs. Check the stat priorities above.
| Head | Arcanum of Hyjal |
| Shoulders | Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone |
| Back | Enchant Cloak – Greater Intellect |
| Chest | Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats |
| Wrist | Enchant Bracer – Mighty Intellect |
| Hands | Enchant Gloves – Greater Mastery |
| Belt | Ebonsteel Belt Buckle |
| Legs | Powerful Ghostly Spellthread |
| Feet | Enchant Boots – Lavawalker |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon – Power Torrent |
| Off-Hand Weapon | Enchant Weapon – Superior Intellect |
Glyphs
Prime: Frostbolt, Deep Freeze, Frostfire.
Major: Evocation, Polymorph, Blink or Invisibility.
Minor: Slow Fall – others are your preference.
Links
- Icy Veins Arcane guide – excellent dedicated guide. Not updated to 4.3 yet, not that it makes very much difference.
- Arcane Brilliance at WoW Insider – one of the massive WoW Insider’s better columns, well worth reading.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey! thanks so much for these guides. Just wanted to let you know you had a title incorrectly labeled “Arcane” here. The rotation one. THANKS!
@Aegisrose – Thanks! That’s really helpful – thank you for spotting it.
Hello, do you have any guide for PvP frost mage? I would really appriciate it
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