Cataclysm Classic Frost Mage Stat Priority

The stat priority for Frost Mage is as follows:

1. Intellect
2. Hit Rating (17% Hit Cap!)
3. Critical Strike Rating (until 33.33%)
4. Haste Rating
5. Mastery Rating
6. Critical Strike Rating (after 33.33%)

Intellect becomes our new best stat by far, you can never have enough of it, the more the better. It provides Spell Power, Crit and a Mana pool increase.

Hit is our second best stat until you reach the cap of 17% hit (16% for Draenei Mages). Once you reach 17% hit chance, any further Hit Rating becomes redundant. Draenei Mages need 1640 Hit Rating to reach the hit cap, whereas other races require 1742 Hit Rating. The best way to get hit rating from Reforging is to reforge Critical Strike Rating to cap, or Mastery Rating into Hit Rating.

At Level 85:

• 102.44 Hit Rating = 1% Spell Hit Chance

With Shatter, reaching a 33.33% critical strike chance establishes a soft cap for your Critical Strike Rating. The term soft cap denotes that further increases in Critical Strike Rating will not yield as much benefit once this threshold is surpassed. For Frost Mages, Deep Freeze, Ice Lance, and Frostfire Bolt benefit from Shatter when triggered by Fingers of Frost, leaving only Frostbolt and Flame Orb to gain from additional Critical Strike Rating beyond the cap. Consequently, Critical Strike Rating becomes less appealing than Haste Rating or Mastery Rating at this stage.

At Level 85:

• 179.28 Crit Rating = 1% Crit

Haste Rating is a good stat, once you have reached the crit cap of 33.33% Critical Strike Rating raid buffed.

At Level 85:

• 128.05 Haste Rating = 1% Haste

Mastery is the worst stat for Frost Mage. It increases your damage via Frostburn, however, the damage increase is too low to justify stacking Mastery Rating, as it only works versus frozen targets or when Fingers of Frost is up. Reforge this stat to Hit, Crit or Haste Rating.

At Level 85:

• 179.28 Mastery Rating = 1% Mastery