Frost Mage Help - ilvl 541

[Aldryn 0]

Hello,

 

I've been playing a mage for all of about 3 weeks and while I feel like I have the rotation down pretty well I still feel like there is a huge mechanic that I just haven't grasped. I am still a little lost on the opener. It typically looks something like this:

 

Invocation

Mirror Image

Icy Veins

Living Bomb

Orb

Frost bolts until: 2 FoF and BF

Alter Time

FFB priority over Ice Lance

Frost Bolts/Living Bomb until Alter time Pops

FFB priority over Ice Lance

Then Frost Bolts until my cool downs come back

 

I try to give FFB priority over Ice Lance but feel that has a lot to do with RNG as I might get a FoF proc and as I cast it I get a BF proc.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. As a side note, no Pots/Elixirs were used in either of the fights linked below.

 

Armory: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/blackrock/Aldryn/simple

 

LFR Malkorok: http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/nGw6LcNtPZgbpH27#fight=1

LFR Thok: http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/nGw6LcNtPZgbpH27#

 

Thanks in advance.

[Akraen 230]

By using your IV then you're wasting GCDs.

 

I'd macro your IV to frostbolt and let it activate during your intial spam.

 

Don't worry about having FoF and BF for Alter Time, just try to snag as many of your buffs/procs as possible, the damage increasers matter more than your FoF and BF, so if everything is up, just press it and go wild.

 

If you have 2 x FoF and 1x BF, then FoF -> BF -> FoF.

 

I see 84% uptime on LB, that's too low - I recommend a tracker like MageBombTracker, WA, TMW, or just something to help you out with that.

 

You also have an 84% uptime on Invoker's Energy - that's too low. Again an addon should help you monitor it and not have such a low uptime.

 

Other than that you look pretty good - so just try to fine tune those nuances and I think you're set.

 

 

Edit: Just saw your glyphs. No no no no no. You need Icy Veins, Splitting Ice, & Cone of Cold. You can sub Cone of Cold out if there's no AoE or movement on the fight and pick up Evocation or whatever you prefer.

[Aldryn 0]

Thanks Akraen.

 

I'm using WA2 currently. I pulled a premade string (this: http://clanperception.eu/gummer/2013/11/weak-auras-frost-mage-setup-patch-5-4/) and am tweaking it to prevent LB and IE from falling off (something in my brain just doesn't trigger to evocate unless something takes up my entire screen).

 

I just realized armory defaulted to my PvP spec, major glyphs on my PvE spec are:

 

Icy Veins, Water Elemental, Splitting Ice.

 

Regarding icy veins: so pop it just before I start spamming Frost Bolt to generate AT procs?

 

Thanks again,

Aldryn

[Akraen 230]

Yeah - I really mean it, it's not lazy or a DPS loss to just macro icy veins into frostbolt.

[Aldryn 0]

Will do, thanks again Akraen, much appreciated. :)

[Kver 65]

If you're interested I could throw my TMW strings on here. They work for me, and they track everything you need to know as a Frost Mage. It includes shiny warnings when Invoker's Energy falls off!

 

But really, don't be too obsessed with uptimes either. Play consciously with them, but don't forget that they are not the only things that contribute to your DPS, despite people like us sometimes claiming otherwise. Just focus on improving across the board, and you'll start to notice that maintaining uptimes will become easier and easier.