[Archived] Frost Mage 5.4

[Damien 1,514]

Light of the Cosmos

I was just wondering why this would be considered BIS for a frost mage? Is this under the assumption that we always pick living bomb? Or am I missing some other damage over time we have?

Haste does sim for the highest damage in simulationcraft at the moment, However, if you sim helterskelter or multiple targets (think gara'jal, spirit kings) crit will be valued a lot higher. For fights with a lot of movement i suggest going with crit reforges instead of haste reforges, worked great for me at least.

@wiskky

It definitely looks like the best trinket you can get for frost for now. When we get acces to terrace of endless spring you can get a better trinket from the last boss. Passive int and a very juicy haste proc.

I'd agree with Behdirah here :)

[Guest IcyMage]

Hi there,

I'm looking for the best choice as frost for Mage bombe and reforge(crit /haster) per boss for the new instance.

Frost do less dps in mouvement than fire ? Are you taking Scorch ?

Is still frost spé viable ?

[Guest Portor]

Why isn't Frostbolt first in the rotation? You can get more damage in with less interruptions to casting if the enemy is slowed.

Or is that rotation in relation to raiding?

I have to agree. For single target, slow them down first. 1.7sec cast. Slow them down then cast frost bomb. Also, the orb can me more trouble than it's worth. Seems to me it aggro's more mobs than I may want to take on at one time.

[Oltier 471]

As far as I know, the whole site is about raiding environment and the rotation is based on the fact, that you'll have a tank absorbing the attacks.

[Guest Ati]

On the Bis list i see you don't put 4 tier pieces. Is that correct?

I mean, the 50% CD reduction on Icy veins seems quite.. OP.

[Krisael 0]

Based on askmrrobot.com.

Why Relic of Yu'lon is BiS and Essence of Terror isn't for frost mages in tier normal? Since Haste is priority secondary stats...

[Oltier 471]

Based on askmrrobot.com.

Why Relic of Yu'lon is BiS and Essence of Terror isn't for frost mages in tier normal? Since Haste is priority secondary stats...

I bet because, Intellect has higher priority than Haste, and the Relic of Yu'lon's main stat and proc stat are both intellect.

[Guest Gala]

Hi all,

Firstly I agree with wissky. With Light of the Cosmos, the only thing I found that procs it (I only have the lfr version, but still...) is Living Bomb when playing frost - it does NOT proc with frost bomb (I don't think I tried nether tempest). So anyone that wants the intel bonus from it, must use living bomb - regardless of the number of foes.

Also I have a question about a few glyphs.

Firstly, is Glyph of Armors viable? The 10% defensive effects of Molten Armor sound intriguing - especially since Force and Verve does physically damage. How bad is the dps hit by switching to molten armor for that section of the fight? And what exactly is the added effect? 6+10% = 16%? or 10% of 6% = 6.6%? It's not like 5% crit is THAT bad... How much real world damage are we talking about? Is it worth the increased HPS requirements for healers during force and verve?

Second, what exactly are the upgrades from Glyph of Water Elemental? I mean, I know what it does when I use it, but if I don't use it, what happens? Does the elemental stop casting every time I move slightly or does he finish his cast and then move silently? Is there any reason for me to not park him somewhere during a boss fight where he can reach everywhere and forget about him and forget the glyph?

Also, are there any recommendations for Glyph of Ice Lance? I mean it's great for adds, and the stone guard and similar cleave type scenarios, but it's suicidal for solo play and useless for bosses with no adds. In solo play, you pet freeze and root a group, and use ice lance to start killing one. If the others unfreeze and start attacking you, they go after the water elemental since that i what hit them. This glyph sounds like you'd hit two enemies at one, thus depriving yourself of the root effects. Is the recommendation to switch often or just accept the side effects?

[Guest Pendora]

Hi all,

Firstly I agree with wissky. With Light of the Cosmos, the only thing I found that procs it (I only have the lfr version, but still...) is Living Bomb when playing frost - it does NOT proc with frost bomb (I don't think I tried nether tempest). So anyone that wants the intel bonus from it, must use living bomb - regardless of the number of foes.

Also I have a question about a few glyphs.

Firstly, is Glyph of Armors viable? The 10% defensive effects of Molten Armor sound intriguing - especially since Force and Verve does physically damage. How bad is the dps hit by switching to molten armor for that section of the fight? And what exactly is the added effect? 6+10% = 16%? or 10% of 6% = 6.6%? It's not like 5% crit is THAT bad... How much real world damage are we talking about? Is it worth the increased HPS requirements for healers during force and verve?

Second, what exactly are the upgrades from Glyph of Water Elemental? I mean, I know what it does when I use it, but if I don't use it, what happens? Does the elemental stop casting every time I move slightly or does he finish his cast and then move silently? Is there any reason for me to not park him somewhere during a boss fight where he can reach everywhere and forget about him and forget the glyph?

Also, are there any recommendations for Glyph of Ice Lance? I mean it's great for adds, and the stone guard and similar cleave type scenarios, but it's suicidal for solo play and useless for bosses with no adds. In solo play, you pet freeze and root a group, and use ice lance to start killing one. If the others unfreeze and start attacking you, they go after the water elemental since that i what hit them. This glyph sounds like you'd hit two enemies at one, thus depriving yourself of the root effects. Is the recommendation to switch often or just accept the side effects?

I accept the side affects and climb the ladder of recount

[Damien 1,514]

On the Bis list i see you don't put 4 tier pieces. Is that correct?

I mean, the 50% CD reduction on Icy veins seems quite.. OP.

Based on askmrrobot.com.

Why Relic of Yu'lon is BiS and Essence of Terror isn't for frost mages in tier normal? Since Haste is priority secondary stats...

I bet because, Intellect has higher priority than Haste, and the Relic of Yu'lon's main stat and proc stat are both intellect.

The BiS list was originally before Heart of Fear and Terrace of Endless Spring were released. The Mage BiS lists have been updated since then and, of course, they all feature 4 pieces of the Tier 14.

Hi all,

Firstly I agree with wissky. With Light of the Cosmos, the only thing I found that procs it (I only have the lfr version, but still...) is Living Bomb when playing frost - it does NOT proc with frost bomb (I don't think I tried nether tempest). So anyone that wants the intel bonus from it, must use living bomb - regardless of the number of foes.

Also I have a question about a few glyphs.

Firstly, is Glyph of Armors viable? The 10% defensive effects of Molten Armor sound intriguing - especially since Force and Verve does physically damage. How bad is the dps hit by switching to molten armor for that section of the fight? And what exactly is the added effect? 6+10% = 16%? or 10% of 6% = 6.6%? It's not like 5% crit is THAT bad... How much real world damage are we talking about? Is it worth the increased HPS requirements for healers during force and verve?

Second, what exactly are the upgrades from Glyph of Water Elemental? I mean, I know what it does when I use it, but if I don't use it, what happens? Does the elemental stop casting every time I move slightly or does he finish his cast and then move silently? Is there any reason for me to not park him somewhere during a boss fight where he can reach everywhere and forget about him and forget the glyph?

Also, are there any recommendations for Glyph of Ice Lance? I mean it's great for adds, and the stone guard and similar cleave type scenarios, but it's suicidal for solo play and useless for bosses with no adds. In solo play, you pet freeze and root a group, and use ice lance to start killing one. If the others unfreeze and start attacking you, they go after the water elemental since that i what hit them. This glyph sounds like you'd hit two enemies at one, thus depriving yourself of the root effects. Is the recommendation to switch often or just accept the side effects?

Glyph of Armors + Molten Armor reduces physical damage taken by 16%. In terms of DPS, this is hard to quantify, as it depends on your gear (haste is multiplicative). To give you an idea, the T14H Frost Mage profile in SimC gives you 128.2k DPS with Frost Armor and 125.8k DPS with Molten Armor.

Glyph of Water Elemental is usually important. Bosses move during a fight and you want your Water Elemental to always be in range for casting Freeze. Having the glyphs enables the Elemental to cast its Waterbolt while moving.

The guides only focus on raiding, so if there are multiple targets, you must use Glyph of Ice Lance. Soloing is outside the scope of our guides, even though you can apply many things we say when questing.

[Guest Vob]

Hi!

I suck at making macros, so I thought I could ask here and hope you could help me out?

Looking at your polymorph macro, I kinda wanted the opposite of what you put. So, I use the modifier to cast it on my focus, instead of a new target. But still have the whole thing of press it on your current target and it makes it your focus, and that idea repeating every time until I press the modifier and it goes to my focus still!

I hope I explained this relatively clear enough! Thanks.

[NightShade 14]

Generally what a macro for CC's does is set a focus and automatically cast the CC on the focus target unless you press the modifier key. So in the one listed in the mage guide for macro's you press the alt key if you have a focus and want to clear it. If you do not have a focus and do not press the modifier it sets the focus and attempts to polymorph it. Any subsequent activation of the macro will attempt to polymorph the focus unless you press the modifier of alt in this macro's case. So it seems the macro is exactly what you want to happen. The only problem with the macro they have is if you target a friendly it will set them as your focus and you MUST press the modifier to clear that focus and then reaquire a target. The macro I use does a check on the focus to see if it is friendly or not harmful. It will also stop your current spellcast and apply polymorph. It's just slightly more advanced and uses a modifier key of shift.

#showtooltip Polymorph

/clearfocus [modifier:shift]

/focus [@focus,noexists]

/clearfocus [@focus,help][@focus,noharm]

/stopcasting

/stopmacro [@target,noharm]

/cast [@focus,exists,harm][@target] Polymorph

If you are wanting to modify the macro so that it always casts polymorph on your target and only work on your focus when you press a modifier then the macro would have to be written differently.

#showtooltip Polymorph

/clearfocus [modifier:shift]

/focus [@focus,noexists]

/clearfocus [@focus,help][@focus,noharm]

/stopcasting

/stopmacro [@target,noharm]

/cast [modifier:alt @focus,exists,harm][@target]Polymorph

The one above is based off of the one I use. Press shift and activate the macro to clear focus if you have a target focused it will not cast polymorph on the focus unless you press the "alt" key otherwise it should just polymorph your current target but it will leave your previous focus intact.

I think that was what you are asking for.

[Guest Dorks]

Hi all, had a question. Is there ever room for Blizzard in an aoe rotation?

[Guest Ati]

On the rotation section, under the multiple target one with 5 or more ,

you forgot to add the Frozen Orb (which of course is the main priority to cast it on CD)

[Damien 1,514]

Hi all, had a question. Is there ever room for Blizzard in an aoe rotation?

There is none, unless you cannot be in range of the targets for Arcane Explosion.

On the rotation section, under the multiple target one with 5 or more ,

you forgot to add the Frozen Orb (which of course is the main priority to cast it on CD)

Well, sometimes the most obvious things are the easiest to overlook :P Thank you for reporting this issue, the guide has been fixed!

[Guest Anglave]

Hello icy-veins,

I'm playing a Frost Mage in Throne of Thunder, and I'm curious if our rotation / priority has changed much. I see that my main nuke spell's damage has been buffed, but my dps is still falling short.

I'm specifically concerned about my water elemental's Freeze ability, which appears to now be worthless in a boss fight.

Is there something else I should be doing during a Patchwerk fight, besides keeping my Tier 5 DoT up, casting Frozen Orb on cooldown, burning FoF and Brain Freeze procs asap, and Frostbolting my icy little heart out?

[Krisael 0]

Damien,

Now Fire Blast don't spread Living Bomb to others targets. So, I will put manually LB to others 2 targets?

[Oltier 471]

Hello icy-veins,

I'm playing a Frost Mage in Throne of Thunder, and I'm curious if our rotation / priority has changed much. I see that my main nuke spell's damage has been buffed, but my dps is still falling short.

I'm specifically concerned about my water elemental's Freeze ability, which appears to now be worthless in a boss fight.

Is there something else I should be doing during a Patchwerk fight, besides keeping my Tier 5 DoT up, casting Frozen Orb on cooldown, burning FoF and Brain Freeze procs asap, and Frostbolting my icy little heart out?

I don't personally think that the rotation changed much. I've been playing frost mage since the start of MoP and I had no big problems with my DPS on the raids. In fact, I usually did slightly more, than the better geared teammates.

Soo, about the rotation. You should exclude Freeze unless if, there's an add of the boss which can be freezed successfully.

You should still keep your Tier 6 talent buff up everytime, using Icy-veins, Frozen Orb, Mirror Image, Alter time (Especially with new tier bonus), on CD. Keep up Tier 5 talent DoT, and yes... Spam your heart out. At least, this is basically all what I do, and there has been no problem with me, yet.

Damien,

Now Fire Blast don't spread Living Bomb to others targets. So, I will put manually LB to others 2 targets?

I'd say, it's worth choosing Nether tempest now against 2-3 enemies. I cannot provide any simulations etc, but the point of using Living bomb with Fire Blast was, that it saved a global cooldown. Now that you have to cast one more DoT anyway, I'd assume that Nether Tempest will do more damage. But you should test this. It might even worth more, to take Nether tempest for 2 enemies, and Frost brom for 3 or more.

[Damien 1,514]

The guide is now updated. There have been a few talent changes, but the rotation is exactly the same as it was before, except that you can no longer spread your Living Bomb with Fire Blast.

[Oltier 471]

The guide is now updated. There have been a few talent changes, but the rotation is exactly the same as it was before, except that you can no longer spread your Living Bomb with Fire Blast.

You should make an addition to the Water elemental's Freeze, that it will only grant FoF charges if it successfully freezes a target. Thus, on bosses it won't work, but it might on some of their adds and on trash.

[Guest Kiridan]

You should make an addition to the Water elemental's Freeze, that it will only grant FoF charges if it successfully freezes a target. Thus, on bosses it won't work, but it might on some of their adds and on trash.

It doesn't work in most Bossfights i have tried yet. Propably the most adds cannot be freezed. It definitely doesn't work on bosses, so it should be removed at least from the single target Rotation.

[Damien 1,514]

You should make an addition to the Water elemental's Freeze, that it will only grant FoF charges if it successfully freezes a target. Thus, on bosses it won't work, but it might on some of their adds and on trash.

It doesn't work in most Bossfights i have tried yet. Propably the most adds cannot be freezed. It definitely doesn't work on bosses, so it should be removed at least from the single target Rotation.

I thought the guide was already clear enough on that, but I've just made it clearer :)

[Guest FFS]

i can,t find the Pvp guide for frost mage

[Oltier 471]

i can,t find the Pvp guide for frost mage

Because this site is only focusing on PvE content.

[Demolished 0]

It doesn't work in most Bossfights i have tried yet. Propably the most adds cannot be freezed. It definitely doesn't work on bosses, so it should be removed at least from the single target Rotation.

Pet freeze works on Boa spirits on council. Very handy.