TBC Classic Frost Mage Pre-Raid Gear

The pre-raid gear lists on this page are considered the to be the best gear you can get outside of raids and follow this stat priority:

1. Spell Hit rating to cap. That is 127 without Inspiring Presence and Totem of Wrath, 114 with Inspiring Presence only, 89 with Totem of Wrath only and 76 with both;
2. Spell Damage;
3. Spell Haste;
4. Spell Crit;
5. Intellect;
6. Stamina;
7. Spirit and MP5;

Finding the absolute BiS gear each phase strongly depends on your raid dps, mana support and fight lenghts. Many of the options in this pre-raid BiS list are pretty close to each other, especially early on, and we recommend that you make yourself familiar with the Osthyvel Mage Simulation to know which items you really want to go for in slots with multiple options. Even though this step looks time-consuming at first, it can save you a lot of time when you find out that one pre-raid BiS item is simming very close to another epic item you would have to farm hours for. Later, in raids, simming helps you to prioritize items that will last you longest first and avoid minor upgrades. While you are simming, you also should see which gems are best for your particular raid situation. Below you find links to the Frost Mage stats page, the Raid Best in Slot and the Osthyvel Mage TBC sim.

For AoE (=spamming Arcane Explosions), items with Spell Haste are preferred, because reducing your global cooldown basically 'bypasses' the AoE cap, by simply casting more spells in the same time-frame. For bosses, the items from the BiS lists are generally the better choice. Mind Quickening Gem from Vaelastrasz the Corrupt in Blackwing Lair will be a BiS AoE trinket during the whole expansion.