WotLK Classic Frost Mage Stat Priority

Stat values for Frost Mages depend on your playstyle, boss kill times, raid setup, and support, so it is not easy to give a definite answer on this topic. The best way to find out your stat weights for a specific fight is to use Osthyvel's Mage Sim. If you do not want to go through the trouble of simming, the stat priority below has been proven to be correct for most scenarios.

1. Spell Hit rating to cap
2. Spell power >= Haste rating;
3. Critical Strike rating;
4. Spirit;
5. Intellect;
6. Stamina;
7. MP5.

In TBC, the Hit cap was 16%, but you always had a 1% chance to miss spells that could not be avoided. The Hit cap in WotLK is 17% and once you have reached it, you will not miss spells on bosses any more. All your spells except Arcane spells, will not gain any Hit bonus in the meta Fire spec. Arcane Spells, such as Arcane Explosion gain 3% from Arcane Focus. The Elemental Precision talent from the Frost tree would still give you 3% Hit for all spells, but the meta Fire spec does not go into the Frost tree. However, in any standard raid composition you gain 3% either from a Balance Druid's Improved Faerie Fire or from a Shadow Priest's Misery. This puts you at 3 out of 17% hit in the default case, which means you need 14% more Hit from gear. Alliance Mages can benefit from the Draenei Racial Heroic Presence, gaining 1% more Hit, but only if that Draenei is in their group, as the buff is not raid-wide. In this case you would be at 4 out of 17% Hit, requiring you to get 13% more Hit. In any case, should you lack either the Druid's or the Priest's hit debuff, you need 3% more Hit from gear. The lack of hit gear is also what makes Fire Mages in particular scale rather poorly in the beginning of the expansion. In later phases, the best gear automatically has some hit added to it, but in the beginning it is mostly either hit or another offensive stat, not both.

At Level 80, for each 1% hit, you need 26.23 hit rating. The table below shows you how much hit % and hit rating you need at Level 80 with our recommended Frost Mage PvE Talents, depending on your debuff situation.

Enemy Level	80		81		82		83 (Boss)
	Hit %	Rating	Hit %	Rating	Hit %	Rating	Hit %	Rating
No buffs/debuffs	1	26,23	2	52,46	3	78,69	14	367.22
Improved Faerie Fire/Misery	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	288.53
Heroic Presence	0	0	1	26,23	2	52,46	13	340.99
Improved Faerie Fire/Misery+Heroic Presence	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	262.3

Any increase in this stat increases the damage all your spells do. This stat scales even better in WotLK with the Empowered Frostbolt talent, giving Frostbolt 10% more damage from the Spell Power stat.

At Level 80, a Mage needs 32.79 haste rating for 1% increased casting speed. The reason why Haste is so valuable is that it helps to boost instant-cast spells such as Arcane Explosion more than the Spell power stat, as you can simply cast Arcane Explosion more often rather than slightly empowering it.

Frost Spell Crits do 209% damage with the Ice Shards talent and Chaotic Skyflare Diamond, or 200% damage without the Skyflare Diamond, so Spell Crit is pretty good for Frost Mages. However, the 45.91 Critical Strike rating required to increase your Critical Strike chance by 1% leaves a bitter taste, as it makes it the most "expensive" stat in terms of rating to % conversion. Nevertheless, Critical Strike rating is still a great overall stat to have.

Spirit increases your Mana regeneration and with Mage Armor you can have 50% of your out of combat-regeneration while casting. In Wrath of the Lich King, Molten Armor also turns 35% of your total Spirit into Critical Strike rating. This effect can be increased by 20% with Glyph of Molten Armor and by another 15% with the 2-set bonus of the Tier 9 set later in the expansion. It does not matter if in longer fights with no downtimes, where the Mana regeneration from Mage Armor and Arcane Meditation can restore significant amounts of Mana, or if in shorter fights where the Critical Strike rating bonus from Molten Armor comes out on top, Spirit is a decent passive stat.

While in TBC Spirit massively boosted a Druid's Innervate, the Mana restored from Innervate is now based on the Druid's base Mana, and Spirit also does nothing for your Evocation.

Intellect increases your Mana pool, your Mana regeneration, and Critical Strike chance with spells slightly. At Level 80, you need 166.667 Intellect for 1% Critical Strike chance. Paired with Blessing of Kings (BoK) for any Mage race, and Expansive Mind for Gnomes, the amount of Intellect needed for a 1% increased Critical Strike goes down. Nevertheless, you should never actively gear for Intellect as a Frost Mage, but simply take the Intellect that naturally comes with gear.

1 Stamina increases your Health by 10, which makes you more likely to survive, if you get damage. The rule is simple: Stamina is no stat you should actively gear for, but it never hurts to have some. Frost Mages typically have enough Stamina on their gear anyways.

MP5 increases your Mana regeneration, but can considered as unimportant. Frost Mages will sometimes experience Mana issues, however, stacking this stat will not solve the issue.