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Frost Mage Guide — Class Guides · WoW Forever

Chills, freezes and Frostbolt: the safest mage tree to solo and level with, and the tree of AoE leveling.

A cloth-wearing caster who deals Arcane, Fire and Frost damage from range, controls enemies with Polymorph and frost spells, and conjures food, water and portals. More about the mage

Class
Mage
Roles
Damage
Used for
Leveling, Raids and dungeons, Player versus player
Top talent
Ice Barrier
Popular builds
3
Version
WoW Forever

How to play

Frost in WoW Forever adds Ice Lance, which deals triple damage to frozen targets, and Fingers of Frost, which gives your chill effects a chance to make your next two spells act as if the target were frozen. Shatter turns those into crits, and Winter's Chill raises frost crit against the target.

In groups, cast Frostbolt and spend Fingers of Frost procs on Ice Lance; in the world, Frost is still the AoE leveling spec, with Blizzard, Frost Nova and Cone of Cold.

In player-versus-player fights, Frost Nova into Ice Lance is a fast kill, and Ice Barrier, Ice Block and Cold Snap keep you alive.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Forever.

Rotation and priorities

  1. 1Ice Armor in the world; Mage Armor in long fights.
  2. 2Frostbolt as your main spell.
  3. 3Ice Lance when Fingers of Frost procs or the target is frozen.
  4. 4Ice Barrier before pulls and whenever ready.
  5. 5Blizzard and Cone of Cold on packs.
  6. 6Cold Snap to reset Ice Block, Frost Nova or Ice Barrier.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • The safest mage.
  • The best AoE leveling spec.
  • Fingers of Frost and Ice Lance give burst.

Weaknesses

  • Less single-target damage than Fire.
  • Procs need quick reactions.
  • Shatter combos take practice.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

  1. 1

    Spell damagefrost damage counts

  2. 2

    Hitto the cap against bosses

  3. 3

    Critical strikeShatter and Ice Lance

  4. 4

    Intellect

  5. 5

    Staminamore for AoE leveling

  6. 6

    Spirit

What to look for

  • Spell damage and hit for groups; Stamina and Intellect for AoE leveling.
  • Frost damage gear works for every Frost spell.
  • A good wand while leveling.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

  • Arcane
  • Fire
  • Frost

  • Fingers of Frost Wanderer

    DamageLeveling
    10/0/41

    Frost leveling: Improved Blizzard and Permafrost slow whole pulls, Fingers of Frost and Ice Lance punish frozen targets, and Ice Barrier cuts downtime.

    • Ice Block 1/1
    • Improved Cone of Cold 3/3
    • Cold Snap 1/1
    • Fingers of Frost 2/2
    • Ice Barrier 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycrafting

  • Winter's Chill Frostbolter

    DamagePvE
    19/0/32

    Group Frost built on Frostbolt: Winter's Chill raises frost crits, Fingers of Frost and Shatter turn procs into crits, and Arcane adds Missile Barrage.

    • Arcane Meditation 3/3
    • Ice Lance 1/1
    • Shatter 3/3
    • Fingers of Frost 2/2
    • Winter's Chill 5/5

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycrafting

  • Shatter Duelist

    DamagePvP
    17/0/34

    Frost for PvP: freeze targets with Improved Frost Nova, shatter them with Ice Lance, and stay safe with Ice Barrier, Ice Block and Cold Snap.

    • Ice Lance 1/1
    • Ice Block 1/1
    • Cold Snap 1/1
    • Fingers of Frost 2/2
    • Ice Barrier 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycrafting

Key talents

  • Ice Barrier · top talent, up to 1

    Instantly shields you, absorbing 447 damage. Lasts 1 min. While the shield holds, your spellcasts will not be interrupted or delayed from taking damage.

  • Ice Shards · tier 2, up to 5

    Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Frost spells by 100%.

  • Piercing Ice · tier 3, up to 3

    Increases the damage done by your Frost spells by 6%.

  • Frost Channeling · tier 3, up to 3

    Reduces the mana cost of your Frost spells by 15% and reduces the threat caused by your Frost spells by 30%.

  • Ice Lance · tier 3, up to 1

    Deals 28 to 32 Frost damage to an enemy target. Deals 200% increased damage to Frozen targets.

  • Arctic Reach · tier 4, up to 2

    Increases the range of your Frostbolt, Frost Blast, and Blizzard spells and the radius of your Frost Nova and Cone of Cold spells by 20%.

  • Ice Block · tier 4, up to 1

    You become encased in a block of ice, protecting you from all physical attacks and spells for 10 sec, but during that time you cannot attack, move, or cast spells.

  • Shatter · tier 4, up to 3

    Increases the critical strike chance of all your spells against Frozen targets by 50%.

  • Cold Snap · tier 5, up to 1

    Finishes the remaining cooldown on all your other Frost spells.

  • Fingers of Frost · tier 5, up to 2

    Gives your Chill effects a 15% chance to grant you the Fingers of Frost effect, which treats your next 2 spells cast as if the target were Frozen. Lasts 15 sec.

Frost abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.

What WoW Forever changed

New talents in this tree

  • Ice LanceDeals 28 to 32 Frost damage to an enemy target. Deals 200% increased damage to Frozen targets.
  • Fingers of FrostGives your Chill effects a 15% chance to grant you the Fingers of Frost effect, which treats your next 2 spells cast as if the target were Frozen. Lasts 15 sec.

Classic Era talents the class no longer has

None.

Spells

New: Ice Lance, Frost Blast. Changed: Frostbolt, Frost Nova, Blizzard, Frost Ward, Ice Block, Cone of Cold, Cold Snap, Ice Barrier.

Related

Other mage specs: Arcane, Fire