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Frost Mage Guide — Class Guides · WoW Wrath of the Lich King

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
Raids and dungeons, Player versus player, Leveling
Top talent
Deep Freeze
Popular builds
3
Version
WoW Wrath of the Lich King

How to play

Frost in Wrath gains Fingers of Frost (your next spells act as if the target were frozen), Brain Freeze (a free, instant Fireball or Frostfire Bolt), Deep Freeze (a stun that hits frozen targets hard) and Enduring Winter, which gives the raid Replenishment.

Cast Frostbolt; use Deep Freeze or Ice Lance when Fingers of Frost procs, and an instant Fireball when Brain Freeze procs. Frost is the best mage spec for leveling and for arenas.

In raids Frost trails Fire and Arcane for most of Wrath, but it is very safe and simple.

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 Wrath of the Lich King.

Rotation and priorities

  1. 1Ice Armor or Molten Armor; Water Elemental out.
  2. 2Frostbolt as your main spell: it also triggers Replenishment.
  3. 3Deep Freeze when Fingers of Frost procs.
  4. 4Fireball or Frostfire Bolt when Brain Freeze makes it instant.
  5. 5Ice Lance on frozen targets.
  6. 6Icy Veins and Mirror Image with trinkets and Heroism.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • Replenishment for the raid.
  • The safest and best leveling mage.
  • Deep Freeze and Water Elemental for arena control.

Weaknesses

  • Less raid damage than Fire or Arcane.
  • 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

    Hitto 446 rating

  2. 2

    Spell power

  3. 3

    Haste

  4. 4

    Critical strike

  5. 5

    Intellect

  6. 6

    Stamina

What to look for

  • Spell power and hit, then haste.
  • Stamina and resilience for arenas.
  • Stamina and Intellect for AoE leveling.

Items worth chasing

  • Phylactery of the Nameless LichA trinket with a big spell power proc.
  • Muradin's SpyglassA trinket that stacks spell power.
  • Dying CurseA trinket with a spell power proc.

Builds

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

  • Arcane
  • Fire
  • Frost

  • Frost Raider

    DamagePvE
    18/0/53

    Raid damage with 53 points in Frost, down to Deep Freeze, and 18 in Arcane.

    • Brain Freeze 3/3
    • Summon Water Elemental 1/1
    • Enduring Winter 3/3
    • Chilled to the Bone 5/5
    • Deep Freeze 1/1

    Glyphs: Glyph of Frostbolt (major), Glyph of Eternal Water (major), Glyph of Molten Armor (major), Glyph of Slow Fall (minor), Glyph of Frost Ward (minor), Glyph of Blast Wave (minor)

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycrafting

  • Frost Gladiator

    DamagePvP
    20/0/51

    Arena and battleground damage with 51 points in Frost, down to Deep Freeze, and 20 in Arcane.

    • Brain Freeze 1/3
    • Summon Water Elemental 1/1
    • Enduring Winter 3/3
    • Chilled to the Bone 5/5
    • Deep Freeze 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycraftingTalent order by level

  • Frost Leveling

    DamageLeveling
    18/0/53

    Leveling with 53 points in Frost, down to Deep Freeze, and 18 in Arcane.

    • Ice Barrier 1/1
    • Brain Freeze 3/3
    • Summon Water Elemental 1/1
    • Chilled to the Bone 5/5
    • Deep Freeze 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycraftingTalent order by level

Key talents

  • Deep Freeze · top talent, up to 1

    Stuns the target for 5 sec. Only usable on Frozen targets. Deals 2369 to 2641 damage to targets permanently immune to stuns.

  • Winter's Chill · tier 6, up to 3

    Increases your chance to critically hit with Frostbolt by an additional 3% and gives your Frost damage spells a 100% chance to apply the Winter's Chill effect, which increases the chance spells will critically hit the target by 1% for 15 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.

  • Ice Barrier · tier 7, up to 1

    Instantly shields you, absorbing 454 damage. Lasts 1 min. While the shield holds, spellcasting will not be delayed by damage.

  • Arctic Winds · tier 7, up to 5

    Increases all Frost damage you cause by 5% and reduces the chance melee and ranged attacks will hit you by 5%.

  • Empowered Frostbolt · tier 8, up to 2

    Increases the damage of your Frostbolt spell by an amount equal to 10% of your spell power and reduces the cast time by 0.2 sec.

  • Fingers of Frost · tier 8, 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.

  • Brain Freeze · tier 9, up to 3

    Your Frost damage spells with chilling effects have a 15% chance to cause your next Fireball or Frostfire Bolt spell to be instant cast and cost no mana.

  • Summon Water Elemental · tier 9, up to 1

    Summon a Water Elemental to fight for the caster for 45 sec.

  • Enduring Winter · tier 9, up to 3

    Increases the duration of your Summon Water Elemental spell by 15 sec and your Frostbolt spell has a 100% chance to grant up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 1% of their maximum mana per 5 sec for 15 sec. This effect cannot occur more often than once every 6 sec.

  • Chilled to the Bone · tier 10, up to 5

    Increases the damage caused by your Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt and Ice Lance spells by 5% and reduces the movement speed of all chilled targets by an additional 10%.

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.

Related

Other mage specs: Arcane, Fire