Frost Mage DPS Easy Mode — Dragonflight 10.2
On this page, we explain how to easily play Frost Mage in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2, using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.
Foreword
This section is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous priorities and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.
The Basics for Frost Mage
Frost is a very versatile specialization with a high degree of talent customization. Talents depending; your bars may be either rather empty or overflowing. In this section, we will be focusing on a setup that minimizes the number of buttons necessary without compromising the output too much.
If you have further questions about how specific spells work, please check out the Spell Summary page:
Talent Choice for Frost Mage
For ease of use, the starter build below is more than fine to use in most cases of open-world or lower-difficulty dungeons. It trades some utility for personal survivability in the class tree, and the spec tree is a healthy mix of single target with some AoE and open-world/trash mob talents.
Further optimized talent selection and explanations as to why talents are picked, can be found on our Talent page:
Stat Choice for Frost Mage
You should simulate your own character to get stat weights, but a decent
guideline, assuming you have picked Hailstones as suggested above, to
start should be as follows:
- Intellect;
- Mastery;
- Haste;
- Critical Strike to 33.34%;
- Versatility
- Critical Strike beyond 33.34%.
It is important to understand that this is not an indication to stack your best stat to the exclusion of all else. This is just an approximation for an average set of gear with a roughly normal distribution of stats on it. In almost all cases, item level will win out. A simulation is the only way to be sure if any given piece of gear is an upgrade for sure.
Critical Strike will fall off after you hit 33.34% Shatter
cap. This is the point where all your spells that are considered frozen, such
as
Ice Lance with
Fingers of Frost, will always
Critically Strike.
Please note, this is not an absolute ordering, it is not
required to get anywhere near the Shatter cap to play Frost, and it
is absolutely not required, or optimal, to stack Critical Strike to
the exclusion of all else. For more information, please refer to the Stats page:
Basic Rotation for Frost Mage
- Use your
Icy Veins cooldown when possible for more damage. Keep in mind any fight mechanics that would either cause you to lose valuable casting time, or a vulnerability to take advantage of. Perhaps you do not want to pop it the second it comes up if the boss will take extra damage in a few seconds!
- Cast
Ray of Frost after you have cast
Flurry to let it gain a huge Critical Strike bonus.
- Cast
Frozen Orb when available to generate
Fingers of Frost.
- Cast
Blizzard when there are 2+ targets to help your AoE damage, and to reduce the cooldown of
Frozen Orb.
- Cast
Flurry on cooldown.
- Cast
Ice Lance to spend your
Fingers of Frost charges, or twice directly after casting a
Flurry.
- Cast
Shifting Power when there are 2+ targets in range to help your AoE damage.
- Cast
Frostbolt as a filler and generate
Fingers of Frost and
Brain Freeze.
For more detailed information about how to play Frost, please refer to the Rotation page:
Changelog
- 06 Nov. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5 with a new talent tree.
- 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Mage Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Kuni, one of the best Frost Mages in the world, who raids in Mortal Desire.
- Season of Discovery Global Launch Times: When Does the Update Go Live?
- Detailed Zone Exploration of New Night Elf Capital City of Bel'ameth in Patch 10.2.5
- Weekly Catalyst Charges in Patch 10.2.5
- Dragonflight 10.2 Hotfixes, November 29th
- Method World 3rd Fyrakk Mythic Kill and 9/9 Amirdrassil
- New Love is in the Air Armor Sets in Patch 10.2.5
- Icy Veins Launches Genshin Impact Guides Section
- Dragonflight Season 3 Mythic+ DPS Log Rankings: Week 2