Frost Mage DPS Spell Summary — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1
On this page, we present you with all spells and procs that you need to understand as a Frost Mage in World of Warcraft — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1.
1. Frost Mage Spell Summary
If you are new to Frost, it is recommended you read this before proceeding! In this section we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, and how they interact with important cooldowns. If you have played this spec before or have already achieved a level of comfort playing this spec in a practical environment, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.
2. Main Resource for Frost Mage
Frost Mage does not rely on a primary resource. Like the other Mage specs you have a Mana bar, however, Frost relies more on generating procs through your basic spells to fuel damage output. You will never run into a situation where you find your Mana bar fully depleted by casting damaging combat spells.
3. Basic Abilities for Frost Mage
These abilities are available no matter what talents you chose, and form the bread and butter of this specialization.
Frostbolt is your main filler. While Frostbolt does fairly
weak damage on its own, it is essential to your overall damage output as it
triggers both of your important procs,
Brain Freeze and
Fingers of Frost, and is also the primary source of
Mastery: Icicles.
Ice Lance is an instant cast nuke that deals solid damage when
it is empowered by
Fingers of Frost. Ice Lance should generally
only be cast when the target is considered frozen, aside from as a last-ditch
movement spell.
Flurry is a nuke with a lengthy cast time. The
Brain Freeze proc allows this cast to be instant while also
dealing 50% more damage, and as such Flurry should only be cast while Brain
Freeze is active.
Frozen Orb travels forwards in the direction you are facing,
slowing drastically when it first deals damage.
The orb generates 1 charge of
Fingers of Frost on initial impact,
and has a 10% chance to generate Fingers of Frost each time it ticks. This
ability deals moderate single target damage, where it is primarily used for
generating Fingers of Frost procs, and heavy AoE damage.
Summon Water Elemental grants you a pet that deals damage.
In addition, the Water Elemental has the unique ability
Freeze
which helps both with kiting, and DPS on lesser mobs through
Shatter.
4. Important Procs for Frost Mage
Fingers of Frost is your main source of burst damage output.
Fingers of Frost has a 15% chance to proc off of
Frostbolt and
10% chance off of
Frozen Orb. Fingers of Frost causes your next
Ice Lance to be considered frozen, granting both the triple damage
bonus of Ice Lance and benefit from
Shatter.
Brain Freeze has a 25% chance to proc off of a
Frostbolt cast, and causes your next
Flurry to be an
instant, deal 50% extra damage, and apply
Winter's Chill to the
target for 1 second. Winter's Chill causes the target to behave as if it was
frozen, allowing you to benefit from
Shatter. You should follow up
your Brain Freeze-buffed Flurry casts with an
Ice Lance to exploit
this.
5. DPS Cooldowns for Frost Mage
Icy Veins increases your Haste by 30% for 20 seconds. This is
your main DPS cooldown and is generally best used on cooldown.
Time Warp increases Haste by 30% for 40 seconds for all party and
raid members within 100 yards. This ability debuffs everyone with a debuff that
prevents the possibility of benefiting from Time Warp, Shaman's
Heroism and
Bloodlust, or Hunter's
Primal Rage for the next 10 minutes.
6. Changelog
- 10 Dec. 2018: This page has been reviewed for Patch 8.1 and no changes are necessary.
- 13 Aug. 2018: Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
More Mage Guides
Guides from Other Classes
Raid Guides
This guide has been written by Kuni, one of the best Frost Mages in the world, who raids in Midnight Sanctuary.

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- Patch 8.1 Hotfixes: February 20th
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- Icy Veins Podcast Episode 36
- Patch 8.1.5 Allied Races & Faction Change Clarifications
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- This Week in WoW: February 19th
- Kul Tiran Humans & Zandalari Trolls (Official Preview)
- Kul Tiran & Zandalari Troll Dance Animations


- Mission Table - Champions Guide
- Fury Warrior 8.1
- Demonology Warlock 8.1
- Fury Warrior needs help
- Marksmanship Hunter 8.1
- Enhancement Shaman 8.1
- Holy Priest 8.1
- The Help My DPS Thread
