Frost Mage DPS Spell Summary (Legion 7.3)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 4. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 5. Strengths
  • 6. Weaknesses
  • 7. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 8. Contents
  • 9. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
    • 1.1. When Playing Without Lonely Winter
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. ChangeLog
• ×Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resources
  • 3. Basic Abilities
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. DPS Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
      • 2.1.1. Heavy Cleave/AOE
    • 2.2. For General Use
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression — First 35 Points
    • 1.1. Early Point Investment
    • 1.2. Second Golden Trait
    • 1.3. Final Point Investment
  • 2. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path
  • 3. Relic Choice
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice
  • 2. Tier 2 Upgrade Priority
  • 3. Tier 3 Upgrade Priority
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Ability Priority List
    • 1.1. Without Lonely Winter
  • 2. Important Notes
    • 2.1. AoE
    • 2.2. Frost Bomb
    • 2.3. Tier 3 Talents
      • 2.3.1. Rune of Power
      • 2.3.2. Mirror Image
      • 2.3.3. Incanter's Flow
    • 2.4. Water Jet
    • 2.5. Glacial Spike and Ghost Icicles
  • 3. Core Concepts
    • 3.1. Cooldown Overlap and Maximizing Cleave
    • 3.2. Movement Management
    • 3.3. Opening Sequence
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
    • 1.1. Stat Weights
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
    • 2.1. Statistics Explanations
    • 2.2. How Exactly Mastery: Icicles Work
      • 2.2.1. Glacial Spike
    • 2.3. Critical Strike Cap
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Disclaimer
  • 2. Gems
  • 3. Enchants
  • 4. Consumables
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Addons
    • 1.1. ElvUI
    • 1.2. Weak Auras
    • 1.3. Boss Mods
      • 1.3.1. BigWigs Bossmods
      • 1.3.2. Deadly Boss Mods
    • 1.4. Name Plates
      • 1.4.1. KUI Nameplates
      • 1.4.2. TidyPlates
    • 1.5. Damage Meters
      • 1.5.1. Skada
      • 1.5.2. Details
    • 1.6. Extra AddOns
      • 1.6.1. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.6.2. DeathNote
      • 1.6.3. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.6.4. Angry Assignments
  • 2. Macros
    • 2.1. Generic Macros for Mages
      • 2.1.1. Stopcast Blink
      • 2.1.2. 1-Button Block
      • 2.1.3. Block Cancel
    • 2.2. Specific Macros for Frost Mages
      • 2.2.1. Water Elemental: Freeze
      • 2.2.2. Water Elemental: Water jet
      • 2.2.3. Pet Macros
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 2. Best in Slot List
  • 3. Evaluating Upgrades Using Stat Weights
  • 4. Racial Bonuses
  • 5. Legendaries
  • 6. Loot Competition
  • 7. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we list the spells that you will often use as a Frost Mage.

The other pages of our Frost Mage guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author and Reviewer

This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Future. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Kuni, one of the best Frost Mages in the world, who raids in Midnight Sanctuary.

1. 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 Resources

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 combat spells.

3. Basic Abilities

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.

Ice Lance is an instant cast nuke that deals solid damage when it is empowered by Fingers of Frost. Ice Lance is only worth casting when it benefits from Shatter.

Frozen Orb travels forwards in a line and deals AoE damage. The orb generates 1 charge of Fingers of Frost and has an equal chance as Frostbolt to generate Fingers of Frost when dealing repeat instances of damage. This ability deals moderate damage on its own, but it is mostly used to quickly generate multiple instances of Fingers of Frost for burst.

Flurry is a nuke with a lengthy cast time. The Brain Freeze proc allows this cast to be instant, and as such Flurry should only be cast while Brain Freeze is active.

Summon Water Elemental grants you a pet that deals damage. In addition, the Water Elemental has the unique abilities Freeze and Water Jet, which help with increased Fingers of Frost generation.

4. Important Procs

Fingers of Frost is your main source of burst damage output. Fingers of Frost has a 12% chance to proc off of Frostbolt and Frozen Orb. Fingers of Frost causes your next Ice Lance to benefit from Shatter, which grants a greatly increased chance to Critically Strike.

Brain Freeze has a 15% 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 casts with an Ice Lance to exploit this.

5. DPS Cooldowns

Icy Veins increases your Haste by 30% for 20 seconds. This is your main DPS cooldown and is generally best used on cooldown, paired with your Frozen Orb.

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, Ancient Hysteria, Netherwinds, Heroism, and Bloodlust for the next 10 minutes.

6. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 06 Jul. 2017: Updated Flurry tooltip link (was previously linking to Winter's Chill).
• 12 Jun. 2017: Page reviewed and deemed updated for 7.2.5.
• 25 Oct. 2016: Added a mention that Brain Freeze now causes the next Flurry to also deal 50% increased damage.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.