Frost Mage PvP Best Covenants, Soulbinds, Conduits, and Legendary Powers (Shadowlands / 9.1.5)

For more information about what Covenants bring you, please refer to our page about Covenant abilities for Mages.

It is important to choose the correct Covenant, as it has many impacts on your gameplay and playstyle. Your Covenant will give you both a Covenant ability and a class ability. The next choice you have will be Soulbinds and Conduits. All of these are Covenant-specific and they are different based on which you choose. Here are the best Covenants for Frost Mage.

1. Necrolord, as of Patch 9.2, has become the strongest Covenant. Frost Mages receive Fleshcraft, an ability to cast during lockouts, as well as Deathborne, which pairs very well with Icy Veins, allowing the Frost Mage to deal significant amounts of damage within the Deathborne windows.
2. Night Fae is also a good choice for Covenants, as you are able to run more and slow enemies easier as well as reduce a lot of your cooldowns to very short times, making Frost Mage able to deal significant damage often.
3. Venthyr previously was the best Covenant you can choose. Venthyr gains access to a new school of Shadow spells. These include Mirrors of Torment and Door of Shadows. Not only do you get another school to cast with, but also very useful CC abilities. With Nadjia the Mistblade, the Soulbind this guide recommends, you can Door of Shadows in to an enemy and disorient them into a Polymorph. At Renown 30, Familiar Predicaments gives very great value, reducing the lockouts when you are kicked or Counterspelled. At the end of the tree, you receive Fatal Flaw which gives an additional 20% Versatility for 10 seconds, making you slightly tankier and able to deal more damage.

Soulbinds are unlocked as you progress your character with a Covenant. These unlock powerful paths that can be taken to give you powerful spells, important passives, etc. Here is the Soulbind and path you should take if you chose Venthyr.

At the start of this tree, you will be able to benefit from a large haste buff, Thrill Seeker, and also gain reduction on lockouts, snares, and roots from Familiar Predicaments. Finally, you receive a 8-yard slow as well as 20% Versatility from Fatal Flaw.

As of Patch 9.2, Necrolord has also become a very prominent Covenant for Frost Mage. Here is the Soulbind you should take as a Necrolord Frost mage.

Through this tree, you will be able to benefit from the durable aspect of Necrolord, with Ooz's Frictionless Coating as well as the offensive damage multiplier, Kevin's Oozeling. You also receive Ultimate Form, giving you immunity to Crowd Control while casting Fleshcraft.

Conduits are passive buffs that you can use to fill empty slots in your Soulbind Trees. There are three types of Conduits: Potency, Endurance, and Finesse. Here are the best Conduits for each of those different types:

1. Icy Propulsion reduces the cooldown of Icy Veins or Ice Form by a significant amount every time you Critically Strike. For the Ice Form build, this Conduit makes it so the ability has a very short cooldown.
2. Ice Bite increases the damage of Ice Lance against Frozen enemies by a percentage. This Conduit is Frost's best Conduit as it will overall increase Ice Lance's damage with Fingers of Frost as well as regular Ice Lances.
3. Unrelenting Cold increases Frozen Orb's damage by a percentage. This is good for overall cleaving the enemy team down and having more pressure during your burst.

1. Diverted Energy makes your barriers heal you for a percentage of damage absorbed. This is very good with one Legendary called Triune Ward.
2. Tempest Barrier provides a shield after you Shimmer for a portion of HP.
3. Cryo-Freeze allows Ice Block to heal you for a majority of your HP inside of it. This is a great conduit for double DPS 2v2 or situations where you need to get a lot of HP back by yourself.

1. Grounding Surge allows, for when you successfully Counterspell an enemy, to receive a few seconds off that ability.
2. Flow of Time reduces the cooldown of Blink, making it a little easier to kite and be able to land CC.

Legendaries have many different effects and some can alter how you should use some of your abilities. For more information on Legendaries, check out our general guide on them.

Here are the best Legendaries for a Frost Mage.

The ability to equip 2 Legendaries has made a significant impact on Frost Mage. The Unity power grants access to your Covenant-specific Legendary, while letting you equip another Legendary in another slot. These powers are Death's Fathom, Sinful Delight, Heart of the Fae, and Harmonic Echo.

Necrolord has gained the most benefit from this addition, with Deathborne now having a chance to RNG proc for 8 seconds, as well as increase spell damage based off enemies hit by Frostbolts. The Venthyr legendary Sinful Delight also is a nice quality of life change, reducing the cooldown of Mirrors of Torment when using a Clearcasting or having the ability dispelled. Necrolord will be the go-to covenant for Frost Mage PvP in 9.2.

1. Triune Ward is the best defensive Legendary for Frost Mages. This Legendary makes it so you receive all 3 barriers from each spec at 35% effectiveness. Not only do you receive a larger barrier, but you also receive the magical benefits of all 3 barriers.
2. Slick Ice is the strongest offensive Legendary for Frost Mages. This Legendary gives a stacking buff based on how many Frostbolts are casted during Icy Veins. This Legendary pairs extremely well with Deathborne and Icy Veins, allowing Frostbolts to be cast at very high speed and do significant amounts of damage. This Legendary will be the best choice in 9.2.
3. Freezing Winds is another offensive Legendary choice. Making Frozen Orb give Fingers of Frost every 2 seconds, you will have more opportunity to cast instant Ice Lances for more damage during your burst.
4. Disciplinary Command is another of the offensive Legendary options that many are opting to use after Patch 9.1.5. This increases your critical hit damage by 20% after casting each school of magic. Using this Legendary with Shatter combos from Frostbolts hitting Critical Strikes can provide very high burst damage.