Frost Mage PvE guide: level 60 raid build, Fingers of Frost priority and stats

Overview

Level 60 · Frost Mage · DPS in dungeons and raids.

Frost was the safest mage raid spec in Classic: steady Frostbolt damage, low threat and Ice Block for mistakes. The WoW Forever tree gives it more to do on a single target. Winter’s Chill now stacks from every Frost damage spell you cast, Fingers of Frost lets a chill treat your next spell as if the target were frozen, so Ice Lance and Shatter can matter even on a boss, and a 16-point Arcane dip reaches Missile Barrage, which turns some Frostbolts into free, fast Arcane Missiles. You are a ranged damage dealer who also brings Counterspell, Polymorph, Remove Lesser Curse and Arcane Intellect to the group.

Your job in the group

You are steady ranged damage that rarely has to stop. Stay on the kill target, stack Winter’s Chill early so other Frost Mages benefit, and keep threat under the tank’s without much effort. Raids also lean on mages for utility: Polymorph on a humanoid add, Counterspell on an assigned caster, Remove Lesser Curse when a boss curses the raid, and Arcane Intellect and conjured water before every pull. In dungeons, Frost Nova and Cone of Cold give the group a safety net when a pack reaches the healer.

Why play it

• Low threat by design. Frost Channeling lowers Frost threat, so you can push damage early in a pull without stealing aggro.
• Procs add damage without extra mana. Missile Barrage makes Arcane Missiles free, Clearcasting makes a Frostbolt free and Frost Channeling lowers the cost of everything else.
• Survival tools stay in the build: Ice Barrier stops pushback, Ice Block and Cold Snap give two answers to a lethal mistake.
• Frost resistance is rarer on bosses than fire resistance in Classic raids, so Frost is the spec that rarely has to respec for a fight.

Weak points

• Slow-immune bosses. Fingers of Frost needs a chill effect. If a boss ignores Frostbolt’s slow, whether procs still happen needs testing in the beta.
• Lower single-target ceiling than a fully buffed Fire Mage on fights where fire resistance is not an issue.
• The Arcane dip is a bet. Missile Barrage only pays off if Arcane Missiles damage is worth it with Frost gear; if not, move those points into Frost Channeling and Arctic Reach.

Level 60 talent build

Arcane 16 / Fire 0 / Frost 35, all 51 points. The talent tree above shows the finished build.

Frost (35)

• Improved Frostbolt 5/5 — Frostbolt is most of your damage, and a 0.5 sec shorter cast is the largest gain in the tree.
• Elemental Precision 5/5 — +5% hit with Frost and Fire spells. Missed Frostbolts are the biggest avoidable loss against raid bosses.
• Ice Shards 5/5 — Doubles the crit damage bonus of Frost spells, which scales with every point of crit you gear for.
• Piercing Ice 3/3 — +6% Frost damage.
• Frost Channeling 2/3 — 10% cheaper Frost spells and 20% less Frost threat at 2/3; move a point here if threat is a problem in your raid.
• Ice Lance 1/1 — Required for Fingers of Frost. On a proc, Ice Lance counts the target as frozen and deals its 300% bonus.
• Shatter 5/5 — +50% crit chance against frozen targets. Bosses usually cannot be frozen, so this pays off through Fingers of Frost procs and on trash that Frost Nova holds.
• Cold Snap 1/1 — A second Ice Block when a mechanic goes wrong, and the gate to Ice Barrier.
• Fingers of Frost 2/2 — 30% of your chills grant a proc that treats the next spell as cast on a frozen target: spend it on Ice Lance.
• Winter’s Chill 5/5 — Every Frost damage spell stacks +2% Frost crit chance on the target, up to 5 stacks, and other Frost mages benefit too.
• Ice Barrier 1/1 — Absorb shield that also stops damage from delaying your casts during raid-wide damage.

Arcane (16)

• Improved Channeling 5/5 — Arcane Missiles cannot be interrupted by damage at 5/5, which keeps Missile Barrage procs from being wasted.
• Arcane Subtlety 2/2 — Lowers the target’s resistance to all your spells by 15 and cuts Arcane threat from your Missile Barrage casts.
• Magic Absorption 1/2 — One point for a few resistances and mana back on fully resisted spells; it mainly fills the row.
• Arcane Concentration 5/5 — 10% chance for a free next damage spell: pure mana saving over a long fight.
• Arcane Impact 2/3 — +4% Arcane Explosion crit at 2/3 for trash packs in dungeons, and the last points needed to open the Missile Barrage row.
• Missile Barrage 1/1 — Frostbolt gets a 20% chance to make the next Arcane Missiles free, twice as fast and quicker to finish.

Rotation and priority

1. Before the pull: Arcane Intellect, Ice Armor or Mage Armor, and Ice Barrier. Keep a Mana Gem conjured.
2. Cast Frostbolt as your filler. Each cast stacks Winter’s Chill and can proc Fingers of Frost, Missile Barrage or Clearcasting.
3. On Fingers of Frost, cast Ice Lance next: it is treated as hitting a frozen target, so it gets its bonus and Shatter’s crit chance.
4. On Missile Barrage, cast Arcane Missiles right away; the proc makes it free and much faster, so it replaces a Frostbolt at no mana cost.
5. Use Eureka! (trainer spell, 2 min cooldown) when you start a burn phase: your next 3 damaging spells cost half the mana and deal 10% more damage.
6. Refresh Ice Barrier whenever it breaks and the boss is doing raid damage, and use Counterspell or Polymorph when the raid leader calls for it.
7. Below a third of your mana, use Mana Gem, then Evocation during a quiet moment, then potions and runes.

Resources

Frost is mana-limited on long fights. Frost Channeling and Arcane Concentration lower costs, Missile Barrage casts are free, and Eureka! halves the cost of three spells every 2 minutes. Your emergency cooldowns are Ice Block and Cold Snap: Cold Snap resets Ice Block, so treat them as two separate saves. Evocation and the Mana Gem are your mana cooldowns; plan them for phases where you can stand still.

Stat priority

Spell hit first, until you no longer see Frostbolts miss against bosses; Elemental Precision covers part of it, and Forever’s exact cap is not confirmed yet. Next comes Frost or general spell damage, then spell crit, which feeds Ice Shards, Winter’s Chill and Shatter. Intellect and mana regeneration keep you casting on long fights. Take enough Stamina to survive raid-wide damage, and Frost resistance only when a fight asks for it.

Gear and set bonuses

The datamined Tier 1 mage set is Manaflare Regalia. Its bonuses: 2 pieces, +1% spell hit; 3 pieces, 5 sec shorter Counterspell cooldown; 4 pieces, up to 21 spell damage against Elementals; 5 pieces, Frostfire Bolt gets a higher chance to trigger Missile Barrage and Fingers of Frost and extra crit chance during Combustion. The item pieces are still withheld in the datamine, so slots and stats are unknown. For Frost the hit bonus and the Fingers of Frost part of the 5-piece bonus matter; the 5-piece only helps if Frostfire Bolt is part of your spellbook in WoW Forever, which is not confirmed yet.

Consumables and professions

• Classic spell damage consumables: Greater Arcane Elixir, Elixir of Frost Power and Brilliant Wizard Oil. Forever item lists may change.
• Mana: Major Mana Potion, Demonic or Dark Runes, Mageblood Potion and Nightfin Soup for regeneration.
• Survival: Major Healing Potion and resistance potions for fights with heavy elemental damage.
• Professions: Tailoring for cloth spell damage gear and Enchanting for your own weapon and bracer enchants; Alchemy is the alternative if you want to make your own flasks and elixirs.

Tips

• Stack Winter’s Chill early on a new target so every Frost Mage in the raid gets the crit bonus.
• In dungeons, Frost Nova plus Cone of Cold on shattered trash uses Shatter and Ice Shards fully.
• The launch raids named so far are Hyjal Summit and Barrow Deeps; boss mechanics there are not known yet, so keep resistance gear flexible.

Sources

Rotation, stat and matchup advice adapts these Classic 1.12 guides to the WoW Forever talent trees; talents, set bonuses and new abilities come from this site’s WoW Forever data.

• Icy Veins: Classic Mage DPS Guide
• Icy Veins: Classic Mage DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents
• Icy Veins: Classic Mage DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
• Icy Veins: Classic Mage DPS Stat Priority
• Icy Veins: Classic Mage DPS Enchants and Consumables