Skill Guide to Frost Mages in World of Warcraft

2009 - 7 - 14

This is a guide on mages in World of Warcraft that plan on or what to learn more about the Frost Build and it's use of skills. Now, I'm going to go, specifically, over the Frost Build in this guide. I would go over all three, but that would make this guide even longer than it already is, and I want to make these guides as specific as possible so you can understand better. As you might or might not know, the Frost build relies on slowing enemies down so that you can kill them before they make it to you, since Mages are extremely fragile and will die if they get hit by literally anything. There are some extremely powerful Frost spells, and far more defensive spells than in a build that would specialize around Fire spells. As a result, in this talent tree there are skills and spells that simply can't be missed, but unfortunately, you can't have every talent, so I'm going to help you pick out the ones that should be missed and the ones that can't be missed. Just remember, you can reset your skills and try other combos at any time, however it costs Gold in order to reset them, so keep that in mind.

Alright, so without further ado, the first talent I'm going to go over is Frost Warding. It increases the armor and resistances given by Frost Armor and Ice Armor spells by 50%. Also, it gives your Frost Ward and Fire Ward a 30% chance to negate the warded damage spell and restore mana equal to the damage caused. Now, this is not a PvE worthy skill at all. If it has any use, it's in PvP. I would only get it if you have some points left.

Frostbolt causes 799-861 frost damage and slows down movement speed by 40% for 9 seconds. Add in Improved Frostbolt, and it reduces the cast time of your Frostbolt spell by .05 seconds. A must get skill for any Frost Build. Elemental Precision reduces the mana cost and increases your chance to hit with Frost and Fire spells by 3%. This is a great skill for Frost Builds, as well as Fire Builds.

Frostbite gives your Chill effects a 15% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds. It's great for PvP and leveling, but it's not so great for raids because most bosses are immune for freeze. Ice Shards increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Frost spells by 100% as long as it's at max rating. A damage boost to all of your Frost spells is another must have.

Frost Nova hits all enemies near the caster for 365-415 frost damage and freezes them in place for up to 8 seconds. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. Get Improved Frost Nova, as well, since it's a prerequisite for Shatter. Permafrost increases the duration of your Chill effects by 3 seconds and reduces the target's speed by an additional 10%. Excellent ability for soloing or for pvp.

Piercing Ice increases the damage done by your Frost spells by 6%. Obviously, not great if you want burst damage, but excellent for long boss battles on raids and such. Icy Veins increases casting speed by 20% and reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting by 100%. It lasts for 20 seconds. This is a great ability, especially since it stacks with other hate increasing effects.

Blizzard damages an area for 3408 frost damge for over 8 seconds. Get Improved Blizzard and add a chill effect to your Blizzard spell. This effect lowers the target's movement speed by 65% and lasts 1.50 seconds. You're gonna get Blizzard, obviously, so no reason not to get Improved Blizzard. Arctic Reach increases the range of your Frostbold, Ice Lance, Deep Freeze, and Blizzard spells and the radius of your Frost Nova and Cone of Cold spells by 20%. A skill that effects the range and radius of a whole lot of spells, I'd take it!

Frost Channeling reduces the mana cost of all spells by 10% and reduces teh threat caused by your Frost spells by 10%. This is great for PvE! Shatter increases teh critical strike chance of all your spells against frozen targets by 50%. This spell is excellent for burst damage, however, most bosses can't be frozen, thus making it useless in most raids.

Frozen Core reduces the damage taken from all spells by 6%. This is the worst spell in the Frost Build, and I wouldn't even give it another thought. When activated, Cold Snap finishes the cooldown on all Frost spells you recently cast, however you can only use it once every 8 minutes. It is still a must for any Frost Build.

Cone of Cold hits an area of targets in front of the caster for 707-773 frost damage and are slowed by 50% for 8 seconds. Add in Improved Cone of Cold and increase the damage dealt by your Cone of Cold spell by 35%. Not a bad spell for soloing and pvp! Ice Floes reduces the cooldown of your Frost Nova, Cone of Cold, Ice Block and Icy Veins spells by 14%. Not the best skill, but the reduction cooldown could be useful in some areas.

Winter's Chill gives your Frost damage spells a 10% chance to apply the Winter's Chill effect, which increases the chance that spells will critically hit the target by 10% for every 15 seconds. It stacks up to 5 times. Not a bad talent, but it is probably most useful in a PvE setting. Ice Barrier shields you and absorbs 1075 damage and lasts for 1 minute. While the shield is active, spells will not be interrupted. One of the few pure defensive spells for the Frost build, you need to get this.

Arctic Winds increases all Frost damage you cause by 5% and reduces the chance that melee and ranged attacks will hit you by 5%. This talent is worth it for the increase in damage alone, the evasion increase makes it even better! Empowered Frostbolt increases your Frostbolt damage by 10% and increases critical strike chance by 5%. This is a must if you wanna raid.

Summon Water Elemental summns a Water Elemental to fight for the caster for 45 seconds. This summoning dishes out 40% of your frost damage. He's got a ranged Frost Nova attack, as well! Probably, the best mage talent altogether.

This is a recommended skill set if you're going into the Frost Build for Mages! Hope it helped!