Breaktheice's WoD Frost Mage Guide (updated for 6.2)

[Breaktheice]

Name change so updated OP =)

[Komma]

:O

Do you need a username change?

[Breaktheice]

^Would be nice, yeah.

[Breaktheice]

Added another video in the extra section for setting up Frost Bomb with PC and TV.

[Berlinia]

There was nothing more awesome than having a frost mage guide called: Breaktheice :p

[Bashlow]

Breaktheice renaming to Melvyn literally shows that the Frost spec is dead

[Breaktheice]

Lol guys, I just changed realms and the name was taken on my new realm. You can break your own ice via Deep + Nova

[Breaktheice]

Just to update you guys, I won't be updating this guide till possibly 6.2, because I am taking a hiatus from the game till the Devs can actually make a Frost good enough to be used in mythic raids. Currently, it's nearly impossible to find a guild that wants you as Frost in mythic. They ask you to go Fire/Arcane, and I'm not going to drop $15 a month to play a spec I don't even enjoy (Fire).

Cheers.

[Drevneus]

^PC is a poor AoE choice because its damage is split evenly among all targets it hits. Furthermore, since there are many targets around the PC, but only 1 target holding a Bomb debuff.... if you cleave to the wrong target your DPS will die.

Ice Lance via Splitting Ice is really the only big hitting spell into PC because it can hit for 160%, everything else just hits for 110%.

PC no alternative =) You put the crystal, place a Bomb on him and go through all Ise Lances it (with the Ball of course). I see it is the most profitable AoE damage.

[Komma]

How is it the best AoE damage when it's split damage generated from one target? Frozen Orb + Frost Bomb works for every talent combo, and TV provides the longest Icy Veins duration for buffing the throughput. Placing Frost Bomb on PC also loses valuable uptime on it.

You'll have to provide more details if you wish to argue that PC is a stronger AOE talent.

[Drevneus]

Perhaps it is worth mentioning that all my arguments are relevant to the CMs =)

With PC we get the additional 10% AoE damage. Frozen Orb and Frost Bomb in any case is used for AoE, but Icy Veins are too big cooldown.

According to my observation placing bombs on a chip gives more AoE DPS... Not sure why, but maybe it's because of the radius. And sometimes the target with a bomb dies faster 12 seconds.

[Komma]

PC doesn't make you gain 10% AoE damage. The only amplification is to the crystal itself who takes 10% more, and then splits the damage. Surrounding targets hit by the Frost Bomb AOE will take normal damage with no 10% increase.

[Drevneus]

That is, if you do damage to the Bomb on the PC, the damage is not increased by 10%? But the damage of the PC increases by 10%? Or something I do not understand it?

How then people give so much DPS? = \

[Komma]

On a normal mob, Frost Bomb does damage equal to 150% spellpower to the main target, and 93.75% to surrounding targets.

When applied to Prismatic Crystal, Frost Bomb does damage equal to 150% * 1.1 = 165% to Prismatic Crystal, but still only 93.75% to surrounding targets. Prismatic Crystal, then splits the 165% received over surrounding targets. For example, if there are 5 targets, each will be hit for 33% spellpower. This number gets smaller and smaller as you increase targets. Past a certain number of targets, the GCD spent on summoning Prismatic Crystal is worth less than using an extra Ice Lance for another explosion.

Prismatic Crystal is not an AOE talent.

[Drevneus]

I understood. PC does not give 10% extra AoE damage, but only 10 \ number of purposes. It's actually very little.

Then why do I have a Bomb on a PC damage is greater than with a Bomb on target? Or is the "optical illusion"?

[Breaktheice]

^That is indeed an "optical illusion". Casting a 1.5s spell onto PC which does no damage on its own is a DPS-loss. It's safer but the trade off is safety for potential damage. Bomb on your target -> PC next to the target -> then cleave onto target via Splitting Ice is >>> Bomb on PC in terms of damage.

[Drevneus]

I myself can not understand this phenomenon, nor one so I do ... I guess placed a Bomb on the PC only in the case of a quick death target. Although you can place it on the long-lived target ...

[Breaktheice]

Updated for 6.2!

Not sure if I'll return to WoW given my work schedule but I thought I'd update the guide.

- Nothing really changes, rotation-wise and it seems we've gotten a much needed buff to most of our core spells.
- Re-worked the talents section a little
- Added in a Tier 18 bonus explanation
- Added in an explanation for the Shatterlance passive (from Tome of Shifting Words) and how it changes some bursts (most importantly the PC burst).

+ Though not mentioned in the guide directly, Frost has gained a lot in terms of both single target and cleave. AoE remains a struggle but it seems like this is a niche the designers seem to not want Frost to have. Ice Lance away!

[Frosted]

Updated for 6.2!

Not sure if I'll return to WoW given my work schedule but I thought I'd update the guide.

- Nothing really changes, rotation-wise and it seems we've gotten a much needed buff to most of our core spells.
- Re-worked the talents section a little
- Added in a Tier 18 bonus explanation
- Added in an explanation for the Shatterlance passive (from Tome of Shifting Words) and how it changes some bursts (most importantly the PC burst).

+ Though not mentioned in the guide directly, Frost has gained a lot in terms of both single target and cleave. AoE remains a struggle but it seems like this is a niche the designers seem to not want Frost to have. Ice Lance away!

Have you added a section talking about the archi trinket? It makes you want to weave IL/FB, even on prismatic crystal.

[Breaktheice]

Have you added a section talking about the archi trinket? It makes you want to weave IL/FB, even on prismatic crystal.

Aye!

It's after the section on Tier 18 bonuses

Copied directly:

++ Shatterlance and Frost Mages ++
Tier 18 (Hellfire Citadel) has made things interesting for Frost mages because of a class specific trinket (Tome of Shifting Words) that, when equipped gives you a new passive ability called Shatterlance.

Shatterlance is an interesting passive because it allows for Ice Lances used immediately after Frostbolt to deal bonus damage. This creates several interesting scenarios for Frost:
1. You do not want to use back-to-back FoF procs in almost any scenario. Instead, you want to weave in Frostbolts between your FoF uses.
2. Since you will intentionally cast a Frostbolt in between two Ice Lance casts, the Unstable Magic talent gains a lot of momentum. Frost Bomb becomes even more difficult to manage, and Unstable Magic might become more favorable on single target scenarios.
3. The Prismatic Crystal burst priority changes. Your goal is to use Frostbolt before each FoF use in a Prismatic Crystal.