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

[Breaktheice]

Warlords of Draenor Frost Mage Guide!

@ Kuni

Spoiler:

Please update your guide as well. I wasn't at all "offended" or taken back by your guide. I feel it's nice we finally got some Frost guides up for WoD too, about time!

Table of Contents
These are the topics discussed in this guide. You can jump to any one section from here if need be.

I. Introduction
II. What's Changed?
III. Frost Mage Talents
IV. Frost Mage Glyphs
V. Understanding Frost's Rotation
VI. Understanding Water Jet
VII. Integrating Tier 5 and 6 Talents Into Your Rotation
VIII. Integrating Comet Storm and Thermal Void Into Your Rotation
IX. Integrating Prismatic Crystal Into Your Rotation
X. AoE Scenarios and Frost
XI. Icy Veins, Combat Openers, and Misc DPS notes
XII. WoD Tier Bonuses
XIII. Stat Priority, Gems, and Enchants
XIV. Macros
XV. Other Resources
XVI. Conclusion

I. Introduction
Hi there! My name is Breaktheice and I’m a humble Frost mage who’s played Frost ever since he’s played WoW. Frost is probably the most popular mage spec in the game, and is traditionally thought to be a PvP spec. However, recent changes to the spec have made it an option for people who like to PvE as well. Despite there being many Simcraft tests done with Frost, I hadn’t seen anyone put up a Frost mage guide for 6.2 – one that could make the spec easy to understand and then master. Hopefully this guide helps you better understand and master your Frost mage.

Frost mages are good at single target DPS, but will shine most on 2 target cleave fights. They aren’t the strongest mage spec for single target or full AoE damage, but they do boast amazing potential on 2 target cleave fights. Conceptually, Frost mages haven’t changed much from MoP. They still heavily rely on procs to do most of their damage. However, the reworks of talents, shift of secondary stat priorities, and the addition of new spells and talents have made the rotation slightly more complex than it was in MoP.

This entire guide is written for Frost mages in a PvE raid environment setting. The majority of the guide assumes no tier bonuses. Instead, there are sections dedicated to the tier bonuses and how they may change your rotation and/or talent choices.

II. What's Changed?
MoP players who are interested in knowing what all has changed since the launch of WoD can read this section. If you're new to WoW or just started playing a Frost Mage in WoD, you can skip this section.

Spoiler:

Besides us no longer having access to many Fire/Arcane spells, let’s look at the biggest changes which have had an impact on our play-style
1. Alter Time is now a talent and no longer part of your rotation – this is the single biggest change for mages in this expansion. The spell now replaces Temporal Shield as a talent. Temporal Shield has been removed (let’s all weep quietly).
2. Presence of Mind is no longer a talent – Frost mages never really used this anyway.
3. Water Elemental gets a new spell – behold! Water Jet is here and is your FoF generator on fights where you can’t utilize Freeze.
4. Frost Bomb is your only bomb choice – Nether Tempest and Living Bomb are gone. Additionally, Frost Bomb is nothing like its former self.
5. 90 talents have been reworked – Rune of Power still stands, but is different from what it was in MoP. Invocation, the talent most Frost mages used, is no more.
6. Brain Freeze now procs from Frostbolt – it also stacks twice as opposed to just once.
7. Crit Soft Cap is increased – although Frost still has Shatter, the Crit soft cap is increased as Shatter’s multiplier has decreased. Don’t be all o.O if some of your Brain Freeze and Fingers of Frost proc uses don’t result in Criticals.
8. Bye Haste, hello Multistrike – Multistrike is a new secondary stat introduced in WoD that will be your go to secondary stat in almost all builds. Haste’s value has dropped, so expect yourself to seem a bit “slower” as you go about your rotation.

III. Frost Mage Talents
Let's start this guide by looking at your Talent choices. Click the spoiler tag to see an in-detail explanation on the talent choices per tier. The verdict is a conclusion drawn based on the explanations.

Tier 1

Spoiler:

+ Evanesce works similar to how a Hunter’s Deterence works, and will let you DPS through Fire walls and large periodic hits. The major downside to this talent is that it replaces Ice Block. Ice Block works on everything Evanesce works on, but the opposite isn’t true. It works best on encounters where you would want to stand still and periodically "dodge" a projectile/spell aimed at you or at the ground below you.

In this tier, Evanesce is the only talent that has a synergy with another talent, which is Cold Snap (see Tier 4 talents). Cold Snap’s use resets the cooldown on Evanesce, allowing back-to-back use of the spell for 6 seconds of immunity. Therefore, should you opt for Cold Snap, you could consider pairing it with Evanesce.

+ Blazing Speed works best when you have to quickly move to either get out of danger or to close the distance between yourself and your desired target. To cover the most distance with this spell, make sure you jump just as it ends. When paired with Blink, it can help you cover large distances quickly in order to resume your rotation.

+ Ice Floes has no defense component to itself, but it’s an amazing spell when you’re faced with short periods of movement. It will basically allow you a few uses of Frostbolt or any other spell with a cast time on the move. In terms of DPS min/maxing this is probably the best talent this in this tier. Also take note that spell has received a minor buff from its MoP days. Previously, we couldn't use Ice Floes and then use channeled spells on the move. This restriction has been lifted from Ice Floes now. So you can use the spell to say, channel your Blizzard spell on the move.

Verdict: In most cases, Ice Floes >= Blazing Speed > Evanesce. Blazing Speed and Ice Floes are almost equal in performance for Frost mages, though in most cases Ice Floes will end up pulling slightly ahead. Ice Floes also gains some value over the options if you run Frost Bomb (tier 5 talent), since it lets you cast your Bomb on the move. Evanesce can shine in certain encounters but these instances are too few for it to be a default go-to.

Tier 2

This is the first talent tier aimed towards offering more survival to mages.

Spoiler:

+ Alter Time no longer resets your procs or active buffs like it did in MoP. Instead, it is purely defensive. It resets your position and health after 10 seconds. You can choose to end this prematurely as long as you re-cast Alter Time in the 10s window of its duration. Although this spell usually involves planning and timing, it does not use a GCD. So in most cases is your go-to spell in this tier. It’s best used when you’re at or near full HP, just before massive damage goes out. Be warned however that its position reset can sometimes result in trouble, and occasionally, death. Therefore planning is required to properly use this spell.

+ Flameglow is a passive shield that requires no management on part of the mage. This is countered by the fact that it is a weak PvE talent and will only out shine Ice Barrier if you take enough damage instances in 25 seconds (at least 16 of them). In most cases you would want to avoid this talent.

+ Ice Barrier is a straightforward spell. It places a barrier on you that absorbs some damage and prevents spell pushback delay while it’s up. The strength of the barrier is determined by your spell power at the time you cast the spell. Therefore, if you have strong int procs, you can get a bigger shield. However you should be spending the GCDs during said procs on your offensive spells, not on a Barrier.

Verdict: In most raid encounters, Alter Time > Ice Barrier > Flameglow. The justification for this is that an Ice Barrier will not be effective when you have healers to back you up and in some cases put better shields on you. With regards to Flameglow, most encounters don't have enough consistent damage to make Flameglow worth it. Alter Time can help you reset your health and position. Use it before a large damage phase, or before a split movement (should you want to collapse back to the same spot).

Tier 3

These spells have little to no impact on your PvE performance and it doesn’t matter what you choose. In some cases, Ring of Frost or Frostjaw can help should you need additional CC/Silence. However such events are rare in PvE.

Verdict: Whatever you like.

Tier 4

This is your second survival tier.

Spoiler:

+ Greater Invisibility is an amazing survival cooldown which offers you at least 4 seconds of near invulnerability, which allows you to cheese many death mechanics or survive large hits. Also resets threat and removes DoTs off you. One of the best spells you could ask for.

+ Cauterize works as a Get Out of Jail Free card and can save you from blunders. Be warned however that the burn you face after this spell activates can hurt. If this burn is followed by additional damage, it will usually kill you. This spell should be followed up with Ice Block (to remove the DoT off yourself) if you're by yourself. If you have healers assisting you, call out for a heal to ensure they can keep you up through your burn phase.

+ Cold Snap is an on demand heal that also resets the cooldown of some of your spells. This talent can cover a base that mages otherwise don't excel at (an on demand heal). However, this is a very niche talent in raids, because the liability of not having a self heal isn't really felt in raids for two reasons. The first being that mages have methods of quickly avoiding harm or cheating death with spells like Blink, Greater Inivisbility, and Ice Block. The second being that your raid healers can often heal you in encounters without the need of you having to self heal yourself.

Cold Snap can also serve as a small DPS boost as it lets you cast Cone of Cold back-to-back by resetting its cool-down. Additionally, Cold Snap will also reset Ice Block, but will not allow you to use it back to back because of a 30 second debuff Ice Block puts on you upon use which prevents re-use for the duration of the debuff. Take note however that should you opt for Evanesce as your Tier 1 talent, this debuff no longer applies. And since Evanesce replaces Ice Block, Cold Snap will reset its cooldown. This allows you to use Evanesce back-to-back for a 6 second period of immunity from many boss mechanics and incoming damage.

Verdict: The choice here will come down to what you think serves you best with regards to the encounter and/or what you're trying to do. For example, Greater Invisibility will help you greatly on encounters where you know exactly when to use it. However, unfamiliarity with an encounters makes this difficult, and Cauterize could then be a better option, especially because your healers can heal you back up once it procs (so its DoT penalty can be somewhat ignored should you coordinate well). Similarly, Cold Snap will shine in any scenario where you need either the heal (it's off the GCD so it doesn't stop your DPS) or the back-to-back use of some spells. Generally speaking, Greater Invisibility's ability to remove DoTs and give you at least 4 seconds of near immunity tends to outshine the other options when properly used.

Tier 5

This tier is extremely crucial for putting up good DPS numbers and synergizes well with some other talents.

Spoiler:

+ Frost Bomb is entirely different from what it was in MoP. For starters, does NO damage on its own. It is merely a debuff you put on your target that, when hit with Ice Lances that benefit from Shatter (FoF Ice Lances or a frozen target) will cause an explosion on the target, and to all enemies within 10 yards of the target. In raid encounters, if you don’t have Fingers of Frost, do NOT put a Frost Bomb on your target. This is arguably the most complicated talent choice in this tier, because it slightly alters your rotation and forces you to bank FoF procs prior to its use. This is balanced by the fact that it has the best damage of all the spells in this tier, especially on cleave encounters. Furthermore, Frost Bomb starts to shine any time you have a set bonus which allows for additional generation of Fingers of Frost, provided you are geared reasonably well.

+ Unstable Magic is the passive in this tier, therefore requires no management whatsoever. The way this spell works is by passively giving a chance to your Frostbolt and Frostfire Bolts to explode upon impact, dealing additional damage to your target, and to all other targets within 8 yards of that target. It is however slightly weak on mobility encounters, because you cannot cast Frostbolt on the move.

+ Ice Nova is a powerful, easy to use instant cast nuke that has 2 charges and rebuilds charges once every 25 seconds. It wins on single target encounters versus the other two talents at lower gear levels. Although it loses to Frost Bomb on cleave encounters, it balances this out with the fact that it can be used on the move and is generally easier to use as well since it doesn't require any FoF set up.

The important thing to remember with this spell is you should never cast it on yourself or an ally in PvE situations, as this will cost you DPS. To prevent this from accidentally happening, use a macro. There is a macro provided in the macros section of the guide.

Verdict: Frost Bomb should be your default go-to provided you are reasonably geared because it does perform well in any scenario (assuming proper use): single target, cleave, and AoE. Unstable Magic doesn't necessarily mesh well with the rest of Frost's kit due to its RNG nature (given how the spec otherwise excels at controlled bursts of damage); however is extremely powerful on single target scenarios and definitely an option worth considering in such a case.

Ice Nova is a very strong option at lower gear levels, extreme movement encounters, or encounters where you desire to burst on a target of interest every 25 seconds or so. It's best to view Ice Nova as a niche talent and not a default for raiding.

It is worth noting that in WoD, Tier bonuses can heavily favor some talent choices over others. If you possess the Tier 17 4 piece, Frost Bomb outpaces both Unstable Magic and Ice Nova heavily. Similarly, if you possess the Tier 18 4 piece bonus, Frost Bomb once again starts to out pace Unstable Magic and Ice Nova. If however, you possess the Tier 18 class trinket (from Archimonde, called Tome of Shifting Words), then Unstable Magic will become your go-to talent in this talent tier in almost all cases regardless of whether or not you possess any other tier bonus.

Tier 6

Spoiler:

+ Mirror Images is an option you can consider on single target encounters. It is also the best option if you want to tunnel or burst onto 1 target of interest among many enemies. The images will not mimic all your casts, but instead will cast Frostbolt only. An added bonus is that they also drop your threat for their duration. Images also have great synergy with Thermal Void, a tier 7 talent. Note that Images inherit your secondary stats (but not Mastery), and they inherit these on-the-fly, not by a snapshot on cast. The spell itself is easy to use as it is a sort of cast-and-forget spell. But because the Images will all focus just 1 target, the talent isn't great on multiple target encounters where you are looking to do collateral damage.

Please note that if you were playing in Mists of Pandaria, then Mirror Image is conceptually the same as it was back then. The only difference is that it is a talent now and deals considerably more damage than it did in MoP.

+ Rune of Power has survived the MoP change and is still here, except it has no mana regeneration now and lasts 3 minutes instead of 1. This will be your go-to talent for multiple target encounters, provided the movement in such encounters is low enough to allow you a lot of up-time inside your Rune. Its concept is simple. So long as you're in the Rune, you gain a 15% spell power boost. Step out of the rune and this buff is lost. There's also a limit on the number of runes you can have up at a time, which is two. This is your strongest talent in this tier with regards to min/maxing. The downside is that it will pigeon hole you into a 8 yard radius (or roughly ~16 yards if you place 2 runes next to each other), and frequently stepping out of your Rune will cost you damage. Therefore you would opt for this talent on encounters where you know you can get ample up time inside your Rune.

+ Incanter's Flow may sound complex, but it basically cycles through 4% - 20% spell power and then back down to 4% (4 > 8 > 12 > 16 > 20 > 20 > 16 > 12 > 8 > 4). This cycle completes in 10 seconds. Meaning each value lasts just 1 second. On average this is a passive 12% spell power increase. A great choice for encounters with too much movement to stay in your Rune of Power because it is entirely passive. How strong Incanter's Flow is will be determined by how well or poorly you use (or, the encounter forces you out of) your Rune of Power. Although on paper the Rune wins, Incanter's Flow will pull ahead any time there is too much movement in an encounter forcing you out of your Rune.

Verdict: On single target encounters, your talent choice will probably be determined by the encounter itself. The reason for this is that all 3 of the talents in this tier have their individual niche and there's no clear winner for every single target scenario. Rune of Power should be your default choice on any single target encounter where you feel like you can get enough up-time inside the Rune. If you're consistently forced out of your Rune, then Mirror Image and Incanter's Flow begin to pull ahead. Incanter's Flow is an excellent replacement for Rune where there is too much movement or bad ground AoE forcing you out of your Rune. However, Incanter's Flow begins to lose value when encounter mechanics are consistently forcing you out of your DPS rotation. In such an event, Mirror Image starts to shine, because the Images will consistently damage your target even while you can't. Mirror Image will also pull ahead of the other options if the encounter demands a burst of DPS on a target of interest every 2 minutes.

When you're looking at performing AoE or cleave, Mirror Images begin to fade when compared to Rune of Power or Incanter's Flow. So in this scenario, you would once again opt for the Rune when you feel like the encounter will allow you ample up time inside the rune. Otherwise, you should go for Incanter's Flow. But remember that if you are assigned to burst down a target of interest in an AoE/cleave encounter, Mirror Images might be useful to quickly kill it off.

Tier 7

Spoiler:

+ Thermal Void is a passive that allows your Ice Lances to extend the duration of Icy Veins by 2 seconds. This talent can allow you, with some prep to extend your Icy Veins buff by at least 10 seconds. Bear in mind though, the idea of running “infinite Icy Veins” with this talent is a bad idea and a DPS loss. Furthermore, you should not use non-FoF Ice Lances to maintain a longer time on Icy Veins should you pick this talent. The way to use this talent is by pre-planning it and then trying to maintain it as long as you can. I’ll explain this in more detail in the rotation section. Thermal Void is your default go-to talent on multiple target encounters as both Prismatic Crystal and Comet Storm shine brightest on single target scenarios.

+ Prismatic Crystal will place a crystal at a target location (you need to place it with a target reticule, like your Blizzard spell). This crystal lasts 12 seconds and takes 10% extra damage, and can be attacked only by you. Any damage it takes will be instantly released to enemies around it (8 yards, split evenly). This spell when used properly can provide amazing burst DPS, but is also the most punishing should you not be able to use it properly. Do not take this talent if you think you will not be able to DPS into it for its full duration, or if you think your target will move away from the crystal while it’s up [ie a boss that randomly moves around]. Furthermore, because it splits its damage evenly, this talent will shine most on single target encounters. A final thing to remember with this talent is that it will force you into the Splitting Ice glyph all the time for optimal use. This is a very complicated talent to get the hang of, but also very rewarding on single target scenarios when used properly.

+ Comet Storm is an alternate to Prismatic Crystal which you can go for in single target encounters. The concept of the spell is really simple. It's essentially an instant-cast nuke you can use every 30 seconds that will drop 7 ice shards on an around your target (4 yard radius). Since the damage of each shard is split evenly among enemies it hits, this spell isn't a strong AoE choice. Instead, it shines on single target scenarios where using Prismatic Crystal is difficult. It is also useful on any encounter or situation where you would need a nuke every 30 seconds or so to kill off a target of interest. Take note that extremely mobile targets can sometimes make their way out of your Comet Storm since the shards all don't land instantly.

Verdict: The choice on most single target encounters will come down to Prismatic Crystal or Comet Storm. Prismatic Crystal should be your default go-to on single target encounters, provided you can set it up properly. If the single target encounter will not allow you to properly turret into your crystal, then opt for Comet Storm instead. Thermal Void is your default on multiple target fights since it will out perform both Prismatic Crystal and Comet Storm in such a scenario. Thermal Void can also be considered on single target encounters if you have the Tier 17 4 piece bonus, though it still is slightly weaker than the other options. Having said that, good RNG can definitely allow it to compete against both Comet Storm and Prismatic Crystal on single target encounters.

It is worth noting that in WoD, Tier bonuses can heavily favor some talent choices over others. If you possess the Tier 17 4 piece, Prismatic Crystal and Thermal Void outpace Comet Storm because of their synergy with the bonus. This is also true if you possess the Tier 18 4 piece, since the bonus procs benefit Prismatic Crystal and Thermal Void heavily, but have no interaction with Comet Storm.
IV. Frost Mage Glyphs
Glyphs play a crucial role when it comes to DPS-ing. Let's take a look at the glyphs of interest in a PvE setting.

+ Icy Veins is a glyph you'd use in almost every PvE situation, because it will change your boost from the spell to Multistrike over Haste. Currently, almost all talent choices and builds favor a Multstrike build over a Haste build.
+ Splitting Ice should be used on multiple target encounters, and any time you opt for Prismatic Crystal.

Other glyphs you could consider:

+ Rapid Displacement – allows for a Double Blink
+ Blink – allows you to Blink further
+ Counterspell – great if you’re on interrupt duty as it will not interrupt your rotation.
+ Ice Block/Regenerative Ice – depending on if you need the immunity/heal. Bear in mind the Ice Block heal will kill your DPS (since you will not be casting for as long as you have it healing you)
+ Water Elemental – generally not needed, though.
+ Cone of Cold – if you will AoE
+ Momentum is a minor glyph of some interest

V. Understanding Frost's Rotation
Frost mages have had their rotation slightly altered from Mists of Pandaria days. This section is dedicated to understanding and mastering your default single target rotation. Before we look at the rotation, let's look at the leveling perks we get in Warlords of Draneor.

++ Draneor Perks ++
In WoD, as you level from 90-100, you gain special leveling perks every 2 levels. Here is a summary of these perks.

1. Enhanced Frostbolt - Frostbolt's cast time is reduced by 0.5 seconds. Once you benefit from this, the effect is disabled for 15 seconds. Nothing real to keep track of here.
2. Improved Icy Veins - our DPS cooldown now provides us with more Haste (if unglyphed) or more Multistrike (if glyphed)
3. Improved Blizzard - each time Blizzard deals damage, it will reduce the remaining cooldown on Frozen Orb by 0.5 seconds. In AoE situations, this perk is extremely useful.
4. Improved Water Elemental - your Water Elemental now gets the Water Jet spell. This spell shares its cooldown with Freeze, so will be your go-to FoF generator in two situations: any single target scenario, and any situation where you can't hit targets with Freeze.

++ Default Single Target Rotation ++ Before you look at how your rotation works with your talent setup, it's very important to understand how your spec works in the first place. Therefore, let's look at your single target rotation when there is no talent setup chosen whatsoever.

Your default single target rotation is as follows:

1. Cast Frozen Orb on cooldown
2. Cast Ice Lance anytime you have a Fingers of Frost charge
3. Cast Frostfire Bolt whenever you have a Brain Freeze charge. The Brain Freeze buff can stack twice. Before you cast Frostfire Bolt, make sure you don't have 2 Fingers of Frost charges, because Frostfire Bolt can also grant you a Fingers of Frost Charge
4. Cast Water Jet from your pet. Your goal should be to land 2 x Frostbolts on your target during the duration of Water Jet. Additionally, you should never cast Water Jet while a Frozen Orb is still out. Also never cast Water Jet when you already have charges of Fingers of Frost. Exhaust those charges first.
5. Cast Frostbolt

This is your default single target rotation.

++ Frozen Orb ++
Frozen Orb is a powerful 1 minute cooldown spell you have access to. Though relatively easy to use, it is important that you use it correctly as it has an extremely high DPET (damage per execute time). If you're having difficulty understanding how your Orb works, you can read this section.

Spoiler:

With Frozen Orb, take note of the following:

1. Because Frozen Orb generates Fingers of Frost charges, it isn't advised to go into a Frozen Orb with 2 FoF charges at hand. You should first exhaust at least one of these procs.
2. The Frozen Orb will always travel forward from the direction you are facing. The "aiming" portion of this spell is simply making sure you are facing the target of interest.
3. The Orb lasts 10 seconds, and this timer starts to tick away as soon as you launch it. Therefore, being closer to the target helps. That said, distance isn't a major issue with Frozen Orb because it does travel fast while it looks for a target.
4. Your Orb will slow down once it hits a target. On the very first hit you are guaranteed a FoF charge. Because of this, be careful where you launch it. For example, if your targets are in a line, the Orb will slow down as soon as it hits the first target. This means the target shields the ones behind itself. To counter this, try to wait till the targets are stacked, or just move in a little and launch your Orb so that it can hit as many targets as possible.
5. If you used to play in Mists of Pandaria, take note that while Frozen Orb is conceptually the same now as it was in MoP, its graphic has been slightly altered. Ice shards no longer visibly fly out of your Orb as it hits targets.
6. Be very careful of uneven terrain. Frozen Orb can occasionally get stuck on tiles, steps, etc. and this will cost you a lot of damage.

VI. Understanding Water Jet
Water Jet is a new spell that plays a crucial part in your single target rotation. Regardless of your talent setup or gear choice, this spell is absolutely necessary to use properly in raid scenarios to put up competitive numbers. This section provides an in detail look at Water Jet.

Water Jet is a new spell Frost mages have access to in this expansion. This is your go-to FoF generator in single target encounters and against targets that can’t be frozen with your pet's Freeze spell. By default it lasts 4 seconds, but scales with your Haste. There's no need to worry though, it will always last twice the cast time of 1 x Frostbolt.

With Water Jet, take note of the following:
1. Your pet takes 1 second (at 0 Haste) to start the spell, provided he's in range of your target. If he's too far, he will get into range and then start the spell (will still take 1s to start the spell once he's in range).
2. Make sure Frozen Orb isn’t out while you Water Jet. Wait till your Orb terminates.
3. Make sure you have no FoF procs before Water Jet. Exhaust these before going into Water Jet.
4. Make sure you land 2 x Frostbolts on your target in your Water Jet.

After your second Frostbolt on the target during Water Jet, immediately follow through with an Ice Lance. Water Jet’s 100% chance to proc a FoF works independently of Frostbolt’s inherent chance to proc a FoF. Therefore, to avoid an override, you should use an Ice Lance as soon as the second Frostbolt is cast. This trick allows you to sometimes get 3 FoFs from a single Water Jet cast.

Also, because your pet takes 1 second to start this spell, you can always cast this spell while you are mid-way a Frostbolt cast yourself. Any Frostbolts that are in transit to your target will generate FoF for you as long as the Water Jet starts on the target while the Frostbolt is still in transit. This is why your goal should be to land 2 Frostbolts on your target during a Water Jet cast.

However, the above also means that you have to be careful when using Water Jet. The transit time of your Frostbolt will change depending on how close or far you are from your target. For example, if you're at melee range of your target, there's no transit time. If you're too far (near 40 yds), you could accidentally start Water Jet too early. The best way to handle this is to practice on a target dummy to determine when you should cast your Water Jet based on the distance you have between yourself and your target.

Finally, never leave Water Jet on autocast. You should always manually cast it at a time when you're sure you can get 2 x Frostbolts to land on your target while Water Jet is channeled. Auto-casting Water Jet also sometimes bugs out your Elemental and he doesn't attack anymore.

Don't forget that Water Jet shares a cooldown with your pet's Freeze ability. Using one also triggers the cooldown of the other.

VII. Integrating Tier 5 and 6 Talents Into Your Rotation
Now that you (hopefully) understand what's going on with your base rotation, you can start to integrate your other talents into your rotation. The final three tier talents are of interest here since they are all DPS-related. Let's start by looking at how each talent choice from the Tier 5 or Tier 6 talent trees impacts your rotation.

++ Using Unstable Magic ++
First, the easiest one, our passive Unstable Magic. In this case, nothing changes in our basic Rotation whatsoever.

++ Using Ice Nova ++
Now let's look at our Ice Nova. Here, we see a new spell added onto the basic rotation.

1. Cast Frozen Orb on cool down
2. Cast Ice Nova – pretty straightforward spell. There are two things to remember with Ice Nova use. The first being that you should always have charges rolling. If you're capped at 2 charges, you're wasting DPS. The second being that you should never cast Ice Nova on yourself or an ally (macros can help you avoid this, see the macro section).
3. Cast Ice Lance when Fingers of Frost procs
4. Cast Frostfire Bolt via Brain Freeze. Remember, this spell procs Fingers of Frost too, so don’t use it if you have 2 x FoF
5. Cast Water Jet. Don't forget the Water Jet rules from our Basic Rotation above!
6. Cast Frostbolt

++ Using Frost Bomb ++
Finally, let's come to our Frost Bomb.

1. Cast Frost Bomb ONLY when you meet one of these three criteria:
a. You have 2 Fingers of Frost charges
b. Frozen Orb is coming off cooldown
c. Water Jet is almost off cooldown
2. Cast Frozen Orb on cool down
3. Cast Ice Lance if you have at least 1 x FoF charge, and Frost Bomb is up. If you have just 1 charge and Frost Bomb is NOT up, do not cast Ice Lance. The exception to this rule is if you have 1 FoF charge that’s about to fall off, cast it even if your target doesn’t have a Bomb on it.
4. Cast Frostfire Bolt via Brain Freeze. Remember, this spell procs Fingers of Frost too, so don’t use it if you have 2 x FoF.
5. Cast Water Jet. Again, your aim should be to land 2 x Frostbolts on your target during the duration of Water Jet.
6. Cast Frostbolt.

That sums up our single target rotation with regards to our Tier 5 talents. Now let's see what happens with our Tier 6 talents added into our rotation.

++ Using Mirror Image ++
Nothing special happens here. You will use Mirror Image on a pre-pull and then every time it comes off cooldown.

++ Using Rune of Power ++
Your #1 DPS priority is making sure you cast and stay in your Rune of Power as it increases the spell power of everything in your arsenal. This is true regardless of what Tier 5 or 7 talent you pair with Rune of Power. The Rune takes priority over everything in your rotation.

++ Using Incanter's Flow ++
Nothing special happens here. Carry on with your rotation as usual and there's no real point or purpose in banking procs to use them on a high Incanter's Flow stack. If you run Ice Nova, try casting it on 5 stacks of Incanter's Flow.

This sums up our single target rotation with our Tier 6 talents mixed into it as well.

VIII. Integrating Comet Storm and Thermal Void Into Your Rotation
Let's now see how we can integrate our Tier 7 talents into our rotation. These talents can be tricky to get the hang of, so let's start off by sorting out the easier options: Comet Storm and Thermal Void.

++ Using Comet Storm ++
Let's sort the easiest talent out first. If you opt for Comet Storm, it will be #2 on your cast priority if your Tier 6 talent choice is Mirror Image or Rune of Power. If you opt for Incanter's Flow, then Comet Storm is your #1 DPS priority. Make sure you cast Comet on cool down because it has no charge system and therefore saving it is pointless. Please note: a highly mobile target can make its way out of your Comet Storm.

++ Comet Storm's interaction with other talents ++
Sadly, Comet Storm doesn't have synergy present with any of our Tier 5 talents. Therefore, Comet Storm and your Tier 5 talent will work independently of one another. Among the Tier 6 talents, Incanter's Flow can be an interesting pair up with Comet Storm. Since Comet Storm's cool down is 30 seconds, and Incanter's Flow's cycle lasts 10 seconds, it is possible to always have Comet up when you are at 5 stacks of Incanter's Flow. Let's look at this syngergy:


Assuming you cast Comet Storm on "5" (which is a 20% spell power increase at 5 stacks of Incanter's Flow), then the next time Comet Storm comes off cool down, your Incanter's Flow cycle will again be at 5 stacks. This trick allows you to consistently catch a high Incanter's Flow stack for Comet Storm use, always increasing the damage from the spell by 20%. The reason this works is because 30 (Comet Storm's cool down) is a multiple of 10 (the number of seconds your Incanter's Flow cycle lasts).

In practice however, there are times where this synchronization will be lost due to perhaps another spell being used on the 5 stack when Comet Storm comes off cool down. Don't worry about it too much. More importantly, don't interrupt a cast mid-way to catch a high Incanter's Flow stack for Comet Storm. Interrupted casts are undesirable and a DPS loss.

++ Using Thermal Void ++
Thermal Void is an entirely passive Tier 7 talent. Anytime you cast Ice Lance while your Icy Veins is running, Thermal Void will extend its duration by 2 seconds. Sounds simple enough? Perhaps. But again, there are some rules regarding this talent which you must observe.

++ Thermal Void Rules ++
1. Never extend your Icy Veins duration with non-FoF Ice Lances. This isn't a DPS gain.
2. "Infinite Icy Veins" is also not a DPS gain.

++ Thermal Void's interactions with other talents ++
There isn't much going on with the Tier 5 talents and Thermal Void in terms of an interaction. Of the tier 6 talents, Thermal Void only has an interaction with Mirror Image. However, this is a tricky one to pull off is explained in an Optional Read section.

++ Properly Utilizing Thermal Void ++
Our goal with Thermal Void is to always try to extend our Icy Veins as long as possible. Thankfully, a bit of planning allows us to extend Icy Veins by at least 10 seconds (assuming no PvE set bonuses).

Here is how you will proceed:

1. Get 2 x FoF 4-6 seconds before going into Icy Veins. The easiest way to do this if you don’t have them is via Water Jet. Water Jet lasts 4 seconds (by default), so be ready to follow up once you have your Fingers of Frost procs.
2. Cast Icy Veins (if Mirror Image is up, this is when you’d cast it as well)
3. Exhaust your 2 x FoF. This has extended your Icy Veins to 24 seconds.
4. Use Frozen Orb. Because Frozen Orb is on a 1 minute cooldown, it will be up with every use of Icy Veins.
5. Frozen Orb will guarantee you at least 1 FoF. Use this to extend your Icy Veins to 26 seconds.
6. Because Water Jet was used 4-5 seconds before casting Icy Veins, and it’s cooldown is just 24 seconds, a 26 second Icy Veins will allow you 1 more Water Jet use. Use this once your Frozen Orb has terminated to get 2 more FoF procs. This extends your Icy Veins to a total of 30 seconds.

To sum it up



In a worst-case scenario, this set up extends your Icy Veins by 10 seconds. With a stroke of RNG, Frozen Orb will generate more than just 1 FoF for you. This will help you extend your Icy Veins even more.

The start of this set up should be slightly changed based on your luck. If lady RNG is smiling upon you and you have 2 x FoF procs, use Icy Veins and just go for it. Water Jet into your Icy Veins after you've exhausted procs, then use those procs and proceed with Frozen Orb.

If however you plan to kick-start the cycle with Water Jet, do as follows:

1. Begin a Frosbolt cast. Midway through the cast, begin Water Jet.
2. Launch your second Frostbolt with Icy Veins (Icy Veins is off the GCD).
3. Immediately cast Ice Lance after your Frostbolt cast ends.
4. Proceed as appropriate.

++ Optional Read (Thermal Void and Mirror Images) ++
Thermal Void does have synergy present with Mirror Images. However, properly utilizing this synergy is a decision making task that's almost always a gamble, therefore it isn't recommended unless you absolutely know what you're doing. If you're interested in seeing how these two spells work together, read on. Otherwise, skip this section.

Spoiler:

This combo may seem unexpected, but it can prove to be very powerful. First, let’s look at how the two are connected. Mirror Images turret onto your target (which you have highest threat on). Thermal Void is a passive that lets you extend your Icy Veins by 2 seconds every time you cast Ice Lance during the duration of Icy Veins. The trick here is realizing that your Mirror Images can benefit from the Multistrike you gain from Icy Veins (glyphed). Your goal therefore should be to try and extend Icy Veins as long as possible while Images are up. But you should NEVER extend Icy Veins with non-FoF Ice Lances. As explained, this is a DPS loss.

The way you do this is the same as mentioned above with regards to Thermal Void's use. However, things get complex when you look at the cooldown of MI and Icy Veins. Mirror Image is on 2 min cooldown. Icy Veins is on a 3 minute cooldown. The biggest hurdle you have to get over in order to use this set up properly is decide whether or not you should delay Mirror Image in order to line it up with Icy Veins. The easiest way to do this is by looking at the length of the boss fight. If you can delay a use of Mirror Image without losing a Mirror Image use in the fight, then you should delay it.

Say a boss fight lasts 4 minutes. You would normally use Mirror Image and Icy Veins on the pull. Mirror Image will come off its cooldown on the 2 minute mark. Icy Veins will come off its cooldown on the 3 minute mark. In such a fight, you can delay your Mirror Image to line it up with your Icy Veins.

Say the same boss fight lasts 5 minutes. You would normally use Mirror Image and Icy Veins on the pull. Mirror Images will be ready again on the 2 and 4 minute mark. Icy Veins will come off its cooldown on the 3 minute mark. In this case, delaying your Mirror Images is not worth it.

For easy reference, here is a table that summarizes the decision making for you.



* On 8 minutes, you can delay the first MI use if you want a bigger burst then because then your MI line up is 0 > 3 > 5 > 7. This way you don’t lose an MI use, but you lose the default line up at 6 minutes.

The above table also reveals an interesting pattern for us. Note the fights that last an even number of minutes all seem to favor delaying Mirror Images. This is a good rule of thumb you can follow. For example, say your fight is going to last 12 minutes. You would MI at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 by default. You would IV at 0, 3, 6, 9. The default set up has one synch of MI and IV, which is at 6 minutes. Now what happens if you delay your first MI use? You get MI at 0, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11. You don’t use a MI use. But IV is now at 0, 3, 6, 9 and lines up with 3 MI uses as opposed to just 2. This makes the delay worth it.

What you should take into account with this set up is your group’s killing speed and potential. Sometimes you will have to make decisions on the go. For example, if your group seems to be consistently killing a 5 minute boss in 4 minutes, you should delay your second MI use. But if your group is ending a 10 minute fight at 9 minutes, you shouldn’t delay your MI use. Keeping track of logs is a good way to do this.

If you don’t have logs to go by, use your intuition and see the rate at which the boss is dying, and try to make a call then. Take into account execute mechanics. Certain classes start dealing more damage to bosses once their HP is below a certain threshold (usually 20%).

Take note that such intense pre-planning and proper use can lead to a DPS increase with Mirror Image and Thermal Void. However, should you ever accidentally mis-calculate and then lose a Mirror Image use, your DPS will suffer alot. So what should you do if despite all your research, you're just not sure at all?

A good rule of thumb is to use the above method if and only if you're absolutely sure the delay will be worth it. If you're unsure about the delay, don't do the delay at all regardless of how long the fight lasts, because if the gamble does not pay off, the penalty is harsh. In short, while the DPS gain is real, so is the penalty.

IX. Integrating Prismatic Crystal Into Your Rotation
This is where the fun and challenging aspect of Frost Mages begins! Prismatic Crystal can provide you amazing burst DPS potential when used properly on single target rotations. However, this talent is extremely complex because of how it interacts with your other talents, and how it impacts your rotation. This entire section is dedicated to understanding how Prismatic Crystal works.

First, let's look at how Prismatic Crystal impacts your rotation. When you pick Prismatic Crystal, the following changes occur:

1. Prismatic Crystal is your #2 priority spell if your tier 6 talent choice is Mirror Image or Rune of Power. If you are rolling with Incanter's Flow, then using Prismatic Crystal is your #1 DPS priority.
2. You no longer cast Frozen Orb on cooldown. Instead, you always line up Frozen Orb with Prismatic Crystal. The only time you would break this rule is if your Frozen Orb is ready and your target will die before Prismatic Crystal will be ready. In such an event, use Frozen Orb without your Prismatic Crystal. In all other cases, line up Frozen Orb with your Prismatic Crystal.

There are some cardinal rules you must follow whenever you opt for Prismatic Crystal. Let's look at these rules.

++ Prismatic Crystal Rules ++
1. Always glyph Splitting Ice. Because of Prismatic Crystal, even on single target encounters, you will end up with 2 potential targets once you place your Prismatic Crystal. The first is your Crystal. The second, your target. Therefore, your goal should be to cleave as much off the Crystal onto your target, and Splitting Ice can add 50% bonus damage this way. This makes our total Ice Lance damage 160% with Splitting Ice + Crystal (110% from the primary lance, this is inclusive of the 10% bonus the Crystal provides, and 50% cleave damage).

2. Always place Prismatic Crystal as close to your target as possible. A good rule of thumb is to aim right INSIDE the target's hitbox, and don't risk a few yards. Place it as CLOSE as you can, preferably right INSIDE your target.

3. Always place Prismatic Crystal when you are confident your target wont move. The best way to ensure this is to gain familiarity with the encounter. Keep track of boss spell cooldowns, particularly those spells that cause him to move. Ask your tanks to put a marker on the location they intend to tank the boss.

4. Place Prismatic Crystal on a time when you are confident you wont move. Your goal should be to turret as hard as you can into your Prismatic Crystal for its duration. To achieve this, try to time your Crystals as such when you know you wont have to move much.

5. Procs going into Prismatic Crystal are a bonus. This is fairly obvious, because they will deal 10% additional damage going into the crystal.

6. If your Water Jet spell is up before you decide to place Prismatic Crystal, use it. Leaving it ready for 12 additional seconds isn't really a good idea, plus those FoF procs going into a Prismatic Crystal will help a ton.

Prismatic Crystal has a different burst set up depending on your Tier 5 talent choice. Let's look at these spell interactions.

++ Prismatic Crystal and Unstable Magic ++
This is the easiest set up, because Unstable Magic is entirely passive. In this case, the only real requirement is to have Frozen Orb ready. What you would do is as follows:

1. Have some procs up for your burst. These aren't necessary, but are beneficial. But be careful, do not ever bank max procs for long, as this is usually a DPS loss. Don't think of this step as an absolute necessity. If Water Jet is ready, you might as well use it for FoF procs.
2. Do you have Icy Veins ready? Use it if you do as this will improve your DPS into the crystal. Also use any on-use trinkets that are off their cooldown.
3. Do you have 2 x FoF on hand? In this case, place your Prismatic Crystal as close to the target as possible (aim right at the hitbox). Exhaust 1 FoF as soon as the Prismatic Crystal appears. If you don't have 2 x FoF, then simply launch Frozen Orb and then immediately place Prismatic Crystal as close to the target as possible (again, aim right for the hitbox).
4. Now, your cast priority is Ice Lance (via FoF) > Brain Freeze (via FFB) > Frostbolt. Do not use Ice Lance without FoF into a Prismatic Crystal. Do not hard cast a Frostfire Bolt into a Prismatic Crystal either.
5. Proceed with single target rotation when crystal terminates.

Here's a summary of this burst:



++ Prismatic Crystal and Frost Bomb ++
Now, things are getting a little complex, but more rewarding should you pull them off correctly.

1. Before you cast Prismatic Crystal, try to have some FoF/BF procs in hand. This isn’t mandatory, but helps.
2. Once you have your proc(s), get ready to burst. Start by casting Frost Bomb on your target.
3. If you have Icy Veins and it's glyphed, use it after you use Frost Bomb (don’t use it before you cast Frost Bomb, since the bomb itself will not benefit from glyphed Icy Veins, so there’s no point wasting glyphed Icy Veins’ duration on a spell it doesn’t even benefit).
4. Proceed by launching your Frozen Orb (since Icy Veins does not take a GCD, you can use Icy Veins and Frozen Orb in the same GCD)
5. Immediately place your Prismatic Crystal as close to your target as possible. Aim for the hitbox!
6. Start casting Ice Lances as you generate FoF charges. The idea is for your Splitting Ice glyph to cleave off your Prismatic Crystal and onto your target, causing the bomb to explode. The bomb’s explosion will hit your Prismatic Crystal, causing another explosion off the Crystal. The Orb will be hitting both your crystal and your target, so the odds of procing more FoF are increased.
7. Your spell priority into the Crystal are Ice Lances (via FoF) > FrostFire Bolt (via Brain Freeze) > Frostbolt.
8. Take note that the Bomb will drop off your target before the crystal expires, since the Bomb lasts 12 seconds and so does the Crystal, but you place the bomb on the target first.
9. At the end of the Crystal, you can re-apply Frost Bomb to your target if you have 2 x FoF on you. If you have just one, carry on with your rotation. If you have none, see if Water Jet is ready. If it is, place a Frost Bomb on your target. Follow through with Water Jet for more FoFs.

We can summarize the set up for this burst as follows:



There is a video later on this guide that illustrates this burst.

~ Important note: There is a risk with this setup which comes from Frost Bomb. If, for whatever reason, you don't cleave onto your target via Splitting Ice, you will lose a lot of damage. If this risk worries you, you can alter your set up and place your Bomb on your Crystal. But take note that a 1.5s cast into a Crystal that does no damage on its own will yield a smaller DPS gain than the above mentioned method. So the trade off here is giving up potential damage for safer damage.

++ Prismatic Crystal and Ice Nova ++
This is a good alternative to the above combination. The steps are pretty much the same, but the thing you need to make sure of here is trying to get 2 x Ice Nova casts off into your Prismatic Crystal, so they do extra damage. This does not mean you need to have 2 charges of Ice Nova going into your burst. This requires timing and pre-planning. The easiest way to see how this works is by looking at the cooldown of Prismatic Crystal and Ice Nova. You gain a charge of Ice Nova every 25 seconds. Prismatic Crystal has a 90 second cooldown, but it lasts for 12 seconds. Proceed as follows:
1. At the start of the fight, you will have both Ice Novas, so use them early on in your first Prismatic Crystal.
2. Prismatic Crystal’s cooldown is 90 seconds, and this timer begins to tick before your first Ice Nova cast. From there on, it’s a math game. After the first use, Ice Nova will build charges every 25 seconds. Let’s better illustrate it like this:

First Use > Second Use > 25 > 50 > 75 > 100. Better illustrated as follows



Here… 25, 50, 75, and 100 all are the countdown in seconds at which your charges build up after the First Use.

Now, a look at Prismatic Cyrstal’s timings



Note the pattern above. Prismatic Crystal will come off cooldown at the 90 second mark. This is important because as you can see, Ice Nova will gain a charge at 75 seconds, but will not cap out till 100 seconds. This means, if you save the charge you gain at 75 seconds and use it into your second Prismatic Crystal, you will be able to cast 2 Ice Novas into the second Prismatic Crystal as well, without ever staying capped at 2 charges.

In short, the way to use this combo properly is to NOT cast the Nova you would gain at “75” seconds. Save it for your second Prismatic Crystal, because you can get it to hit 10% harder. The entire process can be looked at like a cycle:



So basically if you follow this cycle, you will always cast 2 x Ice Novas in a Prismatic Crystal, and then 2 AFTER IT ENDS but BEFORE the next one. This way, you always have charges of Ice Novas rolling, but still manage to cast 2 into every Prismatic Crystal.

But what happens if you cast your first Ice Nova late into your Prismatic Crystal? This could throw off the entire cycle, because a few seconds of delay could mean that our “100” Ice Nova is coming up at maybe 103-105, and therefore not being used into the second Prismatic Crystal. The solution to this is easy. All you have to do is adjust the cast time of your second Prismatic Crystal in order to ensure two Ice Novas will fire off into it. How you do is simply look at two conditions before starting your cycle:

1. You have one Ice Nova ready
2. Your second Ice Nova charge will be ready in less than ~11 seconds.

If you meet the above criteria, you can always proceed with the cycle.

++ Prismatic Crystal and Tier 6 talents ++
There isn't much interaction going on here. Your Mirror Images will target your own Crystal and with Incanter's Flow, there's really nothing special to do. With Rune of Power, remember to always stand in it while you set up your burst. Make sure it will last the duration of your burst.

X. AoE Scenarios and Frost
With our single target rotation out of the way, let's look at how we are supposed to handle AoE scenarios.

++ Two Target Rotation ++
+ Are your targets spread out? There’s nothing you can do but focus one down (and weep quietly).
+ Are your targets stacked? Carry on your normal rotation, make sure you have Splitting Ice glyphed. If targets can be hit by your pet's Freeze, then Freeze should replace Water Jet in your rotation, because it will allow for some Shatter combinations. 2 stacked targets give Frost Mages an amazing niche in terms of damage output. Thermal Void is a talent of extreme interest here.

++ Three - Four Target Rotation ++
+ Are your targets spread out? Focus one down (and weep quietly).
+ Are your targets stacked? Throw in glyphed Cone of Cold into your rotation. Use it on cooldown. If targets can be hit by your pet's Freeze, then Freeze should replace Water Jet in your rotation, because it will allow for some Shatter combinations.

Frost Bomb will start to pull ahead of your other Tier 5 talents in this scenario. However, try to place the Bomb on a target you think will either:
a. Survive the longest, or
b. Will last at least 10+ seconds

In this case, your rotation looks like this:

1. Cast Frost Bomb ONLY when you meet one of these three criteria:
a. You have 2 Fingers of Frost charges
b. Frozen Orb is coming off cooldown
c. Water Jet or your Freeze (from your pet) are almost off cooldown
2. Cast Frozen Orb on cool down
3. Cast Ice Lance if you have at least 1 x FoF charge, and Frost Bomb is up. If you have just 1 charge and Frost Bomb is NOT up, do not cast Ice Lance. The exception to this rule is if you have 1 FoF charge that’s about to fall off, cast it even if your target doesn’t have a Bomb on it.
4. Cast Glyphed Cone of Cold on cool down, provided you are in range of your targets.
5. Cast Frostfire Bolt via Brain Freeze. Remember, this spell procs Fingers of Frost too, so don’t use it if you have 2 x FoF.
6. Cast Water Jet or Freeze from your pet. If the targets can be hit by Freeze, then use Freeze over Water Jet. Otherwise, go for Water Jet. Your aim as always should be to land 2 x Frostbolts on your target during the duration of Water Jet.
7. Cast Frostbolt.

++ Five+ Target Rotation ++
+ Are your targets spread out? Focus one down.
+ Are your targets stacked? Replace Frostbolt in your rotation with Blizzard, as this will now become your FoF generator. It also will reduce the remaining cooldown on your Frozen Orb. Adjust your rotation accordingly. Also use glyphed Cone of Cold on cooldown if you can. If targets can be hit by your pet's Freeze, then Freeze should replace Water Jet in your rotation, because it will allow for some Shatter combinations.

Assuming again that you use Frost Bomb in such a scenario, then your rotation will look something like this:

1. Cast Frost Bomb ONLY when you meet one of these three criteria:
a. You have 2 Fingers of Frost charges
b. Frozen Orb is coming off cooldown
c. Water Jet or your Freeze (from your pet) are almost off cooldown
2. Cast Frozen Orb on cool down. Remember, your Blizzard perk will be resetting the cool-down of your Orb quickly.
3. Cast Ice Lance if you have at least 1 x FoF charge, and Frost Bomb is up. If you have just 1 charge and Frost Bomb is NOT up, do not cast Ice Lance. The exception to this rule is if you have 1 FoF charge that’s about to fall off, cast it even if your target doesn’t have a Bomb on it.
4. Cast Glyphed Cone of Cold on cool down, provided you are in range of your targets.
5. Cast Frostfire Bolt via Brain Freeze. Remember, this spell procs Fingers of Frost too, so don’t use it if you have 2 x FoF. Take note that you may not get any Brain Freeze procs in such a scenario. This is okay.
6. Cast Water Jet or Freeze from your pet. If the targets can be hit by Freeze, then use Freeze over Water Jet. Otherwise, go for Water Jet. Your aim as always should be to land 2 x Frostbolts on your target during the duration of Water Jet.
7. Cast Blizzard as your primary filler.
8. Cast Frostbolt only if and when you use Water Jet.

++ Other notes about multiple target rotation ++
AoE-ing and your multiple target rotation can sometimes be tricky to get a hang of. Here are some additional notes on the entire process.

1. Glyphed Cone of Cold only shines if you are in range of your targets. If the encounter will not allow this, then don't cast a Cone of Cold into the air.
2. Frost Bomb shines on such scenarios. But if your targets die quickly, it may end up being a wasted GCD. You need to sure you cast Frost Bomb on a target that can last either 10+ seconds, or will die last among your targets of interest. For example, if your tanks stack small adds on a boss, then you should Frost Bomb the boss, not a small add.
3. Ice Nova can prove to be powerful if you need a short burst on targets that don't last long enough but need to be dealt with quickly as well.
4. The goal with Blizzard in AoE scenarios should be to hit as many targets as possible with it. If your targets move out of Blizzard, you can always re-start it at their new location instead of waiting for it to terminate. Also, if your Blizzard resets the cooldown of your Orb, terminate the Blizzard. Furthermore, if you manage to get 2 x FoF from your Blizzard, use them then restart the Blizzard.
5. Thermal Void scales better than Prismatic Crystal and Comet Storm on AoE and cleave scenarios. In such scenarios, you also get a lot of FoF procs from your Frozen Orb and Blizzard spells. In other words, your Icy Veins can be extended for a long time quite easily in such scenarios.
6. Unfortunately, Frost's Mastery (Icicles) has little to no interaction with your AoE rotation. So its scaling on AoE does take a hit because of how it works.

XI. Icy Veins, Combat Openers, and Misc DPS notes
Icy Veins is your major DPS cooldown. Naturally, your aim should be to use it as many times as you can in a fight. Glyphing it can be considered mandatory in most cases because in most (if not all) builds, Multistrike > Haste for Frost. A few pointers for Icy Veins:
1. Make sure you have it ready for Time Warp/Heroism, as this helps a lot with your burst potential.
2. In most cases, on the pull you will pre-pot and cast Icy Veins shortly after. The reason is that on the pull you usually can manage a good burst with trinkets, the pre-pot, etc. Furthermore, most encounters don't have their mechanics rolling in until shortly after the pull. This allows you more time to easily turret onto your target.
3. Make sure you use an Int pot in at least 1 Icy Veins cast during a fight (this is excluding the pre-pot, so in total, 2 of your Icy Veins in a fight should be backed up with Int pots).
4. When using Thermal Void: extend Icy Veins by at least 10 seconds using the Thermal Void trick explained earlier in the Thermal Void section.
5. Your rotation doesn't change during Icy Veins. However, if you use Frost Bomb, you should cast it before you use Icy Veins (provided you are confident that you will receive FoF procs shortly after applying it). The reason for this is that you don't want to spend 1.5 seconds of Icy Veins' duration on a spell it doesn't even benefit. This rule only applies to glyphed Icy Veins though.

++ Opener ++
Because your talent match up alters your rotation, there isn’t one set opener. However, here are guidelines to ensure your opener is successful.
1. Always pre-pot before a pull.
2. If Rune of Power is your tier 6 talent, use it before the pull as well. If you know a spot where you will move to within 3 minutes of a fight starting, then place a second Rune there on the pre-pull as well. Mirror Images can be cast before a pull as well.
3. Cast Frostbolt on -2.0/1.5 seconds to pull. If you run with Frost Bomb though, use Frost Bomb on the pre-pull over Frostbolt, since you have both Frozen Orb and Water Jet ready on the pull.
4. Follow through with whatever burst set up best suits your talent choices. Be prepared to keep a track on your trinket procs so you can line up as many DPS bonuses into your opening burst with Icy Veins.

++ Situation Specific Rotation changes ++
Your single target rotation changes slightly depending on certain situations you're in.

1. Say you're on the move, can't Frostbolt, and have no access to Frozen Orb/Ice Nova and are too far to Cone of Cold. In such a scenario, cast Ice Lance as long as you're moving. The justification for this is that some damage is better than no damage.

2. Say you're locked out of Frost spells. In this case, your filler will be a hard cast Frostfire Bolt, till your lock terminates. Be warned: if you get locked out of cast while casting Frostfire Bolt, the consequences are severe: you get locked out of both Frost and Fire spells.

XII. WoD Tier Bonuses
Using a Tier set bonus can sometimes result in a change in your rotation and/or talent choices. This section looks at the Tier bonuses offered to Frost Mages in WoD.

++ Tier 17 bonus ++
The tier 17 set bonuses are as follows:

1. 2 PC - casting Ice Lance during Frozen Orb (while it is out) increases the damage of your Frostbolt by 2% and reduces its cast time by 2%. This buff lasts 10 seconds and can stack up to 10 times. This 2 PC doesn't change your rotation in any way. Also note that in most cases it is very hard to get to 10 stacks of this buff because of GCD restrictions. This 2 PC is unfortunately quite lackluster.

2. 4 PC - Frozen Orb generates a FoF charge for you every 2.5 seconds while it is out. Note that this effect applies 2.5 seconds after your Orb is launched, so be extra careful and prepared to use your FoF charges. This is an excellent bonus for single target and meshes well with Frost Bomb. The number of guaranteed FoF from Orb with this bonus is 5; 1 from the initial Frozen Orb hit, and 4 more from the bonus (at 2.5 > 5 > 7.5 > 10 seconds). However, its effectiveness fades on multiple target encounters, because Frozen Orb usually generates plenty FoF procs on multiple target encounters by default.

The 4 piece is interesting because it will begin to favor certain talents over others. These talents are Frost Bomb, Prismatic Crystal, and Thermal Void. The guaranteed FoF procs from the 4 piece makes Frost Bomb stronger, allows for an easier & better burst into Prismatic Crystal, and allows you to extend Icy Veins longer should you opt for Thermal Void.

++ Tier 18 bonus ++
The tier 18 set bonuses are as follows:

1. 2 PC - Water Jet generates Brain Freeze when used. Therefore, make sure you don't have 2 x Brain Freeze procs when you start a Water Jet. This is a handy single target boost.

2. 4 PC - Increases the duration of Water Jet by 10 seconds, and increases maximum FoF stacks to 4. This 4 piece is a difficult one to get the hang of. Essentially, now Water Jet lasts 14 seconds (up from 4) and you can now hold 4 FoF charges (up from 2).

The first thing to note with this 4 piece is to not panic when you're at 2 charges of FoF, and adjust your rotation accordingly. To elaborate:
a. With Frost Bomb: Since your max FoF can go till 4, you don't have to always apply Frost Bomb at 2 x FoF charges. However, holding off till you have 4 FoF charges is also a bad idea (explained shortly). You will still Frost Bomb prior to Water Jet and Frozen Orb.
b. With Thermal Void: try to go into Icy Veins with 3-4 FoF charges, not 2.
c. With Prismatic Crystal: try to go into Prismatic Crystal with 3-4 FoF charges, not 2.
d. With Water Jet: your goal is to land as many Frostbolts as possible into Water Jet (explained below), not just 2.

The second thing to note with this 4 piece is the duration of Water Jet versus the number of Frostbolts you can cast into it. Assuming 0 Haste, your Water Jet will last 14 seconds, allowing 7 Frostbolt casts (@ 2 seconds each). However, you only have the ability to hold 4 FoF charges. However, there are risks to going up to 4 x FoF stacks during Water Jet, as each Frostbolt can proc 2 x FoF with a single cast, since its inherent 15% chance of procing an FoF works independently to the 100% chance of Water Jet. Therefore, you would want to try and avoid intentionally going to 4 x FoF stacks. Additionally, you cannot simply be juggling Frostbolt and Ice Lance during this long Water Jet cast, as Frostbolt can also proc Brain Freeze per cast. Furthermore, since you always start a 4 piece Water Jet with a BF proc (thanks to the 2 piece bonus), it's not rare to end up with 2 x BF procs. Therefore, you must find a way to balance out the 3 globals of interest during this Water Jet: Frostbolt, Ice Lance, and Frostfire Bolt. What you need to implement and practice is a decision making task, which can be summarized as follows:



In the diagram above, tasks with a higher priority are further up than others. Meaning that, being at max FoF is an area you want to avoid, along with being at 2 x BF. However, since FFB can proc FoF, should both events occur at once (4 x FoF and 2 x BF), you will always prioritize Ice Lance over FFB.

A final point to consider with this 4 piece is that it heavily favor Ice Floes because you need to cast Frostbolt frequently. Furthermore, similar to the Tier 17 4 piece bonus, the extra procs all add appeal to Frost Bomb, Thermal Void, and Prismatic Crystal.

Properly utilizing this 4 piece is difficult even in optimal conditions. In certain fights, encounter mechanics will make it near impossible to use this 4 piece to 100% efficiency. What the 4 piece boils down to is basically more frequently cast Water Jets (approximately 50% more frequent). In essence, this 4 piece is creating additional windows of opportunity for you to gain FoF procs.

++ 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 give 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 in most cases becomes your go-to Tier 5 talent.
3. The Prismatic Crystal burst priority changes. Your goal is to use Frostbolt before each FoF use in a Prismatic Crystal.
4. With your 4 piece and Shatterlance, you ideally want to start weaving when you are at 2-3 x FoF, and not when you're at 4 x FoF. 2 x FoF gives you more control over your procs (remember, at 2 x FoF, a Frostbolt can put you at 4 x FoF and cap you out at BF as well, meaning you will want to leave enough empty proc room to properly react).
5. With all the extra procs coming in from Frost's 4 PC, and the weaving done in between back-to-back Ice Lances, it is worth noting that Haste becomes an extremely powerful secondary stat, and a very viable option.

Here is a short video demonstrating the 4 piece Water Jet alongside the Archimonde trinket.


XIII. Stat Priority, Gems, and Enchants
++ Stat Priority ++
In WoD, our Stat Priority has shifted to Multistrike. The weight of your secondary stats depends entirely on your talent set up and gear. The best way to get your stat weights is to run your toon through Simcraft and getting your weights. This topic right here (http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=749" target="_blank) by Frosted also has a good summary of your stat weights, race, and talent choices for min/maxing.

The reason you can't have a default Stat Priority or Weight is because your stat priorities and weights will shift depending on your gear and talents. Furthermore, since reforging has left the game, sorting out your stats is much easier now.

++ Gems ++
If your gear has a socket in it, go for a Multistrike Gem.

++ Enchants ++
Your enchants should be Gift of Multistrike on your Necklace, Cloak, and Rings. You should go for Mark of the Frostwolf on your weapon.

XIV. Macros
Here are some macros I find useful

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#showtooltip Alter Time /cast Alter Time /cast Frostbolt

Will allow you to cast Frostbolt through Alter Time.

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#showtooltip Summon Water Elemental /cast [nopet] Summon Water Elemental /click PetActionButton6

Casting this macro once will Summon your Water Elemental, if he's not summoned. Casting it again will cast Water Jet.

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#showtooltip Blink /stopcasting /cast Blink

Allows you to quickly Blink!

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#showtooltip Counterspell /stopcasting /cast [@focus,exists][@target] Counterspell

Will Counterspell your focus, if it exists. Otherwise, will Counterspell your current target. If you have Counterspell glyphed, remove the /stopcasting line

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#showtooltip Freeze /cast Freeze

A simple macro to bring Freeze onto your cast bars (key binding it also works).

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#showtooltip Greater Invisibility /stopcasting /cast Greater Invisibility

Will immediately cast Greater Inivisibility.

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#showtooltip Ice Block /stopcasting /cancelaura Ice Block /cast Ice Block

Casts Ice Block on first use. Using it again will terminate Ice Block.

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#showtooltip Ice Nova /cast [harm, nohelp] Ice Nova

Prevents you from accidentally casting Ice Nova on yourself or a friendly target.

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#showtooltip Icy Veins /script UIErrorsFrame:Hide() /use 13 /use 14 /use [mod:shift] Draenic Intellect Potion /script UIErrorsFrame:Clear() /script UIErrorsFrame:Show() /cast Icy Veins /cast Frostbolt

Macro for Icy Veins. Remove /use 13 and /use 14 if you don't have any active trinkets. Using shift with the macro will use a pot with the macro. You can replace Shift with any other mod key you like. You can also replace /cast Frostbolt with any other spell on the GCD you wish to use in conjuction with Icy Veins.

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#showtooltip Mage Bomb /cast [target=mouseover,exists,nohelp] Mage Bomb; Mage Bomb

Will cast Frost Bomb on your mouse over target. Also works for Nether Tempest/Living Bomb should you dual spec.

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#showtooltip Remove Curse /cast [@mouseover,nodead,help][nodead,help][@player] Remove Curse

Will cast Remove Curse on your mouse over target, if they are friendly. If you don't have a mouse over target, will cast Remove Curse on your target, if they are friendly. If you have no target, will cast Remove Curse on yourself.

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#showtooltip Slow Fall /cast [@mouseover,nodead,help][nodead,help][@player] Slow Fall

Works similar to the Remove Curse macro above, but this is for Slow Fall.

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#showtooltip Spellsteal /stopcasting /cast [@focus,exists][@target] Spellsteal

Will Spellsteal from your focus, if it exists. If you have no focus, will spell steal from your current target.

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#showtooltip /cast [talent:1/2] Blazing Speed; [talent:1/3] Ice Floes

This macro is useful if you frequently switch between Ice Floes and Blazing Speed. You won't need to drag the new spell down to your bars.

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#showtooltip /cast [talent:6/1] Mirror Image; [talent:6/2] Rune of Power

This macro is useful if you frequently switch between Mirror Image and Rune of Power. You won't need to drag the new spell down to your bars.

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#showtooltip Water Jet /cast Water Jet

A simple macro for bringing Water Jet to your bars. Alternately, you can keybind it.

XV. Other resources
1. An excellent page for Frost mages over here: http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=749" target="_blank
2. A demo of my Weak Auras for 6.0.3 can be found here:

Strings:
+ General Mage Procs: http://pastebin.com/K9hHY87j" target="_blank
+ Frost Mage Procs: http://pastebin.com/wGYPKd7Y" target="_blank
+ Mage Cooldowns: http://pastebin.com/CddyJ03q" target="_blank
+ Mage Tier 6 Talents: http://pastebin.com/QNLw3vHc" target="_blank
+ Mage Externals: http://pastebin.com/vpteFW03" target="_blank
Combining all the strings will get you a replica of my WA layout. Take note, most of these strings work for all mage specs. The "Frost Mage Procs" is the only one specific to Frost mages. Also take note: many of these strings come with an audio as well that isn't shown in the video.
3. An updated version of my Auras (6.1)

++ Mage Self Auras: http://pastebin.com/UiDXJqnz" target="_blank
+ Tracks just about everything you need to track, including the 2 pc bonuses for arcane and frost, the 4 pc bonus for fire, all BRF trinkets, the HM haste trinket, all major DPS spells, and other misc spells.

++ Mage Graphics: http://pastebin.com/yF7RQKZN" target="_blank
+ Just some misc graphics for FoF, BF, Arcane Missiles, Heating Up, and Pyro!

++ Cooldowns Column 1: http://pastebin.com/VRwT2hYx" target="_blank
+ First Column of DPS cooldowns. Will automatically update as you switch talents and specs.

++ Cooldowns Column 2: http://pastebin.com/LVy2cqHt" target="_blank
+ Second Column of Cooldowns. Will automatically update as you switch talents and/or specs.

++Mage Target Debuffs: http://pastebin.com/tfswmUJg" target="_blank
+ Tracks your debuffs on your current target

++Mage Misc Procs: http://pastebin.com/EevAEiCd" target="_blank
+ For tracking Ice Floes stacks, PoM, Frost 2 PC bonus stacks, Frostwolf enchant stacks, etc.

++Mage Bomb n Nova: http://pastebin.com/8DrU4Esv" target="_blank
+ Tracks Ice Nova, Blast Wave, Supernova, Living Bomb, Nether Tempest, and Frost Bomb

++Mage Tier 6: http://pastebin.com/CzNvFKBk" target="_blank
+ For tracking Incanter's Flow and RoP

++Mage Externals: http://pastebin.com/7iyjPAD6" target="_blank
+ For any externals you receive. Includes Aspect of the Fox, Time Warp, Amp Magic, Roar druid, and certain Paladin buffs.

Frost Bomb can be tricky to get the hang of, especially with Prismatic Crystal. Here is a video demonstrating the burst.



3. Simcraft - an extremely powerful tool for anyone who plays WoW who wants to get an idea of how their character works with different talent setups, gear, and stat weights. Use it, abuse it, and conquer.

XVI. Conclusion
I hope you guys enjoyed reading this guide as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to leave feedback and suggestions. Cheers, and may the Ice Lances be with you!

[Calo]

Very nice work!!

Vouch for sticky

[TLTeo]

Good thread! I'd mention a few extra things:
1) PC isn't ideal in aoe situations because the damage it causes is spread. This means that usually FrB/TV is preferred on multiple target fights, and IN/PC on single target fights. FrB/PC is really strong on paper, but Glyph of Splitting Ice has such a small range that it's actually a little unreliable; plus, it's actually fine to cast bomb on the prism.
2) WJ on pull isn't a dps increase for IN/PC builds (sims here http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic ... 009#p10127" target="_blank ).
3) Frost Bomb might actually be castable with just one FoF proc without any dps loss, reducing munching and making the playstyle more forgiving. Sims here: http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic ... 009#p10647" target="_blank
4) I think that MI actually beats RoP currently even on fights like Butcher, because of the interaction with Icy Veins.

Either way, awesome thread!

[DLXX]

well done bro

strings would be awesome <3

[TheHeretic91]

Fucking amazing. That's what a proper guide should look like.

[Frosted]

A decent enough start. Some sections need work (talents, in particular). Once I get some time later this week I'll post some things on it.

[Berlinia]

I echo Frosted. Will scrutinize later

[Breaktheice]

@ everyone, thanks so much for reading the guide! My biggest fear was nobody reading it.

@ TLTeo

1) I did note that PC shines most on single target encounters. Thanks for that. I also felt like adding in a section for the Splitting Ice Range, but then left it out and instead wrote some stuff in caps (AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE!!!!)

Are you sure FrB into PC is fine? Can't imagine a 0 damage 1.5s cast being a DPS gain?

2) Thanks, I'll add it in!
3) I'll have to look into that. Thanks again
4) I'm pretty sure, on sims at least that RoP + IN + PC is the strongest single target option. I feel like MI would probably win on fights that are >2:30 mins and <3:00 mins because of two uses.

@ Frosted & Berlinia - thanks for reading! I look forward to your replies

[TLTeo]

Yep i'm pretty sure. Iirc it's better on the boss IF you can guarantee that icelance will always cleave on him, but that's pretty optimistic these days unfortunately, so might as well cast it on PC.

[Berlinia]

I read the guide, and will put up an extensive feedback doc later on.
You have gotten the basics down, your style is appropriate but you have made a few wrong statements in several places (especially the talent section as frosted mentioned).
But as said before a nice start, however for your next guide I would recommend having someone proof read it as the really glaring inaccuracies that pop out can be removed in the editing process.
And finally welcome in the hellhole of having to maintain your guide :p

[Berlinia]

TLTeo is correct you PC on crystal for 2 reasons. If you precast fbomb on the target then PC and then FO, you have lost 3 GCDs of casts that could had gone into the bomb. So if your FO gives you procs at 3 seconds of PC remaining you are pretty much at loss. Adding shitty cleave and boss movement you are up for unhappy times.

[Breaktheice]

Yep i'm pretty sure. Iirc it's better on the boss IF you can guarantee that icelance will always cleave on him, but that's pretty optimistic these days unfortunately, so might as well cast it on PC.

This is pretty much my understanding of the setup as well, that when you cleave it onto the boss it's better to have the FrB on the boss. Which is why this is the way I explained it.

So if your FO gives you procs at 3 seconds of PC remaining you are pretty much at loss. Adding shitty cleave and boss movement you are up for unhappy times.

Aye but if FO is launched just before/after PC placement, it wouldn't even last till the last 3 seconds of the PC and would instead fizzle out just as FrB on the boss would. Granted, you might have procs left because of GCD and Haste, but I don't think it'll be up for giving you more procs.

Obviously with boss movement you're up for unhappy times no matter where the FrB is

[Berlinia]

III-Basics
-Mention Blizzard and FO interractions.
-Mention these are the basics BEFORE talents, because statements like: Ice Lance – use with Fingers of Frost. Use without FoF only if you’re on the move and can’t Frostbolt. can be confusing. I understand what you mean, but the absolute newcomer might not!
-Add a section on how to use Water Jet.
IV-Talents
-You mention Cold Snap on Tier I talents. That might be confusing for some players. You might want to add that section on the Cold Snap analysis!
-MI is best on single target always, even if you can maintain high RoP uptime. If you have multiple targets and low movement, you take RoP and if you have multiple targets and take Incanter’s Flow.
-Your verdict on Tier 6 is a bit chaotic. Depends on the encounter doesn’t define what the verdict is.
-On Thermal Void, you might want to mention that you want to unglyph Icy Veins when running this talent.
-On Prismatic Crystal you do not mention IL-cleave, or IN interactions.
Generally on the later tier your analysis is a bit lacking and chaotic. Might want to revise
V-Rotations and Cooldowns
-On Fingers of Frost, you can never be at 2 charges of FoF unless you purposedly banked them. As banking charges is always a loss because of the potential to clip them it should be avoided.
-On Ice Nova, you should never bank charges, for no reason whatsoever.
Frostbomb and Prismatic Crystal
-1You should pair WJ cast right before PC so you always have 2 FoF procs there.
-2 This isn’t always correct as it’s affected by PC range, cleave range, boss movement (like Ko’ragh) etc
-3 (Should mention if IV is glyphed for this to be true)
-4 Should mention that you have to be far enough for this to work, otherwise your FO will clip the previously mentioned charges.
-5 Inside it’s hitbox, not as close as possible. Cleave from my experience works like this. It takes the edge of the hitbox to determine if the cleave happens.
-6 Even then i’d much rather have it that the Fbomb is placed on Crystal, so that you dont have the potential slight movement ruin your cleave.
-7 Water Jet should be used right before that instant to generate FoF charges as mentioned
Your section about not using FO before placing crystal because you might clip charges is incorrect as you can FO from a far enough range and not have the orb reach the crystal before you fire your own IL.
2. Prismatic Crystal and ice Nova
One slight alteration you make sure that the CD of the Crystal is 12 seconds - GCD in comparison to nova. Also when you say what happens when you cast your first Ice Nova, you mean on the very very first Crystal I assume? Because otherwise it doesn’t matter as long as you aren’t capped out.
3. TV and MI
You got it wrong. When you water jet you do Cast FB, mid FB WJ, cast FB, Ice Lance to prevent clipping FoF. As such you pop IV right before going into Water Jet.
Concerning delaying MI, as several trinkets are 2min CD on use (Mythic Twins, CClarity) you never want to delay them.

I think I already gave extensive feedback and am a bit tired to write more
Also would like to ask after you have corrected this, could you cross post it on the IV forums? We could always have info there for people that are unaware of Altered Time.
Berlinia

[Berlinia]

I forgot to add some other comments that are more structure related.
The information is a bit chaotic. Imo the easiest way to differentiate between basics and non-basics is talents. On the basis section you should already had defined the playstyle, makes it quite a bit easier.
The second is format. Bolding out words is a bit annoying to read (no bashing involved) and bolting entire sentences is just plain wrong

[TLTeo]

On Thermal Void, you might want to mention that you want to unglyph Icy Veins when running this talent.

Are you sure of this Ber?

[Berlinia]

On Thermal Void, you might want to mention that you want to unglyph Icy Veins when running this talent.

Are you sure of this Ber?

It was like this a few months ago, but now that I think about it it was more to benefit the infinite IV playstyle. Will have to check on that.

[TLTeo]

Yeah it was, you confused me for a second. Running a quick sim shows it's not the case anymore

[Berlinia]

Okay excellent scrap that point then! What's your view on my feedback Teo?

[TLTeo]

I agree To be honest formatting and ordering things properly is one of the hardest things in writing a guide like this

[Berlinia]

Tell me about it :/