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

[Voltairus]

I have ran into some situations where I have had 2+ FoF procs as my Water Jet is about to come off cooldown and I still haven't fired off Frozen Orb yet. This has happened either by a few FoF procs from Frostbolt or those rare times when I have 2 stacks of Brain Freeze multiple times. I am still unsure on when to properly use Frozen Orb under these situations.

1. Do I just keep going with the normal weave rotation and start my second cycle of Water Jet, ignoring Frozen Orb until a time where I can safely fit it in between Water Jet cooldowns?
2. Do I rapid fire off my remaining FoF-IL without weaving in order to fire Frozen Orb at the last moment, continuing to dump Ice Lances so I can cleanly start a new Water Jet rotation?
3. Do I just fire Frozen Orb and continue weaving and ignore the almost certainty of wasting procs in order to have it out of the way and to more cleanly start the second Water Jet?

For the most part, especially during Icy Veins, I will just be aggressive in using Frozen Orb after I have completed the first Water Jet cycle and dumped a few procs so that I can hopefully at 2 or less before using Orb and just kinda firing them off til I feel I am stable enough to safely start weaving again. I have been doing this especially when add phases are happening, like imps on Xhul'Horac so I can just rapid fire ice lances into the Voidfiends.

But, outside of Icy Veins, I have a hard time determining whether I should be more aggressive in maximizing the number of Orbs I fire off during a fight or if I should only use it to help bridge the potential gaps between Water Jet usage. I feel sometimes I am wasting 1-2 casts if the fight is long enough by delaying it. Sorry for the wall of text, I just want to make sure I have the right mind set and it's not been clear anywhere. It appears people are winging it and not realy able to provide anything specific.

[Piecez]

Although I can't speak for every situation ( and realistically, if thats what you wanted you would sim the specific situations you are interested in ), the most important thing with FO is taking into account specific fight length and mechanics.

FO itself in a single target situation is a pretty small % of your damage, so "maximizing the amount of orbs" is pretty insignificant, and you have to take into account if delaying an orb 5-10 seconds is actually going to make you lose a use of orb in the fight. In general I like to line up FO with mechanics like extra adds or phases of increased damage.

But to answer your questions based off my experience in a single target situation

1) If I have 2 FoF, 2 BFs, WJ, and Orb up, well first off I probably messed up because WJ and Orb CDs are usually off by a few seconds, but I would dump both my BFs, fire off my Orb, see if I spike up to 3-4 FoF procs and then dump them accordingly until I can safely WJ without being too afraid of munching. FO usually doesn't generate THAT many procs ST and at the end of the fight I usually have 1~ FoF proc munched but usually the higher uptime of CDs outweighs a munched proc.

2) I never use unweaved FoF-ILs unless they're literally about to fade before I can dump them or refresh my FoF buff.

3) I think I answered this in the first question, you should be able to fire off procs in a way that they don't overlap too much and you aren't munching too many procs, and if you come into that situation you just delay your CDs by a few seconds to dump down to a range where the likelihood of munching is very low.

Theres really not a one-off answer to fit every situation, but the most important thing is to maximize uptime of WJ/FO and minimize munching. I would say uptime>munching a few procs is the most important because at higher gear levels you tend to have procs up for the entire fight anyway if done properly.

[Voltairus]

When it comes to add phases I use it when I can and just fire off ice lances as per usual. My only concern was figuring out what to prioritize in a couple situations. Primarily the situation where I have gone through this sequence and end up at a crossroads of which to do.

I hit Water Jet and do that normal rotation. The channel finishes and I do the usual Frostbolt/Ice Lance weave. Normally, especially at the start of a fight due to every buff being active, I would use Frozen Orb as a way to help buffer Fingers of Frost procs until my next Water Jet usage. I have come into a situation where, after using the 1st channel of Water, I am within 5 seconds of being able to do the second channel of Water but still have 2 or more chargers of Fingers of Frost and have yet to use my Frozen Orb.

My dilemma is figuring out what to do. Should I cast Frozen Orb and rapid fire those few procs in order to not delay my second Water Jet by too much? Should I just keep weaving until the second Water Jet and forgo Frozen Orb even further ( because by this point it would have been delayed by 30+ seconds ) I typically only get into this scenario when I get a 2-3 Brain Freeze procs during the weaving process, forcing me at 2 charges of Brain Freeze and requiring a dump of one in order to not munch.

I don't think it makes too much difference at face value because I have kind of toyed with each way a bit. But, sometimes it just feels like it's a DPS loss if I can't maximize the Tome trinket but having to dump procs without hitting a second mob. At the same time it feels wrong to not be more fluid and watch Frozen Orb potentially delayed by 30+ seconds or Water Jet being pushed back around 10 seconds or so in order to maximize weaving. I just want to make sure my mind set is right in applying the theory and wanted others opinions on how they handle it because I find it hard to believe I am the only one arriving at these crossroads so frequently. If I am, I would appreciate some help in figuring out what I can do differently to prevent it.

[masteryogurt]

Question about priority with FoF (weaved) and BF.
*I have 4pc, and tome. No prophecy yet.

Looking at logs of ppl my ilvl 708 or so, and looking at my own results, weaved ice lances appear to be about the same damage as doing a frostfire bolt, unless I'm reading things very wrong. Some logs frostfire bolts on average do more damage, on others ice lance. So it's pretty similar.
*Of course, ice lance makes up for much more damage overall, I'm just speaking of average hits.

Getting back on point, I'm wondering what to do in situations where I cap BF. Because I'm jetting so often, I'm almost always priotizing ice lances and weaving, and I'm capping a lot throughout the fight. But I've seen some guides say, ignore BF when weaving and water jetting, even if capping. The only exception is that I like to hit one frostfire right after jetting because of the automatic BF, helps me not cap so hard later on.

Unless it changes at a higher gear scale, I see it neither here nor there really, because their damage is quite similar. Actually if anything ignore the BF 2 cap unless you're not water jetting or something and have the time to hit it.


My BIG QUESTION is, are people finding their ice lances (buffed weave) doing about the same damage per hit as frostfire bolt? Though in cleave fights, ice lance is the obvious winner I guess because of the cleave damage

[Laodi]

FFB is stronger due to mastery which is not included in the raw number in logs. So FFB > IL. A munched BF is a bigger los then a munched IL.

[masteryogurt]

Thank you for the clear response!

[Rettep]

Single target FFB>IL, 2 targets pretty much the same, 2 targets and more IL>FFB.

[Laodi]

....2 targets and more IL>FFB.

Stupid question as i read this here and there: Why? IL only cleaves to 2 targets so the amount is the same for 2 as for 8 targets.
The question for 3+ targets is UM or FBomb. FBomb wants IL, UM wants FFB or did i oversee something?

[Klanks]

Hi there,

First off, to Breaktheice, great guide, thanks heaps for taking the time to put this together.

My question has to do with the Archimonde trinket.

You have mentioned that it is optimal to start frostweaving at 2-3 stacks to avoid missing out on procs.

What would you do in the situation where you have 3-4 stacks of FoF and Waterjet comes off cooldown?

Is it best to use Waterjet straight away, risking missing out on procs? Or would it be best to hold off until your FoF stacks drop to 1-2 before Waterjetting?

[Frosted]

Hi there,

First off, to Breaktheice, great guide, thanks heaps for taking the time to put this together.

My question has to do with the Archimonde trinket.

You have mentioned that it is optimal to start frostweaving at 2-3 stacks to avoid missing out on procs.

What would you do in the situation where you have 3-4 stacks of FoF and Waterjet comes off cooldown?

Is it best to use Waterjet straight away, risking missing out on procs? Or would it be best to hold off until your FoF stacks drop to 1-2 before Waterjetting?

Weave down to 3 and then WJ.

[masteryogurt]

So I got prophecy of fear heroic tonight. It's simming higher than my normal warforged Ublinking trink, in all number of enemy situations. So that means I'm using it.

Does prophecy change frost rotation in anyway? Only thing I can think of is...maybe frozen orb has a higher priority if mark of doom is on target.

[Laodi]

Not at all. All you should be aware off is that your cleave can proc MoD on another target then your maintarget so get a good plate-addon to see the debuff and the switch target to the debuffed mob.
Rest play like usual and be happy when it procs under the right circumstances.

[masteryogurt]

That's interesting you say that, I was noticing that today, I'd switch to a random add and be like...oh dang, it has mark on it.

Any recommendations for add ons that would......let me know when an add has mark of doom that I'm not targeting? And ideally...the name of that target? The circumstances to make an icon pop up on my screen for that seems a bit more complex than I'm used to.

[Rettep]

There is a WA in macros section which shows the name of the target with MoD

[macca]

I have returned to WoW after a 12 month break and your guide is brilliant, its just what i needed, thanks and well done

[Calenture]

So I got prophecy of fear heroic tonight. It's simming higher than my normal warforged Ublinking trink, in all number of enemy situations. So that means I'm using it.

Does prophecy change frost rotation in anyway? Only thing I can think of is...maybe frozen orb has a higher priority if mark of doom is on target.

Not at all. All you should be aware off is that your cleave can proc MoD on another target then your maintarget so get a good plate-addon to see the debuff and the switch target to the debuffed mob.
Rest play like usual and be happy when it procs under the right circumstances.

New Poster. Really wanted to post a new thread asking for information regarding this very issue. My question - answered. Just plugging the search feature.

Also, love love love this site. Thanks.

[magan]

Hi, thx for all, i read a lot here but i still have a question:

My frostmage:
EU-Ereadar- Magan
http://eu.battle.net/wow/de/character/e ... gan/simple" target="_blank

i finally get the 4 pc & Architrinket HC

Now my qst:
I switch all Enchants on Haste, and put on as many Gear with big Hast as Possible.
I push my haste at 20,03 % (1.803) , with the target to Play FB, IL,FB,IL, FB,IL....
Qst 1. is there a Haste-Cap also with the 4pc & Architrinket, where haste doesn't make sense to have more and more?
Qst 2. And is the rota ok to switch always between 1 FB 1 IL? or should i Play FB, IL, IL, FB?
Qst 3: sometimes i have such a lot IL that my Frosfirebolt buff run out of time, should i forget the iFFB, as long as i have IL? Or is important to use it also between IL?
Qst 4: i read that IL cleave just max on 2 Target is this really so? I thought IL hits 4 or 5 target because is a cleave?
Qst 5: can you pls tell me which stats are Pririo with 4 PC & and Archimonde trinket? Is: 1 Hatse/Multistrike/Krit/Mastery? And how much it make sense to have?

Thx very much for you Help

[Laodi]

Qst 1. is there a Haste-Cap also with the 4pc & Architrinket, where haste doesn't make sense to have more and more?

Not directly. Its more that stats are in a good balance. Stacking one forever is not good. You want a good balance between haste and MS. For deeper looks sim yourself.
Also dont forget that MS is still the strongest stat for Singletarget-Frost. Most mages go haste because its synergy with arcane.

Qst 2. And is the rota ok to switch always between 1 FB 1 IL? or should i Play FB, IL, IL, FB?

Allways FB-IL. The hidden buff for IL only is 0.9 seconds long so all you get is 1 IL.

Qst 3: sometimes i have such a lot IL that my Frosfirebolt buff run out of time, should i forget the iFFB, as long as i have IL? Or is important to use it also between IL?

Never munch or pass away a FFB. If u have 2 stacks of BF dump one. If your last stack of BF drops in 2-3 seconds dump it. Never miss a FFB!! Sometimes that means munching a FoF but thats worth it. As hint: Allways dump all BF before Waterjet because of 2 pc.

Qst 4: i read that IL cleave just max on 2 Target is this really so? I thought IL hits 4 or 5 target because is a cleave?

Wowhead:

Glyph of Splitting Ice
Item Level 25
Major Glyph
Classes: Mage
Use: Permanently teaches you this glyph.

Your Ice Lance and Icicles now hit 1 additional target for 50% damage.

Qst 5: can you pls tell me which stats are Pririo with 4 PC & and Archimonde trinket? Is: 1 Hatse/Multistrike/Krit/Mastery? And how much it make sense to have?

For singletarget MS> the other ones. But all stats are very even and shift around a lot with your gear. For exact values you have to sim yourself.
Haste as enchant has 1 mainoffer: Most mages go Arcane/frost with arcane for single and frost for multitarget. In this case Haste is the best compromise.
Also imho haste is more likely to play because procs are better used and lesser munched.

[magan]

Great thx very much for your great input

[magan]

ok one more what you suppose, should i use : Glyph of Icy Veins with the 4 pc & architrinket? and if not, what you suppose else? i mean yeah 30 % haste^^ (not MS) if i left them away or is that then too much haste?