Frost Mage TWW Guide

Table of contents

Frost Mage Guide

Frost Mage WoW: The War Within Guide

The War Within introduces exciting new mechanics for all classes, and Frost Mages are no exception. In this comprehensive WoW Frost Mage guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know—from mastering your rotation and choosing the best builds to optimizing specialization skills, hero talents, gear, and leveling. Get ready to dominate in WoW The War Within with this ultimate Frost Mage guide!

Frost Mage Overview

The Frost Mage in WoW: The War Within stands out as a swift, cloth-wearing ranged DPS, excelling at both AoE and single-target damage while efficiently kiting enemies thanks to its naturally high haste and slows. With abilities like Shatter, Frost Mages deal tremendous burst damage against frozen foes, which includes most non-boss enemies in dungeons and the open world. Additionally, Mages enjoy incredible personal survivability, boasting powerful utility spells such as Blink for mobility and Ice Block for defense.

Frost Mages are masters of crowd control, with exceptional ability to slow, root, and kite enemies. Their versatile damage makes them ideal for leveling and world content, where you can continuously snare and freeze enemies while dishing out consistent damage. This spec is also excellent at bursting down priority targets, whether through Mastery: Icicles with Glacial Spike or quick burst rotations using procs. With Ice Floes and Shimmer enhancing mobility, even high-movement encounters won’t significantly impact Frost Mage DPS.

Frost Mage Strength and Weaknesses

Strengths Weaknesses
✅Good at two targets Cleave. ⛔️Hard to deal with spread targets.
✅Decent amount of survivability. ⛔️Hard to deal with constant incoming damage.
✅Good mobility.
✅Good AoE Slow and Roots.

Frost Mage Changes in The War Within

The upcoming expansion introduces exciting changes for Frost Mage in WoW: The War Within, offering fresh gameplay opportunities. Let’s explore these updates. Notably, there have been significant talent tree adjustments, with some weaker nodes reworked to offer more flexibility in talent selection. This allows players to optimize their build more effectively for various encounters.Key changes include updates to talents like Fractured Frost and Death’s Chill, providing more flexibility for talent choices such as Glacial Spike, Cryopathy, and Coldest Snap.A significant addition is the new Hero Talents system, which may seem complex but can be understood as new talents extending up to level 80. Frost Mages can now access two Hero Talent trees: Frostfire and Spellslinger, adding depth to your customization options.Additionally, every class in WoW: The War Within, including your Warband, now benefits from the Warband Bank feature. This convenient system allows easy sharing of gear and resources between characters. Need help unlocking it? Our expert players are ready to assist you in accessing this feature efficiently.

Frost Mage Hero Talents

Below is a comprehensive list of the newly introduced Hero Talents from the two exciting WoW Frost Mage talent trees — Frostfire and Spellslinger:

Frostfire Spellslinger
Frostfire Mastery Splintering Sorcery
Imbued Warding/Meltdown Augury Abounds
Frostfire Bolt Controlled Instincts
Elemental Affinity/Flame and Frost Splintering Orbs
Isothermic Core Slippery Slinging/Look Again
Severe Temperatures/Thermal Conditioning Reactive Barrier/Phantasmal Image
Frostfire Infusion Volatile Magic/Unerring Proficiency
Excess Frost Shifting Shards
Frostfire Empowerment Force of Will
Excess Fire Spellfrost Teachings
Flash Freezeburn Splinterstorm

Basic of Frost Mage Gameplay

The Frost specialization offers remarkable flexibility, allowing for a variety of talent setups. Depending on your choices, your ability bars can either remain fairly simple or become packed with options. In this guide, we’ll focus on an optimized setup that minimizes button bloat without sacrificing too much performance.The core of Frost Mage gameplay revolves around efficiently generating and spending procs.Your entire rotation centers on making the most of Fingers of Frost and Brain Freeze. When not spending these procs, your focus should be on generating them by casting Frostbolt as your main filler spell.

Frost Mage Rotation

Here, we outline a priority system rather than a traditional WoW Frost Mage rotation. This means that the abilities listed at the top have a higher priority and should be cast before those further down. You’ll work your way down the list until the first available spell matches your situation, cast it, and then return to the top to repeat. This approach is specifically for single-target scenarios without any additional mechanics in play.

Single-Target Frost Mage Rotation

This boils down to Shatter your big cooldowns like Ray of Frost and Comet Storm, and play around your Mastery: Icicles and Flurry to land Glacial Spike inside Winter’s Chill. This means that you can have situations where you are at 3 Icicles, throwing Flurry > Ice Lance > Glacial Spike. Likewise, Glacial Spike > Flurry > Ice Lance > Ice Lance is valid, as is Frostbolt > Flurry> Glacial Spike > Ice Lance. Just do what you can to hit 5 Icicles, and fire Glacial Spike into Winter’s Chill.

AoE Frost Mage Rotation

Activate the AoE priority system when battling three or more enemies. Once the number of targets decreases to two or fewer, switch back to the recommended single-target rotations for maximum efficiency.

If you’ve chosen the Ice Caller talent, your primary Area of Effect (AoE) strategy will revolve around using Frozen Orb and Blizzard to reduce cooldowns effectively. These spells serve as your main sources of AoE damage. Other abilities, such as Ice Nova and Shifting Power, will help you manage cooldowns and optimize your damage output.

If you haven’t selected the Ice Caller talent, refrain from using AoE abilities until you are engaging at least 7 targets. Additionally, consider opting for Ice Caller in your next encounter to enhance your AoE effectiveness.

The only scenario where a raid would benefit from using Coldest Snap is when you finish with the following sequence: Cone of ColdComet StormFrozen OrbComet Storm.

The Frost Mage specialization is quite easy to grasp, yet it provides ample choices and flexibility, making it crucial to comprehend its core concepts for achieving success. Four key principles form the foundation of effective optimization for this specialization:

  • Always be casting.
  • Movement management.
  • Proc management.
  • Maximizing cleave.

Specialization Skills

Skill Description
Frostbolt Main damage spell.
Cone of Cold Instant AoE spell that deals Frost Damage.
Arcane Explosion Instant AoE spell that deals Arcane Damage.
Blizzard Channeling AoE spell that deals Frost Damage.
Time Warp Damage cooldown. Don’t stack with Bloodlust like spells.
Invisibility Reduces threat, removes the Mage from combat, and hides the Mage from enemies.
Polymorph Your main long Crowd Control spell. Breaks with damage.
Frost Nova Instant root in small AoE.
Slow Fall Allows the Mage to avoid damage from falling.
Arcane Intellect Intellect buff for you and your party.
Blink Your mobility spell.
Counterspell Interrupt target spell casting.
Conjure Refreshment Creates food for you and your party to restore your mana and health.
Cold Snap Resets the cooldown of Ice Barrier, Frost Nova, Cone of Cold, and Ice BlockIce Block.
Teleport Allows you to travel in main cities all over the world.
Portal The version of Teleport to other players.
Mastery: Icicles GeneratesIcicles, which deal frost damage and increase the damage of the Frozen Orb spell.

Frost Mage Talents

Select the WoW Frost Mage talents that align with your playstyle, while considering which talents may be more advantageous in specific situations.

Talent Description
Shimmer Makes your Blink castable during spellcasting but no longer dispels stuns and roots. Have 2 charges.
Ice Cold Replaces Ice Block with 70% damage reduction buff. No longer prevents you from moving, casting, and interacting.
Temporal Warp You can use Time Warp another time when you have Temporal Displacement or similar effects.
Ice Lance Instant damage spell. Does Triple damage to Frozen enemies.
Frozen Orb Constantly damage AoE spell that generates Fingers of Frost.
Fingers of Frost Makes your next Ice Lance count target as frozen.
Flurry Hits target 3 times. The time between these tics lowers with Haste.
Shatter Increases Critical Strike chance against Frozen targets.
Brain Freeze Frostbolt has a chance to restore a Flurry charge and increases next Flurry damage by 50%.
Everlasting Frost Increases damage and duration of Frozen Orb.
Winter’s Blessing Increases Mage’s Haste.
Piercing Cold Increases Critical Damage of Frostbolt, Glacial Spike, and Icicles.
Perpetual Winter Gives an additional charge of Flurry.
Lonely Winter Increases the damage of Flurry, Frostbolt, and Ice Lance.
Ice Caller Blizzard reduces the cooldown of Frozen Orb each time Blizzard deals damage.
Bone Chilling Stacking damage buff when you attempt to chill the target.
Comet Storm Instant AoE damage spell.
Frozen Touch Frostbolt triggers Brain Freeze and Fingers of Frost more often.
Wintertide Frostbolt and empowered Ice Lance deals more damage.
Flash Freeze Icicles deal more damage and have a chance to generate Fingers of Frost.
Icy Veins Your main damage cooldown grants you 20% haste and summons a Water Elemental. It generates stacks of Frigid Empowerment with its abilities.
Splintering Cold Frostbolt and Flurry have a chance to generate 2 Icicles.
Glacial Assault Comet Storm increases taken damage by affected targets. Now Flurry can summon a Comet Storm’s Icy Comet.
Freezing Rain Frozen Orb makes Blizzard and increases its damage by 60% for 12 seconds.
Thermal Void Prolongs the duration of Icy Veins. Each Ice Lance against the Frozen target also increases the duration of Icy Veins by 0.5 seconds.
Chain Reaction Ice Lance against Frozen targets applies Ice Lance’s damage buff. Stacks 5 times.
Splitting Ice Increases the damage of Ice Lance and Icicles. Allows Icicles, Ice Lance, and Glacial Spike to hit a nearby target.
Freezing Winds With Frozen Orb active, gain Fingers of Frost every 3 seconds.
Ray of Frost A channeling spell that generates 2 Fingers of Frost’s stacks over its duration.
Hailstones Ice Lance against Frozen targets generates an Icicles.
Coldest Snap Increases cooldown of Cone of Cold by 45 seconds. When it hits 3 or more targets, it resets the cooldown of Frozen Orb and Comet Storm. Cooldown cannot be reduced by cooldown reduction effects.
Cryopathy Consuming Fingers of Frost stack increases the damage of the next Ray of Frost by 5%. Icy Veins generates 10 stacks. Maximum of 10 stacks.
Glacial Spike Consumes 5 Icicles and deals heavy damage. You cannot launch Icicles with your Ice Lance.

Frost Mage Build

The WoW Frost Mage build is crucial for your end-game preparations. To maximize your performance, it’s essential to make the right talent selections. We’ve compiled some of the top builds tailored for Frost Mages to help you reach your full potential.

AoE Frostfire Build


Aoe Frostfire

Build Code: “CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMzYzsZBzMmZ2AmZmGjZGzMzwwMwMzMzMzMzMzMzMzYmZbmmZWmNAAA0CAAAAAAGAAAAAAAAA”

Solo target Spellslinger build


Solo target Spellslinger
Build Code: “CAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMzYzsZBzMmZ2AmZmGjZGzMGGzMMzMzMzYmZmZGzMDzABAAmZmlllZm2AAAAAAwAAAAAAAAA”

Frost Mage Stats

  • Mastery.
  • Critical Strike (to ~27%).
  • Haste.
  • Critical Strike (to 33.34%).
  • Versatility.
  • Critical Strike (after 33.34%).

Frost Mage Leveling

Frost Mage is often considered the easiest Mage specialization to level due to its lack of reliance on major cooldowns for consistent damage output. Additionally, it excels at area-of-effect (AoE) damage. One of the main challenges Frost Mages face in solo play is handling tough elite enemies that cannot be kited or taken down quickly due to the spec’s limited burst damage capabilities. However, these types of encounters are rare while leveling, as most quests are designed to be completed solo.

As previously mentioned, acquiring Flurry will be a key strategy. This spell is incredibly powerful, applying a debuff that marks the target as “Frozen”, allowing you to deal significant additional damage with follow-up abilities.

Much of the Frost spec revolves around properly managing the Frozen state. You’ll find that Ice Lance becomes extremely powerful when cast against Frozen targets, especially after using Flurry. Moreover, talents like Shatter will grant critical strike chances against Frozen targets, making this mechanic key to maximizing your DPS.

Leveling in WoW: The War Within is now faster and more streamlined than ever. You can easily reach max level in no time. If you’re looking for an even faster boost, check out our Power Leveling services to get there even quicker.

By now, you should have a good portion of your abilities unlocked, and the spec should start to make more sense. The debuff from Flurry has some unique mechanics. You can benefit from this debuff when casting longer spells like Frostbolt or Glacial Spike as they fully benefit from the “Frozen” state.

Ice Barrier offers 22% of your max health in protection while also slowing enemies that hit you. Mirror Image summons 3 clones of yourself for 40 seconds, casting spells and attacking enemies. Another key ability, Alter Time, can effectively give you two health bars by restoring your health and position on its second cast.

It’s important to highlight that class talents offer a high degree of flexibility. Among the first 20 points, the primary modern DPS abilities include Overflowing Energy, Incanter’s Flow, and Shifting Power. These talents, along with utility choices like Tome of Rhonin and Tome of Antonidas, can be adjusted based on your preferred playstyle, providing the flexibility to adapt your build as needed.

If you’re aiming for more defensive options and fewer utility talents, feel free to experiment. The first 20 talent points provide plenty of room to customize your build. This talent setup leans slightly towards enhanced AoE capabilities, thanks to Freezing Rain, while still maximizing single-target damage. Hailstones is one of the standout talents in the lower half of the tree, offering powerful synergy for those looking to specialize in AoE damage or single-target burst, without the need to spec out entirely.

Best Gear for Frost Mage

Slot Item Source
Head Hood of Violet Rebirth Catalyst / Raid / Vault
Neck Sureki Zealot’s Insignia Sikran
Shoulders Beacons of Violet Rebirth Catalyst / Raid / Vault
Cloak Royal Emblem of Nerub-ar [DNT] Tug of War Stalker
Chest Runecoat of Violet Rebirth Catalyst / Raid / Vault
Wrist Skeinspinner’s Duplicitous Cuffs Anub’arash (The Silken Court)
Gloves Jeweled Gauntlets of Violet Rebirth Catalyst / Raid / Vault
Belt Acrid Ascendant’s Sash Queen Ansurek
Legs Voidspoken Sarong Queen Ansurek
Boots Consecrated Slippers Crafting
Ring Seal of the Poisoned Pact Queen Ansurek
Ring Experiment 08752’s Band City of Threads
Trinket Ara-Kara Sacbrood Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
Trinket Spymaster’s Web Anub’arash (The Silken Court)
Staff Vagabond’s Careful Crutch Crafting
Main Hand Sovereign’s Disdain Queen Ansurek
Off Hand Vagabond’s Torch Crafting

This is a list of Overall WoW Frost Mage BiS Gear for you, but you always can simulate your character with Simcraft for better options. Some of the variants can be worth hunting for even if they are not included in this list. And if you want to get the Nerub’ar Palace Full Gear, which is highly beneficial for Frost Mages, you can ask our team for the assistance.

Best Frost Mage Trinkets

S Tier
A Tier
B Tier

Many of these powerful trinkets are found in a variety of dungeons, which can make acquiring the right one a time-consuming process. If you’re looking to speed things up, consider reaching out to our team for assistance with farming the exact Dungeon Trinket you need. We’ll help you secure the perfect item for your character efficiently.

Tier Set Bonuses for Frost Mage

Introducing the Frost Mage Tier Set for Season 1 of *The War Within*: Sparks of Violet Rebirth. This powerful set offers unique bonuses tailored to enhance your Frost Mage’s performance in both PvE and PvP environments.

2-set Ice Lance damage increased by 8%.
4-set Damage dealt by Fingers of Frost enhanced Ice Lance invoke a Frigid Pulse, dealing (30% of Spell power) Frost damage to nearby targets. Damage reduced beyond 8 targets.

Best Items to Upgrade with Harbinger Crests for Frost Mage

Best Crafted Gear for Frost Mage

Embellishments are powerful enhancements for your crafted gear, but since you can only apply them to two items, it’s crucial to use them wisely on your highest-quality pieces. The ideal gear to craft and upgrade with Embellishments includes:

Best Frost Mage Enchants

Slot Best Enchant Cheaper Version
Weapon Enchant Weapon – Authority of the Depths Enchant Weapon – Authority of Radiant Power
Cloak Enchant Cloak – Chant of Winged Grace Enchant Cloak – Whisper of Silken Avoidance
Chest Enchant Chest – Crystalline Radiance
Bracers Enchant Bracer – Chant of Armored Leech
Legs Daybreak Spellthread Sunset Spellthread
Boots Enchant Boots – Defender’s March
Ring – Regular Enchant Ring – Radiant Haste Enchant Ring – Glimmering Haste
Ring – Cursed Enchant Ring – Cursed Haste

Frost Mage End-Game

In World of Warcraft, Frost Mage excels in three primary content areas: raiding, Mythic+, and PvP. Each activity has distinct variations in how Frost Mage performs, making it exciting to explore the spec across different challenges. With its versatility, Frost Mage consistently delivers strong results. You’ll feel confident in your role, especially with abilities like Time Warp, making you an essential part of any team composition.

If raiding with random groups isn’t your preference but you still want to experience the content, consider our Nerub’ar Palace Heroic completion service. Secure top-tier loot and immerse yourself in the rich lore of The War Within.