- Author: Amery
- Date: September 1, 2022
- Updated: September 1, 2022
- Expansion: WotLK Classic
Welcome to the frozen zone. In this guide we will go over the Best Races for Horde and Alliance, Rotation, and the overall Best Professions, to make the best use of your resources. We will also cover Talents, Gems, Enchants, Consumables, and Glyphs to get you on your way to freezing all who oppose you!
Frost Mages in Wrath of the Lich King
Frost Mages aren’t exactly known for their damage, but more so for their survivability and, in Wrath, the support they bring to a raid group through Enduring Winter and Winter’s Chill.
Frost Mages in TBC were mainly seen as a meme class as it was the weaker of the 3 mage specs while offering little raid support. In Wrath, Frost Mages are still the worst DPS-performing spec, but they now have raid utility to make up for the lack of damage.
Frost Mage Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Consistent damage
As Frost Mages our damage stays pretty much the same over the duration of a fight with Frostbolt spam, Frostfire Bolt procs from Brain Freeze, and Deep Freeze.
- Decent raid support
Frost Mages have Enduring Winter to replenish mana for party/raid members, as well as Winter’s Chill.
Weaknesses
- Lowest damage
Since Frost Mages are more oriented for PvP, their PvE damage is lower than most other classes and specs.
- Not very engaging gameplay
Since we only hit 3 abilities, our gameplay can be lackluster.
- Not unique support
While Frost does bring support to the raid, it isn’t unique to just Frost.
Frost Mage Utility
Frost Mages bring the following buffs and debuffs to a raid:
- Focus Magic
Mages of all specializations get access to this slightly peculiar reciprocal buff that allows us to boost another player’s spell crit chance by 3%. When the target of this ability crits with any attack, our own spell crit chance is increased by 3% for 10 seconds. Not a huge buff really, as it is limited to one player at a time, but a neat little boost nonetheless. Trade this buff with another Mage! They benefit from crit far more than Warlocks do.
- 5% Spell Critical Chance – Winter’s Chill
Only Fire Mages and Warlocks offer this buff: it increases spell crit chance by 5%.
- Replenishment – Enduring Winter
With Retribution Paladins, Survival Hunters, and Shadow Priests bringing this buff, it’s not unique to only Frost. Furthermore, those classes will be chosen more often then not over a Frost Mage.
- Intellect Buff (does not stack) – Arcane Intellect
Since time immemorial, buffing another player’s Intellect stat has been the Mage’s domain. That doesn’t change in WotLK, as all Mages can still provide this handy buff. Warlocks can also offer this buff with their Felhunter pet but, thankfully, their version is significantly weaker than ours, so we don’t have to worry about being replaced!
- Ritual of Refreshment
There’s no telling how much gold you save your teammates by conjuring up food for them. Though this spell doesn’t really boost your raid’s DPS, your guildmates will absolutely love you for it.
Conclusion
We hope this guide has been able to help you decide if Frost Mage is the class / spec for you. Make sure to check out our other sections, such as Talents, Gear, Gems, etc., to get more information on how to improve your performance as an Arcane Mage in WotLK!
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About the Author
“Only Fire Mages and Warlocks offer this buff: it increases spell crit chance by 5%.”
Change to “Frost”
Fire mage can also apply it, LOL imagine not knowing that. I would feel ashamed.