- Author: Nevermore
- Date: September 29, 2022
- Updated: September 29, 2022
- Expansion: WotLK Classic
In this section, we will provide a stat priority list for Frost Mage PvP in Wrath of the Lich King, and then explain each stat in more detail.
Stat Priority
- Hit Rating
- Resilience
- Spell Penetration
- Haste
- Spell Power
- Critical Strike Chance
Stat Explanation
Click a stat to see detailed explanation and discussion
Hit Rating is a stat that allows you to land your abilities, reducing the chance to miss your target. The cap for PvP is 6% Hit Chance, with Hit Rating giving you 1% for each 26.23 Hit Rating you acquire. However, as a Frost Mage, you gain access to Precision, a talent that grants you a 3% Hit Chance.
Keep in mind, however, that not all Frost Mage builds utilize Precision, meaning that you will have to optimize your items according to the build that you are using.Depending on your build, you can choose to ignore the cap and only use a 3-4% Hit Chance in order to maximize your other stats, such as Haste Rating. It all depends on your preference and whether or not you want to risk missing your Frostbolt.
For Player-versus-Player content, Resilience is the most important stat that you can acquire: it protects you from critical strikes, and it reduces the overall damage you receive. As a cloth user, resilience is critical, as the meta heavily favors physical damage dealers. However, your kit allows you to mitigate large amounts of damage through a plethora of crowd control and defensive spells, while also granting you mobility through the use of Blink. With a kit overloaded with crowd control and defensive spells, you can circumvent resilience up to a certain point. However, you will still want to have plenty of resilience in case you end up being ambushed, or if you find yourself in a fight against a class with high mobility and immunity to crowd control abilities.
In terms of how much resilience rating you want to acquire, it all depends on the phase of the expansion. At the beginning of the expansion, the maximum resilience that you can acquire is around 800, including gems. You will acquire progressively mor resilience throughout the expansion, capping resilience around 1300 when you acquire your BiS gear in the last phase of the expansion.
Note that you can also choose to sacrifice Resilience in favor of Haste Rating, if you’re confident in your ability to not get hit.
Spell Penetration is a stat that allows you to bypass magical resistances and land your abilities. The soft cap for spell penetration is 75 and the hard cap is 130. Although you can choose to stack up to 180 Spell Penetration, it would be a waste of stats.
There is not much else that can be said about Spell Penetration other than the fact that you can acquire it from some equipment pieces and gems.
Haste Rating reduces the casting time of your spells, allowing you to spam your abilities and rain down frozen hell down your enemies. You will gain 1% Spell Haste for every 32.79 Haste Rating you acquire!
Generally, you will want to acquire as much Haste equipment as possible! Depending on the build you choose, you can opt for full haste PvE off pieces that are designed to get your haste rating as high as possible. Alternatively, you can rely on the haste you can acquire from your PvP pieces, enchantments, and gems.
At the beginning of the expansion, you should have around 500 Haste Rating. Towards the end of the expansion, you should try to get as close to 1100 Haste Rating as possible to 1100 Haste Rating.
Spell power is a stat that increases the potency of your abilities. You will gain spell power from your gems, equipment, and enchantments, plus various consumables and buffs.
You will generally want to acquire as much Spell Power as possible; the realistic amount of spell power that you can acquire (while also taking into account trinket procs) is around 4000.
Critical Strike Chance increases the chance of your spells dealing critical damage, doubling their damage! You gain a 1% increased chance to crit for every 45.91 crit rating you have.
Frost Mages are well known for their “Shatter” gameplay, relying heavily on powerful critical strikes. This spec benefits from increased critical strike chance against our enemies from our talents, having an almost guaranteed chance to land a critical strike against a frozen target. However, it’s still helpful to have equipment that grants increased Critical Strike Chance.
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