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How to Play a Frost Mage in the Shadowlands Pre-Patch
来自 Malon
[Last Updated]:
2020/10/21
变更日志
补丁:10.2.6
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Shadowlands is almost upon us, bringing with it Patch 9.0 and a large chunk of Class changes and updates. In this guide, we will take a look at the most significant changes for Frost Mage, detailing how you can expect to play the spec during the Shadowlands pre-patch.
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How to Play a Frost Mage in Shadowlands Pre-Patch
Frost Mages are the masters of battlefield control. They can force enemies to assault them in the face of a howling blizzard and freeze any who manage to get close, while the Mage swiftly teleports away to land a devastating burst combo.
Mechanically, Frost is really the workhorse of Mage specs, with a tool for every situation and viability in all aspects of PvE and PvP. The spec excels at two-target cleave and has a smoother damage profile than either Arcane or Fire. We also have excellent burst against frozen enemies, and several spells allow us to treat targets as frozen to set that up.
Although all Mage specs have some tools for mob management, Frost is still the one most able to control large numbers of enemies. Spells like
,
and
make slowing large numbers a simple task, with more crowd control available in
and
. However, we do lack any hard control like stuns or disorients.
Mages are also one of the most defensive spell-casting classes in the game. If outranging the enemy with
and
isn't enough, try absorbing or negating the damage with any one of a variety of tools:
(available twice with
),
or
. At level 58, so once Shadowlands actually launches, Frost Mages will be able to ignoring damage entirely by resetting the flow of time (
).
All races, aside from Tauren and Highmountain Tauren, can be Mages. The race choice, outside of cutting-edge content, is mostly a cosmetic one. However, Trolls'
is a powerful spell for burst damage, even though Frost isn't heavily reliant on cooldowns.
If you are a returning player or feel that you'd benefit from a more in-depth take on the spec, the rest of this guide and both the
beginner's guide
and
rotation guide
may prove to be worthwhile reads when it comes to the finer details of the spec.
How Different does Frost Mage Feel in the Shadowlands Pre-Patch?
Frost remains the control master, especially when going up against large numbers of enemies; there is a reason most leveling Mages go Frost. If you knew how to play Frost in Battle for Azeroth, there's almost no adjustment period to learning the spec in the pre-patch.
The only significant change is in how
works. Rather than being a very short debuff affecting all spells hitting the target, it now lasts longer but only affects the next two spells to hit. Ideally, these should be two
s, but you could also use
,
, or other abilities on the last stack.
New Abilities for Frost Mages in the Shadowlands Pre-Patch
Mages in general have access to a few new baseline abilities for all specs:
- A defensive and a threat drop. Changed in Shadowlands to grant 20% damage reduction while at least one Image is alive; taking direct damage yourself will cause an Image to fade.
- occasionally useful as a finisher.
- a spammable area-damage ability for when
and
are on cooldown.
Arcane Explosion specifically needs a mention here. Mana hasn't been an issue for Frost for many years, kept mainly for thematic reasons, and as a resource for
. Now, we have the ability to use mana offensively again, while making us think about a resource other than
and
procs.
Arcane Explosion will be the go-to spell to cast for burst AoE (especially in low-level dungeons), and to fill gaps in the existing rotation where we would otherwise just use
.
Frost Mage Talents in the Shadowlands Pre-Patch
Our talents have only changed a little, and only one change affects Frost-specific talents.
now has a 25-second cooldown per charge, up from 20 seconds, but will still be the go-to talent on the row.
is a fire-and-forget buff for another raid member. Very viable if you can swap it with another Mage; otherwise, Rune of Power is on top. Replaces Mirror Image.
now only has one charge, but lasts 15 seconds and automatically places a Rune when we cast
. Despite not being a cooldown-based spec, Rune of Power is strong enough that it is still worth using as Frost.
has been nerfed to a 10% slow, from 15%.
now slows enemies by 65% after the freeze effect fades.
How Do AoE Target Caps Affect Frost Mages in the Shadowlands Pre-Patch?
The AoE target caps have almost no effect on Frost; the only noticeable change is that Frozen Orb is now capped at eight targets, but that won't be an issue in the vast majority of cases.
,
,
and
have a soft cap of 20 targets (unchanged).
uses
square root scaling
.
has a cap of eight targets.
is unchanged, with a cap of 10 targets.
See here
for more about how the different types of target caps work in Shadowlands.
There is no impact on our playstyle from the target cap change; our AoE rotation still consists of Frozen Orb + Blizzard, although now we can also use
while those abilities are on cooldown.
How Strong is the Frost Mage in the Shadowlands Pre-Patch?
Frost enjoys good single-target, cleave and AoE damage, smooth rotation, and the possibility of gameplay optimizations that can make top players stand out from the pack. With Fire suffering from the changes to Ignite spreading, and Arcane's viability still in question, Frost is one of the safest options for Mages in the Shadowlands Pre-Patch.
We still have issues, specifically with the proc-based nature of Frost and the way in which those procs (
and
) fight against each other - which has not been addressed in Shadowlands - but we are going to be very viable for all content in the pre-patch and early Shadowlands raid tiers.
What are the Big Gameplay Changes for Frost Mages?
Winter's Chill
now affects the next two spells to hit the target, both of which will normally be
. We can use
or
to consume the last stack if playing with those talents (and doing so is a large gain for Ray of Frost, specifically).
The change to Winter's Chill changes how you play with Glacial Spike compared to Battle for Azeroth. Because
is now a much stronger proc, we don't hold it for Glacial Spike. Instead, we use Brain Freeze immediately to Shatter Frostbolt, and use Glacial Spike to consume a stack of Winter's Chill.
Rotationally, this would look like the below. Assume we're going into this situation spam-casting
, with
ready.
procs
Finish Frostbolt, consume Brain Freeze with
is now on the target
and
Return to casting Frostbolt
The same applies at all times: consume Brain Freeze immediately and use Glacial Spike to consume a stack of Winter's Chill.
Do not cast Glacial Spike
without either a Winter's Chill proc being present on the target, or cleaving a second target with
.
In addition, because Winter's Chill now lasts longer, it's a gain to cast Blizzard and Frozen Orb before Ice Lance in AoE situations, even if Winter's Chill is on the target.
Rune of Power
Very early sims show
to be a gain for Frost over
or
(unless you can swap Focus Magic with another Mage). There's nothing special to be done here; simply use Rune on cooldown, rather than holding it for an ability like
. Now that Rune only has one charge, delaying it is a fairly significant DPS loss.
How do the GCD changes affect Frost Mages in the Shadowlands Pre-Patch?
One Frost ability,
, has been removed from the global cooldown in the Shadowlands pre-patch. This has next-to-no impact on how the spec plays.
How does the Loss of Corruption affect Frost Mages in the Shadowlands Pre-Patch?
Losing Corruption is a big deal for Frost, as our most popular build for end-game content,
No Ice Lance
, relies on having very high Mastery.
The No Ice Lance build relies on Azerite gear (the
trait) as well as Mastery, so losing Corruption won't kill the build entirely, but it will make it much weaker. If you have the gear for it (Icy Veins or Ice Lance traits like
and
), you'll be better off playing a standard Thermal Void or Glacial Spike builds, detailed below.
Best Talent Builds for Frost Mages in the Shadowlands pre-patch
may be a valid replacement for
in the pre-patch. This build is very strong with
traits and the
Major Essence.
This build is similar to the one we were playing at the start of Battle for Azeroth, relying on big Glacial Spikes. Note that Azerite gear, specifically the
trait, artificially buffs Glacial Spike and the talent will be much weaker once Shadowlands is live.
Best Rotation for Frost Mages in the Shadowlands pre-patch
Depending on the build, our rotation has either not changed at all, or only changed a little.
The
rotation hasn't changed, with the exception of using two
s after a
-
, and casting
on cooldown.
The
build now only casts Glacial Spike to consume a stack of
; we don't
Glacial Spike using Brain Freeze any more.
The pre-patch opener is as follows:
Pre-cast
Boss is pulled
Fill with Frostbolt and use
/
on
and
, prioritising Brain Freeze
The
Frost Mage rotation guide
has information on the parts of the rotation that have not changed, including what happens after the opener.
Best Stats for Frost Mages in the Shadowlands pre-patch
Our stat priority has not changed, and in fact, has been further reinforced by the changes to diminishing returns on secondaries. A very basic stat priority for Thermal Void builds is:
Intellect
Critical Strike (to 33%)
Versatility / Haste
Critical Strike
Mastery
Glacial Spike builds put a much higher value on Mastery; it's about equal with Critical Strike.
You should still sim yourself, but pre-patch changes are not going to be accurately modelled in Simulationcraft - and, by extension, Raidbots.
Additional info can always be found on
the stats guide
, including an explanation of why the priority is the way it is.
Best Azerite Traits for Frost Mages in the pre-patch
is now much less valuable, as No Ice Lance is weaker with the loss of Corruption. The traits you should aim for instead are
for Glacial Spike builds (also a popular trait for No Ice Lance, you should already have three) and
and
for Thermal Void builds.
can also be strong.
See the
Azerite Traits page
for more information on Azerite for Frost Mages.
Best Essences for Frost Mages in the pre-patch
Because
extends the
from
, and Icy Veins/
are more important to our rotation, it's become our best Essence in the pre-patch (even after the
hotfix
removing
). The
essences page
has more in-depth information, but a short and sweet summary of what you'll be playing is as follows:
Mythic+
Major
:
Minors:
,
,
Raiding
Major
:
Minors:
,
,
You can replace
with
- check your own character's sims.
All Shadowlands Frost Mage Changes
For a detailed list of everything changing in Shadowlands for Frost Mage, check out our full Shadowlands Changes guide.
All Frost Mage Changes in Shadowlands
标签:
PvE
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评论
评论来自
BathroomBuddha
these guides are really helpful, i'm sure people appreciate them very much
评论来自
Elegen92
In my opinion we need Fireblast to be more special than a flat damage button that will be barely used, we have Icelances for that so I don't see the point of having fireblast back, right now it's such a disapointing spell to get back. Even the wowhead writer is lost about it "Occasionally useful as a finisher"...
Maybe it could stun the target for 2sec like impact did a long time ago ? They could throw Impact as a talent to replace something.
I still don't understand why Lonely winter isn't a passive similar to hunters and their Lonely sniper passive stance (I don't remember the exact name) If they're really lacking ideas they could get inspiration from the dozens of talents, spells and passives we lost over the years.
So with one talent now made baseline that would free us a talent spot and you'd put Impact in there. Really they could make anything they want baseline in the level 40 talent row and that would work great with Impact as a replacement.
It's clear that we will never see our beloved deepfreeze back ever again, I get it, but we could really make use of a small stun in pvp to help land polymorphs and rings. It's really not that great to rely on rogues to do everything for us.
评论来自
MrPhawks
Looks like I'll be switching Mage spec when Pre-Patch comes tomorrow. Loved Classic Mage, maybe I'll like retail Frost Mage more than Fire Mage right now.
评论来自
Paspartu
Why Blizzard hate mages since Panda? Frost is totally bull#$%^... this class needs to be totally revitalized...
评论来自
holypandaaz
thank you for this guide , help a lot <3
评论来自
Araitik
October 20 hotfixes :
Mage
Vision of Perfection (Azerite Essence) no longer procs Rune of Power (Talent).
Back to low tier we go !
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