Frost or Mage armor arcane mage?

[daydayhyphy]

So what armor is better? I heard frost is the one to go even if you are mastery build.

[Polarthief]

Haste Invocation - Frost
Haste RoP - Mage
Mastery RoP - Mage

IIRC, you don't want Frost when using RoP (especially using a Haste build) because of GCD capping. More Haste means quicker Evocates though (though I'd imagine this will change to "Mage only no matter what" in 5.2 because Invocation will scale much less with Haste)

[Deleted]

Haste Invocation - Frost
Haste RoP - Mage
Mastery RoP - Mage

IIRC, you don't want Frost when using RoP (especially using a Haste build) because of GCD capping. More Haste means quicker Evocates though (though I'd imagine this will change to "Mage only no matter what" in 5.2 because Invocation will scale much less with Haste)

Depends on Haste levels. You won't be in danger of GCD capping under Lust until ~9K Haste even with Frost Armor unless you're a Troll; in which case it's ~6400 Haste rating.

[Firebert]

So what armor is better? I heard frost is the one to go even if you are mastery build.

The Haste buff from Frost Armor is multiplicative on other haste incomes, whereas the Mastery from Mage armor is just an additional amount.

With AMR's stat weights (Mastery = 2.49, Haste = 2.2), you require 14.15% base haste (raidbuffed, etc) to make Frost Armor better than Mage armor. See below.

[Deleted]

Haste Invocation - Frost
Haste RoP - Mage
Mastery RoP - Mage

IIRC, you don't want Frost when using RoP (especially using a Haste build) because of GCD capping. More Haste means quicker Evocates though (though I'd imagine this will change to "Mage only no matter what" in 5.2 because Invocation will scale much less with Haste)

I dont think there's alot of mages that have so much gear they could be GCD capped because of haste + FA. I'm at 8k haste and with the EoT LFR (6k haste) + Bloodlust i'm not even capped (1.08 sec).
That pretty rare for the star to align so that my trinket procs during lust (since huge internal GCD), and even so, only scorch is gcd capped (0.9sec).

Some math have to be done to know if loosing frost armor is worth this tiny GCD cap when the star align, but frankly, i'm not sure at all. I've had much worse results using mage armor with Haste/RoP than with FA.

[Envyadams]

Haste Invocation - Frost
Haste RoP - Mage
Mastery RoP - Mage

IIRC, you don't want Frost when using RoP (especially using a Haste build) because of GCD capping. More Haste means quicker Evocates though (though I'd imagine this will change to "Mage only no matter what" in 5.2 because Invocation will scale much less with Haste)

There is no situation where with the current gear level that you will cap GCD with Frost Armor even with stars aligning with trinket procs during Lust.

If there is please post math and source for said GCD Cap with haste/RoP build.

In my experience I have yet to hit said cap even when my stars align so I have doubts its possible in this tier, prolly in the next tier as our gear gets better.

[daydayhyphy]

i have 9371 haste (22.05%). so i guess frost armor is the way to go.

[zephid]

According to simulationcraft frost armor is better than mage armor for me, even though I use a mastery build with RoP.

[DreamSpyre]

There is no situation where with the current gear level that you will cap GCD with Frost Armor even with stars aligning with trinket procs during Lust.

If there is please post math and source for said GCD Cap with haste/RoP build.

In my experience I have yet to hit said cap even when my stars align so I have doubts its possible in this tier, prolly in the next tier as our gear gets better.

Uh, yeah it is definitely possible, and not even difficult to gcd cap with frost armor list and eot proc. At 8797 haste rating, you will hit gcd cap with lust and trinket proc. I'm less than a thousand haste rating away from being able to gcd cap without even using frost armor, so that's possible this tier as well.

[Envyadams]

So then what is the breakpoint where you stop stacking haste or switch armor for it to be a DPS increase vs capping GCD.