Kuni's Frost Mage PVE Guide - 8.1.0

[Deleted]

New to the spec, the wording in the various guides I've read is a bit confusing. When exactly do I cast Glacial Spike?
It mentions a Glacial Spike-Flurry-Ice Lance combo, but it also says you shouldn't cast Glacial Spike without it being a critical strike. Wouldn't that require casting a Braine Freeze Flurry before Glacial Spike?

[Kuni Zyrekai]

New to the spec, the wording in the various guides I've read is a bit confusing. When exactly do I cast Glacial Spike?
It mentions a Glacial Spike-Flurry-Ice Lance combo, but it also says you shouldn't cast Glacial Spike without it being a critical strike. Wouldn't that require casting a Braine Freeze Flurry before Glacial Spike?

So due to travel time shenanigans, the Flurry you cast after the Glacial Spike in the combo you listed will impact first and apply Winter's Chill, making Glacial Spike crit.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the great guide! A couple of questions on the current GS build please:

1) When fishing for BF procs (i.e. I'm sitting at 5 icicles w/o BF), should I (a) wait after casting a Frostbolt to see if that Frostbolt results in a BF proc; (b) queue the next Frostbolt in the usual way and accept that I may be casting an unnecessary Frostbolt; or (c) queue the next Frostbolt but cancel it if I get a BF proc. I assume (c) can never be a good idea and (a) feels very disruptive and wastes time, so I'm currently doing (b). Is that correct?

2) When holding a BF for the next GS, I assume it is ok to waste FoF procs? E.g. I have a BF proc up and the Frostbolt that grants me the 5th icicle results in a FoF proc. Given that I will already be queuing up the GS into Flurry into IL, that FoF goes to waste.

Thanks!

[Kuni Zyrekai]

Thanks for the great guide! A couple of questions on the current GS build please:

1) When fishing for BF procs (i.e. I'm sitting at 5 icicles w/o BF), should I (a) wait after casting a Frostbolt to see if that Frostbolt results in a BF proc; (b) queue the next Frostbolt in the usual way and accept that I may be casting an unnecessary Frostbolt; or (c) queue the next Frostbolt but cancel it if I get a BF proc. I assume (c) can never be a good idea and (a) feels very disruptive and wastes time, so I'm currently doing (b). Is that correct?

2) When holding a BF for the next GS, I assume it is ok to waste FoF procs? E.g. I have a BF proc up and the Frostbolt that grants me the 5th icicle results in a FoF proc. Given that I will already be queuing up the GS into Flurry into IL, that FoF goes to waste.

Thanks!

1) (c) is actually the correct answer if you can do it in under 750ms, but ...yeah. The reason being, a canceled cast doesn't actually cause a GCD really, it resets on cancel. (b) is the next best option. I've been mulling throwing a cancelcast macro into GS for specifically that.

2) Yeah, that's how you'd play it. It's unfortunate that we have to waste procs like that, but that's the reality of the spec right now.

[Scorned]

Is anyone else running into an issue where ticks of Blizzard do not reduce the cooldown on Frozen Orb? Just suddenly started occurring today.

[Kuni Zyrekai]

Is anyone else running into an issue where ticks of Blizzard do not reduce the cooldown on Frozen Orb? Just suddenly started occurring today.

Yeah. Reported it, hope it gets fixed soon.

[Scorned]

I hate to say it, but if this is a new consistent behavior that's affecting everyone then it sounds like a hotfix nerf. Guess we'll know for sure with the next hotfix notes.

[Kuni Zyrekai]

It's fixed.

UNLIKE OUR AZERITE TRAITS AFTER THAT HOTFIX! Jesus fucking christ.

[Deleted]

Which talent is better for M+: Freezing rain or comet storm?

[dcc626]

It's fixed.

UNLIKE OUR AZERITE TRAITS AFTER THAT HOTFIX! Jesus fucking christ.

as a brewmaster, my only 2 good traits have been nerfed by 66% and 50%. and im not sure they are done with them. so, i feel your pain.

[Kuni Zyrekai]

Which talent is better for M+: Freezing rain or comet storm?

I've been having better success with Comet Storm, especially on adds you can freeze with the pet's Nova. Ideally on larger/longer lived packs, Freezing Rain will take over. I just run with high AoE DPS partners.

as a brewmaster, my only 2 good traits have been nerfed by 66% and 50%. and im not sure they are done with them. so, i feel your pain.

Oh, no, one of the traits was buffed 27x and broke the mechanics of the spec. They've since fixed it overnight but it was very much a ??????????? situation. One trait was a 20% gain on 2 targets. Clearly not broken or anything.

[Deleted]

Hello Kuni and all.

I've been away for some time playing mage and noticed that the guide says flame on > phoenix flames. Why is that? I could have 5 charges of crit vs 3 :/ What else am I missing?

edit:
Also - are there any good WA settings ? The one I found right now is not that good (doesn't show legendary procs)

[Kuni Zyrekai]

You got the wrong guy, my dude.



If I had to take a guess, probably faster recharge leads to more Pyros over the course of the fight against the PF recharge/damage. But that is raw speculation with 0 look at the math.

[Swizzle]

You got the wrong guy, my dude.



If I had to take a guess, probably faster recharge leads to more Pyros over the course of the fight against the PF recharge/damage. But that is raw speculation with 0 look at the math.

It's because Fireblast can be cast during other spells and is off the GCD so you don't have to game distance in order to secure Hot Streaks with PF.

That said, the choice boils down to AoE or single target since PF does a LOT more damage when more than 2 targets are present.

[Deleted]

It's because Fireblast can be cast during other spells and is off the GCD so you don't have to game distance in order to secure Hot Streaks with PF.

That said, the choice boils down to AoE or single target since PF does a LOT more damage when more than 2 targets are present.

Thanks! Any good WA that I could use ? (one with arcane/fire/frost so I can switch easily :P )

[Swizzle]

Thanks! Any good WA that I could use ? (one with arcane/fire/frost so I can switch easily :P )

Just go here and find whatever Mage one looks most appealing to you. You don't really need WA for Fire anymore since every Legendary perk has its own in game aura now, but you do you.

[Deleted]

Just go here and find whatever Mage one looks most appealing to you. You don't really need WA for Fire anymore since every Legendary perk has its own in game aura now, but you do you.

For instance now I use one that doesn't detect the bracer legendary for pyros. It detects only the one for the talent.

[Ryzeth]

Just came back to Mage, got it to 110 in time for BFA... Had a question or two- not sure if it was answered, 21 pages is a bit much to look through and it's already late for me...

If you're not at max icicles (and thus not able to GS anyway) and you get both a FoF and a BF proc... Do you use the FoF one first? Perhaps an obvious answer, but I figured I'd ask.

Also in Mythic+ is it typically better to run bone chilling over lonely winter? For some reason I've noticed higher dps with the latter, but not sure. I figured bone chilling so that you could still pet freeze+comet storm trash, but it seems pointless if you're already with high aoe people and they die quickly regardless. In which case lonely winter would be better for taking down bosses. Currently been running Lonely Winter + Ebonbolt + CS + GS.

[Kuni Zyrekai]

If you're not at max icicles (and thus not able to GS anyway) and you get both a FoF and a BF proc... Do you use the FoF one first? Perhaps an obvious answer, but I figured I'd ask.

If you're at 0-3 Icicles, you would use BF first. Munching the FoF is better than risking munching the BF proc itself, given how much stronger Flurry is.

Also in Mythic+ is it typically better to run bone chilling over lonely winter? For some reason I've noticed higher dps with the latter, but not sure. I figured bone chilling so that you could still pet freeze+comet storm trash, but it seems pointless if you're already with high aoe people and they die quickly regardless. In which case lonely winter would be better for taking down bosses. Currently been running Lonely Winter + Ebonbolt + CS + GS.

BC is marginally higher DPS going into BFA. LW was marginally higher in Legion. AoE favours BC due to it actually working with Orb/Blizzard/CmS/Cone. But yes, if you're running with an extremely high AoE group, it's best to play to the group's strengths and prioritize single target somewhat. If the mobs are dying before CmS is even landing, or Orb ends, play to the strengths you do have.

[Deleted]

If you're at 0-3 Icicles, you would use BF first. Munching the FoF is better than risking munching the BF proc itself, given how much stronger Flurry is.
.

Hey Kuni,

I started playing frost as well and read up on your guides on icy-veins. My main issue is with ebonbolt/GS/Brainfreeze procs.
As Ebonbolt has a long CD, and you mentioned that you should not launch a GS without it being able to shatter/cleave...do I just keep it and not launch it at all until I get a BF proc or do I launch it without ? It happens at bosses that you simply don't get a BF proc, but you have 5 icicles... :s

Also, FoF can proc BF ? As I don't see why you'd use FoF after BF otherwise.

Thanks!