Kuni's Frost Mage PVE Guide - 8.1.0

[Kuni Zyrekai]

Frost PVE: 8.3 Battle for Azeroth

Feel free to comment here as has been the case for the past 7 years.

[gallamann]

Nice guide, thank you Kuni.

[Ponkster]

Good as a very basic guide but extremely limited information. More of an overview.

No stat weights

No artifact power progression path

No traits for relics

Nothing to say which talents might be better with different stat weights.

If there is more to come put it at the bottom but this guide is disappointing.

[pkm]

Wow I did not know about flurry's freezing effect. Good guide.

[shoops]

What did your path look like for your artifact?

[MikeBabaguh]

Thank you for this! I'm dedicated Frost and sometimes I feel completely ignored by Blizzard's tuning and the Mage community at large. Everyone and their mother is Fire.

Do we know how far behind Lonely Winter is from the other choices? I also like Ray for 5-mans, but would like to take LW to not have to deal with the stupid pet AI, but I really don't like the idea of losing a huge amount of dps.

[Zakatt]

Thank you for the guide!
When I look at the current simulationcraft results many Artifact traits that haves that boost Icelance are selected, but not those that improve Frostbolt and Icicles (Icy Caress, Ice nine, Black Ice, even Ice Age). Will having these traits change our preferred talents towards a more Frostbolt focused playstyle? Or at least make them more viable? Like taking Lonely Winter, Splitting Ice, Unstable Magic, and Glacial Spike instead of the Icebomb synergy talents?
Then mastery might be better, too – which is good considering that so many items have mastery on them.

[Jessicka]

Thanks for this. One thing I would ask is about Artifact progression.

Currently looks something like this:
http://www.wowdb.com/artifact-calcul...BIAIAAAAAAAAAA

So wondering which second gold trait to move towards.

[Deleted]

What uptime on BC does the simulations have? Because i sometimes can't keep BC up, without munching Ice Lance procs. If you are getting a streak of good procs pumping in to a frostbombed target, i think it can be challenging...

What is the optimal opener with RoF? (IF)

If BL on pull, should you Rof - then go to town with frostbomb/IV and spam away to keep IV up - or should you stack IV with BL before popping RoF? (meaning 10 secs less on IV of course)

[Sephkun]

With Blizzard being used on single target, it should be easier to keep bone chilling stacks up I would figure.

[Deleted]

Thanks for this. One thing I would ask is about Artifact progression.

Currently looks something like this:

So wondering which second gold trait to move towards.

I think you want to make your way up to Chilled to the Core. At least that's what I did. I didn't really think too much of Black Ice, and I'd rather have more burst potential with Chilled to the Core (good for stuff like Ray of Frost). I went up via the left side (so Brain Freeze and Flurry traits) but I picked up Icy Hand on the way, which I think is another reason to go Chilled Core route rather than Black Ice. Icy Hand makes the game play a bit better, especially with Ebonbolt.

[noimawizard]

What is the best race for frost? SimC profile uses Orc. But Altered time uses troll in it's profile.

[Segus1992]

I've noticed that Flurry's freeze effect works on Frostbolts (but not Ebonbolts or Glacial Spikes) that you cast before casting Flurry (because of how freeze effects are calculated for the purpose of proccing Shatter in Legion) - but only from a certain range. I believe the range is around 20+ yards.

Basically, the standard stand-still prio for Flurry would be:

1. Clear Fingers of Frost charges
2. Cast Frostbolt
3. Cast Flurry
4. Cast Ice Lance

and all three of the spells will benefit from Shatter (aside from the first Flurry projectile).

Sorry if this has been mentioned here or in other threads.

[Kuni Zyrekai]

If there is more to come put it at the bottom but this guide is disappointing.

Thank you, seriously. I completely forgot to re-add the stats while editing. I'll get the progression path in there, but relics are a bit harder.

Will having these traits change our preferred talents towards a more Frostbolt focused playstyle?

Not particularly. Viable is up to you to define, but they are not optimal. The standard build is 15% ahead of the first LW build.

So wondering which second gold trait to move towards.

Run up the top/left side to grab Chilled to the Core. Technically optimal would be grabbing Icy Hand before going up to Ice Age.

What uptime on BC does the simulations have? Because i sometimes can't keep BC up, without munching Ice Lance procs. If you are getting a streak of good procs pumping in to a frostbombed target, i think it can be challenging...

98% on 12 stack. As was pointed out, Blizzard helps immensely in this fashion, as does Flurry.

What is the optimal opener with RoF? (IF)

IF RoF? Prepull Frostbolt -> Ray -> Water Jet -> Orb -> whatever else while dumping Lances.

If BL on pull, should you Rof - then go to town with frostbomb/IV and spam away to keep IV up - or should you stack IV with BL before popping RoF? (meaning 10 secs less on IV of course)

The former.

What is the best race for frost? SimC profile uses Orc. But Altered time uses troll in it's profile.

And latest sims say Dwarf. Realistically, the difference between Undead and Dwarf is quite literally 0.057%. Play what has the best fashion sense.

I've noticed that Flurry's freeze effect works on Frostbolts (but not Ebonbolts or Glacial Spikes) that you cast before casting Flurry (because of how freeze effects are calculated for the purpose of proccing Shatter in Legion) - but only from a certain range. I believe the range is around 20+ yards.

Correct. It's 23 yards. I should probably make a note of it, as well as the Ebonbolt/GS+Shimmer Shatters. Thanks for the reminder. Usroc's killed my ability to think.

[xStevooo]

Hi guys is frost just as viable to level with as fire? I seemed to have a lot of downtime from 100-101, does it get substantially easier while levelling or would frost be just as good?

[Kuni Zyrekai]

Fire has Cauterizing Blink, but Frost's chills were recently buffed back to 50%. Should be fine to level with, most singular mobs shouldn't have much health by the time they get to you, and you can kite them pretty well now.

[Deleted]

do you even use rof? from experience best opener when bloodlust is used at start is bloodlust>icy veins > rune of power>(pot)> Rof , try it ones and see thos ticks crit for 600k+ (and with a bit of haste i have 40% base in that combo you get around 20 ticks wich means 10 ticks at max damage)

one thing i have to add is that i whent for cttc build in artifact first

[Kuni Zyrekai]

RoF has wonderful openers but drops off. That said, it's only a couple thousand behind BC, so I personally prefer to run it.

[noimawizard]

I have Mag's bracers, is it actually worth to keep the stacks up? or should i just forget about it?

[Kuni Zyrekai]

It's not worth casting non-FoF Ice Lances, if that's what you mean.