PVP Discussion: Frost Armor

[Hotfish]

How important is Frost Armor in PVP?

I understand it can be an invaluable skill against physical DPS classes, because it can proc numerous amounts of Fingers of Frost, but I noticed that my mana runs out very quickly without Mage Armor's mana regen. Being a frost mage, just the sheer amount of frostbolt and ice lance spamming drains all of my mana after just a 5 minute skirmish. I personally default Mage Armor in PVP battlegrounds, for the -50% duration on a variety of CC, but largely because of the mana regen.

Is Frost Armor used often in arena and battlegrounds? If so, how do you personally manage your mana when using Frost Armor and not mage armor?

Opinions are appreciated.

[Rowdysattva]

I don't use it much. When i do use it, it is for the FOF procs and the attack speed reduction more than anything. The snare is 40% and any skilled melee that touches me puts up at least a 50% snare. The snare also only lasts 5 seconds. If i know i can create the space to Frost Bolt without them getting on top of me i usually prefer that. If i am trying to be defensive and wear down their defensive and offensive CD's then i may also use it.

Although the snare is weaker if you get any space with a freeze then it still helps with them not getting back on you so quick. If i am trying to stay highly mobile using up their CD's and i am only ice lancing then it can be helpful for the snare a bit. Mostly i like it for the FOF procs honestly.

I will switch to it (easy hotkey) when i know i am in an engagement with a melee that will be able to close the gap. I stay in mage armor by default and if i am in the presence of bad magic juju i may still stay in mage armor. Also for mana. Can't leave mage armor for long.

[SonyKnight]

really depends on what I'm facing
much melee -> frost armor
much casters -> mage armor
don't know? -> molten armor, to reduce crits on me by 5%
usually I walk in molten armor and going crazy

[Hotfish]

My problem is that I run out of mana REALLY fast when I take off Mage Armor and switch to a different kind. Doesn't anyone else have these mana issues as Frost Mage? I mean, the spells individually don't consume a huge amount of mana, but the sheer spamming of frostbolts and ice lance just drains my mana so fast without Mage Armor.

[Holyspartann]

since when are you "spamming" frost bolt in pvp...if you are talking about rgbs...you can eat/drink

in arena, if there are 2 melee dont take frost armor off

The problem I see you having is that you are probably running heals/frostmage which is a terrible combo

Frost should always run with a burst or sustained dps, because a frost mage can rarely "kill" a healer himself imo, at least a good healer....

[Brightspark]

4.0.6 is giong to add another level of skill to the mage class, whether people think it has skill now or not is besides the point. Since we will be able to armor dance at no mana cost we can adjust our armors depending on the circumstance, such as staying in frost armor whle facing a melee heavy team but noticing when magic cc's are incoming so you can switch to mage armor to reduce cc time, then back to frost armor again. I'm looking forward to this to be honest.

[Tehpyrate]

I am too. I'd definately like to see a stance bar for our armors.

[Fahren Kaa]

The problem is that their roles intertwine - but to highly varying degrees. If anything, I find that molten armor's -5% crit chance should be changed to something offensive. This way we'd have a defensive armor, a sustained armor, and an offensive armor, more clearly defined, instead of this mess. Also, half the stats on armors are near worthless, can they go away the same way they did for warlock's?

[Tassir]

really depends on what I'm facing
much melee -> frost armor
much casters -> mage armor
don't know? -> molten armor, to reduce crits on me by 5%
usually I walk in molten armor and going crazy

On the right track, but I'll gladly break it down further.

Mage --> Anti-CC/dots/interrupt armor, Magic resist makes it ideal for use against casters.

Frost --> Use when Trained by melee, helps pillar humping (or setting up a trap for your kill target).

Fire --> its current (prepatch) niche, is to cast scorch while moving, fast melee training on you can help keep up ignite on themselves (lining up for combustion), also can proc impact.

You'll ALWAYS be using mage armor if not being trained (CCed or interrupted), switching to frost (or fire) can be a burst CD in itself, with higher HP pools, allowing you to effectively set your team up for a kill (or at least more burst)

[rtjason]

I use mage armor almost exclusively. You never oom with it, oom hellafast without it. As far as armor dancing goes, I don't think it will often be worth a global for it unless you are running oom in frost and need to flip over to mage.

[Goliethlol]

As frost you should be running mage armor almost exclusively. The exception to this is if you are getting trained very very hard by a double melee team, in which case you should swap to Frost Armor for when they are actually on you, and you should be swapping back to Mage Armor as soon as the pressure on you is relieved.

[Hotfish]

Ok so what I am doing is pretty normal then. Because I don't know what Blizzard was thinking, but right now I feel like I HAVE to use Mage Armor. Otherwise my mana just disappears after about 5 minutes of spamming ice lances and frost bolts.

Also, it's very inconvenient how the armors trigger the 1 second global cooldown. That's 1 second I am not DPSing or CCing, which is bad. If the armors were truly instant with no GCD, I would be able to freely swap between armors reflexively on the situation. Right now I just feel like I'm wasting a GCD when switching to Frost armor from Mage armor.

[Tassir]

Use mage armor till your trained by melee....

Moment that happens, swap to frost/molten armor. Use icelance/combustion with FOF/impact procs. Counter pressure with pressure of your own, while pillarhumping/Juking.