Playstyle & Rotation
Rotation
As of right now, the Frost Mage rotation revolves around either maximizing your Flurry output if you are playing Frostfire, or around maximizing Brain Freeze and Ice Lance usage if you are playing Spellslinger. On AoE, your objective is to Ray of Frost your primary target and Comet Storm the pack once everything is stacked for maximum Shatter and Comet Storm damage.
Opener:
- Precast Frostbolt / Glacial Spike
- Use Tempered Potion
- Flurry as soon as the boss is pulled
- Frozen Orb
- Ray of Frost
- Comet Storm
Frostfire Single Target Priority:
- Comet Storm
- Glacial Spike
- Flurry if you don’t have a Thermal Void buff up
- Frozen Orb
- Ray of Frost
- Ice Lance if you have Thermal Void buff up
- Frostfire Bolt
Frostfire AoE Priority:
- Comet Storm if the enemy / pack is stacked
- Glacial Spike
- Flurry if you don’t have Thermal Void buff up
- Frozen Orb
- Blizzard
- Ray of Frost
- Ice Lance if you have Thermal Void buff up
- Frostfire Bolt
Spellslinger Single Target Priority:
- Frozen Orb if you don’t have Brain Freeze proc
- Ray of Frost
- Ice Lance if you have Thermal Void buff up
- Glacial Spike
- Flurry if you have a Brain Freeze proc
- Ice Lance if the enemy has 6 or more Freezing stacks
- Flurry
- Frostbolt
Spellslinger AoE Priority:
- Frozen Orb if you don’t have Brain Freeze proc
- Blizzard
- Ice Lance if you have Thermal Void buff up
- Glacial Spike
- Flurry if you have a Brain Freeze proc
- Ice Lance if the enemy has 6 or more Freezing stacks
- Flurry
- Ray of Frost
- Frostbolt
Gameplay Loop in Single Target
The gameplay loop for both hero talents revolves around smashing your cooldown abilities like Frozen Orb, Blizzard (only AoE!), Ray of Frost and Flurry on cooldown.
Thermal Void and Brain Freeze is the only active buff which affects your gameplay.
Frostfire only presses Ice Lance with Thermal Void, while Spellslinger if you have Thermal Void or when the enemy has 6 or more Freezing stacks.
Cooldown Usage
As Frostfire, your most impactful cooldown, Ray of Frost, should be used as soon as it’s ready and the pack is stacked. If you are playing Spellslinger, you should always line up Ray of Frost with Frozen Orb.
You can also try lining it up with a potion / bloodlust, but that isn’t as important. Remember that if you are talented into Comet Storm, it replaces Ray of Frost right after you finish channeling it.
Defensives
Mage is by default the squishiest class in the game without using any defensives, but they also have access to some of the best defensives if used properly.
Ice Barrier
The most spammable Mage defensive. It places an absorb shield on you and has a 30 second cooldown by default, which can be reduced by 5 seconds with talent Barrier Diffusion. As of Midnight, all Mage barriers are on a shorter GCD than your other abilities.
Ice Cold / Ice Block
The biggest Mage defensive cooldown. Ice Block makes you immune but also prevents you from casting anything, whereas Ice Cold grants 70% damage reduction, is off the GCD, and allows you to cast spells while active. Most Mage players prefer Ice Cold for this reason. It is on a 3 minute cooldown by default, which can be reduced to 2.5 minutes if talented into Permafrost Bauble. Frost Mage can also use Coldest Snap to make Ice Cold or Ice Block come back up instantly.
Coldest Snap
A Frost Mage–only cooldown that instantly resets your Ice Barrier, Frost Nova, Ice Cold, or Ice Block. This ability is best used immediately after using Ice Cold or Ice Block, or just before you plan to use them again. It is an extremely powerful defensive but has a 5 minute cooldown and is on a choice node with Glacial Bulwark.
Alter Time
One of the best Mage defensive cooldowns but extremely difficult to use. The first time you press it, it snapshots both your location and current health. Pressing it a second time teleports you back to the snapshotted location and health. Use this defensive when you are about to take a big hit, then press it again to restore your health and position.