World of Warcaft: Frost Mage PvP / Mage Builds

In the current World of Warcraft climate, Mages basically have two choices. Frost Mage PvP, or Fire Mage PvP
. Nobody in their right might is choosing Arcane right now for obvious reasons. Fire and Frost are the main two trees for PvP. I've already taken a look at Fire in another article. It's time now to evaluate Frost and see what it has to offer for a Mage in World of Warcraft PvP.

It's important to note that though Mages aren't the most gear dependant out of the classes in World of Warcraft, they're still going to need some pretty good great to rise above the rest in PvP. Frost Mage PvP depends on three things: Your spec, Your skill, and your gear. If you can master all three of these, there is no reason that you will be beaten in battlegrounds or the arena. I'm covering skills and your spec / build in this article. The gear is going to be up to you!

Frost Tree:

Tier 1

If you're a little confused at what to take when looking at the first tier in the Frost tree for the Mage in World of Wacraft, you aren't alone. We're going to take all of them! They're all insanely good for the first Tier. Frostbite gives you a 15% chance to freeze the target in place when you place a chill effect on them. This is great for just one reason. Most classes can't do as much damage as a Mage unless they get close. By keeping you target away from you, you're guaranteed to outdamage them. This is fun when a Warrior charges you and he just stops right in his tracks. haha! Improved Frostbolt gives you frostbolt a reduced cooldown, and since that's going to be your main attack, it's going to come in handy. Ice Floes reduces your cooldowns on some very good crowd control spells. Remember, the Mage is weak in close quarters. In order to use a Frost mage effectively in PvP, you're going to have to keep your target at a distance. These Tier 1 talents deliver that.

Tier 2:

Ice Shards makes your critical strikes do twice as much damage as they'd normally do. This is a very good talent to have because Frost mages depend on massive crits to win, unlike Fire, which has a high base damage. Permafrost is another talent that's just going to keep your opponents out of reach of you, allowing you more time and control during the battle. These are both incredibly good talents and they can drastically affect the outcome of a battle by themselves.

Tier 3:

Icy Veins is the only talent worth taking in this tree. The other talents aren't bad but they have practically no application for PvP. Icy Veins however, makes you faster and more efficient. It's a hell of a talent, and any Frost Mage PvP Guru would never skip it.

Tier 4:

Shatter is the key talent in this Tier. It gives your frost spells a 50% better chance to critically strike against a target if they're frozen. This is an insanely high chance to critically strike, and since you now have 100% more crit damage from the above talents, you're going to do massive damage when they're frozen. Frostbite helps with this too. That's the talent we took that gives our frost spells a 15% chance to freeze the target. You can see how all of these spells play well off of each other. Arctic Reach is the other talent we'll be taking in this tree. Never underestimate the advantage of simply being able to stand further away from your target. If you're in a battle with another Mage, Warlock, Hunter etc without some sort of range enhancing talent, this can flat out win you the battle. Keep that in mind! Standing further away can win battles by itself!

Tier 5:

Cold Snap gets rid of all of your mage cooldowns. This doesn't make you do more damage, but it's a great utility spell. Many Frost mages can pull off some crazy maneuvers with this talent, just because it doubles your crowd control abilities during an encounter. Improved Cone of Cold is another great talent in this tree. It massively improves the spell, making it incredibly efficient.

Tier 6:

Cold as Ice decreases your cooldowns on some very good spells by 20%. This goes hand in hand with Cold Snap in vastly improving your ability to control every battle you're involved in. Winter's Chill adds a debuff to your target after you cast frost spells, making you do more damage with each successive attack. Don't forget that this is all frost damage. If you're teamed up with a shaman, frost shock is going to be devastating as well! This can help your teammates also!

Tier 7:

Ice Barrier gives us Frost Mages a less fragile demeanor. We now have a shield with this talent much like that of a Priest. For only one point, this is a great defensive tool. Shattered Barrier gives us the chance to freeze people in place when it's destroyed, and you know what they means! More damage from Shatter! Artic Winds prevents us from taking damage and powers up our Frost damage by 5% for only 5 points. Take all of the talents in this tree.!

Tier 8:

Empowered Frostbolt well...empowers your frostbolt. Since that's a cheap and efficient spell already, you're going to want to make it more efficient! Frostbolt should be your mains spell, so why not make it more powerful! Fingers of Frost gives you the chance to make your next two frost spells affect the target as if they were frozen even if they aren'. That means that you'll have a 50% higher chance to critcally hit with those from Shatter as well. See a pattern here? Freeze your opponents and then you'll be able to dominate them!

Tier 9:

Even though we're a Frost Mage, that doesn't mean that you can't use Fire is it's efficient. With Brain Freeze, you have a 15% chance for your next Fireball spell to be instant. That's a really good deal and that's why we should take this talent. Get the Water Elemental as well. It's damage is marginal at best, but it has the ability to do another Frost Nova, which is even more control. Take the improved Water Elemental spell as well, just to make it more efficient.

Tier 10:

Chilled to the Bone gives you a more damage and even more control by slowing your opponents down. A slowed down opponent is a dead opponent!

Tier 11:

Deep Freeze gives you a 5 second Stun. This can be used as crowd control or to get your distance from a melee class. There are very few situations where a 5 second stun doesn't come in handy. Come to think of it, I can't even think of one!

Check our my other articles for more on World of Warcraft!

World of Warcraft: Fire Mage PvP Post 3.1

World of Warcraft: Feral Druid PvP Post 3.1

World of Warcraft Paladin: Raiding Spec

World of Warcraft: Shaman Raiding Gear!

The Top Games of 2009