DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

This rotation offers a general priority list for Frost Mage abilities, along with key cooldowns at the bottom. It's based on a standard build and is here to help while we work on a smarter, build-aware system. If you are very new to the game or this class, we added info on the new assisted rotation features at the bottom of this guide. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0.1).

Single Target

Pre-cast Glacial Spike 2 seconds before pull.

• Comet Storm
• FlurryView detailsUse if Thermal Void is not active.
• Glacial SpikeView detailsUse when available.
• Frozen Orb
• Ray Of Frost
• Ice LanceView detailsConsume Thermal Void.
• Frostfire Bolt

Start with Glacial Spike and Comet Storm. Use Flurry to maintain Thermal Void, followed by Frozen Orb and Ray Of Frost. Use Ice Lance to consume Thermal Void and fill with Frostfire Bolt.

AoE

Begin with Blizzard for AoE setup.

• Comet StormView detailsUse if target has 16+ Freezing stacks.
• Glacial Spike
• FlurryView detailsUse with Brain Freeze.
• Frozen Orb
• Blizzard
• Ray Of Frost
• Ice LanceView detailsUse if Thermal Void or Fingers Of Frost is active.
• Frostfire Bolt

Open with Blizzard and Comet Storm for high Freezing stacks. Follow with Glacial Spike, Flurry, and Frozen Orb. Use Ice Lance with procs and fill with Frostfire Bolt.

Cooldowns

• Ray Of FrostView detailsChannel for high damage and Freezing stacks.
• Frozen OrbView detailsDeals AoE damage and tracks targets.

Use Ray Of Frost for single-target burst and Frozen Orb for AoE damage. Time these abilities for maximum impact.

New to Class? Try Assisted Rotation

Patch 11.1.7 introduced new features that make it eaiser to pick and play new characters. These new settings can be enabled from settings » gameplay enhancements:

• Single-Button Assistant
• Assisted Highlight
• Cooldown Manager

If you are new to World of Warcraft or a certain class, enabling Assisted Highlight and Cooldown Manager can help you learn which abilities to prioritize and use.

While the Single-Button Assistant can be a much easier and more accessible way to play the game, it does come with a slight performance hit due to a small GCD penalty, as you will have to wait 25% longer in between spells and abilities.

To see which specs are best with the Single-Button Assistant feature, you can check out our DPS Rankings which uses SimC to sim every class using this feature.