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Frost Mage Talents

engine 53f4a3c10,000 iterations12 Octbenchmark on 1 boss · 1 minbeta data: unverified until level 60 opensupdated 12 Oct 2026How this is measured

· 1 boss · 1 min · Pre-raid

On a one-minute single-boss fight the build spends its points 17/3/31. Frost takes every talent that adds damage against one boss, down to Winter's Chill. Arcane takes the 15 points that open Missile Barrage, and the last 3 buy Incineration in Fire.

Tuned 17/3/31 · 1 minOpen in the sim
Troll on 1 boss · 1 min · 05020500300011-03-0555000301000301251

Each fight and faction has its own searched build. On one boss they differ only in points that are worth nothing, so the reasons below hold for all of them.

Why these talents

Improved Frostbolt cuts Frostbolt from 3 seconds to 2.5 and is the build's most valuable talent, worth 13.1 % of your damage. Each extra Frostbolt is also another roll for Fingers of Frost, Winter's Chill and Missile Barrage.

Ice Shards raises your Frost crits from 150 % to 200 % damage and is worth 10.6 %. It counts most on Ice Lance, which crits 80.9 % of the time, since you only cast it under Fingers of Frost and Shatter.

Fingers of Frost, Shatter and Ice Lance work as one. A raid boss can't be frozen any other way in our simulator, so Fingers of Frost is what switches on Shatter's 50 % crit and Ice Lance's fourfold damage. Each landed Frostbolt has a 15 % chance to grant it, and it covers your next two spells. Fingers of Frost is worth 8.7 % and Shatter 5.7 %. The Ice Lance point itself adds only 1.2 %: without it the two charges go to Frostbolts, which take Shatter's crit instead. You need the point anyway, because Fingers of Frost sits below it.

Winter's Chill is yours alone in Forever. Each stack adds 2 % crit to your Frostbolt and Ice Lance, with one stack allowed per point. At 5/5 every Frost hit adds a stack, so it holds five for 99.3 % of the fight and is worth 5.3 %.

Elemental Precision now has five ranks of 1 % hit with Frost and Fire spells, worth 5.2 %. Hit is the stat you are shortest of, so none of its points is cheap.

Missile Barrage is why the build spends 15 points in Arcane. Each landed Frostbolt has a 20 % chance to make your next Arcane Missiles free and half as long, with a missile every half second. It is worth 3.2 %. On the way, Arcane Focus gives the missiles 5 % hit (0.9 %) and Arcane Impact 6 % crit (0.4 %).

Piercing Ice (6 % Frost damage, 4.7 %) and Incineration (6 % crit on Ice Lance, 0.7 %) complete the build.

Flexible points

These points are worth nothing against one boss, so they can go wherever your raid needs them.

  • Frost Channeling. Frost spells cost 15 % less and make 30 % less threat. You never run short of mana on one boss, and our simulator ignores threat, so it scores within 0.7 DPS of nothing. If you pull threat, it is the talent to keep.
  • Arcane Concentration and Improved Channeling. Points on the way to Missile Barrage. A free spell now and then saves mana you don't need (0.1 %), and Improved Channeling helps Arcane Missiles survive damage, which the simulator never deals to you.
  • Cold Snap, Ice Barrier, Frost Warding, Arcane Subtlety, Wake of Fire. Some fights' searches park points here, all at zero. Cold Snap has no Frost cooldown to reset on one boss, and Arcane Subtlety removes resistance the benchmark boss doesn't have. Ice Barrier absorbs damage, which the simulator doesn't model, so it is the place for spare points if you take hits.

What each talent is worth

The table runs the build again with each talent removed, so a value is what that talent's points add with everything else in place. The values overlap and won't sum to your damage. Read the last-point column when you are deciding where one spare point goes.

TalentPointsWorthIts last point
Improved Frostbolt5+92 DPS · 13.1 %+17 DPS · 2.4 %
Ice Shards5+74 DPS · 10.6 %+15 DPS · 2.1 %
Fingers of Frost2+61 DPS · 8.7 %+29 DPS · 4.1 %
Shatter3+40 DPS · 5.7 %+14 DPS · 1.9 %
Winter's Chill5+37 DPS · 5.3 %+7.5 DPS · 1.1 %
Elemental Precision5+36 DPS · 5.2 %+7.3 DPS · 1.0 %
Piercing Ice3+33 DPS · 4.7 %+11 DPS · 1.6 %
Missile Barrage1+23 DPS · 3.2 %–
Ice Lance1+8.4 DPS · 1.2 %–
Arcane Focus5+6.0 DPS · 0.9 %+1.2 DPS · 0.2 %
Incineration3+4.6 DPS · 0.7 %+1.5 DPS · 0.2 %
Arcane Impact3+3.1 DPS · 0.4 %–
each talent’s worth: the build without it, on the same simulated fights · Troll

On every fight

On one boss the builds move only the zero-value points: the one-minute build drops Frost Channeling and Improved Channeling for Cold Snap, Ice Barrier, Arcane Subtlety and a point of Arcane Meditation. The three-boss builds drop Missile Barrage and take Improved Cone of Cold, worth 6.3 % on three minutes. On two and three minutes they also take three points of Arcane Meditation (2.2 %) out of Incineration and Winter's Chill. The table below compares every fight's build with this one.

FightPointsFrom this fight’s build
17 / 3 / 31this fight
17 / 3 / 31+3 Improved Channeling, +2 Frost Channeling, −2 Arcane Subtlety, −1 Arcane Meditation, −1 Cold Snap, −1 Ice Barrier
16 / 3 / 32+2 Improved Channeling, +3 Frost Channeling, −2 Arcane Subtlety, −1 Arcane Meditation, −1 Cold Snap, −1 Ice Barrier
14 / 3 / 34+2 Improved Channeling, +2 Frost Channeling, +3 Improved Cone of Cold, −2 Arcane Subtlety, −1 Arcane Concentration, −1 Arcane Meditation, −1 Missile Barrage, −1 Cold Snap, −1 Ice Barrier
18 / 0 / 33+2 Improved Channeling, +2 Arcane Meditation, +3 Frost Channeling, +3 Improved Cone of Cold, −2 Arcane Subtlety, −1 Missile Barrage, −3 Incineration, −1 Cold Snap, −2 Winter's Chill, −1 Ice Barrier
18 / 0 / 33+2 Improved Channeling, +2 Arcane Meditation, +2 Frost Channeling, +3 Improved Cone of Cold, −2 Arcane Subtlety, −1 Missile Barrage, −3 Incineration, −1 Cold Snap, −1 Winter's Chill, −1 Ice Barrier
each fight’s talents are searched for it
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Frost Mage Talents

engine 53f4a3c10,000 iterations12 Octbenchmark on 1 boss · 1 minbeta data: unverified until level 60 opensupdated 12 Oct 2026How this is measured

· 1 boss · 1 min · Pre-raid

On a one-minute single-boss fight the build spends its points 17/3/31. Frost takes every talent that adds damage against one boss, down to Winter's Chill. Arcane takes the 15 points that open Missile Barrage, and the last 3 buy Incineration in Fire.

Tuned 17/3/31 · 1 minOpen in the sim
Troll on 1 boss · 1 min · 05020500300011-03-0555000301000301251

Each fight and faction has its own searched build. On one boss they differ only in points that are worth nothing, so the reasons below hold for all of them.

Why these talents

Improved Frostbolt cuts Frostbolt from 3 seconds to 2.5 and is the build's most valuable talent, worth 13.1 % of your damage. Each extra Frostbolt is also another roll for Fingers of Frost, Winter's Chill and Missile Barrage.

Ice Shards raises your Frost crits from 150 % to 200 % damage and is worth 10.6 %. It counts most on Ice Lance, which crits 80.9 % of the time, since you only cast it under Fingers of Frost and Shatter.

Fingers of Frost, Shatter and Ice Lance work as one. A raid boss can't be frozen any other way in our simulator, so Fingers of Frost is what switches on Shatter's 50 % crit and Ice Lance's fourfold damage. Each landed Frostbolt has a 15 % chance to grant it, and it covers your next two spells. Fingers of Frost is worth 8.7 % and Shatter 5.7 %. The Ice Lance point itself adds only 1.2 %: without it the two charges go to Frostbolts, which take Shatter's crit instead. You need the point anyway, because Fingers of Frost sits below it.

Winter's Chill is yours alone in Forever. Each stack adds 2 % crit to your Frostbolt and Ice Lance, with one stack allowed per point. At 5/5 every Frost hit adds a stack, so it holds five for 99.3 % of the fight and is worth 5.3 %.

Elemental Precision now has five ranks of 1 % hit with Frost and Fire spells, worth 5.2 %. Hit is the stat you are shortest of, so none of its points is cheap.

Missile Barrage is why the build spends 15 points in Arcane. Each landed Frostbolt has a 20 % chance to make your next Arcane Missiles free and half as long, with a missile every half second. It is worth 3.2 %. On the way, Arcane Focus gives the missiles 5 % hit (0.9 %) and Arcane Impact 6 % crit (0.4 %).

Piercing Ice (6 % Frost damage, 4.7 %) and Incineration (6 % crit on Ice Lance, 0.7 %) complete the build.

Flexible points

These points are worth nothing against one boss, so they can go wherever your raid needs them.

  • Frost Channeling. Frost spells cost 15 % less and make 30 % less threat. You never run short of mana on one boss, and our simulator ignores threat, so it scores within 0.7 DPS of nothing. If you pull threat, it is the talent to keep.
  • Arcane Concentration and Improved Channeling. Points on the way to Missile Barrage. A free spell now and then saves mana you don't need (0.1 %), and Improved Channeling helps Arcane Missiles survive damage, which the simulator never deals to you.
  • Cold Snap, Ice Barrier, Frost Warding, Arcane Subtlety, Wake of Fire. Some fights' searches park points here, all at zero. Cold Snap has no Frost cooldown to reset on one boss, and Arcane Subtlety removes resistance the benchmark boss doesn't have. Ice Barrier absorbs damage, which the simulator doesn't model, so it is the place for spare points if you take hits.

What each talent is worth

The table runs the build again with each talent removed, so a value is what that talent's points add with everything else in place. The values overlap and won't sum to your damage. Read the last-point column when you are deciding where one spare point goes.

TalentPointsWorth
Improved Frostbolt5+92 DPS · 13.1 %
Ice Shards5+74 DPS · 10.6 %
Fingers of Frost2+61 DPS · 8.7 %
Shatter3+40 DPS · 5.7 %
Winter's Chill5+37 DPS · 5.3 %
Elemental Precision5+36 DPS · 5.2 %
Piercing Ice3+33 DPS · 4.7 %
Missile Barrage1+23 DPS · 3.2 %
Ice Lance1+8.4 DPS · 1.2 %
Arcane Focus5+6.0 DPS · 0.9 %
Incineration3+4.6 DPS · 0.7 %
Arcane Impact3+3.1 DPS · 0.4 %
each talent’s worth: the build without it, on the same simulated fights · Troll

On every fight

On one boss the builds move only the zero-value points: the one-minute build drops Frost Channeling and Improved Channeling for Cold Snap, Ice Barrier, Arcane Subtlety and a point of Arcane Meditation. The three-boss builds drop Missile Barrage and take Improved Cone of Cold, worth 6.3 % on three minutes. On two and three minutes they also take three points of Arcane Meditation (2.2 %) out of Incineration and Winter's Chill. The table below compares every fight's build with this one.

FightPointsFrom this fight’s build
17 / 3 / 31this fight
17 / 3 / 31+3 Improved Channeling, +2 Frost Channeling, −2 Arcane Subtlety, −1 Arcane Meditation, −1 Cold Snap, −1 Ice Barrier
16 / 3 / 32+2 Improved Channeling, +3 Frost Channeling, −2 Arcane Subtlety, −1 Arcane Meditation, −1 Cold Snap, −1 Ice Barrier
14 / 3 / 34+2 Improved Channeling, +2 Frost Channeling, +3 Improved Cone of Cold, −2 Arcane Subtlety, −1 Arcane Concentration, −1 Arcane Meditation, −1 Missile Barrage, −1 Cold Snap, −1 Ice Barrier
18 / 0 / 33+2 Improved Channeling, +2 Arcane Meditation, +3 Frost Channeling, +3 Improved Cone of Cold, −2 Arcane Subtlety, −1 Missile Barrage, −3 Incineration, −1 Cold Snap, −2 Winter's Chill, −1 Ice Barrier
18 / 0 / 33+2 Improved Channeling, +2 Arcane Meditation, +2 Frost Channeling, +3 Improved Cone of Cold, −2 Arcane Subtlety, −1 Missile Barrage, −3 Incineration, −1 Cold Snap, −1 Winter's Chill, −1 Ice Barrier
each fight’s talents are searched for it