Stack Freezing, shatter it with Ice Lance, and land every Ray of Frost.
Damage
Gear: Method.ggBuilds: Archon consensus, M+ This Week (+7–+19)Updated 10/29/2026 by Guild guides
Playing
Midnight reworked Frost around Freezing, a stacking debuff that Frostbolt, Flurry, Glacial Spike and Ray of Frost put on the target. Ice Lance and Comet Storm shatter those stacks for damage. Icy Veins is gone; Ray of Frost, with two charges, is now the major cooldown, and it turns into Comet Storm after each channel.
Difficulty
A short priority built around getting everything on cooldown and spending Fingers of Frost and Brain Freeze as they come. The hard part is finding safe time to channel Ray of Frost.
Resource
Freezing stacks on the target, Icicles and Mana
Hero talents in keys
Frostfire
Standing this patch
BRaid
Brings to the group
InterruptCounterspell (25s)
StunDragon's Breath, Supernova, Ring of Frost
DispelRemove Curse
PurgeSpellsteal
Battle resnone
LustTime Warp
MobilityBlink or Shimmer, Alter Time
Pick any button below to follow it through the guide: where it sits in the opener, which rung of the priority fires it, and every mistake it is part of.
1Frostbolt
2Ice Lance
330sFlurry
41mFrozen Orb
51mRay of Frost
6Comet Storm
7Glacial Spike
812sBlizzard
9Fingers of Frost
0Brain Freeze
s130sIce Barrier
s23m 30sIce Block
s31mAlter Time
s425sCounterspell
s530sShimmer
s630sFrost Nova
s75mTime Warp
Rotation
What do I press?
Press order
1Frozen Orb0.0s
2Blizzard1.5s
3Frostbolt3.5s
4Ice Lance5.3s
5Flurry6.8s
6Ice Lance8.3s
7Ray of Frost9.8s
8Comet Storm13.8s
9Frostbolt15.3s
10Glacial Spike17.0s
11Ice Lance18.8s
12Flurry20.3s
13Frostbolt21.8s
Frozen Orb0.0s
Fires because it is ready; aim it through the pack.
0s5s10s15s20s25s
Frozen Orb
One press per global at base haste (1.5s), longer for casts. Real pulls drift with haste and procs; the order is what matters.
Cooldowns and when to use them
Two charges. Keep one rolling and use the other for burst moments; Shimmer instead of cancelling it.
What the simulations press
Executed every time the actor is available.
frostfire bolt
From SimulationCraft's mage_frost.simc, changed Sep 2, 2026. This is what the simulations behind most guides press; conditions are shown as SimC writes them.
What top players actually cast
Below are the opening rotations from a small sample of recent top Frost Mage rankings for Altar of Fangs. You can use this to compare to your own opener and find potential points of improvement. Note that the opener for some specs may vary based on when certain buffs proc.
FrostboltFiller1.8s cast · +FreezingFiller that applies Freezing and procs Fingers of Frost and Brain Freeze. Frostfire players cast Frostfire Bolt in its place.
Ice LanceSpenderInstant · Shatters 4 FreezingInstant spender that shatters Freezing stacks for damage. Cast it with Fingers of Frost or at 6+ Freezing, and while moving.
FlurryBuilderInstant · 30s cd ×2 · +FreezingInstant burst of hits that stacks Freezing. Brain Freeze resets it and adds 50% damage.
Glacial SpikeProc1.8s cast · +3 FreezingFrostbolt turns into Glacial Spike once you have 5 Icicles, which build on their own every few seconds in combat.
BlizzardOver time2s cast · 12s cd · 12s longGround AoE. Instant and stronger for a while after Frozen Orb thanks to Freezing Rain.
Fingers of FrostProcProc from Frostbolt: the next Ice Lance hits as if it shattered 4 Freezing without spending any. Holds 2 charges.
Brain FreezeProcProc from Frostbolt that resets Flurry's cooldown and empowers it. With Thermal Void, the Ice Lance after it shatters 4 extra stacks.
Cooldowns
Frozen OrbCooldownInstant · 1m cd · 15s longA rolling orb that hits everything it passes. Use it on cooldown, aimed through the pack; with Freezing Rain it makes Blizzard instant.
Ray of FrostCooldown4s cast · 1m cd ×2 · +8 FreezingFrost's major cooldown in Midnight: a 4 second channel with 2 charges from Hand of Frost. Only start it when you can finish it.
Comet StormCooldownInstantReplaces Ray of Frost right after you channel it. Seven comets that each shatter Freezing on whatever they hit.
Survival
Ice BarrierDefensiveInstant · 30s cd ×2 · 1m longAbsorb shield; two charges and 10% less physical damage with Improved Ice Barrier.
Ice BlockDefensiveInstant · 3m 30s cd ×2 · 10s longImmunity with 2 charges and a 30 second shorter cooldown from Glacial Bulwark. Swap to Ice Cold if you would rather keep casting.
Alter TimeDefensiveInstant · 1m cd · 10s longSnapshot health and position; press again to return.
Utility
CounterspellInterruptInstant · 25s cdInterrupt with a school lockout on a 25 second cooldown.
ShimmerMovementInstant · 30s cd ×2Blink that works mid-cast and mid-channel, which is how you move without breaking Ray of Frost.
Frost NovaUtilityInstant · 30s cdRoots everything around you for kiting.
Time WarpUtilityInstant · 5m cd · 40s longGroup haste. Use it before a Ray of Frost when the group is not saving it.
Builds / Talents
Raid and Mythic+ talents
SpellslingerRaidWowhead's raid build and half of the top Mythic+ players. Steady single-target damage built on Splinters, playing Frostbolt, Flurry and Ice Lance.
FrostfireMythic+Wowhead's Mythic+ build and the other half of the top Mythic+ field. Frostfire Bolt replaces Frostbolt and the Season 2 tier set's Glacial Spike bonus made it strong on packs.
28 of the top 50 Mythic+ players run Frostfire (3707–4158 rating). Murlok.io
Mythic+
24,461 logs · 2026-11-05T12:00:00Z
Consensus loadoutRecommended
Popularity 98.8% heatmap match · 98.8% heatmap match
Recommended loadout is the closest match to Archon’s aggregate popularity across top parses — not a single one-off key.
Sample size: 24461 top parses. Only talents in the recommended loadout are drawn.
Class
Specialization
Hero
Only talents in this loadout are drawn (Frostfire). Hover a node for its Wowhead tooltip.
Across 24,461 logs. A talent has to show up in at least 40% of them before it is part of the build.
Gear
What do I wear and enchant?
Stats for Mythic+
1Intellect
›
2Mastery
›
3Crit
›
4Haste
›
5Vers
Left to right — highest priority first. Sim your character when secondaries are close.
Based on data in the last 2 weeks, the stat priority for Frost Mage looks to be Intellect > Mastery > Crit > Haste > Vers. However, there may be bias based on what gear is available to players.
What the top Mythic+ players actually have
Mastery57% +1136
Critical Strike27% +942
Haste24% +736
Versatility4% +211
Average secondary stats of the top 50 Mythic+ players (3707–4158 rating), from Murlok.io, updated 28 minutes ago.
4×piece set: Frost Mage16×slots
Best in slot from Method.gg. Every slot is on the figure. Point at a piece to light it.
Wear 4 tier pieces. The 4-piece bonus is what this spec is tuned around.
2-piece: Each stack of Freezing Shattered has a 4% chance to generate an Icicle. Glacial Spike! damage increased by 20%.
4-piece: Casting Glacial Spike! has a chance to rapidly generate 5 Icicles over 1 sec. Shatter damage increased by 5%.
Best-to-good single-target order from Liquid Armory (Oct 12, 2026). Filled marks = higher on the list. Your own gear can change the order — sim before you buy.
Mark of the Worldsoul
Sunfire Silk Spellthread
Acuity of the Ren'dorei
Indecipherable Eversong Diamond
Flawless Masterful Garnet
