Frost
Frost has long been considered the best leveling spec for a mage due to its survivability. Now, Frost is actually a pretty viable raiding spec as well as well as the best PvP spec.
For a more detailed look into the Frost Mage, please visit Elitist Jerk's page:
Elitist Jerks Frost Mage Discussion/]
Frost Spec
Mage Frost Spec - RaidThis raid spec would probably be used with Mage Armour; however, if you want to use Molten Armour, it would be wise to put 3 points into Enduring Winter and probably a point or two from Netherwind Presence to Clearcasting.
Playing a Frost Mage
The advent of Cataclysm introduces an actual rotation for a Frost Mage. The following rotation should be thought of as a priority list. Monitor your cooldowns and procs when keeping this list in mind:
1. Frostfire Orb, if cooldown is up
2. Deep Freeze, if cooldown is up and Fingers of Frost is active
3. Frostfire Bolt, if Brain Freeze is active and Fingers of Frost is active
4. Ice Lance, if Fingers of Frost is active
5. Freeze, if cooldown is up, Deep Freeze cooldown is up, and Fingers of Frost is not active
6. Frostbolt
Gearing a Frost Mage
The current order of importance for stats on an Arcane Mage is:
1. Intellect – By far the most important stat for a Fire Mage. It increases our spell power, mana, and critical strike chance.
2. Hit – Getting hit capped (17% or 1742 rating) is important for Fire Mages, but not at the cost of Intellect. The best way to get Hit Capped is to 1) Find gear with Hit, 2) Use Purple Hit Gems if the socket bonus is worth it (often it’s not due to Intellect being the strongest stat), 3)Enchant your gear for Hit, and 4) Reforge the weakest combat ratings into Hit.
3. Spell Power – Spell power can be found on weapons and trinkets.
4. Crit, Hase, and Mastery levels are dependent on your gear. Use a program like Rawr to decide which gear is best for you.
Recommended Glyphs
Prime: Glyph of Deep Freeze, Glyph of Frostfire, Glyph of Molten Armour (if running Molten Armour), otherwise use Glyph of Frostbolt