Best Gear & Stats for Frost Mages – Cataclysm PvP Guide - Skill Capped (2024)

Welcome to Skill Capped’s Guide on the Best Gear & Stats for Frost Mages in Cataclysm

All sections for Frost Mage PvP have been divided into corresponding sections for the most optimal race, talents, glyphs, gear, professions and macros. This will help you have a good understanding on Frost Mage in PvP for Cataclysm and the strengths and weaknesses associated with this specialization. This section will go into more depth on the best PvP gear and stats that are available for Frost Mage in Cataclysm Season 9.

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Table of Contents

This section will cover your pre-BiS gear, which will not include any Conquest or Raid specific items. Use the gear provided below to have a competitive advantage against your enemies before stepping into rated PvP content.

Pre-BiS Frost Mage PvP Gear

Main Pieces

• Head: Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s Silk Cowl
• Shoulders: Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s Silk Amice
• Chest: Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s Silk Robe
• Gloves: Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s Silk Handguards
• Legs: Flame-Ascended Pantaloons from Tailoring or Auction House.

Off-Pieces

• Back: Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s Drape of Prowess
• Bracers: Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s Cuffs of Prowess
• Belt: Dreamless Belt from Tailoring or Auction House.
• Boots: Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s Treads of Cruelty

Jewelry

• Neck: Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s Pendant of Diffusion
• Ring 1: Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s Band of Accuracy
• Ring 2: Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s Band of Cruelty

Weapons

• Main Hand: Emberstone Staff
• Wand: Corla’s Baton

Trinkets

• Trinket 1: Soul Casket if Human, Bloodthirsty Gladiator’s Medallion of Tenacity if not Human.
• Trinket 2: Darkmoon Card: Volcano

Most of the gear that is BiS for Cataclysm Season 9 will come from PvP. This section will cover all specific pieces from PvP, as well as PvE, that will put you in a competitive playing-field against other players in arena.

BiS Frost Mage PvP Gear

Main Pieces

• Head: Vicious Gladiator’s Silk Cowl
• Shoulders: Vicious Gladiator’s Silk Amice
• Chest: Vicious Gladiator’s Silk Robe
• Gloves: Vicious Gladiator’s Silk Handguards
• Legs: Flame-Ascended Pantaloons from Tailoring or Auction House.

Off-Pieces

• Back: Vicious Gladiator’s Drape of Prowess for additional Spell Penetration.
• Belt: Vicious Gladiator’s Cord of Cruelty
• Bracers: Vicious Gladiator’s Cuffs of Prowess
• Boots: Vicious Gladiator’s Treads of Cruelty

Jewelry

• Neck: Vicious Gladiator’s Pendant of Diffusion
• Ring 1: Vicious Gladiator’s Band of Accuracy
• Ring 2: Vicious Gladiator’s Band of Cruelty

Weapons

• Main Hand: Vicious Gladiator’s Spellblade
• Off Hand: Vicious Gladiator’s Endgame
• Wand: Vicious Gladiator’s Touch of Defeat

Trinkets

• Trinket 1: Soul Casket or Theralion’s Mirror if Human, or Vicious Gladiator’s Medallion of Tenacity if not Human.
• Trinket 2: Darkmoon Card: Volcano or Vicious Gladiator’s Insignia of Dominance for Resilience.
• Alternative Trinket: Vicious Gladiator’s Badge of Dominance instead of Soul Casket or Theralion’s Mirror.

Frost Mage Stat Priority

Intellect > 4% Hit Rating > Spell Penetration (195) > Resilience (3000) > Critical Strike = Mastery > Haste

Prioritize Intellect as much as possible, The more Intellect you have, the more Spell Power you will have, buffing all your abilities. After focusing on Intellect, make sure to have at least 4% Hit Rating first before focusing on your secondary stats. This makes sure that none of your abilities miss while attacking your opponent.

Followed by Hit Rating, Spell Penetration will be obtained from your PvP cloak, which will be Vicious Gladiator’s Drape of Diffusion for Fire Mage. Then it’s important to focus on your Resilience requirement. Due to Mages being squishier than other classes, this makes Resilience crucial to apply on your character before entering PvP combat. This will assist you in surviving any enemy kill attempts.

For secondary stats, you have the option to choose between full Mastery and full Critical Strike. If you choose Mastery, this will increase the amount of damage done against Frozen targets. Attacking Frozen targets is primarily how we burst, making this secondary stat powerful for Frost Mage. If you choose Critical Strike, this will amplify your Shatter talent, making your damaging spells crit more against Frozen targets. Fingers of Frost is also affected by Shatter, making Ice Lance with Fingers of Frost procs have an increased crit chance. All is up to preference, but Mastery seems to be the most consistent out of the two options. Haste doesn’t have much value in PvP for Frost Mage as opposed to the other two secondary stats, so don’t worry about choosing this stat for this specialization.

In case you aren’t able to reach stat requirements, use reforging on any gear with Haste and convert to either Mastery or Critical Strike. Since we recommend going full Mastery, it is preferred to choose Mastery when reforging. If you have any extra Hit Rating left over, you can convert those stats to Mastery or Critical Strike as well.