Mage - Frostfire

Purpose

Why fight with just fire or just frost when you don't have to?
Welcome to the Frostfire guide!

Talents

There is one spec currently to choose from, so enjoy simplicity!
>>Click Here<<∞

Ability Rotation

FrostFire raiding is not entirely complex in that you use just a handfull of spells,
just with some having priority over others.

The priority at this point is:

Scorch (debuff refresh) > Hot Streak > Living Bomb > FrostFire

Why?

With the new Glyph of Living Bomb, you will not have Glyph of Improved Scorch any longer,
that is, if you are wanting to maintain best possible DPS. This said, if you allow the stacks to
drop, you will be dreading it when you have to cast Scorch five times again rather then doing
competitive damage during that precious 7-9 seconds.

However, if you decide simplicity is more valuable to you, grab the Improved Scorch glyph.
Though, if you are serious about raiding, it is not something I would advise or you want to do.

Key Cooldowns

There are only a few cooldowns you have, thus you must use them wisely.

• Combustion
• Icy Viens
• Mirror Image
• Mana Gem (assuming you have 2 peices of T7)

Mages, as with most classes, benefit from stacking your cooldowns. With a FrostFire mage, you
want to wait for Heroism/Bloodlust to activate your said cooldowns.

The only exemption to this is Mirror Images. Mirror images for a mage should not be used as a
run-of-the-mill DPS booster, because if it were used for that it is a mediocre spell at best,
terrible (something you do not train) at worst. However it is useful even though it does not
increase your DPS. They should be used when you:

• Pull aggro
• Are about to pull aggro

Why I say this is all the aggro you have obtained will be channeled to them, resulting in you living
and they... may or may not... in the event you overthreat your tank. Ideally, you should use them
right when you read the threat cap (130% at range) and use them to your advantage to nuke
the boss, activate Invisibility, then pretend you never had any threat at all. Though, you should only
risk something like this if you have an immense amount of threat and heroism/bloodlust is popped
(resulting in you using Invisibility at this point being very inconvenient for your DPS).

Also note that you should be using [Potion of Wild Magic]'s when you use your cooldowns during
Heroism/Bloodlust as well.

Key Stats

Welcome to the world of number crunching. Enjoy your stay.

We Shall Begin With Whats Required

• 17% Hit
• Moderately functioning brain.

Since I there is no guide as to making one's brain functional, we will not focus on the latter.
Every mage needs 17% hit in order to not miss a boss. Where you get this 17% is different
with each different spec. For FrostFire bolt, you ideally only need 11% hit, providing you have
a shadow priest. If your a member of The Alliance, and have a Draenei for Heroic Presense, then
my friend you only need 10% hit rating to win the internet.

Just to clearify:

• With NO Buffs: 14% required
• With a Shadow Priest (Misery debuff): 11% required
• With a Shadow Priest + Draenei

After obtaining your required amount of hit rating, you need to start stacking other stats.
As a FrostFire mage, the list of stats to go for from best to least is as follows:

Spell Power > Crit > Haste > Intellect > Spirit

Recommended Glyphs

As with most specs, there is one clear set of glyphs to get for maximum dps.
The best glyph set is as follows:

• Glyph of FrostFire
• Glyph of Living Bomb
• Glyph of Molten Armor

Recommended Enchants

Recommended Gems

Before you even consider going for socket bonuses, you must reach the said
hit cap above. So if you fall short, you must spam hit gems in order to get
closer, or ideally reach, the optimal amount of hit.

Secondly, before you gem, evaluate the socket bonus' value. If it is spirit,
stamina, intellect, or any realitively uneffective stat, don't go for it. Simply gem for
lots of spell power.

However, if it's gem worthy, gem as follows:

• Yellow Socket: Potent Monarch Topaz
• Red Socket: Runed Scarlet Ruby
• Blue Socket: Purified Twilight Opal

Don't forget! Always get your Eternal Belt Buckle and slap a Runed Scarlet Ruby in it
(assuming you don't need hit rating!).

You also should use one Runed Stormjewel in your gear in place of a Runed Scarlet Ruby
at some point to be completely optimal.

Recommended Consumables

There are three things you should bring to raids as a serious raider:

• Flask of the Frost Worm
• Potion of Wild Magic
• Fish Feast (if not Fish Feast, Firecracker Salmon or Tender Sholvetusk Steak)

There is no excuse for not using a flask as they are realitively cheap, however for
non progression content it is easy to not use Potion's of Wild Magic.

Additional Tips

Sources and Other Resources

• Elitist Jerks∞ (Resource)
• Euripedes of Critical QQ∞ (Resource)