Frost AoE Grinding for Low levelsFollow

I have come to your rescue anxious frost AoE’ers!

Ok, so maybe I haven’t…All else aside I see many posts on Frost AoE and many are pertaining to, “How do I AoE at level X?”
More often then not, level X is below 28 where most guides start frost AoEing off.

I rerolled a mage specifically for the purpose of debunking the Frost AoE level minimum.
I am aware that Arcane Explosion AoE is possible BEFORE level 20, but that is not the issue I am nor was testing.
Other’s have probably said this before, and I admit I may be reiterating old news, but it is quite possible to start frost AoE at level 20.
I am not stating that it is efficient or easy! All I am doing is claiming the plausibility.

Here are some meat and potatoes for ya.
Level 20 Spec
Please notice that unlike other guides that give the final spec, this is the primary spec we will be working with.
I personally invested in Improved Blizzard at 20 so I could start my AoE adventures early. By doing this, we gain the speed reduction.
Also, we are losing Cold Snap.

Issue- QQ…Without cold snap AoE mages Suck!
Solution- No they don’t…they just aren’t as efficient. If you get a resist, then Blink and bolt. Easy enough?

The ‘blink-n-bolt’ strategy is one that frost mages NEED to know if they hope to AoE when their cooldown for Cold Snap is up.
I personally am an advocate of Frost Armor, so if you are resisted, do your snap steps, take the hit, Blink and run.

Woah! Snap Steps? Wtf are these? Snap steps are simply the sidesteps you take after your first Frost Nova.
We do sidesteps so we can see if any resists happened, and then we can cold snap and step to re-Frost Nova.
Without Cold Snap, you just take the steps and then blink to safety.

Heres where the tricky stuffs lies. Ok! We've got Frozen Armor up, Arcane Int up. Ready to rock'n'roll.
Cast Mana Shield and go for the pull.

Art of the Pull
Brush the outside of the groups aggro range. Try to avoid being hit by making a wide circle.
Once you have some mobs on your tail, start your rotation.
Some things to adjust are your circle, the amount of mobs, and length of time to get a solid 'blob' of mobs.
By 'blob', I mean a dense packet of units.
A great tool for learning the pull is In Frost We Trust
Solid video put together by some schnitzel loving WoW-heads =P

Successful AoE at level 20:
Mana Shield and start the aggro
Frost Nova
Snap Step
Blink
Blizzard Numero Uno
Blizzard Numero Duo (will be cut off ½ way)
Take a few quick steps back to let Frost Nova timer to finish
Frost Nova
Finish with a Blizzard
If the mobs are still alive, toss an arcane explosion or follow by a few swift wrist snaps of that wand.

An area that is appropriate for level 20-23 is The Wetlands

Level 21 and 22 you will fill Improved Blizzard. These two points help you SO much because they allow you to fully take advantage of your Blizzard damage.
Then at level 23, you may take your Cold Snap.

If we have Cold Snap at 23 why do most guides tell you to wait for 26 to frost AoE?
Most guides say you must have xyz to AoE. You don’t.

Levels 24, 25, and 26 will fill up Piercing Ice which is a damage modifying talent. You may cause your destruction in Hillsbrad Foothills
Kill the farmers, farmhands, and footmen but try to stay away from the castle and houses. Casters hang out in there...punks.
I loved AoEing in their farms. The mobs all cluster easily, but you must be careful not to Blink into a tree.

The reason 26 is the magic number is because you get Cone of Cold. CoC is a GREAT addition to our artillery.
It adds another pewpew spell to our assault and has a wicked long slow timer (11 secs).

Follow the same pattern as before, but before you throw down your second frost Nova, CoC those little buggers.
This gives you a second to reposition for your Frost Nova and final Blizzard.

Level 26/27 are a little rough just because your using level 20 Blizzard still. Have hope and work through it. A nice spot for 26-28 is Duskwood

Level 28…Yay! Congratulations. You may now continue to the hundreds of other guides made for Frost AoE!

I hope you guys enjoy. If there are any questions, please civilly ask!




Edited, Nov 10th 2007 1:11am by cnicak

One comment... as of 2.3, Blizzard is making the amount of xp per level a bit less in the mid levels and buffing the questing xp rate. Will this still be an 'efficient' way to level, or will leveling via questing surpass the xp rate you can get with AOE farming melee mobs? I started at lvl 40 to have my mount and ice barrier. If you get pounded on too much, the mana shield will drain a significant portion of mana away, which will limit your AOEing.

One thing 2.3 won't do is limit the *jaw-dropping-wow-factor* when people see a little ole mage blowing up a bunch of mobs at one time.

GL!

The fact that it's doable was something I knew. I AoE grinded mobs my level at 22-24 in Hillsbrad. Was fun, but I think I would have been better off questing. Where I'm getting at, AoE grinding is something to do more for fun. I think that it's Power Level usage is starting to die down. With quests and single mob killing be so much easier, and efficent (less deaths) it's becoming obvious it's the way to go.

Still I've rated you up, because this is extremely useful information for new mages. Thanks ;).

Thanks for this. My mage is 23 and I rarely play her. I just started to mess around with AOE grinding... Mostly I die, but practice makes perfect.

Rate up for the info.


Video that shows AOE grinding. Very entertaining as well.

http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/07/30...and-profit/


Edited, Nov 7th 2007 11:21am by Xenexia

Good to hear! If you have any questions about other techniques toss em out. Like I said, I was conscious that the material is out there, however I was compiling it in a nifty guide.

I dread 2.3 exp changes. Although grinding gets boring, questing feels forced. If I wanted to quest alone none-stop I'd play eq2...

I think AOE will still end up being faster than questing. 45-50k xp per hour killing Pirates after they drop the XP needed to level will be great.

Edited, Nov 9th 2007 2:03pm by Scolariman