Viable sub-spec for Frost PVP?Follow

a.) I've recently rolled a Mage purely for PVP reasons (and raiding end game content later on) and I'm a total newbie to caster classes let alone the Mage class itself. I guess it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the Frost tree is the most effective for PVP fights and I was wondering which of the other two trees would compliment it?

b.) Is it worth putting points into Enduring Winter for that extra duration for your pet? I've never done any arena fights so i'm clueless as to how long fights actually last in order for the mana regen to be useful.

c.) Would a deep frost spec be a better option rather than having a sub-spec?


Yes, I have read EJ but they are not explicit on PVP'ing and viable talent trees and this place seems to be the next best thing to it :p


Cheers.

a) The pvp frost spec is 20/0/51. The talents/glyphs in the link are for 2s and you can be changed for your comp and personal preference. You go down arcane until you get TtW and imp CS. The first row is always 2/2 arcane sub, and 3/3 arcane focus and most people get magic absorption. The other choices on the 2nd and 3rd tiers are personal preference. Arcane fortitude helps if you're low on resil or you feel you take too much damage from melee or hunters. Magic attunement is nice since it gives 6 yards on poly. FM is great. Student of the mind and spell impact aren't taken often as they are the weakest talents. Arcane concentration is nice if you have mana problems and shines on longer fights. Whether you get it or not depends mostly on your comp or bracket. If you're playing mage/rogue 2s for example, you might want to skip it.

b) If you're taking it for the mana regen, you only want 1 point in enduring winter. If you want more WE uptime, you might want to think about getting the glyph (water elemental, not enduring water). You need 2 points in enduring winter to get another pet nova.

c) No. With 51 points in frost, you can get almost every talent that increases your control and damage. Normally, all that is left in the frost tree are talents that reduce the damage you take like frozen core or talents that increase your mana efficiency like precision and frost channeling at the expense of more damage. Damage reduction can be accomplished by getting better gear and better play. Mana problems aren't really an issue in 3s or 5s as most matches are decided quickly. In 2s, the length of the fight depends on your comp and the matchup. You also have mana gem, evo, and food. Moreover, by going down arcane you get access to similar damage reduction and mana efficiency talents while still giving you imp cs and TtW.

I agree. Many mages go with 2/3 frostbite since the FoF proc is more important in most cases. Like many pvp choices, it comes down to personal preference and neither choice is wrong.



The first part of WC is 1% chance to crit per point. 1% hit would be a waste of points as you can easily get the 4-6% hit from gear. You'll always have an extra 3% crit on your Frb with max WC. The 2nd part of the talent description is more important. 5% crit on all offensive spells is nice for you and your partner(s), depending on your comp. But the important part is using WC as a trash debuff against dispels. Here's a common 2s example from mage/x versus lock/druid. Since you sheeping druids is useless, most popular mage comps will cc the partner to limit incoming damage. If you sheep the lock, he will use devour magic from the felpup to dispel the sheep. If all you do is sheep, the sheep will come off as it is the only magic debuff on the lock. If you r1 Frb or CoC w/o WC before you sheep, the sheep has a 50% chance of coming off. If you r1 Frb or CoC w/ WC before sheeping, the sheep only has a 33% chance of coming off. With smart play and WC, you decrease the chance of your sheep being broken, forcing the lock to either trinket or eat the cc. With 3/3 WC, you have 3% crit to Frb, 5% crit on all spells for you and your team, and a trash debuff that is easy to apply and refreshed with every frost spell.



Most mages don't max out arctic winds because it requires a heavy investment of 5 talent points and is therefore not the best talent either increasing the mage's damage or decreasing the damage they take. For example, piercing ice gives +2% frost damage per point where arctic winds gives 1%. If you compare it to WC, you get a similar damage increase (+5% crit is equal to +5% damage, although arctic winds is slightly ahead as it is multiplicative w/ spell power from gear) that applies to your whole team, 3% crit on Frb, and a trash debuff while saving 2 talent points to spend elsewhere. Increased chance to miss can be countered by the opposing player's gear and hit talents. The damage reduction also only applies to physical damage and can be accomplished by better play (better kiting of melee, use of LoS against hunters, minimizing gaps in CC chains, better peels from teammates, etc.) or can be provided by talents like arcane fortitude for less talent points. You may see 2 or 3 points in arctic winds but rarely is it maxed out.