Necro frost mage rotation advice

I have read many different options. Pre-cast Fb , deathborn,IV,pot, orb, next part I get confused, when brain freeze pops some say you use just frost bolt, some say use ice lance or combo, do you dump your fingers of frost like with Venthyr or are you just using frost bolt?

Just keep using Frostbolt, only ice lance when you have to keep moving or something to keep dmg flowing, but other than that yes frostbolt on flurry procs.

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Frostbolt goes brrrr.

Thank you, also do you use slick ice all the time or just ST and Freezing Winds the rest of the time.

Cold Front is surprisingly really good in M+ when you need AoE, although Slick Ice isn’t bad by any means.

For Necrolord you’d want to have those 2 legendaries, and while Freezing Winds can also work, it’s not ideal.

Basically:

  • For AoE/cleave it’s Cold Front > Slick Ice > Freezing Winds.
  • For ST it’s Slick Ice > Cold Front > Freezing Winds.

Whenever something is frozen or you get procs, use ice lance. Do the flurry proc first so you get the two free crits for ice lance.

Interesting that Freezing Winds has taken such a fall. I’m assuming that due to the Orb/Blizzard nerfs and the shift to Necro it has fallen behind which is somewhat disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for having things change up but given the cost involved with upgrading legendaries it’s a little disheartening that this is now the 3rd or 4th legendary that Frost has to craft.

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Yeah I know, just made cold front, had to borrow from alts, so tired of Torghast

Thanks for info, lot of different options out there, want to make sure I’m doing the rotation right. Will get my 2 set tomorrow.

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Pretty much this, If i have everything popped there is no reason to ice lance unless you have 5 icicles and you need to reposition. (pvp).

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Is there a way to track the internal CD of the set bonus comet storm?

Yes there are weak auras available to track it.

Wait. I’m fairly new so I just need to make sure. With 4p-necro lord-and slick ice. After I pop all CD all I do is cast frost bolt until I’m no longer a skelly mage? (Unless I have to move?)

I think you only ever cast frostbolts only while in Necro form when their are 2+ targets. This will get the Unity belt stacks of % spell dmg increase to up high.

Skelly Mage can cast frostbolt up to 3 targets so that means with 3 targets, every frostbolt cast gives the Unity belt 3% spell increase (or 2% with 2 targets). Over the life of being in Necro form, you can get that spell dmg increase up near 100%.

And then with about 4 seconds left in Necro form, you then use your FoF procs for huge damage.

I think you still use flurry

  • The APL follows your “normal” rotation on a single target. So with a BF proc it goes Frostbolt > Flurry > IL x 2
  • However on 2 targets it ignore FoF-IL until Deathborne is about to fall off. So it will ignore FoF procs, and use BF procs to Flurry into double Frostbolt.
  • On 3+ targets, the APL does whatever it does on 2 targets but it adds in Blizzard to the rotation.

Yeah, the heavy nerf to orb CDR basically killed Freezing Winds as far as I’m concerned. I think it feels disgusting to use. Cold Front seems to be what the cool kids are using now and I am reluctantly admitting that it is doing better than Freezing Winds. I never liked how it worked but it’s what I’ve been using now.

To avoid any headaches:

For Raids/anything else: Slick Ice + Unity

For M+: Cold Front + Unity
Also for M+: Choose the Freezing Rain talent

People say you can use Slick Ice in M+, and I agree to a point. Although due to the nature of M+, I find that Cold Front is more practical to use.

When you pop your Necro, spam Frostbolts, even with Flurry, ONLY if you have 3+ targets. 2 targets and less, do the normal rotation.

You seem like you have a good amount of perspective on m+. How do you feel about legendary choices and the Freezing Rain talent in the 15-17 key range (especially in pugs)? I tried freezing rain and I saw potential for very big pulls, but with pug tanks who pull kinda small it seemed less helpful (though I might have just played badly, that’s a possibility too).

I’d stay Cold Front w/ Freezing Rain. Since the nature of a pug group is unpredictable, you still have all grounds covered.

The instant Blizzards with your castable Orb are too hard to pass up. If your tank keeps the mobs inching around, remember to cast it in front of the mobs. If you get in a rhythm, you can have more uptime on Frozen Orbs, and not to mention Icy Veins.

I can still come out #1 or #2 in damage, if all my CDs are up, or most relatively up.

But, all of this is only the cake. The frosting on top is your 2-set & 4-set, and you’ll be good to go.