Another Arc/Frost Build (I know, I know)Follow

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/mage/talents.html?2500510302230150300125000000000000000000000000505320001005000000000

The emphasis here being to maximize crits AND frozen damage. Combining Spell Power with Ice Shards increases crit damage by 150% for Frost spells, while still keeping the Shatter and Frostbite combo , along with a point in Improved Blizzard, just to keep things fun. Maxing out Arcane Mind and Mind Mastery gives a pretty decent damage boost - a fair trade in adding 25% of Intellect to damage versus the 6% to all Frost spells via Piercing Ice. And with this build, I still get to keep all the fun stuff, like Presence of Mind and Arcane Power.

I feel this is a pretty solid build. I can still do mass AoE dmg with Arcane Explosion if things get close, and thats IF they do with Improved Blizzard. And then when it comes to DD, I house crits.

Only question - should I max out on crit gear or +dmg gear?

PS - Slow doesn't do anything for me, and according to this build, i'd have to sacrifice a point in Shatter or Frostbite, which seriously hinders the emphsis of this build. Ditto the ice barrier spells and Coldsnap. The only frost spell i use that I'd need Coldsnap for is Nova, and I seldom use that now, because things freeze so often on their way in.

I'm only 52 now, so i maxed the Frost part of this build out, and i'm 2/3 of the way through the Arc tree, and i'm decking stuff 3 and for levels higher with only using half my mana (if they resist alot).

Comments?



Edited, Apr 27th 2007 7:00am by Horowitz

Your choices in the Arcane tree are misplaced IMO.
I would change your arcane tree to this
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/mage/talents.html?2500050300230150330125000000000000000000000000505320001005000000000

You said in your post you want to max out crit chance well Arcane Potency is effectively an additional 3% crit.
Clearcast will help your arcane Explosion casts as well 10% chance of a free spell.
And yes if your farming then 1 point in Ice block is much better spent than in Imp Blizzard.