Your eyes do not deceive you; Frost Mage is shaping up to be the preferred spec for Mages in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight. They are currently the top ranked Mage spec on our tier list for Dragonflight DPS specs. Arcane and Fire are expected to be more than viable. If you're looking to break the ice and tell your foes to chill out, you'll need our best in slot gear guide to assist you for Dragonflight Season 1.

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Frost Mage Best in Slot Stat Priority

The most important factor to consider when obtaining new gear is your stat priority. In general, you should follow a rule like this:

1. Intellect
2. Mastery
3. Haste
4. Critical Strike (up until 30%)
5. Versatility
6. Critical Strike (Beyond 30%)

Your eyes do not deceive you. Crit is on here twice, once before diminishing returns begin, and again after. Let's talk more about what we mean by that.

Important Notes For BiS Lists

It is important to note that any jump in ilvl by more than 10 points almost always results in the higher ilvl item being better. If you have an upgrade of 5 ilvl or less, compare the stats based on the stat priorities to decide the better item.

When weighing options of other items not listed below, refer to the stat priority of the class and spec. Keep in mind that stats eventually have diminishing returns, so it is not required to have absolutely every slot stack the same 2 stats. For simplicity, we offer the best per slot assuming you have not capped out these stats.

The calculations for diminishing returns are as follows:

• 0 to 30% in a stat - no penalty.
• 30% to 39% in a stat - 10% penalty.
• 39% to 47% in a stat - 20% penalty.
• 47% to 54% in a stat - 30% penalty.
• 54% to 66% in a stat - 40% penalty.
• 66% to 126% in a stat - 50% penalty.

In the case where you have reached 30% in a secondary stat, an item that has a secondary stat that is lower on priority may in fact be a better upgrade. This is why it is always important to sim your gear. For simplicity, we offer the best item in that slot assuming you have not capped out these stats.

Frost Mage BiS Gear

The items appearing in these lists may come from Mythic+, Raids, or The Vault. Their item level will depend on the instance's level of difficulty (Normal, Heroic, Mythic, Mythic+ 1-20). This list does not include Renown or Crafting items as it is meant as a guide on what dungeons or raids to attend to get your best gear from these sources.

Item tooltips will show the Mythic 9 or the Normal Raid difficulty item level version.

Best Head

Tier has Versatility, which is not ideal. This is not the only tier piece that has Vers, so sim to see what the best loadout is.

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Best Neck

Your neck options are solid. Sim to make sure you're wearing the best one.

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Best Shoulders

Both raid shoulders have Crit / Haste, so the Tier will get the edge there. It may not matter if your doing high enough Mythic keys. Sim to make sure losing your set bonus is worth it!

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Best Back

You'll have a lot of cloak options. We selected a handful here, listed in no particular order.

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Best Chest

Your raid chest, like the helm, has Versatility, so that's not ideal.

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Best Wrist

Mythic+ is where you'll get your bracers.

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Best Hands

Tier hands have some incredible stats.

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Best Waist

There's one option in raid and it's pretty good!

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Best Legs

Tier legs are pretty solid but make sure you sim to ensure it's the best item.

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Best Feet

There are some solid options for your feet everywhere in Season 1.

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Best Rings

Seal of Filial Duty looks awesome on paper and I can't wait to see how it looks in practice.

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Best Trinkets For Frost Mage

The website Bloodmallet has run simulations on Patchwerk style fights to determine which trinket is best for Frost Mages. We'll track what trinket does well with one target, three targets, and five targets.

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Best Weapons

Generally, whichever combination of items is a higher ilvl will be your best bet. Sim to make sure.

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Best Gems For Frost Mage

Here we list the best gems you can socket your gear with for Frost Mages. As always, it is best to sim to ensure you're using the best options available. These gems are chosen given consideration to your best stats.

• Epic unique gem - Skillful Illimited Diamond
• Remaining gems - Sensei's Neltharite / Keen Neltharite. Sim for your best results!

Best Enchants For Frost Mage

Here are the best enchants available for Frost Mages in Dragonflight.

• Cloak - Homebound Speed
• Chest - Waking Stats
• Bracers - Devotion of Speed
• Legs - Frozen Spellthread
• Boots - Plainsrunner's Breeze
• Rings - Devotion of Mastery
• Weapon - Sophic Devotion

How To Simulate To Determine Your Best Gear

Raidbots is a tool that World of Warcraft players can use to figure out if the gear they just looted is an upgrade. As mentioned earlier, there are so many nuances and diminishing returns as certain points in the game, that determining an exact set of bis gear is impossible. With the ilvl scaling of Mythic+ loot on higher keys and utility different gear has for different fights, there just isn't a pure "this is the absolute best for the entire Season" list. It's even something that certain classes have come across in Classic Wrath!

Don't worry, because we're still here to help. We highly recommend using raidbots to determine if an item you just acquired is an upgrade. Here's a quick guide to help you run simulations to see if your new item is an upgrade:

• Make sure you have the Simulationcraft add-on installed.
• With your new loot in your inventory, open your chatbox and type /simc.
• A window will open up. Copy the entire text and paste it on the Raidbots Top Gear page. I included my Simulation craft window for my personal character below

• This step is important. On the Top Gear page, scroll down and make sure you're selecting the gear you want simmed. If you do not select the gear you're wearing, as well as the gear in your inventory you just acquired, you won't know if you picked up an upgrade.
• Raidbots will then let you know which items allow you to maximize your DPS!

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