Frostfire 101

What is a frostfire spec?
A frostfire spec is usually a deep fire spec with some points also in frost (though deep frost specs also exist).  The frostfire spell benefits from buffs to both fire and frost (as the name suggests), which explains the lack of points in the arcane tree.  The spec I currently use to raid is 0/53/18, with the point break down as follows:
FIRE: 2/2 Improved Fire Blast, 3/3 Incineration, 5/5 Ignite, 3/3 World in Flames, 2/2 Flame Throwing, 1/1 Pyroblast, 2/2 Burning Soul, 3/3 Improved Scorch, 3/3 Master of Elements, 3/3 Playing With Fire, 5/5 Fire Power, 3/3 Pyromaniac, 1/1 Combustion, 2/2 Molten Fury, 3/3 Empowered Fire, 3/3 Hot Streak, 5/5 Burnout, 1/1 Living Bomb
FROST: 2/3 Frostbite, 3/3 Ice Floes, 3/3 Ice Shards, 3/3 Precision, 3/3 Piercing Ice, 1/1 Icy Veins, 3/3 Frost Channeling.
Or you can look at it all here.

In which PvE situations does frostfire do best?
Frostfire is a very strong single-target damage dealer for raid bosses, especially if the boss does not require a lot of movement.  Frostfire mages also deal some of the strongest AoE damage available in the game.

In which PvE situations does frostfire do worst?
Because the cast for frostfire bolt is so long, fights that involve a lot of moving around or canceling casts for any reason (example: decursing) can really cut a frostfire mage’s DPS.  Frostfire mages may also have trouble in fights where a boss/mob dumps threat periodically, because the damage from the frostfire spec can spike very quickly due to its proc-based nature.

Is frostfire spec viable in PvP?
Not really.  The main nuke (frostfire bolt) is too long.  Though it does slow the target like a frostbolt, it just gives other players too much time to silence/stun you while you’re casting for 3 seconds.  With some tweaking, the spec I described above can be changed into a more PvP-friendly spec (by adding Blastwave and Dragon’s Breath, and getting rid of Precision).  If you plan on being frostfire specced for PvE (but you still like to PvP), I would recommend purchasing dual spec.

What is a good rotation for frostfire PvE?
BOSSES: Living Bomb -> Stack Scorch (x5) -> Refresh Living Bomb -> Frostfire Bolt (x3-4, depending on your haste) -> Refresh Scorch (x1) -> Refresh Living Bomb.
One of the most important things for your DPS as a frostfire mage is to use Hot Streak whenever it procs.  Hot Streak is a talented move that gives you an instant pyroblast (but not free in mana terms) whenever you critically hit twice in a row with a fireball, fireblast, living bomb, scorch, or frostfire bolt.
SINGLE TARGET TRASH: Living Bomb -> Frostfire Bolt -> Refresh Living Bomb as needed.
If you have the glyph for improved scorch (which applies all 5 debuffs in one hit) you may consider scorching trash – I don’t play with this glyph, so I reserve scorch stacking for bosses.
AOE TRASH: Highest rank Living Bomb on one target -> Second highest rank Living Bomb on another -> Blizzard

Always try to put your living bomb on the mobs that have the most life in an AoE group, so that the mobs live long enough to explode.

Edit: I don’t actually apply two Living Bombs in my rotation because it generates too much threat, tanks can’t keep up, and I usually end up dead.  A friend has told me recently that this no longer works.  I will double check and update as needed,

**Spending time with your friendly neighborhood target dummy is a great way to get your rotation tight.**

How should I gear as a frostfire mage?
The most important thing for any DPS class is to be at (or very near) hit cap.  For the spec I described above, the hit cap is 368.  Some people may disagree with me on this, but I think that the strongest stat after hit cap for a frostfire mage is critical strike rating, because we receive mana back from crits and crits can proc Hot Streak.  Closely following critical strike rating is spell power, which will increase the base damage of all your spells.  After critical strike and spell power, you should be looking for gear that has spirit (will add more crit, but not as much as critical strike rating), haste (will decrease the pesky long cast time, but has no other real benefits), and intellect (who doesn’t want a bigger mana pool?).  In last place comes Mp5 – mana as a frostfire mage is controlled more by procs, consumables, and spells than by your mana ticking up.  Currently, my relevant stats self-buffed are as follows: 942 stamina, 1008 intellect, 646 spirit, 1773 bonus damage, 369 hit rating, 37.65% critical strike chance for fire spells, 25.68% critical strike chance for all other schools of magic, 206 haste rating, and 343 mana regen (171 in combat).  I am mostly Naxx 25 geared, with 4 or 5 pieces from Ulduar.  Fully buffed in a 25-man, I have around 50% fire spell crit and can pull around 5,000 DPS on a single-target stationary boss, such as Patchwerk.

What buffs, consumables, and glyphs should I be using?
BUFFS: Arcane Intellect and Molten Armor.
CONSUMABLES: Flask of the Frost Wyrm (flask, increases your spell power by 125 for 1 hour, persists through death), Spicy Blue Nettlefish (food, increases stamina and crit strike rating by 40), Mana Sapphire (conjured), Runic Mana/Health Potion (if needed, always good to have a few in your bags), Arcane Powder (reagent to summon mage tables and to buff the entire party with Arcane Brilliance), Rune of Teleportation/Portals (to port yourself and your friends to cities after a raid).
GLYPHS: Major Glyph of Frostfire (increases initial damage dealt by frostfire bolt by 2% and increases its crit chance by 2%), Major Glyph of Living Bomb (the tick damage can now critically hit), Major Glyph of Molten Armor (20% of your spirit is now translated to critical strike rating), and Lesser Glyph of Slow Fall (gets rid of the reagent requirement).

How should I set up my bars to play frostfire?
This is just my personal preference, but I thought I would include it in case anyone needs a jumping off point:
1 – Living Bomb
2 – Frostfire Bolt
3 – Cone of Cold
4 – Ice Lance
5 – Frost Nova
6 – Blink
7 – Mirror Image
8 – Blizzard
9 – Ice Block
10 – Arcane Explosion
– – Pyroblast
= – Scorch

What are some useful macros for frostfire mage?
It can be useful to macro your combustion, icy veins, and on-use trinkets to frostfire bolt, especially if you’re the type of person who forgets to use those things whenever they are up.  Don’t think of those spells/uses as “oh shit” buttons, but as another part of your DPS rotation that, when used well, can really increase your damage.

How do I deal with mana issues as a frostfire mage?
Frostfire is one of the least mana-intensive mage specs.  Just be aware of your mana gem cooldown – if you know you’re going to be fighting a boss for the next 10 minutes, make sure to use your first mana gem early on so that it is available for use again later in the fight.  Evocation is another option to regain a large amount of mana back, but it takes a toll on your damage due to its long channel and may by broken by periodic damage dealt by mobs/bosses.  If you are a blood elf, you can also use Arcane Torrent as a way to get mana back.  Runic Mana Potions are another option, but keep in mind that they can only be used once every fight.

How do I deal with threat issues as a frostfire mage?
As I said before, frostfire spec can deal some very big spikes in damage that can generate a large amount of threat in a short amount of time.  The best policy is to give your tank as much time as he/she needs to get threat.  When in doubt, count slowly to twenty before beginning to DPS.  Mages also have several moves they can use to manage threat:

MIRROR IMAGE: will make you “invisible” threat-wise to the boss for a period of time.  Once that period is over, threat will be re-established wherever you were before.  Always be aware of when this buff will end, because you may be ahead of the tank in threat and not realize it.

Example: You have 10 threat and the tank has 10 threat.  You activate Mirror Image and continue to DPS, and reach 25 threat by the end of the buff.  If the tank does not have more than 25 threat at this point, you will be highest on the aggro list and will be attacked.

ICE BLOCK: makes you immune to attacks and drops your threat.  Once the block wears off, threat is re-established.  Also removes most debuffs.

Example: You have 10 threat and the tank has 5 threat, so the mob is running toward you.  You use Ice Block and lose threat while blocked.  Once the buff wears off, the tank must have more than 10 threat in order for the mob not to attack you.

INVISIBILITY: makes you invisible, dropping all your threat permanently even after the buff wears off (similar to vanish or feign death).  This move can also strategically be used if your group is wiping – when timed correctly, you can be invisible when the boss resets and leave combat.

Example: You have 15 threat and the tank has 17, but you feel like you will quickly gain on them.  You activate Invisibility, and as soon as you are invisible, click it off.  You now have 0 threat and the tank has 17.

Example #2: The group is wiping, the tanks and healers are down and the boss is running loose killing all the DPS.  You Ice Block, dropping your threat momentarily.  Once the mob runs toward another group member that is far from you, you cancel Ice Block, blink away from the mob, and continue to run while activating Invisibility.  Hopefully you go invisible before the mob gets to you!  Note: It’s a good idea to let group members know you are doing this – if they live past your invisible buff, you may still be in combat and the mob will come and kill you.

What am I expected to do as a mage?
Buff the group with Arcane Brilliance, drop tables for food, ranged DPS, and occasionally crowd control using Polymorph.  You may also be expected to decurse group members during fights, kite, or silence using Counterspell.
**Always talk to other casters in the group to figure out who is doing what.  If there is more than one fire specced mage, agree on who will be stacking scorch.  If there is a warlock with improved shadowbolt, do not stack scorch, as it will get randomly consumed when the warlock move procs.**

What are some useful mods for frostfire mages?
DECURSIVE: makes decursing easier, ’nuff said.
PORTAL BOX: creates a screen for portals, so you don’t have them cluttering up your action bars.
OMEN: a more comprehensive way to look at threat than the built in Blizzard system.
DEADLY BOSS MODS: gives important information about what is going on during raid boss fights.
SCORCHIO: helps you keep track of debuffs on your target.

What should my damage meter look like?

Any questions?  Let me know!

**EDIT** Since a lot of people have asked me, yes, I did write this post myself.  🙂  If you’re going to use it on any other website, please credit me/this blog.  Also, feel free to link this to any friends you think might benefit from it.  Thanks!