Frostbolt
Frostbolt 30 yds. range 6%-11% of base mana 3 sec cast Launches a bolt of frost at the enemy, causing 888 to 959 Frost damage and slowing movement speed by 40% for 12 sec.
Usable by
Class	Mage
Properties
Type	Offensive
School	Frost
Cooldown	None/Global Cooldown
Talents
Improvement talents	Improved Frostbolt, Precision, Ice Shards, Piercing Ice, Frostbite, Permafrost, Frost Channeling, Arctic Reach, Winter's Chill, Arctic Winds, Empowered Frostbolt, Arcane Instability, Spell Power, Playing with Fire, Molten Fury, Shatter
Other information
Ranks	13
Related debuff
Magic Frostbolt Movement slowed by 40%. Duration: 12 seconds

• Frostbolt
• 30 yds. range
• 6%-11% of base mana
• 3 sec cast
• Launches a bolt of frost at the enemy, causing 888 to 959 Frost damage and slowing movement speed by 40% for 12 sec.

"Wearing heavy plate is taxing enough without having to lug around another eighty pounds of ice." —Warrax^[1]

Frostbolt is a mage spell that deals frost direct damage and chills the target, slowing its movement speed. This spell is the primary source of damage for a frost mage.

Table

Frostbolt is available at level 7 for 2 71.

Notes

• All ranks of Frostbolt damage scale slightly with level after training it (game version 2.1.3).^{[citation needed]}

Frostbolt at max rank gets 81.4% of the caster's frost spell damage from gear and buffs. This figure is derived from the cast time and the 5% penalty for spells with a secondary effect, such as Frostbolt's chill effect (an exception to which is [Frostfire Bolt]).

.95(3.0 / 3.5) ~ .814

The talent [Empowered Frostbolt] increases the bonus by 5% per rank. To calculate the spell damage bonus, use the following formula, where Y is the number of points in Empowered Frostbolt:^[2]

(.95(3/3.5) + .05Y)

Multiplying this spell damage bonus by the amount of frost spell damage from gear and buffs gives the final amount added to the base Frostbolt damage.

Improvements

Improved Frostbolt will lower the cast time of Frostbolt by up to .5 seconds at max rank. Empowered Frostbolt at max rank will increase the amount of frost spell damage that applies to the spell by 10%, and further reduces cast time by .2 sec.

Elemental Precision and Frost Channeling reduce the mana cost of the spell, while Frost Channeling also lowers its threat. Frostbolt deals Frost damage, so the bonuses from Piercing Ice, Ice Shards, Arctic Winds and Winter's Chill apply to the spell. Arctic Reach extends the range to 36 yards at max rank. Master of Elements will refund a percentage of the mana cost of the spell if it critically hits its target.

The chill component of Frostbolt is affected by Permafrost, which increases the duration of the snare to 12 seconds at max rank, and increases the snare to 50% of movement speed. Also, the chill will trigger the Frostbite talent. Permafrost also reduces the target´s healing received by 20% at max rank.

As with all mage spells capable of critical hits, Arcane Instability, Spell Power, Molten Fury, Playing with Fire and Shatter can increase the effective damage output of this spell.

As of Patch 3.0.2, Impact from the Fire talent tree will work with any spell, including Frostbolt. With Frostbolt's snare and possible root effects, this additional stun can help further slow down one's opponents.

Lastly, Glyph of Frostbolt increases the damage it deals by 5%, but removes its slowing effect. Frostbolt will still apply chill-based effects like Brain Freeze and Fingers of Frost.

Tips and tactics

Even though the duration of the snare is shorter, the fast casting time on the low ranks of this spell means never letting the big one get away. Keep rank one on your hotbar when you or your group are going to be facing enemies that flee when at low health... this includes PvP, the downside, is that this actually costs more mana per cast.

Patch changes

• Patch 3.3.3 (2010-03-23): Spell power scaling on this spell has been increased by approximately 5%. 
  
• Patch 2.1.0 (22-May-2007): Damage on rank 12 was increased slightly to ensure it did more damage than rank 11 at all levels. 
  
• Patch 1.6.0 (12-Jul-2005): Targets that are immune to movement slowing effects will no longer be affected by Frostbolt's movement slowing effect. Damage will still be caused. 
  

References

External ilnks

• Wowhead
• Thottbot
• WoWDB

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