| Ice Block | |
|---|---|
| |
| Properties | |
| Class | Mage |
| School | Frost |
| Cooldown | 5 min |
| Talents | |
| Talent tree | Frost, Tier 5 |
| Talent required | None |
| Improvements |
 [Ice Floes] |
| Related buff | |
| |
[[Category:mage abilities]][[Category:mage abilities]]
[Ice Block] is a mage spell that gives short-term immunity to all damage and attacks, at the cost of being able to take no action. Ice Block also purges most debuffs.
Using Ice Block debuffs the mage with Hypothermia for 30 seconds, which prevents him from using Ice Block during that time. This is only relevant for mages with the 
[Cold Snap] ability, which will reset the cooldown for Ice Block. It prevents the mage from casting Ice Block, then resetting the cooldown and immediately casting it again. The effect is similar to the Paladin debuff 
[Forbearance].
"Iceblock" is often used as a verb, meaning to use Ice Block to avoid an attack, as in "I iceblocked that rogue's 
[Eviscerate]." When Ice Block is used to remove a debuff, it is commonly referred to as "iceblocking out of ~", as in "I iceblocked out of sheep."
| Rank | Mana Cost | Minimum Level | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | 30 | Talent |
Talent improvements
With 2 talents into [Ice Floes], it will reduce the cooldown time for Ice Block to 4 minutes. 4 minutes, 30 seconds with 1 point.
Wearing 4 pieces of Aldor Regalia reduces the cooldown of Ice block an additional 40 seconds.
With both of these bonuses, you can reduce the cooldown of Ice block to 3 minutes, 20 seconds (3.33 min).
Ice block also becomes 13 mana with 
[Elemental Precision] (3% less mana) and 
[Frost Channeling] (15% less mana).
Notes
Casting the spell while you're already iceblocked (hitting the hotbar key again) will cancel the spell. It won't cancel itself on a second tap until the global cooldown has finished.
Ice Block dispels almost any harmful debuff(s) on caster, even if the caster is not in control of his/her actions. This includes polymorph and all of a Rogue's stuns. Certain raid-level debuffs are not dispellable by Ice Block, but it will still prevent you from taking damage.
Ice Block can be removed via 
[Mass Dispel], and in rare cases 
[Purge] and 
[Dispel Magic] only if these spells are cast at the same time as [Ice Block].
Tips and tactics
A gnome mage using Ice Block.
Ice Block is useful for escaping from incapacitating effects and crowd-control spells, waiting for your cooldowns, blocking a large single-hit attack (such as Pyroblast, Eviscerate), or buying time for a healer to heal you.
In a one-on-one battle, Ice Block may give your opponent time to cool down abilities, heal, or run. You should rarely let Ice Block expire on its own, but instead cancel when the timing is right, usually immediately after casting.
If used in conjunction with [Cold Snap], Ice Block can be used up to 3 times every 10 minutes, and with [Ice Floes] every 8 minutes.
Ice Block can be used to avoid fall damage (see 
[Blink] and Slow Fall for other ways). While Ice Blocked your character falls normally, but doesn't take any damage when hitting the ground. (In previous patches, an Ice Blocked mage would hover in the air, then begin to fall when the spell expired.)
If you Iceblock in the path of a moving ship or zeppelin, it will pass through you. If you end up inside, you can cancel Ice Block and safely move around as if you boarded the ship or zeppelin the normal way.
Ice Block will prevent drowning and fatigue damage, and reset the damage counter (not the bar) to zero. You will still lose breath and become fatigued while iceblocked.
Ice Block is powerful enough to remove almost any debuff, including Baron Geddon's Living Bomb or Baron Rivendare's 45-minute debuff. (However, doing so will not prevent you from completing the 45-minute Stratholme run.) Some notable exceptions are 
[Resurrection Sickness], Vaelastrasz's Burning Adrenaline, and the Deserter debuff from battlegrounds.
Using Ice Block while carrying the flag in Warsong Gulch will make you drop it. When flag carrying, use a macro to cast Ice Block the quickly remove it while clicking quickly on the flag location to purge debuffs (such as snares) then retake the flag.
Contrary to popular belief, Ice Block will NOT reduce your current threat level. The reason for this misunderstanding is that enemy AI is programmed to ignore you if you are invincible and move on to the next-highest target on its hate list. As soon as the effect fades the enemy may resume attacking you. However, it will prevent you from performing any actions that generate aggro, allowing others (who are still attacking, healing, etc) to rise ahead of you on the mob's hate list. Use 
[Invisibility] to remove aggro.
It is worth noting that a level 70 priest can use [Mass Dispel] to remove ice block. This may be followed with a 
[Shadow Word: Death] for a quick kill if the mage is low on health. 
[Improved Counterspell] could be useful here if you manually break ice block while the priest is casting, but act quickly.
Changes made
The Hypothermia debuff was added in Patch 2.1.0. Prior to this, a mage with Ice Block and [Cold Snap] could be protected for 20 consecutive seconds, with only a short interruption to use Cold Snap.
Originally, a player who Ice Blocked in midair would continue to fall normally. At one point this was changed so an Ice Blocked player hovered while the spell was active, then began to fall when it expired. In Patch 2.3.0, Ice Block was reverted back to its old behavior.
Future change
It is planned for Ice Block to be trainable, as insurance for all specs in PvE, as well as increasing Fire and Arcane PvP effectiveness.[1]
References
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