We’ve already cover some of the basics in Frost Mage PvP: 101, now let us get into more details about what else we need to know.

The stats you need for PvP is a little bit different from PvE. Of course you will still need Spell Power, Crit, Haste, and Hit; but now you will also need two other stats: Resilience and Spell Penetration.

Spell Power: Self explanatory. The more you have, the more damage you do. Get a lot of it.

Critical Strike Rating: An important stat for doing spike damage, but as a Frost Mage, you don’t NEED it. You will rely on your many talents for your critical strike rates.

Haste: Much more important than Critical Strike Rating for a Frost Mage. The more Haste you have, the faster you cast. The faster you cast, the more damage you do.

Hit Rating: In PvP, you won’t need as much as you did for PvE since you will be fighting opponents at your own level. For PvP purposes, you will only need 4% Hit Rating total. 105 Hit Rating without talents.

Spell Penetration: Is (for the most part) a PvP only stat which will negate your opponent’s Spell Resists. Each point of Spell Penetration will negate a point of Spell Resist.

There isn’t much gear with this stat, so most of your Spell Penetration will come from your enchants and gems.

The hardest part about Spell Penetration is figuring how you need, and against some opponents, Spell Penetration is not needed, and is a wasted stat. It is still a good idea to have some Spell Penetration just in case.

For occasional PvP, having around 75 Spell Penetration is a good start. For Arena, you will want around 150 Spell Penetration.

You want to have enough Spell Penetration to effectively take your opponent’s Spell Resistance down to zero. Let’s take a look at who has Spell Resistance, and how much.

Druids: Can give themselves and their teammates Spell Resistance with a buff.

• Mark of the Wild = 54 Spell Resistance
• Improved Mark of the Wild = 75 Spell Resistance

Paladins: Can give themselves and their teammates Frost Resistance with an aura.

• Frost Resistance Aura = 130 Frost Resistance
• Aura Mastery = 260 Frost Resistance Resistance (for 6 seconds)

Shamans: Can give themselves and their teammates Frost Resistance with a totem.

• Frost Resistance Totem = 130 Frost Resistance

Death Knights: Can proc a buff on themselves and their teammates.

• Acclimation = 50 Frost Resistance (stacks 3 times)

Mages: Has self-buffs and talents which will increase their Spell Resistances.

• Magic Absorption = 80 Spell Resistance
• Mage Armor = 40 Spell Resistance
• Arcane Shielding = 60 Spell Resistance (for Mage Armor)

Remember, group/raid buffs won’t stack with each other. However, self-buffs will stack with group/raid buffs.

At most, you will need 270 Spell Penetration, and that is only against Arcane Mages partnered up with a Paladin. The minimum you will need is 54 Spell Penetration, which is against anyone with a regular Mark of the Wild.

Again, shoot for around 75 Spell Penetration for occasional PvP, and around 150 Spell Penetration for Arenas.

Resilience: A PvP only stat which will increase your survivability significantly. The more you have, the less damage you take, the longer you live.

I am just going to copy and paste what I wrote earlier about Resilience. Resilience is and even more important PvP stat than before.

Patch 3.2 gave us a new change to how Resilience works, and an addition hotfix gave us more damage reduction from Resilience, making this stat even more essential to PvP. You won’t see players with a lot of PvE gear in Arenas as much anymore.

Reduces Chance to be Critically Hit

At level 80, every 94.27 Resilience rating will net you a 1% chance reduction. For example, I have 1125 Resilience, so that will give me a 11.933% chance reduction of being critically hit.

Total Resilience / 94.27 = % Critical Hit Chance Reduction

There is currently no cap to reducing your chances of getting critically hit- so essentially you can be “uncritable” if you stack enough Resilience.

Mana Drains and Critical Strike Damage Reduction

Not only does Resilience reduces the chance of you getting hit by a critical strike, if you do get it, it will reduce the damage of the critical strike! Mana drain reduction too! Resilience is a nice stat.

[Total Resilience / 94.27] x 2.2 = % Critical Strike Damage Reduction

So I take the 11.933% Critical Hit Chance Reduction I have from my 1125 Resilience, and multiply it by 2.2 to get the % of Mana Drains and Critical Strike Damage Reduction I will have: 26.246%.

Additional Damage Reduction From All Damage Sources

On top of all that, Resilience now gives you a straight up damage reduction- and by double the amount of your % Critical Hit Chance Reduction too!

[Total Resilience / 94.27] x 2.0 = % Damage Reduction

So again I take the 11.933% Critical Hit Chance Reduction I have, then multiply it by 2.0 to get how much Damage Reduction I will have: 23.867%.

Next, I think I will get into gear, and how/where to obtain them.

Continue to Next Section:

Frost Mage PvP: 103 – Gearing for PvP

Related Posts:

• Frost Mage PvP: 101
• Guide to Frost PvE: Glyphs
• Guide to Frost PvE: Talents
• Frost Mage PvE: Lord Marrowgar
• Frost Mage PvE: Lady Deathwhisper