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PTR
11.0.7
PTR
11.0.5
Frost Mage Artifact Weapon: Ebonchill – Legion 7.3.5
By Malon
Last Updated:
2018/06/28
Changelog
Patch: 11.0.5
Table of Contents
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This section of the Frost Mage guide explains the best possible choices for the Netherlight Crucible, important traits and relic bonuses, and how to progress through your artifact weapon Ebonchill. This guide is written and maintained by Malon, who raids with <Omen> on Emerald Dream EU; his lifelong ambition is to have the Warlock class renamed to 'Fuzzy Cuddlebears'. Find him on
Twitter
and at
Altered-Time
mage forums. Updated for the latest patch.
Artifacts in Battle for Azeroth
As of June 26th, completing the quest
The Power in Our Hands
will further empower your Artifact Weapon, enabling all traits and at least
Concordance of the Legionfall
level 75, further increasing in power over time until the Battle for Azeroth pre-expansion patch.
Therefore, only the Netherlight Crucible recommendations are relevant on this guide page leading up to BFA, as you already receive all Artifact Traits by default. This makes content easier to complete, especially some
content going away
such as
Ahead of the Curve
and
Mage Tower Challenges
.
In the
BFA pre-patch
, your Artifact Traits will be removed, and relics will simply increase the item level of your artifact weapon. However, many artifact traits are returning as talents or azerite powers in Battle for Azeroth and we have a compiled a
full list you can read here
.
Moving forward in Battle for Azeroth, you will still be able to acquire the Artifact Weapon which will mainly interest transmog collectors for the appearances. Learn how to unlock all appearances in BFA with our
Artifact Appearance Guide
.
Artifact Weapon:
Ebonchill
Active Ability
Equipping Ebonchill grants you the ability
Ebonbolt
, which, after a long cast, deals a massive amount of damage to the enemy and grants
Brain Freeze
.
Relics and the Netherlight Crucible
The
Netherlight Crucible
is a new feature in patch 7.3 that allows you to empower your relics with additional traits. It has the power to turn a previously mediocre relic into a good one, if you get lucky with the trait options it randomly rolls. For this reason, it's a good idea to always preview a relic's potential traits before you use it or throw it away. Even relics of significantly lower item level have the potential to be better than those of a higher level with the right traits.
There are three tiers of traits for each relic: the first tier adds five item levels; the second tier is a choice between a light or shadow power; and the third tier is a choice between one of three weapon traits. You can only choose one trait from each tier. In order to fully unlock the Netherlight Crucible you will need to get your artifact up to level 75, but you will earn your first light or shadow trait at artifact level 60 (and then get a new trait every three levels from there). Note that the trait options are randomly rolled for each relic, so if you equip a new relic you will have to choose new traits at the Crucible.
Below we have provided a
very basic
ranking of the Netherlight Crucible traits for the Frost Mage Artifact, from best to worst. Frost, like other Mage specs, gets the most value from the damage procs like
Torment the Weak
. For artifact traits, we recommend prioritising those listed as optimal later in this guide, or simply simming yourself - for example, using the new
Raidbots relic tool
.
Disclaimer: These Frost Mage Artifact values can change slightly based on your legendaries, overall ilevel, and talent choices. These numbers were obtained by simulating the recommended tier 20 gear and talents from this guide, using the default Mythic T20 profile. If you have the knowledge, we recommend simming your own relic options since ilevel value isn't a very precise unit of measurement. This is intended to help you quickly make relic and Crucible decisions, but it can never be 100% accurate for every character. Since these values were generated before the Crucible was unlocked, they are subject to change if it's found out they weren't being simulated properly. In such a case, this guide will be updated. With the opening of
Antorus, the Burning Throne
, it is now possible to obtain
Insignia of the Grand Army
, which increases the potency of your Tier 2 Crucible traits by 50%. It might be a really strong legendary if you are lucky with Netherlight Crucible rolls!
Single Target Trait Values
Crucible Traits
Approx. damage increase
Torment the Weak
1.7%
Infusion of Light
1.6%
Secure in the Light
1.6%
Shadowbind
1.6%
Chaotic Darkness
1.4%
Murderous Intent
1%
Light Speed
0.9%
Shocklight
0.8%
Master of Shadows
0.6%
Dark Sorrows
0.3%
Artifact Traits
Item level value
Let It Go
+4
Obsidian Lance
+4
Clarity of Thought
+4
Frozen Veins
+3
Ice Age
+3
Icy Caress
+2
Orbital Strike
+1
The Storm Rages
+0
Jouster
+0
Shield of Alodi
+0
AoE Damage Traits
The Storm Rages
and
Dark Sorrows
are more difficult to rank, since most of their value comes in pure AoE situations. If you spend a lot of time in Mythic+ it can be worthwhile to take these traits, but generally you want to focus on the others since they have value in all situations.
Golden traits
Black Ice
- Grants a passive chance to empower
Icicles
, doubling their damage.
It's Cold Outside
- Increases the damage of the Water Elemental's Water Bolt by 30%. With
Lonely Winter
, increases the damage of
Frostbolt
,
Ice Lance
,
Flurry
and
Frozen Orb
by 3%.
Chilled to the Core
-
Icy Veins
increases your Frost damage by 20%.
Glacial Eruption
- A pillar of ice erupts from the location of your Ebonbolt target after one second, dealing heavy damage.
Regular traits
Shattering Bolts
- Increases Frostbolt's critical strike chance (15%).
Let It Go
- Increases Ice Lance's critical damage (4%/8%/12%).
Ice Nine
-
Frostbolt
has a chance to generate two
Icicles
.
Shield of Alodi
- Increases the damage absorbed by
Ice Barrier
(20%/40%/60%).
The Storm Rages
- Increases Blizzard's critical strike chance (5%/10%/15%).
Chain Reaction
-
Frostbolt
critical strikes increase the damage of
Ice Lance
by 10%, stacking three times.
Jouster
- When Ice Lance deals damage, you take less damage (2%/4%/6%).
Frozen Veins
-
Frostbolt
critical strikes reduce the cooldown on
Icy Veins
(0.5/1/1.5 seconds).
Clarity of Thought
-
Frostbolt
has an additional chance to activate
Brain Freeze
(2%/4%/6%).
Icy Caress
- Increases Frostbolt's damage (3%/6%/10%).
Icy Hand
- Increases maximum
Fingers of Frost
charges by one.
Ice Age
- Increases Flurry's damage (5%/10%/15%).
Orbital Strike
- Increases Frozen Orb's critical damage (15%/30%/45%).
Obsidian Lance
- Increases Ice Lance's damage to frozen targets (3%/6%/9%/12%).
Freezing Rain
-
Frozen Orb
makes
Blizzard
instant cast.
Recommended build paths
Highest damage
First proceed to
It's Cold Outside
, picking up
Let It Go
on the way:
Then proceed to
Chilled to the Core
:
Next head to
Black Ice
. Note the supplemental talents picked up en route:
Fill in with
Orbital Strike
and
Spellborne
before taking the new 7.2 traits:
Once all traits have been filled, you can start to put points into the original weapon traits that, from 7.2, have more ranks. In order of damage increase these are:
Let It Go
;
Frozen Veins
;
Clarity of Thought
;
Ice Age
;
Icy Caress
;
The Storm Rages
;
Orbital Strike
;
Jouster
;
Shield of Alodi
; and
Concordance of the Legionfall
.
Survivability
Mage
s have few survivability options on their artifacts, with more of a ‘Kill them before they kill you' approach.
Shield of Alodi
is very potent and should be picked up quickly, but the other defensive,
Jouster
, is not necessary until after picking up the other damage options.
Relics
Focus on acquiring relics that benefit the following traits on the Frost Mage Artifact. Learn more about relics in the
Legion Artifact Guide
:
Clarity of Thought
Let It Go
Frozen Veins
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