Mage Armors: Frost, Ice and Mage Armor plus Defensive Spells

◆The three mage armors: which one to pick

A mage can have only one armor active at a time. All three last 30 minutes and are instant casts, so you can swap them right before a pull. The full spell list is in the mage abilities reference.

Frost Armor and Ice Armor

Frost Armor is the first mage armor: ranks at levels 1, 10 and 20 grant 30, 110 and 200 armor. Its key feature is the Chilled effect: an enemy that strikes the mage in melee may have movement slowed by 30% and attack speed reduced by 25% for 5 seconds.

At level 30 it is replaced by Ice Armor — the same Chilled effect with more armor and a Frost resistance bonus:

The Frost talent Frost Warding increases the armor from both spells. Ice Armor is the pick for solo leveling and for fighting melee opponents: the slow helps you keep your distance.

Mage Armor

Mage Armor becomes available at level 34, with ranks at 34, 46 and 58. It raises resistance to all magic schools by 5, 10 and 15 and, more importantly, allows 30% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting. Normally Spirit-based regeneration stops for five seconds after each spell; Mage Armor partly keeps it going. For long raid and dungeon fights this is the main armor.

◆Mana Shield and Ice Barrier

Mana Shield absorbs damage using mana: 2 mana per point of damage absorbed, lasting 1 minute. Ranks are at levels 20, 28, 36, 44, 52 and 60; the final rank absorbs 570 damage. The shield is a lifesaver while leveling when a mob catches you, but in a drawn-out fight it burns your mana pool quickly.

Ice Barrier is a deep Frost talent. It is an instant 1-minute shield on a 30-second cooldown; at level 60 the top rank absorbs 826 damage. While the shield holds, your spells are not interrupted by incoming damage. That is why Frost mages are so strong in PvP — see the Frost mage build guide.

Ice Block10 seconds of immunity

◆Ice Block

Ice Block is a Frost talent: the mage is encased in ice for 10 seconds, immune to physical attacks and spells, but cannot move, attack or cast. The cooldown is 5 minutes; the Cold Snap talent instantly finishes the cooldown of all Frost spells, including Ice Block. Ice Block prevents deaths, buys time for the healer to top you up and is excellent in PvP. To plan your points, check the mage talent builds.

Dampen Magic and Amplify Magic

These are not armors but 10-minute buffs cast on a party member:

• Dampen Magic — levels 12, 24, 36, 48, 60. Reduces spell damage taken by the target (up to 90 at max rank), but incoming healing is reduced twice as much (up to 180). Useful against caster mobs while soloing.
• Amplify Magic — levels 18, 30, 42, 54. Increases incoming healing (up to 150) at the cost of more spell damage taken (up to 75). Sometimes placed on the tank when a boss deals physical damage.

What to use: PvP and PvE

In PvP Ice Armor is usually the better choice: Chilled slows warriors and rogues while the armor reduces their damage. Against warlocks and priests Mage Armor makes sense. Full tactics are in the mage PvP guide.

◆Related guides

• Classic mage guide
• Mage abilities
• Mage talent builds
• Mage PvP
• Mage AoE farming
• Mage portals and teleports

Want to test mage armor yourself? Register on WoW x5 and connect to the server — boosted rates will get you to Ice Barrier faster.