Mage leveling guide: Frost 1-60
Frost is the safest mage tree for leveling: everything you hit is slowed, and 
Frost Nova and 
Cone of Cold keep enemies away. Frost also changed the most in Forever, with 
Ice Barrier at the bottom of the tree that now raises Frost damage too. The rest goes into Arcane for Clearcasting and mana. New to the class? Read the mage overview first.
The build
| Talent split | Arcane 17 / Frost 34 |
| Weapon | A staff, or a one-hand with an off-hand item, and a wand |
| Stats | Intellect, Stamina, Spirit |
| Calculator | Open this build in the talent calculator |
The order is checked against the Forever talent trees.
Talent order
One point per level from 10.
| Levels | Talent | Tree | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-14 |  Improved Frostbolt |
Frost | 5/5 |
| 15-19 |  Ice Shards |
Frost | 5/5 |
| 20-22 |  Piercing Ice |
Frost | 3/3 |
| 23 |  Improved Blizzard |
Frost | 1/3 |
| 24 |  Cold Snap |
Frost | 1/1 |
| 25-27 |  Frost Channeling |
Frost | 3/3 |
| 28-29 |  Improved Frost Nova |
Frost | 2/2 |
| 30 |  Ice Block |
Frost | 1/1 |
| 31-33 | Improved Cone of Cold |
Frost | 3/3 |
| 34 |  Shatter |
Frost | 1/5 |
| 35-39 |  Winter’s Chill |
Frost | 5/5 |
| 40 | Ice Barrier |
Frost | 1/1 |
| 41-43 |  Precision |
Frost | 3/3 |
| 44-45 |  Arcane Subtlety |
Arcane | 2/2 |
| 46-48 |  Arcane Focus |
Arcane | 3/5 |
| 49-53 |  Arcane Concentration |
Arcane | 5/5 |
| 54-55 |  Magic Absorption |
Arcane | 2/5 |
| 56 |  Arcane Resilience |
Arcane | 1/1 |
| 57-58 |  Arcane Geometry |
Arcane | 2/2 |
| 59-60 |  Arcane Meditation |
Arcane | 2/3 |
Why this order. Improved Frostbolt shortens your main spell. Ice Shards doubles the bonus of Frost critical strikes, and Piercing Ice adds damage to every Frost spell. One point of Improved Blizzard adds a slow to Blizzard for area leveling, and Cold Snap resets Frost Nova and Ice Block when a pull goes wrong. Frost Channeling cuts mana costs, Improved Frost Nova and Shatter turn frozen enemies into easy critical strikes. Ice Block, Improved Cone of Cold and Winter’s Chill lead to Ice Barrier at 40. Precision adds hit. From 44, Arcane gives Arcane Subtlety, Arcane Focus and Arcane Concentration for free spells, then Magic Absorption, Arcane Resilience, Arcane Geometry and Arcane Meditation.
Abilities by level
Levels are from the Forever client. In Forever, 
Ice Lance is a trainer spell from 20.
| Level | Ability |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Fireball |
| 1 |  Frost Armor |
| 4 | Frostbolt |
| 4 |  Conjure Water |
| 6 |  Fire Blast |
| 8 |  Polymorph |
| 8 |  Arcane Missiles |
| 10 | Frost Nova |
| 14 |  Arcane Explosion |
| 20 | Blizzard |
| 20 |  Mana Shield |
| 20 |  Blink |
| 20 |  Evocation |
| 20 | Ice Lance |
| 24 |  Counterspell |
| 26 | Cone of Cold |
Level by level
1 to 10. Fireball until you learn Frostbolt at 4, then Frostbolt. Frost Armor on all the time. Conjure your own water from 4 and never pay for drinks again.
10 to 20. Frost Nova at 10: freeze, step back, Frostbolt. Arcane Explosion at 14 for enemies standing in a frozen group. Polymorph a second enemy and kill the first.
20 to 30. Blink, Blizzard, Evocation and Mana Shield at 20. Ice Lance is instant damage on the move. Cone of Cold at 26. From here you can start gathering several weak enemies and killing them with area spells, but only if you are ready to Blink out.
30 to 40. Ice Block saves you from a bad pull. Winter’s Chill and Shatter make frozen targets fragile. Ice Barrier at 40 absorbs damage and raises your Frost damage while it holds.
40 to 60. Area leveling becomes your main way to gain experience: gather, Frost Nova, Blizzard, Cone of Cold, Blink, repeat. Learn the teleports to your capital and use them to sell and train.
Tips
- Never fight in melee. Frost Nova and step back is your answer to almost everything.
- Conjure food and water for your party in dungeons; it is a big part of why groups like mages.
- Polymorph does not hold if the enemy takes damage, so keep area spells away from it.
- Watch your mana in long pulls and use Evocation before you run dry, not after.
The talent order and ability levels come from the Forever client files (build 1.60.1.70790); the advice per level follows the original game and will be checked in Forever.