Death Knight Frost Rotation & Opener
Built from the current top-100 Mythic parses on WarcraftLogs — the real opener sequences, casts-per-minute and buff uptimes of the best Frost players, not theorycraft.
AI coach — raid
How to play: Obliterate is the absolute core (top players: 23.8/min); dump runic power with Frost Strike to avoid capping, fill gaps with Howling Blast. Line up Pillar of Frost and Reaper's Mark on cooldown for burst windows (1.4/min each = barely a wasted cooldown). Watch: never cap runes or runic power — the Obliterate-to-Frost-Strike ratio is roughly 3:2, so hands never stop; pour everything into your burst windows.
Real Opener Sequences — Vorasius
First ~12 casts of actual top-ranked kills. Trinkets and racials vary by setup; the skill order is what to copy.
Talgut — Tichondrius (US)
1.
Empower Rune Weapon
2.
Obliterate
3.
Light's Potential
4.
Pillar of Frost
5.
Reaper's Mark
6.
Raise Dead
7.
Breath of Sindragosa
8.
Charge!
9.
Lichborne
10.
Obliterate
11.
Empower Rune Weapon
12.
Exterminate
Appelpi — Sargeras (US)
1.
Death's Advance
2.
Reaper's Mark
3.
Light's Potential
4.
Empower Rune Weapon
5.
Raise Dead
6.
Breath of Sindragosa
7.
Pillar of Frost
8.
Charge!
9.
Obliterate
10.
Exterminate
11.
Frostwyrm's Fury
12.
Exterminate
runbupae — ajeusyara (KR)
1.
Empower Rune Weapon
2.
Obliterate
3.
Reaper's Mark
4.
Raise Dead
5.
Charge!
6.
Pillar of Frost
7.
Breath of Sindragosa
8.
Frostwyrm's Fury
9.
Obliterate
10.
Empower Rune Weapon
11.
Exterminate
12.
Obliterate
Casts Per Minute — Raid Benchmark
| Ability | Top-player CPM |
|---|---|
| Obliterate | 23.8 |
| Frost Strike | 16.3 |
| Howling Blast | 9.5 |
| Empower Rune Weapon | 7.2 |
| Exterminate | 4.3 |
| Reaper's Mark | 1.4 |
| Pillar of Frost | 1.4 |
| Charge! | 0.9 |
| Breath of Sindragosa | 0.9 |
| Frostwyrm's Fury | 0.9 |
| Raise Dead | 0.9 |
| Frostwyrm's Fury | 0.9 |
| Death's Advance | 0.8 |
| Anti-Magic Shell | 0.6 |
CPM = median casts per minute across the sampled top kills. If you're far below on a core ability, that's usually the first thing to fix.
Buff Uptimes to Watch
| Buff | Top-player uptime |
|---|---|
| Rune Carved Plates | 97.1% |
| Rune Carved Plates | 95.3% |
| Cryogenic Chamber | 80.1% |
| Unholy Strength | 75.9% |
| Arcanoweave Insight | 74.2% |
| Visage | 70.3% |
| Alnscorned Essence | 67.8% |
| Frost Shield | 62.5% |
| Rune Mastery | 59.6% |
| Bonegrinder | 50.1% |
Mythic+ Differences
AI coach — Mythic+
How to play: Swap Obliterate for Frostscythe on packs, keep Howling Blast for procs, and aim Glacial Advance down a line of enemies. Switch back to Obliterate on single elites and bosses. Watch: Icy Talons (92.5% uptime) — it's sustained by continuous attacks, drops during transitions, so rebuild stacks immediately on engagement.
Casts Per Minute — Mythic+ Benchmark
| Ability | Top-player CPM |
|---|---|
| Obliterate | 11.3 |
| Howling Blast | 7.7 |
| Frost Strike | 6.7 |
| Frostbane | 6.4 |
| Empower Rune Weapon | 5.9 |
| Frostscythe | 5.8 |
| Exterminate | 3.5 |
| Glacial Advance | 1.9 |
| Pillar of Frost | 1.2 |
| Reaper's Mark | 1.2 |
| Anti-Magic Shell | 0.8 |
| Death's Advance | 0.8 |
| Breath of Sindragosa | 0.6 |
| Raise Dead | 0.6 |
Mythic+ Buff Uptimes
| Buff | Top-player uptime |
|---|---|
| Icy Talons | 92.5% |
| Killing Streak | 85.7% |
| Rune Carved Plates | 85.0% |
| Rune Carved Plates | 83.2% |
| Frost Shield | 74.7% |
| Cryogenic Chamber | 74.1% |
| Arcanoweave Insight | 71.6% |
| Unholy Strength | 62.8% |
| Alnscorned Essence | 55.6% |
| Rune Mastery | 48.7% |
Compare yourself in-game, live
The GearInsight addon overlays your own CPM and buff uptimes next to these benchmarks during combat.