Ice Barrier

For the pet battle ability, see [Ice Barrier].

Ice Barrier
Ice Barrier Level 16 mage ability 3% of base mana 25 sec cooldown Instant Shields you for 1 min, absorbing (1000% of spell power) damage. While the shield holds, spellcasting will not be interrupted by damage.
Properties
Class	Mage
School	Frost
Cooldown	25 seconds
Other information
Level learned	16
Improvements	[Dense Ice]
Related buff
Magic Ice Barrier Absorbs (1000% of spell power) damage. Duration: 1 minute

Ice Barrier is a level 16 mage ability. It is an important defensive cooldown, shielding the caster for up to 60 seconds, absorbing damage similarly to a priest's [Power Word: Shield]. The shield absorbs physical, magical, and most environmental damage (fall damage is not absorbed). Damage from DoTs such as poison is also absorbed.

Notes

• The total amount the shield can absorb is increased by 1000% of the caster's spell power.
• While shielded, spells do not lose casting time due to push-back interruption. However other effects such as debuffs, snares, [Counterspell], and silence still pass through.
• Ice Barrier stacks with other damage shield spells such as [Power Word: Shield].
• To use the spell most effectively, it should be cast before the mage is about to sustain damage.

Improvements

• [Dense Ice] (honor talent)

Trivia

• Ice Barrier is a common Mage spell in Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. The flavor text reads: "This is Rank 1. Rank 2 is Chocolate Milk Barrier."

Patches and hotfixes

• Hotfix (2016-08-24): The Dense Ice version of Ice Barrier can now be properly refreshed, even when the shield is undamaged.
  
• Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Changed to a level 16 ability for all specializations. Now absorbs 202% more damage.
  
• Patch 5.1.0 (2012-11-27): The damage absorbed by Ice Barrier has been reduced by 25%.
  
• Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Now available to all specializations as a talent. Cooldown reduced from 30 to 25 sec.
  
• Patch 4.1.0 (2011-04-26): Base damage value has been increased by approximately 120%. In addition, the benefit from spell power has been increased by approximately 8%.
  
• Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): No longer has [Cold Snap] as a prerequisite.
  
• Patch 2.3.2 (2008-01-08): The talent, [Ice Block], required to obtain Ice Barrier was removed from the Frost (talent tree), moving [Cold Snap] up in its place to make room for a new talent, [Icy Veins].
  
• Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13): Ice Barrier will gain an additional benefit from frost spell damage gear, however the base amount of damage absorbed for ranks 5 and 6 has been lowered.
  
• Patch 2.1.0 (2007-05-22): Ice Barrier Rank 6 was added.
  
• Patch 1.11.0 (2006-06-19): Ice Barrier received an overhaul. The spell was changed to stack with [Power Word: Shield] (which previously overwrote it), had its cooldown reduced from 2 minutes to 30 seconds, gained the benefit of frost spell damage, and was prioritized to absorb damage before Mana Shield (original), thus saving mana when using both shields.
  
• Patch 0.9 (2004-08-17): Training costs added to ranks.
  

See also

• [Blazing Barrier]
• [Prismatic Barrier]

External links

• Wowhead
• WoWDB