| Ice Block | |
|---|---|
| |
| Properties | |
| Class | Mage |
| School | Frost |
| Cooldown | 4 minutes |
| Other information | |
| Level learned | 50 |
| Improvements |
 [Cold Snap],  [Glacial Insulation] |
| Related buff | |
| |
| Related debuff | |
| |
Ice Block is a level 50 mage spell that gives short-term immunity to all damage and attacks (except priest's 
[Mass Dispel]), at the price of being able to take no action. Ice Block also purges most debuffs.
Using Ice Block debuffs the mage with Hypothermia for 30 seconds, which prevents them from using Ice Block during that time. The effect is similar to the paladin debuff 
[Forbearance].
"Ice Block" is often used as a verb, meaning to use Ice Block to avoid an attack, as in "I Ice Blocked that rogue's 
[Envenom]." When Ice Block is used to remove a debuff, it is commonly referred to as "Ice Blocking out of ~", as in "I Ice Blocked out of sheep."
Improvements
- [Cold Snap] (Frost) - Resets the cooldown on Ice Block.
Talents
- [Glacial Insulation] (Frost) - Ice Block casts
[Ice Barrier] on the mage when it ends.
Notes
In the WoW TCG.
Casting the spell while you're already Ice Blocked (hitting the hotbar key again) will cancel the spell. It won't cancel itself on a second tap until the global cooldown has finished.
Ice Block removes most harmful debuff(s) on caster, even if the caster is not in control of their actions. This includes effects such as 
[Cheap Shot], 
[Fear], 
[Seduction], and 
[Polymorph]. Due to the technicality that it "purges" the harmful effect without specifically dispelling it, on-dispel effects like 
[Unstable Affliction]'s damage and silence will not be triggered. Certain raid-level debuffs are not dispellable by Ice Block, but in most cases, it will still prevent you from taking damage.
In raiding, certain boss abilities and debuffs will deal damage through Ice Block, as they are designed to pierce through immunities. Additionally, mind control effects cast by raid bosses always disable the use of Ice Block, and mind control effects that are applied through debuffs (such as Corruptor's Pact) will still be applied even if Ice Block is active.
Ice Block can be removed via [Mass Dispel].
Tips and tactics
A gnome mage using Ice Block.
Ice Block is useful for escaping from incapacitating effects and crowd-control spells, waiting for your cooldowns, blocking a large single-hit attack (such as 
[Pyroblast]), or buying time for a healer to heal you.
In a one-on-one battle, Ice Block may give your opponent time to cool down abilities, heal, or run. You should rarely let Ice Block expire on its own, but instead cancel when the timing is right, usually immediately after casting.
Ice Block can be used to avoid fall damage (see 
[Blink] and 
[Slow Fall] for other ways). While Ice Blocked your character falls normally, but doesn't take any damage when hitting the ground. (In previous patches, an Ice Blocked mage would hover in the air, then begin to fall when the spell expired.)
Ice Block will prevent drowning and fatigue damage, and reset the damage counter (not the bar) to zero. You will still lose breath and become fatigued while Ice Blocked.
Ice Block is powerful enough to remove almost any debuff, including 
[Living Bomb]. Some notable exceptions are 
[Resurrection Sickness], Vaelastrasz's Burning Adrenaline, Deathbringer Saurfang's Mark of the Fallen Champion and the Deserter debuff from battlegrounds.
Contrary to popular belief, Ice Block will not reduce your current threat level. The reason for this misunderstanding is that enemy AI is programmed to ignore you if you are invincible and move on to the next-highest target on its hate list. As soon as the effect fades the enemy may resume attacking you. However, it will prevent you from performing any actions that generate threat, allowing others (who are still attacking, healing, etc) to rise ahead of you on the mob's hate list. Use 
[Invisibility] to remove threat.
Using this macro a mage can instantly stop casting a spell and ice block to protect themselves with no delay. This makes it very useful in PvP or PvE situations which requires you to have fast reflexes to a changing situation.
/stopcasting /cast ice block
Trivia
- Ice Block is an epic Mage spell in Hearthstone. The flavor text reads: "Ice is nice, and will suffice!"
Patches and hotfixes
- Patch 7.1.5 (2017-01-10): Now learned at level 50. Cooldown reduced to 4 minutes, down from 5 minutes. Mana cost removed (was 15 mana).
- Hotfix (2016-12-06): Ice Block's cooldown will correctly reset at the end of an encounter.
- Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Now learned at level 26.
- Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Now learned at level 15.
- Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Now learned at level 26.
- Patch 2.3.2 (2008-01-08): Ice Block is no longer a talent, and is now trainable at level 30.
- Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13): Ice Block has been reverted back to its old behavior.
- Originally, a player who Ice Blocked in midair would continue to fall normally. At one point this was changed so an Ice Blocked player hovered while the spell was active, then began to fall when it expired.
- Originally, a player who Ice Blocked in midair would continue to fall normally. At one point this was changed so an Ice Blocked player hovered while the spell was active, then began to fall when it expired.
- Patch 2.1.0 (2007-05-22): Hypothermia debuff added.
- Prior to this, a mage with Ice Block and [Cold Snap] could be protected for 20 consecutive seconds, with only a short interruption to use Cold Snap.
- Prior to this, a mage with Ice Block and
- Patch 1.12.0 (2006-08-22): Fixed a bug that was causing Ice Block to trigger a 5 minute cooldown on the [Gnomish Cloaking Device].
- Patch 1.4.0 (2005-04-19): Fixed race condition where damage would sometimes be applied after Ice Block was activated.
- Patch 0.9 (2004-08-17):
- Duration slightly increased.
- Now a buff instead of a debuff (you can cancel it).
See also
External links
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