[Mage] Guide to PvP as Fire

[BaboonX]

Since 3.0.8 fire has been better than ever and has to be the funnest PvP spec to date. It offers good Crowd control, high burst damage, and to top it off a shit load of fun . So lets get started with the guide.

Contents:
I. Why fire?
II. Talents, Glyphs, and Gear
III. Class vs Class, and basics.
IV. Thoughts from comments.


I. Why Fire?

Fire is kind of the median between arcane and frost.. Frost offers the highest CC, where fire offers CC but not as well as frost.. but Fire offers more burst damage than frost like arcane.

Here is a list of Arcane, frost, and fire I made quickly:
Frost
-High CC
-Ok burst damage with the shatter combo..
-Can survive longer than arcane or fire.

Arcane:
-High burst (every two miniutes)
-Requires some luck with procs.
-Boring, though this is my opinion.

Fire:
-Ok CC with blast wave and dragons breath.
-Good burst damage, probably the same as frost.

Fire is really different than arcane and frost. Your main spells with frost are Frost bolt, frost nova, and ice lance.. With arcane it's Slow, arcane barrage, and arcane missiles.. But with fire it's various things.. Your main spell is scorch I well admit, but you can't just scorch to win a fight.. You well have to use ALL the spells that fire offers in order to be good.

Every mage should try to PvP with fire.. You wouldn't beleive how much fun it is. You can pull a lot of stuff with blast wave and Blazing speed.. You wouldn't beleive some of the fights I have had where I won out of pure luck.

II. Talents, glyphs and Gear

Talents:
#1 Living Bomb, IMP CS-This spec is best for BG's/World pvp. Many say living bomb is worthless, but for World pvp and BG's it's a exeption. Using this spec it has killed people in BG's that ''tried'' to run. Many people don't suspect that when living bomb expires it well do 1000 damage+ which is really nice

#2 Icy Veins, Living Bomb - This spec is really nice in duels.. With the speed of icy veins scorch is insane haha , it also well increase the damage of FFB which is really nice.. and shatter benifits from all spells which is nice. Though, if you rely on Imp CS I would go with the first one.

#3 PoM / Burn out - This spec was designed for arena, with the unsuspecting PoM it's nice for any arena set up.

Glyphs:
-Glyph of Improved Scorch*** - Pretty obvious :P
-Glyph of Icy Veins (if speced) *** - Removing all movement imparing effects with icy veisn? Two words: HELL YEAH
-Glyph of Blink** - its nice for the extra distance with fire, if you don't have icy veins then you should get blink instead.
-Glyph of Evocation***- Must have for PvP.

Minor glyphs are completely up to you.

Gear:
If you just hit 80, and need new gear the frostsavage set is the way to go untill you get enough honor/and or areana points for the next pvp set ''Gladiotors''.

Sockets you get depend on playing style, if you are getting killed pretty fast by mele try stacking a lil more res.. if your not doing enough damage get +crit gems. Blue gem sockets should always be +STAM.. Mana isn't worth A thing when your did. And now with the reduced CD on evocation, and mana gems, if you go oom you have stuff to get you back on track.

IV. Class VS Class and Basics

The Basics:

Here is a outline of basic PvP:
Always use Living bomb first if your spec.. then Use scorch tell it gets 5/5, when they get in distance for dragons breath use it... When you use dragons breath Frostfire bolt! It's better than fireball, and has a faster cast time. after you use FFB, you can blink if you want.. or do a couple scorches.

Here is when you should use spells:
Blink - When stuned
Blast Wave - to gain distance
Dragons breath - to stun the target for w/e reason.
Sheep - To CC (2v1) or sheep and evocation ;P
Counter Spell - when a enemy casts a spell, even if speced 2/2 imp CS its still best to use it when a enemy casts a spell.
Pyroblast - When below 35%, always use pyroblast instead of scorch.. if speced into 2/2 fiery pay back (if your using my specs you are). And when you get hotstreak
Frostfire bolt - after you use dragons breath, or to do more damage than scorch.

Class VS Class

Rogue

Rogues are really nasty now.. but not impossible to beat. Here is how you should start:
-When rogue is stealth, you can try and arcane explosion if you think where he is.. Or blizzard. But be warned, you don't want to go oom when the rogue opens. A good trick I use is arcane explosion tell about 80% mana, then eat, and then when I feel the rogue is about to open, arcane explosion again..
-if they rogue garrotes for the opener, try to iceblock. If iceblock isn't up, wait for the effect to wear off and then blast wave to push him back. If he is mutilate, blink to gain distance.. if he is shadow step spec, wait for him to use it before blinking.
-If crippling poison is on you, try using blast wave to slow them down, then blink to gain distance.. then trinket or w/e.
-When rogue uses vanish you can quickly use blizzard where he vanished.. works alot, or you can run away and eat and put pressure on him.

Warrior:
-If he uses charge (not intercept) wait for it to wear off, then frost nova.
-keep smacking him around a lil untill he blows intercept THEN blink
-just rinse and repeat..

Hunter:
-Try getting close to him, with hunters you can't kite them..
-When close, use dragons breath.. then if you can, try to sheep pet.
-Try to keep him in range with Frost nova,, and cone of cold if you have to. Don't use blast wave because then it well give them distance..
-If they pop beast wrath, iceblock. No chance in even trying.. lol

Mage

-start off by using fire ward, if you don't know there spec.. if you see there frost use frost ward.
-Try and counter spell there main spell..
-When close use dragons breath
-If there casting a spell that well deal alot of damage, just use blastwave and it well interrupt it.
-If missile Barrge procs SPELL STEAL IT then use arcane missiles. I love doing this. Do the same for brain freeze, and fingers of frost.

Death Knight

-Start off with frost ward
-Save your blink for when they deathgrip OR use dragons breath.. or blast wave
-Frost nova pet if they have..
-Counter spell gargoyle if they summon
-If blood works come, use arcane explosion.. just to get them out of the way.

Shaman

-Start off with fire ward, this well block off fire totems
-Use ice lance when they lay down grounding totem..
-Try to ice lance totems.
-If they summon wolves, try to iceblock.. or blink.. maybe frost nova, but not sure if that works.
-If they are elemental, CS lightning bolt and save your Dragons breath for when they cast heals.

Paladin:

-Start off with frost nova, then if they use blessing of freedom SHEEP ASAP
-Blink through hammer of justice
-Counter spell heals.

Priest:

-CS Heals
-If you are almost dead, and they just healed.. sheep them, run away, and heal up.
-With a priest, mana is auctaully there health bar. So, dont look at the health bar, look at the mana bar.

Druid

-Blink bash..
-Counter spell cyclone..
-Spell steal hots
-Use dragons breath when there almost dead.. when you use dragons breath, spell steal as many hots as you can, then use FFB llike normal.

Warlock

-use fire ward
-Counter spell fear
-frost nova the pet if you can
- Ice block when DoTs are stacked to much.

IV. Thoughts from comments

I'll +rep you for the effort, but i don't see where the haste is here. Haste is totally OP as fire, i got 1909 spellpower, 350 haste +hit cap 19% Critt (unbuffed, no armor etc without firespecc).

My scorches on my nova'd target is 1.2sec cast with IV, that means i get a hotstreak nearly everytime i cast 2x scorch on the nova'd target = AWESOMENESS

I don't know what he is thinking though, the ''Novad Target'' Part confuses me.. Because shatter only benefits from frost spells.. And, those stats are a lil high.. But maybe im a lil under geared xP... but no, I'de rather get crit>haste for PvP with fire.

Fire = Crit > Haste
Frost = Crit < Haste
Arcane = Crit < Haste

I agree with all this, except the arcane part.

I wouldn't even say Fire burst is almost the same as Frost..

Mainly because Frost burst is more consistent than any other spec, you have shatters, and
you can pull these off by simply just using Frost Nova, your Ele's Frost Nova, Fingers of Frost,
Frostbite, and even your Ice Barrier's talent Shattered Barrier if you know how to use it.
Even just Ice Lance spamming when the target is frozen in some way is more burst than
Fire because there isn't any cast time.

Sorry for the negativity but Fire is fun to PvP with, but I'm more of a Frost guy :P.

Oooh, and according to the Mage talents, the talent Shatter says...

"Increases the critical strike chance of all your spells against frozen targets by 17, 34, and 50%."

True facts







This concludes my guide, please leave a comment and tell me waht you think.. I took alot of time to write the first half, but then I'll admit I got a little lazy towards the end. My ADD kicked in..

[Benny Lava]

Well written guide, +rep from me.

[Maiset]

I'll +rep you for the effort, but i don't see where the haste is here. Haste is totally OP as fire, i got 1909 spellpower, 350 haste +hit cap 19% Critt (unbuffed, no armor etc without firespecc).

My scorches on my nova'd target is 1.2sec cast with IV, that means i get a hotstreak nearly everytime i cast 2x scorch on the nova'd target = AWESOMENESS

[Szharz]

Im going to try since im pretty tired of frost pvp. thanks for the good guide. +rep!

[BiG BaLLa]

Thanks for the guide + rep

[BaboonX]

Thanks for the +rep, and yes haste is a bit OP.. But, if your speced icy veins theres no need for it really.. and Stam / Res stacking is better than more damage.. Lasting longer is better than killing faster but thats just my opinion. I well add your thoughts to the guide also.

[Leonim]

no shamans use frost shock against rangers... why would they do that?

[BaboonX]

no shamans use frost shock against rangers... why would they do that?

Sorry , that was a typo I should have said fire ward.

I'll +rep you for the effort, but i don't see where the haste is here. Haste is totally OP as fire, i got 1909 spellpower, 350 haste +hit cap 19% Critt (unbuffed, no armor etc without firespecc).

My scorches on my nova'd target is 1.2sec cast with IV, that means i get a hotstreak nearly everytime i cast 2x scorch on the nova'd target = AWESOMENESS

No, mages need crit more than haste.. With crit it means more Hot streak.. In PvP DPS doesn't really matter just burst damage. Haste and hit gear are for warlocks.

[hatriz812]

Fire = Crit > Haste
Frost = Crit < Haste
Arcane = Crit < Haste

[BaboonX]

Fire = Crit > Haste
Frost = Crit < Haste
Arcane = Crit < Haste

Not true.. In PvP haste doesn't really matter at all.. Like I said, burst damage is the way to go in PvP not DPS.. Sure haste well get you more DPS in raids and stuff, but that isn't for PvP.. In PvP critting can mean saving your life..

Arcane..

With arcane the only casting spell that has cast time should be Arcane missiles, and maybe some arcane blasts.. But I don't see why you would stack haste, for just arcane missiles and arcane blast..

Frost..

Yeah, haste is prob better for frost..

Fire..

Crit ofc for hotstreak and burst..


The thing with frost and haste is , with the GCB on ice lance, when you have 400 haste you well be doing a extra 2-3 ice lances when you use Deep freeze or shatter combo..

I'll +rep you for the effort, but i don't see where the haste is here. Haste is totally OP as fire, i got 1909 spellpower, 350 haste +hit cap 19% Critt (unbuffed, no armor etc without firespecc).

My scorches on my nova'd target is 1.2sec cast with IV, that means i get a hotstreak nearly everytime i cast 2x scorch on the nova'd target = AWESOMENESS

Shatter only counts for frost spells, so hot streak won't crit more often if the target is frozen lawl

[Tankotron]

I wouldn't even say Fire burst is almost the same as Frost..

Mainly because Frost burst is more consistent than any other spec, you have shatters, and
you can pull these off by simply just using Frost Nova, your Ele's Frost Nova, Fingers of Frost,
Frostbite, and even your Ice Barrier's talent Shattered Barrier if you know how to use it.
Even just Ice Lance spamming when the target is frozen in some way is more burst than
Fire because there isn't any cast time.

Sorry for the negativity but Fire is fun to PvP with, but I'm more of a Frost guy :P.

Oooh, and according to the Mage talents, the talent Shatter says...

"Increases the critical strike chance of all your spells against frozen targets by 17, 34, and 50%."

[BaboonX]

I wouldn't even say Fire burst is almost the same as Frost..

Mainly because Frost burst is more consistent than any other spec, you have shatters, and
you can pull these off by simply just using Frost Nova, your Ele's Frost Nova, Fingers of Frost,
Frostbite, and even your Ice Barrier's talent Shattered Barrier if you know how to use it.
Even just Ice Lance spamming when the target is frozen in some way is more burst than
Fire because there isn't any cast time.

Sorry for the negativity but Fire is fun to PvP with, but I'm more of a Frost guy :P.

Oooh, and according to the Mage talents, the talent Shatter says...

"Increases the critical strike chance of all your spells against frozen targets by 17, 34, and 50%."

They must of changed >.> ty for comment

[edward_elric]

thanks soo much , cnt w8 to pwn nnoobs in bg now :P

[BaboonX]

Thanks for all the feedback guys.. and Sorry about giving a few mistakes (Like how shatter DOES offer to all spells) .. and the typo with shamans teehee. But thanks .. Trying to get contributer :P

[Alle38]

Good guide mate, I like it. Though I don't see myself trying fire anytime soon. I am to fond of arcane now. But hey, that's my opinion.
Keep up the good work and +rep x2!