So you want to be a mage? (An Extensive guide to being a mage)

[Head-Sh0t]

So you want to be a mage? Being a mage is definitely not for everyone, a mage starts out slow and weak and gains power through leveling. What’s amazing about the mage class is the exponential amounts of power they gain as they level compared to other classes. I’ll be covering 1-80 with how to get there the best and efficient way and how to be a beast at 80.
Note that my advice will be mainly pvp focused at 80 due to how boring explaining raiding as a mage is to me. That, and there’s plenty more bad pvp mages than pve.

Let’s start with leveling. You have 3 enticing trees in front of you and you have no idea which to pick! Let’s break it down:

• Arcane
• Fire
• Frost
You can go ahead and throw arcane out of the window, you won’t be seeing arcane until outland which is when you pickup arcane blast.

So, frost or fire? Well, each has it’s pros and cons. Let’s start with Fire

Fire

Pros:
• Hits hard, tons of damage, things drop fast
• Nice range with flame throwing
• Satisfies pyros

Cons:
• Mana intensive
• Lack of control
• Low survivalbility

Frost

Pros:
• High survivalbility
• Not as intensive on your mana pool (less drinking)
• More control

Cons:
• Takes more to drop a mob
• May have to run some and kite
• Weaker at low levels

So Head-Sh0t, what do YOU recommend? Well, I was a mage who had a 50g respec bill before I hit level 30 and this was pre-BC, heh. So pick whichever tickles your fancy as each are suitable IF you spec PROPERLY! Which leads me to talents.

Don’t be bad; always start the frost tree with improved frostbolt, fire has had a playstyle revamp since it’s tree has been changed. This is my perfect setup that your welcome to use as it maximizes everything you need to quest. If you want to aoe grind I’ll link a guide to that in resources. (And don’t forget to use polymorph if you become overwhelmed! Mana gems etc. all to your disposal)

Fire: This playstyle has changed from pyoblast opening 41yds away like a sniper and spamming fireballs to pyroblast -> scorch -> scorch -> FB (Fireblast) -> nova -> scorch -> scorch -> FB. This is your rotation, memorize it, use it, love it.
Remember, scorch won’t come in until level 22, however, you don’t want to have to respect so this scorch build for fire will start at level 10 and you’ll just have to deal with the cast time on fireball until then, QQ.

Build:

Imp. FB x2
Incineration x3
Ignite x5
Pyroblast x1
Flame throwing x2
Impact x2 – Note: I highly recommend an addon that adds effects to your UI when things proc such as impact. I use PowerAuras, it works like a dream!
Imp. Scorch x3
Impact x1
World in Flames x1
Critical Mass x3
Now you can either go back and max out World in Flames, get Blast Wave if your doing some pvp or becoming overwhelmed, or you may get Master of Elements if you have more crit and want to be less mana intensive.
Fire Power x5
Combustion x1
Pyromaniac x3
Molten Fury x2

Now you may go back and fill in blast wave, master of elements, or world in flames. Whichever you neglected fill in these now.
DB x1 (Dragon’s Breath)
Hot Streak x3
Burning soul x1
Burnout x5
Living bomb x1
Burning soul x1
Glyphs for leveling: Evocation, scorch, mana gem (frost nova if you use it a lot). At 60 you want to switch scorch for fireball and mana gem for molten armor.
That will take you to 60, once at 60 you should respec to fireball due to the amounts of SP you will acquire. This is your new spec: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Go into arcane after 60. You can spec into impact as your preferred playstyle may vary. Note that these are only recommendations that have been found to be very productive, however are guidelines and meant to enlighten you. Not force you into something you do not want.


Frost: The amount of control you will attain will absolutely blow your mind. When mobs come anywhere close to you you become untouchable while their attacks are slowed and your frost barriers absorbs everything. Kiting is a breeze and if anyone tries to gank you proper pvp maneuvers will leave them in the ground. Rotation will consist of Frostbolt -> Frostbolt -> Frostbolt -> Nova -> Frostbolt -> Frostbolt -> Frostbolt. Exciting eh?

Build:
Imp. Frostbolt x5
Frostbite x3
Permafrost x2
Icy veins x1
Permafrost x1
Piercing Ice x3
Arctic Reach x2 (allows more frostbolts to be cast)
Now you will alternate, 1pt shatter 1pt Ice shards till each are maxed.
After Ice Shards and Shatter are maxed pickup Cold Snap along the way
Frost channeling x1
Winter’s Chill x3
Frost channeling x2
Ice Barrier x1
Arctic Winds x4 – Note: You may get shattered barrier if your bad and get beat on a lot or plan to pvp a bit. Or just enjoy world pvp.
Fingers of Frost x2 (Use Powerauras)
Empowered Frostbolt x2
Arctic Winds x1
Water Elemental x1
Brain Freeze x1
Imp. WE x1
Chilled to the bone x5
Deep Freeze x1
Imp. WE x2
Now go into arcane like so:
Arc sub. X2
Arc. Focus x3
Magic absorb x2
Clearcasting x3
Spell impact x3
Clearcasting x2
Torment of the weak x3
You may pick up precision instead of TTW, up to you.
Glyphs: Evocation, Arcane Blast, Arcane Missles

So now you finally trained and got arcane blast and you want to go arcane? Well arcane is a blast, it’s extremely easy, mobile, and you never have to sit down due to your 2 minute evocation! What a perfect spec huh? Control of frost, damage of fire, coupled with non-stop mobility and no drinking! Rotation: Arcane blast -> (start strafing) Arcane Barrage -> (keep strafing!) Slow -> Arcane Blast -> Arcane Barrage -> Missle barrage if it procs, if not, repeat.

Build:

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
For icy veins or if you want go into fire:
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

Any questions please feel free to ask! General mage pvp guide coming soon, very soon. If you have any questions at ALL regarding PvE, PvP, or this guide, please post them! I’d love to answer them! Thanks!

[ßetray]

Here's some stuff I posted back in mid-March[This also focuses more on end-game mage]:

There are MANY ways to go for PvE and PvP.

For PvE I would suggest downloading:
Scorchio2: Scorchio! 2 - Addons - Curse
Tracks many mage debuffs + sound timers to warn you near timer ending & timer done.

PvE:
1) The general FFB basis is as follows:
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
This allows for max dps as FFB w/ Living Bomb and Hot Streak (requiring you to get Pyro). This works well for trash and bosses.

1A)FFB Boss spec (non-trash)
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Best mana regen + best damage. You don't need Dragon's Breath or Blastwave since they are a waste of a GCB and the damage they do isn't worth it over FFB, HotStreakPyro,Fireblast, Living Bomb, or scorch.
Glyphed: Imp Scorch, FFB, Molten Armor
Rotation: Living Bomb, Scorch, Scorch, FFB. Reapply Living Bomb every 12 seconds (or at the end of the current cast. Do not interrupt cast to reapply). Reapply scorch ever 26-27 seconds. Use your Hot Streak every moment it's up. All else should just be spamming FFB.

1B) FFB 5Mans/Trash
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
You lose your mana regen from the frost tree but you gain Blastwave, Dragon's breath and an instant Flamestrike after the previosly 2 mentioned.
Your rotation for bosses stays the same and so do your glyphs (although you can exchange Molten for Blastwave so you don't piss people off with the knockback in PvE).

1C) Fire Leveling
The basis of fire leveling is killing mobs quickly with high hitting fireballs/blasts. You'll wanna pick up Imp Fireball, Imp Scorch, Blastwave, Burning Soul, and anything else which has an increase in damage, or a means of providing survivability. [Blazing speed is not only useful but a lot of fun]


2) Arcane PvE
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft -2 points to put wherever (Arcane Stability or elsewhere)
Provides you with a very steady mana stream, rock hard dps. On shorter fights, this spec will generally be higher than almost any other class/spec (although it's rather gear dependant).
As Agni said, rotation is:
1) 3x Arcane Blast
2) Missile Barrage (if proc'd), else Arcane Barrage
3) If MB procs off ABarrage, cast 1-2 ABlast then MB (for inc damage)
Use your mana gems early and EVERY CD.
This spec will make you wanna look into stacking SP & Haste.
Glyphs: Arc Missiles, Arcane Blast, and either:Molten Armor, Mage Armor, or Mana Gem. [Mana Gem is the preferred atm due to not being able to go over 100% mana regen [Mage armor+arc talents].
Your macro should look like:

/cast Presence of Mind
/cast Arcane Blast
/stop Casting
/cast Arcane Power
/cast Icy Veins
/use **13**14** (it's /use 13 for trinket 1 or /use 14 for trinket 2)
/cast Mirror Images
/cast Arcane Barrage

You would do 2x ABlast, hit this macro once for the PoM ABlast for 3x debuff, then a 2nd time for your high burst spree starting with ABarrage.

3) Frost Pve
Leveling:
5/5 Imp Frostbolt -> 3/3 Permafrost -> 3/3 Frostbite -> 3/3 Ice Floes
At this point you'll be level 23. You can then start speccing into Imp Blizzard for AoE farming which is the fastest leveling for mages, or keep going with Ice Shards, Piercing Ice, Arctice Reach, Shatter for more instance/quest leveling.
You'll be switching between mage/ice armor for this depending on who your fighting.

PvP

1) Frost PvP
Glyphs: Ice Block, Evocation and either Icy Veins or Frost Nova
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
You'll be doing a LOT of kiting and shatter combo's. Thats what this spec is built upon. Use your free Fireball EVERY chance it's up. It's a great source of 2-3k instant free dmg.
Mage armor is still a very good unless you're playing a pure double melee comp.

2) Arcane PvP
Basic Talents:
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
From there you can go HEAVY Arcane and pick up a few points in frost for a bit more survivability.
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Or you can go classic PoM Pyro w/ Impact
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Or go PoM Arcane Blast and pick up Icy Veins for the Glyph (great against any class that has a slow)
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
It's VERY easy to go OOM as this arcane and the damage it does it significantly less than it used to do. You'll be doing a lot of kiting w/ slow, but pay CLOSE attention to your targets spec/CD's cause as Arcane you have a lot less survivability compared to frost.

Fire PvP
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Glyphs: Evocation, Imp Scorch(maybe), IceBlock(maybe), Blink(maybe).
You'll end up speccing something like this. You have 3 Interrupts on CD(depending on how you play) + a chance to stun w/ Impact. Free Flamestrikes, dots, Hot Streak + PoM = 2 instant Pyro's (you could get a nice crit spree for an amazing combo).
Blastwave knockbacks and slows everyone (interrupt) -> Instant Flamestrike
Dragon's Breath (5s Disorient) -> Instant Flamestrike
Blazing Speed is just great for pvp
Huge crit chance with scorch
This spec is probably just the most fun to play in BG's and duels but for arena it's very hard to play (BAD survivability)

[Rocker]

You listed all three Arcane, Fire, and Ice, but you only gave Pros/Cons for Fire and Ice, maybe list some of those for Arcane, and whether or not we should try it early on, I have heard a lot of good arguements for Arcane, and Ice, but Fire is usually only recommended for PVP, so a dual spec would be useful

[Head-Sh0t]

Deep Fire is usually only recommended for PvP? Deep fire is not great for pvp as compared to arc or frost, especially in arena. However, it is doable if there is a skilled mage. Yeah well the thing is is that arcane really has no cons.. 2 minute evo, slow has amazing control, and instant invis if you get in trouble. Also packed with huge killing capabilites.

[ßetray]

Arcane:
*Generally heavy mana usage. But it makes up for it by making a 1 min Evo/Mana gem rotation possible.
*Doesn't have any dots
*Nothing like Fire/Frost for "Chance when hit" [Fire: Blazing Speed, Procs Molten Armor and crit MA's=Ignite, Fiery Payback/ Frost: Frostbite, Shattered Barrier]
*PoM in itself can be a huge survival mechanism (PoM Sheep)
*No Double Ice Blocks for Survivability
*PvE: It's considered the top dps for T7.5, early-mid T8 gear

[Head-Sh0t]

Thanks Betray.

[supermagma]

very nice guide, as a mage myself, only rank 69.

I am frost, my rotation is: Frostbolt -> Frostbolt -> Frostbolt -> Frostnova -> Ice lance -> Ice lance -> (maybe another frostbolt to finish)

My icelance hits around 500 more that frostbolt as it does triple damage against frozen targets. And if you have the correct glyph, it does 4x damage.


But this probably only works for me as my gear is SHOCKING, my spellpower sucks and my gear is just awful :P

[joell28]

i did fire till lv 40 at 40 i took dual spec whit frost and fire and like from lv 50-66 i did fire and then frost but at 66-80 i did frost because camon i crit 5k frost boldthen 3k ice lauch then deep freeze then ice lach thats pwned an mob in 5secends :P

[stangcobra]

lazer turkey>mage?
lol

[chingchawng]

Arcane:
*Generally heavy mana usage. But it makes up for it by making a 1 min Evo/Mana gem rotation possible.
*Doesn't have any dots
*Nothing like Fire/Frost for "Chance when hit" [Fire: Blazing Speed, Procs Molten Armor and crit MA's=Ignite, Fiery Payback/ Frost: Frostbite, Shattered Barrier]
*PoM in itself can be a huge survival mechanism (PoM Sheep)
*No Double Ice Blocks for Survivability
*PvE: It's considered the top dps for T7.5, early-mid T8 gear

Im sorry but i must disagree on 2 points :

*Doesn't have any dots - PoM then Instant FFB = DoT
- Slow = DoT
- Imp Counter spell ( not really a dot but still nice)

*PvE: It's considered the top dps for T7.5, early-mid T8 gear[/QUOTE]
- I have Done 10k+ ST with FFB spec T7.5. Not Only does FFB the Extreme Dps Output It also Tops charts In Damage. Arcane Is more For Burst Dmg with high ammounts of Dps not so much Dmg intensive.

On that note i would consider Arcane Less then Optional for a Raid setting. as Arcane is also VERY mana Intensive.

[ßetray]

Im sorry but i must disagree on 2 points :

*Doesn't have any dots - PoM then Instant FFB = DoT
- Slow = DoT
- Imp Counter spell ( not really a dot but still nice)

*PvE: It's considered the top dps for T7.5, early-mid T8 gear

- I have Done 10k+ ST with FFB spec T7.5. Not Only does FFB the Extreme Dps Output It also Tops charts In Damage. Arcane Is more For Burst Dmg with high ammounts of Dps not so much Dmg intensive.

On that note i would consider Arcane Less then Optional for a Raid setting. as Arcane is also VERY mana Intensive.

A) DoT = DAMAGE over time. The arcane tree ALONE does not have ANY spell with a DoT. You can make a PoM FFB Macro but the FFB is in the Fire Tree.

B) Im not sure what you're reffering to "10K+ ST w/ FFB", but In equally geared situations at the High T7.5 gear (not just the tier, but other 213/226 pre-ulduar iLvl), Arcane is not only burst, but high sustained dps AND damage.

[nuffed]

TS doesn't know mage for shit.
Betray however does.

Worse guide I've seen so far.
All three fails in raiding, pvp and leveling.

/sigh

[l4m0r]

...

So now you finally trained and got arcane blast and you want to go arcane? Well arcane is a blast, it’s extremely easy, mobile, and you never have to sit down due to your 2 minute evocation!

...

haha 2 min evocation? i guess it's 6 mins. did you ever play a mage before?
and you never have to sit down! made my day..

[rimalah]

for PvE, TtW powered fire (20/51/0) is over anything else, since even bosses can be snared now. Rotation: LB+Scorch if its not x5+FB spam and use MageFever to refresh LB and scorch and to not to miss a single HS. Glyphs: LB MA FB.

and deep frost for leveling ofc, Blizzarding up to +5lvl mobcrowds to the frozen hell.

[wiper!]

thx for sharing, i might reroll mage...