Mage

A collection of guides for the Mage class, written by the wow-pro community.

BigPulls Mage AOE Grinding Guide

Hello, Today we'll be discussing one of my favorite classes in WoW, the Mage.

Before we start, lets make sure you understand what AOE grinding is:
AOE Grinding - is an effective way to level in a short amount of time. It can be fun when you don't feel like questing, or just to reach a certain level.

Step 1
Get to level 20. this should take 3 to 6 hours depending on your experience with the game. When you reach level 20, spec your talent tree like this:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=oZZhI0oz

Step 2
Because AOE grinding can be kind of hard to explain in words, here's a video from my Youtube account. It should answer all your questions about AOE Grinding, but if you have any more questions, leave a comment. There's also a chapter two once you finish everything in the first one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VglDVzxUcLQ
Note: I am not the original owner of this video
Also, the Talents in this video are out of date, so follow my spec guide in step 3.

Step 3
the updated spec guide for level 80:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=oZfccco0hZhI0Isbuhfdxbst
start maxing frost but when there's nothing else in frost I've marked start specing in fire

To wrap things up:
Mages are a fun class to level, so don't base it ALL on AOE grinding, or you'll miss out on a big chunk of the game. AOE grinding is also possible with a Protection Spec'd Paladin, but I like Mages better! Full Force pro AOE grinding, how it pays off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiaPH8uCXHY
Have fun AOE grinding!

Fire Mage 60-70

To Burn or not to Burn- is that really a question? If you want to get to 70 quickly here is a simple suggestion. For some background, I only play at night on the weekends for 3-4 hours a pop and have only been playing for less than a year. If you're looking for a totally technical guide on how much crit chance you have in X scenario or with Y gear, this is not for you; this is a simple guide for the casual players like me that just like to melt people's faces after a long week of working in office cubicles.

First, don't bother going to Outland until you hit 60; stay in Azeroth or Kalimdor until you ding 60. You can go to Outland at 58, but trust me, it is much easier to start at 60.

Next, go to Hellfire Penninsula and follow the quest chains available there; if you want specifics for which quests, see Jame's Guides- they work! Your first two levels will get you aquainted with the new realm, but you'll be good to go by the time you ding 62. Also, you don't have to have great gear for Outland; you will get gear drops right out of the gate just grinding and on most quests through about level 65. I only have a couple of Blues left from pre-Outland dungeons that have not been replaced by better Greens from Outland drops.

Stay in Hellfire until you are level 64 before heading to Zangamarsh. The gear drops are not as great in the Marsh but by being 64, you will rip through mobs and quests. You will be in the Marsh until you just reach level 66. From here I recommend Terokar Forest for the same reason as the Marsh- you'll be 1-2 levels above everything there and will rip through quests. If you have the G's for a flying mount- get it so you can get where you need to go easily; riding is fine if you don't have a gryphon, but the roads in the Marsh aren't all that great and mobs are some what dense if you go off-road.

The Forest Quests will give you some additional gear but mostly AH stuff and gold. It is nice to grind on mobs for 900-1100 XP per pop and then collect reward cash for minimal effort. I'm usually dropping mobs with a couple fireballs and a fire blast, if Pyro doesn't proc. I'm almost doen with the forest and will update if I go to Shadow Moon Valley or over to the Blade's Edge Mountains before I hit 70.

All of the above I completed just playing about 3-4 hours per weekend since August. You can gain 1 level for about 4 hours of play in Outland on soloable quests (no dungeons or group quests). You're also likely to hit a bunch of achievements for exploration, looting gold, finding a rare beast, and a reputation or two, if you care about those things.

Gearing For Heroics (Mage) Chapter 1 - Gear/Enchant/Gems

So, you just hit 80. You're in greens and quest blues, and you're wondering...what next? Heroics, of course! This guide will not only show you how to gear, but will also recommend glyphs, talents, and gems/enchants. Please note I will be uploading these in Chapters.

Table of Contents
1.Gear - RELEASED
2.Talents - RELEASED Guide
3.Rotations RELEASED Guide
4.Glyphs E.T.A December 18th, 2008
5. Add-ons - E.T.A. December 19th, 2008
--Edit-- I'm so sorry I had to postpone these. I did not have enough time to write the 3rd chapter, therefore delaying the next. I'll delete this edit when I post them.

Context
Enchant
Gem
Glyph
Talent

1. Gear

Head

Volkhan's Hood - Drops from Volkhan in the Halls of Lightning

Enchant - Arcanum of Burning Mysteries

Neck

Emeline's Locket - Obtained from the quest [80] The Admiral Revealed in Icecrown

Gem - Runed Scarlet Ruby

Shoulder

Dark Runic Mantle - Drops from any mob in the Halls of Stone

Gem - Runed Scarlet Ruby

Enchant - Greater Inscription of the Storm

Back
Shroud of Dedicated Research - Obtained from being honored with the Kirin Tor

Enchant - Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed

Chest
Robes of Crackling Flame - Obtained from being exalted with the Kirin Tor

Enchant - Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats

Wrist
Ancestral Sinew Wristguards - Obtained from being revered with The Wyrmrest Accord

Enchant - Enchant Bracer - Superior Spellpower

Gem - Runed Scarlet Ruby

Hands
Gloves of the Servant - Obtained from the quest [80] The Reckoning in The Storm Peaks

Enchant - Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower

Belt
Belt of Dark Mending - Obtained from being exalted with Knights of the Ebon Blade

Legs
Trousers of the Arakkoa - Drops from Erekem in The Violet Hold

Gem - Runed Scarlet Ruby

Enchant - Brilliant Spellthread

Feet
Sandals of Crimson Fury - Obtained from being exalted with The Wyrmrest Accord

Gem - Runed Scarlet Ruby

Enchant - Enchant Boots - Icewalker

Ring(2)

Signet of Hopeful Light - Obtained from being exalted with the Argent Crusade

Signet of Ranulf
- Drops from King Ymiron in Utgarde Pinnacle

Trinket(2)

Darkmoon Card: Illusion - Obtained from the quest [80] Darkmoon Prisms Deck which involves getting all cards in the deck.

Tome of Arcane Phenomena - Drops from Cache of Eregos which spawns after Ley-Guardian Eregos death in The Oculus

Weapon
Flameheart Spell Scalpel - Obtained from being revered with the Kirin Tor

Enchant - Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower

Off-Hand
Seal of Valgarde
- Drops off Gortok Palehoof in Utgarde Pinnacle

Wand
Wand of Shimmering Scales - Drops from Grand Magus Telestra in The Nexus

--End of Chapter 1--

Please post feedback on this guide!

-Kostada

Thanks to Shikamaru for helping me on editting.

Gearing For Heroics (Mage) Chapter 2 - Talents


So, you just hit 80. You're in greens and quest blues, and you're wondering...what next? Heroics, of course! This guide will not only show you how to gear, but will also recommend glyphs, talents, and gems/enchants. Please note I will be uploading these in Chapters.

Table of Contents
1.Gear - RELEASED Guide
2.Talents - RELEASED
3.Rotations RELEASED Guide
4.Glyphs E.T.A. December 18th, 2008
5.Add-ons E.T.A. December 19th, 2008

Context
Enchant
Gem
Glyph
Talent

2. Talents
Now we are on too talent specs. Now, what are talent specs? Talent specs means you are specializing for a certain role, such as PvP, PvE, healing, tanking, etc. Now, why choose the right spec? you might ask. The reasoning for this is so that you can be most effective also. The three talent specs for a mage are Arcane, Fire, and Frost.
Since I cannot force anyone to play how someone says, I have devised four specs that I think will be effective not only in heroics, but also in raids.

Arcane
I made a change of plan about this. Follow this spec here. Thanks to Jame for it!

Fire
Improved Fireball 5/5
Improved Fire Blast 1/2
Ignite 5/5
Flame Throwing 2/2
Pyroblast 1/1
Burning Soul 2/2
Improved Scorch 3/3
Master of Elements 3/3
Critical Mass 3/3
Playing with Fire 3/3
Fire Power 5/5
Pyromaniac 3/3
Combustion 1/1
Empowered Fire 3/3 Hot Streak 3/3
Dragon's Breath 1/1
Firestarter 2/2
Burnout 5/5
(Now we are going to the Arcane tree)
Arcane Focus 3/3
Arcane Subtlety 2/2
Magic Absorption 2/2
Arcane Concentration 5/5
Student of the Mind 3/3
Focus Magic 1/1
Arcane Shielding 2/2
Arcane Meditation 2/3
Final Spec 20/51/0

Frost
Improved Frostbolt 5/5
Ice Shards 3/3
Elemental Precision 3/3
Icy Veins 1/1
Piercing Ice 3/3
Arctic Reach 2/2
Frost Channeling 3/3
Shatter 3/3
Cold Snap 1/1
Improved Cone of Cold 1/3 (I had to add this because I forgot it was in the original spec, and while going through the talent calculator it didn't unlock the second to last tier)
Improved Blizzard 1/3 Again, sorry, this is from the 3rd tier)
Cold as Ice 2/2
Winter's Chill 3/3
Ice Barrier 1/1
Arctic Winds 5/5
Empowered Frostbolt 2/2
Fingers of Frost 2/2
Summon Water Elemental 1/1
Improved Water Elemental 3/3
Chilled to the Bone 5/5
Deep Freeze 1/1
Now we are going to the Arcane tree.
Arcane Focus 3/3
Arcane Subtlety 2/2
Arcane Concentration 5/5
Student of the Mind 3/3
Focus Magic 1/1
Spell Impact 1/3
Arcane Meditation 3/3
Improved Counterspell 2/2
Final Spec - 20/0/51

FrostFire
Frostfire - Now, you may be asking, "This isn't a talent build." but it is a whole new breed of mages, to be truthful. This is the best single target spec, and is great for heroics. Follow this spec here. Thanks again to Jame for it!

--End of Chapter 2--

Please post feedback on this guide!

-Kostada

Gearing For Heroics (Mage) Chapter 3 - Rotations

So, you just hit 80. You're in greens and quest blues, and you're wondering...what next? Heroics, of course! This guide will not only show you how to gear, but will also recommend glyphs, talents, and gems/enchants. Please note I will be uploading these in Chapters.

Table of Contents
1.Gear - RELEASED Guide
2.Talents - RELEASED Guide
3.Rotations RELEASED
4.Glyphs E.T.A. December 18th, 2008
5. Add ons E.T.A December 19th, 2008

--Edit-- I'm so sorry I had to postpone these. I did not have enough time to write the 3rd chapter, therefore delaying the next. I'll delete this edit when I post them.

Context
Enchant
Gem
Glyph
Talent

3. Rotations
Now we are onto rotations. What exactly are rotations? Well, the term rotation means using certain abilities in a certain way to get the most maximum damage output you can.
I will be doing rotations for all three specs. Please note - this will be a somewhat short guide.

Arcane
Arcane Blast x 3 -> Arcane Missiles ->
Arcane Barrage -> Frostbolt x 3 Repeat.

Fire
Frostfire Bolt x 3 -> Fireball x 3 -> Fire Blast Repeat.

Frost
Frostbolt Repeat.

-End of Chapter 3-

-Kostada

Iceyterror's 3.2 Mage AOE Guide

I recently started playing my level 72 mage after learning of some AOE grinding sites in Northend. I am not an expert on mages. I am just a casual player who loves to AOE when not following the WOW-PRO Leveling guides. Feel free to Armory me to see my current spec. Iceyterror's Armor Check out my movie Iceyterror's AOE Grinding movie

TABLE OF CONTENTS


1. TALENTS

2. GEAR/ENCHANTS

3. GLYPHS

4. AOE SITES

5. GRINDING TECHNIQUES

6. TIPS & TRICKS


1. TALENTS


Your talents can make or break your AOE experience but some depend on your personal style and preference. This is the list of Talents in the order in which I would take them.

FROST TREE

Ice Floes 3/3
Imp Frostbolt 2/2
Frostbite DO NOT TAKE! Some people like Frostbite but it NEVER worked for me with AOE.

Precision 3/3
Permafrost 1/1
Ice Shards 3/3

Imp Blizzard 3/3
Icy Veins 1/1
Shatter 3/3

Piercing Ice 3/3
Cold Snap 1/1

Frost Channeling 3/3
Winter's Chill 3/3
Cold as Ice 2/2

Ice Barrier 1/1
Shattered Barrier 2/2 Extra Frost Nova when IB breaks!
Arctic Winds 5/5

Fingers of Frost 2/2
Summon Water Element 1/1
Arctic Reach 1/1

Enduring Winter 3/3 (Only for Raids/Instances/Party Mana Regeneration if you want)

Chilled to the Bone 5/5

Deep Freeze Stun a frozen target /lol Do not take!

Level 60 Frost Talents

Talents now vary according to your preference. Fill in Frostbolt Talents or move to Arcane or Fire Tree.


2. GEAR/ENCHANTS

There is not a not to say here but get your cloth, enchants, and gems with the following priority:

SPELL DAMAGE > INTELLIGENCE > MPS5 > STAMINA *

*This is my own preference. Enchant/gem any area that you feel is lacking.


3. GLYPHS

MAJOR GLYPHS

1. Glyph of Evocation This one is Awesome! Regenerates your health as well!
2. Glyph of Ice Barrier
3. Your choice Glyph of Molten Armor for more crits or Glyph of Mana Gem if you need more mana

MINOR GLYPHS

None will help you so pick whatever you like:
1. Glyph of Slowfall
2. Glyph of Arcane Intelligence
3. Glyph of the Penguin


4. AOE SITES

It is not recommended that you exclusively AOE as you will out on a lot of gear, rewards, achievements, and faction...howver that doesnt mean that you can fly through a few levels here and there having fun!

1-58 Old World content - Just AOE your quest mobs
58-61 Hellfire Peninsula Bonestripper Buzzard
60-65 Hellfire Peninsula Bonestripper Vulture
61-64 Zangarmarsh Bog Lords & Withered Giants
67-68 Netherstorm Zaxxis Raiders
69-72 Howling Fjord Risen Vrykul Ancestor
70-75 Dragonblight Onslaught Infantry
78-80 Icecrown Skeletal Runesmith

+ many more great spots you will find leveling!


5. GRINDING TECHNIQUES

Armor Preference as you level:
1. Molten Armor Best for Crits
2. Mage Armor For more Mana Regeneration
3. Ice ArmorProtection

Buff yourself as needed with Arcane Intelligence, Molten Armor, Ice Barrier, and Mana Shield

Ride around the outside of a group of mobs just close enough to aggro them but try to avoid getting hit. Once you have them grouped up, head to a spot where you want to freeze them. I prefer to let my Ice Barrier break so that Shattered Barrier freezes mobs in place, saving my Frost Nova for emergencies.

A split second before Ice Barrier breaks, and you will learn with practice, Blink away. The result is that the mobs are frozen in place as you port to safety. (see video)

Turn around and cast 2 Blizzards. I use a macro to combine Icy Veins with it:

/cast Icy Veins (no global cool down)
/cast Blizzard

When mobs get too close or casts are over, you can then re-cast Ice Barrier or Frost Nova. Take a few steps away from mobs and Blizzard again. This will normally kill mobs about your level or below depending on gear, if not throw out another Blizzard or Arcane Explosion

Rinse & Repeat


6. Tips & Tricks

When pulling, if Ice Barrier breaks and mobs are not close or grouped up nice then Ice Block, wait till they are piled up on you, then Frost Nova and Blink.

When mobs resist your Ice Barrier and Frost Nova and some are till walking towrds you, summon your Water Elemental and use the Pets ability to Freeze. This will put an area target on your mouse to place on mobs.

When everything is on Cool Down and it is going bad, use Cold Snap to reset all frost timers, Frost Nova and Blink.

Be sure to check out my video Iceyterror's AOE Grinding Movie

Kwaice's Mage Leveling - Talents and Tips - (1-80)

(This is the first version of the guide.
I'll soon add spell icons, wowhead links and finish all the sections.)

Table of Contents.

  1. Introduction
  2. Basic Spells
  3. Talents
  4. Cast rotations
  5. Frostfire Bolt
  6. Gear
  7. Useful addons
  8. Macros
  9. Glyphs

1. Introduction

First of all, i'll ask you to be nice with my english, i come from Belgium and french is my primary language. This is also the first guide i write myself Sticking out tongue

This guide is here to help you leveling up your mage, not by telling you where to go and which quest to pick up (there are very nice leveling guides on wow-pro for that) but by giving you some piece of advice with the talents you should choose, the gear to aim for and some useful macros as well as addons.

It only aims to help you during the leveling process, it will not cover pvp, dungeons nor raids.

So let's get started.

Back to the top

2. Spells

The mage is a caster. 99,9% of the time, you will want to keep the ennemis as far as possible from you.

Until 75 and the poweful Frostfire bolt, the deep Frost spec is, in my opinion, the best spec to pick up while leveling.
It offers much more control over your ennemies than fire and arcane and can dish out very nice damage.

The spells you will use most of the time as a frost spec mage are Frostbolt, Frost Nova and Ice Lance (at 66). You'll also use Fireblast quite alot.

  • Frostbolt : 3 sec cast time damaging spell that slows down your enemy's walking speed. This is your primary nuke spell, not as powerful as fireball (damage-wise) but it will let you solo more easily without worrying much about enemies getting close to you.

  • Frost nova : Roots the enemies in place, allowing you to get some distance if they managed to get close to you. Useful against any melee mob and even caster type for the burst it offers with the Shatter talent (see Talents section).

  • Ice Lance : Instant low-mana spell that does 3 times its initial damage if the enemy is frozen in place. Can deal HUGE damage and is instant cast. It only comes at 66 though. Also useful to tag a mob.

Also, the following armors will be available depending on your level :

  • Ice armor : Slows your enemy when they hit you in melee. Not really the best armor for leveling. It can be favored over mage armor/molten armor if you play on a pvp server and are often attacked while questing.
  • Mage Armor : Increases your resistance to magic and allows 30% of your mana to regen while casting. In my opinion, this armor is better than ice armor for leveling, since it will lower your overall downtime.
  • Molten armor : Increases your critical chance by 3% and inflicts 75 fire damage when you’re hit in melee. The critical chance is neat, it means you will kill faster. I personaly used this armor once i got it (level 62).

Back to the top

3. Talents

Let's review the frost tree and the talents that will help you the most. A star (*) next to a talent means that you should ABSOLUTELY take the talent.

  • Frostbite* : Extremely useful talent. It allows your chilling spells (frostbolt, cone of cold, ice armor, improved blizzard, frostfire bolt) to have a 15% chance to root your ennemies in place, like a mini frost nova. Sometimes, you'll be unlucky and it will never proc during the battle, but when it procs, it basically means your ennemy is going to die very soon (See Shatter). It lasts like 5 secs.

  • Improved Frostbolt* : Frostbolt will be your primary nuke spell until you get Frostfire bolt at 75. You'll cast it more than any other spell and you'll even dream about it too (ok maybe not). Improved frostbolt shortens the cast time of your primary spell by 0.5 sec when maxed. While this may not seem much, it will speed up the leveling process and improve the overall damage you deal to your ennemies. Beside, you'll be glad to have this talent maxed when you will need to Shatter your ennemy and won't have much time left on your Frost Nova or Frostbite proc timers.

  • Ice Floes* : There is "Survival" written on this talent. Maxed, it shortens the cooldown of your :
    • Frost Nova by 5 secs.
    • Cone of Cold by 2 secs
    • Ice Block by 60 secs
    • Icy Veins by 36 secs

    • Frost Nova is a spell you'll want available when one or more ennemies managed to get close to you. Same goes for Cone of Cold.
    The shortened cooldown on Ice Block has saved my life many times, those seconds you gain with this talent can mean the difference between life and death when fighting mobs and especially elites.

  • Ice Shards* :

    Core talent. Improves the damage of your critical spells by 100%.
    In short, a spell that does 50 base damage for example will, without Ice Shards, crit for 75 (50% more damage).
    With Ice Shards, the same spell will actually crit for 100, so double damage.
    Improves your burst damage tremendously.

  • Elemental Precision

    3% hit when maxed means that you will have less "missed" spells when fighting mobs. This talent is really only useful if you're often taking on enemies that are higher level than you. You shouldn't really have much use of it while leveling but if you growl each time your spells miss, then i guess it wouldn't hurt to take this talent Sticking out tongue Otherwise it's not really mandatory. The mana reduction alone isn't really worth 3 talent points.

  • Permafrost

    Your chill effects last 3 sec longer and the walking speed of your enemies is decreased by another 10%.
    Not that useful for leveling in my opinion. It allows you to kite the enemies longer but by the the time your enemies get to you, they should be already half dead anyway. It is pretty useful in pvp.

  • Piercing Ice*

    6% more damage on your frost spells, i think it speaks for itself.

  • Icy Veins

    Activated, this allows you to cast your spells 20% faster without suffering pushback. It is nice when you need to burst down your enemy but i never really used it while leveling up. It is very useful in raids and dongeons though.

  • Improved Blizzard

    Depending on your playstyle, this could be a must get. Improved Blizzard adds a chill effect to the base spell allowing it to slow your enemies. Coupled with Permafrost (+3 secs chill and +10% slow), this means that the enemies taken in your blizzard are slowed by 75% for 4,5 secondes AND that Frostbite can proc, rooting them in place.
    Also note that Blizzard can now crit since patch 3.0.2 (not too sure which patch).
    If you like to take on many mobs at once and aoe them down, then this talent definitely is for you. It all depends on your playstyle.

  • Arctic Reach*

    This talent can seem weak but it is very useful while leveling. Being able to cast your opening frostbolt on the enemy from x yards instead of x yards results in more frostbolts launched before it gets to you. It can save you a frost nova that could be useful when fighting the next mob. Also more range on Cone of Cold and Blizzard and a higher Frost Nova radius is very nice, allowing you to avoid hits more easily.

  • Frost Channeling*

    All your spells cost 10% less mana. This means less downtime while leveling. Also the -10% threat can be nice if you like to do dungeons from time to time.

  • Shatter*

    THE core talent of the frost tree. If you don't put points in it, you'd be better just respecing fire or arcane.
    This talent allows you to burst down your enemies everytime they are frozen in place. Your crit chance against them will raise by 50%.
    Enemies frozen in place are the ones affected by the following spells : Frost Nova, Frostbite, Hungering Cold (Death Knight) and Frost Trap (Hunter).
    Chill effects will NOT affect Shatter. Enemies slowed by a frostbolt won't make your crit chance go up by 50% but if frostbite procs, then it will.

  • Cold Snap*

    Very nice talent that resets all your frost cooldowns. Can save your life if you need to frost nova an enemy chasing you when you're at 5% hp or so, or pop an ice block that was on cooldown to give you some fresh air. It is also a required talent point to unlock the very useful Ice Barrier.

  • Improved Cone of Cold

    Not really needed while leveling. Beside the “I-hope-frostbite-will-proc” Cone of Cold that you should use while leveling, you'll only use Cone of cold to slow a pack of enemies that are close to you or to kite one enemy while your frost nova is on cooldown.
    Cone of Cold can be nice when it procs Frostbite but it's not reliable enough. We don’t really use the spell for its damage, so 35% more damage for 3 talent points isn’t really worth it imo.

  • Cold as Ice*

    Maxed, it shortens the cooldown of your :

    • Cold Snap by 1 min 36 secs.
    • Ice Barrier by 6 secs
    • Summon Water Elemental by 36 secs

    • Very useful, juste like Cold Snap and Ice Floes, it adds more survavibility and the shortened cooldown on Summon Water Elemental is very very nice to have while leveling (and anything else actually).

  • Winter's Chill*

    +3% crit on your main nuke. Beside, each time your damaging spells hit, you have 1% more chances to crit. Stacks up to 5 times to make it 5%. Allows you to crit your enemies more often. Take this.

  • Shattered Barrier

    I personaly don't really like this talent for leveling. I didn't find much use for it. More of a pvp talent imo.

  • Ice Barrier*

    Your personal shield, that prevents pushback on your spells while it's active. Very useful against those annoying ranged mobs and against a pack of enemies that are too close to you. It takes a % of your spell damage to absorb more. Core talent that will make leveling easier.

  • Arctic winds*

    +5% damage on all your frost spells. It doesn't seem like much but it will make you kill mobs faster. Also the chance to be missed by melee and ranged attack can be very nice. You'll love seeing missed ranged hits Laughing out loud

  • Empowered Frostbolt*

    Your Frostbolt gains an additional 10% of your spell power. Your primary nuke is now even stronger. You also gain 0,2 sec casting time. Core talent, don't level without it.

  • Fingers of Frost*

    Your chilling spells (Frostbolt, Cone of Cold, Improved Blizzard) have a 15% chance to make your 2 next spells act like your target was frozen in place, even if they are moving. Shatter, anyone ?

    Must have. It's basically a 15% chance to improve your crit rate by 50% for your next 2 spells even if your target is not frozen. You will definitely like it.

  • Brain Freeze*

    Burst damage. A free (zero mana cost) instant cast fireball, even untalented, hurts. Makes your killing even faster.

  • Summon Water Elemental*

    The Water Elemental is a VERY strong guardian. Its bolt hurts alot and its Freeze is basically a frost nova that you can cast anywhere, even 35 yards away from you. It allows very nasty burst damage on demand.

    I suggest using the water elemental macro from the guide for your water elemental though, as it can be annoying to click on your pet cast bar. This is how the macro works:

    -The first click makes you summon your water elemental on defensive mode and makes it attack your current target.
    -If you click on the macro again, 2 things happen : It makes your water elemental attack your other target if you changed targets. It also activates the Freeze ability of your Water Elemental, you still have to target it around your enemy to make it work though.

    As you can see, you become very powerful when your elemental is active. You can run to an enemy with your elemental, start casting Frostbolt and just when Frostbolt is about to be launched, use the Freeze ability of your elemental to root your enemy in place. That will make your frostbolt crit almost all the time, chuncking a huge amount of hp off the mob. Even more deadly at 66 when you get Ice Lance.

    The elemental also takes a percentage of your spell damage, intellect and stamina.

    Too bad it only lasts 45 secs >_<

  • Improved Water Elemental

    Mainly useful while raiding. Recovers the mana of your raid and your elemental now lasts 1 min. Not very useful while leveling, your enemies will be dead very quickly anyway.

  • Chilled to the Bone*

    Your Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt and Ice Lance do an additional 5% damage. What else can i say, still more damage on your primary nuke spell as well as Ice Lance. Your enemies also take more time to get close to you <3

    We won't use this talent with Frostfire Bolt, i will suggest another spec for it

  • Deep Freeze*

    A 5 secs stun ability only available when your target is frozen in place (Frostbite, Frost Nova, you know the music). Pretty nice, this ability makes you untouchable and lets you solo elites without problems if they are not immune to stuns.

    You can make solid combos that prevent your enemies from even moving, like Frostbolt > Frost Nova or Frostbite > Frostbolt + Ice Lance + Deep Freeze, allowing you to cast another full frostbolt while your enemy is stunned (if he isn't dead that's it).

This is how i would put my talent points while leveling up. I'll also explain the cast rotation depending on which spell is available. I'll go up to 75 and then i invite you to read the Frostfire section of the guide.

10-14 : 5/5 Improved Frostbolt
15-17 : 3/3 Frostbite
18-20 : 3/3 Ice Shards
21-23 : 3/3 Icy Floes
24 : 1/3 Piercing Ice
25-27 : 3/3 Shatter
28-29 : 2/2 Arctic Reach
30 : Cold Snap
31-33 : 3/3Frost channeling
34 : 2/3 Piercing Ice
35-37 : 3/3 Winter's Chill
38-39 : 2/2 Cold as Ice
40 : Ice Barrier
41-44 : 4/5 Arctic Winds
45-46 : 2/2 Fingers of Frost
47-48 : 2/2 Empowered Frostbolt
49 : 5/5 Arctic Winds
50 : Summon Water Elemental
51-53 : 3/3 Brain Freeze
54 : 3/3 Piercing Ice
55-59 : 5/5 Chilled to the Bone
60 : Deep Freeze

Now we'll venture a bit in the fire tree until 75 and the Frostfire bolt respec. You can also put points in the frost tree wherever you feel like it.

61-63 : 3/3 Incineration (more crit with Fireblast and Cone of Cold)
64-65 : 2/2 Improved Fireblast (-2 secs on Fireblast CD)

(Improved Fireball is useless anyway, since we only cast it on Brain freeze procs)

66-70 : 5/5 Ignite (more damage on fire crits, even if it's not our primary nukes, it helpsl)
71-73 : 3/3 Impact (your spells have a 10% chance to stun your enemies for 2 secs, just to make you even more unreachable).
74 : Last point before the respec, put it wherever you like to. Burning Determination maybe.

75. Here we are, you can now learn Frostfire Bolt at your mage trainer. I strongly suggest respecing to take full advantage of this spell because it's simply monstruous imo.
I also invite you to head to the Frostfire section for more information on it.

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4. Cast Rotation

Your cast rotation will vary depending on what level you are and what spells are available in your arsenal.

Note: You should always start at max range of your frostbolt.

Level 1-3 : Cast Fireball from max range and melee the mobs to finish them.

Level 4-5 : Just chain Frostbolt from max range and melee the mobs to finish them.

Level 6-11 : Same as before, but use Fireblast to finish the mobs. If they still live, just cast another Frostbolt / Fireblast or melee them down.

Level 12-25 : Start chaining Frostbolt until your enemy gets close to you. When it does, use Frost Nova (available at level 12) to froze him in place, take some distance and start chaining Frostbolt again.

Level 26-30 : You now have access to Cone of Cold. I like to use it whenever an enemy manages to get close to me because it can proc Frostbite. That will save me a Frost Nova, which has a longer cooldown, and allow me to cast another Frostbolt that will most likely crit, thanks to Shatter.
If it doesn't proc Frostbite, i will then use Frost Nova followed by a Frostbolt or i will use Fireblast to finish the mob, depending on its hp left.
The goal, with Cone of Cold, is to save Frost Nova as much as possible.

Level 30-39 : Same as before, excepted Cold Snap is available, meaning you can Frost Nova your enemies two times in a row to burst them even faster.

Level 40-44 : Ice Barrier is available. You'll have to worry less about being hit and will be able to cast your Frostbolt wihout pushbacks while the barrier is active.

Level 45-49 : You'll start criting even more. Fingers of Frost will speed up your killing tremendously.

Level 50 : Your Water Elemental is now available. I suggest saving it for tricky situations (elites, pack of mobs, etc..).

Level 51-59 : Now you have to monitor the Brain Freeze proc. When it does, launch the Fireball after your nukes. Don't interrupt your spells for a Fireball unless it can finish off your enemy.

Level 60-65 : Deep Freeze is available, meaning you can stun your enemies when they are frozen in place. I suggest stunning them when Frost Nova / Frostbite is about to break.

Level 66-70 : Killing machine : ON. Ice Lance is a crazy spell. It is instant cast, costs almost nothing and does HUGE damage if your enemy is frozen. As soon as you see the enemy frozen in place, be ready to launch an ice lance right after your frostbolt. Those 2 spells critting in a row will remove like 60% of your enemy's health.

Level 71-74 : Your spells can now stun, thanks to Impact. If an enemy manages to gets close to you, it means either that you were AFK or that he is immune to movement-imparing effects Sticking out tongue

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5. Frostfire Bolt

Frostfire Bolt is a unique spell that takes the benefit from fire AND frost at the same time. It's like a fireball that can slow and that benefits from both fire and frost talent trees.

I will list the talents that benefit Frostfire Bolt.

    Fire

  • Ignite : +40% dot on crit
  • Impact : 10% stun chance on hit
  • Burning Soul : -70% pushback when casting and -10% threat
  • Master of elements : 30% of the mana cost of the spell refund when you crit
  • Playing with fire : +3% damage
  • Critical Mass : +6% crit chance
  • Fire Power : +10% damage
  • Combustion : see the talent
  • Pyromaniac : +3% crit chance
  • Molten Fury : +12% more damage if your enemy is below 35% hp
  • Empowered Fire : Your frostfire bolt gains an additional 15% of your spell power
  • Hot Streak : When you score 2 cricital hits in a row, you get an INSTANT CAST pyroblast
  • Burnout : +50% crit damage

    Frost

  • Frostbite : 15% chance to root the enemy in place
  • Ice Shards : +100% crit damage
  • Elemental Precision : +3% hit
  • Piercing Ice : +6% damage
  • Icy Veins : Only the faster casting time
  • Frost channeling : -10% mana cost (note that FFB doesn't get -20% threat if you take this talent and Burning Soul, it only gets -10% threat max)
  • Winter's Chill : +2% crit chance everytime it hits, stacks 5 times for a total of +10% crit chance.
  • Arctic Winds : +5% damage
  • Fingers of Frost : +15% chance to make your next 2 spells have a 50% more chance to crit (if you took Shatter, which you should)
  • Chilled to the Bone : +5% damage and -10% walking speed

As you can see, the spell can benefit from many talents. I suggest going through the Fire path for Burnout, which is a huge dps boost and to take the essential Frost talents going with it.

This is the spec i used at 75 for leveling with Frostfire Bolt: 0/48/18

I then suggest putting your talent points like this :

76-77 : 5/5 Burnout
78-79 : 2/3 Frost Channeling would be my fav but the last 2 points are up to you
80 : Weeeeeeeee \o/ I suggest filling up Frost channeling if you plan on questing more with the spec.

Basically, your frostfire bolt (at 80) :

  • has +9% chance to crit (critical mass + pyromaniac)
  • does +19% more damage (31% more when the enemy is below 35% hp) (playing with fire + fire power + piercing ice + molten fury when under 35%hp)
  • gains an additional 15% of your spell power (empowered fire)
  • does +150% damage when it crits, refunding you 30% of its mana cost and also adding a 4 sec dot equal to 40% of the damage done by your crit (e.g. if frostfire bolt crits for 5000, it will also dot the enemy for 2000 in 4 secs. every 2 sec) (ignite + master of elements + ice shards + burnout)
  • has +3% chance to hit (elemental precision)
  • has a 10% chance to stun the enemy (impact)
  • has a 15% chance to freeze the enemy in place allowing Shatter (+50% crit if the next spell lands) (frostbite)
  • costs -13% mana (frost channeling + elemental precision)

Also, if you score two critical hits in a row with either Fireblast, Frostfire bolt or Scorch, your next pyroblast (which has a +6% chance to crit thanks to "world in flames") cast within 10 secs will be instant.

As you can see, the spell is very very sexy and benefits from soooooooo many talents at the same time that it is really worth a respec for the last 4 levels.

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6. Gear

There are 3 useful stats that you will need while leveling and 2 less useful.

Let me start by saying that you should completely avoid STR and AGI unless you’re trying to be some sort of battle mage that likes to hit stuff with your staff (yo).
If so, i ... don't think mage is the right class for you Sticking out tongue ... but if you like it, hey, why not.. you'll just level slower than 90% of the server... make it 99% actually.

Anyway, the main stats you should aim for are :

  • Spell power : Increases the damage of all your spells. You should always try to get more as it will improve your overall damage per second.

    You won't find many items with spell power in the lower levels but you'll start seeing more and more as you level, especially when you arrive in Outland. The same goes with crit.

  • Critical strike rating : Improves the chances that your spells will critically hit. Crit is as important as spell power is. A crit will improves your killing speed tremendously. If, for example, you loot an item that lowers your spell power by 10 but increases your critical chances by 1%, well, equip it but don't equip an item that increases your crit chance by 0.2% and lowers your spell power by 35. It's all about balancing the both.

  • Intellect : "Int" increases your mana pool as well as your crit chance. The amount of crit you gain from int depends on your level. (There is a nice addon that can tell you how much crit you gain from int, Rating Buster, i suggest it in the addon section.)
    Having a decent mana pool is also important. If you must sit to drink after every mob because you don't have enough mana, then something is wrong.
    Having more mana also helps you taking on multiple mobs at once. This is the 3rd stat to aim for, but try to mainly aim for the first two. Usually, the cloth items with spellpower and/or crit have enough int to not have to worry about it.

  • Spirit : Spirit allows you to regen more mana when you are not casting and even when you are casting IF you use Mage Armor. It's always nice to have some but you can level all the way to 80 without it. You shouldn't really focus much on it until raids.

  • Stamina : Stamina improves your health pool. It's not really useful while leveling BUT if you play on a pvp server, then you might want to have more health to survive an ambush.

Overall, the important stats are spellpower / crit > int > spi > sta.

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7. Useful addons

I recommand those addons while playing.

  • Rating Buster : Rating buster converts stats into ratings and allows you to quickly compare two items to see which one is the best for you.

    It can, for example, tell you how much critical rating an item with 57 int would actually give you and if that items will make you win or lose crit and spell power if you equip it. A must have in my opinion. It also works with any other class when properly configured.

  • Range Display : Small addon that shows the distance between you and the mob. Very useful to know exactly when you are in max range for a frostbolt or any other spell. Easily configurable too.

8. Macros

  • Food/Water macro :

    #showtooltip nameofthefood
    /cast [button:2] Conjure food; nameofthefood

    Replace nameofthefood in the macro by the exact name of the food you can summon (shift-click the food to copy the text in the macro).

    For example, at level 6, you can start using the macro by right-clicking on it to summon Conjured Muffins. Replace then nameofthefood by Conjured Muffins in the macro to make it work. The macro will be :

    #showtooltip Conjured Muffins
    /cast [button:2] Conjure food; Conjured Muffins

    Right-click on the macro to summon food.
    Left click on the macro to eat.

    Sames goes for the water.

    #showtooltip
    /cast [button:2] Conjure water; nameofthewater

  • Auto-trinket macro.

    #showtooltip Frostbolt
    /use 13
    /use 14
    /cast Frostbolt

    This macro will automatically try to use equiped trinkets when you cast frostbolt whenever they are available.

    You can equip 2 trinkets at most.
    Those trinkets go in slot number 13 and 14 in your character sheet.

    Note: /use 13 and /use 14 can be placed individually in the macro or both at once.
    If, for example, you have a spell power trinket in the first slot and your insigna of the horde/alliance in the second slot, then DON'T put /use 14 in the macro, as it will actually use your insigna every time you try to cast a spell, which you don't really want, do you ?

    If you only want to use your first trinket, replace the macro by :

    #showtooltip Frostbolt
    /use 13
    /cast Frostbolt

  • Water Elemental macro

    Ok, i can't live as a frost mage without this one. It makes life so much easier when you have your water elemental.

    #showtootlip Summon Water Elemental
    /cast Summon Water Elemental
    /petattack
    /cast Freeze
    /petdefensive

    As explained in the talent section :
    The first click on the macro will summon your water elemental on defensive mode and make it attack your current target
    Another click on the macro will :
    - make your pet attack your other target if you swapped targets
    - make your pet cast Freeze, which is a ranged Frost Nova that you have to target on the ground just like Blizzard

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9. Glyphs

Until you get Frostfire Bolt, i'd use the following glyphs

Major

Minor

  • Glyph of Frost Armor : 30 more mins on your buff.
  • Glyph of Slow Fall : You'll cherish this glyph when you'll need to pop Slow Fall, cause you never notice when you're out of feathers Sticking out tongue ...
  • Glyph of Arcane Intellect : Reduces the mana cost of the buff. Can be useful. You can use other glyphs if you feel like it, minor glyphs aren't that important.

When you get Frostfire Bolt, i'd use those 3 major glyphs instead :

  • Glyph of Frostfire : Frostfire is a crit-dependant spell, and 2% more damage as well as 2% more crit chance is a god send.
  • Glyph of Molten Armor : 2% crit chance when Molten Armor is active, making it +5% crit chance.
  • The last one is up to you but Glyph of Mana Gem is always useful and will reduce your overall downtime.

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Lucifel's Ulitimate Mage Guide: Chapter 1 Talents,Glyphs and Rotations


Chapter One of this three part series guide, will tell you about Mage Talents, Glyphs and Rotations for each Specialization. Choosing a specialization is totally up to you, what ever your play style is in game you should choose a build appropriate to it. I will not go into any PvP throughout the duration of this guide, so all the info will be concerning PvE.

Frost fire Raiding Build (PvE)

0/53/18
Very powerful build, this is my personal preference, and is one of the best builds out there for raiding. This build relies on the Frost Fire Bolt as your main spell using main talents to increase the output damage.

Rotation: Your main nuke spell is Frost Fire Bolt keep casting until HS procs.Then cast Pyroblast, and always keep up Living Bomb while having you or another mage keep up the Scorch Debuff.

Major: Glyph of Frostfire/Glyph of Improved Scorch*/Glyph of Molten Armor

Minor: Glyph of Slowfall/Glyph of the Penguin/Glyph of Arcane Intellect

*If another mage in your raid can apply this debuff then replace this glyph with Glyph of Living Bomb to maximize damage output.

Fire Raiding Build (PvE)
19/52/00

Also a very powerful build same as the previous build except that your using fireball instead of FrostFireBolt, but both choice are viable.

Rotation: Same rotation as previous build except change to Fireball as main nuke spell.

Glyphs:
Major: Glyph of Living Bomb, Glyph of Molten Armor, Glyph of Fireball

Minor: Glyph of Slowfall/Glyph of the Penguin/Glyph of Arcane Intellect

Note
I realize that there are many more builds out there but I do not use them so I can't really give you accurate advice about them, these are the two best builds that will maximize your damage output, if you don't like them then you can always use the a Frost Build 20/0/51 or an Arcane Build 50/3/11
MageFever

Tracking when Hot Streak procs and when the Living Bomb debuff expires can be a pain so I found an addon that will help: Mage Fever which can be downloaded at Curse

Updates
This guide will be kept up to date after every patch, and I will continue to add viable raiding specs to it.

Pre Raid Gear - Mage (Frost)

I needed to make a list of items I was going to try and get to gear myself up for 25 man raids, so I figured I would post it here so that everone can benifit from my work.

These are not the "best in slot" items by anymeans, they are just the best items I could find out side of 10 / 25 mans and items I feel I can obtain in a relativelty short amount of time. I have tried to steer away from too many "get exhaulted with X" items but the're are still a few, as really you should be running heroics when gearing up so you may as well be gaining rep at the same time!

Hope some people find this of use, I am more then happy to add / amend the list if people can suggest better / alternative items.


Head

Neck

Back

Shoulders

Chest

Wrists

Hands

Waist

Legs

Shoes

Weapons

Main Hand

Off Hand

Trinkets

Rings

Hope you have enjoyed reading through my sugestions, the list is not completly finished yet as i still need to add some information to some of the items, and as i said earlier, if there is any suggestions to other items, let me know and ill add them to the list.

Thanks

Anti...

P.S.
Got a couple of things to sort from the comments below
-Proper intro about what is / isn't included and how to chose your gear
-Gear colours
-Gems
-Enchants
-Alternative Items
-Link to talent / rotation threads (will not be included in this guide only links)

Will update with these things over the next couple of days

Sky's Fire Mage Raiding Guide

Skynightwolf' Fire Mage Raiding Guide

Welcome! This Guide is intended for Mages who are interesting in raiding in Fire Spec, and covers a variety of topics fairly in-depth, please comment with any changes you believe should be made, your own comments and suggestions are always appreciated!


Please note that this is a work in progress and revisions shall be made as I come across new details, as well as making discoveries through my own Raiding Experiences. I am also adapting to the coding system as well, as I have little experience using any sort of Coding.

Here is the link to my Armory Profile

Table of Contents
This Guide will contain the following content.
  • General notes about the Mage Class, and my Observations
  • Why Fire is now seen as the Primary Raiding Spec
  • Your Talents (Spec)
  • Building Your Gear and Stats (Including Gems and Enchants)
  • Glyphs & Meta Gems
  • Rotation(s)/Mage Armors
  • Add-Ons
  • Professions
  • Faction Reputations
  • Starter Gear (This area is currently in progress, to be added within the next few weeks)

First things first-General Notes and Observations about the Mage Class

The Mage Class is basically considered a "Glass Cannon", meaning your pretty squishy, but can pump out not only massive "DPS" (Damage Per Second), but also a large total of Damage Done (which in my mind, is more important). We have a variety of abilities spread out over 3 trees, each with it's own purpose. Mages are not only good for damage output, but also for kiting, and applying Crowd Control to mobs. We also carry several abilities that prove beneficial to Raids, such as our Arcane Brilliance spell, and the ability to perform a Ritual of Refreshment I have come to observe that mages are an excellent dps class, with quite a few options to adapt to ones play style. I have observed (and myself) seen mages go to the bottom of the charts simply due to a lacking rotation, and top the charts over virtually every other class. With some good attention paid to the way you "Gear Yourself", as well as a lot of attention paid to your Rotation, and learning your Class, you won't be disappointed choosing a Mage. Unlike some classes, such as Paladins, Priests, and Druids, we are a class with 1 main purpose...blowing things up, we are considered a "Pure DPS Class", and it is my belief that if played correctly, we should be able to out dps any hybrid.
But as I stated before, Mages have several other useful things to contribute. Smiling

I also advise you to look at your raiding roster, and see the kind of Group Make-up you have, and ask your fellow raiders about their talents as you begin adjusting your gear for fire. Elemental Shamans, and Moonkins are both great for your DPS, as well as a fellow mage with Focus Magic (More on this later).

Let's move on...


Why Fire is now seen as the Primary Raiding Spec

I know many, myself included have raided the first Part of the Wrath Expansion as Arcane. The spec performed very well in Naxx, EoE, OS, and the like, and I enjoyed playing it, but sadly, the itemization (stats on the new Gear) and the t8 set bonuses aren't really what I would call "good for arcane". Let me explain why

As a simple reference point, let's view the Mage T8 Chest,and the Mage T7 chest the Conquerors Kirin Tor Tunic and the Valorous Frostfire Robe

The 2 set bonus for the t7 set: You gain 40% more mana when you use a mana gem. In addition, using a mana gem grants you 225 spell power for 15 sec.

The 2 set bonus for the t8 set: Your Arcane Blast, Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt, and Fireball spells have a chance to grant you 350 spell power for 15 sec.

While the spellpower on both is excellent for arcane, the +40% Intellect from our Mana Gem is a pretty large boost, seeing as how mana is sometimes in short supply for arcane mages, this set bonus is very nice. However, I suppose it's not a complete deal breaker.

Now let's observe the 4 set bonuses.

The 4 set bonus for t7:Your offensive spells gain an additional 5% increased critical strike bonus damage.

The 4 set bonus for the t8:You have a chance for the effect of your Missile Barrage, Hot Streak, or Brain Freeze talent not to be consumed when you cast the spells which benefit.

This is where things become tricky. Rotation wise, this is mostly a Fire based proc. Why? Because frankly, you want your Arcane Blast to be stacked 1-3 times at least for Missile Barrage proc to be useful, and there's a Very high chance this will proc anyway. While as with fire, depending on your crit/luck, this can be more useful. Back to back Pyroblasts could easily pop out 20k+ dmg in a matter of seconds.

I've spoken with quite a few Mages on my server, and while it looks like Arcane can be done in Ulduar, your really going to see the higher numbers with Fire. I have also been told in short...the mana for it to keep the highest numbers isn't really there.

Also note that while fire may have a harder rotation, mana is much easier to manage, and will become even more so in 3.2. Due to the following "Buff" to our talent tree.

Empowered Fire: In addition to its existing effects, this talent now also grants a 33/67/100% chance to regain 1% of base mana each time the Ignite talent deals damage-Source

Please note that I am not saying that Arcane isn't viable at all for Ulduar, but that Fire will most likely be preferred in the end by most Raiders. If you feel more comfortable as Arcane, by all means, roll with it. These "tests", and opinions are just that, I encourage you to challenge them, and post the info here for all to see. On to our next topic.

Becoming a Fire Mage-Your Talents.

The first step when you begin looking at your Mage is to observe your Build, it's the very foundation of everything you do. It boosts your damage, increases various stats, provides extra range, as well as special spells and abilities. Your talent tree also allows for personalization in a few areas to better fit your own game play style (see below). Like most other specs for the various classes of WoW, there's a "Cookie Cutter" Spec. Basically, this spec is the most popular, and is used for a base for most mages to start with and modify to their own taste. Let's take a look at it.

Fire Cookie Cutter Spec

Notice this spec doesn't place talents in spells such as Blast Wave and Dragon's Breath . This is because these are considered talents for either PvP(Player versus Player Combat), or Kiting (More on that later). These will not bring you any major (if any true dps increase in raid), and while they may look pretty and do cool effects, I suggest keeping them out of your raid spec.

This build takes into account everything you'll need for raiding, and provides you with with 12% increased crit for the spells you'll be using most, as well as as 13%+ actual spell damage, it also includes the Torment of the Weak, which is a buff that gives extra damage to targets who are snared, or something similar (Dk's Icy Touch and Warrior's thunderclap are both "activators" of this spell, and are found in most raids). It also includes Focus Magic, which is a very useful spell for increasing your DPS, as well as a party members, as well as Improved Scorch, which is another raid wide dps boost you can provide.

I will provide further information on Focus Magic, and Improved Scorch, and some ways to make the most use of their application later in this guide.

Tree Adaption
Please note that the above Spec given is not the end all be all, and it is completely open for your own adaptation. I, for example chose to drop the Talent Flame Throwing, which provides additional range for your spells, and place those 2 points in Arcane Meditation, which provides me more mana regeneration. I have taken part in virtually all of the Ulduar (Minus General and Yogg, due to real life interference), and range has NEVER been a true issue. There's much speculation over this however...it's mainly a personal choice. This is a good example of how you simply need to come into your own with your Spec, spend a few hundred gold switching it around, testing, until you find something your comfortable with.

If you have a Fire Build of your own you'd like to share, I encourage you to do so. Smiling Comment Links are a beautiful thing.


Building Your Gear and Stats

This is where things get interesting. In my own personal experiences, I found that when I first started raiding as Fire my numbers simply weren't up to par, so I went arcane. (I wasn't to happy about switching back, but with my own research about Ulduar, I thought it was the best option) My gear-set was much better than my first time around, and so were the numbers. My rotation was the same for the most part however. I think I can say that Fire is a more gear-dependent spec than arcane, but I also think that with the proper starter gear, you won't see any issues. Let's talk about your Stats first, then your gear. I will include enchants and gems that are useful for all these stats, note that I am in the process of including "Hybrid Gems" to these lists, which are in essence..gems that fit slots of multiple color, and have 2 different stats.

Quick Note about Gem Slot Bonuses-A good general rule when choosing whether or not to place a gem of the "correct color" is to see if you really need that stat.
Bonuses that provide small amounts of hit, or intellect are usually not worth it, and anything that provides less than +7 Spellpower usually isn't as well. You will see a greater DPS increase placing a Runed Scarlet Ruby in that slot. Just because it has a certain color does not mean you need to fill it with a gem that's the same. Smiling

Stats to Look For

Hit Rating, HIT RATING.I can say this avidly for any DPS class, if not tanks as well, being Hit Capped will pay off when you see your DPS. Why do we need hit? Hit is what ensures that our spells don't "Miss" and actually hit our target.
For fire, the Hit Cap is 17% or approx. 385 Hit Rating. However, there are exceptions.

For one, if your raiding only with your guild, you can be fairly sure that your raid composition will include a Draenie of some sort or another, this grants you 1% hit you don't have to worry about. Also, having a Shadow Priest in your group is a Huge hit Boost, since their Spell Misery provides you 3% hit on any target on which it is applied. I don't worry to much about being hit capped for trash, but for bosses, it is crucial. If you have both of these in your raid Composition, you only need 13% Hit Rating. So if you know you Raiding roster is set, ask your fellow Raider's about their talents, it can save you a lot of time, and headache trying to be hit capped. (It's also a good idea to have a hit heavy piece of gear that you can swap out for Pugs). Also note that the 1% hit rating racial from Draenie is only available on the Alliance Faction side, so Horde Faction Players can not calculate in this buff.

Useful gems and enchants for hit rating are
Rigid Autumn's Glow
Rigid Dragon's Eye(Only applicable if your a Jewelcrafter)
Enchant Gloves-Precision

Spellpower-This is what gives your spells the damage, the higher your spellpower, the higher your going to hit for. Once your confident that your hit rating is solid, look for spellpower, particularly in the form of enchants and gems. This is your second most important stat...make sure to build it as much as you can without gimping yourself in other areas. Once you find your gear able to provide your hit, most of your gem slots will be filled with Spellpower gems, regardless of stat bonuses.

Useful gems and enchants for Spellpower are
Runed Scarlet Ruby
Purified Twilight Opals (These are to receive your Meta Gem Bonus. Note that the Prismatic Gems Jewelcrafters can replace these. (As of 3.2 this will no longer be applicable, and you'll have to use two blue or purple gems.)
Runed Dragon's Eye (Once again only applicable if your a JC)

Enchant Gloves-Greater Spellpower
Enchant Gloves-ExceptionalSpellpower
Enchant Bracers-Greater Spellpower
Enchant Bracers-Superior Spellpower (I'd just using this enchant for your higher end bracers only, unless your just wallowing in cash or enchanting mats)
Leg Armor-Brilliant Spellthread. (I chose the Spellthread with spirit over stam due to the fact that it gives us extra crit and some additional mp5, which is never a bad thing)

Also to be noted is +50 Spellpower to Weapon, +63 Spellpower, and the Staff counterparts. Once again, the lesser versions of these enchants are much more affordable than the "greater" ones, and they will suffice for starter weapons. (I didn't bother with +63 until I had Life and Death from 25 Man Naxx)

Haste and Crit-Your next two stats to build are Haste and Crit. At the moment this is sort of a tossup, I have seen lots of mages trying to stack more crit, but I have also seen many mages stacking haste. Let me first say, NEVER GEM FOR EITHER. When looking to increase your haste or crit, do it through gear. The Mage T8 has quite a bit of crit, along with most ulduar gear, so Haste will most likely win out as the more vital stat. I personally am looking for more haste in my gear, though you may choose crit. Don't forget that knowing your raid composition will affect your crit (not so much for haste, mainly your only help there is the Shaman Totem).

When you have a Yellow gem slot that's in need of filling with a Gem color that corresponds I would suggest the Reckless Monarch Topaz, over the Spellpower/Crit version.

Let me break things down for you real quick...

Moonkin Aura=5%
Elemental Shaman Aura=5%
Focus Magic=3-6% (If you have another mage casting it on you, and you've cast it on someone, then 6%)
Scorch Buff/Shadow Mastery=5%
Wrath Totem (Provided by Elemental Shaman) is also another 3% crit.
Molten Armor=5%+

Not to mention Kings, Divine Spirit (Which provides crit as well long as your using Molten Armor.

So there in itself is 24%+ crit. I end up with 50% plus when it's all said and done, so I look more towards Haste. But once again...it's up to you. I'd say anywhere upwards of 40% is decent, and achievable even in some basic starter gear, but you could most likely do with less.

For a More Mathematical Breakdown of the Stats you can visit the Fire Mage Thread at elitistjerks.com here.

I would also suggest getting a Program called Rawr that is usually pretty reliable and is in use by a lot on end-game raiders for making decisions regarding which gear pieces to choose, what gems to place in slots, etc. It's pretty configurable, you simply need to set down with their tutorial and work with the settings. ElitistJerks and several other sites have lists of settings they've used you can find in their Mage Threads, so check those out as well.

Onto our next topic!


Glyphs&Meta Gems

Part 1-Glyphs
A newer addition by Blizzard, Glpyhs are very useful items! They allow us to tweak our spells, and our abilities, in some pretty nifty ways... And add a very nice DPS increase in some cases. There's not to much Detail to go into here, so I'll jump straight to the list of Glpyhs your most likely going to wish to include in your Arsenal.

Fire Mage Major Glyphs
Glyph of Molten Armor-This Glyph in essence, add's to your Crit Rating, and makes Molten Armor a great thing to have, we will talk about the use of Molten Armor later on.
Glyph of Fireball-Very straightforward, surprisingly, the extra crit is considered much better than the D.O.T effect.
Glyph of Living Bomb-Once again, straightforward. Add's a decent amount of DPS.

Optional Major Glyph (Usually replaces Fireball or Molten Armor Glpyh)-Glyph of Improved Scorch-This is useless if you have a lock that uses Shadow Mastery or another Mage in your raid roster that uses it. In essence...talk to your fellow raiders to find out whether or not you need it. It does make life a lot easier.

Minor Mage Glyphs
Glyph of Slow Fall-Saves you a lot of trouble, and a little bag space
Glyph of Arcane Intellect-Good if you need to rebuff someone midfight or if you forget it and need to toss Brilliance during a pull, etc.

The other spots are pretty much your choice, though these two are fun
Polymorph Polar Bear Cub
Polymorph Penguin

Part 2-Metas

Your meta Gem is sort of like an extra Glyph, it fills a special slot in your Headpiece. The meta gems we'll be using require 2 blue gems, or 2 jewelcrafting prismatic gems... I covered this earlier in the Guide.
There are several Meta options, but only one stands out among the rest as both the most common choice, and the most useful.

And that's the Chaotic Skyflare Diamond

Why? It gives you extra critical strike rating (it's really the only crit gem you'll ever need to use in your gear), and the Extra Critical Strike Damage is very nice as well. This basically means when you crit, your crit will do more damage than it would have originally. It's a pretty sweet gem.

We do have one other option, I used it when I was arcane, and had a PvP helm with low intellect(It's quite crappy trying to find a decent starter Cloth helm in Wrath). This gem is the Ember Skyflare Diamond. It provides a nice amount of Spellpower, and a decent amount of Mana. So I suppose it's a decent option as well.

On to the next topic!

Your Rotation

This is where things get fun. A bad rotation can make any good player bad, and vice versa (Usually). You would be amazed how much difference "tightening" up your rotation, or switching your spell order can make.

Let's begin with the spell you're going to find yourself casting quite a bit....Molten Armor....yep, this is the "Mage Armor" your going to be using for virtually every fight you take part in. Why? Because it gives an excellent amount of crit, and you don't usually need the Mana Regeneration provided by the other Mage Armor (though you may find times when it's nice, and in certain fights the Magic Resistance it provides is nice). Moving on...

I have heard many people say Fire has a hard rotation, when I, in essence, think it is quite simple...., here is the rotation your going to be using.

Cast Living Bomb
Spam Fireball
Until Hot Streak Procs
Then Cast Pyroblast (Instant Damage)

Once your Living Bomb has Exploded, reapply it, rinse and repeat.

You have the following Utility Spells/Items to use at your Own digression.

Evocation=Instant-ish 60% Mana, it's an amazing spell, with a not to shabby cooldown time. Though I rarely find myself using it, Fire is very mana friendly, especially as your gear builds. Note that this can be interrupted, so try and use it when you know your not going to need to move, be silenced, etc.

Ice Block "OMG the Main tank is down, the OT is coming, but the boss is headed for me"...Smack this spell and your Immune for 10 Seconds. Learn to love this button, you may be using it a lot. Learn to use it carefully, and at the correct times, and your survivability will go through the roof.

Invisibility Is amazing, and has many applications. Use it when your riding High on the Aggro charts, to escape mobs, and other players. Once again, learn to use this spell wisely.

Mirror Image-Mainly a pvp spell, but it does add a nice little dose of dps, and offers some Threat reduction for your own spells while they exist. I usually pop them during Heroism

Earlier in the Guide I told you a bit about Improved Scorch and Focus Magic, now we're going to go into detail about these Spells.

Focus Magic is a spell that allows you to place a Buff on another that provides them with 3% additional crit, and when they crit, your own crit chance is increased by 3%. It's a lovely DPS boost. Let's talk about it's application

Focus Magic can be given to any caster class (it doesn't work for Melee hits),and even to pally tanks to help them build threat (Our MT has me place my Focus Magic on him for certain fights in Ulduar). I would highly suggest working with other mages in your Raid and have them apply it to you as you apply it to them, as it works out for 6% crit for both of you almost constantly. If you have multiple mages, work out a simple Focus Magic rotation so that every one of them can get the buff. I have used this on virtually every caster class however, and each gives good result. Note this can also be used on Enhancement Shamans.

Improved Scorch is a spell which allows your Scorch to place a de-buff on a MOB that increases critical strike chance against that target by 1%, stacking up to 5%. Note that this is overwritten by Warlock's Shadow Mastery. It's pretty straightforward... work with other mages in your run to get it applied.

Polymorph is also a useful spell, and it has many raid implications, I chose not to go into detail on it because it's pretty straightforward.

As I just stated, all the above spells are all useful, especially if you can learn to apply them at the correct times. This isn't something I can teach you, you simply have to learn for yourself.

On to our next topic....


Add-Ons!

I am sure some questions will arise about Mage Add-ons. Add-ons are great for watching buffs, spell timers, debuffs, etc. And there are many to choose from. But I mainly use one, and one only. Why? Because my computer isn't the best, and I have it pushed to it's limits as it is...and I'm a simple kind of guy.

Scorchio! 2 Does everything I need, it puts a simple list dead in the middle of my Screen that has my spell timers on it. It show's me when polymorphs are going down, Living Bombs are about to explode, and so on and so forth, you can customize it to show what you wish, and it's simple and easy. (I recommend turning off Winter's Chill notifications...you'll see why). This add-on is great!

I also suggest turning on either Blizzard's Scrolling Battle Text or getting another Add-On that displays it.

For more information on add-ons you can check the mage area at Curse here, and the Mage UI and Add-on area at ElitistJerks here

It's up to you what you use, find what works, play around, and simply be comfortable Smiling.

Also, don't forget
Omen
Deadly Boss Mobs

They are both, in my opinion, required for both Heroics and Raids.

And if you'd enjoy tracking your Damage and DPS
Recount

....Onto our next topic.

Professions

I have had quite a few people ask me "What are the best Professions for a Mage", and quite honestly, I don't think there's a best or worst. Virtually every profession provides some sort of interesting Enhancement. I am simply going to list these, I think they're straightforward and don't really need wowhead links.

Alchemy provides the following
-Useful Starter Trinket
-Increased Times on flasks and elixirs (money saved)
-The ability to make your own consumables, if your an herbalist, or can find someone willing to either give, or sell herbs to you cheaply (money saved)
-Increased bonuses from Flasks, and Elixirs... that's never a bad thing

Blacksmithing Provides the following
-The ability to place a prismatic gem socket on your bracers and gloves

Enchanting
-The ability to place +19 Spellpower enchants to rings, these enchants are getting a boost in 3.2

Engineering Provides the following
-The ability to place speed enhancers on several items.

Inscription Provides the following
-Awesome shoulder enchants

Jewelcrafting Provides the following
-The ability to craft and place in your armor 3 Prismatic epic gems, the main contenders being ones that provide +32 Spellpower, and +27 Hit Rating, these are to lose their prismatic ability, but gain extra stats in 3.2

Leatherworking
-The ability to place a spellpower enchant on your bracers, which provides 63 Spellpower

Tailoring
-Lightweave Embroidery, this is supposedly the biggest dps boost out of any profession. It is a very nice proc.

The other various Professions such as Mining, Herbalism, Skinning are basically to supply mats for the above professions and make some gold Smiling.

Onto our last, and final topic for now.


Recommended Factions

There are several factions I consider you build your rep with as you run Heroics and do dailies. They provide useful gear enhancements, and some guilds even require you have them. When the next part of my Guide is released concerning Starter Gear I'll go into more detail. But for now, let's look at the main two you need.

Kirin Tor-Revered
The Arcanum of Burning Mysteries -This is your "Head Enchant", it adds 30 Spellpower and 20 Crit Rating... not to shabby, eh?

Sons of Hodir-Honored/Exhalted.

The following 2 Links are for your Shoulder Enchants, sadly, the Sons of Hodir do not have a tabard, and are one of the view Wrath Factions you have to do dailies for. You'll receive 1 enchant at honored, and 1 at exalted.

Honored-Lesser Inscription of the Storm

Exalted-Greater Inscription of the Storm

[hr[

This Guide is by no means complete, I am currently working on compiling a Starter Gear List for those who are newly 80 and wishing to choose the fire spec, and various other details, as well as some more in-depth calculations. Any and all comments are appreciated...I welcome you all to provide your own advice and tips. I hope you have enjoyed what I have provided so far. I will also be working to make the Guide more fluid, re-arranging the sections.

Also, anyone willing to help me add some color to the guide, and help me some with the coding would be in my dire debt.

Best of Luck,
Skynightwolf

Please also note that I am currently considering the following Guides, though I do believe some of them may be in the needed Section.

A Guide to Kiting
A Guide to Arcane DPS
A Guide to Mage PvP as arcane and as frost.

Note that these each will take several weeks, if not more to create, but I will more than likely place them here for the Community.