Breathe New Life Into Your Mage Spec and…
19/52/00 Fire Mage
Become a Fire-Spewing Combat Monster!
When it comes to the Mage class in WoW these days, all I ever seem to see lately is a Pyroblast spec, or a non-Pyroblast spec.
How boring! I mean – I LOVE the spec, but when everyone is the Pyro, it becomes old.
I’m tired of seeing big chunky rocks of fire flying from Fire Mages in WoW, and I’m here to do something about it!
Introducing the “FireCane”, or “Dragon Breath” Mage.
If you’re cringing already at losing Pyroblast, you should probably leave now, because this build is as much about doing something different as it is making an effective Fire Mage spec.
And effective it is!
While you might lose Pyroblast and Blastwave, you also can now lose another 3 points from the Hotstreak talent.
Where do these missing 5 points go now that we’ve “lost” Pyroblast? Generally speaking – we’ve added utility, longevity, and flexibility where before we simply stretched for a few percent higher DPS.
Get the whole story of the build below, and the link to the build itself to the right.Before we discuss why we’re choosing particular talents, and where you can or should make changes to suit yourself, you might be asking, “Who will this build suit?
Primarily, this Fire spec is for someone who is into the later game, doing PvE to level – around 55 plus for the best Fire-breathing action, or lower for anyone who wants to be flexible enough to enjoy WoW without pigeon holing themselves into a “raider” a “PvPer”, and so on.
So lets begin!
How to Create a Well Rounded Fire Mage Build in WoW
Row 1 (Improved Fire Blast, Incineration, Improved Fireball)
Improved Fire Blast can be nice for PvP, any insta-cast spell is in my book, but unless you lean far into the PvP camp, leave it out, and take its two solid cousins — Inceneration (increased crit chance by +6%) and Improved Fireball for a half a second faster casting speed.
Row 2 (Ignite, Burning Determination, World in Flames)
Ignite is another nice critical strike bonus – when maxed you’re doing another 40% damage over 4 seconds, great in any Fire mage’s (burning) tree.
Burning Determination is a weird one. During PvP it can be handy, but as a cloth wearer you’ll know the first time you’re interrupted or silenced is usually the last time – in other words, you die very soon after. Drop BD and move on.
World in Flames is an easy choice – 3 points here nets you another 6% critical strike chance, which with Incineration makes 12% bonus crit strike chance.
Row 3 (Flame Throwing, Impact, Pyroblast, Burning soul)
Sink 2 points into Flame Throwing for a multi purpose boost to your fire spells – an extra 6 yards is handy in PvP, and lets you get another spell off before a mob hits you with melee attacks.
I can’t decide on Impact – the 10% chance to stun on hit for 2 seconds is handy, but I find I will usually look at Burning soul and other spells first. Speaking of Burning soul – 2 points there to help with push back from the inevitable casting you’ll be doing in CC.
Pyroblast!
The skill that set me in motion to write this Mage build — no doubt its a great skill, in fact I wrote a build centered around it not too long ago… Its high damage, efficient mana, and can be insta cast down the line, but we’re going to skip it and its supporting skills in favor of concentrating on Dragon’s Breath and other very handy abilities from the arcane tree.
Row 4 (Improved Scorch, Molten shields, Master of Elements)
This row is one of my favorites with Molten shields making an appearance – 2 points here makes your Fire and Frost ward spells very handy for reflecting damage. Either in PvP or PvE I commonly have a ward up (when I remember to cast it… !) and I think this talent is one of the most underrated in this spec.
Improved Scorch is great for the extra crit chance, and for grouping and raids is awesome for its ability to increase spell vulnerability on the target. 3 points here, and 3 in Master of Elements for some mana savings on crits.
Row 5 (Playing With Fire, Critical mass, Blast Wave)
Get more critical power in this row by maxing Critical Mass, otherwise leave the other two.
Obviously Blast wave is left out due to lack of its pre-req, Pyroblast.
Row 6 (Blazing Speed, Fire Power)
Another “maybe” PvP talent here is Blazing speed – I’m tempted to take it, but in practice the ability doesn’t fire often enough, and by the time it does, your cloth wearing ways means you die fast – pass again… and Blizzard, make this one an insta cast with a 3 second duration and you might get more takers.
Put 5 points into Fire Power which gives off a solid 10% bonus to all fire damage, another easy pick.
Row 7 (Pyromaniac, Combustion, Molten Fury)
Another awesome ability in this line is Combustion, and is required to progress on to Dragon Breath – so 1 point here. Since this insta cast ability is on a relatively short cooldown, be sure to use it often, and when you do, spam your insta cast fire spells and fireballs to get your critical chances flowing!
Row 8 (Fiery Payback, Empowered Fire)
Another Fire Mage talent I feel doesn’t do enough is Fiery Payback – again we’re so weak that once we’re down to 35% health (the point at which this talent procs) we’re about to die anyway. More useful for PvE than PvP, and of course, definately a taker if you’re making out Pyroblast, but for us, we’re passing on Payback.
Empowered fire is another taker for this build, 3/3 here for yet more increase in base fire and frostfire damage.
Row 9 (Fire Starter, Dragon’s Breath, Hot Streak)
One of my favorite talent lines for the Fire Mage gives us the Fire breathing talents. Dragon’s Breath and its helper talent, Fire Starter get maxed out here, and let us unleash a torrent of magical fire in a cone ahead of us for a whopping 35% base mana cost, and disorienting them for 5 seconds.
This talent is pure gold, great fun, and usable almost anywhere. Fire starter makes it even better when maxed – giving you an insta cast Flamestrike immediately after using Dragon’s Breath… lots of time to line up your target!
Row 10 (Burnout)
A lonely talent in row 10, Burnout is another no brainer, increase your spell crits damage bonus by 50% and pay 5% extra mana for those spells that do crit. I’ll pay that all day long, 5 points here.
Row 11 (Living Bomb)
Ahh Living Bomb! Great fun, great damage, a good way to finish up the Fire Tree. Obviously take the point and have fun learning how to use it well.
Summation and Arcane Talent Additions
That’s the basis of the build – I’ve taken nothing that didn’t keep our spells doing the most damage possible (that’s why we’re fire magi!) and left enough to add some very handy arcane talents which will help keep our mana costs down and damage out put up.
Take special note that I’ve chosen Magic Attunement – this talent and its accompanying spells, Amplify and Dampen magic, are very much underrated, and most Fire Mages could do with dampen magic running 100% of the time while solo and in PvP – there just isn’t enough healing being done to justify otherwise!
For the Arcane row, max out every row up to 3, but leave out Arcane Stability, Magic Absorption (though I was really on the fence on this one) and Focus Magic.
Thats it! Get out there and give this build a go – I know you’ll have fun, and above all, you’ll actually be different!
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