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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Undead Mage

Alright, its time for your mage to take a break from making portals for everyone and focus on leveling.

I’m sure you’ve made all kinds of gold for about ten minutes of work, but I want to help you reach the higher levels so you can do more with your Mage.  This means it’s time to put down the Arcane and start building your Fire Talents.

The Avid Pyroblast User

I gotta admit, every time I’ve thrown on the Mage cloths, I’m addicted to using the Pyroblast.  It all starts around level 20, but when you train this ability throughout the game you’ll be able to deal up to 1510 fire damage and an additional 452 duration bonus damage.  Since you can train this every six levels (plus 73 and 77) it will definitely be used until you reach level 80 and beyond.

An Interesting Build

In order to get the most out of your Mage, it will be crucial to pay careful attention to the Fire tree.  I don’t want you to waste all 71 points here, since I’m sure there are a few Arcane and Frost spells you enjoy.  While this might vary between players, if you start out using 51 points here, you’ll have twenty left over for the other two talent trees.  Take a look at the abilities you can skip (except Burnout) in the Fire area.

Skip:
Incineration (0/3)
Burning Determination (0/2)
Impact (0/3)
Molten Shields (0/2)
Improved Scorch (0/3)
Playing with Fire (0/3)
Blazing Speed (0/2)

But make sure you take:
Burnout (3/5)

20 Points of Power

Okay, so you’ve got all these talent points left over.  You can go about this your own way, but I’m going to throw out a few suggestions to you just in case you aren’t sure where to place them.  Whatever you decide to do, make sure you don’t leave any of them sitting in your pool area.  Here’s a quick look at how you can boost your Arcane and Frost abilities.  Keep an eye on the specific point calculations.

Arcane

Arcane Subtlety (2/2)
Arcane Stability (4/5)
Arcane Fortitude (2/3)
Arcane Concentration (1/5)

Frost

Improved Frostbolt (2/5)
Ice Floes (3/3)
Ice Shards (3/3)
Frost Warding (2/2)
Icy Veins (1/1)

The Most Entertaining Mage Spell

After you spend most of your talent points in the Fire Tree, you will find the Living Bomb ability at the bottom.  If you want to watch a great spell in action, then you need to set this off a few times.  My favorite place to use it is Stratholme since there is a ridiculous amount of mobs there.  First, you will be target an enemy and turn them into a bomb.  It will deliver 612-1380 damage over 12 seconds.

When the time has elapsed your target will explode and add another 336-759 bonus damage (depending on your rank) to all enemies around the bomb.  While this is a fantastic tool for any Mage, it’s just as much fun watching all your enemies fly up into the air.  Unfortunately you can only place it on one target at a time, but I know you’ll enjoy it.  Now go have some fun with your Mage!

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Here’s the master list of guides:

Priest Leveling Guide

Paladin Leveling Guide

Death Knight Leveling Guide

Warlock Leveling Guide

Warrior Leveling Guide

Mage Leveling Guide

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Rogue Leveling Guide

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