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WOW: Mage build spec

I

INGlewood78

Senior member
Just started a human mage and was wondering if anyone can give me some tips on a good mage build spec for high damage output.

Fire mage has higher dmg than Frost?

TIA
 
from what i hear yes, depending on what kind of damage your talkin about,
fire = higher burst rate, with PoM Pyro, with crit.. HURTS alot..
but Frost(from what i hear) = survivability, still with higher end damage output..
note, that mages are support, not THE main damage supllier..
again from what i hear and experiance
alot depends on your spec.. so.. yeah
 

Fire is more damage than frost, but frost has the slowing effect on mobs that it works on, which allows you a longer time before the mob gets to you (more uninterrupted casting time)
Arcane is relatively low damage, but there is a talent that with 1 point lowers your contribution to mob hate, which can effectively increase the amount of damage you can do and not pull aggro (i.e. get yourself in trouble) when you're in an instance.

Also at the bottom of the arcane tree is a talent that makes you an absolute DPS machine for 15 seconds (35% more damage for all spells, but 35% more mana cost). So even though the arcane tree doesn't give much in the way of generic damage increases, it does give you 15 seconds of MEGA damage with a 3 minute cooldown. The fire tree gives signficantly more damage on a regular basis, but can't match the 35% for 15 seconds. So for single target damage you have to choose between good damage increase all the time (to non-fire based mobs) or a mega for 15 seconds with a 3 minute cooldown.

instant cast Improved Arcane Explosion and Uninterruptible Arcane Missiles are VERY nice, and most go at least that far into arcane, which means if you are going to primary in another tree, arcane is almost always the secondary.

The absolute most DPS skill is using Arcane Explosion (talented to be instant) on a big group. I was priest for someone doing this, it was INSANE. He'd run around and make a big train behind him of 6-12 mobs or so. Then I'd heal him once to pull them on me while he cast Flamestrike. Then I'd fade and they'd go back on him, then he'd chain AE while I kept him alive. 10 seconds later there were 6-12 dead mobs and he would drink for a minute and we'd do it again. The biggest limitation is that there are simply not enough mobs in one place to really power level too effectively this way.

The mage is kind of like the rogue in that it's pretty tough to make a BAD mage talent build... you really have to try to screw it up to make a bad mage build.
 
As a fire mage, you are going to want to have several talents in arcane. If you go arcane, you are going to want to have a lot of talents in fire. Either way you want improved arcane missiles, improved arcane explosion, and evocation (think that's the name... the mana regen one) from the arcane tree.

Most people are fire build because it is a bit more universal - you aren't going to be using the end arcana talent even if you have it, though it is excellent for short but difficult boss fights or sticky situations.

Frost is not a high dps build, though it is a mana efficient build, and probably the best PvP build. I find it to be the most fun, but it also tends to exacerbate the root bugs where if you are lagging even slightly, after you root the enemy, he teleports to you even though he's not really near you yet.
 
If you have a warlock around casting Curse of Elements, fire damage becomes ludicrous.

All hail Curse of Elements!
 
Originally posted by: Mwilding
If you have a warlock around casting Curse of Elements, fire damage becomes ludicrous.

All hail Curse of Elements!
Click to expand...



All hail warlocks ;-)
 
Whatever build you do, invest 5 points in improved arcane missiles. That's the only melee attack mages have 🙂

As for the specs, fire is nice for soloing, however, in instances there are a lot more mobs immune to fire, as opposed to ice/arcane.
 
I am a lvl 51 undead mage and my spec right now is 11 arcane (5 in concentration, 5 in clearcasting and 1 in evocation which regenerates mana mid battle) then the rest in fire (skipping pyroblast) I am now a damage machine.

Once you play for a while and get the feel for your spells, you can respec and get what you like. Wait a while though because it will cost you alot of gold to keep respecing.

Oh and horde > allaince.
 
Originally posted by: BroeBo
I am a lvl 51 undead mage and my spec right now is 11 arcane (5 in concentration, 5 in clearcasting and 1 in evocation which regenerates mana mid battle) then the rest in fire (skipping pyroblast) I am now a damage machine.

Once you play for a while and get the feel for your spells, you can respec and get what you like. Wait a while though because it will cost you alot of gold to keep respecing.

Oh and horde > allaince.
Click to expand...

Why did you skip pyroblast? Pyroblast + Critical Mass = Dead Mobs.
 
I had it before and I find it useless in PvP without PoM. 6 seconds is a long ass cast time. Although I will probably get it with the rest of my talents for lack of anything else... Right now I am doing some massive dmg thanks to critical strikes and ignite.
 
Originally posted by: BroeBo
I had it before and I find it useless in PvP without PoM. 6 seconds is a long ass cast time. Although I will probably get it with the rest of my talents for lack of anything else... Right now I am doing some massive dmg thanks to critical strikes and ignite.
Click to expand...

I thought you were PvP. If it's only one opponent you should do polymorph, ran as far away as you can, then Critical Mass + Pyroblast. When there are a lot of opponents, though, it could be a bit useless.
 
thats why you have you indestructable bear/druid friend there to help you out, and on the off chance he's taking damage, Poof, caster form, insta heal for 1k HP, back in to bear while his mana regens..
 
i said Druid friend.. 😛

lock are sweet though, unfortunatly they don't group up as much, usually never see other mages, or locks in groups, specially for sm 😛
 
imo here are the most viable mage builds most mages use a varation of one
31/20 arcane/fire best burst dmg
30/21 fire/arcane highest consistent dmg
33/18 ice/arcane best for end game instance and highest survivability and mana efficiency

for pvp you need 18 mandatory pts in arcane namely:
5 pts in improved arcane missiles
5 pts in improved arcane explosion
5 pts in the clearcasting talent
2pts in improved counterspel
1pt evocation

pom is also highly recommended
 
If you're looking for a mage that packs a punch, skip ice talents all-together, and focus on fire and arcane. There is no damage in ice.
 
Originally posted by: FearoftheNight
imo here are the most viable mage builds most mages use a varation of one
31/20 arcane/fire best burst dmg
30/21 fire/arcane highest consistent dmg
33/18 ice/arcane best for end game instance and highest survivability and mana efficiency

for pvp you need 18 mandatory pts in arcane namely:
5 pts in improved arcane missiles
5 pts in improved arcane explosion
5 pts in the clearcasting talent
2pts in improved counterspel
1pt evocation

pom is also highly recommended
Click to expand...

This sums it up nicely. Although you could argue that ice does more consistent damage because of the survivability and mana efficiency. Because you can stay alive longer, you're going to do more damage over the long run. In a recent MC run, I (33/18 ice/arc) was the #3 damage dealer overall, basically because I was able to survive when many others died.

 
I might eventually spec in ice to try it out. But for now I'm having a good time with mostly fire... I do miss PoM sometimes but a combusted fire blast is a good smack down when they don't expect it. Also a good combo for melee fighters is frost nova + sheep + combusted fireball + fire blast + cone of cold + blink + fireball + blast wave + fire blast.... (making sure to counter-spell any heals that they might be casting)

Stop whenever they are dead of course 😀
 
Originally posted by: benchiu
Originally posted by: FearoftheNight
imo here are the most viable mage builds most mages use a varation of one
31/20 arcane/fire best burst dmg
30/21 fire/arcane highest consistent dmg
33/18 ice/arcane best for end game instance and highest survivability and mana efficiency

for pvp you need 18 mandatory pts in arcane namely:
5 pts in improved arcane missiles
5 pts in improved arcane explosion
5 pts in the clearcasting talent
2pts in improved counterspel
1pt evocation

pom is also highly recommended
Click to expand...

This sums it up nicely. Although you could argue that ice does more consistent damage because of the survivability and mana efficiency. Because you can stay alive longer, you're going to do more damage over the long run. In a recent MC run, I (33/18 ice/arc) was the #3 damage dealer overall, basically because I was able to survive when many others died.
Click to expand...

Out of curiousity, what classes were number 1 and 2?
 
I dueled a pure shadow priest and they are hard to kill. He was 3 lvls below me at the time and it was quite annoying when I would nuke him down to nothing but he could jump out of shadow and flash heal even with me IAEing the hell out of him. basically a dmg machine with healing capabilities which I find to be kind of cheap. Oh and plus they have a better shield then mana shield and the ability to debuff.
 
Originally posted by: BroeBo
I dueled a pure shadow priest and they are hard to kill. He was 3 lvls below me at the time and it was quite annoying when I would nuke him down to nothing but he could jump out of shadow and flash heal even with me IAEing the hell out of him. basically a dmg machine with healing capabilities which I find to be kind of cheap. Oh and plus they have a better shield then mana shield and the ability to debuff.
Click to expand...

I find shamans hardest to duel. As soon as he casted all his totems I really wasn't sure what to do.
 
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