| Name | A Complete Mage Guide: Fire, Ice, and the Arcane (Mage Talents) |
| Category | Class |
Hyacintha, your very own Skryer Enchantress is here today, to tell you all about Mages. To help me, I have brought along Nadandren the Mage to help answer some of the most important questions you could possibly have. Never fear, anything you have ever wanted to know about Mages, from their skills to their armor to their talents, you will find, right here the in the pages of this interview. Prepare to take an in-depth look at this popular, yet underplayed class, and be ready to understand where is allure originates from!
In this third installment, Nadandren and I will go over each of the talent trees and all of their points, and give you insight on what you should take.
Hyacintha: Well, Nadandren! Please go over each of the talent trees in detail and give your recommendations!
Nadandren: Sure thing.
Arcane Talents
Arcane Subtlety - Rank 2/2
Arcane Subtlety reduces your target's resistance to all your spells by 10 and reduces threat of Arcane spells by 40%. In essence, you are killing two birds with one stone with this talent. Not only are you getting what is essentially spell hit, but you are also getting a threat reduction. As a mage, you will find that threat reduction is well needed. I strongly recommend this talent for both of its bonuses.
Arcane Focus - Rank 5/5
Arcane Focus reduces the chance that the opponent can resist your Arcane spells by 10%. This, again, literally translates into a spell hit stat, which is very important as a mage. The less resisted spells you cast, the more damage you are going to deal, obviously!
Improved Arcane Missiles - Rank 5/5
This talent gives you a 100% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while channeling Arcane Missiles. This is an excellent talent to have overall because spell interruption can be a pain! You will not have to worry about it with this here though. It will be clear casting.
Wand Specialization - Rank 2/2
This increases your damage with Wands by 25%. While wands may come in handy at low levels, I do not believe any good mage will find this talent necessary in the end game. With good gear, some mana potions, and trinkets, hopefully you will never find yourself in the dire straights of resorting to wand shooting.
Magic Absorption - Rank 5/5
Magic Absorption increases all resistances by 10 and causes all spells you fully resist to restore 5% of your total mana. It has a one second cool down, so it can only occur once every second. This is not really a good talent, but you may have to put points in it to go all the way down the arcane tree. I do not recommend it unless you need to dump points.
Arcane Concentration - Rank 5/5
Arcane Concentration gives you a 10% chance of entering a Clearcasting state after any damage spell hits a target. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next damage spell by 100%. This is really nice, as about one in ten of your spells with give you a free spell. In essence, that is excellent if you think about how much a mage casts in any given period of time, during any fight. The chances of the Clearcasting state are great if you take all five points.
Magic Attunement - Rank 2/2
Magic Attunement increases the effect of your Amplify Magic and Dampen Magic spells by 50%. In raid situations, this may be a good talent to take. However, you need to consider how often you actually use the skills in general to personally justify if you would like to take it or not.
Arcane Impact - Rank 3/3
This talent increases the critical strike chance of your Arcane Explosion and Arcane Blast spells by an additional 6%. If you are full Arcane, this is definitely worth taking.
Arcane Fortitude - Rank 1/1
For one point, this talent increases your armor by an amount equal to 50% of your Intellect. It is not bad, but at the same time, mages really do not need armor for much in a general situation. Therefore, you need to question the plausibility of taking it at all.
Improved Mana Shield - Rank 2/2
This increases the mana lost per point of damage taken when Mana Shield is active by 20%. If you use Mana shield a lot, then this may be worth it. However, again, one must consider how often the ability is used to justify whether or not it should be taken.
Improved Counterspell - Rank 2/2
A very handy talent, this gives your Counterspell a 100% chance to silence the target for 4 seconds. In PvP this is excellent. Against caster mobs, it can be fantastic if they are not immune. I recommend it if you are this far into Arcane.
Arcane Meditation - Rank 3/3
Absolutely 100% necessary. This talent allows 30% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting. There is nothing worse than a mage without mana, except maybe a healer without mana. But with the extra mana you will regenerate back from this talent, you might just be able to keep that heal-bot alive. I recommend this all the way.
Improved Blink - Rank 2/2
This reduces the mana cost of your Blink spell by 50%. Not really necessary at all, this talent may provide a little fun in PvP if you are running away, or may be useful in solo situations.
Presence of Mind - Rank 1/1
When activated, your next Mage spell with a casting time less than 10 seconds becomes an instant cast spell. This is really great to have for moments when the raid leader yells, “BURN YOUR COOL-DOWNS!” or for those ‘Uh-oh’ moments. This is a great talent to have.
Arcane Mind - Rank 5/5
Another 100% necessary talent, this increases your total Intellect by 15%. More intellect means more mage. Go for it.
Prismatic Cloak - Rank 2/2
This reduces all damage taken by 4%. While not needed in raid situations, it may be handy in PvP builds or for soloing. You should make a personal choice on this one.
Arcane Instability - Rank 3/3
This increases your spell damage and critical strike chance by 3%. It is certainly an excellent few points to have, and strongly recommended. More crits and higher damage can be considered essential for the mage.
Arcane Potency - Rank 3/3
This increases the critical strike chance of any spell cast while Clearcasting by 30%. If you took the talent to get Clearcasting, this is absolutely necessary. It makes being a mage so much better and will increase your damage output tremendously over time.
Empowered Arcane Missiles - Rank 3/3
Your Arcane Missiles spell gains an additional 45% of your bonus spell damage effects, but mana cost is increased by 6%. While it might seem like a rather expensive thing to do, this could really help your damage output. Since Arcane Missiles will be your main spell as an Arcane mage, you should probably go ahead and pay the price.
Arcane Power - Rank 1/1
When activated, your spells deal 30% more damage while costing 30% more mana to cast. This effect lasts 15 seconds. This can be a great ability to use at the end of a long fight, assuming you can support the mana costs.
Spell Power - Rank 2/2
This increases the critical strike damage bonus of all spells by 50% and I believe it is a great point to have. You definitely want your criticals to hit harder, and this talent will make that happen.
Mind Mastery - Rank 5/5
This increases spell damage by up to 25% of your total Intellect. Again, this is going to cause your spells to hit harder, and at no expense other than that it will be better as your gear gets better, and really, that is no cost at all. This is a fantastic talent all around and 100% necessary when you are an Arcane mage.
Slow - Rank 1/1
This ability reduces the target's movement speed by 50%, increases the time between ranged attacks by 50% and increases casting time by 50%. It lasts for 15 seconds. Slow can only affect one target at a time. While we could have wished for something a little better, this talent can do its damage in its own way. While you will quickly find it is not going to be use against most bosses, it would be great in PvP situations and against certain mobs.
Fire Talents
Improved Fireball - Rank 5/5
Improved Fireball reduces the casting time of your Fireball spell by 0.5 seconds. It is not much, but it will make a difference, especially if you are specialized in Fire, as Fireball will be your main spell. I highly recommend it for Fire users.
Impact - Rank 5/5
This gives your Fire spells a 10% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds. You will not find much of a use for this talent in raids, where stunning just does not happen. However, in PvP or PvE content where stun immune mobs are not prevalent, this does have a viable use.
Ignite - Rank 5/5
With Ignite, your critical strikes from Fire damage spells cause the target to burn for an additional 40% of your spell's damage over 4 seconds. This is a great talent to have when you are fire specialized as it will help you to steadily deal more damage. What more can you ask for?
Flame Throwing - Rank 2/2
This talent increases the range of your fire spells by 6 yards. Not only will this talent allow you to stay out of range of most fears, AOEs, etc, but it gives you numerable advantages beyond that. It is a great two points to spend.
Improved Fire Blast - Rank 3/3
Improved Fire Blast reduces the cooldown of your Fire Blast spell by 1.5 sec. While you may not really use Fire Blast too much with Fireball being your main spell, this reduction is still a nice thing to have for tough moments where you need quick burst damage.
Incineration - Rank 2/2
This increases the critical strike chance of your Fire Blast and Scorch spells by 4%. Anything that improves critical strike is always good. This talent is one such thing.
Improved Flamestrike - Rank 3/3
This increases the critical strike chance of your Flamestrike spell by 15%. Again, as aforementioned, this can be a nice bonus, especially if your crit chance is already pretty high.
Pyroblast - Rank 1/1
Pyroblast hurls an immense fiery boulder that causes 877 to 1087 Fire damage and an additional 324 Fire damage over 12 seconds. This can be a nice ability to have and I am sure you will find it rather fun, if nothing else.
Burning Soul - Rank 2/2
Burning soul gives your Fire spells a 70% chance to not lose casting time when you take damage and reduces the threat caused by your Fire spells by 10%. Just like the Arcane Subtlety talent, this is killing two birds with one stone. You are not only receiving a reduced threat talent, which is absolutely fantastic, but you are also gaining the ability to resist spell interruptions, the mage’s most terrible foe.
Improved Scorch - Rank 3/3
Your Scorch spells have a 100% chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to Fire damage. This vulnerability increases the Fire damage dealt to your target by 3% and lasts 30 seconds and stacks up to 5 times. This is one of the best things that you can have as it will give you a better casting rotation, and increase your damage. As long as you can keep scorch up, and stack it each time before it ticks off, then you are going to have some really burning enemies!
Improved Fire Ward - Rank 2/2
Improved Fire Ward causes your Fire Ward to have a 20% chance to reflect Fire spells while active. This can be somewhat handy for PvP, but in PvE content where you are in a group, you will find the use of this talent rather limited.
Master of Elements - Rank 3/3
Your Fire and Frost spell criticals will refund 30% of the mana cost. This is delicious for either a fire or a frost spec and highly recommended. This gives you an even higher initiative to get good crit gear!
Playing with Fire - Rank 3/3
This increases all spell damage caused by 3% and all spell damage taken by 3%. It is really good to have in raids where the mage will not take a whole lot of damage, other than standard raid damage. You want to do anything you can to increase your damage output, so Playing with Fire is just a risk you will have to take.
Critical Mass - Rank 3/3
Increases the critical strike chance of your fire spells by 6%.
Blast Wave - Rank 1/1
A wave of flame radiates outward from the caster, damaging all enemies caught within the blast for 640 to 754 Fire damage, and dazing them for 6 seconds. This is certainly a nice little spell to have that will daze enemies or player before you.
Blazing Speed - Rank 2/2
Blazing Speed gives you a 10% chance when hit by a melee or ranged attack to increase your movement speed by 50% and remove all movement impairing effects. This effect lasts 8 seconds. This is a really great talent to have for PvP or soloing.
Fire Power - Rank 5/5
This increases the damage done by your fire spells by 10%. It is an absolute must for Fire Mages.
Pyromaniac - Rank 3/3
This increases your chance to critically hit and reduces the mana cost of all Fire spells by an additional 3%. Another absolute must, you will find that this talent makes you all the more an able fire mage.
Combustion - Rank 1/1
When activated, this spell causes each Fire damage spell you cast to increase your critical strike chance with Fire damage spells by 10%. This effect lasts until you have caused 3 critical strikes with Fire spells. This is a really nice talent to take because it will allow you to get three critical hits relatively quickly. Make sure to use your highest damaging spell, Fireball!
Molten Fury - Rank 2/2
Molten Fury increases the damage of all spells against targets with less than 20% health by 20%. What a better way to quickly finish off your weakened enemy could be, I do not know!
Empowered Fireball - Rank 5/5
A final absolutely necessary mage talent, Empowered Fireball with make it to where your Fireball spell gains an additional 15% of your bonus spell damage effects. Your main spell now has more boom!
Dragon's Breath - Rank 1/1
This new spell creates a ‘dragon’ like burst of flame where targets in a cone in front of the caster take 680 to 790 Fire damage and are disoriented for 3 seconds. While in raiding and many group situations you will not be able to find much of a use due to lack of range, Dragon’s Breath provides a fantastic quick burst of damage in PvP and PvE solo situations that could very well save you!
Frost Talents
Frost Warding - Rank 2/2
This increases the armor and resistances given by your Frost Armor and Ice Armor spells by 30%. In addition, gives your Frost Ward a 20% chance to reflect Frost spells and effects while active. You will find this is not entirely necessary and that your first five points are much more useful spent in the next talent.
Improved Frostbolt - Rank 5/5
Improved Frostbolt reduces the casting time of your Frostbolt spell by 0.5 sec. This is pretty important if you are going to be a frost mage, as Frostbolt will be your main spell.
Elemental Precision - Rank 3/3
Elemental Precision reduces the mana cost and chance targets resist your Frost and Fire spells by 3%. This is a must have for either frost or fire specs as it is reducing mana costs and essentially giving you more spell hit.
Ice Shards - Rank 5/5
Ice Shards increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Frost spells by 100%. I highly recommend this due to my earlier arguments of spell crit being a good thing, and this just raises their damage when they occur.
Frostbite - Rank 3/3
This gives your Chill effects a 15% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds. While not useful in many PvE situations, you will be able to see its use while soloing and such.
Improved Frost Nova - Rank 2/2
This reduces the cooldown of your Frost Nova spell by 4 seconds. Frost Nova is one of the handiest spells out there, so there is a highly arguable reason to take these two points.
Permafrost - Rank 3/3
Permafrost increases the duration of your Chill effects by 3 seconds and reduces the target's speed by an additional 10%.
Piercing Ice - Rank 3/3
A must have, Piercing Ice increases the damage done by your Frost spells by 6%. If you are going to be doing frost as your main deal, take these three for sure.
Icy Veins - Rank 1/1
Icy Veins hastens your spellcasting, reducing cast time of all spells by 20% and increases the chance your chilling effects will Freeze the target by 10%. It lasts for 20 seconds. I definitely recommend taking this for the one point it costs. You will find many uses for it in your travels and it will be well worth it.
Improved Blizzard - Rank 3/3
Improved Blizzard adds a chill effect to your Blizzard spell. This effect lowers the target's movement speed by 65%. It lasts for a second and a half. This is good if you are frost specced because you may be asked to AOE in certain situations and it will slow the enemy’s movement to you if you happen to grab agro.
Arctic Reach - Rank 2/2
Artic Reach increases the range of your Frostbolt and Blizzard spells and the radius of your Frost Nova and Cone of Cold spells by 20%. It is a must have for frost mages because it will get you out of reach of some fearsome spells that enemies may cast. In PvP you also need not get as close to other players, and PvE will be easier on the soloing.
Frost Channeling - Rank 3/3
This reduces the mana cost of your frost spells by 15% and reduces the threat caused by your Frost spells by 10%. Another must have, this spell is excellent for any frost specced mage and well needed for the amount of damage you can potentially pull.
Shatter - Rank 5/5
Shatter increases the critical strike chance of all your spells against frozen targets by 50%. Seeing as many of your targets will wound up frozen, this is a great talent to take.
Frozen Core - Rank 3/3
This reduces the damage taken by Frost and Fire effects by 6%. In PvP you may find this usefully, however its PvE uses are limited. If you are using this as a PvE spec, then I do not recommend this talent at all.
Cold Snap - Rank 1/1
When activated, this spell finishes the cooldown on all Frost spells you recently cast. This is great for in the heat of the moment battles where you need that cooldown to be over NOW! Use wisely if you take it!
Improved Cone of Cold - Rank 3/3
This increases the damage dealt by your Cone of Cold spell by 35%. If you use Cone of Cold a lot, then this is worth it.
Ice Floes - Rank 2/2
Ice Floes reduces the cooldown of your Cone of Cold, Cold Snap, Ice Barrier and Ice Block spells by 20%. You will utilize these spells in different situations, so if you feel it is worth it, take the points.
Winter's Chill - Rank 5/5
Winter’s Chill gives your Frost damage spells a 100% chance to apply the Winter's Chill effect, which increases the chance a Frost spell will critically hit the target by 2% for 15 seconds and stacks up to 5 times. This is excellent to take if you are a frost mage. Absolutely necessary if you are this far in, you will find so many uses for the effects of this talent.
Ice Barrier - Rank 1/1
Instantly shields you, absorbing 977 damage and lasts up to 1 min. While the shield holds, spells will not be interrupted. This far in, you might as well take it for moments where it will be needed.
Arctic Winds - Rank 5/5
Arctic Winds increases all Frost damage you cause by 5% and reduces the chance melee and ranged attacks will hit you by 5%. This is good to take, just for the bonus to damage. The reduced chance to hit you does not really mater in most situations.
Empowered Frostbolt - Rank 5/5
Your Frostbolt spell gains an additional 10% of your bonus spell damage effects and an additional 5% chance to critically strike. This is a must have, seeing as Frostbolt will be you main ice spell.
Summon Water Elemental - Rank 1/1
This spell gives you a new spell allowing you to summon a Water Elemental to fight for you for 45 seconds. It can be useful, and if you have come this far into frost you should take it for sure. The Elemental can do a decent amount of damage, and is easily made into a good distraction, if nothing else.
Hyacintha: Thank you for the excellent insight on the talents! Now, can you tell me a little bit about builds?
Nadandren: There are a thousand different builds for Mages that combine the elements. There are Arcane/Fire, Arcane/Frost, Frost/Fire, Fire, Frost, and Arcane builds, and each of them is different. I’ll try to list a few here to give you a good idea for what to go with.
First we have the standard Arcane Mage. The Arcane tree makes use of mixes of utility, burst damage, and durability boosting talents which can either augment a Fire/Frost build or stand on it's own. This build showcases a heavily utilitarian Arcane/Frost build which excels in solo and smaller 5-man content. I call this the Negotiator.
NEGOTIATOR (Arcane/Frost, Solo & 5-Man)
Arcane (41 points) 2/2 Arcane Subtlety5/5 Improved Arcane Missiles5/5 Arcane Concentration3/3 Arcane Impact1/1 Arcane Fortitude2/2 Improved Counterspell3/3 Arcane Meditation1/1 Presence of Mind4/5 Arcane Mind3/3 Arcane Instability3/3 Arcane Potency1/1 Arcane Power2/2 Spell Power5/5 Mind Mastery1/1 Slow Frost (20 points) 5/5 Improved Frostbolt5/5 Ice Shards3/3 Frostbite2/2 Improved Frost Nova5/5 Shatter
Next is the Fire mage. The fire tree has been the unrefined damage tree for a moderately long time. Countless mages level with a fire build and many raiders find a heavy fire build is their best damage spec. The only thing lacking for a fire mage is limited control, low survivability, and aggro managing problems. I call this the Pyromancer.
PYROMANCER (Raid, PvE, Fire/Arcane/Frost) Arcane (10 points) 2/2 Arcane Subtlety3/5 Arcane Focus5/5 Arcane Concentration Fire (48 points) 5/5 Improved Fireball5/5 Ignite2/2 Flame Throwing1/3 Improved Fire Blast2/2 Incineration1/1 Pyroblast2/2 Burning Soul3/3 Improved Scorch3/3 Master of Elements3/3 Playing with Fire3/3 Critical Mass1/1 Blast Wave5/5 Fire Power3/3 Pyromaniac1/1 Combustion2/2 Molten Fury5/5 Empowered Fireball1/1 Dragon's Breath Frost (3 points) 3/3 Elemental Precision
Last is the Frost mage. The frost tree is about being in charge of your enemy and survivability which makes it excellent for PvP and a great 5-man PvE choice. The 41-point Water Elemental is a must have for any heavy frost mage since it adds even more options for the mage. The only downside to a frost mage is moderate sustained and burst damage which makes raiding somewhat difficult for most frost mages compared to the raw DPS of a fire mage or even the now heavy-hitting arcane tree. However, if this is your style, go for it. I call it the Frost Magus.
FROST MAGUS (PvP, 5 Man PvE, Frost/Arcane)Arcane (14 points) 5/5 Improved Arcane Missiles5/5 Arcane Concentration3/3 Arcane Impact1/1 Arcane Fortitude Frost (47 points) 5/5 Improved Frostbolt3/3 Elemental Precision5/5 Ice Shards3/3 Frostbite2/2 Improved Frost Nova3/3 Piercing Ice1/1 Icy Veins2/2 Arctic Reach5/5 Shatter1/1 Cold Snap5/5 Winter's Chill1/1 Ice Barrier5/5 Arctic Winds5/5 Empowered Frostbolt1/1 Summon Water Elemental
Of course, there are still another fifty combinations that you can come up with as far as specs go. Some you may want to check out are the various raid specs available out there which go across trees like mad to discover many previously unheard of utility chances. Play around with talent and remember that you should meld them to your own play style.
Hyacintha: Thank you Nadandren! This was a very informative speech on talents. Stay tuned for our next guide, which will be all about macros and gearing your mage!
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