Mage build

[chrosbahr]

Hi,
Being fairly new to wow in general, I've never tried a mage - until now! So, getting to level 10 it's time to decide where to start putting talent points. I'll probably be mostly soloing to level, but I enjoy the occasional PVP experience (as tried on my first char, which is a retribution paladin). So my questions are:

* There is no Arcane talent build in the talent advisor - should I take this as a hint that this tree is inferior to the others?

* What is the difference between the frost leveling and frost pvp builds?

Not being very experienced, I'm thinking maybe I should rate survivability over burst damage - any views on this?

Thanks for your input!

[dustjms]

I have only had low level mages but from experience frost is the way to go. Fire consumes far too much mana, no mana = long down times = slow leveling. Frost pvp gives you more of a survival rate in pvp which is not needed in PVE for the most part. Someone else can answer the others.

[Kamchak]

I started my mage under the fire spec tree, and was tops in DPS... until I reached lvl 45. At that point I was beaten badly in DPS stats by frost mages, hunters, and warlocks. Since switching to frost spec not only is my burst damage high, but prolonged boss fights give out consistently high damage capability.
My plan is to stick with the frost leveling build until I reach 80 and add the arcane pvp build, as I hear it is better for PvP/arena.
At low to mid levels, I dont think there is a definate advantage to choosing more pvp related specs. That is more defined in later talent choices, imo.
Others may have another opinion, and I'd like to see their posts as well.
Cheers

[dudboy]

Although I've never leveled a mage past 30, from what I've experienced, Frost Specced mages are great at leveling due to improved survivability from multiple snares and roots, and decent at PVP for the same reason. However, most mages I raid with at end game are Arcane specced.

[Skippyninja]

I'll shed some light on this topic, seeing as I have a mega-mage

Zygor's guide only advises you on what spec is best for leveling, not for raiding. Arcane is vastly inferior to the ease of leveling with Frost, but as soon as you learn Arcane Blast, Arcane will ALWAYS beat frost in DPS (Assuming you're competing with a similarly geared mage).

For leveling and for PvP Frost is the way to go. It's mana efficiency and damage mitigation will allow you to survive more mobs than other speccs while reducing your downtime significantly. Past level 40, however, it's DPS drops considerably and most mobs aren't affected by the freezing effects that frost is known for; you will always have the chance to freeze foes in PvP.

Fire is a bit more complicated raiding spec that mainly uses high crits and DoTs to burn through enemies. Fire mages typically take some arcane points to increase their mana-efficiency, but they tend to have lower mana pools than Arcane mages. Haste is a bit more important to a fire mage, most of the build's spells are slow casts that benefit from having a higher haste total, but crit is key since critical hits made with fire spells will cause a damaging DoT.

Arcane is the most widly accepted raid build, it has talents that increase a mage's stats directly and has a simple rotation. One of the greatest talents is Focus Magic, this spell can only be cast on another player and increases their chance to critically hit with spells by 3%; when the character that you cast this spell on lands a critical hit, your crit chance is increased by 3% for 10 sec. 3% may not seem too huge, but it adds up very quickly with other buffs.

****Leveling note****

While speccing in frost, glyph and spend talents to enhance Ice Armor. This will reduce the amount of damage you'll take from getting hit with physical attacks. The 2 main stats to stack if you are soloing are Stamina and Intellect. Stamina will give you more HP and increase the time you are alive, Intellect will give you more mana so you can cast more spells. The easiest way to get these 2 stats on your gear is to equip items with "of the Eagle" at the end, for example: Shimmering Bracers of the Eagle. Most people say to stack Spirit, but frost's spells cost so little that the regen isn't really needed.

If you have any specific questions regarding strategies/techniques for lower level dungeons especially, please PM me.

[chrosbahr]

Hi all,

The frost level build seems to be the right way to go for me at the moment. If I ever get to the high levels, I can always respec - or dual-spec if I get rich

Appreciate all you input!

[Kamchak]

I would take advise from Skippyninja on this one, lol.
Still working on my mage atm. But I do know that lvl 50 and lower, frost seems to be the way to go.

[antacus]

My mage went from 1 to mid-30s as fire then swapped to frost per the guide. Using that build I was able to crowd control easier and I used frost till 72. At 72 I leveled via PuGs and arcane was the way to go. Ever since then I have been arcane and it is rather nice to see crits above 22k

(honestly, most my crits are only in the 14k-19k range but I do see 20-22k every once and a while)

I have frost as the dual spec but there have been 8 points left to assign for about 6 months now so that shows how much I play it. While leveling having the glyph for the never ending water elly is super nice for added DPS. I used to level by aggroing a ton of things and using AoE 5-8 at a time. Those stupid rhinos in Tundra are real easy to spam kill and generate sweet gold with a super fast repop. Take up skinning and you'll have plenty of cash. Forget the guide at 72 ... AoE and PuG your way to 80, it is just too easy.

At lower levels you need to learn kiting but once you get the hang of that frost makes it so you'll only get hit by casters or the occasional roamer when you kite too close to something.

Go to wow heroes and drill into your realm, filter for mages and look for the top players. Go look at the top 5 frost builds, top 5 arcane builds ... I'll bet they all have 98% the same build. Use that as your template ... forget the guide builds and forget any other builds. Chances are that when the top 5-10 mages have the same build and are not generating top DPS is kinda slim if you ask me so that is a solid place to research. It takes a bit more effort but you get out what you put in

[chrosbahr]

Hi, and thanks again for all the input. If nothing else, it has kept me going through what I must say was getting a somewhat frustrating leveling experience. It may be that I'm just inexperienced and not playing to the class' ability, but following the guide, I was finding myself fighting mobs 1-3 lvl's above me (sometimes inevitable more than one), and dying all the time. Especially the "Kill Den Mother" quest in Darkshore had me cursing until I found somebody to help me out. Am I a just being a total noob here, or is this quest a bit misplaced for a solo leveling guide? Anyway, I'm getting off topic here. Just felt like sharing my frustration

[chiff]

It has been a long time since I've played an Alliance character but I do remember that particular quest to be a major pain

[antacus]

Hi, and thanks again for all the input. If nothing else, it has kept me going through what I must say was getting a somewhat frustrating leveling experience.

Mages are prolly the hardest class* to level until you get the hang of them with the levels to back it up. I say stick to it because it is well worth it in the end game. I don't both kiting any more for 95% of my 1:1 fights. I simply pull out the boom boom stick and 2 hits kills all buts elites. I land in the middle of a lot of things I want to kill (spacing it so I am in range of everything but not pulling aggro) then crank up the AB and wipe out everything in reach. Loot them all, rinse and repeat. I don't understand the "mage downtime" people talk because by the time I move to the next group my mana is recharged or close enough.

* I have only played alliance warrior, pally, hunter, druiid, warlock and mage so can't speak for shaman or priest.