Mage

How Forever changed the Mage

Blizzard's Mage and Shaman deep dive says the aim is to make each school matter in the moment and to open more builds that cross schools. The main changes, from that post and the beta client:

• Arcane becomes a damage spec. Arcane Blast is the 11-point Arcane talent, and Missile Barrage turns Arcane Missiles into a free, fast channel. Wowhead's Arcane guide says the tree is no longer there only to buff the other two.
• Frost gets a proc rotation. Ice Lance hits hard against Frozen targets, and Fingers of Frost lets your Chill effects treat a target as Frozen.
• Fire gets Heating Up. Fire crits shorten your next Pyroblast, so it becomes a regular cast rather than only an opener.
• Frostfire Bolt at 40 counts as both Fire and Frost. Blizzard says it uses the higher of your Fire or Frost spell damage and the lower of the target's two resistances, and was designed for builds that mix Fire and Frost talents.
• Anti-farming changes. Cone of Cold lasts less time, Improved Blizzard's slow tops out at 40% (65% in Classic), and talents that give free effects, such as Arcane Concentration, trigger less often from low-rank spells. Blizzard links all three to gold farmers and boosters.
• Comprehension. A Mage-only minor tradeskill lets you decipher scrolls that drop in the world for buffs and effects.
• Smaller changes. Arcane Intellect lasts an hour, Remove Lesser Curse also removes Banes, and Arcane Missiles checks line of sight only when the channel starts (ForeverDB, citing Blizzard's notes). Early spell ranks take a much bigger share of spell power, and caster gear carries spell power from low levels.

The trees kept moving late in the beta. Build 1.60.1.70425 (16 October) reworked Arcane Blast, moved Missile Barrage to the first row, turned Wake of Fire into Improved Fire Blast, made Winter's Chill feed Cone of Cold and cut Ice Lance's Frozen bonus from 300% to 200% in the client files (ForeverDB). The first live client (24 October) made Arcane Wrath a row 4 Arcane talent instead of a trainer spell (ForeverDB). Several guides predate these builds, so check a guide's date before trusting its talent names.

Choosing a spec

ForeverDB recommends Frost for a first Mage. Frostbolt's slow and Frost Nova buy time on every pull, Ice Lance turns each freeze into damage from 20, and Shatter and Ice Block add safety by 30. Icy Veins agrees Frost is the safe option but lists it as mana-hungry, gear-dependent and reliant on procs. Its Fire levelling guide says Frost is no longer the only viable levelling spec. Wowhead's writers rated all three specs roughly level with each other up to 20 (Frost overview).

In short, the guides point PvP players and anyone who wants control towards Frost, crit and burst fans towards Fire, and players who enjoy mana management and dungeon AoE towards Arcane.

Levelling advice shared across specs

• Wands. Every guide calls wands strong early. Wowhead and Icy Veins suggest two points in Wand Specialization (Arcane) at first, then a respec once your spec's key talents arrive.
• Professions. Tailoring and Enchanting are the usual pair (ForeverDB, Icy Veins). Icy Veins' Fire and Arcane pages and Wowhead also rate Engineering highly for its gadgets.
• Class wand quest at 30. Wowhead describes a chain from any Mage trainer that runs through Scarlet Monastery's Library and ends with a choice of Icefury, Ragefire or Nether Force Wand, one per school.
• Travel. Teleports from 20 save time. Icy Veins advises against binding your hearthstone to a capital you can already teleport to.
• Dungeons. Icy Veins says dungeon quests give a large share of experience. ForeverDB notes that Blizzard halved the extra experience from dungeon quests on 1 October.

What the simulators assume at 60

WoWSims Forever's Mage simulator defaults to an Arcane build with Frost points, and all five of its preset builds spend points in two or three sections (see the hybrid builds section). Its level 60 gear set is marked as a developer preset. Read its numbers as projections: the beta stopped at level 30.

Where the guides disagree

• Racials — resolved: 26 October official notes set Skyborne Wind-Blessed to 2% haste and Human Ruthless to 1% crit. Old 1%/3% haste and weapon-restricted Human comparisons are obsolete. Orc Savage was removed; its restored pet racial does not improve Mage damage.
• Teleport: Dalaran: ForeverDB lists it at level 50 and Alliance-only; Icy Veins' Frost levelling table puts it at 40.
• Wands and spell damage: ForeverDB cites Blizzard's 24 September notes saying wands no longer gain from spell damage. Icy Veins' Frost guide says spell damage still raises wand damage.

Levelling hybrids

• Frost with Missile Barrage. The Icy Veins Frost levelling build puts levels 21 and 22 into Missile Barrage, so Frostbolt can proc free, fast Arcane Missiles that cut drinking. Later it adds Incineration from Fire (around 46–50), and Arcane Focus and Arcane Subtlety near 60. Icy Veins also suggests an alternative: play Arcane with Missile Barrage and Wand Specialization early, then respec into Frost from level 22.
• Fire into Frost. The Icy Veins Fire levelling build goes into Frost after Combustion at 40: Elemental Precision, Improved Frostbolt, Ice Shards, Frostbite, Permafrost, Ice Block and Shatter, ending at 32 Fire and 19 Frost. Its reason is Frostfire Bolt, which replaces Fireball at 40 and gains from Ice Shards and Shatter.
• Arcane with Fire dips. Icy Veins' Arcane levelling page takes Incineration for Arcane Blast crit and the old Wake of Fire, now Improved Fire Blast. It says Frost only adds defence for Arcane.
• Wands first. Wowhead's level 20 and level 30 guides start Frost and Arcane with Wand Specialization, then respec once Ice Lance or Arcane Blast takes over (Level 30 Arcane). ForeverDB notes that Blizzard set the 1 silver respec price for the beta only, so the launch price may differ.
• Single-section builds. ForeverDB's published levelling builds keep every point in one section up to 30 (ForeverDB).

Level 60 hybrids (projections)

Every WoWSims Forever preset mixes trees (presets). The beta stopped at 30, so treat these as theory.

Why these mixes work, according to the sources:

• Missile Barrage procs from Fireball, Frostbolt, Frost Blast and Frostfire Bolt as well as Arcane Blast (ForeverDB talent list), so Fire and Frost builds get free Arcane Missiles.
• Arcane Blast's stacks add spell damage that helps your other spells, so the simulator's Fire and Frost rotations keep one to three stacks rolling.
• Incineration in Fire's first row raises Ice Lance and Arcane Blast crit as well as Fire Blast and Scorch.
• Frostfire Bolt takes the higher of your Fire or Frost spell damage. Blizzard's own example pairs Ignite with Ice Shards, so a Frostfire crit deals 200% damage plus another 40% of that as Ignite, 280% in total (Blizzard).

Wowhead's Fire overview compares the Frostfire hybrid, which skips both capstones and the Arcane tree, with deep Fire. It says Frostfire needs less gear to do well early but scales less, while deep Fire needs more gear but feels more consistent. It doesn't yet know which will be best.

The hybrid tax

On episode 2 of the WoW: Forever Podcast, the developers said they aim for hybrid damage specs to deal about 5% less damage than the pure classes: Hunters, Mages, Rogues and Warlocks (ForeverDB). It is a design target from a video, not a number in the client or the patch notes. It applies to classes that can fill more than one role, such as Warriors, Druids and Shaman. Mages set the bar rather than pay it. None of the sources mention any penalty for spreading a Mage's points across sections.

Crowd control and interrupts

Polymorph your focus, or the enemy under your mouse, or your target (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip Polymorph
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Polymorph

Hold Shift to make the enemy under your mouse your focus and sheep it in one press (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip Polymorph
/focus [mod:shift,@mouseover,harm,nodead][mod:shift]
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] Polymorph

Drop your current cast and Counterspell your focus, mouseover or target (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip Counterspell
/stopcasting
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Counterspell

Staying alive

Cancel your cast and Frost Nova straight away (ForeverDB and Kami Labs):

#showtooltip Frost Nova
/stopcasting
/cast Frost Nova

Cancel your cast and Blink straight away (ForeverDB and Kami Labs):

#showtooltip Blink
/stopcasting
/cast Blink

Ice Block; hold Shift to cancel it deliberately (adapted from ForeverDB). Ordinary repeated presses no longer cancel the protection:

#showtooltip Ice Block
/stopcasting
/cancelaura [mod:shift] Ice Block
/stopmacro [mod:shift]
/cast Ice Block

Mana Shield, with Fire Ward on Shift and Frost Ward on Ctrl (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift] Fire Ward; [mod:ctrl] Frost Ward; Mana Shield

Damage

Flamestrike where your mouse points, with no targeting circle (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip Flamestrike
/cast [@cursor] Flamestrike

Blizzard where your mouse points (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip Blizzard
/cast [@cursor] Blizzard

Presence of Mind followed by an instant Fireball, or Frostbolt with Shift (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip Presence of Mind
/cast Presence of Mind
/cast [mod:shift] Frostbolt; Fireball

Scorch the enemy under your mouse, or your target (Kami Labs):

#showtooltip Scorch
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Scorch

Rank 1 Frostbolt, for a cheap slow while kiting (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip Frostbolt
/cast Frostbolt(Rank 1)

Wand that doesn't switch off if you press it twice (ForeverDB and Kami Labs):

#showtooltip Shoot
/cast !Shoot

Buffs, curses and conjuring

Arcane Intellect on the friend under your mouse, a friendly target or yourself; Alt forces it onto you (Kami Labs):

#showtooltip Arcane Intellect
/cast [mod:alt,@player][@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Arcane Intellect

Remove Lesser Curse, which also clears Banes in Forever, on your mouseover, friendly target or yourself (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip Remove Lesser Curse
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Remove Lesser Curse

Amplify Magic on a friend, or Dampen Magic with Shift (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift,@mouseover,help,nodead][mod:shift] Dampen Magic; [@mouseover,help,nodead][] Amplify Magic

Ice Armor, with Mage Armor on Shift and Frost Armor on Ctrl (Kami Labs):

#showtooltip Ice Armor
/cast [mod:shift] Mage Armor; [mod:ctrl] Frost Armor; Ice Armor

Conjure water, food with Shift, or a Mana Agate with Ctrl (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift] Conjure Food; [mod:ctrl] Conjure Mana Agate; Conjure Water

Use your Mana Agate, or the best mana potion in your bags with Shift (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip
/use [nomod] Mana Agate
/use [mod:shift] Mana Potion
/use [mod:shift] Lesser Mana Potion
/use [mod:shift] Minor Mana Potion

ForeverDB notes that in the client a mana gem shares its 2 minute cooldown with Warlock Healthstones.

Travel

Every Alliance teleport on one key: Stormwind, Ironforge on Shift, Darnassus on Alt, Dalaran on Ctrl (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:alt] Teleport: Darnassus; [mod:shift] Teleport: Ironforge; [mod:ctrl] Teleport: Dalaran; Teleport: Stormwind

Every Horde teleport on one key: Orgrimmar, Undercity on Shift, Thunder Bluff on Alt (ForeverDB):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:alt] Teleport: Thunder Bluff; [mod:shift] Teleport: Undercity; Teleport: Orgrimmar

Alliance portals on one key, from level 40 (Kami Labs):

#showtooltip Portal: Stormwind
/cast [mod:shift] Portal: Ironforge; [mod:ctrl] Portal: Darnassus; Portal: Stormwind

Horde portals on one key, from level 40 (Kami Labs):

#showtooltip Portal: Orgrimmar
/cast [mod:shift] Portal: Undercity; [mod:ctrl] Portal: Thunder Bluff; Portal: Orgrimmar

Where the sources differ

• Teleport: Dalaran: Kami Labs puts it in its Horde teleport macro too, but ForeverDB says the client teaches it only to Alliance Mages, at level 50.
• Rank spelling: ForeverDB writes rank macros the way the spellbook pastes them, as Frostbolt(Rank 1) with no space. Wowhead's guide shows a space before the bracket. Shift-click the spell into the macro window rather than typing it.
• Mana gems: Kami Labs offers a macro that tries every gem from Mana Ruby down to Mana Agate, flagged "to confirm in-game"; only Mana Agate exists below level 38.