Introduction
This guide was written by Siqs and has now been updated for patch 9.1.5, 9.2, 9.2.5 and Season 4 by Tamir.
My name is Tamir, also known as Tam1h, Raiding with Angered on Ragnaros EU. I’ve been raiding competitively since Warlord of Draenor, and Pushing High Keys as a Mage since Legion.
You can watch me live at https://www.twitch.tv/tam1h or follow me on https://twitter.com/TamirWow.
Strengths of the spec
- Great single target
- Very bursty damage profile, both on single target and AoE.
- Cookie cutter build for every single scenario (Covenant, soulbind, conduits, stats, etc).
- Good Pi/Fae guardians/conquerors banner target, Fire mage has a very high damage ceiling if you can gain any of these buffs.
- Very durable.
- Great at moving (specially when there's mobs below 30% HP)
- 1 minute cooldowns are insanely overpowered for raid scenarios, and in castle nathria it gives a very clear advantage on most bosses
- Access to Cauterize + Podtender if you are part of the Nightfae Covenant Which essentially making you Unkillable
- Very Strong Execute Phase, Especially Combined with Sun King’s Blessing Legendary
Weaknesses
- Very low consistent damage
- Very poor damage if your having to hold DPS
- Poor target swapping
- Passive cleave outside of combustion is dead
- Long combustion cooldown on AoE
- If you can’t hit the boss you can’t reduce combustion cooldown
- Requires mobs to live for long during combustion to have any meaningful passive cleave
What has changed
What is new in Season 4?
With the introduction of Season 4 (patch 9.2.7), we will be gaining access to “Fated“ Raids from Castle Nathria, to Sanctum of Domination, and all the way to the last raid of Shadowlands, Sepulcher of the first ones. On top of the raid with increased Item Level, we are getting access to old Dungeons into a new M + Dungeons, with new item level and rewards that make Fire appealing as a spec. Most importantly, we are getting access to Mechagon Workshop which will drop the Mechagon Bracers for us, An old and iconic Fire mage item from BFA S4.
What does Fated mean?
Each week, one of the raids will be selected as Fated which means the raid will be effected with an Affix. The bosses will have the same mechanically, and tuning will be suited for higher Item Level, on top of some new abilities from the Fated Affix.
Another 9.2.7 Feature that will be introduced is a Vendor from the Fated Raids. This means after killing 30 Fated bosses (3 Weeks), you would be able to buy a Fated Item from the Vendor, which will contain loot from all 3 raids at higher item levels.
Essentially you will be able to buy 3 Items at your choice after a couple of weeks of killing Fated bosses, and some of the loot from the Vendor is very, very appealing for Fire Mages.
Season 4 Mythic Plus Affix
Additionally, the new Season 4 Mythic Plus Affix “Shrouded” brings a very fun and fast pace for Fire Mage with really big stat increases after killing Shrouded Mobs. You will pick a stat at the start of a key, Critical Strike, Mastery, Haste, or the default choice unless selected otherwise, Versatility. I will HIGHLY recommend choosing haste as Fire Mage. Essentially, by the end of the key you are sitting at around 70-75% haste depending on the gear you have, making Fire Mage very strong, fun and fast pace to play since haste synergies with our entire toolkit.
I will talk about the most essential items for a Fire mage in the Gearing Section.