Gear
Fire, in general, can follow the mantra item level over everything, except for items with crit on them. In general, you want to avoid crit as a stat wherever possible, but be sure to sim any item level upgrades you may get.
Fire Mage tier set in 10.2:
- 2p - when Pyroblast and Flamestrike critically strike you gain Searing Rage, increasing your critical strike damage by 3% for 12 seconds, stacking up to 15%.
- 4p - activating Combustion increases the critical strike damage bonus of Searing Rage by 100% for 12 seconds.(The 4p buff is going up by 100% from 15% so it means once we activate combustion our critical strike damage will go up to 30%).
First Mage 10.2 Tier Set Thoughts:
Ok, first of all, not gonna lie, losing our current tier set is going to hurt our DPS. We are talking about a 15% raw damage buff from our current tier set, not even mentioning the interaction with Phoenix Flames and how much it contributes towards Sun King’s Blessing.
I can't say for certainty how the numbers are with the new tier set cuz PTR numbers are a bit wonky and they don’t mean much.
But from a gameplay perspective it definitely feels worse.
However I will imagine that fire new ilvl bump from the new tier set + new trinkets and generally more intellect will outscale the damage loss from losing our current 10.1.5 tier set.
There are some important things to discuss regarding our new 10.2 tier set
- Our 2p is very strong and heavily compliment towards Sun King’s Blessing, Critical Strike damage is by far the strongest thing for fire mage because we can’t get this stat from anywhere else
- With this new 2p, there might be a chance to see Hyperthermia making a comeback.Hyperthermia will help us keep up the 2p buff (still need testing it’s just theorycrafting)
- Unfortunately our 4p does not benefit from the SKB combustion, only our main Combustion which is a shame.
Going forward to patch 10.2 i think fire is in a good place, same story with alot of other specs, didn't get the most interactive tier set, definitely not as fun and interactive as this one that we have currently.
However, a couple of weeks into the patch I think fire will start a crazy scaling spike, 30% crit damage is definitely strong especially in the AoE department.The downside that I feel will be the most noticeable is in our SKB stacks generation, losing our current tier set and basically removing phoenix flames from our bar is gonna heavily affect our SKB Stacking generation since we have 1 less button to press to generate SKB Stacks.
With that being said our talent Alextrasza's Fury most likely won’t be played and we will probably go back to From The Ashes(still need testing).
Optimal Gear (Best in Slot)
This is the absolute best in slot setup you could have combined from both M+ and raid items.With that being said, we consider that not everyone enjoys raiding so I will make a list for alternative items you can get from M+ to be as geared as possible. Keep in mind that this is not a replacement for siming your character, as you will likely not have all these items at once, so to determine what is your next upgrade, always sim yourself.
Fire Mage Combined Gear List
The gear listed below is a mixture of Raid and Mythic+ gear from Dragonflight Season 3.
| Slot | Item | Source |
| Head | Crown of the Infinite Lord | Dawn of the Infinite: Murozond’s Rise |
| Neck | Amulet of Eonar’s Chosen | Nymue |
| Shoulders | Wayward Chronomancer’s Metronomes | Smolderon / Catalyst |
| Cloak | Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl with Shadowflame-tempered Armor Patch | Tailoring |
| Chest | Wayward Chronomancer’s Patchwork | Nymue / Catalyst |
| Wrist | Drust-Thached Wristwraps | Waycrest Manor |
| Gloves | Wayward Chronomancer’s Gloves | Igira / Catalyst |
| Belt | Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl with Shadowflame-tempered Armor Patch | Tailoring |
| Legs | Wayward Chronomancer’s Pantaloons | Larodar |
| Boots | Lost Scholar’s Belted Treads | Volcoross |
| Ring 1 | Lord Waycrest’s Signet | Waycrest Manor |
| Ring 2 | Ring of Contempt | Black Rook Hold |
| Trinket 1 | Belor’relos, The Suncaller | Tindral Sageswift |
| Trinket 2 | Augury of the Primal Flame | Fyrakk |
| Weapon | Iridal, The Earth’s Master | Dawn of the Infinites: Galakrond’s Fall |
Fire Mage Best Gear from Mythic+
The gear listed below are the best options exclusively from Mythic+ for Fire Mages on Season 3.
| Slot | Item | Source |
| Head | Crown of the Infinite Lord | Dawn of the Infinite: Murozond’s Rise |
| Neck | Ironshell Pendant | Throne of the Tides |
| Shoulders | Wayward Chronomancer’s Metronomes | Smolderon / Catalyst |
| Cloak | Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl with Shadowflame-tempered Armor Patch | Tailoring |
| Chest | Wayward Chronomancer’s Patchwork | Nymue / Catalyst |
| Wrist | Wraps of Everliving Fealty | Atal’Dazar |
| Gloves | Wayward Chronomancer’s Gloves | Igira / Catalyst |
| Belt | Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl with Shadowflame-tempered Armor Patch | Tailoring |
| Legs | Wayward Chronomancer’s Pantaloons | Larodar / Catalyst |
| Boots | Slippers of Heedless Sacrifice | Black Rook Hold |
| Ring 1 | Thornwoven Band | Waycrest Manor |
| Ring 2 | Ring of Contempt | Black Rook Hold |
| Trinket 1 | Coagulated Genasaur Blood | The Everbloom (any stat trinket can do) |
| Trinket 2 | Balefire Branch | Waycrest Manor |
| Weapon | Iridal, The Earth’s Master / Illuminating Pillar of the Isles | Dawn of the Infinites: Galakrond’s Fall / Inscription |
Embellishments
I will note the embellishments that you should consider crafting (in order):
- 2x Shadowflame Tempered Armor Patch for the Raid with haste and mastery (on any low piece of gear you have, boots or belt can be good options)
- Shadowflame Tempered Armor Patch + Elemental Lariat Neck For M+ with haste and mastery (keep in mind that lariat lost a lot of value due to nerf and socket loss, but still a solid option for fire)
- Blue Silken Lining Mastery buff while above 90% Health
- Potion Extender Increase Potion duration by 50% (very strong in M+)
- Alchemical Flavor Pocket is a “free” embellishment that lets us keep our food buff through death, very good for M+ and Raid
Honestly, any combination can work, just keep in mind that shadowflame is more of a Single Target Embellishment. Whereas, any combination can work in M+, such as Potion Extender + Lariat / Blue Silken and Lariat or Potion Extender plus all of them are solid options.
Trinkets:
For trinkets I would recommend trying to chase the following: