Introduction
Hey everyone – I’m Esquire, a die hard fan of the Classic Mage class who has been playing World of Warcraft for the last 14 years. I’m a proud member of the Method organization who focuses on high-end raiding, AoE (Area of Effect) farming & gold making.
The Mage class has always appealed to me as my “main” class since I started playing World of Warcraft back in 2007 with The Burning Crusade. I was always drawn to the caster role and after leveling & grinding out my first 70 Mage I began to realize how much potential the class had and how much it fit with what I was looking to do in the game – massive farming, damage and gold.
Fire Mage Pros
- Consistent Damage
- High Utility
- AoE Farming for Gold & Experience
- Solid choice for PvP Arenas
Fire Mage Cons
- No longer the “best damage” caster, Warlocks move into this role
- Requires raid utility support to reach full potential
- Depending on spec, can be easily killed
Gear
BiS List: This will be the gear I’ll be aiming to get as soon as possible when TBC releases. Keep in mind that BiS lists should not be strictly followed and should merely serve as guidance. There are many considerations!
Link: https://tbc.wowhead.com/gear-set/tbc-classic-phase-1-131085
Stats
- Spell Hit Rating to 163
- Spell Haste
- Spell Damage
- Crit Rating
- Intellect
Races
Alliance
Gnome Expansive Mind, Escape Artist
Draenei Heroic Presence, Inspiring Presence
Horde
Troll Berserking
Consumables
Flask: Flask of Pure Death or Flask of Supreme Power (Classic Era Budget Option)
Food: Blackened Basilisk, Crunchy Serpent or Poached Bluefish (All are +23 Spell Dmg, +20 Spirit)
Potions: Destruction Potion or Super Mana Potion
Extras:
Flame Caps – Increases Fire Spell Damage by 80 for 1 minute (Puts Mana Gem on cooldown)
Professions
Tailoring – Spellstrike & Spellfire Sets
These two sets of gear require the wearer to have Tailoring and will be your Best In Slot items for the entirety of Tier 4 content in Burning Crusade Classic. This is almost a required profession for Fire Mages.
Enchanting – Enchant Ring: Spellpower
With the change to require the wearer of enchanted rings to still have enchanting as a skill, the +12 spellpower option has pulled ahead over many of the contenders for the 2nd profession choice for Fire Mages. Strongly consider this as well unless your guild needs more Leatherworkers (see below).
Leatherworking – Drums (If needed for your group/raid)
Playstyle
In Dungeons and Raids it will be important to remember the following while trying to maximize your damage output, utility, and all-around usefulness to your group.
Maintain the following Self Buffs at all times:
- Arcane Intellect (or Brilliance)
- Molten Armor
Overall Rotation for Single Target Fights
- Start by coordinating 5 casts of Scorch with other Fire Mages in your group or raid to apply max stacks of Improved Scorch.
- Fireball until Scorch is needed to be refreshed.
- Cooldowns: In addition to on-use trinkets, as a Fire Mage in this build you will have Combustion and Icy Veins to utilize. Make sure to sync these up when possible while being careful not to pull threat from your tanks.
- Important: If able to, make sure to have cooldowns available for when targets are sub-20% health for an increased 20% damage boost.
Overall Rotation for AoE
For AoE fights, mainly trash encounters, Fire Mages have a heavy arsenal of abilities to assist in doing incredible damage.
Dragon’s Breath (20 sec.), Blast Wave (30 sec.), and Arcane Explosion will be your main sources of damage. All of these abilities are instant cast be mindful of their cooldowns and use Arcane Explosion as a filler. Be very careful of your threat when AoEing as a Fire Mage.
Rotation
In Dungeons and Raids it will be important to remember the following while trying to maximize your damage output, utility, and all-around usefulness to your group.
Maintain the following Self Buffs at all times:
- Arcane Intellect (or Brilliance)
- Molten Armor
Overall Rotation for Single Target Fights
- Start by coordinating 5 casts of Scorch with other Fire Mages in your group or raid to apply max stacks of Improved Scorch.
- Fireball until Scorch is needed to be refreshed.
- Cooldowns: In addition to on-use trinkets, as a Fire Mage in this build you will have Combustion and Icy Veins to utilize. Make sure to sync these up when possible while being careful not to pull threat from your tanks.
- Important: If able to, make sure to have cooldowns available for when targets are sub-20% health for an increased 20% damage boost.
Overall Rotation for AoE
For AoE fights, mainly trash encounters, Fire Mages have a heavy arsenal of abilities to assist in doing incredible damage.
Dragon’s Breath (20 sec.), Blast Wave (30 sec.), and Arcane Explosion will be your main sources of damage. All of these abilities are instant cast be mindful of their cooldowns and use Arcane Explosion as a filler. Be very careful of your threat when AoEing as a Fire Mage.
Interface
Lorti UI Classic, Mik’s Scrolling Battle Text, Bagnon, CharacterStatsClassic, ClassicAuraDurations, ClassicCastbars, GearQuipper, Nova Instance Tracker, OmniCC, Quartz, WeakAuras2, Deadly Boss Mobs, Details, Decursive.
Macros
Iceblock Macro
/Cancel Iceblock Macro
#showtooltip Ice Block
/stopcasting
/cancelaura Ice Block
/cast Ice Block
Weakauras
nanShield, Clearcast