Mage Leveling Guide (MoP 5.4)

In this guide, we will offer you some quick and practical information for leveling up your Mage from level 85 to level 100. We cover rotation, talents and glyphs. We do not, however, cover statistics, gear, or any information about the zones you should be questing in.

This guide requires a basic understanding of how the Mage class works at a high level. This guide is not meant to reflect how you should play your character at maximum level, or in a dungeon or raid environment.

While leveling up from level 85 to 90, you can complete 4 dungeons:

• Temple of the Jade Serpent;
• Stormstout Brewery;
• Shado-Pan Monastery;
• Mogu'shan Palace.

While leveling up from level 90 to 100, you can complete 4 dungeons:

• Bloodmaul Slag Mines;
• Iron Docks;
• Auchindoun;
• Skyreach.

These dungeons have quests which reward you with vast amounts of experience.

1. Level 1 to 85↑top

Oltier, our Mage moderator, has put up a comprehensive guide for leveling up a Frost Mage from level 1 to 90. We advised you to read it!

2. Arcane Leveling Guide: 85-100↑top

2.1. Talents and Glyphs

Before setting out on your leveling journey, you should take these talents and glyphs, for maximum efficiency. Obviously, this is not set in stone, and you have a lot of liberty.

For your third minor glyph, you should use which ever remaining minor glyph you like.

At Level 90, you unlock your Tier 6 talents and we advise you to choose Rune of Power.

2.2. Rotation

You have to adapt your raiding rotation slightly so that it works against targets which, generally, will not live very long. As an Arcane Mage, you should try and kill enemies one by one and avoid pulling mobs together.

• Keep Ice Barrier up.
• Keep Ice Ward up.
• Build up stacks of Arcane Charge with Arcane Blast.
• If the target is still alive, spend your procs of Arcane Missiles.
• If the target is still alive, cast Arcane Barrage and repeat the previous steps.

In multiple-target situations, Arcane Barrage will spend your stacks of Arcane Charge and deal a lot of AoE damage. Arcane Explosion works very well when you are surrounded by a lot of low-health enemies.

Use Evocation if you drop low on mana.

2.3. Surviving

Save your DPS cooldowns ( Arcane Power, Time Warp) for when you are in trouble, so you have a chance to kill your enemies before they kill you.

Invisibility is your main survival cooldowns. Use Invisibility to vanish from your enemies' sight. Use Ice Block to remove the burning DoT left by Cauterize when it saves your life.

You can escape a fight through different means. You can run away and slow your enemies with Cone of Cold. You can also run off a cliff and use Slow Fall or Blink to negate fall damage.

Remember to interrupt harmful spell casts with Counterspell. Whenever possible, try stealing beneficial effects that mobs cast on themselves with Spellsteal.

2.4. Perks

At levels 92, 94, 96, and 98 you will receive one of 4 perks, in random order. Below, we list the perks and quickly mention how they affect your playstyle.

Perk	Effect
Enhanced Arcane Blast	Does not affect your playstyle
Improved Arcane Power	You can spam more spells during Arcane Power
Improved Blink	Makes Blink more efficient
Improved Evocation	Allows you to use Evocation more often

3. Fire Leveling Guide: 85-100↑top

3.1. Talents and Glyphs

Before setting out on your leveling journey, you should take these talents and glyphs, for maximum efficiency. Obviously, this is not set in stone, and you have a lot of liberty.

For your third minor glyph, you should use which ever remaining minor glyph you like.

At Level 90, you unlock your Tier 6 talents and we advise you to choose Rune of Power.

3.2. Rotation

You have to adapt your raiding rotation slightly, so that it works against targets which, generally, will not live very long. As a Fire Mage, you should not hesitate to pull several enemies at once, as you have the necessary tools to deal with them. Apply the following priority list.

1. Keep Ice Barrier up.
2. Keep Ice Ward up.
3. Cast Pyroblast when Pyroblast! procs.
4. Cast Inferno Blast when Heating Up procs and Inferno Blast is off cooldown.
   • Inferno Blast will always crit, transforming Heating Up into Pyroblast!.
5. Cast Fireball.

When mobs are reaching you, simply cast Frost Nova and Blink away.

3.3. AoE Damage

As a Fire Mage, you can easily pull large groups of enemies. What you should aim for is to cast 1 or 2 Fireball to build up a decent Ignite. Cast Combustion and use Inferno Blast to spread Ignite and the new DoT created by Combustion. You can also use Dragon's Breath.

After that, you can go towards the mobs, cast Frost Nova to freeze them. Flamestrike and Blizzard do not break Frost Nova, so you should make use of these spells while targets are frozen.

3.4. Surviving

Save Time Warp for when you are in trouble, so you have a chance to kill your enemies before they kill you.

Invisibility is your main survival cooldowns. Use Invisibility to vanish from your enemies' sight. Use Ice Block to remove the burning DoT left by Cauterize when it saves your life.

You can escape a fight through different means. You can run away and slow your enemies with Dragon's Breath. You can also run off a cliff and use Slow Fall or Blink to negate fall damage.

Remember to interrupt harmful spell casts with Counterspell. Whenever possible, try stealing beneficial effects that mobs cast on themselves with Spellsteal.

3.5. Perks

At levels 92, 94, 96, and 98 you will receive one of 4 perks, in random order. Below, we list the perks and quickly mention how they affect your playstyle.

Perk	Effect
Enhanced Pyrotechnics	Grants you more critical strikes, but do not affect your playstyle
Improved Flamestrike	Removes the cooldown on Flamestrike, allowing you to cast it at will
Improved Inferno Blast	Makes Inferno Blast even more efficient for AoE damage, but do not modify your playstylet
Improved Scorch	Useful when you want to flee

4. Frost Leveling Guide: 85-100↑top

4.1. Talents and Glyphs

Before setting out on your leveling journey, you should take these talents and glyphs, for maximum efficiency. Obviously, this is not set in stone, and you have a lot of liberty.

For your third minor glyph, you should use which ever remaining minor glyph you like.

At Level 90, you unlock your Tier 6 talents and we advise you to choose Rune of Power.

4.2. Rotation

You have to adapt your raiding rotation slighty, so that it works against targets which, generally, will not live very long. As a Frost Mage, you are encouraged to pull several enemies at once, as kiting is what the specialisation shines the most at.

1. Keep Ice Barrier up.
2. Keep Ice Ward up.
3. Cast Frozen Orb when it is available.
4. Cast Freeze from your Water Elemental every time it is available.
   • This will give you 1 charge of Fingers of Frost (2 if it hits more than 1 enemy).
5. Cast Frostfire Bolt as soon as Brain Freeze procs.
6. Cast Ice Lance when you have charges of Fingers of Frost.
7. Cast Frostbolt as a filler spell.

When mobs are reaching you, simply cast Frost Nova and Blink away.

4.3. AoE Damage

As a Frost Mage, you can easily pull large groups of enemies. What you should aim for is to group all the enemies, so that you can use Frost Nova, Freeze (from your Frost Elemental) and Cone of Cold to keep them rooted and slowed while you damage them. Use Blink to get away, whenever needed.

4.4. Surviving

Save Icy Veins and Time Warp for when you are in trouble, so you have a chance to kill your enemies before they kill you.

Invisibility is your main survival cooldowns. Use Invisibility to vanish from your enemies' sight. Use Ice Block to remove the burning DoT left by Cauterize when it saves your life.

You can escape a fight through different means. You can run away and slow your enemies with Blizzard, Cone of Cold, Frost Bomb. You can also run off a cliff and use Slow Fall or Blink to negate fall damage.

Remember to interrupt harmful spell casts with Counterspell. Whenever possible, try stealing beneficial effects that mobs cast on themselves with Spellsteal.

4.5. Perks

At levels 92, 94, 96, and 98 you will receive one of 4 perks, in random order. Below, we list the perks and quickly mention how they affect your playstyle.

Perk	Effect
Enhanced Frostbolt	Does not affect your playstyle
Improved Blizzard	You can now use Blizzard to reduce the cooldown of Frozen Orb (it works especially well on AoE packs)
Improved Icy Veins	Improves Icy Veins, but does not affect your playstyle
Improved Water Elemental	You need to try to cast Frostbolt while your Elemental is channeling Water Jet (keep an eye on its cooldown and be ready when it reaches 0), in order to gain some charges of Fingers of Frost

5. Changelog↑top

• 14 Nov. 2014: Removed erroneous mention of Shatter and Frost Bomb in the Fire Mage section.