Fire Mage Leveling Guide From 1 to 80 for WotLK Classic

Last updated on Sep 22, 2022 at 00:40 by Wrdlbrmpft 3 comments

Fire Mage is notorious for dealing enormous amounts of damage, but also for their reputation as "Glass Cannons". This leveling guide will teach how to level a Mage with the Fire spec, without "breaking" the cannon. Get ready to light your fire!

If you simply want to play the meta leveling spec, Frost, try out something completely different other than the meta, or simply explore the Mage class further, you may also want to try our Arcane Mage Leveling Guide, the Frost Single-Target Mage Leveling Guide, or the Frost Mage AoE Leveling Guide.

1.

Fire Mage Level-by-Level Rotation, Talents and Trainer Skills

Move the slider below to make the guide update to your level!

Level: 1
2.

Talent Tree for Leveling as Fire Mage

From Level 10 on you get one talent point per level, which you can use to build your talent tree. The talent menu can be accessed via the keybind 'N' in game.

Your talents should look like the trees below. However, for the Fire tree you can swap some points around based on personal preference. The suggested order is optimized for Mana efficiency and damage.

Improved Fireball IconImproved Fireball makes your Fireball IconFireball casts faster, which means that your enemies die faster. With low-level Fireball ranks having low cast times, the damage increase from this talent is even greater.

The Ignite IconIgnite talent makes your Fire Critical Strikes deal 40% of their damage as a DoT (damage-over-time) effect over the next 4 seconds. Critical strikes from weaker spells, such as Fire Blast IconFire Blast can overwrite existing Ignite dots from stronger spells like Pyroblast IconPyroblast and Fireball IconFireball, resulting in a damage loss.

At Level 20, Pyroblast IconPyroblast will be your new pulling spell. It has a 5-second cast time. However, it does more damage than Fireball IconFireball and leaves a 12-second DoT on your enemy that will often do just enough damage so you can finish enemies with your wand and the DoT tick which conserves Mana. In some situations it is impractical to have a 5-second cast; there, pulling can be done with Fireball.

Burning Soul IconBurning Soul is important to reduce spell pushback when being hit by enemies and also helps in group content where threat is important, as the talent reduces your threat. The talent World in Flames IconWorld in Flames increases the Critical Strike chance of Pyroblast and your AoE spells by 6%. Mana is never bad for leveling and a limited resource. Master of Elements IconMaster of Elements restores 30% of a spell's base Mana cost once per cast, if the spell crits. As your AoE spells basically almost always crit in bigger pulls, this talent basically makes your AoE spells 30% cheaper. Improved Scorch IconImproved Scorch increases your Scorch, Fireball, and Frostfire Bolt Critical Strike chance by 1% per talent point and gives scorch a 33/66/100% chance to increase the spell Critical Strike chance against the target against 5% for 30 seconds.

A 6% increased Critical Strike chance for all Fire spells comes from Critical Mass IconCritical Mass and Playing with Fire IconPlaying with Fire makes all your spells hit 2% harder for 2% Mana cost. If you plan on doing AoE pulls with Blast Wave IconBlast Wave, put one point less in Playing with Fire IconPlaying with Fire and get Blast Wave instead. Blast Wave does not only do high damage, but in WotLK, it also knocks enemies back, in addition to the 6-second Daze. Fire Power IconFire Power makes all Fire spells deal 2% more damage per talent point, which is great.

The new DPS cooldown at Level 40 is Combustion IconCombustion. When activated, it increases the chance for a Critical Strike by 10% after each spell until 3 non-periodic Critical Strikes have been made. Further, it also increases the Critical Strike damage bonus of your Fire spells. Another important talent is Pyromaniac IconPyromaniac, as it does not only give you 3% crit on all spells, but also allows 50% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting. Together with Mage Armor IconMage Armor, you are now at 100% Mana regeneration while casting, which is great for leveling. The Fire Mage's "Execute IconExecute-like" ability is Molten Fury IconMolten Fury, which increases the damage done to targets with less than 35% health by 12%. This works very well in conjunction with Scorch IconScorch and Fire Blast IconFire Blast on enemies with low health. Empowered Fire IconEmpowered Fire lets your two main spells Pyroblast and Fireball gain a 15% increased effect from Spell power, which is more common on WotLK leveling gear. Even if you do not have a lot of Spell Power gear yet, the talent is useful, as each tick of Ignite will restore 2% of your base Mana. Make sure to use consumables like Arcane Elixir Icon Arcane Elixir or Wizard Oil Icon Wizard Oil if you have this talent. The last point is spent in Blast Wave IconBlast Wave, or if you got Blast Wave earlier, put it in Playing with Fire IconPlaying with Fire. Blast Wave does not only do high damage, but in WotLK, it also knocks enemies back, in addition to the 6-second daze.

In which order you distribute the first 5 talent points depends on whether you would like to AoE farm more or if you are playing more single-target. If the latter is the case, starting with Hot Streak IconHot Streak is your best decision. Whenever you score two Critical Strikes in a row with Fireball IconFireball, Fire Blast IconFire Blast, Scorch IconScorch, or Living Bomb IconLiving Bomb, your next Pyroblast will be instant and cost no Mana. This is the bread and butter talent for Fire DPS, even at Level 80. If more AoE is what you desire, go with Dragon's Breath IconDragon's Breath and Firestarter IconFirestarter first. Dragon's Breath is your frontal cone AoE spell that does huge amounts of damage and disorients your foes for 5 seconds unless they receive a direct attack (not Ignite IconIgnite!). Whenever you use this or Blast Wave IconBlast Wave and damage an enemy, the Firestarter talent gives you a 50% chance that your next Flamestrike IconFlamestrike is instant and costs no Mana. You only take one point in this talent, because only at 5 mobs damaged via Blast Wave/Dragon's Breath, which is the bare minimum you should pull, Firestarter already has a 97% chance to proc the instant Flamestrike. The remaining 5 points go into Burnout IconBurnout, which makes your Fire crits hit harder but cost a slight amount more Mana.

The most important AoE spell for Fire is Living Bomb IconLiving Bomb. It leaves a damage-over-time effect on the target and explodes after 12 seconds, dealing damage to every enemy around that target. Finishing the two talents Improved Scorch IconImproved Scorch and Playing with Fire IconPlaying with Fire is useful for group and solo content. At this point the Fire tree is complete and the question is whether to go to the Arcane or to the Frost tree. This guide decides for the Frost tree, as the key Arcane talent Torment the Weak IconTorment the Weak is not really useful out of group play, because as Fire you have no slowing effects besides Ice Armor IconIce Armor. However, the talents in the Frost tree are even more useful for solo and group play. We start with Ice Floes IconIce Floes, which lowers the cooldown of several spells, Icy Veins IconIcy Veins, Frost Nova IconFrost Nova, and Ice Block IconIce Block being the relevant ones for us. Improved Frostbolt IconImproved Frostbolt is a filler talent to gain access to more talents. Precision IconPrecision gives you more chance to hit (1% per talent point), which is what Fire really lacks in WotLK.

We finish the talent Precision IconPrecision. The Permafrost IconPermafrost talent will make the slow of Blizzard IconBlizzard more efficient for solo play. If you do a lot of group content, you may consider taking 2 points in Ice Shards IconIce Shards first. The Icy Veins IconIcy Veins ability is a great cooldown that increases your casting speed by 20% and offers 100% pushback protection during that time. The Improved Blizzard IconImproved Blizzard is very useful after you have used up your two survival effects from Dragon's Breath IconDragon's Breath and Blast Wave IconBlast Wave, as after the knockback from Blast Wave or the disorient effect from Dragon's Breath, you can Blink IconBlink away and Blizzard IconBlizzard the mobs. With Ice Shards IconIce Shards and Burnout IconBurnout, your Blizzard crits will hit extremely hard. This way you have a strong tool for solo play and for Dungeons.

3.

Leveling Glyphs

In Wrath you will be able to unlock Glyphs that improve your abilities at the following levels:

  1. Level 15 unlocks your first Major and Minor Glyphs;
  2. Level 30 unlocks your second Major Glyph;
  3. Level 50 unlocks your second Minor Glyph;
  4. Level 70 unlocks your third Minor Glyph;
  5. Level 80 unlocks your third Major Glyph.

As an Fire Mage you will want to be using Glyph of Fireball Icon Glyph of Fireball and Glyph of Evocation Icon Glyph of Evocation. The final major glyph is only unlocked at Level 80, at which point you should swap to an end-game build.

For minor glyphs, Glyph of Arcane Intellect Icon Glyph of Arcane Intellect, Glyph of Frost Armor Icon Glyph of Frost Armor and Glyph of Slow Fall Icon Glyph of Slow Fall are fine quality of life options.

4.

Rotation for leveling up as a Fire Mage

  1. Cast Arcane Intellect IconArcane Intellect and Frost Armor IconFrost Armor if you are missing their buffs.
  2. Cast Arcane Intellect IconArcane Intellect and Frost Armor IconFrost Armor if you are missing their buffs. Use Mana Shield IconMana Shield in any situation where you could die.
  3. Cast Arcane Intellect IconArcane Intellect and Ice Armor IconIce Armor if you are missing their buffs. Use Mana Shield IconMana Shield in any situation where you could die.
  4. Cast Arcane Intellect IconArcane Intellect and Mage Armor IconMage Armor if you are missing their buffs. Use Mana Shield IconMana Shield in any situation where you could die.
  5. Cast Arcane Intellect IconArcane Intellect and Molten Armor IconMolten Armor if you are missing their buffs. Use Mana Shield IconMana Shield in any situation where you could die.
  6. Cast Fireball IconFireball as your main attack.
  7. Cast Frostbolt IconFrostbolt as your main attack.
  8. Cast Fireball IconFireball as your main attack.
  9. Cast Frostbolt IconFrostbolt as your main attack. We will be skipping further Frostbolt IconFrostbolt ranks to save gold, as their damage contribution to your rotation is not worth the investment on a first character.
  10. Cast Fireball IconFireball as your main attack. We will be skipping Frostbolt IconFrostbolt ranks to save gold, as their damage contribution to your rotation is not worth the investment on a first character.
  11. Open with Pyroblast IconPyroblast and cast Fireball IconFireball as your main attack. When you get a Hot Streak IconHot Streak proc, cast Pyroblast IconPyroblast on your current target or to pull the next mob.
  12. Open with Pyroblast IconPyroblast into Living Bomb IconLiving Bomb and cast Fireball IconFireball as your main attack. When you get a Hot Streak IconHot Streak proc, cast Pyroblast IconPyroblast on your current target or to pull the next mob.
  13. If you want to AoE farm, pull mobs (ideally they are grouped already) with Flamestrike IconFlamestrike, freeze them with Frost Nova IconFrost Nova and Flamestrike IconFlamestrike+Arcane Explosion IconArcane Explosion them. You can extend the range of instant cast AoE spells by jumping or by moving. You need to kite the mobs until Frost Nova is ready again. During that, make sure to only cast Arcane Explosion when mobs are hit by it as Mana is a concern at lower levels. Frost Nova them and repeat the rotation.
  14. If you want to AoE farm, pull mobs, freeze them with Frost Nova IconFrost Nova and Flamestrike IconFlamestrike+Cone of Cold IconCone of Cold them. You can extend the range of instant-cast AoE spells by jumping or by moving. You need to kite the mobs until Frost Nova is ready again. During that, make sure to only cast Arcane Explosion IconArcane Explosion when mobs are hit by it as Mana is a concern at lower levels. Use Cone of Cold as an emergency tool to slow mobs, or when you freeze them with Frost Nova and repeat the rotation.
  15. If you want to AoE farm, pull mobs, freeze them with Frost Nova IconFrost Nova and Flamestrike IconFlamestrike+Cone of Cold IconCone of Cold them. You can extend the range of instant cast AoE spells by jumping or by moving. You need to kite the mobs until Frost Nova is ready again. During that, make sure to only cast Arcane Explosion IconArcane Explosion when mobs are hit by it as Mana is a concern at lower levels. Use Cone of Cold as an emergency tool to slow mobs or Blast Wave IconBlast Wave to knock mobs away and daze them until Frost Nova is ready again. Freeze them with Frost Nova and repeat the rotation.
  16. If you want to AoE farm, it becomes a lot easier now with Firestarter IconFirestarter. Pull mobs, freeze them with Frost Nova IconFrost Nova and Flamestrike IconFlamestrike+Cone of Cold IconCone of Cold them. You can extend the range of instant cast AoE spells by jumping or by moving. Arcane Explosion IconArcane Explosion until mobs are close and cast Blast Wave IconBlast Wave to knock them away. Throw in a Dragon's Breath IconDragon's Breath when you feel it makes sense, Cone of Cold, or Frost Nova them and repeat the rotation. Use procs of Firestarter IconFirestarter to weave in instant Flamestrikes.
  17. If you want to AoE farm, it becomes a lot easier now with Firestarter IconFirestarter. Pull mobs, freeze them with Frost Nova IconFrost Nova and dot all mobs up with Living Bomb IconLiving Bomb (you can change targets by pressing the Tabulator key). You can extend the range of instant cast AoE spells by jumping or by moving. If the mobs come closer, cast Blast Wave IconBlast Wave to knock them away or throw in a Dragon's Breath IconDragon's Breath when you feel it makes sense. Cone of Cold can also be used. Frost Nova them and repeat the rotation. Use procs of Firestarter IconFirestarter to weave in instant Flamestrikes. In some places it is also possible to just dot up all targets with Living Bomb IconLiving Bomb and kite them in circles with Blink IconBlink.
  18. If you want to AoE farm, it becomes a lot easier now with Firestarter IconFirestarter. Pull mobs, freeze them with Frost Nova IconFrost Nova and dot all mobs up with Living Bomb IconLiving Bomb (you can change targets by pressing the Tabulator key). You can extend the range of instant cast AoE spells by jumping or by moving. While the mobs come closer cast Blizzard IconBlizzard on them and cast Blast Wave IconBlast Wave to knock them away or throw in a Dragon's Breath IconDragon's Breath when you feel it makes sense. Cone of Cold can also be used. Frost Nova them and repeat the rotation. Use procs of Firestarter IconFirestarter to weave in instant Flamestrikes. In some places it is also possible to just dot up all targets with Living Bomb IconLiving Bomb and kite them in circles with Blink IconBlink.

Shield skills, such as Mana Shield IconMana Shield, can be kept up during battle in order to minimize the cast time lost to enemy attacks, thus allowing you to finish them faster. However, Mana Shield also takes Mana from you, so you might have to spend more time drinking after using Mana Shield. Generally it is recommended to use them only as an emergency tool for survival or if you notice that you spend more time regenerating health than regenerating Mana.

Utility skills, such as Frost Nova IconFrost Nova, should be used to keep enemies away from you or to freeze and finish them off.

Utility skills, such as Frost Nova IconFrost Nova, and AoE skills, such as Cone of Cold IconCone of Cold or Blast Wave IconBlast Wave and Dragon's Breath IconDragon's Breath, should be used to keep enemies away from you or finish off packs of enemies as required.

You can make your own food and water with Conjure Food IconConjure Food and Conjure Water IconConjure Water. These spells should definitely be learned, as water and food from vendors will cost you far more gold than these spells do. Sometimes other players even want to buy conjured water and you can gain a little extra gold. Conjured items disappear after 15 minutes of being logged out.

You can make your own food and water with Conjure Refreshment IconConjure Refreshment. This spell should definitely be learned, as water and food from vendors will cost you far more gold than this spell does. Sometimes other players even want to buy conjured water and you can gain a little extra gold. Conjured items disappear after 15 minutes of being logged out.

From Level 70 on solo Dungeon leveling with Living Bomb IconLiving Bomb becomes a very, if not the most viable leveling strategy for Fire Mages. In addition, consider taking a look at the AoE leveling locations in the Frost Mage AoE Leveling Guide. Make sure to set the slider to level 70 so you see the leveling locations there.

4.1.

Summary of Trainer Skills for Fire Mage

5.

Additional Fire Mage Information After Reaching Level 80

After you reached Level 80, there is still a lot to learn. Our Fire Mage PvE Guide covers the most relevant and up-to-date information about your Fire Mage spells, talents, rotation, gear, and much more.

6.

Changelog

  • 22 Sep. 2022: Added level 70-80 top leveling strategies.
  • 19 Sep. 2022: Page added.
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