Mage Class Overview

In Wrath of the Lich King, Mages can be played as Humans, Gnomes, and Draenei for the Alliance and as Undead, Trolls, and Blood Elves for the Horde.

Yes! Mages in WotLK are absolute DPS machines. All three trees have been reworked to be a lot more interactive, engaging, and more fun to play. Arcane and Fire are more tailored toward PvE, while Frost is more of a PvP and farming spec. In PvE, their need for more raid support than other classes has been greatly eased, and Mages give more support and utility toward the raid. In PvP they also rule Northrend's Arenas with their mighty Frost tree.

For half of the Expansion Arcane will be ruling the DPS meters, followed tightly by Fire. At some point, probably in the Icecrown Citadel raid tier, Fire will outperform Arcane in overall damage, as Fire just has absurdly high AoE DPS and versatility, while Arcane has very high single-target DPS. Right at the start of the expansion, when nobody has good gear yet, Arcane is the best spec, as it has a higher Hit chance from talents. Which spec is best for PvE generally depends on how much Trash and AoE damage needs to be done and on encounter design The Mana-efficient Frost tree is the best for PvP and farming.

This mostly depends on how your raid composition is built. If you have a more caster-heavy composition, many casters are okay, thus more Mages. If you play in a speedrunning guild, melee classes offer lower downtime (because they do not need to drink), which makes it harder for Mages to get in. How many Mages will be ideal depends on the raid design and on the meta shifting from raid tier to raid tier, however, Mages are far from being a bad raiding class.

• For PvE
  • Alliance — Draenei for the hit talent, unless you a Draenei in your group (even in a raid the Draenei needs to be in your group!), then Gnome.
  • Horde — Troll
• For PvP
  • Alliance — Human
  • Horde — Undead

The talent trees you already know from TBC have been extended and refined. These specializations are commonly also referred to as "specs", and they are summarized as follows.

• Arcane — Mana-hungry, high burst and single-target damage, low threat, can turn Mana cooldowns into DPS cooldowns. The best spec for the majority of the expansion and for shorter fights.
• Fire — Less Mana-hungry than Arcane, can do decent damage, does more damage the longer a fight goes on. Has the most versatile and highest amount of AoE burst damage.
• Frost — Overall decent PvE spec, has best PvP potential and can also burst really well in short fights. Incredibly Mana efficient, king of farming specs.

Mages wear Cloth armor.

Mages can use Staves, Wands, Daggers, and One-Handed Swords.

If the rest of the page caught your attention, make sure to check out our in-depth guides for leveling a Mage by specialization in the links below!

• Mage Leveling Guide
• Arcane Mage Leveling Guide
• Fire Mage Leveling Guide
• Frost Single-Target Mage Leveling Guide
• Frost AoE Mage Leveling Guide

Beyond leveling or trying out your boosted character, you may also be interested in our full guides for Level 80 Mages as you explore all that WotLK Classic has to offer:

• Arcane Mage PvE Guide
• Fire Mage PvE Guide
• Frost Mage PvE Guide

If you play a Mage, you will cast spells. Most of these spells can be learned from trainers, however most of these trainers are located in Azeroth. The portal trainers are located nearby each city's Mage trainers.

• Bink — Ironforge
• Dink — Ironforge
• Elsharin — Stormwind City
• Jennea Cannon — Stormwind City
• Juli Stormkettle — Ironforge
• Khelden Bremen — Elwynn Forest
• Magis Sparkmantle — Dun Morogh
• Marryk Nurribit — Dun Morogh
• Nittlebur Sparkfizzle — Ironforge
• Zaldimar Wefhellt — Elwynn Forest
• Harnan — The Exodar

• Anastasia Hartwell — Undercity
• Archmage Shymm — Thunder Bluff
• Cain Firesong — Tirisfal Glades
• Deino — Orgrimmar
• Derek the Undying — Undercity
• Enyo — Orgrimmar
• Isabella — Tirisfal Glades
• Kaelystia Hatebringer — Undercity
• Mai'ah — Durotar
• Pephredo — Orgrimmar
• Pierce Shackleton — Undercity
• Thurston Xane — Thunder Bluff
• Un'Thuwa — Durotar
• Ursyn Ghull — Thunder Bluff
• Uthel'nay — Orgrimmar
• Zaedana — Silvermoon City

• Jessa Weaver — Dalaran
• Warcaster Fanoraithe — Dalaran