Fire Mage DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities (Legion 7.3)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 4. Strengths
  • 5. Weaknesses
  • 6. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resources
  • 3. Your Mastery
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. Basic Abilities
  • 6. DPS Cooldowns
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
      • 2.1.1. Single Target
      • 2.1.2. Intermittent Cleave
      • 2.1.3. Heavy Cleave/AOE (Stacked)
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression — First 35 Points
    • 1.1. Early Point Investment
    • 1.2. Second Golden Trait
    • 1.3. Final Point Investment
  • 2. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path
  • 3. Relic Choice
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice
  • 2. Tier 2 Upgrade Priority
  • 3. Tier 3 Upgrade Priority
  • 4. ChangeLog
• ×Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Ability Priority List
  • 2. Important Notes
    • 2.1. Effectively Creating Crit Trains
      • 2.1.1. Spells That Do Not Trigger or Cancel Heating Up
    • 2.2. Phoenix's Flames
    • 2.3. Flamestrike Usage
    • 2.4. Rune of Power
    • 2.5. Blazing Barrier
    • 2.6. Scorch
  • 3. Core Concepts
    • 3.1. Combustion Usage
    • 3.2. Critical Strike Chains
    • 3.3. Movement Management
      • 3.3.1. Quiet Movement
  • 4. Opening Sequence
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
    • 2.1. Statistics Explanations
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Addons
    • 1.1. ElvUI
    • 1.2. Weak Auras
    • 1.3. Boss Mods
      • 1.3.1. BigWigs Bossmods
      • 1.3.2. Deadly Boss Mods
    • 1.4. Name Plates
      • 1.4.1. KUI Nameplates
      • 1.4.2. TidyPlates
    • 1.5. Damage Meters
      • 1.5.1. Skada
      • 1.5.2. Details
    • 1.6. Extra AddOns
      • 1.6.1. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.6.2. DeathNote
      • 1.6.3. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.6.4. Angry Assignments
  • 2. Macros
    • 2.1. Generic Macros for Mages
      • 2.1.1. Stopcast Blink
      • 2.1.2. 1-Button Block
      • 2.1.3. Block Cancel
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 20 Set Bonus
  • 2. Best in Slot List
    • 2.1. Trinket Notes
  • 3. Evaluating Upgrades Using Stat Weights
  • 4. Racial Bonuses
  • 5. Legendaries
  • 6. Loot Competition
  • 7. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we list your Fire Mage core abilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of Warcraft Legion 7.3. We also explain when to use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that you will need to know if you want to excel at playing a Fire Mage.

The other pages of our Fire Mage guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author and Reviewer

This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Future. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Rinoa, a Fire Mage theorycrafter for Altered Time who is also a raider for Pieces.

1. Ability Priority List

• Show AoE lines

1. Use Rune of Power when Combustion is off cooldown.
2. Use Combustion when it is off cooldown. Ensure you have at least 2 charges of Phoenix's Flames available.
3. Use Rune of Power if it has 2 charges.
4. Cast Phoenix's Flames if it has 2 charges.
5. Cast Phoenix's Flames for AoE burst when appropriate.
6. Cast Flamestrike when there are 4 or more targets stacked and you are on a Hot Streak.
7. Cast Pyroblast when you are on a Hot Streak.
8. Cast Meteor if it is talented and off cooldown.
9. Cast Living Bomb if talented, there are 3 or more targets stacked, and they will all live for at least 12 seconds.
10. Cast Dragon's Breath on cooldown if there are 3+ targets present.
11. Cast Fire Blast when you are Heating Up.
12. Cast Fireball to generate Heating Up.
13. Cast Scorch if you have to move and have no instant casts to burn.

If you are using Darckli's Dragonfire Diadem, or are talented into Alexstrasza's Fury, you should be using Dragon's Breath on cooldown regardless of the number of targets present.

The core component of this specialization is chaining as many Critical Strikes together as possible to maintain large Ignites. Fire is an extremely reactive specialization, meaning that most of your optimizations will occur moment to moment, rather than planning a large damage dump minutes in advance.

It is highly recommended you read the "Combustion Usage" section as it is of crucial importance to the Fire specialization.

For more information on your opening sequence, please refer to our dedicated section.

2. Important Notes

2.1. Effectively Creating Crit Trains

Understanding how to generate Critical Strikes as efficiently as possible is key to utilizing Fire effectively. This is a specialization that is designed to crit more often than not, so it is easy to understand why learning to execute the right combos to create a chain of crits is of paramount importance.

Whenever you get a Heating Up proc, you should convert it to a Hot Streak using Fire Blast. Generally, you will then want to cast a Fireball, and immediately spend your Hot Streak on a Pyroblast as your Fireball cast finishes. Both of these spells will strike at the same time, generating the largest possible ignite and the chance at an immediate follow up Hot Streak if both of them critically strike. If only one of the spells critically strikes, Heating Up will proc and you can immediately Fire Blast and repeat this process.

There is a 0.2-second grace period where Heating Up will not be cancelled if two spells impact simultaneously and only one of them critically strikes.

This is known as "Pyroblast Fishing" and is the best way to create a large chain of crits. The exception to this rule is during Combustion, where spells will crit, allowing you to chain together a variety of combos that will be covered in more detail later in the guide.

2.1.1. Spells That Do Not Trigger or Cancel Heating Up

• Dragon's Breath
• Blast Wave
• Living Bomb
• Cinderstorm
• Meteor
• Frost Nova
• Flamestrike
• Any non-combat spell, such as Blink or Ice Block

2.2. Phoenix's Flames

Phoenix's Flames is a fantastic tool for both single target and AoE burst. It does slightly less damage than a Pyroblast, is instant cast, is a guaranteed Critical Strike, and splashes to everything nearby for 33% of the damage.

Generally speaking you can use this ability at your discretion. It is best used for AoE burst and to enable priority damage when Fire Blast is not available. Remember that Pyroblast does about 25% more damage, so on pure single target and during Combustion you should always prioritize Pyroblast and Fire Blast first. You should still try and save at least 2 charges for Combustion to use after your charges of Fire Blast run dry.

2.3. Flamestrike Usage

Flamestrike has been reworked to now function as an alternative spell to spend Hot Streak on. Similar to Pyroblast, it has an extremely long cast time, and you should never hard cast it during an encounter, regardless of the number of enemies present. Rather, when a certain number of targets are present (4 or more, with a fully completed Artifact), you will switch from spending your Hot Streak procs on Pyroblast to Flamestrike. Ignite is also applied by Flamestrike. You should treat Flamestrike the same way you would treat Pyroblast rotationally, and follow the same spell priority you would on a single target. The main difference between Pyroblast and Flamestrike is that Flamestrike cannot generate Heating Up or Hot Streak, making crit chains less likely. Flamestrike is a targeted ability, so it can be helpful to already have the reticle placed during your Fireball cast, allowing you to instantly Flamestrike.

It is important to note that casting Flamestrike when 4 targets are present may not be the best choice if the targets do not have equal kill priority. Though it will result in higher DPS, it can often be a wiser choice to Pyroblast the most important targets first (on raid encounters) to give your group the greatest chance of success.

2.4. Rune of Power

Rune of Power is a medium length cooldown that is best used to apply significant pressure during its duration. You should always overlap Rune of Power and Combustion, as they both last 10 seconds. Start by casting Rune of Power, and immediately activating Combustion at the end of the cast, so they will both end at the same time. Rune of Power does have 2 charges, allowing you to save the second for a usage of your choice. Good times to use your second rune charge:

• to push a damage check;
• when several advantageous procs overlap;
• during a period of zero movement;
• on AoE.

Remember that Kindling can dramatically change the timing of your Combustion, and you will have to plan your Rune of Power usage accordingly to ensure you always have a charge available.

2.5. Blazing Barrier

This can be cast any time you have to slightly reposition. It lasts for 60 seconds, but only has a 25-second cooldown. You can and should cast it before the start of every engagement.

2.6. Scorch

Scorch should be used in place of Fireball while Combustion is active. The reasoning is fairly straightforward:

• Faster cast time
• Guaranteed Critical Strike
• No travel time

In contrast, Scorch is very weak outside of Combustion for the same reasons. Because it has no travel time, you cannot efficiently fish for Pyroblasts.

Scorch can be cast while moving, and will also grant you a speed buff when talented into Frenetic Speed. Wherever possible, try to instead rely on Shimmer and/or Blazing Barrier before relying on Scorch. This spell, when combined with Frenetic Speed, can be very useful for extended movement if your charges of Shimmer are unavailable. Try not to lean too heavily on this spell as a movement crutch, however, as it will deflate your damage due to its lack of potency.

3. Core Concepts

Fire Mage is an elementary enough specialization to perform on a target dummy, but there are a few key factors that will separate the good from the great. Learning to focus on what is important and master the core concepts of a specialization is what leads to strong overall performance on the damage charts. There are 3 major concepts that form the central trinity of optimizing for success:

1. proper use of Combustion;
2. critical Strike chains;
3. movement management.

Managing movement is a fundamental skill shared by all the caster classes in World of Warcraft. The highly mobile nature of the Mage class allows flexible and creative ways to move during combat, making it of supreme importance that you give this the proper respect.

3.1. Combustion Usage

Combustion should be used on cooldown whenever possible. You should always overlap Combustion with other damage boosts that allow for a large overall Ignite, such as Rune of Power and Meteor.

Before activating Combustion you should generate a Hot Streak. You should also try and save at least one charge of Fire Blast, though preferably both charges will be available. Then follow this list of actions.

1. Place your Rune of Power (if talented) and immediately activate Combustion as this cast finishes.
2. Consume your Hot Streak with a Pyroblast cast.
3. Immediately cast Fire Blast and Pyroblast again.
4. Cast Phoenix's Flames.
5. Cast Pyroblast and Fire Blast.
6. Cast Pyroblast.
7. Cast Phoenix's Flames.
8. Cast Pyroblast.
9. Cast Phoenix's Flames.
10. Cast Pyroblast.

If you have a fraction of a second left on Combustion and no Hot Streak, you should cast Dragon's Breath if you are in range.

3.2. Critical Strike Chains

We talked about "Pyro Fishing" earlier in the guide, so there is no need to go over it in detail again here. It should not be understated, however, how important properly chaining together your abilities is, and the overall impact it has on your DPS. This is especially true on cleave, as building a smooth and powerful Ignite will determine how much cleave and AoE you are able to output. Get used to properly chaining your spells by practicing on target dummies or in LFR.

3.3. Movement Management

While it is difficult to describe the best ways to position and move during a dungeon or raid encounter, it is essential to your success as a Fire Mage.

Try and use Blink for "urgent" movement — when you need to travel from one place to another as quickly as possible. Blazing Barrier is a good choice when you only need to take a few steps, as it only costs a single GCD.

If you are playing with Shimmer talented you should be using this to move large distances when possible, as it does not interrupt your cast when used.

The combination of Scorch and Frenetic Speed can also be useful for extended movement if Shimmer is unavailable.

Always try to position yourself in a location central to fight movement. For example, if the boss is being moved in a circle, try to stay on the inside of the kite path to ensure minimal movement.

3.3.1. Quiet Movement

Many players will unconsciously move during fights, despite it being unnecessary. For example, sometimes the boss or adds will be moved by the tank a couple yards, and though you are still in range to cast, you subconsciously mirror that movement, costing you global cooldowns. Consciously work to "quiet" your movement, and reduce unnecessary movement to a minimum. The best way to see this in action is to take a video of your raid, then watch yourself play. Most players will be surprised by the amount of wasted movement they commit. When you are forced to move, make use of the tips above, and make your path as direct and decisive as possible.

4. Opening Sequence

1. Use Potion of Prolonged Power.
2. Pre-cast Fireball at 2.0 seconds on the countdown.
3. Place Rune of Power.
4. Activate Combustion.
5. Activate any on-use trinkets or racials you have.
6. Cast Fire Blast if Heating Up activates. If Heating Up did not activate from your precast, instead cast Fire Blast and Phoenix's Flames.
7. Cast Pyroblast.
8. Cast Fire Blast.
9. Cast Pyroblast.
10. Cast Phoenix's Flames.
11. Cast Pyroblast.
12. Cast Phoenix's Flames.
13. Cast Pyroblast.
14. Cast Fire Blast.
15. Cast Pyroblast.
16. Cast Phoenix's Flames.
17. Cast Pyroblast.

If you get any procs from Pyromaniac, simply use them immediately. The opener is of paramount importance. It is recommended you practice in LFR or on a target dummy to build enough muscle memory to consistently execute it without flaws. If you are playing with Firestarter the opener is eased somewhat as your pre-cast crit is guaranteed.

5. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 29 Aug. 2017: Updated opener.
• 12 Jun. 2017: Updated number of targets for Flamestrike, Flamestrike Usage section, and replaced Deadly Grace with Prolonged Power.
• 27 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Slight updates for 7.1.5 (mostly Blazing Barrier, Ice Floes and Dragon's Breath).
• 29 Nov. 2016: Updated Opening Sequence.
• 05 Sep. 2016: Simplified rotation by adding checkboxes to hide or reveal specific lines (cooldown, talents, AoE, etc.).
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.