Fire Mage DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Dragonflight 10.0.7
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Fire Mage in both single-target and multiple-target situations. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.0.7.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Fire Mage rotation.
Fire Mage Rotation
Welcome to our Rotation page for Fire Mages. On this page you will find everything you need to know about actually playing the spec in Raiding scenarios.
Mythic+
The primary focus on this page is on raiding scenarios. Although the rotation is going to give pretty good results in Mythic+ as well, for a more Mythic+ oriented rotation, see our Mythic+ page.
Easy Mode
If the rotations below seem overwhelming to you, or you would like to read a more simplified version of the rotation, you might benefit from visiting our Easy Mode page, which outlines a close-to-optimal rotation in simpler terms.
PvP
The content on this page is purely PvE-related. If you are looking for PvP Rotation Tips, please visit our PvP page below.
Single-Target Rotation for Fire Mage
Use the switches below to tailor the rotation to the talents you are using or situations you expect to be facing, and it will populate the rotation priority list appropriately:
Pyroclasm Talented (see Sun King's Blessing & Pyroclasm section below for more info)
Sun King's Blessing Talented (see Sun King's Blessing & Pyroclasm section below for more info)
Fiery Rush Talented
Shifting Power Talented
Temporal Warp Talented
Searing Touch Talented
Meteor Talented
Alexstrasza's Fury Talented
Hyperthermia Talented
Dragon's Breath Talented
- Cast
Time Warp while under the effects of
Temporal Displacement (or similar effects), right before you plan to use
Combustion, stacking 2 Time Warp effects.
- Cast
Combustion while you are in the middle of a
Fireball cast. Then follow our Combustion rotation below.
- Cast
Rune of Power if Rune of Power is not already active due to Combustion.
- Cast
Shifting Power when
Rune of Power and
Combustion are on cooldown, and you do not currently have either of them active. Lastly, ensure you do not have 3 charges of
Fire Blast. Generally, this means using it right after your Combustion phase.
-
Hardcast
Pyroblast when you have a
Pyroclasm or
Sun King's Blessing proc. There are many advanced techniques to improve your dps around Pyroclasm And Sun King's Blessing that we describe in our Sun King's Blessing & Pyroclasm section below.
- Cast
Pyroblast when you have a
Hot Streak proc.
- Cast
Fire Blast when you have
Heating Up.
- Cast
Phoenix Flames when you have
Heating Up and
Combustion is active.
- Cast
Phoenix Flames when
Rune of Power is active, and you will cap on Phoenix Flames charges before
Combustion is ready.
- Cast
Scorch if the target is below 30% Health.
- Cast
Fireball to generate
Heating Up.
- Cast
Scorch if you have to move and have no instant casts to burn.
The core component of this specialization is chaining as many Critical
Strikes together as possible to maintain large Mastery: Ignites. Fire is
an extremely reactive specialization, meaning most optimizations
occur moment to moment rather than planning a large damage dump minutes.
It is highly recommended you read the "Combustion Usage" section as it is of crucial importance to the Fire specialization.
Combustion Rotation
Combustion should be used on cooldown whenever possible. You
should always overlap Combustion with other damage boosts that allow for a
large overall
Mastery: Ignite, such as
Meteor, trinkets, and
racials.
Since Combustion makes every spell critically strike, you want to get as many
hard-hitting spells in the window as possible. To facilitate this, you should
save at least one charge of Fire Blast and
Phoenix Flames,
though preferably, all charges
will be available for both of them. This is the case both for normal Combustions
and Combustions gained via
Sun King's Blessing.
During Combustion, we will be casting a lot of instant Pyroblasts.
Since Combustion guarantees a crit, this will always cause your Pyroblast to
proc
Heating Up or
Hot Streak. Because of this, you only need one
other spell to generate Hot Streaks. During Combustion, this will be
Fire Blast
and
Phoenix Flames. Below we have listed the priority of spells during
Combustion:
- Use any on-use trinkets and racials like
Sinful Aspirant's Badge of Ferocity and
Berserking.
- Cast
Fireball if you are casting
Combustion manually in the step below. If you gained Combustion from
Sun King's Blessing, skip the Fireball and the next step.
- Depending on your
Hot Streak /
Heating Up status, execute the option listed below:
- If you already have a
Hot Streak proc: cast
Combustion near the end of your
Fireball cast
- If you already have a
Heating Up: cast
Combustion +
Fire Blast near the end of your
Fireball cast.
- If you have neither: cast
Combustion +
Fire Blast halfway through the
Fireball cast, followed by a second Fire Blast near the end of the Fireball cast.
- If you already have a
- Instant-cast
Pyroblast whenever you have
Hot Streak
- Hardcast
Pyroblast when you have
Sun King's Blessing 8th stack or a
Pyroclasm proc and Combustion would not expire before the hardcast finishes
- Alternate
Fire Blast and
Phoenix Flames for generating
Heating Up /
Hot Streak to keep up the
Feel the Burn buff
- If you are out of
Fire Blast and
Phoenix Flames charges, cast
Scorch for generating
Heating Up /
Hot Streak
It is important to note if you proc the 8th stack of
Sun King's Blessing
during
Combustion, you should hardcast
Pyroblast to extend
your Combustion by 6 seconds. Make sure to keep up your
Feel the Burn
buff during it.
Hardcasting a Pyroclasm proc during Combustion is a minor DPS gain. Still, you must be sure it will finish before Combustion ends, or it is a
significant DPS loss.
Worth noting, activating Combustion while you have
Sun King's Blessing's
Combustion active will NOT add 12 seconds to Combustion. Instead, it will reset
the
duration. So never cast Combustion during Sun King's Blessing's Combustion.
How to use Sun King's Blessing & Pyroclasm in the Fire Mage Rotation
When you have Sun King's Blessing talented, especially when combined
with
Pyroclasm,
there are a couple of optimizations you can make that will greatly improve your
DPS.
Below we list some advanced tips for using Sun King's Blessing:
- If you are also running
Pyroclasm, you will want to hold the Pyroclasm procs for
Sun King's Blessing, as long as Pyroclasm would not expire before you would finish hard casting Pyroblast for Sun King's Blessing. This also counts during
Combustion If you have two stacks of Pyroclasm, you should always use one.
- Only use
Rune of Power for
Sun King's Blessing proc (and preferably
Pyroclasm).
- During
Combustion:
- Always hardcast
Pyroblast with
Sun King's Blessing proc
- Only hardcast
Pyroblast with
Pyroclasm proc, if you can finish the cast before Combustion expires. Try to line up the Pyroblast hardcast so that it applies both Sun King's Blessing and Pyroclasm.
- Always hardcast
- If you have a
Hot Streak active while hard casting Pyroblast for Sun King's Blessing, do not immediately cast Pyroblast after hard casting Pyroblast, but wait a mini second (only 0.1 seconds is needed). This is done because of a bug that would cause you to lose out on a stack of Sun King's Blessing if you cast it too quickly.
Rotational Changes for Dragonflight Season 1 Tier Sets
The current tier set for Fire is as follows:
Fire Mage 2pc:
Pyroblast and
Flamestrike cast with
Hot Streak deal 10% increased damage.
Fire Mage 4pc:
Fire Blast,
Phoenix Flames, and
Fireball deal 10% increased damage, and their chance to critically strike is increased by 10%.
As a Fire Mage, the current tier set bonuses do not impact the rotation. If you want more information on whether or not the tier bonus is worth equipping and how it impacts the best in slot list, check out our gearing page.
Multi-Target Rotation for Fire Mage
Most of your damage on multiple targets will come from simply doing your
single-target rotation and spreading Mastery: Ignite to nearby targets
via
Fire Blast.
However, there are some spell usage changes to the rotation depending on target
counts, if you have talented into
Flamestrike and/or
Flame Patch, which we currently do not recommend.
It is worth noting that most of the advice below assumes all targets
are equally important. Suppose any of the targets are a higher priority. In that case, it is almost
always worth focusing on the primary target and spreading Ignite to
the other targets.
Without Flamestrike /
Flame Patch talented:
Do the standard single target rotation. Avoid target switching when
possible, as it will reduce the overall damage of Mastery: Ignite.
Only target switch for
Searing Touch or when required due to
fight mechanics.
Additionally, if you have Alexstrasza's Fury, use
Phoenix Flames
only when you do not have a
Hot Streak. Try to save all charges for
Rune of Power
and
Combustion.
Cast
Living Bomb if there are 3 or more targets stacked, and at least 1 of
the
targets will live for at least 8 seconds.
Cast Dragon's Breath
if there are 3+ targets present or at any target count with
Alexstrasza's Fury talented, and you do not currently have
Hot Streak.
With Flamestrike talented, without
Flame Patch talented:
- Cast
Flamestrike on 6+ targets while
Combustion is active.
- Cast
Flamestrike outside of
Combustion with
Hot Streak on 4+ targets, or hard-cast on 6+ targets.
With Flamestrike and
Flame Patch talented:
- Cast
Flamestrike on 3+ targets while
Combustion is active.
- Cast
Flamestrike outside of
Combustion with
Hot Streak on 2+ targets, or hard-cast on 3+ targets.
If you have Hyperthermia talented and it procs, treat
it like a hard cast when looking at the above lists.
Important Notes for Fire Mages
Effectively Creating Crit Trains
Understanding how to generate Critical Strikes as efficiently as possible is crucial in utilizing Fire effectively. This specialization 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 paramount.
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 simultaneously, giving a chance of an
immediate follow-up Hot Streak if both 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 canceled if two spells impact simultaneously and only one 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 all spells will crit, allowing you to chain together various combos
that will be covered in more detail later in the guide.
Spells That Do Not Trigger or Cancel Heating Up
Dragon's Breath (unless talented into
Alexstrasza's Fury)
Blast Wave
Living Bomb
Meteor
Frost Nova
Flamestrike
- Any non-damage spell, such as
Blink or
Ice Block
Pyroclasm Usage
The Pyroclasm talent gives a chance to proc the
buff of the same name,
which makes your next non-instant
Pyroblast hit extremely hard.
Typically, you will want just to cast these non-instant Pyroblasts as you get
the procs, however, since the proc can stack up to 2 times, there are scenarios
in which you should hold onto it as long as you only have 1 charge:
- If Rune of Power will run out before you would be able to finish the non-instant Pyroblast, you should wait until Rune of Power ends and then cast the non-instant Pyroblast.
- If you are also running
Sun King's Blessing, you want to save 1 Pyroclasm proc to line it up with Sun King's Blessing, as long as the Pyroclasm proc would not expire before you can stack Sun King's Blessing.
That said, the most important thing is to use the
Pyroclasm procs. It is a huge DPS loss if they ever time out before being used. Because of this, it is advisable always to keep 1 stack of
Shimmer available for the situation where you get a certain raid
mechanic on you while casting the non-instant Pyroblast, so you can simply
Shimmer away instead of interrupting this long cast and risk losing the
proc.
Meteor Usage
Meteor should always be used together with
Rune of Power,
since they have the same cooldown. If you do not have Rune of Power talented,
it should be used on cooldown, but make sure it is available when
Combustion becomes available.
Rune of Power
Rune of Power is a medium-length cooldown best used to
apply significant pressure during its duration. Rune of Power will always
overlap
with
Combustion automatically due to the passive portion. The
active amount should only be used in combination with
Sun King's Blessing, if talented.
If Sun King's Blessing is not talented, it can be used:
- to push a damage check;
- when several advantageous procs overlap;
- during a period of zero movement;
- on AoE.
Blazing Barrier
This can be cast when you have to reposition slightly. It lasts for 60 seconds, but it only has a 25-second cooldown. You can and should cast it before the start of every engagement.
Scorch
Scorch should be used in place of
Fireball while
Combustion is active. The reasoning is pretty 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 before relying on Scorch. Combined with
Frenetic Speed, this spell can benefit extended
movement if your charges of
Shimmer are unavailable. However, try to
lean less heavily on this spell as a movement crutch, as it will
deflate your damage due to its lack of potency. The only exception is when you
have talented
Searing Touch, and your target is under 30% Health,
as you can then use Scorch freely instead of Fireball.
Core Concepts for Fire Mage
Fire Mage is an elementary enough specialization to perform on a target dummy. Still, a few key factors will separate the good from the great. Learning to focus on what is important and mastering the core concepts of a specialization is what leads to overall solid performance on the damage charts. 3 major concepts form the central trinity of optimizing for success:
- proper use of
Combustion;
- critical Strike chains;
- 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.
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 be considered, however, how
important properly chaining together your abilities is and its overall impact on your DPS. This is especially true on cleave, as building a smooth and
powerful Mastery: Ignite will determine how much cleave and AoE you can
output. Get used to properly chaining your spells by practicing on
target dummies or in LFR.
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 Shimmer 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 global cooldown.
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.
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 of yards. 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, use the tips above, and make your path as direct and decisive as possible.
Opening Sequence for Fire Mage
The opener below assumes the standard talent setup containing
Feel the Burn,
Sun King's Blessing and
Firestarter and as
talents.
If you do not run Firestarter, start the fight with the standard
Combustion rotation.
You always pre-cast Pyroblast 4 seconds before the pull timer
finishes.
- Cast
Fireballs and
Fire Blasts and consume your
Hot Streaks as you get them until 8 stacks of
Sun King's Blessing. Only cast Fire Blast to avoid capping on charges.
- Once at 8 charges of
Sun King's Blessing, hardcast
Pyroblast (even if the target is still above 90% health). Near the end of the cast, cast
Combustion. Ensure you press Combustion before the Pyroblast cast finishes, or you will lose the Sun King's Blessing Combustion.
- Continue the standard Combustion rotation like normal.
Changelog
- 20 Mar. 2023: Rewrote parts of the rotation to be easier to follow, and split the SKB/Pyroclasm into its own section. Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 03 Jan. 2022: Add Shifting Power to the rotation.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Update AoE rotation to more clearly explain the AoE rotation when you are not talented into Flamestrike/Flamepath.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Added section explaining rotational changes due to the tier set.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Mage Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Dutchmagoz. Dutchmagoz is a Mythic raider in one of the top raiding guilds, Turtles and the owner of the Mage Discord server, Altered Time, where he is involved in all things Mage, and you can reach out to him directly for feedback or questions about the guide.
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