Fire Mage DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within Pre-Patch

Note that these builds are generic recommendations for various content. For more specific recommendations for the Raid and Mythic+, check out the dedicated pages below.

While optimizing talents on a contextual basis is the highly recommended method of setting up your build, the talent build listed below works great for general purposes. Keep in mind that there is a lot of flexibility when it comes to especially the general Mage tree, so we highly recommend reading the rest of the page for more context.

You can easily import the talent trees below into the game with the "Copy export string" button.

2.

Best Talents for Fire Mage

Single-Target & Cleave Talents AoE/Mythic+ Talents Picking Fire Mage Talents

3.

Best Single-Target & Cleave Talents for Fire Mage

Below is the "standard" Fire Mage single target build. It is also decent at doing cleave damage via Mastery: Ignite and Lit Fuse procs.

3.

AoE/Mythic+ Fire Mage Talent Tree

The below build is focused more on AoE damage than the single-target build, but it is still relatively strong at doing single-target damage. It only gives up a little bit of single-target DPS for a pretty large boost in AoE damage. There is currently no viable Flamestrike based build, so this build plays very similar to the single-target build, while doing even more free AoE/cleave damage. Most of the AoE damage comes from Lit Fuse and its related procs/damage, but Mastery: Ignite still applies a decent chunk of damage as well.

3.

Flamestrike based AoE versus Cleave based AoE builds

Currently, there is no real Flamestrike based builds that compete with a cleave-oriented build. Mastery: Ignite + Lit Fuse and all of their related talents are both better at AoE damage, while also providing more single-target damage, so there is no real scenario in which you would opt into a Flamestrike based build. The linked build is also the go-to build for Mythic+, but if you want more information specifically aimed at Mythic+, check out our Mythic+ page below.

Mythic+ Builds

4.

Picking Mage Class Talents

The general Mage tree is extremely flexible. It is almost entirely personal preference, apart from a couple of key DPS nodes. You have many more points available than you need to get all of the DPS nodes, leaving you with many options in terms of survivability, crowd control, and utility. Below, we will highlight some of the key nodes that are important for DPS and suggest some of the best non-DPS nodes. However, even after that, you can assign a bunch of points as you see fit.

4.1.

Tier 1 (Rows 1-4) Mage Class Talents For Fire Mage

4.1.1.

Talents for all situations

Talent	Reason for taking
Overflowing Energy	A large DPS boost.
Incanter's Flow	A large DPS boost.
Shifting Power	A large DPS boost.
Ice Block	One of the best defensives in the entire game.
Mirror Image	A great defensive tool useful in all content.
Alter Time	A very strong defensive and mobility tool in one, useful in all content.

4.1.2.

Optional / flexible talents

Talent	Reason for taking
Spellsteal	A good pick if there are buffs you can steal that are either beneficial to you, or make the content easier by removing it from the target.
Remove Curse	A good pick if there are curses you can dispel.
Winter's Protection	Can be useful if you need the reduced cooldown to be able to solo soak a specific raid mechanic. If combined with Ice Cold and Cryo-Freeze it also becomes a very strong damage reduction tool.
Incantation of Swiftness	Can be useful for skipping content, like trash packs in dungeons, or open-world enemies
Tempest Barrier	A minor defensive tool useful in all content.
Arcane Warding	A minor defensive tool useful in almost all content.

4.2.

Tier 2 (Rows 5-7) Mage Class Talents For Fire Mage

The tier 2 talents contain almost entirely utility/mobility talents.

4.2.1.

Talents for all situations

Talent	Reason for taking
Tome of Rhonin	A straight up DPS boost
Tome of Antonidas	A straight up DPS boost
Shimmer or Ice Floes	Both are extremely strong mobility tools. This choice is largely a personal preference. Ice Floes ultimately allows for more movement without losing DPS, but it comes at the cost of losing out on the burst movement (without having to give up a global cooldown like Blink does) that Shimmer provides. Generally, Ice Floes is preferred when running Sun King's Blessing, otherwise Shimmer, but both are great choices regardless of whether you run Sun King's Blessing or not.

4.2.2.

Optional / flexible talents

Talent	Reason for taking
Dragon's Breath	Very good crowd-control ability, especially useful in Mythic+ to interrupt spell casts. Also picked for DPS if running Alexstrasza's Fury.
Diverted Energy	A decent survivability tool useful in all content.
Master of Time	A decent survivability and mobility tool useful in all content.
Quick Witted	A good pickup in content where you need the reduced interrupt cooldown, like Mythic+ in a low interrupt group.
Slow	A good pickup to assist in kiting, especially when solo. Generally not too much usage in group content, though.
Cryo-Freeze	A very good self-healing tool when playing solo or a very strong defensive in all content when combined with Ice Cold.
Reduplication	Can be useful if it would give you an additional usage of Mirror Image for a specific high-hitting ability, but usually hard to proc this.
Reabsorption	Adds a relatively useful self-heal onto Mirror Image, but usually hard to proc this.
Blast Wave	Great crowd control that can be extremely useful in Mythic+ and open-world content, for its ability to AoE interrupt enemy spellcasts
Volatile Detonation	Used to further increase the ability to kite with Blast Wave, but should be careful in grouped content to not knock enemies into additional enemies and pull more than planned.
Mass Slow	Can be used to kite packs of mobs in Mythic+, in some cases, or good for open-world content.
Ice Nova	For even more crowd control. Also, technically a minor DPS increase when moving as it can be used when on the move if you have no Ice Floes / Shimmer ready and no other instants.
Ring of Frost	For even more crowd control.

4.3.

Tier 3 (Rows 8-10) Mage Class Talents For Fire Mage

In this tier, we unlock some of the strong final nodes as a priority, whereas the rest is flexible.

4.3.1.

Talents for all situations

Talent	Reason for taking
Time Anomaly / Inspired Intellect	The strongest of the final nodes. We usually suggest picking Time Anomaly. However, if you do not like the randomness of Time Anomaly, you can pick Inspired Intellect for a minor DPS loss.
Greater Invisibility	One of the best defensive tools in the game.
Mass Barrier / Mass Invisibility	Provides quite a lot of defensive power for your group if you take Mass Barrier. Since the cooldown is not shared with Prismatic Barrier, it is a useful defensive tool even when solo. Mass Invisibility can be a very strong tool for Mythic+ to skip packs.
Temporal Velocity	A decent mobility tool. It is not that great of a talent on its own, but it is on the path to some very strong other nodes, so it's pretty much always taken.

4.3.2.

Optional / flexible talents

Talent	Reason for taking
Ice Cold	Turns Ice Block into a very strong defensive cooldown that does not come at the cost of any DPS but removes the immunity aspect from it. Generally, we suggest taking this if you do not need the immunity aspect of Ice Block, as it lasts 6 seconds, and you are unlikely to sit in Ice Block for that long. Additionally, when combined with Cryo-Freeze, it also becomes a very strong self heal that you do not need to sit in Ice Block for to get the benefit of.
Displacement	Provides mobility, but is usually pretty difficult to pick up without giving up one of the major nodes.
Barrier Diffusion	A minor boost to your survivability that works in all content.
Accumulative Shielding	A minor boost to your survivability that works in all content.
Displacement	A decent mobility and defensive tool. Difficult to take without giving up one of the capstone nodes, but if you are skipping a capstone node, a very useful mobility + defensive tool.
Frigid Winds + Ice Ward	These nodes give you even more kiting power. Not very useful in most group content, but strong when solo and on the way to Ice Cold. If you are not taking Ice Cold, these two talents should be skipped for most group play.
Time Manipulation	Can be useful if you are doing content where you really need the extra crowd control.

5.

Fire Mage Talents

In this section, we will go over the Fire Mage Talents. The focus of this section will be PvE content.

5.1.

Tier 1 (Rows 1-4) Fire Mage Talents

This section sets up a lot of the core components of the spec.

5.1.1.

Talents for all situations

Talent	Reason for taking
Fire Blast	A key spell that is required for the functionality of the spec.
Phoenix Flames	A large DPS boost, and required to continue the talent tree.
Fervent Flickering	A large DPS boost in all content.
Call of the Sun King	A large DPS boost in all content.
Scorch	A large DPS boost in all content. The only exception is, if you are doing content where the enemy never drops below 30%. In that scenario, the talent can theoretically be skipped, but it is still useful just for the movement aspect alone.
Surging Blaze	A large DPS boost in all content, and unlocks multiple other talents.
Lit Fuse	A large DPS boost in all content.

5.1.2.

Optional / flexible talents

Talent	Reason for taking
Firestarter	Very good DPS boost as long if the enemy remains above 90% health a large amount of time. For example, if a raid boss has a large shield at 100% health that you need to burn through first.

5.2.

Tier 2 (Rows 5-7) Fire Mage Talents

5.2.1.

Talents for all situations

Talent	Reason for taking
Flame On	A large DPS boost in all content.
Flame Accelerant	A strong DPS boost in all content.
Critical Mass	A large DPS boost in all content.
Explosive Ingenuity	A large DPS boost in all content.
Combustion	Fire's key DPS cooldown. Massive DPS boost in all content.
Convection	A strong DPS boost on single-target. Provides no benefit itself in AoE situations, but still taken on AoE because it is the best path to unlock Mark of the Fire Lord, as we skip the Flame Patch / Quickflame node due to never using Flamestrike, making it completely useless, whereas Convection still provides single-target value.
Wildfire	Decent DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than other options.
Improved Combustion / Spontaneous Combustion	Both of these are large DPS boosts in all types of content. At perfect play, Improved Combustion is better. It is also better if there is downtime in the content you are doing, for example, Mythic+ where you need to walk to new packs, allowing you to recover cooldowns. Spontaneous Combustion can be taken for a small DPS loss, but a bit more quality of life, as you will not have to pool any cooldowns for Combustion.

5.2.2.

Optional / flexible talents

Talent	Reason for taking
Sparking Cinders / Intensifying Flame	Intensifying Flame should be used for up to 3 targets, and Sparking Cinders for 4+ targets.
Ashen Feather	Taken for single target, but skipped in AoE situations.
Mark of the Fire Lord	Taken for AoE, but skipped on single target.
Controlled Destruction	A decent DPS boost. Taken in most content, but if you are doing content where you are constantly fighting new enemies, it can be skipped. Generally, it is still worth taking in Mythic+ even though you fight new enemies often, as long as the packs do not die very fast (e.g. less than 10 seconds). For low keys, it can be skipped.

5.3.

Tier 3 (Rows 8-10) Fire Mage Talents

5.3.1.

Talents for all situations

Talent	Reason for taking
Kindling	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than other options.
Fire's Ire (2x)	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than other options.
From the Ashes	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than other options.
Fiery Rush	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than other options.
Firefall	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than other options.
Phoenix Reborn	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than other options.
Explosivo	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than other options.
Sun King's Blessing / Unleashed Inferno	The best capstone node available. Generally, you will want to go with Sun King's Blessing. However, if the content you are doing has lots of downtime, Unleashed Inferno can be better. Additionally, if you really need more burst DPS to deal with a certain boss mechanic, Unleashed Inferno can also be used to beat that burst DPS check. Whichever option you pick, it is better than any other talent available.

5.3.2.

Optional / flexible talents

Talent	Reason for taking
Fevered Incantation (1x)	Taken on single target but skipped on AoE.
Blast Zone	Taken on AoE but skipped on single target.

Multiple talents require a change to your rotation to use them optimally. You can find more information on how your rotation will look after selecting your talents on our rotation page below.

If you are looking for in-depth explanations of what each talent does, we suggest reading through the spell summary page.

Since Battle for Azeroth, there is the option to enable "War Mode." Enabling War Mode grants the following benefits:

• PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
• 10% increase in World Quest rewards at max level.
• 10% more experience gained while leveling.
• Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended enabling the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at max level. However, doing so will enable PvP combat and the possibility of being attacked by members of the opposite faction while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

In this section, we will rank the War Mode talents for leveling and outdoor content.

1. Glass Cannon gives you a significant damage buff. The reduced health is usually not a problem in open-world content.
2. Ring of Fire puts up a relatively large circle that burns enemies who walk into the outer part of the circle, doing significant damage.
3. Greater Pyroblast is a very hard-hitting spell, especially on high-health enemies, and it will greatly increase your damage against high-health enemies, like world bosses or rares.