Fire Mage DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents (Legion 7.3.5)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes for Fire Mage
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes for Fire Mage
  • 4. Fire Mage Strengths
  • 5. Fire Mage Weaknesses
  • 6. Fire Mage Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics for Fire Mage
  • 2. Talent Choice for Fire Mage
  • 3. Stat Choice for Fire Mage
  • 4. Basic Rotation for Fire Mage
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Fire Mage Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resource for Fire Mage
  • 3. Mastery for Fire Mage
  • 4. Important Procs for Fire Mage
  • 5. Basic Abilities for Fire Mage
  • 6. DPS Cooldowns for Fire Mage
  • 7. ChangeLog
• ×Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets for Fire Mage
    • 2.1. Tier 21 4-Piece Bonus
    • 2.2. Without Tier 21 4-Piece Bonus (Single Target)
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression for Fire Mage — 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 for Fire Mage
  • 3. Relic Priority for Fire Mage
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice for Fire Mage
  • 2. Tier 2 Upgrade Priority for Fire Mage
  • 3. Tier 3 Upgrade Priority for Fire Mage
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Ability Priority List for Fire Mage
  • 2. Important Notes for Fire Mages
    • 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 for Fire Mage
    • 3.1. Combustion Usage
    • 3.2. Critical Strike Chains
    • 3.3. Movement Management
      • 3.3.1. Quiet Movement
  • 4. Opening Sequence for Fire Mage
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Stat Priority for Fire Mage
  • 2. Stat Priority with Tier 21 4-Piece Bonus for Fire Mage
  • 3. Fire Mage: Getting a Better Understanding
    • 3.1. Statistics Explanations
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems for Fire Mage
  • 2. Enchants for Fire Mage
  • 3. Consumables for Fire Mage
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Addons for Fire Mage
    • 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 21 Set Bonus for Fire Mage
  • 2. Recommended Legendaries With Antorus Gear for Fire Mage
  • 3. Tier 20 Set Bonus for Fire Mage
  • 4. Best in Slot List for Fire Mage
  • 5. Trinket Notes for Fire Mage
  • 6. Evaluating Upgrades Using Stat Weights
  • 7. Racial Bonuses for Fire Mage
  • 8. Legendaries for Fire Mage
  • 9. Loot Competition
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Battle for Azeroth
  • 1. Foreword
  • 2. Fire Mage Base Mechanics Changes in BfA
  • 3. Fire Mage Baseline Abilities — Changes in BfA
  • 4. The BfA Fire Mage Talent Tree
    • 4.1. Level 15
    • 4.2. Level 30
    • 4.3. Level 45
    • 4.4. Level 60
    • 4.5. Level 75
    • 4.6. Level 90
    • 4.7. Level 90
    • 4.8. BfA Fire Mage Talent Setup
  • 5. Fire Mage Azerite Traits
  • 6. Fire Mage Base Rotation in BfA
  • 7. Multi-Target Rotation for Fire Mage in BfA
  • 8. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we present the viable talent choices for Fire Mages in World of Warcraft Legion 7.3.5. We detail what each of the talents do and in which situations they should be taken.

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. Talent Choices

Level	Choices
15	✔ Pyromaniac	? Conflagration	✔ Firestarter
30	✔ Shimmer	? Blast Wave	✘ Blazing Soul
45	✘ Mirror Image	✔ Rune of Power	✔ Incanter's Flow
60	✔ Alexstrasza's Fury	✔ Flame On	✘ Controlled Burn
75	✔ Frenetic Speed	✘ Ring of Frost	✘ Ice Ward
90	✔ Living Bomb	✔ Unstable Magic	✔ Flame Patch
100	✔ Kindling	? Cinderstorm	✔ Meteor

Talents can be freely changed when out of combat and in a rested XP area (such as an inn or a capital city). Moreover, Tome of the Tranquil Mind and Codex of the Tranquil Mind can be used to temporarily allow players to change talents anywhere, as long as they are out of combat.

2. Talent Cheat Sheets for Fire Mage

While optimizing talents on a contextual basis is the highly recommended method of setting up your build, the talent builds listed below work great for specific purposes.

2.1. Tier 21 4-Piece Bonus

These talents are suitable once the Tier 21 4-piece bonus has been obtained. This allows us to maximize our Combustion windows to deliver strong damage and exceptional burst.

• Level 15: Pyromaniac
• Level 30: Shimmer
• Level 45: Rune of Power
• Level 60: Flame On
• Level 75: Frenetic Speed
• Level 90: Unstable Magic (single target) OR see talent discussion
• Level 100: Kindling

2.2. Without Tier 21 4-Piece Bonus (Single Target)

• Level 15: Firestarter
• Level 30: Shimmer
• Level 45: Incanter's Flow
• Level 60: Flame On
• Level 75: Frenetic Speed
• Level 90: Unstable Magic
• Level 100: Meteor

3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Fire Mage

✔ Pyromaniac

? Conflagration

✔ Firestarter

Tier 1 talents offer a minor boost to sustained damage.

• Pyromaniac gives you a small chance to re-activate Hot Streak instantly.
• Conflagration causes targets hit by Fireball to burn for additional damage. Enemies affected by Conflagration or Ignite will also occasionally flare, cleaving nearby enemies for additional damage.
• Firestarter causes Fireball and Pyroblast to always critically strike when your target is above 90% health.

Firestarter is the best option if you have not yet obtained the Tier 21 4-Piece bonus.

Pyromaniac is generally the best option when using the Tier 21 4-Piece bonus, as the possibility of an extra Pyroblast during your Combustions is usually worthwhile. Only very slightly ahead of Firestarter, so feel free to pick and choose based on the encounter at hand.

Conflagration is a possible option for Mythic+ depending on the keystone level and affixes, but is not used in Antorus.

4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Fire Mage

✔ Shimmer

? Blast Wave

✘ Blazing Soul

Tier 2 talents offer a boost in defensive utility.

• Shimmer replaces your Blink ability. It functions exactly the same as Blink except it is off the Global Cooldown and does not interrupt spellcasting.
• Blast Wave causes an explosion around yourself, dealing Fire damage to all enemies within 8 yards and reducing their movement speed by 70% for 4 seconds.
• Blazing Soul causes Fire damage dealt to targets within 8 yards to refill your Blazing Barrier for 40% of the damage dealt.

Shimmer should be your go-to talent in most situations, as it gives you more mobility and the ability to Blink without triggering a Global Cooldown. Not only does this result in a noticeable damage gain, but should also allow for better survivability on high movement fights.

Blast Wave can be useful for Mythic+ if you need the additional control for kiting.

Blazing Soul is very situational as it requires you to be nearly in melee range, and lacks the additional mobility that Shimmer provides.

5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Fire Mage

✘ Mirror Image

✔ Rune of Power

✔ Incanter's Flow

Tier 3 talents are focused on providing the player a consistent damage increase.

• Mirror Image creates 3 copies of yourself which damage enemies and last 40 seconds.
• Rune of Power places a small zone which increases the damage you do by 40% for 10 seconds. This ability has a 45-second cooldown, with 2 charges.
• Incanter's Flow increases your damage between 4% and 20%, cycling every 10 seconds.

Incanter's Flow is currently the best option for all situations.

Rune of Power is far and away the best option when the Tier 21 4-Piece bonus has be acquired.

Mirror Image is not used, currently.

6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Fire Mage

✔ Alexstrasza's Fury

✔ Flame On

✘ Controlled Burn

Tier 4 talents are focused on providing unique damage utility.

• Alexstrasza's Fury causes Dragon's Breath to always critically strike, and contribute to Hot Streak.
• Flame On reduces the cooldown of Fire Blast by 2 seconds, and increases the maximum number of charges by 1.
• Controlled Burn gives you a 20% chance for Heating Up to instantly become Hot Streak.

Flame On should be your go-to choice on raid bosses, as it allows for the most Hot Streaks throughout a fight.

Alexstrasza's Fury is a great choice for heavy cleave encounters and greatly increases your snap AoE damage. It is also a fantastic choice for Mythic+ dungeons. Players using the legendary item Darckli's Dragonfire Diadem should use this talent in all situations where 2+ targets will be present.

Controlled Burn is stronger with the buffs in 7.1.5, but it is still too unpredictable to be a contender.

7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Fire Mage

✔ Frenetic Speed

✘ Ring of Frost

✘ Ice Ward

Tier 5 talents focus primarily on providing utility.

• Frenetic Speed causes Scorch to increase movement speed by 30% for 3 seconds when cast.
• Ring of Frost places a ring that can freeze up to 10 targets for 10 seconds at the targeted location, broken by damage.
• Ice Ward gives Frost Nova 2 charges.

Frenetic Speed is currently the only talent with a benefit in raids.

8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Fire Mage

✔ Living Bomb

✔ Unstable Magic

✔ Flame Patch

Tier 6 talents add various cleave and AoE utility to your kit.

• Living Bomb applies a bomb to the target which explodes after a delay and spreads itself to nearby targets.
• Unstable Magic grants Fireball a 25% chance to splash for 50% additional damage to all targets within 8-yards of the target.
• Flame Patch adds a burning ground effect to Flamestrike that lasts for 8 seconds.

Unstable Magic is the best choice for single target.

Flame Patch does the most damage in situations where there are 2-10 targets present. It should be noted, however, that Flame Patch takes 8 seconds to deal its full damage and during this time all targets must stay within the damaging area. It also forces the player to use Flamestrike, which is only an effective choice if multiple targets have similar or equal damage priority. Despite these negatives, Flame Patch is still a great choice for dungeons and certain raid bosses, and the choice between this talent and Living Bomb is largely a matter of preference and context.

Living Bomb is the best choice for 10+ targets, and it also results in a single-target damage increase in such situations. It is a DPS loss to use this ability if there is only 1 target present.

9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Fire Mage

✔ Kindling

? Cinderstorm

✔ Meteor

Tier 7 talents add new abilities and major playstyle shifts to your kit.

• Kindling reduces the cooldown of Combustion by 1 second every time Fireball, Fire Blast, and Pyroblast critically strike.
• Cinderstorm is a short cooldown conal spray that deals extra damage to targets afflicted by Ignite.
• Meteor summons a meteor to fall from the sky after a short delay, dealing large initial damage and leaving a burning patch on the ground for 8 seconds.

Meteor is the best option for single-target, and also a great option for intermittent cleave when adds are occasionally present (e.g. Chronomatic Anomaly). It contributes to your Ignite.

Kindling is the superior option for all situations when using the Tier 21 4-Piece bonus.

Cinderstorm is the best option for lower item level players on any sustained cleave, and also for AoE (when combined with Rune of Power). It is not used in the Tomb of Sargeras.

10. ChangeLog

• 28 Nov. 2017: Added Tier 21 4-Piece explanations.
• 29 Aug. 2017: Updated talent discussions.
• 15 Aug. 2017: Updated talent examples.
• 20 Jul. 2017: Updated Firestarter and Kindling, as empirical testing has them performing well in Mythic ToS.
• 12 Jun. 2017: Updated discussions about Firestarter, Flame Patch, and Kindling.
• 27 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 20 Feb. 2017: Updated Flame Patch viability.
• 28 Jan. 2017: Updated talent descriptions, added some fight specific talent advice, and updated builds.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Fully updated talents for 7.1.5.
• 29 Nov. 2016: Updated Level 110 talent discussion.
• 01 Sep. 2016: Following Arold's review, Meteor is now a viable Level 100 talent in specific situations.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 19 Jul. 2016: Tweaked Level 100 talent advice.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.

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