Fire Mage DPS Stat Priority in Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.0.1

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 8.0.1 Changes for Fire Mage
  • 3. Fire Mage Strengths
  • 4. Fire Mage Weaknesses
  • 5. Fire Mage Viability in the Current Patch
  • 6. Contents
  • 7. Changelog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. Foreword
  • 2. The Basics for Fire Mage
  • 3. Talent Choice for Fire Mage
  • 4. Stat Choice for Fire Mage
  • 5. Basic Rotation for Fire Mage
  • 6. 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
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices for Fire Mage
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets for Fire Mage
  • 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. PvP Talents (War Mode)
    • 10.1. Fire Mage War Mode Talents
  • 11. Changelog
• +Azerite Traits and Armor
  • 1. Choosing Azerite Gear as a Fire Mage
  • 2. Choosing Azerite Traits as a Fire Mage
    • 2.1. Outer Ring
    • 2.2. Middle Ring
    • 2.3. Inner Ring
  • 3. Azerite Traits Rotation Changes and Details for Fire Mage
  • 4. Single Target Azerite Traits Simulations for Fire Mage
    • 4.1. Outer Ring Trait Simulations for Fire Mage on Single Target
    • 4.2. Middle Ring Trait Comparisons for Fire Mage on Single Target
  • 5. AoE/Cleave Azerite Traits Simulations for Fire Mage
    • 5.1. Outer Ring Trait Simulations for Fire Mage on AoE/Cleave
    • 5.2. Middle Ring Trait Simulations for Fire Mage on AoE/Cleave
  • 6. Outer Ring Traits for Fire Mage
    • 6.1. Generic Outer Ring Traits
    • 6.2. Fire Mage specific Outer Ring Traits
  • 7. Middle Ring Traits for Fire Mage
  • 8. Inner Ring Traits for Fire Mage
  • 9. Find Azerite Armor By Trait/Power
  • 10. 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. Pyroclasm Usage
    • 2.3. Meteor Usage
    • 2.4. Flamestrike Usage
    • 2.5. Rune of Power
    • 2.6. Blazing Barrier
    • 2.7. 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
• +Mythic+ Tips
  • 1. Fire Mage in Mythic+
    • 1.1. Fire Mage Mythic+ Rotation
    • 1.2. Fire Mage Utility
  • 2. Mythic+ Talents for Fire Mage
  • 3. Mythic+ Affixes
    • 3.1. Tier One Affixes
    • 3.2. Tier Two Affixes
    • 3.3. Tier Three Affixes
    • 3.4. Seasonal Affix
  • 4. Changelog
• +Common and Worst Mistakes
  • 1. Having High Downtime
  • 2. Using Combustion / Rune of Power at the Wrong Time
  • 3. Not Knowing How To Sim Yourself
  • 4. Analyzing Your Mistakes as a Fire Mage
• +Frequently Asked Questions
  • 1. Battle for Azeroth Frequently Asked Questions for Fire Mage
    • 1.1. How Much Critical Strike Should I Get?
    • 1.2. Should I Use Flame Patch or Living Bomb in Dungeons?
    • 1.3. Should I Use Rune of Power or Incanter's Flow?
  • 2. Changelog
• +Boss by Boss Strategies
  • 1. Disclaimer
  • 2. Fire Mage in Uldir
    • 2.1. Talent Cheatsheet
  • 3. Taloc
    • 3.1. Suggested talents for Fire Mage on Taloc
    • 3.2. Fire Mage playstyle on Taloc
  • 4. M.O.T.H.E.R.
    • 4.1. Suggested talents for Fire Mage on M.O.T.H.E.R.
    • 4.2. Fire Mage playstyle on M.O.T.H.E.R.
  • 5. Fetid Devourer
    • 5.1. Suggested talents for Fire Mage on Fetid Devourer
    • 5.2. Fire Mage playstyle on Fetid Devourer
  • 6. Zek'voz, Herald of N'Zoth
    • 6.1. Suggested talents for Fire Mage on Zek'voz, Herald of N'Zoth
    • 6.2. Fire Mage playstyle on Zek'voz, Herald of N'Zoth
  • 7. Vectis
    • 7.1. Suggested talents for Fire Mage on Vectis
    • 7.2. Fire Mage playstyle on Vectis
  • 8. Zul, Reborn
    • 8.1. Suggested talents for Fire Mage on Zul, Reborn
    • 8.2. Fire Mage playstyle on Zul, Reborn
  • 9. Mythrax the Unraveler
    • 9.1. Suggested talents for Fire Mage on Mythrax the Unraveler
    • 9.2. Fire Mage playstyle on Mythrax the Unraveler
  • 10. G'huun
    • 10.1. Suggested talents for Fire Mage on G'huun
    • 10.2. Fire Mage playstyle on G'huun
  • 11. Changelog
• ×Stat Priority
  • 1. The Basics of Stats for Fire Mage
  • 2. Fire Mage: Getting a Better Understanding
    • 2.1. Statistics Explanations
  • 3. 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. Decursive
      • 1.6.2. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.6.3. DeathNote
      • 1.6.4. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.6.5. 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 and Best in Slot
  • 1. Azerite Gear for Fire Mage
  • 2. Evaluating Upgrades
  • 3. Trinket Notes for Fire Mage
  • 4. Changelog
• +Simulations
  • 1. How to sim your Fire Mage
  • 2. Fire Mage Single Target Azerite Traits Simulation
  • 3. Fire Mage AoE Azerite Traits Simulation
  • 4. Changelog

General Information

On this page, we explain what the best statistics are for Fire Mages in World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth 8.0.1, how the class benefits from each of them.

The statistics priority is important as it influences itemisation choices (gear, enchants, and gems).

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

About Our Author

This guide has been written by Dutchmagoz. Dutchmagoz is a Mythic raider in UnknownError, owner of the Mage theorycrafting website Altered Time, and an admin of the Mage Discord server, Halls of the Guardian.

1. The Basics of Stats for Fire Mage

The stat priority for Fire Mage is as follows:

1. Intellect;
2. Mastery;
3. Versatility;
4. Haste;
5. Critical Strike.

Intellect is the best stat in all situations. On pure single-target situations, the respective values of Critical Strike, Mastery, Haste and Versatility fluctuate depending on gear, but they are very close. Mastery scales much better with additional targets than any other stat and is the reason it is listed above the other secondaries that are not crit. We encourage players to sim themselves if possible to determine what stats you should desire according to your current distribution, as this may change depending on your current values. This is because a deficiency of one stat will often cause it to become high in value, relative to the others, until you reach a "normalized" value. A sim can be very easily run by almost anyone using the Raidbots Stat Weights tool.

These statistics have been obtained by combining common sense, in-game testing, and simulations using SimulationCraft.

2. Fire Mage: Getting a Better Understanding

2.1. Statistics Explanations

Intellect is your primary stat. You should look for this stat in all of your upgrades. It provides you with Spell Power, which increases the damage of your spells.

Critical Strike increases your chance to critically hit, which in turn increases your chances to get instant-free Pyroblasts. This gives you the most reliable damage and smoothens out the rotation considerably, giving you the most consistent output.

Mastery, through Mastery: Ignite, increases the damage of your Ignite DoT. Mastery is reasonably close to Critical Strike in value, increasing with the number of targets present, eventually out-pacing Critical Strike on sustained AoE and cleave. Critical Strike and Mastery have good synergy, because Pyroblasts and Flamestrikes affected by Hot Streak cause double the normal ignite value, which is further increased by your Mastery.

Haste influences the cast speed of your spells. It also influences the cooldown of Fire Blast and the speed at which Living Bomb detonates.

Versatility is a flat-out damage done increase and damage taken reduction.

3. Changelog

• 19 Aug. 2018: Updated for expected stats for a pre-raid character.
• 12 Aug. 2018: Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.