A Fire Mage is a real-life pyromaniac who has mastered Fire to perfection. For them, turning their enemy into a pile of cinder is no big deal.

 

Introduction

Let’s take a closer look at the weakest and the strongest aspects of this specialization:

Advantages:

  • An extremely potent burst;
  • Great AoE;
  • Nice switch to priority targets.

Disadvantages:

  • No opportunity to deal effective damage to disassociated targets;
  • In case some of the enemies in the pack do not need to be damaged, there’s no opportunity to eliminate cleave.

Basic information on the spec:

All Mage specializations have one key resource – Mana. In the Fire specialization, it does not play a crucial role as it regenerates quite quickly. Only frequent utilization of Spellsteal might cause problems with this resource.

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Glossary

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Main abilities

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Talents

General information. On achieving several new levels you’ll get access to new talent ‘Tiers’. Talents may have different effect on abilities: add new features, replace old ones, modify passively different effects and spells. Talents can be changed in Sanctuaries or any recreational zones. However, if you don’t have any of those places nearby you can use the Codex of the Tranquil Mind which allows you to switch channels within a minute. You can’t change talents in combat. You can’t change a talent if the talent you’ve picked in the last Tier is on Cooldown. You’ll have to wait until it’s restored first.

Tier 1. Lvl 15

Fire Mage 8.2

* Searing Touch is the best choice for a single target and m+.  Firestarter is a way to go at encounters, where you need to do as much dps as possible at the beginning of the fight. Pyromaniac is not used anywhere at this moment. 

 

Tier 2. Lvl 30

Fire Mage 8.2

  • Blazing Soul. Casting “Blink” ignites a “Blazing Barrier“around you.
  • Shimmer. Replaces the ability  Blink. Can be cast during the casting of a different spell, and has no effect on GCD. 2 charges, CD 15 secs.
  • Blast Wave. The ability deals minor Fire damage to all the enemies within the 8-m range and reduces their moving speed by 70% for 4 secs. CD 25 secs.

* Shimmer is the most efficient talent on this Tier as it significantly increases your mobility and keeps you from interrupting another cast. Blast Wave is occasional, for cases when you need control. Blazing Soul may only be good for upgrading, in case you’re going to stand up face to face to your enemy.

 

Tier 3. Lvl 45

Fire Mage 8.2

  • Incanter’s Flow. During combat the damage dealt by you grow by 4 to 20%. The factor increases or decreases in cycles. The duration of a cycle is 10 secs.
  • Mirror Image. Summons 3 copies of yours which attack your enemies. Copies live for 40 secs. CD 2 min
  • Rune of Power. Within 1.5 secs, you generate a rune of power in the selected area. The rune lives for 10 secs. As long as you’re within an 8-m range of your Rune, your spells deliver 40% more damage. At least 2 charges. CD 40 secs.

* Rune of Power is the best choice for the most of the cases. Incanter’s Flow is a good choice for fights where you need to move a lot. Mirror Image is not used.

 

Tier 4. Lvl 60

Fire Mage 8.2

*Flame On is the best talent for a single target and m+ because allows you to gain often  Hot Streak.

 

Tier 5. Lvl 75

Fire Mage 8.2

* Frenetic Speed is the only talent on the Tier that is good for any situation. Ring of Frost and Ice Ward are really occasional. Just keep in mind that you have control abilities like those in case one day you need something of the kind.

 

Tier 6. Lvl 90

Fire Mage 8.2

  • Flame Patch. After acting, Flamestrike leaves an area that deals minor Fire damage for 8 more secs.
  • Conflagration. Fireball rags the target with the effect Conflagrate dealing additional minor Fire damage for 8 secs. Enemies under Conflagration and  Ignite have 10% probability of delivering minor Fire damage to all enemies close to them.
  • Living Bomb. You turn your enemy into a walking bomb which receives minor Fire damage over the next 4 secs, after which it explodes and hits all the enemies within the range of 10 m. All the targets hit also become bombs, but the effect does not spread upon further explosions. CD 12 secs.

* Conflagration is the best choice for a single target. Flame Patch is extremely potent for AoE when all the targets in the pack are worth its full action, and there are no priority targets that need more damage. If your situation complies with all the conditions, this is your 4-10 target choice. For cleave and AoE damage without loosing much on main target – Living Bomb.

 

Tier 7. Lvl 100

Fire Mage 8.2

  • Kindling. Critical strikes delivered by Fireball, Pyroblast and Fire Blast reduce the remaining restoring time for your Combustion by 1 sec.
  • Pyroclasm. Consuming “Hot Streak” has a 15% chance to make your next non-instant  “Pyroblast” cast within 15 sec deal additional 225% damage. Maximum 2 stacks.
  • Meteor. Select an area in which in 3 secs a meteorite falls and deals major Fire damage. The damage is split evenly between all the enemies hit. Besides that, on the landing site, the ground catches fire for 8 secs. In this area, additional Fire damage is delivered.

* Pyroclasm  is the best choice for a single target. Kindling is not used currently. Meteor is used on AOE and m+ and also if there are a lot of adds that need to be killed.

 

So, we can boil it all down to the following builds:

Single target and raid:

  1. Searing Touch.
  2. Shimmer
  3. Rune of Power
  4. Flame On
  5. Frenetic Speed
  6. Conflagration
  7. Meteor

M+:

  1. Searing Touch.
  2. Shimmer
  3. Incanter’s Flow / Rune of Power
  4. Flame On
  5. Frenetic Speed
  6. Living BombConflagration
  7. Meteor

 

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Azerite traits

In BFA typical sets were removed and Azerite armor took their place. Now every chest/helmet/shoulders have a few rings for traits.

  • Wildfire. “Pyroblast” deals additional damage. When you activate “Combustion“, you gain Critical strike, and up to 4 nearby allies gain Critical strike for 10 sec. The best trait  that increases your burst and the main damage ability. You must have at least one of it. More = better.
  • Blaster Master. “Fire Blast” increases your mastery for 3 sec. This effect stacks. Becomes best trait with Major Essence Memory of Lucid Dreams. Should be stacked.
  • Firemind. Consuming “Hot streak” Grants you intellect for 12 sec. This effect stacks up to  3 times. It is a good trait that you could take a few for intellect increase.
  • Duplicative Incineration.Fireball” deals additional damage, and has 5% chance to launch the second “Fireball“. Casino trait that you can take 1 in case you will get lucky.
  • A good common trait Treacherous Covenant is good to have 1-2. This trait increases intellect but has its downside. It stops granting intellect if your health is below 50% and you take 15% increased damage if your health while below 20%.

* It is the list of the best traits only so  we recommend to use raidbots.com to see other good traits/combinations.

We recommend to use Herodamage and  AzeritePowerWeight addon. Import the addon command from the site and you can easily compare your azerite in the game.

( AzeritePowerWeights:2:"herodamage.com - Stacks_1T_T24":8:63: 575=10, 522=8.98, 526=8.83, 168=8.70, 193=8.61, 196=8.00, 215=7.92, 562=7.78, 82=7.71, 378=6.84, 479=6.43, 157=6.17, 501=6.17, 478=6.14, 494=6.14, 488=6.14, 192=5.63, 504=5.61, 485=5.46, 483=5.44, 486=5.34, 492=5.34, 505=5.29, 482=5.25, 523=5.12, 480=5.09, 521=5.03, 195=5.01, 489=4.90, 495=4.90, 30=4.81, 194=4.74, 481=4.69, 561=4.32, 376=4.25, 377=4.21, 498=4.11, 156=3.83, 576=3.75, 128=3.74, 500=3.49, 31=3.16, 459=3.07, 22=2.99, 487=2.97, 493=2.97, 21=2.90, 560=2.77, 499=2.71, 18=2.23, 541=2.14, 462=2.09, 496=2.03, 490=2.03, 497=1.99, 491=1.99, 461=1.88: )

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Essences

These ratings are based on simulations, statistics of WarcraftLogs and players experience.

MAJOR

MINOR

Rotation

Mobility:

A Fire Mage is extremely mobile and can move around without any DPS losses over short-distance relocations while casting instant spells or Scorch, as well as making long distances via Blink or Shimmer, without even interrupting the current cast. Try to minimize various unnecessary relocations and to utilize your instant spells at their max efficiency during your run spans. Also keep in mind that relocation is a good reason to use Blazing Barrier.

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Stats

The basic priority rating for the characteristics is as follows:

Mastery>Haste>Versatility>Crit

* Blaster Master decreases you Mastery value, you should concentrate on Haste and Vers.

The current specialization’s Mastery gives you Ignite – the DoT your spells leave on a target, one that deals a % of the spell’s damage to the target for 9 secs.

Haste reduces the casting time for all your spells, reduces the CD for your Inferno Blast, and reduces the time of your Living Bomb going off.

This stat value is universal for various combat types and implies that you play talented with Firestarter. This is the reason for Crit being so low. If not talented, Crit has the value approximately equal to that of Versatility. In general, all the stats are quite close to each other in terms of value which is why they are going to move around a lot. That’s why is recommended, once you receive new equipment, you use Simcraft or Raidbots.com. There is no way to get a more precise answer to which stat to focus on first, but through a simulation.

Based on the aforementioned characteristics and results of your character’s own simulation results, you can draw conclusions on Gems, Chants and Raid Chemicals.

Gems:

Chants:

Food:

Flasks and Potions:

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Macros

Kick with a modifier, with the Shift key held, the ability is applied on a remembered target, without – on the current one.

/cast [mod:shift,@focus][]Counterspell

 

If you’re not spamming the buttons, you could use a macro for your Ice Block (1 click activates Ice Block, the second click cancels it):

#showtooltip Ice Block
/stopcasting
/cancelaura Ice Block
/cast Ice Block

 

If you do spam the buttons, you’d better make two separate macros:

#showtooltip Ice Block
/stopcasting
/cast Ice Block

 

and

/cancelaura Ice Block

 

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What’s next?

 

  1. Leveling. If your character has been inactive since the previous expansions, the best  option to level up it is by Timewalking dungeons. You will gain a lot of experience, but there is one big disadvantage of leveling this way. Timewalks are available only for one week during a month, but Overgear is always here.
  2. Equipment. At high level, the most important thing for you will become your gear. WoW is a multiplayer game, that’s why we recommend for you to play it with your friends, or to find a new friends for mythic+ runs. If you have any trouble with it – Overgear may help you to find not just friends for a run, but a complete well geared and experienced group that also will be glad to trade all the loot you need.
  3. Raids. Raids are the top-tier PvE content in the game. That’s why the equipment’s base ilvl is higher than anywhere else. These dungeons require knowing all the tactics and have a good gear to kill the bosses. The possibilities of Overgear might let you skip those criteria.

Azerite. It is also not the best idea to forget about the Heart of Azeroth and not to feed it with more Azerite. Ignoring this won’t make your character stronger. The easiest way to do it – just complete all the world quests with Azerite rewards everyday. You can get extra azerite from Island Expeditions. Companions can be found at Overgear.

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