Fire Mage 9.0.5 Guide

 

Fire Mage in Shadowlands

Welcome to the Overgear guide on the Mage’s “Fire” spec! This guide will show you all the intricacies of the spec in various aspects of the game and teach you how to survive even the toughest Shadowlands challenges. You’ll learn which talents to use, how to equip your character, and which covenant to choose. In each section you will find answers to these and many other questions.

Mage’s “Fire” specialization mainly focuses on critical strikes and their consistent use. It can deal AoE damage without the DPS loss to the main target, especially during its burst. It also has the ability to deal damage while moving or to walk in short bursts. After reading each section of this guide you will learn how to unlock the full DPS potential of a Fire Mage, which stats to pick, which talents to use in dungeons and during raids.

Pros:

• Strong burst damage
• Strong cleave without the DPS loss to a primary target
• High mobility
• Chance for a strong execute

Cons:

• Low AoE damage if enemies are too far apart
• Low damage when switching targets and without burst

Basic information on the spec

“Fire” Mage has no special resources except mana. Mana is used for all spells, but it’s extremely difficult to run out of it. 

About the author

Askhay. Completed the current raid content from since patch 7.3. Starting with 8.2 holds a spot on top-100. During the second half of BfA got interested in M+ content – earned 5684 RIO.

Main Abilities

Talents

General information. On reaching several levels, you will open new Talent tiers. In each tier, you can choose one Talent at a time. Talents can affect your abilities in different ways: add new ones, replace old ones, passively modify various effects and spells. You can change Talents while you’re in Sanctums or in rest areas, but if there are no such places nearby, you can use Tome of the Tranquil Mind, which allows you to change Talents within a minute. Note that Talents can’t be changed in combat. Also, if a Talent selected in a certain tier is on CD, you’ll have to wait for it to recharge in order to change it. 

Tier 1 — 15 lvl. Talents that affect DPS

• Firestarter — “Fireball” and “Pyroblast” always deal a critical strike when the target is above 90% health.
• Pyromaniac — casting “Pyroblast” or “Flamestrike” while Hot Streak is active has an 8% chance to instantly reactivate Hot Streak.
• Searing Touch — “Scorch” deals 150% increased damage and is a guaranteed Critical Strike when the target is below 30% health.

* By default — Searing Touch.

Firestarter — can be used for encounters with a crucial first phase where the first 10% of enemy’s health would be dropping slowly.

Pyromaniac is not used.

Tier 2 — 25 lvl. Mobility talents

• Blazing Soul — casting “Blink” applies “Blazing Barrier” on you.
• Shimmer — can be used instead of “Blink”. Unaffected by the global cooldown and castable while casting. 2 charges, CD 25 sec.
• Blast Wave — damages enemies around you, knocking them back and reducing their movement speed by 70% for 6 sec.

* Shimmer — the most universal talent.

Blazing Soul if you require additional survivability.

Blast Wave is not used.

Tier 3 — 30 lvl. Talents that affect DPS

• Incanter’s Flow — while in combat, grants you 4% damage increase that scales up to 20% and then diminishes back to 4%, cycling every 10 sec.
• Focus Magic — increases your ally’s crit chance by 5% for 30 min. When they score a critical, your Intellect and crit chance increase by 5%.
• Rune of Power — places a Rune of Power on the ground for 12 sec which increases your spell damage by 40% while you stand within 8 yds. 1.5 sec cast time, CD 45 sec.
  “Arcane Power” will also create a rune of power at your location.

* By default — Rune of Power.
Incanter’s Flow if you can’t stay in the Rune of Power at all times. Choice for open world.
Focus Magic is not used.

Tier 4 — 35 lvl. Talents that affect DPS

• Flame On — “Fire Blast” gets 1 additional charge and its cooldown is reduced by 2 sec.
• Alexstrasza’s Fury — “Dragon’s Breath” always critically strikes for 50% increased damage and contributes to “Hot Streak”. Additionally, damage done by your next “Pyroblast” or “Flamestrike” is increased by 35%.
• From the Ashes — increases your mastery by 2% for every “Phoenix Flames” charge off cooldown. Your critical strikes reduce “Phoenix Flames” CD by 1 sec.

* Flame On is the default choice for most encounters.
Alexstrasza’s Fury for encounters with constant AoE.
From the Ashes is not used.

Tier 5 — 40 lvl. Control

• Frenetic Speed — casting “Scorch” increases your movement speed by 30% for 3 sec.
• Ice Ward — Frost Nova now has 2 charges.
• Ring of Frost — summons a Ring of Frost in the area for 10 sec. Enemies entering the ring are incapacitated for 10 sec. Limit 10 targets. When the incapacitate expires, enemies are slowed by 65% for 4 sec. CD 45 sec.

* Frenetic Speed is the default choice since it greatly improves mobility.
Ring of Frost and Ice Ward are situational. Don’t forget them as they sometimes might come in handy.

Tier 6 — 45 lvl. Talents that affect AoE DPS

• Flame Patch — “Flamestrike” ignites the area, burning enemies for 8 sec.
• Conflagration — “Fireball” deals additional DoT. Targets affected either by “Conflagration” or “Ignite” have a 10% chance to deal damage to nearby enemies.
• Living Bomb — applies DoT for 4 sec, after which the target explodes, dealing additional damage to itself and reduced damage to nearby enemies. Those who get hit by this explosion also become a Living Bomb, but this effect cannot spread further.

* Conflagration for ST encounters.

Living Bomb for cleave encounters (3+ targets )

Flame Patch for AoE

Tier 7 — 50 lvl. Talents that affect DPS

• Kindling — your “Fireball“, “Pyroblast“, “Fire Blast“, and “Phoenix Flames” critical strikes reduce the remaining cooldown on “Combustion” by 1.5 sec.
• Pyroclasm — consuming “Hot Streak” has a 15% chance to make your next non-instant “Pyroblast” cast within 15 sec deal 240% additional damage. Maximum 2 stacks.
• Meteor — a meteor hits the area after 3 sec, dealing damage, split evenly between all targets and contributing to “Ignite”. The ground also ignites for 8.5 sec.

* Kindling is useful in every encounter.

Pyroclasm is not used.

Meteor only if you don’t need reduced “Combustion” cooldown from “Kindling”.

Here are your common builds:

ST:

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

Cleave:

1. Searing Touch
2. Shimmer
3. Rune of Power
4. Flame On
5. Frenetic Speed
6. Living Bomb
7. Kindling

AoE/M+:

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

Covenants

Single-target (raid): Night Fae > Venthyr > Kyrian > Necrolord

AoE / Cleave / Mythic+: Night Fae > Venthyr > Necrolord > Kyrian

Night Fae

Shifting Power — deals damage to enemies in a 18 yds area around you for 4 sec. While channeling, reduces your cooldowns by 10 sec. CD 1 min.

Soulshape — teleports you 15 yds forward, turning you into a Vulpin for 12 sec. While in this form, your movement speed is increased by 50% and reapplying Soulshape teleports you again. Transformation cooldown is 1.5 min, teleportation cooldown — 3 sec.

Kyrian

Radiant Spark — deals DoT for 10 sec. Each subsequent cast deals 10% more damage than the previous one (up to 40%). CD 30 sec.
Summon Steward — gives 3 Phial of Serenity that restore 20% HP and remove all Curse, Disease, Poison, and Bleed effects. CD 5 min.

Venthyr

Mirrors of Torment — conjures 3 mirrors on the enemy. Each mirror deals damage, reduces movement and cast speed by 15%, and replenishes 4% mana each time the enemy attacks or casts a spell. This effect cannot be triggered more often than once per 6 sec. CD 1.5 min
Door of Shadows — after a 1.5 sec cast, teleports you to a chosen position. CD 1 min.

Necrolord

Deathborne — increases spell damage by 15% and your “Arcane Blast” can now hit up to 2 enemies near the target for 25 sec. CD 3 min.
Fleshcraft — while channeling for 4 sec, creates a shield equal to 20% of your max HP. Casting near a corpse strengthens the shield by 50%.

Soulbinds

Kyrian

Pelagos

Combat Meditation — Radiant Spark increases Mastery for 10 sec and occasionally expels Sorrowful Memories. Walking through Sorrowful Memories extends this effect by 3 sec. CD 1 min.

Kleia

Pointed Courage — increases crit chance by 1% for every ally or enemy within 10 yds, up to 5%.

Mikanikos

Bron’s Call to Action — summons Bron after casting 90 spells.

Hammer of Genesis — damaging a new enemy grants you 3% Haste, up to 15%.

Venthyr

Nadjia the Mistblade

Thrill Seeker — while in combat, increases Haste by 2% every 2 seconds, up to 20%. Killing an enemy grants you 4 stacks. These stacks decay rapidly out of combat.
Dauntless Duelist — marks the first enemy damaged by you in combat. You deal 4% more damage to them and they deal 2% less damage to you.
Exacting Preparation — the benefits from food and enchants are increased by 20%.

Theotar the Mad Duke

Soothing Shade — abilities have a chance to create a zone that increases your Mastery by 525.
Wasteland Propriety — Mirrors of Torment now grants 6% Versatility to you and 3% Versatility to your allies.
Refined Palate — combat potions last for 100-200% longer.

General Draven

Built for War — while you are above 80% health, your Intellect increases by 1% every 3 sec, up to 4% total. If you fall below 50% health, this effect is lost.

Night Fae

Niya

Grove Invigoration — healing or dealing damage has a chance to grant you a stack of Redirected Anima. Each stack increases your max HP by 1% and Mastery by 31. “Shifting Power” grants you 8 stacks.

Niya’s Tools: Burrs — your attacks have a chance to toss spikes under your target, that deal damage and decrease their movement speed by 20%.

Dreamweaver

Field of Blossoms — activating “Shifting Power” creates a field of flowers at your feet for 15 sec that increase your Haste by 12% while standing in it. CD 1 min.

Social Butterfly — when at least 2 allies are nearby, your Versatility increases by 3% for 5 sec. When this expires, 2 nearby allies gain 33% of this effect for 5 sec before passing it back to you.

Korayn

Wild Hunt Tactics — your damage to targets above 75% health is increased by 10%. Triggering this effect grants you 10% increased movement speed for 5 sec.

First Strike — damaging an enemy before they damage you increases your crit chance by 25% for 5 sec.

Necrolord

Plague Deviser Marileth

Plaguey’s Preemptive Strike — your first attack on the enemy increases your damage done to them by 10% for 10 sec. Limit 1 target.

Emeni

Embody the Construct — activating “Deathborne” boosts your Intellect by 5% and up to 4 nearby allies’ primary stat for 30 sec. You gain 2% additional Intellect for each affected ally.

Gnashing Chompers — killing an enemy increases your Haste by 1% up to 5% for 20 sec.

Bonesmith Heirmir – Heirmir’s Arsenal: Marrowed Gemstone — after landing 10 critical strikes, you gain 18% increased crit chance for 20 sec. CD 1 min.

Best soulbinds for single-target:

Night Fae:

Niya or Korayn

Venthyr:

Always Nadjia

Kyrian:

Always Pelagos

Necrolord:

Always Emeni

 

Best soulbinds for AoE / Cleave / M+:

Night Fae:

Any

Venthyr:

Any

Kyrian:

Always Pelagos

Necrolord:

Always Emeni

Where there are several options, your choice should be dependent on your character and it’s best to simulate them yourself.

Conduits

There are three types of conduits:

• Potency Conduit — improves your character’s efficiency in their main role.
• Endurance Conduit —  improves survivability.
• Finesse Conduit — enhances utility abilities.

Potency

ST:

1. Infernal Cascade
2. Controlled Destruction
3. Siphoned Malice / Discipline of the Grove / Ire of the Ascended 
4. Flame Accretion
5. Gift of the Lich
6. Master Flame

AoE / Cleave / M+:

1. Infernal Cascade
2. Master Flame
3. Siphoned Malice / Discipline of the Grove / Ire of the Ascended / Gift of the Lich
4. Flame Accretion
5. Controlled Destruction

Infernal Cascade — while “Combustion” is active, your “Fire Blast” increases your fire damage for 5 sec, stacking up to 2 times. 

Controlled Destruction — boosts “Pyroblast” damage.

Flame Accretion — if “Fireball” fails to score a critical, it grants a bonus to Mastery.

Master Flame — increases the damage and radius of “Flamestrike”.

Ire of the Ascended — Radiant Spark increases your spell damage by an additional 2%.

Siphoned Malice — Each time a “Mirrors of Torment” is consumed your spell damage is increased by 2.0% for 10 sec, stacking 3 times.

Discipline of the Grove — increases cooldown bonuses from “Shifting Power”.

Gift of the Lich — “Deathborne” duration is increased by 6 sec.

Endurance:

Cryo-Freeze — you heal while “Ice Block” is active.

Diverted Energy — when “Prismatic Barrier” fades, you heal for a percentage of the absorbed damage.

Tempest Barrier — grants a shield after casting “Blink” for 15 sec.

Finesse:

Flow of Time — reduces “Blink” cooldown.

Incantation of Swiftness — “Greater Invisibility” increases your movement speed for 6 sec.

Winter’s Protection — reduces “Ice Block” cooldown.

Grounding Surge — reduces “Counterspell” cooldown.

Legendaries

A total of 16 legendaries are available to the Fire Mage.

Best Legendary effects:

ST:

1. Fevered Incantation
2. Disciplinary Command
3. Firestorm

AoE / Cleave / M+:

1. Firestorm
2. Temporal Warp
3. Fevered Incantation

Firestorm — activating “Hot Streak” has a small chance to make all “Pyroblast” and “Flamestrike” instant cast for 4 sec.

Best effect for M+ and AoE

Fevered Incantation — each consecutive crit increases critical strike damage by 3% up to 15%.

An OK effect for M+ and AoE.

Molten Skyfall — damaging an enemy with 25 “Fireball” or “Pyroblast” causes your next “Fireball” to call down a Meteor on your target. Hitting an enemy player counts as double.

An OK effect for ST encounters.

Sun King’s Blessing — after consuming 12 “Hot Streak” your next “Pyroblast” cast grants “Combustion” for 5 sec. 

Temporal Warp — you can use “Time Warp” while under “Temporal Displacement” or any other similar effects.

An OK effect for M+ and AoE/Cleave encounters.

Disciplinary Command — casting 3 spells of different schools (arcane, fire, frost) within 10 sec of each other increases your crit damage by 15% for 10 sec. CD 30 sec.

Pretty good effect for ST.

Rotation

Mage’s DPS rotation is divided into burst while “Combustion” is active and maintaining DPS when it’s on cooldown:

Priorities without “Combustion”:

1. “Rune of Power”, if picked.
2. “Shifting Power”, if Night Fae.
3. “Pyroblast” with the “Pyroclasm” talent.
4. “Meteor”, if picked and used with “Rune of Power” or “Combustion”.
5. “Phoenix Flames”, to avoid the maximum number of charges.
6. “Fire Blast”, to avoid the maximum number of charges.
7. “Pyroblast”, if “Hot Streak” is active.
8. “Fire Blast”, if “Heating Up” is active.
9. “Scorch”, if “Searing Touch” talent was picked and the enemy is under 30% HP.
10. “Fireball”.

“Phoenix Flames” is not used if “From the Ashes” was picked.

“Combustion” is not used if “Firestarter” is picked and active.

Priorities during “Combustion”:

1. “Meteor”, if picked.
2. “Pyroblast” with the “Pyroclasm” talent, considering the cast ends before the effect of “Combustion” disappears.
3. “Pyroblast”, if “Hot Streak” is active.
4. “Fire Blast”, if “Heating Up” is active.
5. “Phoenix Flames”, if “Heating Up” is active.
6. “Scorch”.

The start of “Combustion” rotation looks like this:

Without Infernal Cascade conduit:

Near the end of casting Fireball or Pyroblast use Combustion -> Meteor, if picked -> Fire Blast -> Pyroblast -> Phoenix Flames -> Pyroblast -> then follow Combustion priorities.

With Infernal Cascade conduit:

Approximately 0.8-1.3 sec before the end of casting Fireball use Fire Blast two times -> Pyroblast two times (the first one will receive Hot Streak from Fire Blast and the second one – from Fireball and Pyroblast) -> Meteor, if picked -> Phoenix Flames -> Pyroblast -> then follow Combustion priorities.

“Combustion” is always used with“Meteor”, if picked.

Venthyr, Kyrian, and Necrolord covenant abilities are used before “Combustion”.

AoE during “Combustion”:

While “Combustion” is active, replace your “Pyroblast” with “Flamestrike” when there’s more than 3 targets and if you picked “Flame Patch”.

Try using “Phoenix Flames” while “Ignite” is at its highest value.

Use “Living Bomb”, if picked, prior to activating “Combustion”

If you chose “Night Fae” as your covenant, cast “Shifting Power” during “Combustion” when there’s more than 3 targets and your “Fire Blast” is on cooldown.

AoE without “Combustion”:

1. “Living Bomb” if picked and there are more than 3 targets.
2. “Dragon’s Breath” if there are 3+ targets.
3. “Flamestrike” 2+ targets, if the “Flame Patch” talent is picked, even without “Hot Streak”.
4. “Arcane Explosion” 2+ targets, if “Flame Patch” wasn’t picked.
5. “Flamestrike” 3+ targets, no “Flame Patch” talent and no mana left.

For optimal play as the “Fire” Mage it’s highly recommended to activate the following command: console SpellQueueWindow X , where X is 150-200 higher than your ping. It’s especially useful when playing with Infernal Cascade conduit.

Choosing a race

Horde — ST:

1. Orc
2. Nightborne / Troll
3. Any other

Horde — AoE / Cleave / M+:

1. Troll
2. Goblin
3. Orc / Nightborne / Pandaren
4. Highmountain Tauren
5. Any other
6. Vulpera

Alliance — ST: 

1. Mechagnome
2. Dwarf / Dark Iron Dwarf
3. Draenei / Gnome / Void Elf
4. Pandaren
5. Any other

Alliance — AoE / Cleave / M+:

1. Mechagnome / Gnome
2. Lightforged Draenei
3. Draenei / Void Elf
4. Dwarf / Pandaren / Human / Dark Iron Dwarf
5. Any other

Stats

Basic stat priority looks like this:

Intellect>Haste>Versatility>=Mastery>Crit

Mastery of this speciality

Ignite — your “Fireball”, “Pyroblast”, “Fire Blast”, “Scorch”, “Phoenix Flames”, and “Flamestrike” deal additional DoT for 9 sec equal to a precentage of your Mastery. Reapplying the effect transfers remaining damage to the new Ignite. “Phoenix Flames” applies “Ignite” to 8 nearby enemies.

After upgrading your gear, it’s highly recommended to use Simcraft or Raidbots.com. There is nothing more accurate than simulations to tell you which of the stats you should look at first.

Based on the priorities above and simulations of your character you can choose gems, enchants, and consumables.

Gems

• “Quick Jewel Cluster”

Enchants

• Chest: “Enchant Chest – Eternal Stats”
• Rings: “Enchant Ring – Tenet of Haste” 
• Bracers: “Enchant Bracers – Eternal Intellect”
• Weapon: “Enchant Weapon – Sinful Revelation”

Food

• “Feast of Gluttonous Hedonism” 20 intellect or “Tenebrous Crown Roast Aspic” for 30 Haste.

Flasks and Pots

• “Spectral Flask of Power” 70 intellect for 1 hour.
• “Potion of Spectral Intellect” 190 intellect for 25 sec.

BiS Gear & Trinkets

The list containing the best equipment will be available later.

Macros

Casts “Scorch” on your focused target. Useful macro if you’ve picked “Searing Touch” talent and the enemy has less than 30% HP. It also allows you to deal base damage to another target:

#showtooltip Scorch

/cast [target=focus,harm][harm] Scorch

“Flamestrike” at the cursor position:

#showtooltip

/cast [@cursor] Flamestrike

“Meteor” at the cursor position:

#showtooltip

/cast [@cursor] Meteor

Casts Ice Block at any time and allows its cancellation without GCD.

#showtooltip Ice Block

/stopcasting

/cancelaura Ice Block
/cast Ice Block

For those who don’t want to accidentally cancel it, use two macros instead:

#showtooltip Ice Block
/stopcasting
/cast Ice Block

and

#showtooltip Ice Block
/cancelaura Ice Block

Remove Curse on cursor>target>self

/use [@mouseover,help,nodead][@target,help,nodead][@player] Remove Curse;Counterspell on cursor>focus>target.
#showtooltip Counterspell

/use [@mouseover,,harm,exists, nodead][@focus,exists, harm, nodead][@target, harm, nodead] Counterspell

Spellsteal with the same priority:
/use [@mouseover,,harm,exists, nodead][@focus,exists, harm, nodead][@target, harm, nodead] Spellsteal

Addons:

Comfortable play in any PvE content requires the use of the following addons:
BigWigs (+Little Wigs for dungeons) or DBM — ability timers for mobs and bosses.
WeakAuras — the most important and flexible addon for any PvE player, that includes additional timers for enemies and the ability to track class mechanics (https://wago.io/shadowlands-weakauras/classes/mage/fire).
Addons that change/improve the UI, since most players are tired of the clunky default UI. Examples: ElvUI / Bartender / Shadow Unit Frame
Details — DPS/HPS meter, detailed logs for deaths/buffs/debuffs.

SimulationCraft — addon for simulating your character on raidbots, so you always know exactly what’s best for your build. 

PRO Tips

Never cast “Mirror Image” for additional DPS, since it’s a powerful defensive ability.

In M+ try not to use “Dragon’s Breath” for DPS, its primary use is control, especially for spells that don’t get interrupted.

In M+ try coordinating with your tank to maximize your strongest CDs and bursts.

In M+ you can use “Polymorph” to draw aggro on yourself and allow allies to pass through certain areas, then drop it with “Greater Invisibility”.

In M+ you can aggro a pack of enemies, lure them away and, depending on the situation, either cast “Frost Nova” or “Ring of Frost” for control, or just move to a safer distance allowing allies to pass, then use “Invisibility” to drop aggro. You can also survive in “Ice Block”, then get killed and respawn.

“Ice Block” drops aggro only while active, so if you’re using it for this purpose, don’t cancel right away, allowing your tank to draw aggro on themselves.

That’s the end of this guide on “Fire” Mage. Good luck in Shadowlands!