Contents
I. Introduction
II. Arcane Talents
III. Fire Talents
IV. Frost Talents
V. Talent Builds
VI. Specs for Levelling
VII. Version History
I. Introduction
This post analyzes and discusses
mage talents. It also serves as an introduction to the art of crafting a
personal talent spec.
Talents in General
Once you reach level 10, you
receive a talent point each level until level 60, amounting to a total
of 51 talent points. These talents provide you with a way to customize
your character to suit your playstyle and preferences. You can choose
your talents by pressing the 'N' key and allocating your points by
clicking. Note the three tabs at the bottom of the window: Arcane, Fire
and Frost. These are referenced as 'talent trees' and are set up in
tiers. You'll have to spend points in the shallow tiers before you can
access the talents in the deeper tiers. Certain talents also require
specific prerequisites before you can train in them.
Resetting Talents
For a fee, you can reset talents by
speaking to any Mage class trainer. You pay to reset all of your
talents at once, there is no way to undo one or two talents. The first
time you reset your talents, it costs 1 gold. The next time it will be 5
gold, then 10 gold, then every time thereafter 5 more gold, e.g. 15,
20, 25, etc., all the way up to a maximum of 50 gold. However, the cost
of resetting talents decays over time. This cost reduces by a rate of 5
gold per month to a minimum of 10 gold.
Note: If you have trained any
talent-given spells such as Blast Wave, Pyroblast or Ice Barrier, you
will have to rebuy Rank 2 and above when you retrain your talents.
There is no right way or wrong way
to spec, and above all your spec should be tailored to the way you play.
Enhance the aspects of the Mage that you most enjoy and take everything
said in this guide with a grain of salt.
Talent Evaluation Methodology
I evaluate talents according to a five point methodology:
Damage -- Does this talent offer improvements to the damage potential of a mage?
Efficiency -- Does this talent help a mage be more mana efficient or have better threat reduction?
Survivability -- Will this talent make it easier for a mage to stay alive?
Control -- Does this talent influence the crowd control capabilities of the mage?
Equivalence (=) -- Can this talent
be replaced via gear or does the talent add something unique and
different that isn't available by other means?
Also, if there are powerful talent
synergies worth mentioning, they are listed under "Use With:" for the
particular talents involved.
Finally, I offer a five star rating for the talent in three areas: PvP, Raiding (Raid) and Levelling (Level).
The five star rating translates thus:
* Not useful, no impact at all on this area
** Slightly useful, but doesn't affect a core aspect of this area
*** Moderately useful, good in certain situations
**** Useful, a solid talent for this area
***** Very useful, one of the best talents for this area
II. Arcane Talents
Arcane Subtlety (2 ranks)
Reduces your target's resistance to all your spells by 5/10 and all of your Arcane spells cause 20/40% less threat.
D: Up to 2.5% more dps.
E: 20/40% threat reduction on Arcane spells.
S: No effect.
C: Up to a 3% lesser chance of having your Polymorph resisted.
=: Equivalent to gear with 10 spell
penetration. This talent is the only way of getting any threat
reduction on Arcane spells, aside from much smaller reductions possible
through some very expensive enchants.
PvP: *
Raid: **
Level: *
Notes: Not worth taking on its own, but can serve as viable filler.
Arcane Focus (5 ranks)
Reduces the chance that the opponent can resist your Arcane spells by 2/4/6/8/10%.
D: Up to 10% more DPS on Arcane
Spells (You'll need to be hitting an enemy 3+ levels above you to get
full value out of this talent).
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: Works for Polymorph.
=: Equivalent to gear with 10% chance to hit with spells (only for Arcane).
PvP: **
Raid: **
Level: **
Notes: Out of all the first tier Arcane talents, this one has the most all-around usefulness.
Improved Arcane Missiles (5 ranks)
Gives you a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while channeling Arcane Missiles.
D: No effect.
E: No loss of channeled damage due to taking damage.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: The only other ways to reduce
lost casting time from damage is via Power Word: Shield, Ice Barrier or
similar damage absorption/immunity spells and effects.
PvP: *
Raid: **
Level: *
Notes: While Arcane Missiles are
not the best damage spell, they can be viable as while not optimum, they
are always useful (at the time of this writing, very few mobs are
immune to Arcane).
Use With: Arcane Focus, Arcane Subtlety -- Might as well improve Arcane Missiles all the way.
Wand Specialization (2 ranks)
Increases your damage with Wands by 13/25%
D: Up to 25% more dps... with wands.
E: Wands take no mana.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: Equivalent to getting a better wand; in the event you have the best possible wand, this talent has no equal.
PvP: *
Raid: *
Level: *
Notes: Mages wand as a last resort;
it isn't a good idea to spend talent points improving something that
(ideally) will never be used.
Magic Absorption (5 ranks)
When you resist a spell, you regain 1/2/3/4/5% of your max. mana and increases all resistances by 2/4/6/8/10
D: No effect.
E: Entirely dependent on the resist gear you're wearing.
S: Slight resistance boost.
C: No effect.
=: No other way to get this effect.
PvP: **
Raid: **
Level: *
Notes: This could be of use in
raiding, especially in encounters that rely on a mage having a high
level of a resist (e.g. Ragnaros). That said, mages tend to have many
other viable, more reliable mana recovery options already.
Arcane Concentration (5 ranks)
Gives you a
2/4/6/8/10% chance of entering a Clearcasting state after any damage
spell hits a target. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of
your next damage spell by 100%
D: No effect.
E: Up to a 10% mana cost reduction; not quite that much in practice.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No other way of getting this effect.
PvP: ***
Raid: *****
Level: ****
Notes: Useful mostly for PvE
situations, where mana conservation is of consideration. Since it works
off of any damage spell, it's one of the most best talents in the Arcane
tree. You can cast low mana cost/high efficiency spells (such as Scorch
or Frostbolt) until you get a clearcast and then use a high mana cost
spell (such as Arcane Missiles, Flamestrike or Blizzard) thus boosting
your net mana efficiency. Definitely pick up this talent if you're
spending points in Arcane.
Magic Attunement (2 ranks)
Increases the effect of your Amplify Magic and Dampen Magic spells by 25/50%
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: Slightly less damage taken from enemy spells (~45 damage at max rank).
C: No effect.
=: No other way of obtaining this effect.
PvP: **
Raid: **
Level: *
Notes: Best used for solo PvP and
raiding situations that have frequent amounts of low damage. Note that
for periodic effects, such as Shadow Word: Pain or other DoTs, dampen
magic only applies to the total damage not to each period, thus greatly
lessening its utility against DoTs.
Improved Arcane Explosion (3 ranks)
Increases the critical strike chance of your Arcane Explosion spell by an additional 2/4/6%
D: 6% more crit on AE
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: Same effect can be obtained through gear with +6% crit.
PvP: **
Raid: **
Level: **
Notes: Useful if you see yourself
doing a lot of AoE grinding, or tend to play Alterac Valley a lot. Also
good for those who wish to get a little extra boost from AE encounters
for damage meters in raids.
Arcane Resilience (1 rank)
Increases your armor by an amount equal to 50% of your Intellect.
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: Typically this will be about 150-200 extra armor.
C: No effect.
=: No other way to get this
particular effect; however, by simply switching around to use gear with
more armor you can obtain the same armor bonus.
PvP: ***
Raid: *
Level: *
Notes: It's basically 150 armor for
one talent point. Compares favorably with Improved Frost Ward (168 more
armor on Ice Armor for 2 talent points). Not that useful for non-PvP
situations, but worth it if you're investing in Arcane and have PvP in
mind.
Improved Mana Shield (2 ranks)
Decreases the mana lost per point of damage taken when Mana Shield is active by 10/20%
D: No effect.
E: Makes mana shield take less of your mana.
S: Less mana lost translates directly into more mana shields.
C: No effect.
=: No other way to obtain this talent; PvP Gloves give a flat bonus (+285) to Mana Shield absorption.
PvP: ****
Raid: *
Level: *
Notes: Worth picking up for PvP, but not particularly useful outside of PvP.
Improved Counterspell (2 ranks)
Gives Counterspell a 50/100% chance to silence the target for 4 sec.
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: A 4s shutdown vs. casters. Note it can be resisted, however.
=: No other way to obtain this effect.
PvP: *****
Raid: **
Level: **
Notes: One of the best PvP talents
there is. Four seconds can oftentimes be an eternity. Certain classes
(priests come to mind) can be completely undone with a well timed
Counterspell: Silence -- an interrupted heal, no healing for 10 seconds
and no casting at all for 4 seconds. You can also cast it before any
spells are cast as a blanket silence; this is useful when you're
frontloading on a target (presumably sheeped) and want to take away any
opportunities they might have for counterplay. Immunity effects such as
Divine Shield work through silence, so keep that in mind if you find
yourself fighting them.
Arcane Meditation (3 ranks)
Allows 5/10/15% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting.
D: No effect.
E: Allows for your mana pool to last longer.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: Same effect as Mage Armor; stacks with Mage Armor, however.
PvP: *
Raid: ****
Level: **
Notes: A very solid raiding talent
if you're looking to maximize the damage you get out of your mana. If
you have a lot of +spirit gear, this talent will be more useful;
combined with Mage Armor, you'll have 45% mana regen while casting.
Use With: Mage Armor
Presence of Mind (1 rank)
Instant/3min.
cooldown - When activated, your next Mage spell with a casting time less
than 10 sec becomes an instant cast spell.
D: Best burst dps increase in the game.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: Allow for instant-cast Polymorph.
=: No way to get this exact effect; 8-piece Netherwind bonus is similar, however.
PvP: *****
Raid: **
Level: ***
Notes: One of the strongest PvP talents, if only for its burst damage potential. It is, however, dispellable.
Use With: Arcane Power, Pyroblast, Flamestrike
Arcane Mind (5 ranks)
Increases your maximum Mana by 2/4/6/8/10%
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: More mana can only be good.
C: No effect.
=: Equivalent to getting more +int
and +mana gear; in the event you already have the best +int and +mana
gear, or don't wish to wear gear just to get more mana, this talent has
no equal.
PvP: ***
Raid: ****
Level: ***
Notes: If you're this deep into the
Arcane tree and are looking at going deeper, this talent offers a great
place to spend points. If you have 6000 mana, this talent will give you
about an extra 600 mana.
Arcane Instability (3 ranks)
Increases your spell damage and critical strike chance by 1/2/3%
D: 3% more damage and 3% more crit
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: 3% crit gear and then however much +dmg gear is 3% more for a particular spell.
PvP: ****
Raid: ****
Level: ****
Notes: A very solid talent; note it works for all spells, not just Arcane ones.
Arcane Power (1 rank)
Instant/3min.
cooldown - When activated, your spells deal 30% more damage while
costing 30% more mana to cast. This effect lasts 15 sec.
D: 30% more damage.
E: Makes your spells less efficient.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No other way to get this effect.
PvP: ****
Raid: ***
Level: ***
Notes: Combined with PoM, this is the strongest burst damage combo in the game. It is, however, dispellable.
Use With: Presence of Mind
III. Fire Talents
Improved Fireball (5 ranks)
Reduces the casting time of your Fireball spell by 0.1 sec.
D: Up to a 16% dps increase.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No other way to reduce Fireball cast time in this manner.
PvP: ***
Raid: *****
Level: ****
Notes: Great for raiding and
levelling; the 3s cast time on Fireball makes it of limited use in PvP
(aside from sniping situations a la Alterac Valley).
Impact (5 ranks)
Gives your Fire spells a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to stun the target for 2 sec.
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: A chance to stun.
=: No other way to obtain a chance to stun on Fire spells.
PvP: *****
Raid: ***
Level: ****
Notes: Incredibly powerful in PvP
as nothing is more frustrating than not being able to do anything to
counter a mage. Not so great for raiding since many mobs are immune to
stuns. Combined with an AoE fire spell, it has the potential to stun
multiple targets.
Use With: Flamestrike, Blast Wave
Ignite (5 ranks)
Your critical
strikes from Fire damage spells cause the target to burn for an
additional 8/16/24/32/40% of your spells damage over 4 sec.
D: Your crits will now do 210% damage (over time) rather than just 150%.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No other way to obtain this effect.
PvP: ****
Raid: ***
Level: ***
Notes: Dispellable.
Flame Throwing (2 ranks)
Increases the range of your fire spells by 3/6 yards.
D: Your damage spells now can hit from further away.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: There's no other way to increase the range on your fire spells.
PvP: ****
Raid: ***
Level: ****
Notes: The extra range on Fire
Blast alone makes this talent worth it; the fact that it also works for
Scorch and Fireball is icing on the cake.
Use With: Fire Blast, Fireball
Improved Fire Blast (3 ranks)
Reduces the cooldown of your Fire Blast spell by 0.5/1/1.5 sec.
D: You can use Fire Blast ~23% more often.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No effect.
PvP: ****
Raid: ***
Level: ***
Notes: Now only 3 points, this talent is well worth it for almost any Fire mage.
Use With: Flame Throwing, Incinerate, Ignite
Incinerate (2 ranks)
Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire Blast and Scorch spells by 2/4%.
D: +4% crit on Fire Blast and Scorch
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: Equivalent to 4% crit gear; the talent is limited to only improving Fire Blast and Scorch.
PvP: ****
Raid: ***
Level: ***
Notes: Useful for a PvP Fire Mage; as well as for PvE mages built around Scorch/Fire Blast.
Use With: Improved Scorch, Ignite, Improved Fire Blast
Improved Flamestrike (3 ranks)
Increases the critical strike chance of your Flamestrike spell by 5/10/15%
D: +15% chance to crit on Flamestrike
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: Equal to +15% crit gear; the talent is Flamestrike specific however.
PvP: ***
Raid: **
Level: **
Notes: Try a PoM Flamestrike
followed by a Blast Wave -or- Flamestrike, followed by Blast Wave and
Nova CoC. Basically this talent enhances your AoE damage abilities. Not
that useful outside of PvP.
Use With: Presence of Mind, Blast Wave
Pyroblast (1 rank)
6 sec cast/35 yd
range - Hurls an immense fiery boulder that causes 716 to 890 Fire
damage and an additional 268 Fire damage over 12 sec.
D: A harder hitting, longer casting, Fireball with a long DoT.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No other way to learn Pyroblast.
PvP: **
Raid: **
Level: **
Notes: In PvP, this talent is
pretty worthless without PoM; for levelling it's a decent opening
shot... There is no cooldown on this spell any more. The DoT on this
spell is handy vs. rogues, provided you can sheep them to set up the
long cast time.
Use With: Presence of Mind
Burning Soul (2 ranks)
Gives your fire spells a 35/70% chance to not lose casting time when you take damage and reduces threat by 15/30%.
D: No effect.
E: Far fewer interrupts on Fire spells.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: The only other ways to reduce
lost casting time from damage is via Power Word: Shield, Ice Barrier or
similar damage absorption/immunity spells and effects. This talent is
the only way of getting any threat reduction on Fire spells, aside from
much smaller reductions possible through some very expensive enchants.
PvP: ****
Raid: ****
Level: **
Notes: A solid talent for PvP and
PvE. Scorch, with its short cast time, will rarely have its cast time
set back due to damage.
Use With: Scorch
Improved Scorch (3 ranks)
Your Scorch spells
have a 33/66/100% chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to Fire
damage. This vulnerability increase the Fire damage dealt to your target
by 3% and lasts 30 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.
D: Up to 15% extra damage on all Fire spells.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No other way to get this effect.
PvP: **
Raid: *****
Level: **
Notes: It's worth having at least
one Fire mage in your raid have this talent, so that all Fire Mages and
Fire-using Warlocks can get 15% extra damage.
Improved Fire Ward (2 ranks)
Causes your Fire Ward to have a 10/20% chance to reflect Fire spells while active.
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: Might help in fire heavy areas, but I doubt the ward will last long enough.
C: No effect.
=: Similar to Engineering's Flame Reflector.
PvP: **
Raid: *
Level: *
Notes: The talent is sort of at
odds with the ward; if you're taking damage, the ward will get used up,
and then you won't have any chance to reflect Fire spells. So you might
get lucky and reflect back a big Fire spell; then again, you might not.
All in all, there are better places to spend points once you consider
how few sources of Fire damage there are in PvP (mages, locks, shamans)
and that most things that deal Fire damage in PvE are immune to it.
Master of Elements (3 ranks)
Your Fire and Frost spell criticals will refund 10/20/30% of their base mana cost.
D: No effect.
E: A weak version of Clearcast. You'll need over a 30%+ crit rate to have equal or greater returns.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No other way to get this particular effect.
PvP: **
Raid: ****
Level: **
Notes: You can, of course, get both
MoE and Clearcast... If you do get this talent, include gear and
talents that raise your crit raid.
Use With: Incinerate, Critical Mass
Critical Mass (3 ranks)
Increases the critical strike chance of your fire spells by 2/4/6%.
D: 6% more crit on all Fire spells
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: Equal to 6% crit gear.
PvP: ****
Raid: ***
Level: ***
Notes: A solid talent on its own. Critical strikes do have added threat and thus aren't overly desirable in raiding.
Use With: Master of Elements, Ignite
Blast Wave (1 rank)
Instant/45 sec
cooldown - A wave of flame radiates outward from the caster, damaging
all enemies caught within the blast for 462 to 544 Fire damage, and
dazing them for 6 sec.
D: Another instant cast PBAoE.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: Another instant cast snare.
=: The only way to get the spell.
PvP: ****
Raid: **
Level: **
Notes: The 'daze' mentioned in the talent description is basically a 6s duration 50% snare. Mostly useful in PvP.
Use With: Ignite, Impact, Critical Mass
Fire Power (5 ranks)
Increases the damage done by your fire spells by 2/4/6/8/10%.
D: A flat +10% damage increase on all Fire spells.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: However much +dmg gear is equivalent to 10% more.
PvP: ****
Raid: ****
Level: ****
Notes: More damage is good, and
this talent applies its multipler to your +dmg gear, which means it
scales as your gear gets better.
Combustion (1 rank)
Instant/3 min
cooldown -When activated, this spell causes each Fire damage spell you
cast to increase your critical strike chance with Fire damage spells by
10%. This effect lasts until you have caused 3 critical strikes with
Fire spells.
D: Basically guarantees 3 crits within 7 casts.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No other way to obtain this effect.
PvP: **
Raid: ****
Level: ***
Notes: Best used for sustained dps situations.
III. Frost Talents
Frost Warding (2 ranks)
Increases the armor
and resistances given by your Frost Armor and Ice Armor spells by
15/30%. In addition, gives your Frost Ward a 10% chance to reflect Frost
spells and effects while active.
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: 168 extra armor at level 60.
C: No effect.
=: Armor is equal to wearing 168 extra armor;
PvP: ***
Raid: *
Level: *
Notes: You do not need the ward on to get the extra armor.
Improved Frostbolt (5 ranks)
Reduces the casting time of your Frostbolt spell by 0.1/.2/.3/.4/.5 sec.
D: Up to a 20% dps increase.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No other way to reduce Frostbolt's casting time.
PvP: ****
Raid: ****
Level: ****
Notes: An excellent upgrade to
Frostbolt. Note that this makes Rank 1 Frostbolt a 1s cast, which is
good to use for quck snares.
Elemental Focus (3 ranks)
Increases chance to hit with Fire and Frost spells by 2/4/6%
D: Up to a 6% dps increase.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: Equal to +6% hit gear.
PvP: ***
Raid: ****
Level: ***
Notes: Useful for ensuring spells land on higher level foes when levelling up; also reduces resists in raiding and PvP.
Ice Shards (5 ranks)
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Frost spells by 20/40/60/80/100%
D: Makes Frost crits for 200% rather than 150%.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No other way of obtaining this effect.
PvP: ****
Raid: ****
Level: ***
Notes: A solid
Use With: Shatter
Frostbite (3 ranks)
Gives your Chill effects a 5/10/15% chance to freeze the target for 5 sec.
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: This will proc off of Ice Armor, thus auto-rooting any enemy melee attackers.
=: No other way of obtaining this exact effect. The world drop epic Freezing Band has a weaker reactive-only effect.
PvP: ****
Raid: **
Level: ***
Notes: Good in PvP, not so great in
raiding since most bosses are immune to being Frozen. A notable
exception is Ragnaros.
Use With: Shatter
Improved Frost Nova (2 ranks)
Reduces the cooldown of your Frost Nova spell by 2/4 sec.
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: Allows you to Frost Nova approximately 20% more often.
=: No other way of reducing Frost Nova's cooldown.
PvP: ****
Raid: **
Level: ***
Notes: Once again, a PvP talent. Most raid bosses are immune to freezes.
Use With: Shatter
Permafrost (3 ranks)
Increases the duration of your Chill effects by 1/2/3 sec and reduces the target's speed by an additional 4/7/10%.
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: Makes all your chills last longer and be stronger.
=: No other way of obtaining this effect.
PvP: ***
Raid: **
Level: **
Notes: Not so great for Frostbolt,
since you're typically chain casting Frostbolt anyway. Best used with
Improved Blizzard. It's worth noting that it does work on Ice Armor's
proc.
Use With: Improved Blizzard
Piercing Ice (3 ranks)
Increases the damage done by your Frost spells by 2/4/6%
D: 6% more damage.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: However much +dmg gear is equivalent to 6% more.
PvP: ****
Raid: ****
Level: ***
Notes: More damage is good, and
this talent applies its multipler to your +dmg gear, which means it
scales as your gear gets better.
Cold Snap (1 rank)
Instant/10 min cooldown - When activated, this spell finishes the cooldown on all your Frost spells.
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: Eliminates any remaining time on your Frost spells.
=: No other way of obtaining this effect.
PvP: ****
Raid: ***
Level: ***
Notes: Mostly useful for PvP where
an extra Frost Nova/Cone of Cold combo or another Ice Block is most
useful. Worth picking up as you go deeper in the Frost tree, as it's a
solid talent, althought its own cooldown is somewhat long (10m).
Use With: Ice Block, Ice Barrier, Frost Nova, Cone of Cold
Improved Blizzard (3 ranks)
Adds a chill effect to your Blizzard spell. This effect lowers the target's movement speed by 30/50/65%. Lasts 1.5 sec.
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: This makes Blizzard into the best AoE snare in the game.
=: No other way of obtaining this effect.
PvP: ****
Raid: ***
Level: ***
Notes: Best used in Alterac Valley
or other places with tightly clustered groups of enemies (e.g. around
Arathi Basin flags or WSG flag rooms). Also has select uses in raids
(e.g. can be used in Nefarian's room). Finally, this can be the
cornerstone of an AoE kiting levelling build if combined with Permafrost
(which makes the snare last 4.5s).
Use With: Permafrost, 5 piece Netherwind set bonus for a truly massive AoE snare
Arctic Reach (2 ranks)
Increases the range of your Frostbolt and Blizzard spells and the radius of your Frost Nova and Cone of Cold spells by 10/20%.
D: Adds 6 yards to your Frost Nova.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: Increases the radius of Frost Nova and Cone of Cold by 20%.
=: No other way of obtaining this effect.
PvP: ****
Raid: ****
Level: ****
Notes: More range is a good thing.
This bumps Frostbolt over 30 yards, which is the radius for many raid
bosses' area effect abilities.
--
Frost Channeling (3 ranks)
Reduces the mana cost of your frost spells by 5/10/15% and reduces threat caused by Frost spells by 10/20/30%.
D: No effect.
E: Frost spells cost 15% less mana.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: This talent is the only way of
getting any threat reduction on Frost spells, aside from much smaller
reductions possible through some very expensive enchants. Also, this
talent is the only way to get any mana cost reduction on Frost spells.
PvP: **
Raid: *****
Level: ***
Notes: A cornerstone of a mana efficient raiding build.
Shatter (5 ranks)
Increases the critical strike chance of all your spells against frozen targets by 10/20/30/40/50%.
D: +50% crit chance vs.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No other way of obtaining this effect.
PvP: *****
Raid: **
Level: ***
Notes: Frost's burst dps potential
lies around the careful use of this talent. Note that it also works with
non-Frost talents. Combine this talent with AoEs and/or +crit talents
to obtain near certain crits on frozen targets.
Use With: Frostbite, Improved Cone
of Cold, Frost Nova, Blast Wave, Flamestrike, Critical Mass, Arcane
Instability, Improved Arcane Explosion, Improved Flamestrike
Ice Block (1 rank)
Instant/5 min
cooldown - You become encased in a block of ice, protecting you from all
physical attacks and spells for 10 sec, but during that time you cannot
attack, move or cast spells.
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: 10 seconds of complete immunity.
C: 10 seconds of being unable to do anything; you can right-click on the buff to cancel the Ice Block early
=: No other way of obtaining this effect.
PvP: *****
Raid: ****
Level: **
Notes: You can be healed while Ice
Blocked. Thus if you are getting focus-fired, hit Ice Block and wait for
a healer to heal you. Then when you get healed, you can drop Ice Block
and go back to work.
Use With: Cold Snap
Improved Cone of Cold (3 ranks)
Increases the damage dealt by your Cone of Cold spell by 15/25/35%
D: +35% to Cone of Cold damage
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: However much +dmg gear is equivalent to 35% more damage on Cone of Cold.
PvP: ****
Raid: **
Level: ***
Notes: Useful if you're relying on
Nova+CoC combos for burst. If you're just using CoC as another snare, it
isn't worth grabbing this talent. Has some use for Frost kiting
levelling builds.
Use With: Shatter, Frost Nova
Winter's Chill (5 ranks)
Frost spells cause a debuff that increases chance to crit with frost effects by 1%, which stacks up to 10 times
D: Up to 10% more crits on Frost spells.
E: No effect.
S: No effect.
C: No effect.
=: No other way of obtaining this efefct.
PvP: **
Raid: ****
Level: **
Notes: You want at least one Frost mage to have this talent in your raid.
Ice Barrier (1 rank)
Instant/30 sec
cooldown - Instantly shields you, absorbing 818 damage. Lasts 1 min.
While the shield holds, spells will not be interrupted. Now stacks with
PW: Shield and gains 10% of +Frost dmg gear. Absorb effects now
prioritized over Mana Shield.
D: No effect.
E: No effect.
S: Effectively 818 (or more) hit points every 30 seconds.
C: No effect.
=: Very similar to Power Word: Shield, fortunately it stacks with it now (it used to get overwritten by it).
PvP: ****
Raid: ****
Level: **
Notes: It can be dispelled. It
gains 10% from any +dmg that affects Frost, thus "Increases damage and
healing done by magical spells and effects by up to XX" will affect it.
Use With: Cold Snap
V. Talent Builds
I strongly urge you to use others'
builds as starting points in the development of your own, unique build
tailored to fit your exact playstyle.
I will, however, quickly list some of the most popular builds:
AP PoM Pyro
The classic Arcane Power Presence
of Mind Pyroblast redone for 1.11. The best burst damage in the game at
the price of being a 3 minute wonder.
Arcane (31 points)
2/2 Arcane Subtlety
4/5 Arcane Focus
5/5 Arcane Concentration
2/2 Magic Attunement
3/3 Improved Arcane Explosion
1/1 Arcane Resilience
2/2 Improved Mana Shield
2/2 Improved Counterspell
1/1 Presence of Mind
5/5 Arcane Mind
3/3 Arcane Instability
1/1 Arcane Power
Fire (20 points)
5/5 Improved Fireball
5/5 Impact
5/5 Ignite
2/2 Flame Throwing
2/3 Improved Fire Blast
1/1 Pyroblast
Frost (0 points)
None
Classic Frost
The classic 33/18 (now 34/17) Frost control build redone for 1.11.
Arcane (17 points)
2/2 Arcane Subtlety
4/5 Arcane Focus
5/5 Arcane Concentration
2/2 Magic Attunement
2/3 Improved Arcane Explosion
2/2 Improved Counterspell
Fire (0 points)
None
Frost (34 points)
5/5 Improved Frostbolt
3/3 Elemental Precision
5/5 Ice Shards
3/3 Frostbite
2/2 Improved Frost Nova
3/3 Piercing Ice
1/1 Cold Snap
2/2 Arctic Reach
5/5 Shatter
1/1 Ice Block
3/3 Improved Cone of Cold
1/1 Ice Barrier
Heavy Fire PoM
The classic 30/21 Fire build redone for 1.11.
Arcane (21 points)
2/2 Arcane Subtlety
4/5 Arcane Focus
5/5 Arcane Concentration
2/2 Magic Attunement
2/3 Improved Arcane Explosion
1/1 Arcane Resilience
2/2 Improved Mana Shield
2/2 Improved Counterspell
1/1 Presence of Mind
Fire (30 points)
5/5 Improved Fireball
5/5 Impact
5/5 Ignite
2/2 Flame Throwing
1/2 Incinerate
1/1 Pyroblast
2/2 Burning Soul
3/3 Critical Mass
1/1 Blast Wave
5/5 Fire Power
Frost (0 points)
None
Deep Frost PoM
The classic 30/21 Frost build redone for 1.11.
[indent] Q u o t e:
Arcane (21 points)
2/2 Arcane Subtlety
4/5 Arcane Focus
5/5 Arcane Concentration
2/2 Magic Attunement
2/3 Improved Arcane Explosion
1/1 Arcane Resilience
2/2 Improved Mana Shield
2/2 Improved Counterspell
1/1 Presence of Mind
Fire (0 points)
None
Frost (30 points)
5/5 Improved Frostbolt
5/5 Ice Shards
3/3 Frostbite
2/2 Improved Frost Nova
3/3 Piercing Ice
1/1 Cold Snap
2/2 Arctic Reach
5/5 Shatter
1/1 Ice Block
3/3 Improved Cone of Cold
Frost PvP Elementalist w/ Ice Barrier
Focused on PvPing as a Frost-heavy Elementalist, using Frostbolt/Fire Blast.
Arcane (0 points)
None
Fire (17 points)
5/5 Impact
5/5 Ignite
2/2 Flame Throwing
3/3 Improved Fire Blast
2/2 Incinerate
Frost (34 points)
5/5 Improved Frostbolt
3/3 Elemental Precision
5/5 Ice Shards
3/3 Frostbite
2/2 Improved Frost Nova
3/3 Piercing Ice
1/1 Cold Snap
2/2 Arctic Reach
5/5 Shatter
1/1 Ice Block
3/3 Improved Cone of Cold
1/1 Ice Barrier
PvP Elementalist w/ Blast Wave
Focused on PvPing as a Fire-heavy Elementalist, using Scorch/Fire Blast and Shatter.
Arcane (0 points)
None
Fire (30 points)
5/5 Impact
5/5 Ignite
2/2 Flame Throwing
3/3 Improved Fire Blast
2/2 Incinerate
1/1 Pyroblast
2/2 Burning Soul
1/3 Master of Elements
3/3 Critical Mass
1/1 Blast Wave
5/5 Fire Power
Frost (21 points)
2/2 Frost Warding
3/3 Elemental Precision
3/3 Frostbite
2/2 Improved Frost Nova
1/3 Permafrost
3/3 Piercing Ice
1/1 Cold Snap
5/5 Shatter
1/1 Ice Block
Raiding Elementalist
Focused entirely on raiding while being able to use both Frost and Fire damage.
Arcane (0 points)
None
Fire (28 points)
5/5 Improved Fireball
5/5 Ignite
2/2 Flame Throwing
2/2 Incinerate
2/2 Burning Soul
3/3 Improved Scorch
3/3 Master of Elements
3/3 Critical Mass
3/5 Fire Power
Frost (23 points)
5/5 Improved Frostbolt
3/3 Elemental Precision
5/5 Ice Shards
3/3 Piercing Ice
1/1 Cold Snap
2/2 Arctic Reach
3/3 Frost Channeling
1/1 Ice Block
Fire Raider
Focused entirely on raiding using Fire damage.
Arcane (18 points)
2/2 Arcane Subtlety
5/5 Improved Arcane Missiles
5/5 Arcane Concentration
2/2 Magic Attunement
1/1 Arcane Resilience
3/3 Arcane Meditation
Fire (33 points)
5/5 Improved Fireball
5/5 Ignite
2/2 Flame Throwing
2/3 Improved Fire Blast
2/2 Incinerate
2/2 Burning Soul
3/3 Improved Scorch
3/3 Master of Elements
3/3 Critical Mass
5/5 Fire Power
1/1 Combustion
Frost (0 points)
None
Frost Raider
Focused entirely on raiding using Frost damage.
Arcane (29 points)
2/2 Arcane Subtlety
3/5 Arcane Focus
4/5 Magic Absorption
5/5 Arcane Concentration
1/1 Arcane Resilience
2/2 Improved Counterspell
3/3 Arcane Meditation
1/1 Presence of Mind
5/5 Arcane Mind
3/3 Arcane Instability
Fire (0 points)
None
Frost (22 points)
5/5 Improved Frostbolt
3/3 Elemental Precision
5/5 Ice Shards
3/3 Piercing Ice
2/2 Arctic Reach
3/3 Frost Channeling
1/1 Ice Block
VI. Specs for Levelling
The goal of a levelling spec is to
first maximize killing speed while minimizing downtime. I'll offer two
levelling specs: one for fire mages and one for frost mages. There isn't
much point to an arcane levelling spec as most of the talents in that
line aren't conducive to levelling. As to Fire or Frost, it's personal
preference for the most part; that said, Fire mages typically kill
faster because of Fire's higher dps.
The levelling builds stop at level
39 because, at level 40, I recommend respeccing to a build close to your
target level 60 build so that you can learn how to play it well. At
level 40 you have 31 talent points, which is enough to get to the bottom
any talent tree you desire.
Fire Levelling Spec
Levels 10-14:
Improved Fireball
Why? Best DPS increase available.
Levels 15-16:
Flame Throwing
Why? More range means you'll be able to cast more Fireballs before you get hit.
Levels 17-21:
Impact
Why? A chance to stun means you'll be able to cast more Fireballs before you get hit.
Levels 22-23:
Burning Soul
Why? This will let you get off casts even while getting hit.
Levels 24-28:
Ignite
Why? Get more damage out of your crits.
Levels 29-31:
Master of Elements
Why? Obtain mana back from your crits.
Levels 32-34:
Critical Mass
Why? Crit more often.
Levels 35-39:
Fire Power
Why? A raw damage increase.
Frost Levelling Spec
Levels 10-14:
Improved Frostbolt
Why? The best DPS increase available.
Levels 15-17:
Frostbite:
Why? The chance to root at range means you'll be able to cast more Frostbolts before the mob gets to you.
Levels 18-22:
Ice Shards
Why? Make your crits hit for more.
Level 23:
Cold Snap
Why? Be able to reset Frost Nova on demand for added survivability.
Levels 24-26:
Piercing Ice
Why? Raw dps increase.
Levels 27-28:
Improved Frost Nova
Why? Prereq to Shatter.
Levels 29-33:
Shatter
Why? Benefit from Frostbite and Nova+CoC combos for when the mob gets close.
Levels 34-35:
Arctic Reach
Why? More range means more Frostbolts; also a greater radius for Nova and CoC.
Levels 36-38:
Frost Channeling
Why? Better mana efficiency.
Level 39:
Ice Block
Why? Emergency button worth having even if soloing -- you can use it to wait for a Nova reset or a Blink recharge.
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