The Mage in WoW Forever is still the strongest ranged AoE class with the best crowd control in Polymorph, and Blizzard built its changes around choosing the right spell for the moment. Every Mage learns Frostfire Bolt at level 40, a spell that counts as both Fire and Frost, and the new Frost Blast at 24. A new Mage-only skill, Comprehension, lets you read scrolls found in the world, and a Teleport: Dalaran joins the travel spells at 50.
Each school now has its own core loop. Arcane becomes a full damage spec with Arcane Blast, Arcane Wrath and Missile Barrage, Fire chains crits into a faster Pyroblast through Heating Up, and Frost turns Frozen targets into damage with Ice Lance and Fingers of Frost. Blizzard also cut back Frost AoE kiting to stop gold farming, so mass pulls with Blizzard are harder than in Classic.
This guide sums up every Mage change, lists the spells you learn at each level, explains portals, conjured food and Comprehension, compares Arcane, Fire and Frost and helps you pick a race before the November 4 launch.
Blizzard's Mage changes make each school more active and open new hybrid builds, while trimming the tools gold farmers abused. The changes fall into three groups: new spells, anti-farming nerfs, and retuned basics.
The Mage spell book gains three new trainer spells and a new skill:
| Spell | Level | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Comprehend Scroll | 6 | Part of the new Comprehension skill; deciphers scrolls dropped by creatures for various rewards |
| Frost Blast | 24 | Cheap 1.5-second Frost slow that replaces down-ranked Frostbolt |
| Frostfire Bolt | 40 | 3-second bolt that is both Fire and Frost: big hit, damage over time and a 40% slow |
| Teleport: Dalaran | 50 | New teleport to Dalaran |
Frostfire Bolt always uses your higher Fire or Frost spell damage and the target's lower resistance, and most Fire and Frost talents improve it. That makes hybrid builds possible: with both Ignite and Ice Shards, a Frostfire Bolt crit deals 200% damage plus another 40% as Ignite.
Several Mage tools were tuned down because gold farmers and boosters used them to kite huge packs:
Mage Armor gives more mana regeneration from Spirit, Ignite is now a separate debuff for each Mage instead of one shared by the whole raid, and Improved Scorch and Winter's Chill now only benefit the Mage who applies them. The old Magic Attunement talent is baseline.
The October 15 beta build redesigned Arcane Blast so its stacks give you spell damage based on Intellect and last 15 seconds, added the new Arcane Wrath and Frost Blast, and moved Missile Barrage to the first row of Arcane. Ice Lance now deals 200% extra damage to Frozen targets instead of 300%, Winter's Chill became a Cone of Cold booster, and Fire Power now scales with the number of your Fire effects on the target.
We compare every talent in all three trees with its Classic version in our WoW Forever Mage talents guide.
A Mage learns new spells from the class trainer every two levels. Mages wear cloth for their whole career, and talent points start at level 10, one per level, for 51 points at 60. Dual Specialization opens at level 40.
The table lists the level at which you learn the first rank of each spell. Fireball, Frostbolt, conjured food and water and most other spells get new ranks every few levels.
| Level | New Spells |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fireball, Frost Armor, Arcane Intellect |
| 4 | Frostbolt, Conjure Water |
| 6 | Fire Blast, Conjure Food, Comprehend Scroll |
| 8 | Arcane Missiles, Polymorph |
| 10 | Frost Nova |
| 12 | Slow Fall, Dampen Magic |
| 14 | Arcane Explosion |
| 16 | Flamestrike |
| 18 | Remove Lesser Curse, Amplify Magic |
| 20 | Blink, Blizzard, Evocation, Mana Shield, Fire Ward, city teleports (Stormwind, Ironforge, Orgrimmar, Undercity) |
| 22 | Scorch, Frost Ward |
| 24 | Counterspell, Frost Blast |
| 26 | Cone of Cold |
| 28 | Conjure Mana Agate |
| 30 | Ice Armor, Teleport: Darnassus, Teleport: Thunder Bluff |
| 34 | Mage Armor |
| 38 | Conjure Mana Jade |
| 40 | Frostfire Bolt, city portals (Stormwind, Ironforge, Orgrimmar, Undercity) |
| 48 | Conjure Mana Citrine |
| 50 | Teleport: Dalaran, Portal: Darnassus, Portal: Thunder Bluff |
| 56 | Arcane Brilliance |
| 58 | Conjure Mana Ruby |
| 60 | Polymorph: Cow |
Talents add the rest of the toolkit. The key talented spells are Arcane Blast, Arcane Wrath, Presence of Mind and Arcane Power for Arcane, Pyroblast, Blast Wave and Combustion for Fire, and Ice Lance, Ice Block, Cold Snap and Ice Barrier for Frost.
Our WoW Forever Mage leveling guide shows which of these spells to use at each stage from 1 to 60.
Outside combat, Mages are the most useful travel and supply class in the game. They feed the group, move it across the world, and in Forever they also have a skill no other class gets.
Teleports move only you and cost a Rune of Teleportation; portals carry your whole group and cost a Rune of Portals. Both are sold by reagent vendors.
| Destination | Teleport | Portal | Faction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stormwind and Ironforge | 20 | 40 | Alliance |
| Darnassus | 30 | 50 | Alliance |
| Orgrimmar and Undercity | 20 | 40 | Horde |
| Thunder Bluff | 30 | 50 | Horde |
| Dalaran | 50 | No portal | Both |
The new Teleport: Dalaran at level 50 takes you straight to Dalaran, one of the new places in Forever. Our WoW Forever City of Dalaran guide explains what you can do there.
Conjure Food and Conjure Water save you and your group gold on every dungeon run, and their ranks keep up with your level. Mana gems give you an emergency mana restore in combat: Conjure Mana Agate at 28, Conjure Mana Jade at 38, Conjure Mana Citrine at 48 and Conjure Mana Ruby at 58. Evocation at 20 restores mana quickly between pulls.
Comprehension is a new minor tradeskill that only Mages have. From level 6 you can use Comprehend Scroll on untranslated scrolls dropped by creatures in the world. Each scroll gives a benefit, and Blizzard left the details for players to discover, so expect the first weeks after launch to fill in what the scrolls do.
All three Mage specs deal ranged damage, but each now has its own loop instead of Arcane serving as a support tree. Every tree also gets a new 16-point gold medal talent, and Frostfire Bolt makes Fire and Frost hybrids a real option.
| Spec | Playstyle | Key New Talents | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arcane | Mana-scaling burst | Missile Barrage, Arcane Blast, Arcane Wrath | Big burst with Arcane Power, strong mana regeneration while casting | Mana management is unforgiving |
| Fire | Crit chains | Heating Up, Fire Power, Critical Mass | Highest single-target crits, Combustion burst | Fire-immune bosses, threat |
| Frost | Control and shatter | Ice Lance, Fingers of Frost, Winter's Chill | Safest leveling, best control, Ice Barrier | Lower raid damage, AoE kiting nerfed |
Arcane is built around stacking Arcane Blast: each cast adds spell damage equal to 15% of your Intellect but raises its own mana cost by 175%, up to 4 stacks for 15 seconds. You spend those stacks on Arcane Wrath, a 3.5-second nuke that also scales with 5% of your maximum mana, and on free, fast Arcane Missiles from Missile Barrage. Arcane Meditation now lets up to 50% of your regeneration continue while casting, and Arcane Mind doubles Arcane crit damage at full rank.
Fire still lives on crits. Heating Up turns crits from Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, Fire Blast and Scorch into stacks that cut up to 75% off your next Pyroblast cast, and Fire Blast always adds a stack. Critical Mass is now worth 10% crit over 5 points, Fire Power grows with each of your Fire effects on the target, and Ignite is now personal, so you no longer share it with or lose it to other Mages.
Frost turns control into damage. Ice Lance at 11 points is an instant spell that deals 200% more damage to Frozen targets, Fingers of Frost gives your Chill effects a chance to treat the target as Frozen even when it cannot be rooted, and Shatter now needs only 3 points for 50% crit on Frozen targets. Ice Block moved up to 16 points, Cold Snap became the 21-point talent with a 10-minute cooldown, and Winter's Chill now stacks up to make your next Cone of Cold hit much harder.
Our WoW Forever Mage tier set guide lists the raid set bonuses along with the crafted pieces.
Six races can be Mages in Forever: Orc, Undead and Troll for the Horde, and Human, Gnome and High Order Skyborne for the Alliance. Windshaper Skyborne cannot be Mages, so Horde players looking for the new race need another class.
| Race | Faction | Key Racials for a Mage | Best Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orc | Horde | Blood Fury: +10% spell power for 15 sec; Hardiness: shorter stuns | Raids and PvP |
| Troll | Horde | Berserking: +10% casting speed for 10 sec; Beast Slaying | Raids and leveling |
| Undead | Horde | Will of the Forsaken: breaks Fear and Charm; Touch of the Grave: health drain | PvP |
| Gnome | Alliance | Escape Artist: breaks roots and snares; Eureka!: cheaper and stronger spells for 8 sec; Expansive Mind: +5% maximum Mana | Raids and PvP |
| Human | Alliance | Will to Survive: breaks stuns; Ruthless: +2% crit; The Human Spirit: +5% Spirit | PvP and Fire |
| High Order Skyborne | Alliance | Wind Blessed: +3% Haste; Read Leyline: double mana regeneration | Leveling and Arcane |
Gnome is the standout Alliance Mage: Escape Artist is a top PvP racial and Expansive Mind pairs well with Arcane's mana scaling. On the Horde side, Troll and Orc bring the strongest damage cooldowns, while Undead remains the PvP pick.
Our WoW Forever race tier list ranks every race for every class, and our WoW Forever Skyborne race guide covers the new race in full.
These are the questions players ask most about the Mage before launch.
Yes. Mages remain top ranged damage dealers with the best AoE and Polymorph, and they still feed and teleport the group. The trade-off is fragility, and Frost AoE farming is weaker than in Classic.
Frostfire Bolt is a new trainer spell at level 40. It counts as both Fire and Frost, deals a large hit plus damage over time, slows the target by 40%, and benefits from talents in both trees.
A new Mage-only minor tradeskill. With Comprehend Scroll you decipher scrolls dropped by creatures, and each scroll gives a benefit that players will discover after launch.
Yes. Teleport: Dalaran is learned at level 50 and uses a Rune of Teleportation.
Yes. Arcane now has its own damage loop: stack Arcane Blast, then spend it on Arcane Wrath and fast Arcane Missiles from Missile Barrage.
Frost. Frostbolt, Frost Nova and Ice Lance keep enemies away while you kill them, and Ice Barrier adds safety. Mass AoE pulls with Blizzard are weaker than in Classic, so plan on smaller pulls.
These guides take your Mage from the first level to the first raid:
