WoW Forever Mage Scrolls Guide

Mages in WoW Forever have a minor tradeskill of their own. At level 6 every Mage learns Comprehend Scroll, which raises a new skill called Comprehension and lets you read the strange scrolls that drop from enemies all over Azeroth. Each one turns into a random Mage-only scroll: a familiar that follows you and adds Intellect, a staff or dagger imbue, a free mana refill, an AoE frost bomb, a melon Polymorph, and three rare scrolls that turn specific weapons into new ones such as the Coldflame Saber.

This guide covers how Comprehension works, where the scrolls come from, how Study at a library adds a Bundle of Scrolls every hour, every scroll effect by tier with exact numbers from the October 15 beta build, and which scrolls are worth keeping for leveling, dungeons and PvP. The beta was capped at level 30, so the two higher tiers are known from datamining and are marked as such.

What Is Comprehension in WoW Forever

Comprehension is a secondary skill, like Cooking or First Aid, and it does not take one of your two profession slots. Only Mages have it. You raise it by deciphering scrolls, and the skill decides which scrolls you can read. These are the key numbers:

Because Comprehension is a secondary skill, it sits next to Cooking and First Aid rather than your main professions. Which two main professions pair best with a Mage, and what changed in them, is covered in our WoW Forever professions guide.

How to Unlock Comprehend Scroll and Study

Comprehend Scroll costs nothing extra: train it at level 6 together with your other spells. It appears in the General tab of your spellbook and unlocks the Comprehension skill at the same time. Beta players saw a cap of 60 at level 12 and 100 at level 20, which fits 5 points per character level and 300 at level 60, so you cannot rush the top tier at low level.

Study and Research come from the library books scattered around the world. Turn in your first book and you learn Research, which opens the library window, and Study, the hourly recipe inside it. Every class can turn in books, but only Mages get the two spells. Where each book is and which librarian takes it is in our WoW Forever library books guide.

How to Get Mage Scrolls

There are two sources: undeciphered scrolls that drop in the world, and the hourly bundle from a library. Only the first one raises your skill.

Undeciphered Scrolls from Mobs and Chests

Undeciphered scrolls are named "Scroll:" followed by gibberish, such as Scroll: KWYJIBO or Scroll: WUBBA WUBBA. Humanoids, beasts and undead drop them in every zone, and so do chests like Battered Chests and Solid Chests. The drop rate per enemy is low, but there are so many sources that you pick up a steady trickle while questing and in dungeons. There is no single farm spot worth camping. The tooltip shows the Comprehension level you need:

Every class can loot these scrolls, and they do not bind. Warriors, Rogues and Hunters see them too, so if you have a Mage, ask friends and alts to mail them over instead of selling them to a vendor. You can also buy them on the auction house: on the beta, Mages bought stacks of Scroll: WUBBA WUBBA to level the skill and to hunt for the Scroll of the Saber.

Study and the Bundle of Scrolls

Once an hour, stand in a library and cast Study. It takes 1 Light Feather and a 6 second cast, and gives a Bundle of Scrolls with about two or three scrolls inside. The Alliance library is the Wizard's Sanctum in the Mage Quarter of Stormwind City, where Garion Wendell takes library books. The Horde library, with Owen Thadd, is in the inner ring of the Magic Quarter in Undercity. The scrolls in the bundle are already deciphered, so they are free buffs but do not raise Comprehension. From 159 bundles opened on the beta, this is what came out:

The beta cap of level 30 kept everyone below Comprehension 150, so this table only shows the first two tiers. Beta players expect the bundle to give better scrolls as your skill grows, but that is not confirmed yet. The bundle is Unique: open it before your next Study, or the hour is wasted.

Where to Farm Light Feathers

Light Feather stacks to 20 and no vendor sells it, so carry a stack before you start a Study routine. Birds and harpies drop it, and Kalimdor has far more of them than the Eastern Kingdoms:

• Bloodfury Harpies in the Charred Vale of Stonetalon Mountains, level 23 to 27: about two feathers in every five kills, the best rate in the game.
• The Screeching Harpies in Thousand Needles drop them just as often.
• Witchwing Harpies and plainstriders in The Barrens, on the way while you quest.
• Moonkin and Foreststriders in Darkshore, and the new Child of Jai'vhanel there at about 22%.
• For the Alliance in the Eastern Kingdoms: Fleshrippers in Westfall, Dire Condors in Redridge Mountains and Mountain Buzzards in Loch Modan.
• Marsh Owls in Alterac Mountains dropped feathers in most kills of a small beta sample.

How Deciphering Works

Target the scroll in your bags with Comprehend Scroll and wait out the 5 second cast. Every undeciphered scroll works like a loot box: it becomes a random scroll from its tier. Three identical Scroll: WUBBA WUBBA can give three different results, and which name you open makes no difference, the roll is the same for every scroll of a tier. Sometimes the result is a plain stat scroll such as Scroll of Spirit instead of a Mage scroll.

The cast can fail. A failed decipher turns you into a sheep for 8 seconds, and you do not heal while it lasts. The scroll is not used up, so simply cast again. Decipher in a city or another safe spot, never next to enemies.

Scroll of Comprehension raises your skill by 15 for an hour. Use it when you are a few points short of the next tier, for example at 35 skill to open Comprehension 50 scrolls early, and then decipher the whole stack while the buff lasts.

All Mage Scroll Effects in WoW Forever

Every deciphered scroll is Mage only and stacks to 5. Most can be traded and sold, the ones marked "bound" cannot. Imbues are temporary weapon enchants that last 1 hour and need the right weapon type equipped. Effects are from the October 15 beta build. Pick the tier:

Familiars do not stack. Summoning a second one sends the first away, and you keep one Intellect buff. Scroll of Cryoblast and Scroll of Greater Cryoblast share a 1 minute cooldown with bombs and other usable items, so you cannot chain them with engineering explosives. Staff imbues are temporary enchants, and it is not confirmed yet whether they replace a wizard oil on the same staff, so check your buffs before a pull.

Weapon Transformations: Coldflame Saber and Narpas Sword

Three scrolls do nothing alone. Use one on the matching weapon and Imbue Blade, a 10 second cast, turns that weapon into a new Mage weapon. Keep the scroll in your bags until you have the weapon, and train One-Handed Swords at a weapon master first, because Mages do not start with swords.

The Scroll of the Saber is pure luck. Beta Mages found it after 29 scrolls, after 119, after 450, and some opened 3,000 Comprehension 15 scrolls without it. Do not spend gold on the auction house for it unless you are ready to lose that gold. How the saber plays and how to build around frozen targets is in our WoW Forever Coldflame Saber guide. The Narpas Sword trades the dagger's Intellect and Spirit for more spell damage and hit, which makes it a strong main hand for the late 30s.

The saber is a secret, but Mages also have a regular class weapon quest at level 30 that ends with a wand. Our WoW Forever class weapon quests overview compares it with the Coldflame Saber and the weapon quests of every other class.

Best Mage Scrolls for Leveling, PvE and PvP

Most scrolls are small, but a few are worth a slot on your action bars. These are the ones to keep:

Leveling

• Scroll of Minor Evocation: 300 mana in 4 seconds with no level limit. It is also the most common result, and every use is a drink you skip.
• Familiars: Scroll of Rat Familiar, Scroll of Frog Familiar and Scroll of Cat Familiar give 2, 6 and 12 Intellect for an hour. Summon the best one you have and forget about it.
• Staff imbues for your spec: Scroll of Imbue Lesser Flame and Scroll of Imbue Flame for Fire, Scroll of Imbue Frost for Frost. Pick up any staff to use them, even a vendor one.
• Scroll of Cryoblast: an instant frost bomb that hits everything in 5 yards. At 20 to 25 it deals around 100 to 200 damage and can crit for more, which finishes a pull of three or four enemies.

Dungeons and Raids

• Scroll of Imbue Precision and Scroll of Imbue Accuracy: 1% critical strike and 0.5% spell hit for an hour, the best raid imbues on a staff.
• Scroll of Imbue Greater Flame and Scroll of Imbue Greater Frost: 20 extra spell damage for your school at level 46 and above.
• Scroll of Imbue Baleflame and Scroll of Imbue Balefrost: lower the target's resistance, small but useful against bosses.
• Scroll of Rebuke Elemental: 15% more spell damage on elementals, but only up to level 50, so it helps in dungeons like Maraudon and not in Molten Core.
• Scroll of Khadgar's Unlocking: opens locked chests and boxes up to 125 without a Rogue.

PvP

• Scroll of Polymorph: Odd Melon: a second Polymorph that costs no mana and still works when your Arcane school is locked by an interrupt. It cannot be up at the same time as your normal Polymorph.
• Scroll of Imbue Spark: with a sword equipped, melee hits on you can reset Fire Blast. It suits Mages who fight close, with the Coldflame Saber.
• Scroll of Confuse Beast: 15% less physical damage from a beast, which includes a Hunter's pet.
• Scroll of Imbue Iceknife and Scroll of Imbue Chillknife: dagger procs that freeze or chill the enemy in melee.

Mage Scroll Tips

• Keep every "Scroll:" you loot. Deciphering is the only way to raise Comprehension.
• Decipher in a safe place: a failure polymorphs you for 8 seconds without healing.
• Study every hour you are in Stormwind City or Undercity, and carry a stack of Light Feather.
• Open the bundle right away: it is Unique, and a second one cannot drop into your bags.
• Ask alts and friends to mail you their scrolls. They cannot use them, and the vendor pays almost nothing.
• Save a Scroll of Comprehension for the moment you are close to the next tier.
• Put Scroll of Minor Evocation and Scroll of Cryoblast on your bars: they are the scrolls you will use most.
• Remember that one-hour imbues stay on the weapon. Swap to the staff before a pull to use them, and match the imbue to the weapon type.

If you would rather reach 60 and the top scroll tier without the grind, our WoW Forever leveling service takes your Mage there for you.

More WoW Forever Mage Guides

Comprehension is only one of the changes to Mages in Forever. Our WoW Forever Mage guide covers the rest, and the Mage leveling guide shows where scrolls fit on the road to 60. These guides go further:

WoW Forever Mage Scrolls FAQ

These are the questions Mages ask most often about Comprehension and scrolls.