Mages have always been exciting for many people, mainly because of their high damage potential and flashy attacks. While this class may be one of the squishiest in the game, their overall DPS in both PvE and PvP make them great additions to any party. Since you can now technically play all specializations, you’ll need to know which best suit the Mage Spec.
Mage Specialization Overview
After some changes in Dragonflight, we can now easily swap back and forth between various specializations within our class, allowing us to be more flexible in specific content. While some of these specs need more tuning and investment, they all have their own perks and weaknesses. Here are all the available specializations for this class.
Fire Mage
Fire Mages rely heavily on their Combustion and burst windows. These provide the most significant damage output within a short period and have a bit of mobility even with several hard casts. Unfortunately, the overall DPS of Fire Mages leave much to be desired, and the spec needs more tuning or investments in future updates. While Fire Mages have a lot of utilities that can help their team in both PvE and PvP, they still need improvements in terms of their damage-dealing ability. The most recent update only affected less-used skills in their arsenal, leaving them virtually the same as before. However, they’re still an excellent spec to use when a burst DPS check is required. Even with some of the downsides to this spec, Fire Mages remain one of the most fun and engaging to play in TWW due to their simplistic but loud playstyle.
Frost Mage
Frost Mage retains its viability all-around in both PvE and PvP. And, they’re still the only mage spec that has excellent crowd-control and survivability abilities that can help their parties. They may have a slower ramp time among the three specializations, but they can significantly out scale Fire Mage as fights drag on longer and potentially overtake Arcane. While Frost Mage has less reliable AoE than Fire, this spec is still more mobile since they don’t need to hard cast compared to the other two.
Arcane Mage
Arcane has the highest DPS potential among the three specs, but it requires more knowledge regarding skill rotations. It has a great burst potential within short windows that can compete with Fire Mage, and it can further ramp up its DPS when skills are played correctly. Arcane Mages have several good utilities that can benefit their party. The main issue with Arcane is that you need to obtain decent raiding gear for it to really take off, and messing up your combos can severely impact your damage-dealing.
Best Mage Spec for Leveling
Our only options for leveling are either Frost or Fire Mage, but we highly recommend the former. Frost has more survivability, sustain tools, and mobility, which are all significant aspects when moving around maps and doing quests. It ensures that you can be on the move while completing objectives, reducing your downtime and traveling time.
Fire Mage is only good for leveling when it comes to your AoE attacks. However, their reliance on several hardcasts makes them susceptible to damage, especially if you don’t finish off enemies within your burst windows. However, they’re still great for the leveling progress and feel extremely fun to use.
Arcane is not a good choice for the leveling process. They’re mainly single-target specialists, and their lack of AoE won’t be significant in mob clearing, which you’ll need in certain quests. In addition, they need a bit of investment to take off, which means you’ll feel a bit weaker compared to the other two during the early stages. The only reason you’d take Arcane for leveling would be if you want pretty or aesthetic attacks.
Best Mage Spec for Raiding (Heroic and Mythic+)
All Mage specs are viable in raiding, even in Mythic+. However, Arcane Mage shines the greatest due to their solid burst windows and ramp-up damage. They can easily reach the highest DPS ceiling compared to other classes. Their damage gets even higher the more you invest in their gear, which makes it an S+ tier spec for raiding. However, it requires skill to scale its damage to great heights because you must be wary of its skill rotations. Messing up your combo can severely dampen your DPS, and you need to do a hard restart to fix your rotations, which is a massive downtime to your damage upkeep.
Frost comes in a hard second because it can compete with Arcane’s DPS. It has a slower ramp-up in single-target damage but can still reach very high numbers depending on certain conditions. However, if we disregard damage ST DPS, Frost still outshines Arcane in other aspects. This spec has better AoE abilities and more substantial utilities that benefit the party. Being the only specialization with crowd control also makes it great for adding phases to certain fights.
Fire Mage sits at the bottom of the DPS tier list, but that only refers to the overall output. This spec is better when raid parties are required to complete DPS checks and are more beginner friendly. Their skills can also be used for single-target and AoE, which makes them a versatile choice as DPS. Fire Mage also has vast potential in the future as new Crit-enhancing gear comes out, which will significantly ramp up this spec’s overall damage.
Best Mage Spec for PvP
Our only PvP options for The World Within would be Frost and Fire. Arcane isn’t a choice here because it’s single-target oriented, and you can easily get distracted and mess up your rotations during PvP fights. Frost would be the ideal choice, primarily for its maneuverability and sustainable utilities. This spec can cast abilities while on the move and keep groups of enemies at bay with their CC. When opponents get close and deal fatal damage, they have several protection or shield spells to keep themselves alive.
Fire Mage excels mainly at wreaking destruction on the battlefield. Frost outshines this spec in most PvP aspects except DPS. Fire can deal more damage within short periods to groups of enemies, and you won’t need to worry about kiting and crowd-control if your enemies are dead. Your gameplay should rely on brutal casting your most potent spells at mobs of enemy players and popping as many abilities as possible before running away.
Best Mage Spec for Solo Old Content (PvE)
Our top choice for this aspect would be Frost Mage. Not only can they take on old dungeons and raids alone, but they can also do so very quickly. They have enough utilities to tank damage and survive through most ordeals. In addition, their ramp-up DPS is no joke, as it can easily take on most bosses when farming transmog and other cosmetics.
Quick Summary:
- Arcane Mage is the best in terms of single-target DPS.
- Frost Mage is an all-around spec that is good in virtually every aspect.
- Fire Mage is the lowest DPS spec for this class but can become even more robust with more investments and tuning.
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