Build-a-Mage – Can We Fix It?

Sadly, there is little I can tell you about “end game” builds for 70.

With the new main nukes (you have visited the mage trainer and picked up your new ranks for arcane missiles, fireball and frosbolt, right?) the massive nerf to all raid encounters, and the fact that our trees are being balanced around having 71 talent points to spend…

Well. To put it simply, it doesn’t matter a whole bunch where you decide to toss your talent points. 61 points into frost? Sure! Go right ahead! Stick with 30/31? Why not? What could possibly go wrong?

I can tell you, though, that the following specs look like a laugh riot and a half to try out…

Full Fire – 0/61/0

See here for a sample talent build.

Massive single target DPS and the most powerful AoE currently available to mages. If anything, I’ll be giving this a try and paying a visit to some Naga out in Zangarmarsh who picked the wrong diminutive spore people to mess with. I have a feeling that playing a spec like this is best down while moderately inebriated, by someone who thinks taking on 20 mobs at once is fun.

Grab some friends, pay a visit to Stratholme or Scholomance. I can imagine a word to describe what this would be like… and that word is “Flustercuck”.

Fiery Veins – 0/50/11

See here for a sample talent build.

Probably a smarter build for the wacko who is still taking raids seriously. All the solid damage increasing stuff from the fire tree, and it nabs Elemental Precision and Icy Veins. None of the awesome AoE stuff, though. This is the best serious raiding spec you can take as a fire mage, at least until LK is released. At that point, Icy Veins will sadly be absent from fire raiding builds.

Rest in peace, my icy little friend. Rest in peace.

Raid Arcane – 53/0/8

See here for a sample talent build.

Arcane Barrage is just too good of a spell not to take if you plan on doing anything. Meaning you only get 10 points to throw around after that, and even then, spending 2 more in the arcane tree is ideal. The new arcane “rotation”, if you can even call it that, revolves around casting whatever happens to be a good idea at the time, whether it be Arcane Blast, Arcane Barrage, Arcane Missiles, or some sort of filler spell. Still a good idea for the filler spell to be frostbolt, at least.

This build, thankfully, will largely be unchanged at 80. Another ten points in frost, and you are good to go for LK raiding.

PvP Arcane – 51/10/0

See here for a sample talent build.

This here is like a Subtlety rogue, if all their attacks came from range. I call it the “Arcane Ninja”, but that’s just me. No Pyro yet, use PoM Fireball at your own risk. No need to ever stop moving, incredibly powerful burst damage, a silence, 70 spell resistance, instant Invis on a 2 minute cooldown, dispel protection…

What’s not to like? And it gets better. Once LK actually hits, you get some very nifty tools… like a Mage Armor that adds another 40 spell resistance and a 50% reduction on any harmful magic effect. Yes, that means all DoTs (except channeled stuff like Drain Life), Fears, most crowd control effects, and yes, even Cyclone.

Feel free to get a name change to “Slippy McCant of Touch This”. While silly, the name will nonetheless become synonymous with the phrase “I am the darkness that flaps in the night”.

PvP Frost – 7/0/52 + 2

See here for a sample talent build.

All the nightmarish control frost is known for, combined with dispel protection and magic resistance. Put the extra two points basically wherever you want. Shave 2 seconds off Fireblast? Go for it. Empower that frostbolt you probably will never have a chance to cast? Do it up. Toss into Imp. Water Elemental, if you like. Imp. Blizzard, even, if you play a lot of AV.

Then find yourself a rogue and go kill everything in your path. A rouge, even. Or even a warrior or a druid… maybe a warlock.

Basically anything except a Paladin.

Full Frost – 0/0/61

See here for a sample talent build.

The full frost feature, specializing in complete domination of your foes. Very powerful in PvP, still has inherently strong DPS (and a raid wide mana restore), and inarguably the best spec for solo play. I’m sorry. Really, I am. But frost has truly become the best tree out there for solo endeavours. This isn’t to say the other trees are bad, it’s just… frost is better in the leveling regard.

Remember how, about a year ago, frost was damn good at kiting and survivability, and was excellent at killing random mobs and elites? Take that, and make frost mages better at all of those ten fold, and you have the new frost tree.

A water elemental that seems to be permanently at your side and never goes OOM? Check.

Have the best 3 snares in the entire game belong to the exact same talent tree? Check.

A 5 second stun that doesn’t break on any amount of damage and treats the target as “Frozen” for the entire duration? Check.

No less than 4 root effects? Check.

And just for giggles, a proc that allows you to treat ANYTHING as Frozen? Check.

Order NOW and we’ll even toss in a free Fireball!

Hunters are prancing about with their core hounds and gigantic dinosaurs, all excited like.

You know what? Screw them. I can solo Nagrand. The entire goddamn zone.

So yes. I am enjoying frost.

Here’s how to enjoy frost in the next couple weeks.

Print off a map of Outland, tape it to a wall you don’t mind getting a hole or two in.

Throw a dart at the map, while Blindfolded. Whatever zone you hit, fly there to whatever flight point is most convenient.

When you land, pick a direction at random (jumping while spinning your mouse rapidly works quite well).

Whatever direction you ended up facing, go that way.

And utterly dominate everything in your path.

Repeat as needed.