Fire Mage PvE guide: level 60 Scorch, Heating Up and Combustion raid build

Overview

Level 60 · Fire Mage · DPS in dungeons and raids.

Fire is the high-damage mage raid spec, limited by threat, mana and fire-immune bosses. The raid-wide plan from Classic still applies: one mage keeps Improved Scorch stacked on the boss, everyone casts Fireball, and crits roll Ignite. WoW Forever adds two strong pieces: Heating Up, where crits from Fireball, Fire Blast and Scorch cut Pyroblast’s cast time by 25% per stack, up to three stacks, and a Master of Elements that refunds 30% of a spell’s base cost on every Fire crit. On the live tree Accelerant is the Fireball talent, Incineration grows to 10% Scorch and Fire Blast crit at five ranks, and Critical Mass stops at three ranks, which frees two points for Improved Fire Blast: Fire Blast adds a Heating Up stack every time it hits, so a shorter cooldown means more quick Pyroblasts. The build takes Precision from Frost for hit and a short Arcane dip for Clearcasting and Missile Barrage.

Your job in the group

You are the top-end damage on bosses that do not resist fire, and in a raid with several Fire Mages one of you owns the Improved Scorch debuff. Agree on who that is before the pull, because an unmaintained debuff costs every Fire Mage damage. Past that, your job is to line up Combustion with the raid’s burn phase, stop casting for a moment when threat gets close, and still cover Polymorph, Counterspell and curse removal when the raid lead asks. Keep a Frost setup in mind for fire-immune encounters.

Why play it

• Highest burst of the three mage specs when Combustion and Heating Up line up.
• Crit pays for itself: Master of Elements refunds mana, so Fire needs less regeneration gear than its costs suggest.
• Raid utility through the Improved Scorch debuff, which benefits every Fire Mage attacking the same target.
• Threat control from Burning Soul lets you stay in a crit streak without pulling aggro as easily.

Weak points

• Fire-immune or fire-resistant bosses make the spec much weaker; keep a Frost setup ready for those fights.
• Threat: Fire’s crit streaks can pull aggro early in a fight.
• Scorch upkeep: if no one maintains Improved Scorch, every Fire Mage loses damage.
• Frostfire Bolt uncertainty: two pre-release talents and the Tier 1 bonus mention it, but whether mages can train it at 60 is not confirmed.

Level 60 talent build

Arcane 14 / Fire 34 / Frost 3, all 51 points. The talent tree above shows the finished build.

Fire (34)

• Incineration 5/5 — +10% crit for Scorch and Fire Blast at 5/5, which feeds Heating Up while you refresh the Scorch debuff.
• Accelerant 5/5 — Fireball is the filler, and 0.5 sec off its cast adds more casts than any other talent.
• Ignite 5/5 — Fire crits leave a burn for 40% of the crit: much of Fire’s damage comes from here.
• Burning Soul 2/3 — Less pushback and 20% less Fire threat at 2/3: the talent that keeps a Fire Mage alive in a crit streak.
• Pyroblast 1/1 — Needed for Heating Up. With three Heating Up stacks it becomes a short cast worth fitting between Fireballs.
• Improved Fire Blast 2/2 — 2 sec shorter Fire Blast cooldown and 15 yards more range. Fire Blast adds a Heating Up stack every time it deals damage, so more Fire Blasts mean more fast Pyroblasts.
• Improved Scorch 3/3 — Every Scorch applies a stack of +3% Fire damage taken, up to 5 stacks for 30 sec. One mage per raid should own it.
• Heating Up 1/1 — Non-periodic crits from Fireball, Fire Blast and Scorch take 25% off your next Pyroblast’s cast within 20 sec, up to 3 stacks, and Fire Blast adds a stack on every hit.
• Master of Elements 3/3 — Fire and Frost crits refund 30% of their base mana cost, which is how Fire lasts through a long fight.
• Critical Mass 3/3 — +6% Fire crit chance at 3/3, which feeds Ignite, Heating Up and Master of Elements at once.
• Fire Power 3/3 — +3% Fire damage per Fire effect of yours on the target, up to 12%.
• Combustion 1/1 — Each Fire hit adds 10% crit chance until 3 non-periodic crits land: use it with Heating Up up and Eureka! ready.

Arcane (14)

• Improved Channeling 5/5 — The five points that open the second Arcane row; at 5/5 the free Arcane Missiles from Missile Barrage never lose channel time when you are hit.
• Arcane Subtlety 2/2 — Lowers the target’s resistances to all your spells by 15, including Fire.
• Arcane Concentration 5/5 — Clearcasting procs make a Fireball or Pyroblast free.
• Missile Barrage 2/2 — Fireball gets a 20% chance at 2/2 to make your next Arcane Missiles free and much faster: cast it between Fireballs when it procs.

Frost (3)

• Precision 3/3 — +6% hit with all spells at 3/3 from the Frost tree; missing Fireballs costs more than any Arcane talent gains.

Rotation and priority

1. If you are the raid’s Scorch mage, cast Scorch until Improved Scorch has 5 stacks, then refresh it with one Scorch before it runs out.
2. Cast Fireball as your filler. Crits stack Heating Up and refund mana through Master of Elements.
3. At three Heating Up stacks, cast Pyroblast: the cast is much shorter and its damage over time adds up.
4. Fire Blast on cooldown, moving or not: every hit adds a Heating Up stack, crit or no crit, and Improved Fire Blast brings it back 2 sec sooner.
5. Burst window: Eureka! (8 sec of 10% cheaper, 10% stronger damage spells), then Combustion, then Fireballs and Heating Up Pyroblasts until Combustion’s three crits are used.
6. Watch your threat. When you are near the top of the threat meter, stop casting for a moment; Burning Soul’s threat reduction is your only threat talent.

Resources

Fire spends more mana than Frost, but Master of Elements refunds part of every crit and Clearcasting makes a spell free now and then. Combustion has a long cooldown, so save it for the burn phase the raid leader calls, and pair it with Eureka!. Evocation and the Mana Gem cover the rest. Ice Block is a Frost talent this build does not take, so threat mistakes have no immunity behind them: stop casting early rather than late.

Stat priority

Spell hit first, because a missed Fireball also loses Ignite and Heating Up chances; Precision is part of the build for this reason. Then Fire or general spell damage and spell crit, which is worth more for Fire than for Frost because of Ignite, Heating Up and Master of Elements. Intellect after that, and Stamina and fire resistance only as specific fights require.

Gear and set bonuses

The datamined Tier 1 mage set is Manaflare Regalia. Its bonuses: 2 pieces, +1% spell hit; 3 pieces, 5 sec shorter Counterspell cooldown; 4 pieces, up to 21 spell damage against Elementals; 5 pieces, Frostfire Bolt gets a higher chance to trigger Missile Barrage and Fingers of Frost and extra crit chance during Combustion. The item pieces are still withheld in the datamine, so slots and stats are unknown. Fire uses the hit bonus and the Combustion part of the 5-piece bonus, but only if Frostfire Bolt is a spell you can cast in WoW Forever; that is not confirmed yet.

Consumables and professions

• Fire damage: Elixir of Greater Firepower and Greater Arcane Elixir, plus Brilliant Wizard Oil on your weapon, as in Classic.
• Mana: Major Mana Potion and Demonic or Dark Runes, used during Combustion or long burn phases.
• Survival: Limited Invulnerability Potion and Major Healing Potion if your threat gets away from you.
• Professions: Alchemy for your own elixirs and potions, which Fire burns through faster; Tailoring for spell damage cloth. Engineering is a raid option for sapper charges.

Sources

Rotation, stat and matchup advice adapts these Classic 1.12 guides to the WoW Forever talent trees; talents, set bonuses and new abilities come from this site’s WoW Forever data.

• Icy Veins: Classic Mage DPS Guide
• Icy Veins: Classic Mage DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents
• Icy Veins: Classic Mage DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
• Icy Veins: Classic Mage DPS Stat Priority
• Icy Veins: Classic Mage DPS Enchants and Consumables