WoD Fire Mage Guide for 6.2

[LocNess]

If you are looking for a 7.0 Guide, check out Rinoa's 7.0 Fire Guide on Altered-Time:
https://www.altered-time.com/forum/v...php?f=4&t=2553





Warlords of Draenor Fire Mage Guide

Table of Contents:

I - Introduction
II - Fire Changes from MoP
III - The Basics - Spells and Abilities
IV - Talents and Glyphs
V - Stats; How they effect you
VI - In Combat - What to Do and When
VII - Raid Bosses and You - How to Fire in Highmaul, Blackrock, and Hellfire Citadel
VIII - The Gear You Want
IX - Tips and Tricks
X - Frequently Asked Questions
XI - Addons for a Fire Mage
XII - Closing Notes

Click a section to jump to it in the guide!


I - Introduction

If you have been looking to burn enemies into cinders in a more beautiful way than a Destruction Warlock, then this is a good place to start. The Warlords of Draenor Fire Mage guide can cover all the bases for your Pyroblasting enjoyment. Stat weights, how to perform your rotation, and what kind of gear you should be aiming for will be a part of this guide.


II - Fire Changes from MoP

Here are the main changes that pertain to our spec and general rotation:

Living Bomb is now the only bomb available to us, and it may also be spread by Inferno Blast again.
Alter Time no longer extends or copies over DPS buffs, so no more awesome Pyro chains on pull for a massive combustion.
Presence of Mind is now Arcane only, so it may not boost our combustion as well.
Ignite is now a span of 5 seconds (or 6 with a multistrike), instead of 4.
Molten Armor is now a Passive, and we may not switch armors on a whim.
Intellect no longer gives Crit, however we gain Incineration now.
Pyromaniac has been removed.

We also will receive several leveling perks from 90-100 that will enhance some of our abilities:

Improved Flamestrike: Flamestrike no longer has a cooldown.
Improved Inferno Blast: Inferno Blast now spreads the damage over time effects of Pyroblast, Ignite, and Combustion to 2 additional targets.
Improved Scorch: After casting Scorch, your movement speed is increased by 30% for 3 sec.
Enhanced Pyrotechnics: Each time your Fireball or Frostfire Bolt fails to critically strike a target, those spells gain a stacking 10% increased critical strike chance. This effect ends when Fireball or Frostfire Bolt critically strikes a target.

For the most part, Fire is the same as previous expansions. Get critical strikes to use Pyroblasts. That foundation remains for the spec.


III - The Basics - Spells and Abilities

So with the changes out of the way, that brings us to our main spells.

Fireball is our filler spell. Don't have anything else to cast? Cast Fireball.
Inferno Blast spreads our DoTs on the Main Target to targets around it. This is great for cleave, however the most important thing is Inferno Blast will ALWAYS be a Critical Strike, which helps activate our Pyroblast! proc.
Pyroblast is our large nuke ability. Due to the long cast, we want to use it in conjunction with Pyroblast!.
Ignite is placed on the target by our main spells. This is a constant DoT that will have a large uptime, and thus be a large portion of our damage. It also is the main part for our Combustion ability.
Combustion is the main Fire Cooldown. Due to the strength of this spell being based on our Ignite, you will want to try to use this after a quick chain of Pyroblast's, and especially with Trinket procs.

Fireball will be the most common spell you cast. You will cast it to generate critical strikes, so you can use Inferno Blast to get your instant Pyroblasts. Your mastery causes a percentage of some of your Fireball spells to create a damaging effect on your target that ticks for 5 seconds. Combustion interacts with this, by its damage based on how large of an Ignite you had. This is covered a bit more in the Combat section.


IV - Talents and Glyphs

Our talent tree has received quite the revamp going into Warlords. Here is the overall rundown.

Level 15 Tier

Evanesce replaces your Ice Block ability, however it gives you a shorter Cooldown to dodge damage every 45 seconds for 3 seconds at a time. It works similarly to a Hunter's Deterrence, in it deflects damage. It has been somewhat inconsistent in what it does and does not block, however this is being fixed by Blizzard for 6.1. This ability is not completely defensive, however, as it is off the Global Cooldown, so it can be cast while a spell is in progress, saving you some lost DPS otherwise.

Blazing Speed can help you get to places faster, or get out of things faster, allowing higher uptime on your main rotation. It is easy to just use it as a free Blink on a 25 second Cooldown, just not as efficient. It removes current movement slowing effects (such as the Frost Orb on Kor'agh) and this spell is also castable while another spell is in progress.

Ice Floes provides the best DPS for min/maxing, however does not offer much in the defensive department. It can be cast in the middle of a spell cast, allowing you to move immediately without interrupting your current cast. You can also cast all 3 charges in advance for 3 straight spells to be casted while moving.

TL;DR

Evanesce for defense. Can be unreliable (fixed for 6.1).
Blazing Speed for movement. Pretty much an extra Blink without the teleport function. Removes snares.
Ice Floes for DPS. Is a bit hard to get used to, but has highest potential for damage.

Level 30 Tier

Alter Time is now purely a defensive ability. It can be used in niche situations offensively, such as having to move out of the path of a mechanic, and then getting back in range of the boss (such as Tidal Waves on Brackenspore). It is also helpful to use when soaking for the barrier on Kor'agh by being able to give yourself a free heal to 100% if you drop to low health. Very niche overall, and takes creative use.

Ice Barrier will most likely serve you better on average as a flat shield you can use. It does take a Global Cooldown, so using it will drop your damage over the course of a fight, but a living DPS will do more than a dead DPS. It is generally equal to 10%-15% of your HP pool, and try and save it for mechanics that deal very heavy raid damage.

Flameglow is better for fights with constant ticking damage, and does work as a passive so you don't need to waste button presses on it (theoretically making it the highest DPS choice). There are not any strict fights where this ability shines yet, however it can be helpful for abilities such as Butcher's Cleave DoT and other likewise mechanics.

TL;DR

Alter Time extremely situational. Use with caution and planning.
Ice Barrier is used for almost everything. Use it if you know big damage is coming out to help healers.
Flameglow only used for ticking damage like encounters or mechanics. Does provide best DPS by not using a global cooldown.

Level 45 Tier

This tier lacks a large amount of PvE Utility, however keep an eye on Ring of Frost and Frostjaw to be the most helpful, due to the Pure Crowd Control or the extra Silence. Ice Ward can mostly be ignored.

TL;DR

None of them are ever really used in PvE. Frostjaw and Ring of Frost both fine defaults.

Level 60 Tier

Greater Invisibility will normally be the best utility wise. A 90% damage reduction for at least 4 seconds and complete instant threat drop allows you to absorb huge abilities, or survive large amounts of coming from bosses in general. Can be used to "cheese' some mechanics, such as if a Frost Bomb is targeted at you on Kor'agh, you can Greater Invis and the mechanic won't go off. Also helps avoid repairs after a boss wipe, and mass res for faster attempts.

Cauterize works as a Get Out of Jail Free card. If you mess up, or healers mess up you get an extra life. However you will burn a large amount of HP so if you are taking AoE already, there is a large chance you will die anyway (especially in Mythic). Overall, a dead DPS is not pulling as much as a living DPS though!

Cold Snap is an instant heal that you can use while stunned normally, and it resets the Cooldown of Iceblock for some extra survivability. Normally the other talents will excel above it, however this does have an overlooked use where it does reset the cooldown on Dragon's Breath, giving you some potential (but minor) AoE burst. Does have some niche uses for Ice Block tanking (fixates on Mythic Kargath being a good example).

TL;DR

Greater Invisbility provides an extremely good defensive and possible utility.
Cauterize gives you an extra life, but can possibly kill you anyway. Be wary.
Cold Snap resets your Ice Block cooldown and gives you 22% HP back. Resets CD on Dragon's Breath.

Level 75 Tier

These spells are the first major DPS changing abilities, make sure you know when to use what.

Living Bomb can now be spread by Inferno Blast, so it is going to excel for extended cleaving. It is a pure Single Target DPS loss, however its AoE potential is far superior than the other spells. If you are keeping it up on a target, try and refresh it at ~3.6 seconds or under, as this allows the explosion (the major damage component of this) to still go off.

Unstable Magic is a passive so you do not have to worry about keeping anything up. Good for easy, safe play, but currently falls behind the other two.

Blast Wave has returned from the Spell Graveyard, and provides large AoE burst and is a decently powerful single target spell, and on top of that, providing some minor CC by slowing enemies. You want to try and bank a charge for trinket or weapon procs, however don't let yourself sit at 2 unless you have Prismatic Crystal coming off CD within the next couple seconds. Every second you sit at two, you are losing potential damage throughout the fight.

TL;DR

Living Bomb is good for extended AoE damage or cleave.
Unstable Magic is good for casual play.
Blast Wave is good for AoE burst and Single Target damage.

Level 90 Tier

Mirror Image is now a talent, and buffed to a 2min CD that does more a lot damage than its previous iterations, and reduces all of your threat tremendously for the period they are up. Mirror Image will excel at high movement fights that are very short, allowing you to drop them and run. It is also an easy "Fire and Forget" ability, with zero need to have to control the Mages at all.

Rune of Power is mainly used on standing fights with very low movement (or with short periods of movement), such as Butcher or Kromog. Due to the 15% damage boost, it is very important to have the awareness of whether or not you are in your Rune, so try and make it second nature to be constantly checking your feet (or have an addon track it).

Incanter's Flow is the best for fights that have consistent movement throughout, or periods of high movement with high DPS requirements, such as Blackhand or Tectus. If possible, try and line up Blast Waves or Pyroblast! procs to line up with your 5 stacks of Incanter's Flow, but do NOT go out of your way to do this by not casting or overwriting procs.

TL;DR

Mirror Image is good for very short fights and burst, with high movement.
Rune of Power is the best for fights with no movement.
Incanter's Flow is good for extended AoE with high movement.

Level 100 Tier

Kindling is now a more reliable talent to pick with 4P T17. Fights that have extended amounts off add cleave, or many add phases will allow Kindling to be strong due to Combustion spreading.

Prismatic Crystal is a major contributor to very high Combustions, and great AoE spread, especially with higher Mastery. You can spread DoTs off of it, but you CANNOT spread DoTs to it. There will be times where you place it, and the adds are moved away from it, just do your best to line things up, and make sure you always line this up with Combustion. Prismatic Crystal will serve you best with on average around 650 or higher gear levels.

Meteor brings up the last of them. Meteor is split between all targets, so it is not just a massive AoE, however it will place Ignite on the targets hit, allowing for good AoE DoT damage, plus a large Flamestrike like DoT on the ground afterwards. This ability will be outpaced by Prismatic Crystal, however is a fair substitute if you don't like the stationary nature of Prismatic Crystal.

TL;DR

Kindling is good with very high amounts of crit, and tons of add cleave.
Prismatic Crystal is great for short burst and getting high Combustions to spread. Good at higher ilevels.
Meteor is good for solid, consistent damage, but needs to be aimed correctly to maximize. Lines up with Combustion as well. Good at lower ilevels.

Glyphs

The main glyphs to concern us will be:

Glyph of Dragon's Breath can boost the AoE capability of Dragon's Breath.
Glyph of Combustion will almost always be used. Situations where you would not use it would be fights with a large amount of target switching or adds that do not live a long time, and your 20 seconds would not get its full duration in.
Glyph of Inferno Blast promotes more cleave, which is always a good thing. Don't waste the slot on Single Target fights.
Glyph of Rapid Displacement improves your movement in general, and two uses of Blink can cover a large distance quickly, however just remember you can no longer Blink from stuns or roots.
Glyph of Blink can not be used with Rapid Displacement, however it lets you Blink out of stuns and roots still while increasing the distance by 8 yards.

These ones you will switch out between for fights. If you still have an extra slot, some helpful defensive glyphs that could be used are:

Glyph of Regenerative Ice provides a nice heal while Ice Blocked, good for when out of range of healers and you can avoid coming out of Ice Block with 5% HP.
Glyph of Ice Block gives you an extra 3 seconds to be immune to spells, possibly giving you some extra time to get out of trouble

Glyphs are there to enhance your style of gameplay. If you are generally close to add groups in fights, then Dragon's Breath can boost your performance with good AoE. Need to move around a lot? Rapid Displacement lets you get across the room quickly. Apply them to how you feel comfortable playing for the best usage.


V - Stats; How they effect you

Warlords of Draenor is introducing some new stats, Multistrike and Versatility.

Stat Weights

Crit > Mastery > Haste > Multisrike > Versatility

Critical Strike boosts our chance to.....get a Critical Strike. This promotes Pyroblast!, our main source of damage.
Haste allows us to put out more Fireballs over time, allowing more chances for Critical Strikes, and thus more Pyroblasts. It also increases the tick rate of our DoTs, and makes Pyro Camping easier for us.
Mastery gives us a bigger DoT for Ignite, and give us larger Combustions. Inferno Blast spread with a larger DoT means higher AoE as well.
Multistrike gives our abilities two chances of our Multistrike percentage to hit for 30% damage. And a thing to note is Multistrike does interact with Ignite, and increases Ignite when you get a MS. If you are curious to know how your Ignite number was formed with MS, the equation is:

((Spell Damage Value + Multistriked Value)*Mastery %)/6

The reason that it is divided by 6, and not 5 is a multistriked Ignite ticks 6 times, not 5.

Versatility just boosts our damage and survivability in general.

For Level 100, this is how much of a stat you need for 1%:

110 Critical Strike = 1%
90 Haste = 1%
55 Mastery = 1%
66 Multistrike = 1%
130 Versatility = 1%

Racials have been updated since MoP to be more balanced, however there is still a slight Hierarchy for DPS if you are looking for the bonus. It is very minute, so it is extremely viable to just play whatever is the most aesthetically pleasing.




VI - In Combat - What to Do and When

This section covers Single Target and AoE DPS priorities, so you can know what to do and when.

Single Target Spell Priority

Combustion with a strong Ignite
Pyroblast
Inferno Blast if you have Heating Up active
Fireball
Scorch if moving

Fireball will be what you are casting to try and get a Critical Strike. Once it does, your UI will show a small set of flames, which is your Heating Up proc. Another crit from Inferno Blast, Scorch, or Pyroblast will generate a Pyroblast! buff (a larger set of flames will show), giving you your free Pyroblast with no cast time, and with increased damage. Pyroblast is the majority of your damage, and you want to get as many out as you can from getting Critical Strikes, so as soon as you see a Heating Up proc, cast Inferno Blast.

We can hold 1 charge of Pyroblast! along with a Heating Up Proc. The Heating Up is the portion which requires one more crit to activate, and the actual Pyroblast! itself for our free instant cast. Because of this, it is possible to manage and bank one Pyroblast a large amount of times to wait for a trinket to proc to help push damage. If you use a Pyroblast willy nilly, and then 1 second later your trinket goes off, you lose potential damage.

If you chose Living Bomb, you do NOT want to keep it on the boss, as it is a DPS loss for single target situations. Use Major CDs such as Meteor or Prismatic Crystal to further increase your Combustion. Use Mirror Image on Cooldown, or make sure you are standing in your Rune of Power.

If you chose Blast Wave, you want to make sure it is always on Cooldown. If you have two charges just sitting there, that is damage you are wasting. At least try to have only one up at all times. If you have large AoE coming up soon, you can save both of them for the AoE.

If you know movement is coming up, remember that Ice Floes lasts 20 seconds a charge, so you can use it beforehand if you are uncomfortable with using it on the move, and you can also use it while casting a spell and move in the middle of the cast. Otherwise minimize movement as much as possible, and squeeze in as many Fireballs as you can. Scorch is a lot weaker, and will noticeably hurt your damage if you cast too many.

AoE Spell Priority

For AoEing, your situation changes depending on your choices in your Level 75 Talent Tier. If you chose Living Bomb, you will want to try and get a Pyroblast onto a main target, as well as Living Bomb, than use Inferno Blast to spread everything. Make sure you are prioritizing Living Bomb as well, especially with over 4 targets. Holding off on it and spreading Combustion is a powerful CD as well that can spread, so use it on your main target to for extra burst. After DoTs are spread, Flamestrike is great to use as long as its DoT lasts the majority of the duration, and Dragon's Breath Glyphed is good if you can get in melee range. Otherwise just keep cleaving your DoTs onto all of the targets. Meteor is the same style as Flamestrike, use it and try and make sure the DoT it leaves will have adds in it for the majority of the duration.

Blastwave amounts to the same idea, just with more bursted damage. Try and target a Mob in the middle with it when you use it to make sure it hits everything around it, otherwise you just need to keep spreading your DoTs and maintaining the same general AoE as Living Bomb.

Okay, so how does Combustion work?

Now here comes the "fun" part of Fire. Learning how to use Combustion properly. Combustion is unlike most CDs in the game, which are a flat % buff to a stat. Combustion actually requires your effort to make it great, and a lot of love from RNG.

For your opener, there are currently two different ways to go into your Combustion. The best top-end damage, and the safest play. For the best top-end damage, you want your opener to look like this:

Prepot/Mirror Image
Precast Pyroblast
Fireball/Inferno Blast to get Heating Up and Pyro! proc up at the same time, and have trinkets up for your Pyro chain
Meteor
Pyro *crit*
Pyro *crit*

That is the optimal way to do it. This way also requires RNG favouring that can still be an issue with lower crit levels, as you want your initial Pyro to crit as well as your second one. Now, the safe way is this.

Prepot/Mirror Image
Precast Pyroblast
Fireball/Inferno Blast to get a Heating Up and Pyro! proc up at the same time
Meteor
Fireball
Pyro *crit*
Pyro

This method allows you to at least have a base of one Pyroblast, and allows for an extension of the Pyroblast chain if you get the crits you need. The damage ceiling is not as high, but it is safer with lower amounts of crit.

If you are using Prismatic Crystal, your Combustion build up does not change too much. Before you use Combustion, you want to at minimum get a Pyroblast! proc, and a Heating Up if you can manage. Once you place down Prismatic Crystal, you will want to get a Heating Up if you have not already, and then go into spamming Pyroblast until you run out, and then Combustion and spread it. If you have Living Bomb, apply Living Bomb to the Crystal right before Combustion so you spread it as well.

Combustion is not an easy CD to maximize by any means. It is definitely something you want to play with and learn, as you can't just pop it and expect a damage increase. Addons that track Ignite like MyBigIgnite, Weak Auras, or CombustionHelper can help you watch your Ignite so you know when to use it. Don't get disheartened by bad RNG. Sometimes your abilities just do not crit, and you can line up an awful Combustion because of it. It will get easier as our crit increases.


VII - Raid Bosses and You - How to Fire in Highmaul, Blackrock, and Hellfire Citadel

Here is the general best talent set ups for each fight. Note, things can change depending on what your raid is struggling with. I.e., you need add damage? Go Living Bomb instead of Blast Wave. Here we go:

Highmaul

Kargath Bladefist

Primarily focus on Single target talents unless you are in the stands group, which you would want to get Living Bomb to spread it onto the crowd. On Mythic, you can use Ice Block to tank his fixates and give your raid a large Roar of the Crowd boost, and use Cold Snap to reset the CD on Ice Block as well.

The Butcher

Go pure single target with Rune of Power, Prismatic Crystal, and Blastwave. If you are in a cleave group, Ice Floes can basically give you 100% uptime if you are doing the movement for it. Otherwise nothing much to say.

Tectus

Definitely go with Living Bomb here. Your Combustion and Meteor/PC should line up close to when the 4 Motes will pop up, it is worth delaying a couple seconds to spread everything to all four or eight. Your damage will skyrocket. Ice Floes is best for keeping damage up on the move, as Fireball is a LOT better than Scorch. Double Blink is great here as well to get back in position after moving around the entire room with Crystalline Barrage.

Brackenspore

Blast Wave will be the best 75 Talent for this fight. If you can manage to minimize movement, go for Rune of Power, otherwise use Incanter's Flow. Blast Wave is great for movement and switching to Spore Shooters, so try and save a charge for it if your raids damage is lacking on them. Pretty much a tank and spank for a Mage. Make sure to try and cleave Dots onto the boss or Fungal add for an increased damage boost. Glyph of Counterspell can be great on the Fungal Add as well if you have a 4 person rotation for interrupts, as you wouldn't have to delay casting for it.

Twin Ogron

Use Living Bomb here if your raid stacks them. Otherwise Blast Wave. Great cleave fight, and line up Prismatic Crystal for when they are stacking. Ice Floes will save your DPS during Quake and Pulverize. Double Blink on Mythic is great to make you essentially invulnerable from getting hit by all the mechanics. Greater Invis can take off any DoT effects on you from Shield Charge or Blaze.

Ko'ragh

If your raid needs add damage, both Living Bomb and Blast Wave can work fine. Make sure to save a Blast Wave charge for adds if they are coming soon. Rapid Displacement can be helpful to get yourself out of sticky situations, and Alter Time is viable if you are soaking the center shield on Mythic. Cast it at 100% HP, run in and soak until you are close to 90k hp, then Alter Time again to reset your HP, and help your healers. Make sure you aim Prismatic Crystal correctly, as the boss can be close to moving out of the Crystal's range for his Suppression Field, or the tank might need to move him.

Imperator Mar'gok

Primarily single target. If your raid needs help on P4 adds, Glyphed Dragon's Breath and Living Bomb can be possibilities. Living Bomb is rather weak for the rest of the fight, however. Rapid Displacement is good for getting the brand out and then getting back in. Ice Floes for moving through his AoE waves as well, so you can keep your rotation up.


Blackrock Foundry

Gruul

Rune of Power is fine for this fight, as you do not have much movement. Blast Wave and Prismatic Crystal for single target damage naturally. Not much to say here. If you are having trouble living through Inferno Slices, Evanesce can negate the damage and possible save you a death.

Oregorger the Devourer

Pick up Incanter's Flow, there is too much movement to maximize Rune of Power, especially when you need to dodge the boss during the crate phase. Remember you can still DPS the boss while he is rolling around, so if he is next to you, feel free to send a Pyroblast onto him to start ticking. If you feel like your Prismatic Crystal lines up awkward with the boss and when he is rolling or not, go for Meteor, as that can at least be used on Crates, or even Kindling if you do not like to aim Meteor. Blast Wave will be superior due to lack of AoE or cleave.

Beastlord Darmac

You can go for a lot of this fight standing still, so Rune of Power is great. Living Bomb is great due to the amount of adds that are consistently summoned and can be spread to (and if you run boss timers, you can Living Bomb the boss before they come out, and when they get to him, spread for a quick explosion as well), and add Glyph of Dragon's Breath for even more AoE. You CANNOT Blink or Ice Block the spears, so they have to be dodged. And during the encounter, try and pick a more outside angle facing the boss. He jumps around a lot, and you can lose a couple seconds due to him not being in your Line of Sight when he is moving around.

Flamebender Ka'graz

Rune of Power will generally serve you best. Just be wary of weapons spawning on you, as they essentially just make your RoP null and have to be moved due to their own movement. RoP also serves as a fair range meter, so if people are in it, assume Flame Slash will be heading to you if it chains together. If the Cinderwolves spawn, try and cleave your Dots onto them via the Boss if they go through the area, however Blast Wave will be more reliable than Living Bomb.

Hans'gar and Franzok

Incanter's Flow all the way, due to the chaotic nature of the fight. If the tanks can manage to keep them stacked for extended periods of time, then go ahead and grab Living Bomb, otherwise Blast Wave will generally be a safer bet. Double Blink is a very helpful glyph to allow yourself to get out of sticky situations, and Blazing Speed can be considered if you really need the extra movement to be safe.

Operator Thogar

Go with Incanter's Flow again. Living Bomb and Glyphed Dragon's Breath will be the main things for this fight, due to the huge amounts of AoE. Make sure you are consistently spreading LB to all the adds, and getting in a Flamestrike and Dragon's Breath. If you use Prismatic Crystal, be careful of your placement, just in case the boss has to be moved due to a train. The train pattern is predictable, so memorize as much as you can so you know when a track will be safe for awhile and when it will not be. Try to not stick to the middle of the tracks, stay near more the edges so you have optimal time to get off the track.

The Blast Furnace

This setup will depend on whether or not your raid is having issues with adds or the final boss burn. If you need extra add damage, Living Bomb can help out, otherwise use Blastwave. Rune of Power would be difficult to pull off well, so Incanter's Flow will be your best bet. Make sure to use Inferno Blast with ease to keep the DoTs spread.

Kromog

Rune of Power, Blast Wave, and Prismatic Crystal are all great on this fight. If your raid has serious DPS issues on the hands, Living Bomb can be considered due to the spread ability, but the real DPS race is killing Kromog once he hits 30%. Rune of Power can be placed under your hand for you to get the benefits of it, so if you have to move out of your original location, place a new Rune down. And make sure to spread your DoTs once you get a Pyro/Ignite on the hand because the spread radius is huge and I have seen my DoTs spread up to 2 hands away.

The Iron Maidens

Cleave is your best friend, and the fight doesn't require a ton of movement unless RNG does not favour you, so Living Bomb and Rune of Power are your friends. If you are on the boat group, you can generally finish a cast of one Fireball before the Red Pool finishes spawning beneath you, and for the second set of adds, make sure your DoTs are constantly spread between them, as damage can be tight. Inferno Blast as much as possible to spread damage across the bosses.

Blackhand

You will need to move a lot on this fight, so use Incanter's Flow. Double Blink will help tremendously with positioning for the Impaling Throws, and due to lack of add damage, use Blastwave. If you have issues dodging damaging abilities, Evanesce might be considered, but Ice Floes will be extremely useful for movement DPS, especially in the final phase when burning the boss is extremely important. Maximize using Ice Barrier and Greater Invisibility for your healers in the final phase as well, as damage can pile up quickly.


VIII - The Gear You Want

A huge priority is to get 4P T17, otherwise just aim for the general stat priority, and these items in particular:

Head - Arcanoshatter Hood - Kromog
Neck - Gruul's Lip Ring - Gruul
Shoulders - Arcanoshatter Mantle - Operator Thogar
Chest - Arcanoshatter Robes - Flamebender Ka'graz
Cloak - Runefrenzy Greatcloak - Kromog
Bracers - Bracers of Spattered Steel - Foreman Feldspar
Gloves - Arcanoshatter Gloves - Iron Maidens
Belt - Seeking Ember Girdle - Beastlord Darmac
Legs - Turret Mechanic's Legwraps - Iron Maiden
Feet - Cavedweller's Climbers - Gruul
Ring 1 - Uk'urogg Corrupted Seal - Iron Maidens
Ring 2 - Spellbound Runic Band of the All-Seeing Eye - Legendary Questline
Trinket 1 - Goren Soul Repository - Oregorger the Devourer
Trinket 2 - Blackiron Micro Crucible - Blackhand
Weapon - Blackhand's Doomstaff - Blackhand


IX - Tips and Tricks

This section will contain some more advanced notions to keep in mind when playing Fire. If you already play at a high level, chances are you know a majority of this. If not, then read and take in this, because this information will boost your damage a good chunk if you apply it well.

Movement is Key

If you raided in TBC or WotLK, you will remember the days that casting while moving did not exist. Cataclysm brought that change, MoP raids took advantage of it by providing high movement raiding environments, and WoD looks to do the same, except WoD is now reducing the ability to cast on the move. This creates a larger skillcap involving how much you move compared to how many Fireballs you can shoot out over time. That circle you need to move out of? If you are on the edge, move just outside the edge, there is no need to take several steps outside the circle to get all the way out. Every step you take overcompensating for movement is lost DPS you could be otherwise sitting there charging a Fireball. If you see a Mage beating you, compare how many times each of you casted Scorch, if his is largely less, chances are he is utilizing overall movement better than you and is gaining more damage because of it.

Understand How to Read Logs

Most raiding guilds use Warcraft Logs or Worldoflogs to track progress and kills. After a night of recording, if your DPS seemed off that night, it is good to be able to jump in and figure out why instantly. Such as that kill you pulled 1k less than usual. Oh, you got 30 Pyroblast! procs? You only used 20 and overwrote 10 due to latency or FPS issues. Being able to go into logs yourself and see what went wrong can help you focus on improving for the next time you do that encounter. The Replay system that Warcraft logs has is great to see how you utilized movement, and if you find another Mage beating you, watch their Movement and Casting compared to yourself to see if that is the main portion. You can also go into top Mages logs and see why they pull so much damage and compare it to yourself. Look at buff uptimes, how their procs lined up, and all that jazz.

Understand How to Use Simcraft

What is Simcraft? A tool you can use to figure out our exact stat weights and priority, and compare talents with each other to see what beats what in situations, and the same idea for gear. There is a download here:

http://www.simulationcraft.org/download.html

And Frost has a great guide for it here:

http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=620

Read it. Use it. Abuse it.

X - Frequently Asked Questions

Should I line up my 2min Trinkets with Prismatic Crystal and Combustion?

Yes. Or No. If it is a short fight, such as Mythic Butcher, and you know only have 1 use of each left in the fight (1.5min left in the fight or under), then yes go for it. Otherwise, no. Just use each on Cooldown.

Should I offspec Frost or Arcane?

Arcane will be easier to offspec, because Mastery is great for both specs, and Arcane has very high Single Target. Fire/Arcane compliment each other well.

Nothing crit when I was building up for Combustion, should I delay everything and try again?

Sometimes RNG works against you, and if it does here, just try and keep PC/Meteor and Combustion lined up and go for it anyway. It sucks, but otherwise you can get stuck in the "Should I? Should I not?" thought train about when, and get your Cooldowns out of whack for the rest of the fight.

Is X an upgrade over Y?

Use Simcraft. It will tell you what is better all the time, and we have some great people keeping the Mage one up to date.

Why does my DPS suck?

Fire is a relatively easy spec to play, and that means DPS comes from how well RNG treats you, and how well movement is managed. If you run all over the place all the time for no reason, that is probably why your DPS sucks.


XI - Addons for a Fire Mage

Here are some very helpful addons in general, whether it be for tracking procs, or Ignite.

Weak Auras allows you to create timers, bars, and icons on your screen that track Trinket/Weapon procs, as well as whether or not you are standing in Rune of Power or not. It has a lot of potential, and plenty of people already have Addon lines you can copy and use for yourself if you want something for like, a Incanter's Flow tracker.

TellMeWhen is similar to Weak Auras, allowing you to track procs and such. Preferential between this and Weak Auras, or you can use both!

CombustionHelper tracks your Ignite, and will help you know if your Ignite is big, use Combustion for a good Combustion.

myBigIgnite works about the same as CombustionHelper, either use is preferential.

TidyPlates provides an easy to read format for Enemy name plates, and shows if your DoTs are spread to them or not.


XII - Closing Notes

This Guide is a lot of work, and something is bound to have slipped through the cracks! If you see any weird nuances, or minor mistakes, feel free to tell me! I want to make sure it is as accurate as possible for the many Fire Mages out there! Thank you!

[Reforge]

Thanks for getting this started LocNess

[LocNess]

Thanks for getting this started LocNess

No problem, I hope to keep it updated throughout WoD. And it is up to all of us to make sure its accurate and providing the best information out there.

[nickseng]

Nice.
Was planning switch to Fire for 6.0 (just to keep things fresh), so the SoO section will be quite helpful

[Shangalar]

Well done! Hope you got the help you needed or at least plan to

[Deleted]

Pyro camping is still better than using pyros when you get them,especially when we get enhanced pyrotechnics perk. You also need to pyro chain for combustion. Scorch is horrible, you don't really want to use it at all anymore. Definately not more than once for the movement speed bonus.

The stat weights seem just randomly copied from MOP, any basis on where you got them? (Not saying I disagree with them completely, just curious how you got them)

Talents: I feel like you just completely skipped over IF. Mirror image is not that strong, and falls really far behind both RoP and ice floes on any cleaving/AoE fights. IF is basically a stronger rune of power on movement heavy fights. All the mythic testing I've done (which is way less crit than we'll have in 6.0) mirror image was pretty much equal to IF, and the more crit we get the stronger IF/RoP will become, due to more ignite/combustion/pyro spreading.

Bosses I'd use IF on over MI: Sha of pride, Dark shamans, Siegecrafter, Garrosh. The only time I'd use MI is on sub 3 minute kills (2.5-3 mins is where MI shines) on Sha/Iron juggernaut/Malkorok.

[Komman]

Kinda curious where you got the stat weights as well! I've spent a few nights crashing my computer trying to generate stat weights for various talent combos.

I think the biggest new thing about WoD Fire is going to be about Combustion setup with Level 100 talents. With the change to Prismatic Crystal though, it's going to be hard to tell what happens.

[LocNess]

Well done! Hope you got the help you needed or at least plan to

Enough to get a good base!

Pyro camping is still better than using pyros when you get them,especially when we get enhanced pyrotechnics perk. You also need to pyro chain for combustion. Scorch is horrible, you don't really want to use it at all anymore. Definately not more than once for the movement speed bonus.

The stat weights seem just randomly copied from MOP, any basis on where you got them? (Not saying I disagree with them completely, just curious how you got them)

Talents: I feel like you just completely skipped over IF. Mirror image is not that strong, and falls really far behind both RoP and ice floes on any cleaving/AoE fights. IF is basically a stronger rune of power on movement heavy fights. All the mythic testing I've done (which is way less crit than we'll have in 6.0) mirror image was pretty much equal to IF, and the more crit we get the stronger IF/RoP will become, due to more ignite/combustion/pyro spreading.

Bosses I'd use IF on over MI: Sha of pride, Dark shamans, Siegecrafter, Garrosh. The only time I'd use MI is on sub 3 minute kills (2.5-3 mins is where MI shines) on Sha/Iron juggernaut/Malkorok.

I will go into how bad Scorch is in my Tips/Tricks section which will discuss minimizing movement for max DPS. How do you think Pyro Camping is benefited from Enhanced Pyrotechnics, though? If you are trying to shove as many possible in and holding one for Combustion I can see that, otherwise without our 2P T16 does it effect us much unless we have CDs coming up such as Combustion/PC.

General stat weights were based off of testing on the PTR, and that Fire hasn't changed enough for there to be significant changes. With Enhanced Pyrotechnics Crit will most likely be more devalued at the end of the expansion. If the stat weights are different through sims, then fair play, however I don't forsee them being very off of these. If they prove to be different, the guide will be updated. Due to the lack of solid finalized gameplay, we just have to work with what we got.

As for IF, granted I only asked several and did some base usage myself, however most found it to be weaker. I will give it a spin again to see if I can find love for it, I am trying it at as a 585 Level 90, so if it is better at 100 due to stat changes, then I will give it a better spotlight. Apologies, I hammered out a lot of it yesterday and probably was more biased , thanks for your input though!

I think the biggest new thing about WoD Fire is going to be about Combustion setup with Level 100 talents. With the change to Prismatic Crystal though, it's going to be hard to tell what happens.

Once there is a good two to three weeks into raiding, I will certainly have a section for maximizing Combustion. At the current time I don't think it is a 100% good idea for having one without myself really trying to play around with it and base my information with other Mages. And if Combustion can still be significant, Mastery will raise in value, otherwise its just a waiting game.

- - - Updated - - -

And then just to add to that overall, just in general Mages, if you use Scorch a lot, I might suggest fully taking it off your bars from 6.0 to WoD Live to get used to minimizing movement to push out Fireballs. I am already watching a lot of Mages overuse it in current content, and the sting is going to hit hard come 6.0 when Scorch hits like a pebble.

[Tyze]

I feel weird about Fire Mage in wod. When we cant reforge or gem where will we get crit from.

[LocNess]

I feel weird about Fire Mage in wod. When we cant reforge or gem where will we get crit from.

Due to our Incineration passive (We gain an extra 5% crit stat from sources) and Enhanced Pyrotechnics it will alleviate it a good amount. The main thing I noticed was that because INT no longer gives crit, on pulls with trinkets up we no longer have a larger amount of crit than usual for stronger Combustions as well. We are losing some crit amount through reforging and INT, but we are gaining it in other ways.

[Alroxas]

Isn't MS the chance for 2x 30% damage procs? Up to 60% more damage instead of 33%?

- - - Updated - - -

- - - Updated - - -
And then just to add to that overall, just in general Mages, if you use Scorch a lot, I might suggest fully taking it off your bars from 6.0 to WoD Live to get used to minimizing movement to push out Fireballs. I am already watching a lot of Mages overuse it in current content, and the sting is going to hit hard come 6.0 when Scorch hits like a pebble.

Latest build of Beta (18888) just dropped Scorch damage from 62.7% SP to 25% SP.

- - - Updated - - -

I feel weird about Fire Mage in wod. When we cant reforge or gem where will we get crit from.

Oh you can still gem for Crit, assuming you get gear that actually has sockets (very rare in WoD). Meanwhile, the answer is enchants! 2 Ring enchants, 1 neck enchant and 1 cloak enchant.

I will say at 570 ilv starting WoD beta, I was still close to 45+% crit but that dropped quickly down to mid 30s by lv 95. The Enhanced Pyrotechnics helps mitigate the loss but overall Fire still seems engaging.

[LocNess]

Isn't MS the chance for 2x 30% damage procs? Up to 60% more damage instead of 33%?

Indeed it does.

Will fix it, thank you for pointing it out.

[Deleted]

We are losing some crit amount through reforging and INT, but we are gaining it in other ways.

Well, once you have gear you "want" loss of reforging is not big deal as anyway you have crit on most of items so you wouldn't be able to reforge into crit anyway.
It is problem though until you get crit on every item.
And loss of reforging is covered from Hit gone from gear and on most of SoO items Hit will be changed to Crit (on items not having Crit at all).
I only have 2 items without Crit that I was able to reforge into it (neck from Shamans and ring from Galakras) so not big reforging loss. And Crit gain from Hit-> Crit items changes is way bigger than loss from reforging.

On the other hand loss of Crit from Intellect is huge (currently I get 12,5% crit from Intellect) and even Incineration and Hit->Crit conversion can not cover it so once 6.0 go live I will loose several percentages of Crit

Talking OFC just about current items we will use once 6.0 hit, have no clue about 90+ leveling and lv100 items as I have no access to Beta.

[Tyze]

Will you guys level as Fire too?

[Deleted]

Will you guys level as Fire too?

I probably will. Can't stand frost anymore.

[Deleted]

So would you advocate a race change to blood elf for horde players?

[Polarthief]

So would you advocate a race change to blood elf for horde players?

I wouldn't really say a race change is vital for classes anymore (especially with Trolls being nerfed heavily), unless you're involved in the World First race. In which case, Dwarf might be best due to their 2% Crit Damage (sadly, Horde's version is from Tauren and they can't be Mages). Horde's best race would probably be BE though, for their 1% crit.

[Tyze]

I'm so stupid, I didn't even realize we get a Fireball buff, everytime Fireball doesn't crit it gains 5% to make the next Fireball crit, this is a very nice buff. However! Will this mean we can't go over likes 30% of crit due to this buff?

Oh and another thing, Frostfire bolt.. Do they want us to use it? What for? There is a major glyph for fire mages that reduces cast on Frostfire bolt.

[Polarthief]

I'm so stupid, I didn't even realize we get a Fireball buff, everytime Fireball doesn't crit it gains 5% to make the next Fireball crit, this is a very nice buff. However! Will this mean we can't go over likes 30% of crit due to this buff?

Why can't you go over 30% crit? Also, every time you fail to crit, you actually get 6.5% crit due to Critical Mass.

Oh and another thing, Frostfire bolt.. Do they want us to use it? What for? There is a major glyph for fire mages that reduces cast on Frostfire bolt.

It's basically a glyphable slow on your Fireball. FFB and Fireball do the exact same damage, have the same cast time, and have all the same procs and passives. It's literally just adding a slow/slightly better spell graphic to your filler spell. You'd want to use it in PvP/soloing or anything that would benefit single target slows. Definitely not useful for most raid encounters.

[LocNess]

It's basically a glyphable slow on your Fireball. FFB and Fireball do the exact same damage, have the same cast time, and have all the same procs and passives. It's literally just adding a slow/slightly better spell graphic to your filler spell. You'd want to use it in PvP/soloing or anything that would benefit single target slows. Definitely not useful for most raid encounters.

Indeed, for raiding it is pretty much only cosmetic, and since it is a Major Glyph we rarely even have room for it.