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WOW-GOLD-NEWS-Basics of Playing a Mage

Need to know how much spell hit a Mage in World of Warcraft needs? How about the bare basics to the class? Look no further than our basics page which is an excellent place to start. Once you’re done here move on to our combat section where we go into the actual science of playing a Mage!

Getting Started

Mage s are masters of magic; that much is obvious. That’s like saying Rogues are masters of stabbing things or Warriors are masters of getting punched in the face. The real secret to Mages is that they’re the masters of single target and AoE (area of effect) ranged magical damage. They’re different from other magic users because they’re not a pet class, a primary DoT (damage over time) class, or anything else. They’re a straightforward boom boom class, traditionally referred to as glass cannons.

• All of a Mage’s spells are ranged meaning they can stand far away and still do damage. All of their damage is also magical, meaning that it’s reliant on mana and bypasses any physical defense.
• Mages contain a vast array of utility spells. They can use spells to Polymorph an enemy and take it out of combat, snare foes and slow their movement speed, remove curses from allies, or summon fresh food and drink for themselves and others.
• While their damage is magical, it’s also dependant on mana. Once their mana is gone then they’re unable to cast any spells until it regens. At higher levels mana regeneration becomes less of a problem, so don’t let this offset you from playing a Mage.
• Mages are one of the classes that do the largest amount of AoE damage in the game. You can see massive amounts of damage whenever there are multiple enemies in a fight.
• Mages are rather frail, but that doesn’t stop them from killing enemies before they get the chance to hit them or from having enough hit points to survive in instances.
• Mages are very good with crowd control thanks to spells like Polymorph, Ice Nova, and Frostbolt.

In summary, a Mage is a strong pure ranged magical DPS class.

Magically Attuned Races (Choosing your Race)

Having a tough time picking what race you should be? Well, the biggest thing that matters is how you feel about the general looks of the race. A lot of the race specific abilities won’t matter if you don’t like how your race looks. If looks aren’t an issue then here is a breakdown of what each race offers an aspiring Mage.

Alliance

• Humans:  Their sword/mace ability is useless, but “Every Man for Himself” works just like a PvP trinket (and shares the same cooldown). The 3% spirit bonus is also quite nice.
• Gnomes: They receive 5% additional intellect which is downright powerful. Escape Artist will also remove any snare from you making them very good at fleeing. The key thing is the 5% intellect. That’ll be 5 more intellect every 100 you have or 50 free intellect when you’ve got 1,000.
• Draenei: Gift of the Naaru is an OK heal. It’s instant and costs no mana, but you can’t rely on it at higher levels. Heroic Presence grants 1% hit to you and everyone in your party meaning at max level you can focus less on hit and more on other stats. This makes Draenai a very good choice for the Alliance.

Horde

• Undead: Will of the Forsaken will remove any fear, sheep, or charm effect. Cannibalize is nifty in a solo setting as a free heal, but there isn’t much else to talk about for the Undead.
• Trolls: They get Berserking which is a 20% cast speed increase for a Mage (which is awesome). Da Voodoo Shuffle is also nice to get rid of snares faster. A very solid choice for Bersekering.
• Blood Elves: Arcane Torrent is a 6% mana heal which is a cast or two more if you’re completely out. A decent ability, but better in PvP for its silence.

Professions

There used to be few reasons to choose a profession, but with Wrath of the Lich King you have a lot more options depending on what you want.

• Tailoring: You can make Lightweave Embroidery which gives you a chance to increase your spell power by 295 for 15 seconds when you cast a spell.
• Inscription: Master’s Inscription of the Storm gives 70 spell power and 15 critical strike rating. Also lets you skip the Hodir faction. 46 spell power over the standard Hodir enchants.
• Alchemy: Flask of the North which is a free mini flask which gives 47 spell power. It also gives 37 additional spell power on a Flask of the Frost Wrym and makes ‘em last longer saving you cash.
• Blacksmithing: Additional socket on bracers and gloves. Gives 46 additional spell power when two runed cardinal rubies are inserted.  Think of it as two more free gem slots.
• Jewelcrafting: Jewelcrafter only gems. They have 16 more spell power than regular purple gems. You can equip three for 48 additional spell power. Other gems have about the same additional bonus if you’re gemming for something else.

It changes patch to patch on what’s the absolute best, but you’re not going to go wrong choosing any one of the above tradeskills. Tailoring may be the best, though, for the cloak enchant since there aren’t many good cloak enchants.

Spell Casting and Mana

Spells have a mana cost and a cast time. Cast time is affected by your spell haste (a stat that comes into play later in the game) and mana cost is often a percentage based thing (so even with more mana, it’ll still cost the same). You use a spell like any other skill. For example with Fireball you’d target the enemy (click on them) then use the “Fireball” skill from your action bar or spellbook. You’ll begin casting the spell and when finished the spell will complete and you’ll hurl a ball of fire at your enemy.

Spells can be interrupted if someone uses an interrupt on you (such as a stun or a Rogue’s kick). When you’re hit with an attack (other than DoTs or passive damage) then you’ll gain something called “pushback”. This will push the casting bar back by .5 seconds the first hit and .5 seconds the second hit. All hits after that will not cause pushback. Channeled spells will lose 25% of their casting duration each hit for the first two hits and nothing after that.

Some spells are channeled. This means that during their duration they’ll continue casting while giving a certain effect. Blizzard for instance will cause damage in a ground targeted AoE while Invocation will recharge your mana while it’s channeling. Some spells are instant cast and have no cast time.

Mana is not consumed until the spell is cast. If you don’t have enough mana to cast the spell then you’ll fail casting. Mana will stop regenerating during a cast and five seconds afterwards. You can interrupt your own spell by moving, jumping, or pressing ESC.

Important Stats

Strength and Agility are useless for a Mage.

Intellect: You need 166.667 intellect to gain 1% critical strike rating at level 80. It also gives you 15 mana per point of intellect (1 mana for the first 20 intellect).

Spirit: Helps mana regeneration, but most Mage gear doesn’t have spirit. You gain 35% (55% when glyphed) of your spirit as critical strike rating when you have Molten Armor up.

Spell Power: Increases damage. How much damage it increases depends on the spell.

Spell Hit: At level 80 you will need a total of 446 hit rating to cap your spell hit. You’ll need to cap your spell hit in order to make sure each spell hits. If you miss with a spell then you’ll have wasted a considerable amount of time casting only to do no damage at all. You’ll need 420 hit rating when you have Heroic Presence. 368 if you spec into Precision or Arcane Focus. 342 with either of those and Heroic Presence.

Here’s a handy chart:

Hit Rating Needed to Cap	Conditions
446	No talents / Abilities
420	Heroic Presence (Draenei racial)
368	Having Precision OR Arcane Focus
342	Having Precision OR Arcane Focus AND Heroic Presence
289	Having Precision AND Arcane Focus
263	Having Precision AND Arcane Focus AND Heroic Presence
210	Having Precision AND Arcane Focus AND Misery or Improved Faerie Fire
184	Having Precision AND Arcane Focus AND Heroic Presence AND Misery or Improved Faerie Fire

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