By Hela

A Mage is the primary magic caster in World of Warcraft. They have underpowered melee attacks and light cloth armor giving low amour levels. But when cast their magic attacks can deal serious damage. With a lot of other special spells, such as Polymorph (morph enemies into sheep), and Conjure water and food, they can be a big part in any group and do well solo.

Mages, rely on mana to cast there spells and it must be kept up to keep the damage coming. Usually equipped with a staff weapon they can receive large skill bonuses like +5 intellect. They can also equip wands, daggers (with training), and swords (with training). One of the Mage's most powerful abilities is Polymorph, which allows it to control the number of monsters currently attacking the party, by transforming them into sheep. The mage also has a teleport spell that lets him/her travel across the land more quickly.

Mages strengths are:

Extremely Powerful Magic attacks

Powerful Area of Effect Damage Spells

Can summon food and water

Teleport spell

Mages weaknesses are:

Very low armor levels (can only wear cloth armor)

Very weak melee attacks (they have no muscles)

Draw a lot of agro

Has difficulty fighting monsters that resist spells

Talent Trees

There are 3 talent trees and choosing the right one might be a hard choice. You can always balance them out but be warned that u might not be able to get the most powerful spells of all the talent trees so should focus on one main and maybe a secondary

(I personally choose Frost magic as my main and arcane as secondary)

Arcane Talent Tree

This talent tree focuses on more buffs and other misc. spells rather than attacks. Arcane tree gives spells such as:

Arcane Intellect (Buff) - Increases the target's Intellect.

Arcane Missiles - Launches Arcane Missiles at the enemy

Polymorph - Polymorph transforms enemy Beasts, Humanoids, and Critters into a sheep, forcing it to wander around for the duration of the spell.

Blink - Teleports the caster 20 yards ahead of the direction he/she is facing

These are some just to name a few, pretty much the most frequently used spells. Please refer to the World of Warcraft website for a more in-depth list. There are 1 or 2 attacks in this tree but its primary for other special spells.

Fire Talent Tree

This talent tree focuses on, yes, fire magic. I’m sure you got that from the heading. Fire magic is mainly an attack hitting only one enemy. They can deal a massive amount of damage to an opponent. Some spells include:

Fire Blast - Blasts the enemy with fire.

Fireball - Hurls a fiery ball that causes fire damage and additional damage over time.

Flamestrike (AOE) - Calls down a pillar of fire, burning all enemies within the area and additional damage time.

Frost Talent Tree

And the last talent tree is frost magic. The frost magic is more of an AoE magic tree rather than the previous fire tree. Frost spells can sometimes even slow your opponent or even freeze them in place. When frozen they can still do anything they normally can except they are stuck in place and cannot move. Some spells include:

Frostbolt - Launches a bolt of frost at the enemy, causing frost damage and slowing movement speed. This ability is useful for stopping monsters from running away and warning their friends.

Frost Armor - Increases armor. If enemies strike the caster, they may have their movement speed slowed and have their attacks slowed.

Frost Nova - Blasts enemies near the caster cold damage and freezes them in place. This is a main ability for the Mage. It is useful in stopping monsters from chasing you, allowing you to get away. It can also be used in combat to finish off weakened, retreating monsters.

Choosing the talent tree to follow for the mage is totally a choice on what magic you want to cast, fire, frost, or arcane. One thing though, Arcane has some VERY useful spells so you should take a look at all the trees when u start and choose which one u want to train in.

Tips on playing a mage:

These are just TIPS nobody has to follow these but as a mage I find following these rules will help u and your party stay alive in an instance. The most overlooked thing in this game, any MMORPG actually is what YOUR OWN role is in a group. It is also best to know what other classes do and what their role is as well. For example a warrior is a tank, holding the agro and taking all the damage while rogues, druids, mages attacks and priests heal. Druids can also heal.

The Mages’ role is to deal a lot of damage with their magic attacks. They don’t heal and cant tank with their low armor levels. They can also provide the entire party with food to heal after a battle and water to gain mana levels as well. That is VERY useful for priests and mages as well as paladins, warlocks, and druids. The polymorph spells that transforms enemies into a sheep (one enemy at a time) can be critical because that one extra enemy can mean living or dying. Also an important spell can be Frost Nova. It can kill low Health enemies and if any start to run away, a quick cast can freeze them in place. Playing a Mage isn’t hard too hard but u have to remember these key points:

Don’t pull too many mobs at once
Don’t try to tank, let warriors do that
Try keeping your Health and Mana high
TAKE YOUR TIME

Nothing can destroy an instance run more than people rushing around the next corner without looking and coming upon a large force and letting a few mobs get away. They will bring more enemies. While in a group or solo always take your time and take time to replenish your mana and health when needed, and don’t be shy to tell the party “we are stopping for a mana break”, just not every 2 seconds. Well hopefully this helps any future mages, and ill try to write up some more guides so look for them. See you in game!!