Fire Mage
PvE Talent Guide & Calculator
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Arcane
0
Fire
0
Frost
0Fire Mages are one of the strongest DPS specs throughout TBC Classic, scaling incredibly well with gear as the expansion progresses. The 2/48/11 build maximizes Fire damage through Ignite, Fire Power, and Empowered Fireball while dipping into Frost for the powerful Icy Veins haste cooldown. Your rotation revolves around Fireball spam with Scorch weaving to maintain the Fire Vulnerability debuff.
Key Talents
Ignite
Your Fire crits cause the target to burn for an additional 40% of your spell's damage over 4 seconds. Stacks and rolls with multiple crits for massive damage.
Combustion
Each Fire spell hit increases your crit chance by 10% until you land 3 crits. Amazing burst cooldown that synergizes with Ignite.
Empowered Fireball
Your Fireball gains an additional 15% of your bonus spell damage. Massive scaling talent that makes Fire better with every gear upgrade.
Icy Veins
20% spell haste for 20 seconds with pushback immunity. The reason you invest 11 points into Frost — a massive DPS cooldown.
Stat Priority
- Hit Rating (until 16% cap / 202 rating)
- Spell Damage
- Spell Haste
- Spell Critical Strike
- Intellect
Fire Mage DPS revolves around Fireball spam while maintaining the Scorch debuff on the target. Use Combustion and Icy Veins on cooldown for burst windows, and Fire Blast while moving.
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Scorch — Maintain the Improved Scorch debuff (5 stacks, +15% Fire crit). Refresh before it falls off. Only 1 Mage needs to maintain this. -
Fireball — Your primary nuke. Spam this as your main cast. Benefits massively from Empowered Fireball (+15% spell power coefficient).
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Combustion — Use on cooldown. Stacks +10% Fire crit per cast until you land 3 crits. Synergizes with Ignite for huge burst damage.
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Fire Blast — Instant cast. Use while moving or when you cannot stand still to cast Fireball.
Best gear obtainable from heroic dungeons, crafting, reputation, and quests before entering Karazhan. Spell hit cap is your top priority.
| Slot | Item | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Spellstrike Hood | Tailoring (Crafted) |
| Neck | Brooch of Heightened Potential | Heroic Underbog — Ghaz'an |
| Shoulders | Mana-Etched Spaulders | Heroic Mechanar — Nethermancer Sepethrea |
| Back | Cloak of the Black Void | Tailoring (Crafted) |
| Chest | Spellfire Robe | Tailoring (Crafted — Spellfire set) |
| Wrists | Bracers of Havok | Tailoring (Crafted) |
| Hands | Spellfire Gloves | Tailoring (Crafted — Spellfire set) |
| Waist | Spellfire Belt | Tailoring (Crafted — Spellfire set) |
| Legs | Spellstrike Pants | Tailoring (Crafted) |
| Feet | Sigil-Laced Boots | Heroic Shattered Halls — Warchief Kargath |
| Ring 1 | Seer's Signet | The Scryers — Exalted |
| Ring 2 | Ashyen's Gift | Cenarion Expedition — Exalted |
| Trinket 1 | Icon of the Silver Crescent | 41 Badge of Justice |
| Trinket 2 | Quagmirran's Eye | Heroic Slave Pens — Quagmirran |
| Weapon | Greatsword of Horrid Dreams | Heroic Shadow Labyrinth — Murmur |
| Wand | Nether Core's Control Rod | Heroic Mechanar — Nethermancer Sepethrea |
Best endgame gear from SSC, Tempest Keep, Hyjal, Black Temple, and Sunwell Plateau. Prioritize spell hit cap > spell damage > haste > crit.
| Slot | Item | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Helm of Burning Righteousness | Sunwell Plateau — Kil'jaeden |
| Neck | Amulet of Unfettered Magics | Sunwell Plateau — Brutallus |
| Shoulders | Mantle of the Tempest | Black Temple — Mother Shahraz |
| Back | Tattered Cape of Antonidas | Sunwell Plateau — Kil'jaeden |
| Chest | Robes of the Tempest | Black Temple — Illidan Stormrage |
| Wrists | Bracers of the Tempest | Sunwell Plateau — Kalecgos |
| Hands | Gloves of the Tempest | Hyjal Summit — Azgalor |
| Waist | Belt of Divine Inspiration | Sunwell Plateau — M'uru |
| Legs | Leggings of Calamity | Sunwell Plateau — Felmyst |
| Feet | Boots of the Tempest | Black Temple — Teron Gorefiend |
| Ring 1 | Ring of Omnipotence | Sunwell Plateau — M'uru |
| Ring 2 | Band of the Eternal Sage | Hyjal Summit — Exalted |
| Trinket 1 | The Skull of Gul'dan | Black Temple — Illidan Stormrage |
| Trinket 2 | Shifting Naaru Sliver | Sunwell Plateau — M'uru |
| Weapon | Sunflare | Sunwell Plateau — Kil'jaeden |
| Offhand | Chronicle of Dark Secrets | Sunwell Plateau — Felmyst |
| Wand | Wand of the Demonsoul | Black Temple — Teron Gorefiend |
Essential Fire Mage macros for TBC Classic raiding.
Fireball + Trinkets
#showtooltip Fireball
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Fireball
Uses both on-use trinkets with Fireball for burst windows.
Counterspell (Stopcasting)
#showtooltip Counterspell
/stopcasting
/cast Counterspell
Stops current cast and immediately interrupts. Essential for raid interrupt duty.
Spellsteal on Focus
#showtooltip Spellsteal
/stopcasting
/cast [@focus,exists,nodead][@target] Spellsteal
Stops casting and steals a buff from focus target. Key on Solarian and other fights.
Scorch Weave
#showtooltip Scorch
/cast Scorch
/cast Fireball
Casts Scorch to maintain the Fire Vulnerability debuff, then queues Fireball.
- Keep Scorch debuff (Improved Scorch) on the boss at all times if assigned — 15% more Fire damage for all casters.
- Use Combustion with Icy Veins and trinkets for your biggest burst window.
- Don't forget to use Mana Gems — they're free mana on a separate cooldown from potions.
- Don't stand in melee range — you'll eat cleave damage and lose casting uptime dodging mechanics.
- Hit cap is 16% (202 rating). With Elemental Precision, you only need 164 rating from gear.
- Fire Mages scale extremely well — by T6 you'll be competing with Warlocks for top DPS.
Meta Gem
— +12 Spell Critical Strike, +3% Critical Strike Damage. Requires more blue gems than yellow.
Gem Priority
Use Runed Living Ruby (+9 Spell Damage) in red sockets. Use Veiled Noble Topaz (+4 Spell Hit / +5 Spell Damage) in yellow sockets until hit capped. Use Glowing Nightseye (+5 Spell Damage / +6 Stamina) in blue sockets to activate meta requirement.
Enchants
Flasks & Elixirs
Food
Other
