Mage in WoW Forever: best spec, key spells, portals and class quests

The short answer

Level Frost. Ice Lance and Fingers of Frost, two talents that are new in Forever, make Frost the fastest and safest way to kill, and Frost Nova and slows keep enemies away from you. Arcane is a good alternative for soloing in the open world, and Fire is the weakest of the three for leveling.

Talents start at level 10. Your first gold milestones come at 11, 16, 21 and 31 talent points, and at level 40 you get dual talent specialization and a new spell, Frostfire Bolt.

The spells that matter and when you get them

You start with Fireball and Frost Armor, and Polymorph arrives at level 8 and Frost Nova at 10. At level 20 you get a big batch: Blink, Evocation, Mana Shield, Blizzard and your first city teleports. Counterspell comes at 24, and the portals and Frostfire Bolt at 40.

Conjure Food and Conjure Water need no reagent, which saves you gold. Some sources disagree on a few levels (for example Arcane Intellect), so check your trainer in game. The portal and teleport trainers are in the capital cities, and you need a Rune of Teleportation or a Rune of Portals to cast them.

• Polymorph
• Frost Nova
• Blink
• Evocation
• Counterspell
• Frostfire Bolt

What is new in the Mage

Frostfire Bolt (level 40) counts as Fire and Frost, has a slow and damage over time. Arcane Blast and Ice Lance are new talents: Arcane Blast stacks up to four times, and Ice Lance is instant and hits harder on frozen targets. Ice Barrier now also increases your Frost damage by 15% for a minute when you activate it.

There is also Comprehend Scroll, a Mage-only minor skill, learned at level 6, that lets you read scrolls dropped by creatures. Some talents moved: Ice Block now needs 16 points, Cold Snap 21 points and a 10-minute cooldown, and Improved Blizzard slows less than before.

• Arcane Blast
• Ice Lance
• Ice Barrier
• Comprehend Scroll
• Ice Block
• Cold Snap

Mage class quests

At level 10 you get the Arcane Orb with the quest Heeding the Call (Alliance: Bink or Jennea; Horde: Anastasia or Un'thuwa). At level 26 there is a robe quest (High Sorcerer Andromath for the Alliance, Deino for the Horde). At level 30 Journey to the Marsh starts the wand chain, and at 35 you return to the marsh for the Celestial Orb.

The wand chain is explained in our class weapon quests guide, and to pick the best race for a Mage see the race guide. For the most useful professions for a Mage, see professions by class.