So, have you decided that you want to play a magician? These spellcasters are one of the staples of fantasy everywhere, and in WoW they fill the role of powerful damage and control. A mage dominates the battlefield by controlling it, bogging down the enemy with slows, counterspells, and freezes. However, if you want to level one of these casters, you’ll need a good mage leveling guide, because the mage is the hardest class to play in World of Warcraft.
The first thing you will need is a good specification. Frost is the default leveling spec for mages, due to her high mana efficiency and superior battlefield control. A frost mage can demolish multiple enemies at once with little effort at high levels, thanks to a variety of freezes and area of effect attacks. So here is the spec you should use.
Frost (53 points)
Improved Frostbolt – Rank 5/5
Ice Floes – Rank 2/3
Ice Shards – Rank 3/3
Accuracy – Range 3/3
Piercing Ice – Rank 3/3
Icy Veins – Rank 1/1
Improved Blizzard – Rank 2/3
Arctic Reach – Rank 2/2
Channeling Frost – Rank 3/3
Mangle – Rank 3/3
Cold Snap – Rank 1/1
Ice Cold – Rank 2/2
Winter Chill – Rank 3/3
Ice Barrier – Rank 1/1
Arctic Winds – Rank 5/5
Empowered Frostbolt – Rank 2/2
Frost Fingers – Rank 2/2
Brain Freeze – Rank 3/3
Summon Water Elemental – Rank 1/1
Enduring Winter – Rank 1/3
Chilled to the Bone – Rank 5/5
Arcane (18 points)
Arcane Subtlety – Rank 2/2
Arcane Focus – Rank 3/3
Magic Absorption – Rank 2/2
Arcane Focus – Rank 4/5
Spell Impact – Rank 3/3
Focus Magic – Rank 1/1
Torment the weak – Rank 3/3
This specialization will allow you to deal maximum DPS and keep your mana spend to a minimum, which means less time to drink. This mage leveling guide will assume you’re using this spec from now on, so keep that in mind if you don’t want to use it.
For the first ten levels, all wizards are equal. You want to get a wand as soon as possible; if you get a decent one it will do more DPS than your actual spells, so try to find a decent one on the auction house!
After you start putting points into your specialization, your playstyle will change a bit. Depending on your exact level, your best damage/mana will change a lot at this point, so find out what’s cheapest and use it! You’ll probably want to open up with Fireball and then spam Frostbolt until the enemy reaches you, then finish off with your wand. If the enemy is still in good health when it hits you, use Frost Nova, run a few meters and start over.
You’ll soon have enough talent points in Frost that Frost’s spells are inherently better to use. At this point, you’re probably just spamming Frostbolt and using Frost Nova when you need to escape.
Once you put some points into Enhanced Blizzard you can think about AoE style leveling. You do this by letting multiple enemies attack you and hitting them with Blizzard. The trap should give you enough time to throw it several times and kill them. This mage leveling guide won’t go too deep into specific techniques, as good AoE leveling can be very difficult to achieve.
As you progress up the talent tree, you will start to gain various cooldown abilities. Don’t forget to use your cooldowns as often as possible. Grabbing seconds off enemies adds a lot of time at the end, so don’t let these things sit on cooldown! But don’t go crazy either; As a mage, you’re more likely to run out of mana than health, so be careful!
A few tips before I let you go start your wizards!
-As I mentioned at the beginning of this wizard leveling guide, the wizard is a very difficult class to play; it is often both art and science. So make sure you play smart! Link all your attacks to easy-to-press keys and move with the mouse, not the keys! This will allow you to navigate effectively, something all wizards MUST be able to do to stay alive!
-Always keep your equipment updated; You want Hit, Spellpower, and Intelligence when leveling a mage. At low levels, you will get mostly Intellect. However, try to get as many of the others as possible!
-Always keep your rest experience! Log in and out of an inn every time you take a break; that extra experience adds up!
-Do not visit the auction house in person; keep an alt stationed in a major city and mail everything back and forth. This will save you hours and hours of time that you would spend running back and forth.
If you can take my advice, you’ll have an 80 mage in no time!
