Level a Mage in World of Warcraft: Forever as Frost: Frostbolt slows everything you hit, the new Ice Lance turns Frost Nova into a burst combo at level 20, and Ice Block at 25 gives a fragile class an escape button. Fire kills faster once its critical strikes start rolling, but Forever’s Frost tree is the safer climb, and Blizzard deliberately weakened the giant area-of-effect pulls Mages used to level with.
Below is which spec to pick and why, the talents to take first, how Forever changed AoE leveling, the abilities to lean on and where to quest. It is checked against Blizzard’s Mage and Shaman class deep dive and its beta development notes up to the November 2 launch notes, as of November 7.
Which Spec to Level a Mage As
Blizzard calls Mages “masters of ranged area damage” with “one of the best crowd control abilities” in Polymorph, but adds that they are “extremely fragile and die easily if caught in melee combat.” Each spec answers that weakness differently:
| Spec | How it levels | Why pick it | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frost (our pick) | Slow, freeze, burst | Control and Ice Block keep you alive | Lower damage than Fire |
| Fire | Big critical hits | Fastest kills once crits roll | Little control when a pull goes wrong |
| Arcane | Mana-fueled burst | Arcane Blast and Arcane Wrath hit hard | Mana-hungry for questing |
Frost is our pick for most players. Frostbolt’s slow buys you extra casts before anything reaches you, Frost Nova roots it in place, and Ice Lance, the new 11-point talent, deals 300% extra damage to Frozen targets. That makes Frost Nova into Ice Lance a real kill combo rather than an escape. Fingers of Frost later lets your Chill effects treat a target as Frozen.
Fire suits players who want speed. Heating Up cuts Pyroblast’s cast time each time Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, Fire Blast or Scorch lands a critical strike, down to 1.5 seconds at three stacks, and Ignite now gives every Mage their own debuff.
Arcane gets the new Arcane Blast (11 points) and Arcane Wrath (16 points), a Fireball-sized spell that also scales with your maximum Mana. It is strong, but leveling is mostly about Mana efficiency, and Frost has the edge there.
Mage Talents to Take First
Talents start at level 10, and the milestone talents open at 11, 16, 21 and 31 points, which is levels 20, 25, 30 and 40 if every point goes into Frost. Our Frost order, using talents Blizzard has confirmed in Forever:
- Levels 10 to 19: Precision, now a 3-point talent worth 2, 4 or 6% hit chance with all spells, then early Frost damage and Frostbite or Ice Shards. Improved Frostbolt, a first-row talent in the original game, is not listed as changed in Blizzard’s notes.
- Level 20: Ice Lance, the 11-point talent. It is instant, shares an 8-second cooldown with Fire Blast, and deals 300% extra damage to Frozen targets.
- Level 25: Ice Block, now the 16-point talent. At this level it is your answer to the pull that goes wrong.
- Levels 26 to 29: Shatter (which no longer requires Improved Frost Nova) and Frost Channeling, which moved up a row.
- Level 30: Cold Snap, now the 21-point talent, with a 10-minute cooldown.
- Levels 31 to 39: Fingers of Frost (requires Ice Lance) and Winter’s Chill, which now powers up your Cone of Cold.
- Level 40: Ice Barrier, at the bottom of the tree. Blizzard’s launch notes made it raise your Frost damage by 15% for a minute, plus 5% more while the barrier holds, to give Mages “a reason to go all the way down the tree.”
Blizzard also removed Piercing Ice, which it says frees up a few points early in the tree. If you change your mind later, our talent reset guide covers the trainer and the fee.
How Forever Changed AoE Leveling
Big area-of-effect pulls were how many Mages leveled in the original game. Forever trims them on purpose:
- Improved Blizzard now slows by at most 40% instead of 65%. Blizzard says this was done to reduce Frost Mages’ power to AoE farm instances, which gold farmers and boosters used heavily.
- Cone of Cold lasts less long, for the same reason, but its first four targets get an extra 10% slow and a slow that lasts three seconds longer.
- Blizzard (the spell) still has a lower chance to trigger Frostbite, Fingers of Frost and Arcane Concentration when you cast a rank learned more than 12 levels below your level, per the launch notes.
The result: small groups of three or four monsters are still fine, especially with Cone of Cold, but a twenty-monster pull is far riskier than it used to be. Level on single targets and small packs.
Mage Abilities to Lean On
- Conjured food and water. Blizzard lists the ability “to supply food and water” among the Mage’s strengths. You never buy drinks, which saves real gold on the way to a level 40 mount.
- Frostfire Bolt at level 40. A new spell that counts as both Fire and Frost, so it benefits from talents in both trees.
- Polymorph. Turn the second monster of a pull into a sheep and fight one at a time.
- Mage Armor. Its Spirit-based Mana regeneration was increased for Forever.
- Comprehension. A new Mage-only skill that lets you read scrolls dropped by monsters for various benefits, using Comprehend Scroll from the General tab of your spellbook. Blizzard’s November 6 hotfixes note that the Study spell comes from completing the relevant quest, so take any scroll-related quest you are offered.
Where to Level a Mage
Mages can be Orc, Troll or Undead on the Horde, and Gnome, Human or Alliance Skyborne. Our best Mage race guide covers which racials help most. Follow your faction’s route from your starting zone: Westfall, Loch Modan or Darkshore for the Alliance from level 10, The Barrens or Silverpine Forest for the Horde. Mages are welcome in every dungeon group for crowd control, so list yourself between zones; our dungeon finder guide explains how Forever’s Group Finder works.
Mage Leveling Tips
- Use a wand to finish kills. Wands now need you to stand still for half a second before shooting and no longer scale with spell damage, but they still save Mana. Our guide to where to get a wand covers the options.
- Train at every trip. Blizzard’s launch notes put class training from 1 to 60 at about 206 to 207 gold for every class.
- Drag new spells onto your bars. Since launch, learning a spell no longer adds it to your action bars.
- Pick professions that pay. Tailoring and Enchanting suit a Mage; our professions by class guide explains why.
- Watch for tuning. Blizzard plans class changes on Tuesdays when needed, starting November 10.
Every WoW Forever guide we have is on our World of Warcraft hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Mage spec for leveling in WoW Forever? Frost, in our view. Its slows and roots keep monsters off you, Ice Lance turns Frost Nova into a burst combo, and Ice Block at level 25 saves a bad pull.
Can you still AoE level as a Mage in WoW Forever? Not like before. Blizzard capped Improved Blizzard’s slow at 40% and shortened Cone of Cold to stop gold farmers, so stick to small packs of three or four.
When do Mages get Ice Lance? At level 20 at the earliest. It is the 11-point Frost talent, so you need ten points in Frost first.
What is Frostfire Bolt? A new spell learned at level 40 that counts as both Fire and Frost, deals Fireball-like damage and leaves a slowing damage over time effect.
Do Mages still make their own food and water? Yes. Blizzard lists supplying food and water as one of the Mage’s lasting strengths in Forever.