Fire Mage: First Impression of the New Mage Talent Trees in Dragonflight

Dragonflight Posted 2022/08/04 at 4:00 AM by Preheat

To learn about the best PvE talent builds in Dragonflight for this class, and export these builds into the game, please check out our Arcane, Fire, and Frost Mage class guides:
Arcane Mage Talent BuildsFire Mage Talent BuildsFrost Mage Talent BuildsMage Dragonflight Class TreeNew datamined abilities in Dragonflight Alpha Build 44895

Hyper Impact - Successful Counterspell interrupts cause a Supernova on the enemy. This could be an Arcane trait.

Energized Barriers - Melee attacks while affected by barrier have a chance to give Clearcasting, Fire Blast charge, or Fingers of Frost. Barrier cast removes snares.

Temporal Warp - While Sated, Time Warp becomes a personal lust. This is the same as the legion lust ring except that it requires you to be Sated.

Temporal WarpTime WarpBloodlustAncient HysteriaHeroismMage Dragonflight Talents - What's New?Greater InvisibilityTime AnomalyIce FloesMaster of TimeSlowMass PolymorphIce NovaShatterCone of ColdTome of RhoninTome of AntonidasIce BlockMirror ImageAlter TimeView on Dragonflight Talent TreeMage Dragonflight Talent Tree - First ImpressionsThe end result of this design is that you take many talents you don't want because it's the only way to move down the tree to the stuff you actually want.

Blue is the Frost path

Purple is the Arcane path

Red is the Fire path

Green are "crossroads" between paths.

Rune of PowerShimmerIce FloesTome of RhoninTome of AntonidasShifting PowerTime AnomalyMeteortaking a lot of talents that you don't want to just get to these good talentsyou feel ripped off

Flow of Time - 3/3 for 6% CDR on Shimmer, 10% CDR on Blink.

Cryo-Freeze - 3/3 is 90% health from Ice Block.

Frigid Winds - 3/3 for additional 10% snare.

Diverted Energy - 3/3 is a heal for up to 6% of your health. 30% of the Blazing Barrier damage absorbed as a heal. 30% of a 20% absorb is 6%.

Tempest Barrier - 3/3 for 9% absorb when you Blink.

Improved Frost Nova - 2/2 for 2 more seconds of Frost Nova (Note, Frost Nova was nerfed to last 2 seconds shorter without this talent)

you have very little freedom in choosing the talents you want. Greater InvisibilityTime AnomalyMeteorGreater InvisibilityDragon's BreathMass Polymorphpoint costwhat the talent actually gives youFire Mage Dragonflight Spec TreeView on Dragonflight Talent TreeFire Mage Dragonflight Talents - What’s New?Mastery: IgniteFire BlastMaster of FlameCombustion

Sun King's Blessing - This is the current best legendary for Fire Mage in Shadowlands.

Fiery Rush - This our current 4p tier bonus for Fire Mage in Shadowlands.

Incendiary Eruptions - New concept. Chance to apply Living Bomb to a target when Flame Patch deals damage. 6 second Internal Cooldown (ICD).

Tempered Flames - New concept. Shorter cast time and higher crit chance on Pyroblast at the cost of Combustion uptime. This is an interesting talent because if it is tuned correctly, it could introduce a new playstyle for Fire Mage. This talent would make Sun King's Blessing and Pyroclasm easier to play but also locks you out of Combustion, which means you also lose the Crit to Mastery conversion and additional duration of Combustion. Update: This ability has been buffed from 35% reduction to 40% on Pyroblast and 50% to 40% on reduced Combustion duration with the most recent alpha build (44895).

Improved Scorch - New version of an old talent from classic. This talent increases the amount of damage you do in execute by making Scorch apply a debuff below 30%. Best paired with Searing Touch.

Feel the Burn - Before Infernal Cascade, there was Feel the Burn. This works very similar except that it is harder to keep up due to shorter duration, stacks to 3 instead of 2, and applies outside of Combustion.

Hyperthermia - Same effect as the Shadowlands legendary, Firestorm which itself was inspired by the tier 17 4p bonus from Arcanoshatter Regalia. This talent makes it so consuming Hot Streak has a chance to let us machine-gun fire off Pyroblast and Flamestrike. This is a very fun talent, but it's RNG.

Firemind - Previously an Azerite trait, this gives us a buff that stacks to 6% increased intellect.

From the Ashes - Talent from the Flame On row, this grants additional Mastery per Phoenix Flames and cooldown reduction.

Alexstrasza's Fury - Talent from the Flame On row, this makes Phoenix Flames and Dragon's Breath always crit and Dragon's Breath count towards Hot Streak. Interesting that this talent can be picked without Dragon's Breath.

Controlled Destruction - 10% increased damage above 70% and below 30% in execute. On its own this averages to a 6% damage increase. Further benefit to Searing Touch, Improved Scorch, and Firestarter

Flame Accelerant - Previously a PvP talent, this incentivizes not casting Fireball for extended periods. I assume this is supposed to be used with Tempered Flames.

Combustion Duration - (Tooltip isn't working) This talent gives Combustion Crit to Mastery conversion and an additional 2 second duration. Without this talent Crit becomes an incredibly bad secondary.

Master of Flame - More ignite damage outside of Combustion or 4 additional targets to ignite spread inside Combustion.

Phoenix Reborn - Chance for ignite to make a target take damage. This talent also provides cooldown reduction for Phoenix Flames but it is very likely we will take it even without being able to cast Phoenix Flames due to pathing.

Wildfire - 10% ignite damage. This also gives a Crit buff to allies. Important to note that since this is Crit rating, the Crit buff actually doesn't benefit the Mastery conversion of Combustion at all. I assume this is an oversight.

Sun King's BlessingFlame OnFiery RushPyroclasmFeel the BurnCombustion DurationFiremindFevered IncantationHyperthermiaFirefallFire Mage Dragonflight Talent Tree - First ImpressionsPhoenix FlamesPhoenix RebornSun King's BlessingPhoenix FlamesPyroclasmPyromaniacSun King's BlessingSun King's BlessingPyroclasmPyroblastPyroclasmPyromaniacPyroclasmPyroblastPyroblastKindlingImproved Blazing BarrierFire Mage Dragonflight Talents for Raiding - How Strong is It?Greater InvisibilityCauterizeIce BlockMirror ImageAlter TimeView on Dragonflight Talent Tree

On the class side, we start on the left with Ice Block and put two points into Winter's Protection to grab Mirror Image. We already know that Rune of Power is something we want on the next tier, so we need to pick up either Shatter or Cone of Cold, then Remove Curse and either Spellsteal or Slow. In this case, we go with Shatter and Spellsteal.

With one additional point placed into Invisibility, the next row opens up with Rune of Power. From here, we put two points into Improved Frost Nova to unlock Shimmer and give us a path to Shifting Power, which means two points into Accumulative Shielding (completing this path until we unlock the 20 required row).

Going back up the tree, we slot in Quick Witted, Alter Time, and Mass Polymorph to get access to Tome of Antonidas. Tempest Barrier is the alternative to Mass Polymorph but it costs three points instead of one so I don't see it ever getting picked. After placing our second point into Tome of Antonidas, the final row opens.

We put three points into Frigid Winds for a measly 10% slow, choose either Ring of Frost or Ice Ward and finally we have our first capstone Shifting Power. In order to also get Meteor we have to pick up Master of Time because Temporal Velocity is two points and will have us coming up short in the end. We put three whole points into Diverted Energy for a 6% heal (at best). After spending these points, we finally get access to Dragon's Breath and Meteor.

Quick WittedCounterspellMass PolymorphInvisibilityDragon's BreathMeteorRune of PowerShimmerTome of AntonidasShifting PowerSurging BlazeFlame PatchIncendiary EruptionsHyperthermiaPhoenix FlamesConflagrationPyrotechnicsSearing TouchHot StreakKindlingSun King's BlessingCombustionHyperthermiaKindlingFevered IncantationHyperthermiaView on Dragonflight Talent Tree

A lot of this is similar to the previous example, but since we aren't going for Shifting Power we can avoid a lot of the worst value Frost path nodes.

On the class side, we start on the left with Ice Block and put two points into Winter's Protection to grab Mirror Image. We already know that Rune of Power is something we want on the next tier, so we need to pick up either Shatter or Cone of Cold, then Remove Curse and either Spellsteal or Slow. In this case, we go with Shatter and Spellsteal.

With one additional point placed into Invisibility, the next row opens up with Rune of Power. From here, we put two points into Arcane Warding for a 6% reduction to magic damage taken to unlock Shimmer/Ice Floes. From here we slot Temporal Velocity in order to open the path to both capstones.

Going back up the tree, we slot in Incantation of Swiftness, Alter Time, and Blast Wave to get access to Tome of Antonidas. Tempest Barrier is the alternative to Mass Polymorph/Blast Wave but it costs three points instead of one so I don't see it ever getting picked. After placing our second point into Tome of Antonidas, the final row opens.

It feels bad, but we put three points into Flow of Time to get access to Greater Invisibility then Time Anomaly. Speaking of feeling bad, we have to put three points into Diverted Energy to get access to Dragon's Breath and Meteor. With both of our capstones slotted we have one whole point extra to actually make a utility decision with. I would say "Don't spend it all in one place" but that is exactly what we are doing with it by picking up Master of Time.

Greater InvisibilityMeteorRune of PowerCombustionTome of AntonidasTime AnomalyTime WarpCombustionFire BlastIce FloesPyroblastShimmerIce FloesSludgefistPhoenix FlamesPyroclasmFlame PatchFirefallMeteorFirefallFlame PatchImproved ScorchConclusionGreater InvisibilityImproved ScorchControlled DestructionPhoenix FlamesKindlingPyroclasmPyromaniacPyroblast

Comment by SomaliaControlled Destruction is just a worse version of our current conduit, also called controlled destruction.Comment by BalmakUnintentional typo in the heading nevertheless explains best what Frost mages should do:
]Frost Mage Dragonflight Talents for Raiding - How Strong is It? Comment by BudisCan somebody from blizzard EXPLAIN to me WHY DOES FROST MAGE NEED SHIFTING POWER?Comment by HumtolI believe this is way to sugar coated. The mage class tree is extremly behind other classes in terms of viability, interesting choices and new cool stuff. It is just a huge gap in quality. The spec trees are better, but still way behind other classes.Comment by apedosmilMonk talents when?Comment by charlefineSun King's belongs in the dumpster. All they did with this 'rework' is mash Mage's current legendaries and set together with the same old talents.Comment by ZhyrceFor sure I'm not gonna get scorch. Sound better imo going full FB and combine Kindling, Pyromaniac, FI and FF.Comment by newagesoupI’m really happy with how the fire spec tree worked out. Glad to see Sun King’s Blessing stay, as it has greatly increased how fun this spec plays in raids.

Will there really be situations where we’d leave phoenix flames off the table? If so what would we use to generate hot streaks during combustion outside of fire blast? Would we just use scorch?

I kind of wish they’d let blaster master go and keep infernal cascade. It’s a lot of fun in its current iteration (and very easy to keep at 2 stacks thanks to our current 4p tier set)

I agree with the overall sentiment that the Mage tree is busted though. It’s a bit perplexing why they would gate shifting power behind the frost side. It doesn’t even do very much for frost…

Here’s hoping they make some great iterations of the mage tree, as well as improving the spec trees of our frost and arcane brethren. I will probably always play fire unless it’s total doodoo, but it’s nice to see a variety of mage specs being played during progression.Comment by PreheatUnintentional typo in the heading nevertheless explains best what Frost mages should do:
]Frost Mage Dragonflight Talents for Raiding - How Strong is It? Comment by PreheatImagine sweating off to make this post whene there is no way that mage will be realised in this state. And if it will nobody will care about this post because nobody will play this specComment by PreheatI’m really happy with how the fire spec tree worked out. Glad to see Sun King’s Blessing stay, as it has greatly increased how fun this spec plays in raids.

Will there really be situations where we’d leave phoenix flames off the table? If so what would we use to generate hot streaks during combustion outside of fire blast? Would we just use scorch?

I kind of wish they’d let blaster master go and keep infernal cascade. It’s a lot of fun in its current iteration (and very easy to keep at 2 stacks thanks to our current 4p tier set)

I agree with the overall sentiment that the Mage tree is busted though. It’s a bit perplexing why they would gate shifting power behind the frost side. It doesn’t even do very much for frost…

Here’s hoping they make some great iterations of the mage tree, as well as improving the spec trees of our frost and arcane brethren. I will probably always play fire unless it’s total doodoo, but it’s nice to see a variety of mage specs being played during progression.Comment by RodrigoLeafThis many not be a meta build, but the fact that now I can really do my desired "On the Move" Fire Mag is a dream :D

The idea is very simple: Screw standing still to cast and just move around. With 3 charges of both Fire Blast and Phoenix Flames, and Scorch that can be casted while moving, there's no need to stop for other spells xD

Alextrasza's Fury and Improvedd Fire Blast make sure you can proc Hot Streak with just those two spells, very reliably, so you don't have to stop to cast Pyroblast or Flamestrike.

Phoenix Reborn and Fiery Rush help you getting more charges of PF/FB, and Time Anomaly also can grant you both, a Fire Blast charge and 5 sec of Combustion (which means 10 sec off CD for Phoenix/Blast :P)

"Ehhh, but you need your ignite to do damage, so you need to stop to cast Fireball..."
ICE FLOES BABY! :D
And since the focus is to cast Fireball sporadically, you can take full advantage of Tinder by insta-casting it every 8 secs with extra damage :D

That said, this is my build. If someone wants to test it, please XD
https://www.wowhead.com/beta/talent-calc/mage/fire/BNFEGBUHQoGDxRQBFMVVRIYUWYGECFCVAComment by fidelkasproDo u think Fire Mages play's agains crit/mastery stat?
Combust. no longer proc. mastery and Fire Mage no have mastery boost from spell.Comment by lordhegemonI'm curious if a Tempered Flames build will be viable for raiding.Comment by ApprI think the problem I have with fire, and the mage class in general, is that I disagree with Blizzard's intended design direction for the class as a whole and fire as a spec.

The Mage trees in Dragonflight are focused on offering new talents to explore, supporting underrepresented archetypes and builds, and allowing for cross-specialization abilities. We want Mages to feel like they aren’t limited to their primary school of magic, and with enough commitment, they are capable of harnessing powerful abilities from a variety of different magic sources at once.Comment by DichotomyFire looks to be solid but I still see 2 problems:

-Flamestrike as our aoe filler spell is still a 3.5 second hardcast that does not interact whatsoever with our main mechanic heating up and hot streak, lame :l
-Critical mass seems to be saturating fire's crit needs and not buffing up crit scaling enough... again, historically fire mages haven't cared at all about getting crit on gear the last few years because of this (and the bad combustion crit>mastery conversion), this kind of sucks because besides haste critical strike is the stat that transforms our gameplay the most but it is also a stat we don't really want.Comment by LaikahI can't wait to turn all enemy players into sheeps!Comment by high3ndI think the problem I have with fire, and the mage class in general, is that I disagree with Blizzard's intended design direction for the class as a whole and fire as a spec.

Being limited to a school of magic hasn't been a huge problem for the class at any point in its history. What has been the main problem is that Blizzard replaced the original nuker design (i.e. stand still and wait for fireball to cast and get rewarded with a wallop of damage) with something that emphasizes the worst aspects of the original design (all your damage tied up in CDs, like ye olde Arcane Power build from Vanilla, which was literally the worst feeling build I ever played). In other words, they took something that was good and turned it into a piece of hot garbage.

The only fire spell that feels good to cast is Fire Blast. The rest feel awful. Fireball, Scorch, Pyroblast, all feel awful and like a waste of my time to press. Fireball needs to be a good spell that is worth casting on its own because it deals good damage; not something whose primary purpose is to crit fish with so you can proc Heating Up. Pyroblast doesn't feel good unless it crits. Scorch needs to be useful outside of execute windows.

Really, I guess now that I am thinking about it, the main problem with fire is that unless you are landing crits all the time the spec feels bad to play. This is evidence of bad design. You should not need to crit all the time for a spec to feel good. The spec should feel good without crits, crits should just enhance the fun. The current design does not work that way. With the current design you have to crit all the time in order for things to not feel bad.

The devs had the perfect opportunity with this tree to at least give us the option of playing an old school nuker style of mage that had more consistent damage at the cost of burst damage and they didn't take advantage of it. For someone like me, who will probably be playing mage as an alt, it will probably work just fine for soloing and farming and many of the other activities I would do (perhaps low key level M+). I rarely, if ever, use Combustion when soloing on my mage. It is too powerful of an ability for the mobs that I am usually fighting when soloing. I would very much welcome a harder hitting base rotation for soloing over the burst damage of Combustion.

I guess I am just disappointed that all they did with this tree was double down on the existing design instead of branching out and actually offering viable alternative playstyles.Comment by KanariyaI think the problem I have with fire, and the mage class in general, is that I disagree with Blizzard's intended design direction for the class as a whole and fire as a spec.

Being limited to a school of magic hasn't been a huge problem for the class at any point in its history. What has been the main problem is that Blizzard replaced the original nuker design (i.e. stand still and wait for fireball to cast and get rewarded with a wallop of damage) with something that emphasizes the worst aspects of the original design (all your damage tied up in CDs, like ye olde Arcane Power build from Vanilla, which was literally the worst feeling build I ever played). In other words, they took something that was good and turned it into a piece of hot garbage.

The only fire spell that feels good to cast is Fire Blast. The rest feel awful. Fireball, Scorch, Pyroblast, all feel awful and like a waste of my time to press. Fireball needs to be a good spell that is worth casting on its own because it deals good damage; not something whose primary purpose is to crit fish with so you can proc Heating Up. Pyroblast doesn't feel good unless it crits. Scorch needs to be useful outside of execute windows.

Really, I guess now that I am thinking about it, the main problem with fire is that unless you are landing crits all the time the spec feels bad to play. This is evidence of bad design. You should not need to crit all the time for a spec to feel good. The spec should feel good without crits, crits should just enhance the fun. The current design does not work that way. With the current design you have to crit all the time in order for things to not feel bad.

The devs had the perfect opportunity with this tree to at least give us the option of playing an old school nuker style of mage that had more consistent damage at the cost of burst damage and they didn't take advantage of it. For someone like me, who will probably be playing mage as an alt, it will probably work just fine for soloing and farming and many of the other activities I would do (perhaps low key level M+). I rarely, if ever, use Combustion when soloing on my mage. It is too powerful of an ability for the mobs that I am usually fighting when soloing. I would very much welcome a harder hitting base rotation for soloing over the burst damage of Combustion.

I guess I am just disappointed that all they did with this tree was double down on the existing design instead of branching out and actually offering viable alternative playstyles.Comment by lightblademcCan somebody from blizzard EXPLAIN to me WHY DOES FROST MAGE NEED SHIFTING POWER?