Mage

The mage is World of Warcraft's master of arcane, fire and frost magic: a cloth-wearing caster who deals heavy damage from range, freezes and transforms enemies, and conjures food and water out of thin air. In Classic (patch 1.12) mages were among the strongest damage dealers in raids, the fastest farmers of dungeons, and the travel agents of Azeroth, opening portals to the capital cities for anyone who asked.

Role and identity

A mage kills from range with three schools of magic. Fire spells such as Fireball and Fire Blast hit hardest; frost spells such as Frostbolt, Frost Nova and Cone of Cold slow and freeze enemies; arcane spells such as Arcane Missiles and Arcane Explosion fill the gaps. Mages are fragile, wearing only cloth, so they rely on keeping enemies away: rooting them with Frost Nova, slipping out of reach with Blink, or turning one into a harmless sheep with Polymorph.

Mages also serve everyone around them. Arcane Intellect raises intellect, Conjure Water and Conjure Food create free water and food, Remove Lesser Curse removes curses, and from level 20 the mage can teleport itself to its faction's capital cities with spells such as Teleport: Stormwind or Teleport: Orgrimmar. At level 40 it can open portals that take its whole group along.

Races

Mages in Classic could be humans or gnomes on the Alliance, and undead or trolls on the Horde. Gnomes' Expansive Mind raised their intellect, undead could break fear and charm with Will of the Forsaken, and trolls' Berserking briefly sped up their casting.

Talent trees

Mages earn 51 talent points by level 60. They can be planned with our talent calculator.

• Arcane improves mana, resistances and arcane spells. It has Presence of Mind, which makes the next spell instant, and its 31-point talent is Arcane Power, which raises spell damage at the cost of more mana. Many mages took points in Arcane for its mana talents whatever their main tree.
• Fire improves fire damage and critical strikes. It has Pyroblast, a slow and powerful opener, the Ignite talent, which adds damage after a critical strike, and its 31-point talent is Combustion.
• Frost improves frost damage and control. It has Cold Snap, which resets frost cooldowns, and Ice Block, which makes the mage immune to everything for ten seconds, and its 31-point talent is Ice Barrier, a shield that absorbs damage.

Leveling

Most mages leveled as Frost, which slows enemies so that they die before they reach the mage. Their great advantage is free food and water: a mage never pays for drink and rarely waits long between fights. From the late 20s many mages also learned to pull large groups of monsters, gather them with Frost Nova and Cone of Cold, and kill them all with Blizzard and Arcane Explosion, a technique called AoE grinding that later became the standard way to farm dungeons.

Key spells by level

Class quests

Mages learn their key spells, Polymorph and Conjure Water among them, from their trainers rather than through quests. Their class quests mostly reward gear:

• Robes (level 15 and 26). Mage trainers send players to collect materials for robes such as Manaweave Robe, Spellfire Robes and later Astral Knot Garment.
• Wands and orbs (level 30 to 40). Journey to the Marsh sends mages to Tabetha in Dustwallow Marsh, whose chains end in Mage's Wand, a choice of three wands, and Celestial Power.
• Magecraft (level 52). Magecraft begins a chain that ends with Destroy Morphaz in the Sunken Temple.
• Other forms of Polymorph. Archmage Xylem, a reclusive archmage in Azshara, teaches Polymorph: Pig through [[forever:quest:9364]]. [[forever:item:22739]] drops from Gahz'ranka in Zul'Gurub.
• Atiesh. In Naxxramas, mages could assemble the legendary Atiesh through [[forever:quest:9270]].

In raids

Mages were among the most numerous classes in Classic raids, and among the best damage dealers. In Molten Core most bosses and monsters resist fire, so mages there cast Frostbolt; in Blackwing Lair and later raids, Fire builds became more common, since a raid's mages could share the Improved Scorch debuff and Ignite. Mages had more to do than deal damage: they removed curses, which was vital on fights such as Lucifron and Shazzrah in Molten Core, polymorphed humanoid helpers, kept Arcane Intellect on the casters and handed out water before every pull.

Their limit was mana. A raid mage casting at full speed runs dry in a few minutes, so mages leaned on Evocation, mana gems and potions to last through long fights.

In PvP

A skilled mage controls a fight. Frost Nova roots melee enemies, Blink escapes stuns and roots, Polymorph removes one opponent for a time, and Counterspell locks a healer out of its spells. Frost mages could freeze an enemy and then hit it with Frostbolt and Cone of Cold for heavy critical strikes, while Arcane mages used Presence of Mind and Pyroblast for a sudden burst. Ice Block saves a mage from almost certain death. Mages were also the first targets of rogues, since they cannot survive long once caught.

Tier sets

See Tier Sets for how each set drops.

• Tier 0: Magister's Regalia, such as [Magister's Robes].
• Tier 1: Arcanist Regalia from Molten Core, such as [Arcanist Crown].
• Tier 2: Netherwind Regalia from Blackwing Lair, such as [Netherwind Crown].
• Tier 3: Frostfire Regalia from Naxxramas, such as [[forever:item:22496]].

Trivia

• Mages in capital cities were constantly asked for free water and portals, and many charged a tip for a portal ride.
• Jaina Proudmoore and her teacher Archmage Antonidas are the best-known mages of the lore.
• Polymorph's sheep became a symbol of the class, and later expansions added many other animals for it.

Later history

The Burning Crusade gave mages Spellsteal, Ice Lance and Invisibility, a Water Elemental for Frost, and portals to Shattrath, and blood elves and draenei joined the class. Later updates turned conjured food and water into Ritual of Refreshment, a table of mana biscuits the whole raid could take from, which ended the old routine of handing out water one stack at a time. Mage tables, portals and polymorph variants have stayed part of the class ever since.

Sources

• Mage (Classic) on Warcraft Wiki
• Polymorph on Warcraft Wiki