Fire Mages are a very solid choice in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight if you’re looking for a good ranged DPS or a fun leveling spec. Not exactly one of the best specs for PvP, though, at least for now. Just like all the other specs, Fire Mages received a number of tweaks and changes going into Dragonflight, but they still play very similarly to how they used to play in Shadowlands. No point trying to fix something that wasn’t broken, right?
Having said that, if you’re new to World of Warcraft or haven’t played in a while, it’s a good idea to go over the basics of playing a Fire Mage before jumping into Dragonflight. One of the most important things to keep in mind as you’re leveling and/or acquiring new gear is stat priority. Even though you’ll naturally increase all your stats over time simply by equipping better items, you’ll find out quickly enough that some stats are more important than others when playing a Fire Mage in Dragonflight.
Items aside, you can boost your stats even further with consumables. These include things like food, potions, and runes. There are tons of new consumables available in Dragonflight and, as always, you can either craft them yourself, buy them off the auction house, or sometimes receive them as a quest reward. The very best consumables can usually only be acquired via crafting, though.
Fire Mage Stat Priority
- Intellect
- Haste
- Mastery
- Versatility
- Critical Strike
Intellect
Intellect is the most important stat for Fire and other Mage specs, as well as spellcasters in general. The stat increases the power of your spells and is usually tied to item level. The higher the level, the more Intellect it will have. Most Mage items have Intellect as one of their primary stats.
Haste
Haste increases the speed of your spellcasting, as well as your attack speed with weapons, but you don’t have to worry about that last part. Haste is a Fire Mage’s second most important stat primarily due to Combustion. The more haste you have, the most spells you can cast while Combustion is active.
Mastery
Mastery dictates the amount of damage over time you inflict with Fire-based spells. WoW uses a passive ability called Ignite to determine the exact amount, which is a percentage of the direct damage caused by your spells. The more mastery you have, the higher the percentage
Versatility
Versatility increases your damage output while also reducing the amount of damage you take. It also increases healing done, but you don’t have to worry about that if you’re playing a Fire Mage. Versatility is a very important stat in PvP but is not something you’ll want to prioritize for any other type of content.
Critical Strike
Critical strike is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. The stat increases your chances of dealing critical damage with your spells and determines how often you’ll get a Hot Streak, which allows you to instantly cast Pyroblast and Flamestrike. This isn’t necessarily a bad stat per se for Fire Mages, but it’s not a very reliable one either. Besides, you’ll come across a disproportionate number of items that have critical strike anyway, so there’s no need to prioritize the stat over others.
Best Potions For Fire Mages
If we’re talking potions, the best of the bunch is undoubtedly the Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power. The potion only lasts for 30 seconds, but it increases your primary stat by a significant amount.
The best healing potions for Fire Mages are the Refreshing Healing Potion and the Potion of Withering Vitality. That last one comes with a nasty side effect that damages you for the same amount it heals over a period of 15 seconds. You can use Alter Time to counteract the downside to a certain degree. Ice Block is another good option. Then again, if you’re using Ice Block you may not need the potion depending on how you set up your talents.
There’s another interesting potion in Dragonflight called Delicate Suspension of Spores, which can only be used when you’re dead. Sounds weird, I know. The potion increases the amount of health you’ll have upon being revived. Needless to say, you’ll want to use something like that only when you’re in a party.
Best Phials For Fire Mages
Dragonflight also introduced a bunch of new phials you can play around with. Two of the best ones for Fire Mages right now are the Phial of Elemental Chaos and the Phial of Glacial Fury, both of which will increase your damage output. Meanwhile, the Iced Phial of Corrupting Rage is a pretty good option for both offense and defense.
Best Food For Fire Mages
In terms of food, you can never go wrong with Timely Demise or the Aromatic Seafood Platter. If you’re in a feasting mood, you should go for the Grand Banquet of the Kalu’ak or the Hoard of Draconic Delicacies. All of these foods will increase a stat for one hour in addition to healing you.
Best Runes For Fire Mages
Finally, there are a couple of runes you’ll want to keep an eye on during your adventures across the Dragon Isles. First off, you have Draconic Augment Runes, which can be used to increase your Intellect for one hour. Then, you have Howling Runes that can be used to increase your Haste for up to two hours, but can only be applied to melee weapons.