PvE Fire Mage DPS

Fire Mages in Mists of Pandaria are powerful casters with an affinity for burning enemies with continuous fiery spells. Their gameplay revolves around generating and managing Heating Up, unleashing enormous Pyroblasts, and manipulating time to develop the highest possible Combustion. Their dynamic playstyle is suited for both dungeon & raid environments, providing a competitive experience for most players.

In this guide, we’ll cover every aspect of a Fire Mage, ranging from playstyle to gearing to quick tips & tricks so you can tackle the end game and top of the Damage Meters!

Some significant changes occurred to Fire Mages in Mists of Pandaria, despite them keeping up the core of their gameplay with Heating Up and Pyroblast! They gained spells from the other Schools of Magic, now having access to Deep Freeze, Shatter, and even Ice Lance, in addition to their normal kit.

The specialization is way smoother, with a much more dynamic playstyle that allows them to churn out Pyroblast casts on repeat, no longer being tied to critical strikes for generating Ignite procs. Ignite triggers automatically from any direct damage spell, including Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, Scorch, and Pyroblast. In addition, Combustion was entirely overhauled, now functioning as both a direct stun/damage effect and a DoT. It only requires Ignite to be active on the target for the DoT effect to trigger.

Critical Mass has been reworked as a permanently active effect. At the same time, Pyromania is a new passive that is instantly added to the target whenever either Living Bomb or Nether Tempest is cast, further increasing the Fire Damage taken by the target.

The most impactful changes come from new abilities such as Alter Time, Rune of Power, and Presence of Mind. Thanks to the overhauled Talent System and new spells, they can now effectively create a very long burst sequence, significantly enhancing the duration of any beneficial effect by snapshotting them with Alter Time.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

• Amazing Damage Output
  Fire Mages enjoy a far better damage output in Mists of Pandaria, especially considering the changes to Ignite & Combustion and the addition of mechanics such as Rune of Power & Alter Time. When mastered and played correctly, they can generate tremendous numbers, rapidly climbing onto the top spots of the damage meters.

• Amazing Defensive & UtIity Cooldowns
  Mists of Pandaria adds an entire arsenal of Defensive & Utility cooldowns through the revamped Talent System & Spells, bringing abilities such as Ice Barrier, Temporal Shield, Cauterize, Cold Snap, and Greater Invisibility into the mix.

• Smoother Playstyle
  Due to many quality-of-life improvements, such as Ignite nearly always being active, Combustion being far more potent and easy to use, or Inferno Blast quickly spreading DoTs, Fire Mages are much simpler to play casually. However, the specialization has a complicated burst sequence that can easily be messed up if not mastered.

Weaknesses

• Stat & Gear Dependent
  Fire Mages suffer from the same plight that all Caster Specializations have in Mists of Pandaria: a heavy dependency on proper gear and stat itemization. Due to this, until proper values of Critical Strike Chance and Haste are acquired, the specialization feels clunky and underwhelming at first.

• Not Beginner Friendly
  While Fire Mage gameplay has been made much smoother for casual players, those who wish to master the specialization truly have to min-max their movement entirely and follow complicated cast sequences during Alter Time to optimize their damage output fully.

Best Races

While racial effects were extremely important in previous versions of WoW, their importance has been reduced overall in MoP Classic. The effects now act as slight bonuses instead of actual game-changing mechanics. Trolls are the only ones that retain a powerful cooldown that boosts DPS considerably for Fire Mage, namely Berserking. At the same time, other races only offer slight bonuses such as a 1% increased Hit Chance, Haste, or Critical Strike Chance.

Horde

The best race for a Fire Mage in the Horde is the Troll with Berserking, followed by the Goblin, thanks to Time is Money, which gives Haste, and the Orc with Blood Fury.

• Troll: Berserking, Da Voodoo Shuffle, Regeneration, Beast Slaying, Bow Specialization, Throwing Specialization.
• Goblin: Time is Money, Rocket Barrage, Rocket Jump, Best Deals Anywhere, Better Living Through Chemistry, Pack Hobgoblin.
• Pandaren: Bouncy, Epicurean, Gourmand, Inner Peace, Quaking Palm.
• Orc: Blood Fury, Axe Specialization, Hardiness, Command.
• Blood Elf: Arcane Torrent, Arcane Resistance, Arcane Affinity.
• Undead: Will of the Forsaken, Cannibalize, Shadow Resistance, Underwater Breathing.

Alliance

The best Alliance race for Fire Mage is Worgen with Viciousness., followed by Draenei with Heroic Presence.

• Gnome: Shortblade Specialization, Engineering Specialization, Escape Artist, Expansive Mind, Arcane Resistance.
• Draenei: Gift of the Naaru, Heroic Presence, Shadow Resistance, Gemcutting.
• Worgen: Darkflight, Flayer, Viciousness, Aberration.
• Human: Sword Specialization, Mace Specialization, Will to Survive, The Human Spirit, Diplomacy.
• Dwarf: Stoneform, Explorer, Mace Specialization, Gun Specialization, Frost Resistance.
• Pandaren: Bouncy, Epicurean, Gourmand, Inner Peace, Quaking Palm.
• Night Elf: Elusiveness, Quickness, Shadowmeld, Wisp Spirit, Nature Resistance.