Mortox
OG
UPDATED FOR PATCH 3.2 NOW
Sections:
1. Races
2. Gear
3. Enchants
4. Talents
5. Per Class Strategies
6. Armory links
7. Macros
8. Glyphs
INTRODUCTION:
The reason I am creating this guide is quite simple : I Love mages and I think that most people don't actually consider Mages when it comes to 39 twinking , however I think Mage is the most exciting class to play .
1. RACES
Horde:
Undead: Awesome mage race. Will of The Forsaken is essential against priests, warlocks, and warriors. Cannibalize is nice for a quick health recovery.
Blood elf: Very good mage race. Extra intellect to begin with, Arcane Totrrent ,an AoE 2 sec silence, excellent against other casters. At 39, Arcane Torrent gives around 284 mana.
Troll: Berserking ,Regeneration is not bad to have either. Both racials are decent but not game breaking.
Alliance:
Human: Possibly the best mage race now. Perception is now passive, but most importantly you now have a 2 min pvp trinket on demand , freeing up another trinket slot for an extra goodie.
Gnome: Excellent mage race. Escape Artist is invaluable against melee such as shammies, warriors, and rogues. 5% more intellect is very nice.10 arcane resistance and +15 engineering skills are almost usless, but nice to have.The added benefiets to being a gnome include : Pity kills , increased DPS because nobody can see you and and unluckily you become every Hordies prime target to kill because of the sweet noise you make when killed
Draenei: GOTN gives the mage a healing ability (745 HP over 15 sec at 39), which is always nice to have for every class. 1% spell hit gives you slightly less chance to be resisted and an increase in overall DPS.
2. GEAR
Head:
1: [Green Lens] of Fiery /Frozen Wrath. ( + 36 )
2: [Green Lens] of the Eagle.
*This lens is extremely rare due to the fact that it is no longer able to be made .
3: [Green Lens] of Arcane Wrath.
* For our arcane mages out there.
4:[Miner's Hat of the Deep].
*Another rare one , but awesome to balance stats out .
5: [Whitemanes Chapeau]
* Nowadays this is almost as good as an eagle lense .
Neck:
1. [Pulsating Crystalline Shard]
* Probably your best choice as far as Necks are concerned .
2. [Glowing Eye of Mordresh]
* Nice added Crit and a little SP to go with it.
3. [Necklace of Calisea]
* Again good for a balanced set.
Shoulder:
1. [Mantle of Doan]
*Best Balanced shoulders for any build. 9 hit rating reduces the chance that enemy will resist your spells by 1.89% . A resisted sheep / frost nova at a critical time can sometimes mean the difference between a win and a loss .
2. [Bloodmage Mantle]
*Nice Int / Crit shoulders.
3. [Tattered Dredmist Mantle] The new Best in slot Mage shoulders .
Back:
1. [Caretaker's Cape]
*Top cloak for stats .
2. Cloak of Fiery / Frozen Wrath
*No stats apart from pure + dmg
3. 6/7 Cloak of the Eagle
*Again a balanced Cloak .
Chest:
1. [Robes of the Lich]
* Awesome stats and some free crit too.
2. [Robe of the Magi]
*Less Crit / stats but gives a decent amount of SP .
Wrist:
1. [Bloodband Bracers]
*Great balanced item with some decent int and a little stam .
2. 6/7 Eagle Bands
*Balanced stam / int .
3. Wrist of Fiery / Frozen Wrath
*Again no stats but a decent amount of pure + SP .
Weapon:
1. [Staff of Jordan]
*With Sunfire/Soulfrost it is the Best staff a mage can get for pure SP .
2. [Celestial Stave]
*A worthy alternative weapon if you can’t afford SoJ, Some int , nice SP and best of all its free.
3. [Sacrificial Kris] of Fiery Wrath + Modresh’s Lifeless Skull
*Good Mh/Oh combo for some extra stam and spell damage.
4. [Dignified Headmasters Charge] . Boosted in 3.1 to become seriosuly good .
Wands:
1. [Ragefire Wand] /[Icefury Wand]
*Some int with good damage. Obtainable at lvl 30 through a quest chain.
2. [Janias Firestarter]
*Nice balanced wand .
3. [Freezing Shard]
*Some extra frost dmg .
Gloves:
1. [Revelosh's Gloves] of the Eagle
*The best balanced gloves for any spec and awesome for arena .
2. [Revelosh's Gloves] of Fiery Wrath (+19)
*Some extra +fire and also a little stam , hard to get but nice to have .
3.[Revelosh's Gloves] of Healing .
* Nice Sp and a little stam to boot !
4. [Black Mageweave Gloves]
* For those of you waiting for Revelosh
Waist:
1. [Deathmage Sash]
*One of the best belts any mage could possibly ask for . Great stats !
2. [Defiler's Cloth Girdle]
2.Of fiery wrath
*For your pure + fire set
Legs:
1. [Necromancer Leggings]
*Hands down the best 39 legs a Mage could get . Slap a Leg Armour on and you are good to go !
2. Pants of Fiery Wrath
*Again no stats other than pure + SP.
Feet:
1. [AB Boots]
* The best all round stats that we need .
2. 9/9 Eagle Boots
* For + 12 stam / surefooted depending on what you enchanted your AB boots with .
Fingers:
1. [Underworld Band]
*The best stats ring you can find nowadays. Get 2 of these puppies for best results .
2. [Golden Ring of Power]
*A nicely Balanced ring.
3. [Deadman's Hand]
*This is a very good ring , even though it is a lvl 29 item , the 10 stam and chance to freeze is just too imba to pass up , especially for frost mages .
4. [Aquamarine Signet] of the Eagle
*Balanced ring again .
4. TRINKETS :
1. [Defiler's Talisman]
*Great when versing those pesky melee classes .
2. [Figurine - Golden Hare]
*Great little trinket from JC , No new snares for 6 seconds ? yes please !
3. [Gnomish Death Ray]
*AKA Pocket Death ! This little baby has gotten me outta some tight oom situations a few times
4. [Arena Grand Master]
*+- 1.2k DMG absorb ? Yes plz ! One of the must have trinkets for a mage .
5. [Philosopher's Stone]
*Extra stats stats,but needs alchemy to be used .
6. [Jade Owl]
* Another awesome JC trinket that is a Must have for some extra Int .
7. [Nifty Stopwatch]
*Sprint on demand.
8. [Insignia]
*The good old faithful pvp trinket .
9. [Tidal Charm]
*My personal favourite trinket at 39 because of its many many uses , the CD is a bit long on it so use it wisely .
3. ENCHANTS
Enchants are tricky as some people prefer high stam , some prefer hit and some (Like me) prefer balanced stats . My advice would be to choose the one that suits your play style the best .
Chest:
1. [Exceptional Health] : +150 HP
2. [Exceptional Stats] : + 6 all stats.
Cloak:
1. [Major Armor] : + 120 armor (about 1.2% physical damage reduction)
2. [Spell Penetration] : + 20 spell penetration
Bracer:
1. [Major Intellect] : + 12 intellect
2. [Fortitude] : + 12 stamina
3. [Spell Power] : + 15 spell power
Weapon:
1. [Sunfire] : +50 fire/arcane spell power
2. [Soulfrost] :+ 54 frost, shadow spell power.
3. [Major Spell Power]: + 40 spell power
Gloves:
1. [Spell Power] : +20 spell power.
2. [Precise Strikes] : + 15 hit rating (3.15% at 39). Very Very useful enchant .Do not underestimate the importance of hit !!! In the long run it will make up around the same DPS increase as + 20 SP will .
Pants:
1. [Rugged Armor Kit]
Boots:
1. [Surefooted] : + 10 hit and + 10 crit rating .
2. [Fortitude] : + 12 stamina.
Here is a pure + fire dmg set i threw together for a little Glass Cannon Pwnage
Head : + 36 fire lens
Neck : [Pulsating Crystalline Shard]
Shoulder : + Fire or Frost
Back : +14 fire (20 Spell Pen)
Chest : Robe of the Magi ( + 6 stats )
Wrist : + 14 fire ( +15 SP )
Gloves : + 20 fire ( + 20 SP )
Waist : + 20 fire
Legs : +27 fire
Feet : + 17 fire(Surefooted)
Rings : Underworld Band X2
Wep : Staff of Jordan (Sunfire)
Wand : Lady Falther'ess' Finger / Jania's Firestarter
Trinkets : BOA Spell Power trinkets .
The above set is literally an all out glass cannon pure + fire dmg . In this set I have around + 400 fire dmg but seriously gimped HP/Mana and crit
Other sets will leave you just over 2.2k HP while still having + 250 fire dmg and 3k mana (My Personal pref
) **For a FC set basically look for all the ''of stamina'' gear you can find.
4. TALENTS :
Of the 3 Available talent trees for you to choose from (Arcane/Fire/Frost) my advice to you would be to pick the one that you are most comfortable playing and one that suits your playstyle the most .
Do you like to have amazing control all the time as well as sick burst ? then I would recommend a Frost build .
Do you like massive Burst dmg and a little less survivability but another Interrupt ? then I would recommend Fire spec.
Do you like a challenge ? Or do you like to play a spec not many others play ? Try Arcane out ! Its just as versatile as Fire/Frost but less used in favor of more mainstream abilities .
Fire Builds :
0 / 30 / 0 : Normal Build for fire mages .
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#oZbe0fRh0uf:dmZo
0 / 27 / 3 : My current build for a little added survivability.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#oZbe0fRh0ubZh:dmZo
Frost Builds :
0 / 0 / 30 : Standard Frost build.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#oZZAIz0obuhf:mbZo
Arcane Builds :
30 / 0 / 0 : Bread and butter arcane spec.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#oMe0fzr0zLG:mzZo
25 / 5 / 0 : Imp fireball for arcane / fire spec .
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#ocg0rzrzzbZbx:mbZo
5. PER CLASS STRATEGIES :
Druid : Versus a decently played Resto / Balance druid it is almost impossible to beat them unless you get lucky with a few crits or they are alone and you can concentrate on them fully , interrupting heals and applying max pressure to them at all times .
Versus a Feral its is more or less like a mix between a warrior/rogue fight without the interrupts . Save blink for bear form stun / charge .
Hunter : Another very tricky class to beat as a 39 mage . In a perfect scenario , keep your mana shield up just until you can land a sheep on the hunter , use your Mana Jade , then get a Fireball off and pray for crits . A well played hunter will almost always destroy a well played mage , especially if he remembers to use Viper Sting . Another small help here is to nova his pet while you can and always try to stay as close as you can . Iceblock when you are out of options / to get a tactical advantage.
Mage : Pretty simple really , 90 % of bad mages will try to get a sheep off on you without fake casting . Lock down their Arcane tree to avoid a bad start . Also if you prefer more controly , start with Fireblast,then switch to arcane spells (If you are fire/frost) , hopefully the other mage will fall for it and CS your arcane tree leaving you free to chain cast or in the very least get some DMG down . Very important to keep your Wards up whenever you can .
Paladin : For me this is an easy win if they are Ret/Prot but its a little more difficult if they are Holy and are fake casting constantly . What I like to do is to Sheep them while they are using HOF so I have a little more control on the fight . Save your CS for a Holy Light when they are quite low , when they bubble to bandage / heal its your que to get safe and Evocate some mana back . Fire mages have a slightly easier time with holy pallies due to Blastwave .
Priest : A Holy / Disc priest is the bane of your existence . More so than a warlock they are basically your arch enemy with Mana burn and massive Holy Fire crits . Even if you CS their Holy tree you must still deal with their Shadow tree . Nasty fight . Try to counterspell their holy tree and avoid mana burns if possible .
Rogue : A very easy fight 90 % of the time . IB on their Garrote + Rupture bleeds unless you enjoy being OOM with your mana shield up . Save your trinket for blinds and keep on them at all times .
Shaman : Enhance is quite easy to down , tho the other 2 specs are far from a walk in the park . A resto shammy or an Ele shammy can easily out heal your Damage and stay at full mana thanks to their imba mana shield . For a Resto shammy just keep the pressure up always and try to get a CS off at the right time . Also watch out for Grounding Totems at all times (Wand ftw).
Warlock : A 50/50 Fight . If you time your Cs for fear , keep your Fire Ward up at all times and CS a Drainlife you should be able to live through it with a crit or 2 . Keep IB ready for incase you manage to get Feared/ spell locked while loaded up with Dots . If the lock is skilled its a Very hard fight for you and will require alot of timing to get right . Also keep Removing any Curses with Remove Curse as often as you can .
Warrior : Ah poor warriors . Easier than Rogues but a handy tip is NEVER blink on a charge , save it for Intercept so they have no way to get near you .Keep your Shield up as much as you can and enjoy a rather easy fight .
6. ARMORY :
[char=eu-Silvermoon]Firemover[/char] (My Mage ) Fire Spec.
7. MACROS :
*Counterspell :
#showtooltip Counterspell
/stopcasting
/cast Counterspell
*Polymorph :
/cast Polymorph
/stopmacro [noexists] [dead] [help]
/p Sheeping %t. Dont touch my sheep !
*Sheep Focus :
showtooltip [target=focus,harm] [] Polymorph
/stopcasting
/clearfocus [modifier:shift][target=focus,dead][target=focus,noexists]
/focus [target=focus,noexists]
/cast [target=focus] Polymorph
There are a few more but those should do just fine
8. GLYPHS
1 . [Glyph of Evocation] .An absolute must have.
2. [Glyph of Fire Blast] Situational / pref glyph
3 . [Glyph of Improved Scorch] Great for the Fire mages among us .
4. [Glyph of Polymorph] Got a partner that loves dotting everything that moves ? Then this is the perfect glyph for you !
5. [Glyph of Remove Curse] Great when you are facing locks tho its not widely used .
6. [Glyph of Slowfall] Easy choice for a free Slowfall
Thanks for looking at my 39 mage Guide .
Firemover.
