Fire Mage DPS Artifact Talents/Traits and Relics (Legion 7.2.5)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 4. Strengths
  • 5. Weaknesses
  • 6. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resources
  • 3. Your Mastery
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. Basic Abilities
  • 6. DPS Cooldowns
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
      • 2.1.1. Single Target
      • 2.1.2. Intermittent Cleave
      • 2.1.3. Heavy Cleave/AOE (Stacked)
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• ×Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression — First 35 Points
    • 1.1. Early Point Investment
    • 1.2. Second Golden Trait
    • 1.3. Final Point Investment
  • 2. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path
  • 3. Relic Choice
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Ability Priority List
  • 2. Important Notes
    • 2.1. Effectively Creating Crit Trains
      • 2.1.1. Spells That Do Not Trigger or Cancel Heating Up
    • 2.2. Phoenix's Flames
    • 2.3. Flamestrike Usage
    • 2.4. Rune of Power
    • 2.5. Blazing Barrier
    • 2.6. Scorch
  • 3. Core Concepts
    • 3.1. Combustion Usage
    • 3.2. Critical Strike Chains
    • 3.3. Movement Management
      • 3.3.1. Quiet Movement
  • 4. Opening Sequence
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
    • 2.1. Statistics Explanations
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Addons
    • 1.1. ElvUI
    • 1.2. Weak Auras
    • 1.3. Boss Mods
      • 1.3.1. BigWigs Bossmods
      • 1.3.2. Deadly Boss Mods
    • 1.4. Name Plates
      • 1.4.1. KUI Nameplates
      • 1.4.2. TidyPlates
    • 1.5. Damage Meters
      • 1.5.1. Skada
      • 1.5.2. Details
    • 1.6. Extra AddOns
      • 1.6.1. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.6.2. DeathNote
      • 1.6.3. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.6.4. Angry Assignments
  • 2. Macros
    • 2.1. Generic Macros for Mages
      • 2.1.1. Stopcast Blink
      • 2.1.2. 1-Button Block
      • 2.1.3. Block Cancel
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 20 Set Bonus
  • 2. Best in Slot List
    • 2.1. Trinket Notes
  • 3. Evaluating Upgrades Using Stat Weights
  • 4. Racial Bonuses
  • 5. Legendaries
  • 6. Loot Competition
  • 7. ChangeLog

General Information

This page shows you how to level up the Artifact and how to choose the right Relics for your Fire Mages. It is updated for World of Warcraft Legion 7.2.5.

The other pages of our Fire Mage guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author and Reviewer

This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Future. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Rinoa, a Fire Mage theorycrafter for Altered Time who is also a raider for Pieces.

1. Artifact Progression — First 35 Points

1.1. Early Point Investment

After acquiring the starting point, Wings of Flame, take the upper right path into Cauterizing Blink, which adds a nice healing effect to your Blink. Snag Pyroclasmic Paranoia, the highest value basic trait on the tree, adding some juicy damage to your Pyroblast. Split right and max out Fire at Will, another great basic trait which cuts down that filler cast time. Your first Golden Trait, Pyretic Incantation, is a huge booster rocket for your damage no matter the situation. It also inflates the value of Critical Strike even further, and stacks up to 5 times.

1.2. Second Golden Trait

Go down from the starting point, Wings of Flame, and fill out those Great Balls of Fire for some filler damage. Go through Big Mouth and grab the spicy Ignite damage from Everburning Consumption, another highly valued basic trait. Invest into your second Golden Trait, Phoenix Reborn, which is another huge increase to your damage. This trait shines on fights with lots of stacked AoE and cleave, in particular.

1.3. Final Point Investment

Move up from Pyroclasmic Paranoia on the upper part of the tree into Burning Gaze, which is icing on the proverbial cake, though the multiplier is quite low. If single target damage is your top priority, grab Reignition Overdrive and Blast Furnace immediately before your final Golden Trait, Aftershocks. For a more well rounded damage spread, however, it is recommended you instead grab Aftershocks before Reignition Overdrive and Blast Furnace. The difference is small and mostly down to personal preference.

Your final point allocation is fairly straightforward. Blue Flame Special will add some extra zest to your Flamestrike. If Koralon's Burning Touch ends up being your first legendary item, you should grab Scorched Earth next. Otherwise, go Molten Skin first before finally finishing Felo'melorn with Scorched Earth.

2. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path

Patch 7.2 has replaced the 35-54 Paragon system with several additional new traits becoming available upon acquisition of the 35th point. All of the previous Relic traits will also unlock a 4th rank, along with a new Paragon system becoming available after all traits have been filled (via Concordance of the Legionfall) which all additional Artifact Power will be spent on.

Detailed below is our suggested maxing order after 35 traits:

1. Instability of the Tirisgarde
2. Fourth rank of Fire at Will
3. Pre-Ignited
4. Fourth rank of Pyroclasmic Paranoia
5. Fourth rank of Burning Gaze
6. Warmth of the Phoenix
7. Strafing Run
8. Fourth rank of Everburning Consumption
9. Fourth rank of Reignition Overdrive
10. Fourth rank of Great Balls of Fire
11. Fourth rank of Blue Flame Special
12. Fourth rank of Cauterizing Blink
13. Fourth rank of Molten Skin
14. Concordance of the Legionfall

3. Relic Choice

No trait is worth an upgrade of +3 item levels of any other available trait. Generally speaking, item level is the best indicator of value for Fire relics currently. +2 item levels is about the maximum trade off of a high value trait versus a non-damaging trait.

1. Everburning Consumption is the best overall Relic.
2. Burning Gaze is best for pure single target.
3. Pyroclasmic Paranoia
4. Fire at Will
5. Fireball damage.
6. Any of the other damage traits.

4. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 12 Jun. 2017: Added a paragraph discussing relic item level and how it relates to priority.
• 29 Mar. 2017: Moved Pyroclastic Paranoia a couple spots up in path priority.
• 27 Mar. 2017: Added path for new 7.2 traits.
• 20 Feb. 2017: Updated Relic priority.
• 29 Nov. 2016: Updated Relic choices due to more recent SimC info.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Added.