Fire Mage DPS Guide (Legion 7.3.5)

Table of Contents

• ×Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes for Fire Mage
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes for Fire Mage
  • 4. Fire Mage Strengths
  • 5. Fire Mage Weaknesses
  • 6. Fire Mage Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics for Fire Mage
  • 2. Talent Choice for Fire Mage
  • 3. Stat Choice for Fire Mage
  • 4. Basic Rotation for Fire Mage
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Fire Mage Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resource for Fire Mage
  • 3. Mastery for Fire Mage
  • 4. Important Procs for Fire Mage
  • 5. Basic Abilities for Fire Mage
  • 6. DPS Cooldowns for Fire Mage
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets for Fire Mage
    • 2.1. Tier 21 4-Piece Bonus
    • 2.2. Without Tier 21 4-Piece Bonus (Single Target)
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Fire Mage
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression for Fire Mage — 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 for Fire Mage
  • 3. Relic Priority for Fire Mage
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice for Fire Mage
  • 2. Tier 2 Upgrade Priority for Fire Mage
  • 3. Tier 3 Upgrade Priority for Fire Mage
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Ability Priority List for Fire Mage
  • 2. Important Notes for Fire Mages
    • 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 for Fire Mage
    • 3.1. Combustion Usage
    • 3.2. Critical Strike Chains
    • 3.3. Movement Management
      • 3.3.1. Quiet Movement
  • 4. Opening Sequence for Fire Mage
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Stat Priority for Fire Mage
  • 2. Stat Priority with Tier 21 4-Piece Bonus for Fire Mage
  • 3. Fire Mage: Getting a Better Understanding
    • 3.1. Statistics Explanations
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems for Fire Mage
  • 2. Enchants for Fire Mage
  • 3. Consumables for Fire Mage
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Addons for Fire Mage
    • 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 21 Set Bonus for Fire Mage
  • 2. Recommended Legendaries With Antorus Gear for Fire Mage
  • 3. Tier 20 Set Bonus for Fire Mage
  • 4. Best in Slot List for Fire Mage
  • 5. Trinket Notes for Fire Mage
  • 6. Evaluating Upgrades Using Stat Weights
  • 7. Racial Bonuses for Fire Mage
  • 8. Legendaries for Fire Mage
  • 9. Loot Competition
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Battle for Azeroth
  • 1. Foreword
  • 2. Fire Mage Base Mechanics Changes in BfA
  • 3. Fire Mage Baseline Abilities — Changes in BfA
  • 4. The BfA Fire Mage Talent Tree
    • 4.1. Level 15
    • 4.2. Level 30
    • 4.3. Level 45
    • 4.4. Level 60
    • 4.5. Level 75
    • 4.6. Level 90
    • 4.7. Level 90
    • 4.8. BfA Fire Mage Talent Setup
  • 5. Fire Mage Azerite Traits
  • 6. Fire Mage Base Rotation in BfA
  • 7. Multi-Target Rotation for Fire Mage in BfA
  • 8. ChangeLog

General Information

Welcome to our Fire Mage DPS guide for World of Warcraft Legion 7.3.5. Here, you will learn everything you need to know about playing a Fire Mage in a raid environment and in Mythic+ dungeons.

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. Class Overview

The Fire specialization is fantastic at delivering both burst and sustained damage on a variety of fight types. Fire cleaves extremely efficiently on stacked targets, gaining overall damage without sacrificing any single target at all. Fire really shines on fights where a multitude of stacked targets all have equal or high priority. With many of the changes present in Legion, Fire has evolved to become a very potent spec at bursting down priority targets as well. Like all Mage specializations, Fire has high mobility and is fantastic at doing encounter specific jobs and baiting mechanics. Between Blink, Hot Streak, and Scorch, high movement encounters have minimal impact on Fire's overall output.

2. Patch 7.3 Changes for Fire Mage

• None

3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes for Fire Mage

• New legendary items added.
• Warmth of the Phoenix's duration has been increased to 12 seconds, up from 10 seconds.

4. Fire Mage Strengths

• Strong burst damage
• Efficient multitarget damage if they are stacked
• Great at nuking down high priority adds quickly

5. Fire Mage Weaknesses

• No spread cleave or multidot capability
• Cleave is automatic, making damage stops on stacked targets difficult
• Weak single target damage
• Mediocre overall output

6. Fire Mage Viability in the Current Patch

Fire is currently sightly below par as a specialization. While Fire can rival its sister specializations on certain encounters, such as Antoran High Command or Aggramar, it never quite outpaces them. Frost and Arcane both have a comfortable lead on their respective fight types, while Fire struggles to find a niche that it can dominate. Even in Mythic+ dungeons, where Fire can deal some respectable burst and multitarget, it is generally dropped in favor of Frost at higher keystone levels.

7. Contents

To make it easy to navigate the guide, we have split it into 11 pages:

• Easy Mode: TL;DR to own without reading much;
• Spell Summary: see a summary of all your useful spells;
• Builds and Talents: learn how to choose your talents;
• Artifact Traits and Relics: discover how to level up your Artifact;
• Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths: choose the right paths on your Netherlight Crucible;
• Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities: master your rotation and your cooldowns;
• Stat Priority: read up on the respective values of your statistics;
• Gems, Enchants, and Consumables: choose the best gems, enchantments, etc.;
• Macros and Addons: step up your game with useful macros and addons;
• Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot: find the best gear you can wear;
• Battle for Azeroth: learn how to play your class in Battle for Azeroth.

8. ChangeLog

• 20 Jun. 2018 (Battle for Azeroth page): Updated AoE rotation to be correct for new Flamestrike scaling.
• 31 May 2018 (Battle for Azeroth page): Added BfA page.
• 22 Feb. 2018 (this page): Updated strengths/weaknesses and viability.
• 17 Feb. 2018 (this page): Updated strengths/weaknesses and viability.
• 11 Feb. 2018 (Netherlight Crucible page): Updated the Tier 3 priority to match our Artifact page recommendations.
• 11 Feb. 2018 (artifact page): Updated relic recommendations.
• 12 Jan. 2018 (gear page): Updated legendary items.
• 28 Nov. 2017 (talents page): Added Tier 21 4-Piece explanations.
• 28 Nov. 2017 (stats page): Added a T21 stat priority.
• 28 Nov. 2017 (rotation page): Updated rotation.
• 28 Nov. 2017 (gear page): Updated best in slot for Antorus.
• 27 Nov. 2017 (gear page): Added Tier 21 section with recommended legendary combinations.
• 13 Sep. 2017 (Netherlight Crucible page): Updated Tier 2 priority after recent rebalancing based on new SimCraft results.
• 11 Sep. 2017 (Netherlight Crucible page): Added Netherlight Crucible page for Fire Mage.
• 09 Sep. 2017 (easy mode page): Removed a mention of Rune of Power as it is no longer a dominant talent.
• 29 Aug. 2017 (rotation page): Updated opener.
• 29 Aug. 2017 (easy mode page): Updated talents, rotation, and stat priority to sync with the rest of the guide.
• 29 Aug. 2017 (this page): Updated strengths/weaknesses and viability. Added Patch 7.3 changes (of which they were none).
• 29 Aug. 2017 (stats page): Removed "T20 stat priority" and assimilated explanation into regular stat priority.
• 29 Aug. 2017 (enchants page): Added Lightforged Augment Rune and new 7.3 epic gems. Updated enchants and gems to Mastery.
• 29 Aug. 2017 (enchants page): Revised gem recommendations, cleaned up "Consumables" section, and added a note on Healthstones on Patch 7.3.
• 29 Aug. 2017 (talents page): Updated talent discussions.
• 20 Aug. 2017 (easy mode page): Updated rotation.
• 15 Aug. 2017 (talents page): Updated talent examples.
• 20 Jul. 2017 (talents page): Updated Firestarter and Kindling, as empirical testing has them performing well in Mythic ToS.
• 20 Jul. 2017 (stats page): Added additional stat priority for Tier 20 bonus + Firestarter.
• 20 Jun. 2017 (stats page): Updated stat priority.
• 20 Jun. 2017 (gear page): Added Tomb of Sargeras best in slot, updated trinket list, and added Tier 20 section.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (this page): Added Patch 7.2.5 changes.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (gear page): Added Soul of the Archmage and Contained Infernal Core to the Legendary items section.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (enchants page): Added Lemon Herb Filet, updated Gems, and updated Potion choice.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (stats page): Updated stat priority explanation for Patch 7.2.5.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (rotation page): Updated number of targets for Flamestrike, Flamestrike Usage section, and replaced Deadly Grace with Prolonged Power.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (artifact page): Added a paragraph discussing relic item level and how it relates to priority.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (talents page): Updated discussions about Firestarter, Flame Patch, and Kindling.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (spells page): Updated "Main Resource" section as Mana Starvation is no longer a concern.
• 12 Jun. 2017 (easy mode page): Updated stat priority section for Patch 7.2.5.
• 29 Mar. 2017 (artifact page): Moved Pyroclastic Paranoia a couple spots up in path priority.
• 29 Mar. 2017 (enchants page): Added Lavish Suramar Feast.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (rotation page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (this page): Added Patch 7.2 changes.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (talents page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (gear page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (stats page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 27 Mar. 2017 (artifact page): Added path for new 7.2 traits.
• 07 Mar. 2017 (this page): Updated viability/strengths/weaknesses.
• 06 Mar. 2017 (gear page): Updated weights calculation with new stat weights.
• 20 Feb. 2017 (this page): Updated viability/strengths/weaknesses.
• 20 Feb. 2017 (artifact page): Updated Relic priority.
• 20 Feb. 2017 (talents page): Updated Flame Patch viability.
• 28 Jan. 2017 (talents page): Updated talent descriptions, added some fight specific talent advice, and updated builds.
• 20 Jan. 2017 (gear page): Fully updated BiS list and legendary options.
• 18 Jan. 2017 (stats page): Re-added stat weights.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (easy mode page): Slight update to the recommended talent build to be in sync with the 7.1.5 talent recommendations.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (spells page): Updated description of Combustion.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (rotation page): Slight updates for 7.1.5 (mostly Blazing Barrier, Ice Floes and Dragon's Breath).
• 09 Jan. 2017 (this page): Added 7.1.5 change list and updated strengths/weaknesses.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (stats page): Stat priority remains the same but we removed the stat weights for now. We will re-add them once things stabilise.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (enchants page): Added Potion of Prolonged Power.
• 09 Jan. 2017 (talents page): Fully updated talents for 7.1.5.
• 08 Dec. 2016 (easy mode page): Added easy mode for Fire Mages.
• 29 Nov. 2016 (this page): Updated Fire Blast & Combustion changes for clarity.
• 29 Nov. 2016 (artifact page): Updated Relic choices due to more recent SimC info.
• 29 Nov. 2016 (spells page): Updated "Main Resource" section to discuss Mana Starvation. Also updated Dragon's Breath description.
• 29 Nov. 2016 (talents page): Updated Level 110 talent discussion.
• 29 Nov. 2016 (gear page): Updated trinket best in slot.
• 29 Nov. 2016 (rotation page): Updated Opening Sequence.
• 30 Oct. 2016 (gear page): Added a full trinket priority list to help readers extrapolate whether their titanforged trinket is actually an upgrade.
• 25 Oct. 2016 (this page): Added a sentence in the viability section regarding Fire being a great spec for players who only want to invest in a single Artifact tree.
• 11 Oct. 2016 (enchants page): Updated enchants.
• 05 Sep. 2016 (rotation page): Simplified rotation by adding checkboxes to hide or reveal specific lines (cooldown, talents, AoE, etc.).
• 01 Sep. 2016 (talents page): Following Arold's review, Meteor is now a viable Level 100 talent in specific situations.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (talents page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (artifact page): Added.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (rotation page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (spells page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (stats page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (enchants page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (gear page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (this page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 19 Jul. 2016 (spells page): Fixed Combustion's description.
• 19 Jul. 2016 (talents page): Tweaked Level 100 talent advice.
• 19 Jul. 2016 (this page): Fixed Combustion's description.
• 19 Jul. 2016 (gear page): Removed trinket sims and added BiS recommendations.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (stats page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (talents page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (addons page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (rotation page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (gear page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (spells page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (enchants page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (this page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.