Mage Leveling Guide 100-110 (Legion 7.0.3)

Shimmer Icon Shimmer is exceptional for leveling as mobility is key to speed and it is unlikely you will have the opportunity to benefit from Cauterize Icon Cauterize.

Incanter's Flow Icon Incanter's Flow is the best choice here as passive damage increases are generally superior to burst during leveling, as you will be fighting a lot of individual mobs that die quickly rather than a raid boss. Rune of Power Icon Rune of Power is also acceptable if you are doing lots of large pulls, but there is little reason to take it over Incanter's Flow Icon Incanter's Flow.

Flame On Icon Flame On is great for all situations, including leveling, as it has a relatively short cooldown and helps considerably with reducing ramp up. Blast Wave Icon Blast Wave is a fine alternative that greatly assists with kiting and deals good burst damage.

The default choice here is Ice Floes Icon Ice Floes as it assists with kiting and offers the most speed for leveling.

This tier is somewhat a matter of preference, but overall Living Bomb Icon Living Bomb is the winner, as it allows you to deal with several mobs at once without issue. Unstable Magic Icon Unstable Magic is such a small increase on short term single target it is not worth taking over the ability to quickly dispatch large groups of monsters.

Cinderstorm Icon Cinderstorm is a good hybrid of single target potency, mobility, and cleave potential. Meteor Icon Meteor is also fine but due to the longer cooldown and reduced mobility it falls a little short.

2. Useful Skills

Whenever possible, make good use of your DPS cooldowns (such as Combustion Icon Combustion) to burst down large packs of mobs and increase efficiency. Many abilities not commonly used in raids, such as Frost Nova Icon Frost Nova and Dragon's Breath Icon Dragon's Breath, are very useful for leveling as they allow you to kite and reduce incoming damage. Ensure you are always casting Ice Barrier Icon Ice Barrier when possible to further reduce damage taken.

3. Mobility

Shimmer Icon Shimmer and Ice Floes Icon Ice Floes are great ways to continue to move from pack to pack while finishing off weakened enemies. Use your instant cast spells when running to a new mob or location (such as maintaining your Ice Barrier Icon Ice Barrier).

4. Artifact

Throughout the course of your journey to 110, you will accrue a reasonable amount of Artifact Power tokens just from completing quest chains, and usually will end up somewhere in the region of 2000-2500 total gained by 110, which should fund your first 5-6 traits. Make sure to spend them whenever you return to your Class Hall, since any bonus will help you.

Be aware that in situations where you have 2 or more Artifacts, the one you currently have equipped will consume any Artifact Power tokens you use (to the detriment of your non-equipped Artifacts). So, be aware of that and use your tokens on specs that you intend to play at 110!

4.1. Traits

Whilst there are some traits that can help you out with the leveling process and make it slightly faster such as taking Icon Phoenix Reborn earlier, doing so will hurt how rounded your Artifact is when you hit 110 and begin doing endgame content, so make that choice wisely. For Fire, I would strongly recommend sticking to the outlined path in the Fire Mage guide and not deviating, as the benefits do not outweigh having a sub-optimal Artifact for the future.

5. Gear

As all gear acquired from quests now scale to your level, that means that rewards increase in power the higher you go. At 100, quest rewards will generally be in the 685~ range, scaling all the way up to 800 when you complete quests at 110. Keep your gear updated along the way with any significant item level upgrades, whilst leaning toward the more powerful offensive stats (those being Critical Strike and Mastery). For trinkets, if you have access to the heirloom Orb of Voidsight Icon Orb of Voidsight, stick with that as it scales up with each level you gain, and any passive trinkets such as Chipped Soul Prism Icon Chipped Soul Prism for consistency.

6. Zones, Quests and Dungeons

6.1. Zones

The Broken Isles comes with 4 zones, and all players will have to complete a majority of each of them to reach 110 in most circumstances. They can be broken down into short zones (usually netting roughly 2 levels) and longer zones (netting 3 slightly more). Ultimately, the difference between zones is very small and your decision is not particularly important, as doing a chunk of every zone is required to hit Friendly reputation and unlock World Quests. That said, some notes on the process are below:

Short zones

Val'Sharah
Azsuna

It is best to start off with a short zone, as it lines up well with your leveling process and hits a sweet spot for returning to the Class Hall at both 101 and 102 to continue the campaign chain and begin your 4 hour mission. Note that Azsuna can have some quite punishing enemies if you do it later in the process that can slow some bonus objectives, when the effects of gear begins to diminish, which may affect your decision.

Long zones

Highmountain
Stormheim

Doing a longer zone second again lines up well with returning to your Class Hall at 104/5 to complete further campaign quests and usually fill out time for the 4 hour mission to complete. Finishing on a long zone is also great as you usually will not complete it, but always have quests to make it to Friendly and get to 110 without having to go off track. Highmountain has benefits both as your second or fourth zone as it is the longest zone to wait out the Class Hall mission, but also has the least punishing mob scaling with level.

With all zones, Bonus Objectives really smooth out the process as do some of the more opportune side quests (particularly in Val'Sharah). It is not required to do every single one to reach 110 comfortably, but if you are in an area completing quest chains, it is definitely worth completing them along the way. Also make sure to complete any main chain questlines that you are given breadcrumbs in each area.

6.2. Profession Quests

Profession quests are often very time consuming and can be cross-zone fetch or dungeon quests. If you come across a hand-in for a breadcrumb from Dalaran you are already in, do it for the experience, but do not go out of your way to complete the more time consuming objectives, leave them until 110.

6.3. Dungeons

Each zone comes with a subsequent dungeon quest when you finish the main zone storyline, rewarding a piece of Item Level 800 gear and a large boost of experience, usually totalling around 30-35% of a level inside the dungeon. You can do dungeons along the way as they are worth the time, but only if you have the appropriate quest.

Val'Sharah: Darkheart Thicket
Azsuna: Eye of Azshara
Highmountain: Neltharion's Lair
Stormheim: Halls of Valor

Do not, however, level exclusively through dungeons. The experience they reward is very poor on their own, and they are all quite lengthy compared to simply questing in the open world.

7. Legion Invasions

With the addition of Invasions in Legion's 7.2 patch, if you have the ability to fly whilst leveling your alts, completing these quests will grant a great deal of experience. As such completing all these when an invasion is active is worth the time regardless of the zone it is present in. If you are leveling for the first time and run into a world quest in the zone you are in under attack, it is also advised to complete it, but do not run across the map or to other zones to complete them if you have not unlocked that area.

7.1. Rares and Treasures

Unless you specifically want the rewards, doing any rares or grabbing treasures is not worth the time. If you run into a chest you mightaswell open it for the Artifact Power, but do not go out of your way to grab these, as they do not give any experience unlike in Warlords of Draenor. Rares also give very limited experience for the time taken, so is not worth it.

8. Class Hall

You should always be looking to go back to your Class Hall when new quests are available. This comes at 101, 102 and finally at 104. You can opt out of returning at 102 which will delay that mission, but when you do go back to Dalaran at 102/3 after your first zone, make sure to catch up on everything there.

In general it is worth doing all quests that appear in the Order Hall. You can complete the other Artifact quests immediately, or save them for another time at your discretion.

9. Leveling as a Group

In Legion, leveling as a group confers a lot of benefits (such as shared mob taking and quest items, alongside Bonus Objective progression speed). This can be great and there is not any significant downsides to group leveling, however if you choose to do this it is strongly advised you complete all dungeon quests at the end of each zone and do not skip any Bonus Objectives, as it is much tighter reaching 110 with the diminished mob experience.

10. Misc

10.1. Mob Tagging

Legion has expanded mob tagging to allow for up to 5 players of the same faction to tag any and all mobs in the open world, not just quest enemies. Faction tagging however is still a thing, so be aware of other opposing players around you. Take advantage of this by landing a hit on creatures other players are attacking for bonus credit toward completion.

10.2. Bonus Experience

The guild banners provide bonus experience on a short cooldown and are worth picking up.

10.3. Consumables

If you are pushing as fast as possible, grab some regular consumables to speed up the process. These are just the standard Warlords of Draenor consumables that were being used in raids.