Classic Mage DPS Guide
Welcome to our Mage DPS guide for WoW Classic, tailored for PvE content. Here, you will learn how all you need to know to play the Mage class as DPS. Click the links #below to navigate the guide or read this page for a short introduction.
If you were looking for TBC Classic content, please refer to our TBC Classic Mage guides:
Introduction
Mages are, arguably, the best ranged DPS class in WoW Classic. Sporting impressive
PvE DPS from the start, due to strong talents such as 
Elemental Precision,
Mages are also full of tricks, such as 
Polymorph, 
Blink and 
Ice Block,
which are useful in PvE and unrivaled for PvP, when in
the hands of a master. Finally, they have great convenience tools, such as 
Teleport: Stormwind,
or the group version 
Portal: Stormwind, and 
Conjure Water or 
Conjure Food.
Strengths
Highest ranged damage potential in the game, all the way from the start as a Frost Mage (roughly tied with Hunter in early Molten Core parses), down to the finish as Fire Mage (unrivaled ranged damage in Naxxramas).
- Has tools for every type of situation and convenience, as well as the best Crowd Control tools in the game.
- One of the classes where your skill matters the most, ahead of every other aspect.
Weaknesses
Squishiest class in the game. If you are caught off-guard you can die in the blink of an eye; watch out for 
Ambush!
- Very Mana hungry, especially while leveling, which forces you to rest and drink often.
- For most high-end PvE content, you will be stuck spamming either
Frostbolt or 
Fireball, which can get boring after a while.
Mage Armor Types and Weapons
Mages can wear Cloth Armor. For weapons, they can use
One-Handed Swords, Daggers, Staves, and
Wands. In PVE content Mages use the self-buff 
Mage Armor,
in PVP content they use 
Ice Armor, a stronger version of
Frost Armor. The weapon masters to learn
the skill for each weapon can be found at the following locations:
| Weapon Master location | Weapon Skills available |
|---|---|
| Learned by default | Staves, Wands |
| Darnassus (around 57,46) | Daggers |
| Ironforge (around 62,89) | Daggers |
| Stormwind (around 57,57) | Daggers, Swords |
| Orgrimmar (around 81,19) | Daggers |
| Undercity (57,32) | Daggers, Swords |
Best Races for Alliance Mages
The following is a list of best to worst race choices for Rogue when engaging in PvE content.
The following is a list of best to worst race choices for Rogue when engaging in PvP content.
Best Races for Alliance Mages
Gnome is the best race for PvE and PvP. Human has inferior perks for Mages, but feel free to roll it if you prefer its looks! You can read more details on each race below.
Gnome Mages
Gnome is the best race for Alliance Mages, due to 
Expansive Mind,
which increases Intellect by 5%, leading to a larger Mana pool and higher critical
strike chance. Their racial ability, 
Escape Artist, is also a deal breaker
in PvP, where being caught means death. Finally, they also have 
Engineering Specialization,
which is quite useful in WoW Classic, due to the power of Engineering.
- Expansive Mind increases your Intellect by 5%.
- Escape Artist is a 1-minute cooldown that lets you escape any root,
snare, or slow when used.
- Engineering Specialization increases your Engineering skill by 15.
Arcane Resistance increases your arcane resistance by 10.
Human Mages
Human is weaker than Gnome in every aspect, but racials are not as huge as skill and gear, so we would recommend you to play it if you really enjoy their look and feel compared to Gnome's.
The Human Spirit increases your Spirit by 5%.
Diplomacy increases your reputation earned by 10%.
Sword Specialization increases your skill with Swords by 5.
Mace Specialization increases your skill with Maces by 5.
Perception is a 3-minute cooldown that greatly increases your
Stealth detection for 20 seconds when used.
The following is a list of best to worst race choices for Rogue when engaging in PvE content.
The following is a list of best to worst race choices for Rogue when engaging in PvE content.
Troll is the best race for PvE and Undead is, arguably, the best race for PvP. You can read more details on why below.
Troll Mages
Troll is the best PvE race for Horde Mages, due to 
Berserking's
DPS increase. 
Beast Slaying is also a nice boost whenever you are fighting beasts.
- Beast Slaying gives a 5% damage bonus against Beasts.
- Berserking is a 3-minute cooldown that gives you between
10-30% increased attack and casting speed depending on your health, with the
effect being greater the more hurt you are.
Bow Specialization increases your skill with Bows by 5, which
increases your chance to hit with a bow.
Regeneration gives +10% passive health regeneration and
allows you to regenerate 10% of your total health regeneration during combat.
Undead Mages
Will of the Forsaken is a 2-minute cooldown that makes your immune
to all Fear, Sleep, and Charm effects for 5 seconds. This will also break you
out of any current effects.
Cannibalize is a 2-minute cooldown that lets you channel to
consume a nearby corpse, regenerating 7% of your total health every 2 seconds
for 10 seconds for a total of 35% health.
Underwater Breathing allows you to breath underwater for 300%
longer than normal.
Shadow Resistance increases your shadow resistance by 10.
Best Professions for Mages
Mages can do insane DPS, especially in later WoW Classic, when geared and in
Fire specialization. Engineering is the best profession for improving
your damage, as its bombs and 
Goblin Sapper Charges deal a ton of area of
effect damage. Combine these with Arcane Explosion and watch the honor
kills rack up!
If you enjoy traveling the world, get Mining so that you can
mine what Engineering needs yourself. Otherwise, Tailoring is great
for Mages due to 
Robe of the Archmage, the best chest until Ahn'Qiraji, and
because of the Bloodvine set from Zul'Gurub. If you are a Tailor, the set provides
2% additional critical strike chance. Another benefit from Tailoring is, that you
can get easy gold from 
Mooncloth and bag selling!
Tailoring is great, however, if you want to learn another profession, you can drop the Tailoring under three circumstances:
- You have crafted Robe of the Archmage and reached PVP Rank 10,
using the 2-set bonus (shoulders and boots are optimal).
- You have broken the Bloodvine set for the Ahn'Qiraji chest, legs and boots (see our BiS lists for that).
- You simply want to drop tailoring, because you want to enjoy WoW in a different way.
We would recommend reading our profession guides for the full briefing on the different professions WoW Classic has to offer.
By the end of Vanilla, dropping Tailoring for Enchanting as a preparation for The Burning Crusade can be a smart move, because Engineering and Enchanting are the best professions in TBC.
Season of Discovery
Find our new guides for Mage in WoW Classic Season of Discovery below! The new game mode will have players find and utilize Runes that can then be engraved onto their gear to provide them special bonuses that augment already existing abilities or allow the class to use entirely new spells.
With the introduction of new Runes in Season of Discovery, not only will old builds be increased in power, but Mage now has the option of being played as a Healer.
Changelog
- 15 Nov. 2024 (gear page): Updated to include all BiS lists in one page.
- 15 Nov. 2024 (this page): Updated for the Classic relaunch.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (gear page): Reworked the BiS guide with Naxxramas and clarity in mind.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (enchants page): Added Phase 6 shoulder enchants, Frozen Runes, and the Silithus world buff.
- 12 Nov. 2020 (gear page): Added a Phase 6 gear best in slot list.
- 05 Nov. 2020 (gear page): Added a Frost Resistance gear list.
- 06 Aug. 2020 (gear page): Transferred the Ahn'Qiraj gear into the main guide.
- 27 Jul. 2020 (gear page): Added a link to the Nature Resistance gear guide.
- 14 Jul. 2020 (enchants page): Updated enchant and consumable list for Phase 5.
- 13 Jul. 2020 (gear page): Added a link to Ahn'Qiraj gear suggestions.
- 19 May 2020 (gear page): Added Cloak of the Hakkari Worshipers and Sandworm Skin Gloves.
- 19 May 2020 (enchants page): Updated with current World Buffs as of Phase 4 as well as glove enchants.
- 15 May 2020 (gear page): Added Silithus Twilight boss summonings gear.
- 23 Apr. 2020 (gear page): Added Bloodcaller and Zulian Ceremonial Staff.
- 15 Apr. 2020 (gear page): Added a few missing Zul'Gurub items.
- 15 Apr. 2020 (enchants page): Added Zul'Gurub consumables and enchants.
- 14 Apr. 2020 (gear page): Updated with Zul'Gurub gear and some new PvP options.
- 11 Mar. 2020 (gear page): Updated with Arathi Basin gear.
- 28 Feb. 2020 (gear page): Added Flarecore Leggings.
- 11 Feb. 2020 (gear page): Transformed this page into a WoW Classic Mage gear hub and added Blackwing Lair BiS.
- 11 Jan. 2020 (stats page): Reworked Spell Power's coefficient explanation.
- 04 Jan. 2020 (gear page): Added PvP reputation gear and more ranked PvP gear.
- 23 Nov. 2019 (gear page): Separated the Horde / Alliance PvP gear into different lines.
- 18 Nov. 2019 (gear page): Updated the BiS list for Phase 2.
- 04 Nov. 2019 (gear page): Added an Area of Effect grinding BiS gear list.
- 13 Oct. 2019 (gear page): Added Dire Maul gear to the BiS list.
- 29 Sep. 2019 (gear page): Added Phase One Molten Core / Onyxia gear BiS list.
- 29 Sep. 2019 (enchants page): Added a shortlist with the essential consumables for Mages, ranked by price vs effectiveness.
- 19 Sep. 2019 (gear page): Changed some gear slots due to powerful gear that was confirmed to be available in Phase 1, when it was previously not thought to be the case.
- 27 Aug. 2019 (this page): Added a section for each race to make the guide easier to read.
- 24 Aug. 2019 (this page): Reworked race section and improved the professions section, adding more details, item links and tips.
- 16 Aug. 2019 (gear page): Added new special gear to the list and changed its position to the bottom of the guide.
- 12 Aug. 2019 (enchants page): Added weapon enchant.
- 29 Jul. 2019 (enchants page): Corrected some text typos.
- 29 Jul. 2019 (stats page): Corrected some text typos.
- 29 Jul. 2019 (rotation page): Corrected some text typos.
- 29 Jul. 2019 (this page): Changed the description of Gnomes slightly based on feedback.
- 30 Jun. 2019 (gear page): Page added.
- 30 Jun. 2019 (enchants page): Page added.
- 30 Jun. 2019 (stats page): Page added.
- 30 Jun. 2019 (rotation page): Page added.
- 30 Jun. 2019 (talents page): Page added.
- 30 Jun. 2019 (spells page): Page added.
- 30 Jun. 2019 (this page): Page added.
More Classic Mage Guides
More Classic Guides from Other Classes
Classic Dungeon Guides
Classic Profession Guides
Classic Reputation Guides
This guide has been written by Wrdlbrmpft aka Arcanaenus, playing Mage since 2008. He is usually found in the Mage discord, where you may also ask him questions his guides do not answer.
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