Mage talents

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As with the other original classes, at level 10 a mage can begin spending talent points in order to gain and improve abilities. Mage talents underwent a significant review for patch 1.11, with additional modifications in 2.0.1 and 3.0.2.

Below, each talent has a quoted description of the talent, which was taken from the game. The differences between the various levels of each talent are quoted in brackets. For example, "Reduces the chance that the opponent can resist your Arcane spells by {2/4/6/8/10}%" to describe the 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 point variations of the talent.

Prerequisites are listed for all talents that have them.

All tier N talents require that you spend 5(N-1) talent points in their tree as a prerequisite. For example, to get a Tier 2 Arcane talent, you must first have spent at least 5 points on other Arcane talents, Tier 3 requires 10 points, etc.

See also:

• Mage Talents calculator at the Official Site
• Mage Talent Calculator at WorldofWar.se
• Mage Talent Calculator at Wowhead
• Mage Talent Calculator at merciless-gilde.com
• Mage Theorycraft at WoWWiki, for numerical help choosing a talent specialization.
• Mage talent analysis for a commentary on specific Mage talents.

Contents 1 Arcane 2 Fire 3 Frost 4 Notable talents

Arcane

The Arcane tree has an emphasis in Utility talents, such as mana restoration mechanics (Arcane Meditation, Arcane Concentration) and resilience talents (Prismatic Cloak, Arcane Fortitude), and gives buffs to spells of all schools, not just its own, in contrast with the other trees (Spell Power, Arcane Instability).

It provides high mobility and burst damage in both PvE and PvP settings through talents such as Presence of Mind, Missile Barrage and its core ability and main nuke Arcane Barrage.

Talent	Points	Requirements	Description
Arcane Subtlety	2	None	Reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by {15%/30%} and all of your Arcane spells cause {20/40}% less threat
Arcane Focus	3	None	Increases your chance to hit and reduces the mana cost of your Arcane spells by {1/2/3}%
Arcane Stability	5	None	Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Arcane Missiles and Arcane Blast by {20/40/60/80/100}%.
Arcane Fortitude	3	Arcane 5	Increases your armor by {50/100/150}% of your Intellect.
Magic Absorption	2	Arcane 5	Increases all resistances by {.5/1}% per level and causes all spells you resist to restore {1/2}% of your maximum mana. 1s cooldown.
Arcane Concentration	5	Arcane 5	Gives you a {2/4/6/8/10}% chance of entering a Clearcasting state after any damage spell hits a target. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next damage spell by 100%
Magic Attunement	2	Arcane 10	Increases the range of your Arcane spells by {3/6} yards. Increases the effect of your Amplify Magic and Dampen Magic spells by {25/50}%.
Spell Impact	3	Arcane 10	Increases the damage of your Arcane Explosion, Arcane Blast, Blast Wave, Fire Blast, Scorch, Fireball, Ice Lance, and Cone of Cold spells by an additional {2/4/6}%
Student of the Mind	3	Arcane 10	Increases your total Spirit by {4/7/10}%.
Focus Magic	1	Arcane 10	Increases the target's chance to critically hit with spells by 3%. When the target critically hits the spell caster's chance to critically hit with spells is increased by 3% for 10 sec. Cannot be cast on self.
Arcane Shielding	2	Arcane 15	Decreases the mana lost per point of damage taken while Mana Shield is active by {17/33}% and increases the resistances granted by Mage Armor by {25/50}%
Improved Counterspell	2	Arcane 15	Your Counterspell also silences the target for {2/4} sec.
Arcane Meditation	3	Arcane 15	Allows {17/33/50}% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting.
Torment the Weak	3	Arcane 15	Your Frostbolt, Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage abilities deal {4/8/12}% more damage to snared or slowed targets.
Improved Blink	2	Arcane 20	Reduces the mana cost of Blink by {25/50}% and for 4 sec after casting your chance to be hit by all attacks and spells is reduced by {15/30}%
Presence of Mind	1	Arcane 20	Instant spell 2 minute cooldown Casting cost: 0 mana When activated, your next Mage spell with a casting time less than 10 sec. becomes an instant cast spell.
Arcane Mind	5	Arcane 20	Increases your total intellect by {3/6/9/12/15}%.
Prismatic Cloak	3	Arcane 25	Reduces all damage taken by {2/4/6}% and reduces the fade time of your invisibility spell by {1/2/3} sec.
Arcane Instability	3	Presence of Mind 1 Arcane 25	Increases your spell damage and critical strike chance by {1/2/3}%.
Arcane Potency	2	Presence of Mind Arcane 25	Increases the critical strike chance of your next damaging by {15/30}% after gaining Clearcasting or Presence of Mind.
Arcane Empowerment	3	Arcane 30	Increases the damage of your Arcane Missiles spell by an amount equal to {15/30/45}% of your spell power and the damage of your Arcane Blast by {3/6/9}% of your spell power.
Arcane Power	1	Arcane Instability 3 Arcane 30	Instant spell 2 minute cooldown Casting cost: 0 mana When activated, your spells deal 20% more damage while costing 20% more mana to cast. This effect lasts 15 sec.
Incanter's Absorption	3	Arcane 30	When you absorb damage your spell damage is increased by {5/10/15}% of the amount absorbed for 10 sec. Total spell damage increase cannot exceed 5% of your health.
Arcane Flows	2	Arcane Power Arcane 35	Reduces the cooldown of your Presence of Mind, Arcane Power and Invisibility spells by {15/30}% and the cooldown of your Evocation spell by {1/2} min.
Mind Mastery	5	Arcane 35	Increases spell power by up to {3/6/9/12/15}% of your total intellect.
Slow	1	Arcane 40	Instant spell No cooldown Casting cost: 12% of base mana Reduces target's movement speed by 60%, increases time between ranged attacks by 60%, and increases casting time by 30%. Lasts 15 seconds. Slow can only affect one target at a time.
Missile Barrage	5	Arcane 40	Gives your Arcane Blast a {8/16/24/32/40}% chance, and your Arcane Barrage, Fireball, Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt spells a {4/8/12/16/20}% chance to reduce the channeled duration of the next Arcane Missiles spell by 2.5 secs and missiles will fire every .5 secs.
Netherwind Presence	3	Arcane 45	Increases your spell haste by {2/4/6}%.
Spell Power	2	Arcane 45	Increase critical strike damage bonus of all spells by {25/50}%.
Arcane Barrage	1	Arcane 50	Instant spell 3 sec cooldown Casting cost: 18% of base mana Range: 30 yards Launches several missiles at the enemy target, causing X to Y arcane damage.

Fire

Fire spells are traditionally harder-hitting and burstier in nature, resulting in higher sustained single-target damage. The Fire tree reflects this with its focus on DPS talents such as Critical Mass and Pyromaniac, and while it has good survival abilities (Blast Wave, for instance), they are not as significant as the other trees' abilities, turning the Mage into the proverbial glass cannon: kill fast and die fast.

Talent	Points	Requirements	Description
Improved Fire Blast	2	None	Reduces the cooldown of your Fire Blast spell by {1/2} sec.
Incineration	3	None	Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire Blast, Scorch, Arcane Blast and Cone of Cold spells by {2/4/6}%.
Improved Fireball	5	None	Reduces the casting time of your Fireball spell by {0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5} sec.
Ignite	5	Fire 5	Your critical strikes from Fire damage spells cause the target to burn for an additional {8/16/24/32/40}% of your spell's damage over 4 sec.
Burning Determination	2	Fire 5	When Interrupted or Silenced you have a {50/100}% chance to become immune to both mechanics for 10 sec.
World in Flames	3	Fire 5	Increases the critical strike chance of your Flamestrike, Pyroblast, Blast Wave, Dragon's Breath, Living Bomb, Blizzard and Arcane Explosion spells by {2/4/6}%.
Flame Throwing	2	Fire 10	Increases the range of your all Fire spells except Frostfire Bolt by {3/6} yards.
Impact	3	Fire 10	Gives your damaging spells a {4/7/10}% chance to cause the next Fire Blast you cast to stun the target for 2 sec.
Pyroblast	1	Fire 10	5 sec casting time Casting cost: 22% of base mana Range: 35 yards Hurls an immense fiery boulder that causes X to Y Fire damage and an additional Z Fire damage over 12 sec.
Burning Soul	2	Fire 10	Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Fire spells by {35/70}% and reduces threat by caused by your Fire spells by {5/10%}.
Improved Scorch	3	Fire 15	Increases your chance to critically hit with Scorch, Fireball and Frostfire Bolt by and additional {1/2/3}% and your damaging Scorch spells have a {33/66/100}% chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to spell damage, increasing spell critical strike chance against that target by 1% and lasts 30 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.
Molten Shields	2	Fire 15	Causes your Fire Ward and Frost Ward spells to have a {15/30}% chance to reflect the warded spell while active. In addition, your Molten Armor has a {50/100}% chance to affect ranged and spell attacks.
Master of Elements	3	Fire 15	Your spell criticals will refund {10/20/30}% of their base mana cost.
Playing with Fire	3	Fire 20	Increases all spell damage caused by {1/2/3}% and all spell damage taken by {1/2/3}%.
Critical Mass	3	Fire 20	Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire spells by {2/4/6}%
Blast Wave	1	Pyroblast 1 Fire 20	Instant spell 30 second cooldown Casting cost: 28% of base mana A wave of flame radiates outward from the caster, damaging all enemies caught within the blast for X to Y Fire damage, knocking them back and dazing them for 6 sec.
Blazing Speed	2	Fire 25	Gives you a {5/10}% chance when hit by a melee or ranged attack to increase your movement speed by 50% and dispel all movement impairing effects. This effect lasts 8 sec.
Fire Power	5	Fire 25	Increases the damage done by your Fire spells by {2/4/6/8/10}%.
Pyromaniac	3	Fire 30	Increases chance to critically hit by {1/2/3}% and allows {17/33/50}% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting.
Combustion	1	Critical Mass 3 Fire 30	Instant spell 3 minute cooldown Casting cost: 0 mana When activated, this spell increases your critical strike damage bonus with Fire damage spells by 50%, and causes each of your Fire damage spell hits to increase your critical strike chance with Fire damage spells by 10%. This effect lasts until you have caused 3 non-periodic critical strikes with Fire spells.
Molten Fury	2	Fire 30	Increases damage of all spells against targets with less than 35% health by {6/12}%.
Empowered Fire	3	Fire 35	Increases the damage of your Fireball and Frostfire Bolt spells by an amount equal to {5/10/15}% of your spell power. In addition, each time your Ignite talent causes damage, you have a {33/67/100}% chance to regain 2% of your base mana.
Firestarter	2	Dragon's Breath Fire 40	Your damaging Blast Wave and Dragon's Breath spells have a {50/100}% chance to make your next Flamestrike spell instant cast. Lasts 10 sec.
Dragon's Breath	1	Combustion 1 Fire 40	Instant spell 20 sec. cooldown Casting cost: 31% of base mana Targets in a cone in front of the caster take X to Y Fire damage and are Disoriented for 5 sec. Any direct damaging attack will revive targets. Turns off your attack when used.
Hot Streak	3	Fire 40	Any time you score 2 non-periodic spell criticals in a row using Fireball, Fire Blast, Scorch, Living Bomb, or Frostfire Bolt, you have a {33/66/100}% chance the next Pyroblast spell cast within 10 sec will be instant cast.
Burnout	5	Fire 45	Increases your spell critical damage bonus with all spells by {10/20/30/40/50}% but your non-periodic spell criticals cost an additional {1/2/3/4/5}% of the spell's cost.
Living Bomb	1	Fire 50	Instant spell Casting cost: 22% of base mana Range: 35 yards The target becomes a Living Bomb, taking X Fire damage over 12 sec. After 12 sec or when the spell is dispelled, the target explodes dealing Y Fire damage to all enemies within 10 yards.

Frost

The Frost tree has an emphasis in control and survivability talents such as Permafrost and Ice Barrier. It sacrifices some of its single-target DPS in exchange for powerful snares, the highest Mage AoE damage and higher mana-efficiency than other trees that makes it excel in fights that include multiple adds or are longer than average. Its control and longevity earned it the crown of most recognized PvP Mage tree.

Talent	Points	Requirements	Description
Frostbite	3	None	Gives your Chill effects a {5/10/15}% chance to freeze the target for 5 sec.
Improved Frostbolt	5	None	Reduces the casting time of your Frostbolt spell by {0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5} sec.
Ice Floes	3	None	Reduces the cooldown of your Frost Nova, Cone of Cold, Ice Block and Icy Veins spells by {7/14/20}%.
Ice Shards	3	Frost 5	Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Frost spells by {33/66/100}%.
Frost Warding	2	Frost 5	Increases the armor and resistances given by your Frost Armor and Ice Armor spells by {25/50}%. In addition, gives your Frost Ward and Fire Ward a {15/30}% chance to negate the warded damage spell and restore mana equal to the damage caused.
Precision	3	Frost 5	Reduces the mana cost and increase the chance to hit with spells by {1/2/3}%.
Permafrost	3	Frost 5	Increases the duration of your Chill effects by {1/2/3} sec, reduces the target's speed by an additional {4/7/10}%, and reduces the target's healing received by {7/13/20}%.
Piercing Ice	3	Frost 10	Increases the damage done by your Frost spells by {2/4/6}%.
Icy Veins	1	Frost 10	Instant Spell 3 minute cooldown Casting cost: 3% of base mana. Hastens your spellcasting, reducing casting time of all spells by 20% and grants your spells a 100% pushback resistance. Last 20 seconds.
Improved Blizzard	3	Frost 10	Adds a chill effect to your Blizzard spell. This effect lowers the target's movement speed by {25/40/50}%. Lasts 1.5 sec.
Arctic Reach	2	Frost 15	Increases the range of your Frostbolt, Ice Lance, Deep Freeze and Blizzard spells and the radius of your Frost Nova and Cone of Cold spells by {10/20}%.
Frost Channeling	3	Frost 15	Reduces the mana cost of all spells by {4/7/10}% and reduces threat caused by Frost spells by {4/7/10}%.
Shatter	3	Frost 15	Increases the critical strike chance of all your spells against frozen targets by {17/33/50}%.
Cold Snap	1	Frost 20	Instant spell 8 minute cooldown Casting cost: 0 mana When activated, this spell finishes the cooldown on all Frost spells you recently cast.
Improved Cone of Cold	3	Frost 20	Increases the damage dealt by your Cone of Cold spell by {15/25/35}%.
Frozen Core	3	Frost 20	Reduces the damage taken from all spells by {2/4/6}%.
Cold as Ice	2	Cold Snap 1 Frost 25	Reduces the cooldown of your Cold Snap, Ice Barrier and Summon Water Elemental spells by {10/20}%.
Winter's Chill	3	Frost 25	Increases your chance to critically hit with your Frostbolt by an additional {1/2/3}% and gives your Frost damage spells a {33/66/100}% chance to apply the Winter's Chill effect, which increases the chance spells will critically hit the target by 1% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.
Shattered Barrier	2	Ice Barrier 1 Frost 30	Gives your Ice Barrier spell a {50/100}% chance to freeze all enemies within 10 yds for 8 sec when it is destroyed.
Ice Barrier	1	Cold Snap 1 Frost 30	Instant spell 30 second cooldown Casting cost: 21% of base mana Rank 1: Instantly shields you, absorbing X damage. Lasts 1 min. While the shield holds, spellcasting will not be delayed by damage.
Arctic Winds	5	Frost 30	Increases all Frost damage you cause by {1/2/3/4/5}% and reduces the chance melee and ranged attacks will hit you by {1/2/3/4/5}%.
Empowered Frostbolt	2	Frost 35	Increases the damage of your Frostbolt spell by an amount equal to {5/10}% of your spell power and reduces the cast time by {0.1/0.2} sec.
Fingers of Frost	2	Frost 35	Gives your Chill effects a {7/15}% chance to grant you the Fingers of Frost effect, which treats your next 2 spells cast as if the target were frozen. Lasts 15 secs.
Brain Freeze	3	Frost 40	Your Frost damage spells with chilling effects have a {5/10/15}% chance to cause your next Fireball spell to be instant cast and cost no mana.
Summon Water Elemental	1	Frost 40	Instant spell 3 minute cooldown Casting cost: 16% of base mana Summon a Water Elemental to fight for the caster for 45 sec.
Enduring Winter	3	Summon Water Elemental 1 Frost 40	Increases the duration of your Summon Water Elemental spell by 10 sec and your Frostbolt spell has a {33/66/100}% chance to grant the Replenishment effect to up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 0.25% of their maximum mana per second for 15 sec. This effect cannot occur more often than once every 6 sec.
Chilled to the Bone	5	Frost 45	Increases the damage caused by your Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt and Ice Lance spells by {1/2/3/4/5}% and reduces the movement speed of all chilled targets by an additional {2/4/6/8/10}%.
Deep Freeze	1	Frost 50	Instant spell 30 sec cooldown Casting cost: 9% of base mana Range: 30 yards Stuns the target for 5 sec. Only usable on Frozen targets.

Notable talents

• Arcane Concentration gives you a chance to enter a Clearcasting state, improving your mana efficiency by about 10%. When you proc Clearcasting, take the opportunity to cast a mana expensive spell.
• Pyroblast is the highest single target damage spell available, but is limited by its long casting time.
• Ice Shards, Frostbite and Shatter are the holy trinity of Shatter/critical hit Frost mage build, giving you a 50% bonus to crit a frozen target. They can now all be maxed with only 20 points in Frost. Also, Shatter now affects all your spells, not just Frost spells, giving additional flexibility to Shatter builds.
• Ice Block is a very situational ability with a number of uses. As of patch 2.3.2 Ice Block is trainable to any mage at the level of 30. See main article for details: Ice Block.
• The tier 7 Frost talent Ice Barrier is potentially much more efficient than Mana Shield. In Patch 1.11 its cooldown was reduced to 30 seconds, making it much more useful. Its functionality and mana efficiency are similar to a self-cast version of a priest's Power Word: Shield.

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