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How to Level a Mage – Speccing, Gearing, and Playing
By Jim Benson | December 18, 2009
Leveling a mage can be somewhat difficult; I daresay it is the single worst class to level in WoW, and I’ve played every class in the game. So it is vital that you do everything you can to lighten the burden on yourself. This guide will tell you how to ensure your mage leveling experience i
The first thing a lot of mages do wrong is gearing. Spirit is on a lot of lowlevel gear, but it is almost completely useless for mages, because it only effects out-of-combat regen. As a mage, you want Int for regen, because Evocation is based on your max mana. The other stats are fairly obvious, though: Spell damage gear of the appropriate element for your spec, and enough hit to be capped against mobs your own level (around four percent).
While nothing is as important as being hit capped (an unlucky miss can get you killed), determining the priority of Int or Spellpower is trickier. Generally speaking, if you aren’t killing the mob before it reaches you for the second time post-Nova, you need more damage. If you are, great, stack more Int so your Evocations are bigger and you can go longer without drinking.
Now that your gear is in order, let’s talk specs. Frost is incredibly good for leveling…once you have the right talents. Until level 29, though, it is going to be inferior to Arcane in pretty much every way. So grab those first two five-point Arcane talents, then get Arcane Attunement and Arcane Focus maxed. What you get after that doesn’t really matter, you’ll be respeccing to Frost at 29 or 30.
Here’s about what you should go for when you respec: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=#oZZAc0hobu , although if you are pulling fairly quickly you’ll want to have Icy Floes instead of Frostbite so you can Nova every fight. Grab whichever one you don’t start with first, then move on to Frost Channeling and Winter’s Chill. Follow those up with the two Ice Barrier talents, then go back and get Cold as Ice. Pretty much everything below that in the tree should be grabbed afterwards. Get your Water Elemental and the Eternal Water asap, it’ll turn you into a killing machine!
All that leaves to discuss is playing! Mage has a ridiculously high skill cap, and is generally agreed to be the most skill-based class in the game. But for leveling, it is pretty simple: Nuke, Frost Nova, run away and nuke more. Until you spec into something, your nuke should be whatever you upgraded last. Then either Arcane Missiles or Frostbolt depending on spec. And be sure you use your wand to finish foes off, no need to waste mana if your nuke would be overkill.
The same strategy applies to both Arcane and Frost, but you should note that Arcane will have to tank every second fight, thanks to a longer cooldown on Frost Nova. This isn’t a big deal, since Arcane Missiles is immune to knockback, but you may have to shield if you are taking too much damage. Generally, though, Mana Shield and Ice Barrier are unwanted mana drains outside of emergencies or ranged mob pulls.
So there you have it, all you need to know about leveling mages. There are some advanced strategies that I’ve left out, but on the whole you should be able to pick them up with experience; trying to teach them would be close to impossible as many are very situation-based. As a last note, be sure to check out my other guides if you liked this one!
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