Builds, Guides

Simon “Maro” Franke, one of the most notable arena Fire Mages in World of Warcraft, has taken the time to write a guide for Wildcard. He’s got some impressive wins under his belt, making Maro more than qualified to present this information to the WoW Arena community! With his honed skill and extensive knowledge of the game we’re excited to have had the opportunity to pick his brain and gather as much information as we could. Wildcard is excited to have such a talented player on our team and we hope his expertise will inspire some new Fire Mages!

Good Defensives vs Setup Comps with Temporal Shield and Blazing Barrier

Extremely high burst damage

Good mobility

Only Mage Specialization that has the option to land crowd control on your own vs every healer class (Dragon’s Breath into Polymorph)

No spammable slow effect

Low Consistent Damage

1st Tier : Firestarter
Ranged, Wand
Deals 24 – 46 Fire Damage

Searing Touch
Scorch deals 150% increased damage and is a guaranteed Critical Strike when the target is below 30% health.

Maro says he usually runs Firestarter, but Searing Touch gives you a little more finishing power if you’re struggling to score kills.

2nd Tier: Shimmer
Blink now has 2 charges, is off the global cooldown, and can be cast while casting.

3rd Tier: Incanter’s Flow
Magical energy flows through you while in combat, building up to 20% increased damage and then diminishing down to 4% increased damage, cycling every 10 sec.

4th Tier: Flame On
Reduces the cooldown of Fire Blast by 2 seconds and increases the maximum number of charges by 1.

5th Tier: Ring of Frost
Summons a Ring of Frost for 10 sec at the target location. Enemies entering the ring are incapacitated for 10 sec. Limit 10 targets.

Frenetic Speed
Casting Scorch increases your movement speed by 30% for 3 sec.

Maro says Ring of Frost is the default choice, but Frenetic Speed can be useful if you’re struggling to get away from double melee compositions.

6th Tier: Living Bomb

The target becomes a Living Bomb, taking (24% of Spell power) Fire damage over 4 sec, and then exploding to deal an additional (14% of Spell power) Fire damage to the target and all other enemies within 10 yards.

Other enemies hit by this explosion also become a Living Bomb, but this effect cannot spread further.

7th Tier: Meteor
Calls down a meteor which lands at the target location after 3 sec, dealing (260% of Spell power) Fire damage, split evenly between all targets within 8 yards, and burns the ground, dealing [8 * (8.25% of Spell power)] Fire damage over 8.5 sec to all enemies in the area.

PVP Talents
Standard:

Temporal Shield
Envelops you in a temporal shield for 4 sec. 100% of all damage taken while shielded will be instantly restored when the shield ends.

Kleptomania
Spellsteal now has a 30 sec cooldown, but steals all spells from the target.

Firestarter
Ranged, Wand
Deals 24 – 46 Fire Damage

Optional:

Greater Pyroblast
Hurls an immense fiery boulder that deals up to 35% of the target’s total health in Fire damage.

Maro says Greater Pyroblast should be used over Firestarter when playing against comps that don’t have many interrupts, or if you play with another caster. It should also be used if your team is struggling to survive and you’d prefer the other team to hit you instead of your healer, for example.

Tinder
If you have not cast Fireball for 8 sec, your next Fireball will deal 30% increased damage with a 50% reduced cast time.

Maro says Tinder is good together with Firestarter when you don’t need Kleptomania. (example: Mistweaver Cleaves)

Flamecannon
After standing still in combat for 2 sec, your maximum health increases by 3%, damage done increases by 3%, and range of your Fire spells increase by 3 yards.

This effect stacks up to 5 times and lasts for 5 sec.

Maro says Flamecannon is good together with Greater Pyroblast when you don’t need Kleptomania. (example: Mistweaver Cleaves)

BiS
3x Blaster Master
3x Wildfire

Alternative
3x Blaster Master
3x Heart of Darkness

Maro says beyond these you can just compare PvE Sims and for the most part just copy these for a detailed ranking.

Haste to 28.5% > Vers > Haste over 28.5% > Mastery > Crit

Maro explains that the reason you want to have 28.5% haste is that when you reach that mark you are able to consistently land Polymorphs out of your Dragon’s Breath vs Targets with the Relentless PvP Talent.

Corruptions:

Versatile
Increases the amount of Versatility you gain from all sources by 9%.

Maro says that Versatile is the best Corruption both offensively and defensively.

Gushing Wound
Approximately [4 + Haste] procs per minute
Your damaging spells and abilities have a chance to cause your target to ooze blood, dealing 7 damage over 7 sec.

Maro says that Gushing Wound is a strong offensive option, but a bit weaker for Fire Mage because it can procc on your Dragon’s Breath and break it instantly.

Surging Vitality
Taking damage has a chance to increase your Versatility by 0 for 20 sec.

Maro comments, saying an Alternative to Versatility %, overall a bit weaker but still really good in PvP due to having high uptime and Versatility being your best stat.

Expedient
Increases the amount of Haste you gain from all sources by 9%.

Maro tells us that Expedient is one of the better corruptions due to Haste being very valuable for Mages.

Ineffable Truth
Approximately 1 procs per minute
Your Spells and Abilities have a chance to show you the Ineffable Truth, increasing the rate your cooldowns recover by 30% for 10 sec.

Maro says Ineffable Truth is a very underrated corruption for Firemages in PvP. The reduced CD on abilities can throw off your enemy by you getting your Counterspell/Shimmer back earlier than expected. It also buffs your damage quite a bit on procc due to the reduced CD on Fireblast.

Trinkets:

Forbidden Obsidian’s Claw
+546 Intellect
Use: Drain the target’s life force, inflicting 61502 Shadow damage to the enemy and restoring 9680 mana to yourself over 8.5 sec. (2 Min Cooldown)

Maro says Forbidden Obsidian’s Claw is overall best offensive trinket for casters right now. You will need to be careful when using it due to it being dispellable. (magic effect)

Corrupted Gladiator’s Emblem
+247 [Agility or Strength or Intellect] Use: Increases maximum health by 31069 for 20 sec. (1 Min, 30 Sec Cooldown)

Maro says that in his opinion the best trinket for mages in the game, and the most important one when trying to win games, is Corrupted Gladiator’s Emblem. It works especially well with Firemages because of Cauterize and the option to hold your Ice Block for so long.

Corrupted Gladiator’s Badge
+157 Versatility
Use: Increases primary stat by 1383 for 15 sec. (2 Min Cooldown)

Maro says Corrupted Gladiator’s Badge is a very good offensive option. It lines up really well with Combustion if you play Greater Pyroblast and otherwise still a big damage boost on your Combustion.

Major
Breath of the Dying Maro tells us this is the default choice and overall the most consistent choice with the highest damage output.

Conflict and Strife He says this can be useful when facing Rogue compositions or other high single target compositions that typically kill you in stuns.

Memory of Lucid Dreams Maro says this can be used a lot in combination with Hyperthread Wristwraps from the Mechagon Dungeon when playing double caster compositions, or when you want to try and kill through enemy defensive cooldowns in a single setup.

Minor
Breath of the Dying – Always take

Conflict and Strife – Always take

Memory of Lucid Dreams – Always take

Maro says whatever you choose as 4th is personal preference. He would recommend Vision of Perfection but Essence of the Focusing Iris (especially when having less than 28.5% Haste) or Formless Void (consistent main stat buff and good as a purge protection because it’s a magic buff) can be good alternatives.

/cast [target=focus] Counterspell

/cast [target=arena1] Counterspell
/cast [target=arena2] Counterspell
/cast [target=arena3] Counterspell

/cast [target=focus] Polymorph

/cast [target=arena1] Polymorph
/cast [target=arena2] Polymorph
/cast [target=arena3] Polymorph

After using Kleptomania offensively vs other mages:

/cancelaura Lifebloom
/cancelaura Rejuvenation
/cancelaura Gladiator’s Safeguard
/cancelaura Ice Barrier
/cancelaura Regrowth
/cancelaura Wild Growth
/cancelaura Blessing of Protection

Ultimately, Maro tells us that some common mistakes from Fire Mage players is wasting your Shimmer. He recommends trying to get as much value as possible out of the mobility you have. He also says that bursting at the wrong time can be detrimental. Try to communicate with your teammates about when you want to use your Meteor or Combustion for the best use of your burst. These tips, combined with the rest of Maro’s knowledge, should hopefully give aspiring Fire Mage players a boost in their game play.If you give some of his recommendations a try let us know how they work out for you!

About Wildcard Gaming
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