WoW Forever Mage Leveling Guide (1-60)

In short

• Frost for leveling, last 18 points in Arcane for Missile Barrage and Arcane Blast.
• Ice Lance is a Frost talent at 20 and shares an 8 sec cooldown with Fire Blast.
• Blizzard was nerfed but still works when mobs stay inside it.
• Tailoring and Enchanting are the usual pair: cloth gear and wands.
• Spells are not auto-placed on bars. Drag every new spell in after training.
• At 60 our simulation favors Fire; set it up with a respec or your second spec.

Level 1 to 60 at a glance

Why this spec

Frost is safe. Frostbolt slows, Frost Nova roots, and from 20 the Ice Lance talent cashes in those freezes with Shatter and later Fingers of Frost. That means mobs rarely reach you and you lose less health between pulls, which saves food and water. Ice Block at 25 and Ice Barrier near 40 give you two answers when a pull goes wrong. Fire hits harder per cast and our level-60 simulation ranks it above Frost, but while leveling it has few ways to slow mobs and you pay for that in downtime. Arcane is mana hungry; it only gets the last 18 points, for Missile Barrage and Arcane Blast. Dual spec at 40 lets you keep Frost for questing and add Fire for dungeons.

Level by level

1-10Fireball, then Frostbolt from 4

You start with Fireball, Frost Armor and Arcane Intellect. Frostbolt arrives at 4 along with Conjure Water, and from then on it is your main spell. Polymorph and Arcane Missiles come at 8, Frost Nova at 10. Make water before every long session; drinking is your real downtime. A wand, if you find or buy one, is the best way to finish mobs without spending mana. Skyborne players start on Zephras Isle (about 1-12), everyone else in their race's starting zone.

• Fireball
• Frost Armor
• Arcane Intellect
• Frostbolt
• Conjure Water
• Polymorph
• Frost Nova

10-20First Frost talents and group pulls

Talents open at 10. Put the first ten points into Improved Frostbolt, Precision and Frostbite, so Ice Lance lands at 20 and three points in Ice Shards follow from 22. Arcane Explosion comes at 14 and Flamestrike at 16, so you can handle small packs. Hall of Thanes (13-18) and Ruins of Lordaeron (15-20) are new dungeons in this range, and Ruins of Lordaeron drops Coldspire Staff for level 19. Questing zones: Westfall, Loch Modan, Darkshore or Redridge for Alliance, The Barrens or Silverpine Forest for Horde.

• Improved Frostbolt
• Precision
• Frostbite
• Arcane Explosion
• Flamestrike

20-30Ice Lance, Blizzard, Ice Block

Level 20 is the turning point. Take Ice Lance as your row 3 talent and train Blizzard, Blink, Evocation and the capital teleports. Ice Lance hits hardest on a frozen target, so the standard pull is Frostbolt, Frost Nova when it closes in, then Ice Lance. It shares an 8 sec cooldown with Fire Blast. Counterspell comes at 24, Ice Block at 25 and Cone of Cold at 26. Zones: Duskwood and Wetlands for Alliance, Ashenvale and Hillsbrad Foothills for Horde. Excavation Site: Wetlands (24-29) is the new dungeon in this range.

• Ice Lance
• Ice Shards
• Blizzard
• Blink
• Evocation
• Counterspell
• Ice Block
• Cone of Cold

30-40Shatter, Fingers of Frost, Cold Snap

Take Shatter and Fingers of Frost (the latter gives Chill effects a chance to count the target as frozen), then Winter's Chill, Improved Cone of Cold and Cold Snap. Winter's Chill is reworked: Frostbolt and Ice Lance build stacks that power up your next Cone of Cold. Ice Armor arrives at 30. City of Dalaran (28-33, attunement needed) and The Drowned City (35-40) are the new dungeons; Riverglades opens from about 35.

• Shatter
• Fingers of Frost
• Winter's Chill
• Cold Snap
• Ice Armor
• Mage Armor

40-50Ice Barrier, dual spec, Arcane points

Ice Barrier is the Frost capstone and you reach it around 40, together with portals and the new Frostfire Bolt trainer spell. Dual spec and riding also unlock at 40. After 42 your points move to Arcane: Improved Channeling first (five points open the next row), then Arcane Concentration and Missile Barrage. Zones for this range: Tanaris, The Hinterlands and Shen'dralas. Krol'dok Stronghold (40-45) and Alcaz Island Prison (48-53) are the new dungeons.

• Ice Barrier
• Frostfire Bolt
• Improved Channeling
• Arcane Concentration
• Missile Barrage

50-60Arcane Blast and the step to 60

The build finishes with Arcane Subtlety, Arcane Blast (at 57) and Arcane Meditation. Teleport: Dalaran is a new spell at 50. Zones: Burning Steppes, the Plaguelands, Winterspring, Silithus. Blackmaw Hold (55-60) and Shaper's Terrace (58-60) are new, and Mount Hyjal opens at 60. If you are going to raid, look at Fire before the first raid unlock: our simulation has it ahead of Frost and Arcane in raid fights.

• Arcane Subtlety
• Arcane Blast
• Arcane Meditation
• Teleport: Dalaran

Class quests

Talent plan

How to fight

Stats · Gear

Tips

• Sit at a campfire before logging out for rested XP.
• Crafted food can add a small XP bonus; Cooking pairs well with conjured water.
• Legacy points are shared across your characters; Adventure has Well Rested for more rested XP.
• The Legacy Talented perk unlocks talents up to 5 levels early.
• Class training 1-60 costs about 206-207 gold. Level 20 and 40 visits are the expensive ones.
• Dungeon mob XP went up 50% on 9 Nov. Run new dungeons with all their quests.
• Respec happens at a class trainer in a major city; teleports from 20 make that quick.
• Hotfixes since launch: Arcane Blast lasts 18 sec, and Flamestrike ticks no longer eat Clearcasting.

Common mistakes

• Casting Ice Lance on targets that are not frozen and wasting the shared cooldown.
• Opening on single mobs with Blizzard and running dry after two pulls.
• Pulling packs before Frost Nova is off cooldown.
• Forgetting to place new spells on bars after a training visit.
• Standing still in melee range instead of Blinking out.

Questions