Mage Specs
Mage Specs
Arcane
How to Spot: As one of my guildies put it, Mages are very patriotic– their hands are either red, white, or blue. Arcane-specced mages’ hands are usually flaring white, as they often cast Arcane Missiles. Slow is the highest talent in this tree, but you hardly ever see that cast– most Mages, even if they spec Fire or Frost, will go up to 21 points in this tree just to get Presence of Mind (POM), which makes the next spell cast an instant. Pyroblast is actually a Fire talent, but lots of Mages love to cast it with POM, so if you see a big fireball coming at you instantly, you’re looking at a half-Arcane, half-Fire mage.
They Can: Conserve mana. Arcane mages have the best mana usage rate out of all three trees.
They Can’t: Blow stuff up like Fire mages. Arcane mages are the nerds of the mage community– they get nice bonuses, but they aren’t as flashy as the other specs.
Fire
How to Spot: They are blowing you up. Pyroblast, Blast Wave, Scorch, Dragon’s Breath and Combustion are all Fire Mage talents, so if you get hit with any of those, you’re looking at a Fire mage.
They Can: DPS like a mofo. Mages spec for Fire to do damage, and they don’t care who knows it.
They Can’t: Control their threat. Fire mages like to pull aggro in raids, and their talents (especially Dragon’s Breath, with its Disorient factor) are a little more suited for PvP. It’s not that a good Fire mage can’t control threat well, it’s that most of these guys are pyromaniacs, and they can’t really be bothered.
Frost
How to Spot: They’re Iceblocking– that’s a 21-point talent in this tree. Frost mages also love Blizzard, as it not only does damage, but provides all kinds of nasty status effects to their targets. And if you ever see a mage with a Water Elemental, you’re looking at a Mage heavily specced Frost.
They Can: AoE– their CC bonuses make them perfect for handling all sorts of mobs in large numbers. They’re also good raiders, as the threat problems that Fire mages suffer from are easily handled by Iceblock.
They Can’t: Make things go boom like Fire mages can. Frost mages can do terrific DPS, but a great Fire mage will always beat a great Frost mage with the same gear.
Filed under: World of Warcraft