Fire Mage DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (2024)

Below is the "standard" Fire Mage single target build. It is alsodecent at doing cleave damage via Mastery: Ignite.

The below build is a build focused around heavy AoE damage via Flamestrike.It gives up some single target and cleave DPS but gains significant AoEdamage against larger groups of enemies. (4+ targets)See our Ignite vs Flamestrike sectionbelow for more information.

For Mythic+, the Flamestrike build above is a good starting point, however,Mythic+ has specific considerations to keep in mind, so we strongly suggest youread our Mythic+ page for talent trees specifically tailored to Mythic+.

For AoE-based situations, there are 2 main builds you can opt into.One focuses on Mastery: Ignite, whereas the other focuses on Flamestrike.The single target build is decent at doing cleave DPS. However, it sufferswhen fighting larger groups of enemies. Around 3 targets, both builds do similarDPS, however, at 4 targets onwards, the Flamestrike build starts doing more damage.

However, this additional damage does come at a cost. The Flamestrike-based build gives up significant priority target DPS. Meaning it does all itsdamage evenly to all targets. Whereas the Ignite-based build can heavily focusdown a single target and do all of its AoE damage effectively for free.

This means that in mixed content, for example, Mythic+ or a raid bossthat has both AoE phases and single target phases, you have to pick what youwant to excel at. If you want to focus on heavy AoE damage, you shouldgo for the Flamestrike build, whereas if you want to focus more on prioritytarget DPS while still doing decent AoE damage, the Ignite build is favored.

The general Mage tree is extremely flexible. It is almost entirelypersonal preference, apart from a couple of key DPS nodes. You have many morepoints available than you need to get all of the DPS nodes, leaving you with manyoptions in terms of survivability, crowd control, and utility. Below, we will highlightsome of the key nodes that are important for DPS and suggest some of the bestnon-DPS nodes. However, even after that, you can assign a bunch of points as yousee fit.

Talent	Reason for taking
Overflowing Energy	A large DPS boost.
Incanter's Flow	A large DPS boost.
Shifting Power	A large DPS boost.
Ice Block	One of the best defensives in the entire game.
Mirror Image	A great defensive tool useful in all content.
Alter Time	A very strong defensive and mobility tool in one, useful in all content.

Talent	Reason for taking
Spellsteal	A good pick if there are buffs you can steal that are either beneficial toyou, or make the content easier by removing it from the target.
Remove Curse	A good pick if there are curses you can dispel.
Winter's Protection	Can be useful if you need the reduced cooldownto be able to solo soak a specific raid mechanic. If combined with Ice Coldand Cryo-Freeze it also becomes a very strong damage reduction tool.
Incantation of Swiftness	Can be useful for skipping content, liketrash packs in dungeons, or open-world enemies
Tempest Barrier	A minor defensive tool useful in all content.

The tier 2 talents contain almost entirely utility/mobility talents.

Talent	Reason for taking
Tome of Rhonin	A straight up DPS boost
Tome of Antonidas	A straight up DPS boost
Shimmer or Ice Floes	Both are extremely strong mobility tools. This choice is largely a personalpreference. Ice Floes ultimately allows for more movement without losing DPS,but it comes at the cost of losing out on the burst movement(without having to give up a global cooldown like Blink does) that Shimmerprovides.
Diverted Energy	A great survivability tool useful in all content.

Talent	Reason for taking
Master of Time	A decent survivability and mobility tool useful in all content.
Quick Witted	A good pickup in content where you need the reduced interrupt cooldown,like Mythic+ in a low interrupt group.
Slow	A good pickup to assist in kiting, especially when solo. Generally nottoo much usage in group content, though.
Cryo-Freeze	A very good self-healing tool when playing solo or a very strong defensivein all content when combined with Ice Cold.
Reduplication	Can be useful if it would give you an additional usage of Mirror Imagefor a specific high-hitting ability, but usually hard toproc this.
Reabsorption	Adds a relatively useful self-heal onto MirrorImage, but usually hard to proc this.
Blast Wave	Great crowd control that can be extremely useful in Mythic+ and open-worldcontent, for its ability to AoE interrupt enemy spellcasts
Volatile Detonation	Used to further increase the ability to kite with Blast Wave,but should be careful in grouped content to not knock enemies into additionalenemies and pull more than planned.
Mass Slow	Can be used to kite packs of mobs inMythic+, in some cases, or good for open-world content.
Ice Nova	For even more crowd control. Also, technically a minor DPS increase when movingas it can be used when on the move if you have no Ice Floes / Shimmerready and no other instants.
Ring of Frost	For even more crowd control.

In this tier, we unlock some of the strong final nodes as a priority, whereasthe rest is flexible.

Talent	Reason for taking
Time Anomaly / Temporal Warp	The strongest of the final nodes. We usually suggest picking Temporal Warp.However, if you are doing group content where you are unable to use Time Warp (or similar effects) relatively early in the content you are doing,you can consider going Time Anomaly, otherwise Temporal Warp.
Greater Invisibility	One of the best defensive tools in the game.
Mass Barrier / Mass Invisibility	A single-point talent (assuming you took Greater Invisibility)that provides quite a lot of defensive power for your group if you take Mass Barrier.Since the cooldown is not shared with Blazing Barrier, it is a usefuldefensive tool even when solo. Mass Invisibility can be a very strong toolfor Mythic+ to skip packs.
Temporal Velocity	A decent mobility tool. It is not that great of a talent on its own, but it ison the path to some very strong other nodes, so it's pretty much always taken.

Talent	Reason for taking
Ice Cold	Turns Ice Block into a very strong defensive cooldown that doesnot come at the cost of any DPS but removes the immunity aspect from it.Generally, we suggest taking this if you do not need the immunity aspect of Ice Block,as it lasts 6 seconds, and you are unlikely to sit in Ice Block for that long.Additionally, when combined with Cryo-Freeze, it also becomesa very strong self heal that you do not need to sit in Ice Block for to getthe benefit of.
Dragon's Breath	If you have Alexstrasza's Fury talented, you should also pick up Dragon's Breath for DPS.Without Alexstrasza's Fury, it is a very good crowd-control ability, especially useful in Mythic+ tointerrupt spell casts.
Accumulative Shielding	A minor boost to your survivability that works in all content.
Displacement	A decent mobility and defensive tool. Difficult to take without giving up one of the capstonenodes, but if you are skipping a capstone node, a very useful mobility + defensive tool.
Frigid Winds + Ice Ward	These nodes give you even more kiting power. Not very useful in most groupcontent, but strong when solo and on the way to Ice Cold. If you are nottaking Ice Cold, these two talents should be skipped for most group play.
Time Manipulation	Can be useful if you are doing content where you really need the extra crowdcontrol.

In this section, we will go over the Fire MageTalents. The focus of this section will be PvE content.

This section sets up a lot of the core components of the spec.

You always take all talents in this section, except for Firestarterand Fuel the Fire.

Talent	Reason for taking
Firestarter	Very good DPS boost as long if the enemy remains above 90% health larger thana usual amount of time. For example, if a raid boss has a large shield at 100%health that you need to burn through first.
Fuel the Fire	Only taken for the Flamestrike based AoE build.

Talent	Reason for taking
Flame On	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than otheroptions.
Critical Mass (1x)	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than otheroptions. You always take at least one point of Critical Mass as the first pointis stronger than the second. See the optional section below on when to takethe second point.
Combustion	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than otheroptions.
Improved Combustion	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than otheroptions.
Feel the Burn	Large DPS boost in all content, numerically stronger than other options.
Firemind	Large DPS boost in all content, numerically stronger than other options.
Call of the Sun King	Decent DPS boost in all content, numerically stronger than other options.
Improved Scorch	Great for both single target and AoE.
Alexstrasza's Fury	Great for both single target and AoE. Keep in mind, this does require you tohave Mage Fire 10.1 Class Set 4pc, otherwise Controlled Destructionis better.

Talent	Reason for taking
Critical Mass (second point)	Taken on single target but skipped in AoE situations.
Intensifying Flame	Taken for single target, but skipped in AoE situations.
Flame Patch	Picked for heavy AoE when going Flamestrike based AoE.
Incendiary Eruptions	Picked for heavy AoE when going Flamestrike based AoE.

Talent	Reason for taking
Fevered Incantation	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than otheroptions.
Kindling	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than otheroptions.
Fiery Rush	Large DPS increase on both single target and AoE, numerically stronger than otheroptions.
Sun King's Blessing / Unleashed Inferno	The best capstone node available. Generally, you will want to go with Sun King's Blessing. However, if the content you are doing has lots ofdowntime, Unleashed Inferno can be better. Additionally, if you reallyneed more burst DPS to deal with a certain boss mechanic, Unleashed Infernocan also be used to beat that burst DPS check. Whichever option you pick,it is better than any other talent available.
Wildfire	Not the best node on its own, but required to get to Sun King's Blessing,and relatively good for all situations.
Conflagration	Numerically better than other options on both single target and AoE.

Talent	Reason for taking
Inflame	Taken for single target and cleave.
Controlled Destruction (1-2x)	1 Point taken for single target. You can take 2 points (instead of Alexstrasza's Fury)if you do not have Mage Fire 10.1 Class Set 4pc.
Phoenix Reborn	Skipped for single target or low target counts, but numerically strongerthan other options for AoE situations.
Meteor	Skipped for single target or low target counts, but numerically strongerthan other options for AoE situations.
Flame Accelerant	Picked in single target but skipped in AoE situations, but only a singlepoint, as the additional reduced cast time of a second point often goes to waste.