World of Warcraft: Forever · class guide

Mage guide

Levels above 30 are untested theorycraft.

Client build 1.60.1.70425 · updated 2026-10-16

At a glance

The Mage is Forever's pure ranged caster: Arcane, Fire and Frost, all damage, no hybrid tax.

How this works

Blizzard changed it conservatively and gave each spec one Wrath-era signature: Arcane Blast and Missile Barrage for Arcane, Heating Up for Fire, Ice Lance and Fingers of Frost for Frost, plus a baseline Frostfire Bolt at 40. It keeps everything groups always wanted from a Mage: Polymorph, Counterspell, curse removal, food, water and portals. What it lost is the raid debuffs: Winter's Chill and Improved Scorch now help only you. It was probably the most-created class in the beta, so group spots are contested.

Ranged damage

Arcane

Stack Arcane Blast, spend it on free Arcane Missiles from Missile Barrage, and watch your mana. The spec that gained most, and the top of early tier lists.

Arcane guide · Rotation · Leveling · Spells · Talents

Ranged damage

Fire

Fireball crits build Heating Up for a faster Pyroblast, and your own Improved Scorch stacks lift every Fire spell. Crit-driven, and weak until Heating Up at 25.

Fire guide · Rotation · Leveling · Spells · Talents

Ranged damage and control

Frost

Frostbolt until something freezes, then Ice Lance for 200% more damage. The safe levelling and kiting spec, with the strongest defensive toolkit.

Frost guide · Rotation · Leveling · Spells · Talents

What Forever changed

Arcane Blast is a new 11-point Arcane talent. It is a 1.5 s cast. Each cast gives you 15% of your Intellect as extra spell damage and raises its own cost by 175%, up to 4 stacks for 15 s from the first one. Missile Barrage (row 1, 2 points) makes Arcane Missiles fast and free.
Heating Up is the new 16-point Fire talent: each Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, Fire Blast or Scorch crit takes 25% off your next Pyroblast's cast, up to 75%. Fire Blast now always adds a stack too (two on a crit). Pyroblast is never instant.
Ice Lance (11-point Frost talent) does 200% more damage to Frozen targets, and Fingers of Frost lets your next one or two spells treat the target as Frozen.
Frostfire Bolt is trained at 40: Frost and Fire damage against the lower resistance, with a 40% slow. Teleport: Dalaran comes at 50, for Alliance races only in the client. A new Frost Blast spell at 24 does the same job as a rank 1 Frostbolt: a slow, with talents that help Frostbolt.
Comprehension is a Mage-only skill from level 6: Comprehend Scroll deciphers dropped scrolls into imbues, familiars and buffs, and Study makes a bundle of them once an hour in a library.
Winter's Chill no longer adds crit: your Frostbolt, Frost Blast and Fingers of Frost Ice Lances put it on the target to boost your next Cone of Cold. Improved Scorch still helps only your own Fire damage. Neither can be resisted once its spell lands.
Arcane Brilliance covers the whole raid, and Arcane Intellect lasts 1 hour. Remove Lesser Curse also removes Warlock Banes.
Arcane Meditation keeps 50% of your mana regeneration while casting (was 15%), and Mage Armor 50% (was 30%).
Cone of Cold slows 40% for 6 seconds (was 50% for 8), and Improved Blizzard tops out at 40% (was 65%): Blizzard cut Frost kiting on purpose to stop gold bots.
Combustion lasts 3 crits. Ignite no longer double-dips on damage bonuses. Base damage is lower on most spells, while low ranks gained spell-power scaling.

Every spell, new and changed ones marked, by spec: Arcane, Fire, Frost.

Strengths

No hybrid tax: Blizzard tunes pure classes about 5% above hybrid damage specs.
Group utility nobody else has all of: Polymorph, Counterspell, curse and Bane removal, Arcane Brilliance for the raid, conjured food and water, portals.
Safe solo play: Frost Nova, Blink, Ice Block, slows, and Ice Lance damage on the move.
Arcane is the most-changed spec and sits at the top of early (low-reliability) tier lists. Arcane Meditation makes in-combat mana real.
Comprehension scrolls add weapon imbues, Intellect familiars and a Mage-only sword, the Coldflame Saber.

Gaps you plan around

Mana. Mages still drink more than anyone while levelling, and Arcane Blast's cost climbs 175% a stack.
No more raid debuffs. Winter's Chill and Improved Scorch are personal, so a Mage no longer raises other casters' damage.
Weaker AoE farming: Cone of Cold and Blizzard slows were cut on purpose, and tanks hold only 3–5 mobs.
Crowded role: possibly the most-created beta class (16% in an unverified census), and every Mage competes with Priests and Warlocks for cloth.
Short on buttons: Blizzard says the Mage has fewer moment-to-moment buttons than it wants and is looking at more for every spec.

Races

Race	Faction	What it brings a Mage
Human	Alliance	Ruthless: +2% crit chance, with no weapon needed (it replaces Sword Specialization). The Human Spirit +5% Spirit. Will to Survive breaks stuns.
Gnome	Alliance	Eureka!: for 8 seconds your damaging spells cost 10% less and hit 10% harder, every 2 minutes (a plain 8 s buff with no charges; it doesn't boost damage over time). Expansive Mind +5% mana. Escape Artist with 3 s immunity. The Frost pick for Alliance.
Skyborne (High Order)	Alliance	New, and the only Skyborne that can be a Mage. Wind Blessed +3% casting haste, Elemental Insight +5% damage to Elementals, Read Ley Line (double health and mana regeneration, 15 s away from a ley line; castable while moving). Starts on Zephras Isle (1–12) with its own Mage quests and a free wand. Needs the Skyborne Heroic Pack.
Orc	Horde	New to the class. Blood Fury: +10% spell power for 15 s every 3 minutes. Savage: +1% crit chance (replaced Axe Specialization). Shatter Curse now dispels Curses and Banes and cuts magic damage taken by only 5% (was 15%). The best Horde Mage.
Undead	Horde	Cannibalize now restores mana as well as health (35% over 10 s). Touch of the Dead has a 30% chance for casters, with a 25 s internal cooldown. Will of the Forsaken breaks fear and charm.
Troll	Horde	Berserking: +10% casting speed for 10 s every 3 minutes (players report it doesn't speed channels). Beast Slaying +5% against beasts. Regeneration is doubled to 20% health regeneration bonuses. Rapid Regeneration heals half your health if left alone.