Legion Mage Class Changes

By Wowhead Updated: 2016/08/12

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Mages had strong spec fantasies and improvements focus around tweaking gameplay and quality of life changes.

Arcane Mages:
Arcane's Mastery has been changed to Mastery: Savant. This increases maximum mana and mana regeneration rate, as well as the damage portion of of Arcane Charge.

The Mastery change means that it is no longer harmful to fall to very low mana levels. However, you will still want to use a burn/conserve rotation (see below).

Mana regeneration is no longer increased by haste.

Arcane Charge no longer reduces Arcane Blast's cast speed.

Greater Invisibility is now baseline for Arcane Mages.

Arcane Explosion now benefits from Arcane Charge in the same way as Arcane Blast; this means that a burn phase (see below) is now possible using the spell.

Hot Streak now affects Flamestrike in addition to Pyroblast.

Hot Streak now doubles Ignite damage done by affected spells, but they no longer cause 25% more damage.

Inferno Blast has been renamed Fire Blast.

Ignite now spreads passively, without Fire Blast.

Fire Blast has two charges, is off the global cooldown and usable while casting. It is used solely to force crits for Hot Streak.

Combustion is now a self-buff (see ‘Offensive Cooldowns').

It is no longer possible to hold both a Hot Streak and Heating Up.

Draenor Perks have been removed or made baseline. Pyrotechnics is the only perk that still exists in the spellbook for Fire Mages.

Blast Wave now only has one charge.

Living Bomb is no longer spread by Fire Blast and lasts for four seconds, with a 12 second cooldown. It is spread to all targets hit by the final explosion.

A ‘petless' Frost Mage is now possible with the new Lonely Winter talent.

Frostfire Bolt has been removed and replaced with Flurry as the spell to use when Brain Freeze activates.

Brain Freeze now causes Flurry to apply Winter's Chill for one second and be instant cast. Winter's Chill causes the target to take damage from your spells as if it were frozen.

There is now interaction with Mastery: Icicles through a new talent: Glacial Spike.

The way that Shatter activated has been changed. The extra damage is now calculated based on whether the target is frozen when a spell hits, rather than when it is cast. This means, for example, that a target could be frozen when a Frostbolt is in mid-air, and it will benefit from Shatter. However, it is a nerf to abilities that hit multiple times, such as Comet Storm, as the first hit will break the frozen effect.

Deep Freeze has been removed.

Splitting Ice is now a talent, not a glyph.

Blizzard is no longer channeled. Instead it is cast at an area on the ground and deals damage over eight seconds.

Ice Nova now only has one charge.

Visual UpdatesLegion Spell Animations PlaylistTalentshereLegion Talent CalculatorLegionLegionLegion

Evanesce

Blazing Speed

Alter Time

Flameglow

Ice Barrier - now general ability

Frostjaw

Greater Invisibility - now Arcane ability

Cauterize

Cold Snap

Prismatic Crystal

PvP TalentsPvP Honor CalculatorAbilitiesNew

Brain Freeze: Your Frostbolts have a 10% chance to cause the Brain Freeze effect. Each multistrike increases that cast's chance by an additional 15%. The Brain Freeze effect causes your next Frostfire Bolt to cost no mana, be instant cast, deal 85% additional damage, and act as if your target were frozen. Frostbolt has a 10% chance to empower your next Flurry to apply Winter's Chill to the victim for 1 sec and be instant cast. Winter's Chill causes the target to take damage from your spells as if it were frozen.

Flurry: Unleash a flurry of ice shards, striking the target 3 times for a total of Frost damage. Each shard reduces the target's movement speed by 70% for 1 sec.

Changed

Cone of Cold

Blizzard

Fingers of Frost

Frostbolt

Frozen Orb

Ice Lance

Icy Veins

Mastery: Icicles

Shatter

Removed

Deep Freeze - now removed

Ice Shards - now removed

Frostfire Bolt - now removed

New

Mastery: Savant: Increases your Mana regeneration rate and maximum Mana by 8.0%. Arcane Charges increase the damage of affected spells by an additional 4.00%.

Displacement: Teleports you back to where you last Blinked from. Resets the cooldown of Blink. Only usable within 6 sec of Blinking.

Changed

Arcane Barrage

Arcane Blast

Arcane Explosion

Greater Invisibility

Arcane Missiles

Arcane Power

Evocation

Removed

Arcane Mind - now Removed

Presence of Mind - Removed

Arcane Charge - now a Resource

New

Hot Streak: Getting two direct-damage critical strikes in a row will make your next Pyroblast or Flamestrike spell instant cast, and cause double the normal Ignite damage.

Changed

Critical Mass

Fireball

Flamestrike

Fire Blast

Mastery: Ignite

Pyroblast

Scorch

Combustion

Removed

Incineration - Now Removed

Changed

Removed

Arcane / Dalaran Brilliance - now gone

Cone of Cold - now Frost

Fire Blast - now gone

Frostfire Bolt - now gone

Ice Block - now Talent

Nether Attunement - now gone

Remove Curse - now gone

Artifact Weapons and Traits

Arcane Aluneth Calculator | Fire Felo'melorn Calculator | Frost Ebonchill Calculator

comprehensive Artifact Weapon guide

All artifacts by spec: any hidden abilities like Gaze of the Val'kyr, and flavor effects like Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire whispering you.

Traits: their perks, costs, how to acquire traits, and max level bonus traits.

Relics: how they increase ilvl, how they modify traits, and how to acquire them.

Acquiring artifacts: your first one and later ones for offspecs.

Artifact Knowledge: how this increases the rate at which you acquire Artifact Power, how to increase your AK level, how much extra AK you get at each rank.

Artifact Appearances: Every appearance organized by spec, how to get them, and modelviewer and video links.

Artifact Lore, Wowhead's Art Interview on Artifacts, and FAQ.

Tier SetsLegion Armor GuideCosmetic Abilities

Mystical Tome: Arcane Linguist: teaches Arcane Linguist

Mystical Tome: Illusion: teaches Illusion

Familiar Stone: effect of old Glyph of Conjure Familiar

Dalaran Initiates' Pin: effect of Dalaran Brilliance.

Endora MooreheadFantasy and Gameplay BlogLegion Class Preview Series: MageMages of the arcane are diviners of secrets, balancing the ebb and flow of incredible mystic energies. Unparalleled skill is required to manipulate the volatile forces of the universe. These practitioners push their magical knowledge to its very limits—often to the brink of their own exhaustion, and at great risk to the world around them. Those who master this craft are capable of releasing a barrage of unrelenting power upon their enemies, drawing upon replenishing energies to maintain their assault for as long as the battle demands.
GameplayWhile any worthy mage is an unparalleled expert in the use of magic and heavily dedicated to their craft, those who master the forces of fire tend to be a little more audacious than their peers. If a threat stands before them, the answer is always to neutralize it in a glorious blaze. A lifetime dedicated to the study of fiery forces only fuels their pyromania, and these mages take pride—even pleasure—in igniting their enemies in wild bursts of flame. Mistake their affinity for watching things burn as a lack of self-control at your own peril.GameplayFrost mages stand apart from their colleagues, in that their chosen school of magic focuses on maintaining supreme control over the capabilities of their enemies. Mages who command frost perform chilling displays on the battlefield, rendering foes immobile as they bombard them with ice. Often, the blade never reaches the caster before the bitter cold takes hold. The frost mage exudes frigid power as icicles form around them, foreshadowing the wintry demise of those who stand opposed on the field of battle.GameplayBlue Tweetsactive on TwitterBlue Tweet TrackerFireFrostGeneralDatamining Updates