Fire Mage Hero Talent Showdown in The War Within - Frostfire vs. Sunfury

Posted 2024/08/17 at 3:34 PM by Preheat

Not sure what Hero Talents to play for your spec in The War Within? Check out all the released articles in the 'Hero Talent Showdown' series:
Hero Talent Showdowns in The War Within
Blood DK
Frost DK
Unholy DK
Havoc DH
Vengeance DH
Balance Druid

Feral Druid
Guardian Druid
Restoration Druid
Augmentation Evoker
Devastation Evoker
Preservation Evoker
Beast Mastery Hunter
Marksmanship Hunter
Survival Hunter
Arcane Mage
Fire Mage
Frost Mage
Brewmaster Monk
Mistweaver Monk
Windwalker Monk
Holy Paladin
Protection Paladin
Retribution Paladin
Discipline Priest
Holy Priest
Shadow Priest
Assassination Rogue
Outlaw Rogue
Subtlety Rogue
Elemental Shaman
Enhancement Shaman
Restoration Shaman
Affliction Warlock
Demonology Warlock
Destruction Warlock
Arms Warrior
Fury Warrior
Protection Warrior

For more information on Hero Talents coming in the War Within, check out our Hero Talents Overview.

The War Within Hero Talents Overview

Fire Mage in the War WithinPyroblastFlamestrikeCombustionHot StreakPyroblastCombustionFire BlastHeating UpHot StreakHero Talent Showdown: Sunfury vs. Frostfire Spellfire SpheresArcane PhoenixMeteoriteGlorious IncandescenceFrostfire BoltIsothermic CoreExcess FrostExcess FireLiving BombLiving Bomb Sunfury

Strengths

Weaknesses

Unleashed InfernoPyroblastMemory of Al'arHyperthermiaCombustionHyperthermiaSpellfire SpheresPyroblastFlamestrikeCombustionArcane PhoenixSpellfire Spheres Frostfire

Strengths

Weaknesses

FireballFrostfire BoltFrostfire MasteryFrostfire MasteryFire BlastExcess FirePhoenix FlamesExcess FrostFrostfire EmpowermentFrostfire BoltCombustionSun King's BlessingTime AnomalyIsothermic CoreMeteorComet StormImbued WardingBlazing BarrierIce BarrierMass BarrierMeet Arlo, our own Al'ar.What's Changed? SunfuryGlorious IncandescenceArcane PhoenixCodex of the Sunstriders FrostfireLiving BombLit FuseExplosive IngenuityConvectionCratermakerBlast ZoneMark of the FirelordAnd the Winner Is...

Class Fantasy & Visuals: Sunfury & Frostfire (Tie)
Both Hero talent specs are immediately recognizable and come with a flavor and fantasy that is distinct to them. The winner here will depend on your personal preference.

Sunfury

Sunfury visuals for Arcane Phoenix and Glorious Incandescence.

Frostfire

Frostfire visuals for Meteor and Frostfire Bolt.

Fun & Rewarding Gameplay: Sunfury (Winner)
This is a close one. Frostfire has a bit more depth to it, since it requires tracking more buffs and making more decisions. Before the nerfs to Living Bomb I had Frostfire as the winner here, but effort put into gameplay has to result in damage for it to be rewarding.

Sunfury has the best gameplay, mainly because it shakes things up and allows us to play Unleashed Inferno and rewards us more for proper play.

Difficulty: Sunfury (Winner)
Fire is easier to play across the board, but Sunfury is easier. Frostfire is not especially difficult, but it is a bit more complicated.

Defensiveness & Utility: Frostfire (Winner)
Frostfire brings better utility with stronger barriers for you and your group via Imbued Warding.

Sunfury has some utility with Lessons in Debilitation, especially in PvP, but is less useful overall. Merely a Setback provides some additional defensive benefit but it falls short of Imbued Warding.

Leveling: Sunfury (Winner)
I don't recommend Fire for leveling, but Sunfury is better suited for quickly mowing packs down with Flamestrike. Hyperthermia feels great to play.

Mythic+: Sunfury (Winner)
Before I answer this, let me give you some context: Fire tuning is bad. At the time I am writing this, Sunfury Fire Mage is 25-35% behind its peers in Single Target and AoE. With that being said, Sunfury is about 10% ahead in Single Target and around 5% behind Frostfire in AoE.

Tuning is fleeting, but Sunfury is the winner because it has more damage and higher burst than Frostfire.

Raid: Sunfury (Winner)
Sunfury has better damage tuning than Frostfire. Otherwise, both are very similar.

Best Overall: Sunfury (Winner)
Sunfury wins overall mainly due to having slightly better tuning, but Frostfire is also great. Frostfire could easily surpass Sunfury, if Living Bomb is buffed.

Spellfire Spheres contain elements of Fire and Arcane in their models while they slowly oscillate.Hero Talent Feedbacktuning. Inspired IntellectTime AnomalyLiving Bomb SunfuryArcane PhoenixIgnite the FutureGravity LapseSun King's BlessingMemory of Al'ar FrostfireHot Streak!Frostfire BoltLiving BombBase Fire Mage Gameplay & Talents

Temporal Warp has been removed and replaced with Inspired Intellect.

Mastery: Ignite now has a chance to provide cooldown reduction on Fire Blast built into it.

Fuel the Fire is now baseline. Flamestrike has a chance equal to your Crit to contribute towards Hot Streak!

Scorch now automatically crits in execute, and provides movement speed. It also has new talents that modify it.

Living Bomb has been designed via the Lit Fuse buff, and has many talent interactions.

Sun King's Blessing and Unleashed Inferno are now closer in terms of tuning.

Heating UpHot Streak!Fire BlastCombustionHot Streak!Should You Play Fire Mage in the War Within?Unleashed InfernoSun King's BlessingFlame AccelerantFlamestrikeFlame PatchQuickflameQuickflameHero Talent Guides for the War Within Launch

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Comments

Comment by Darkhay

Sunfury, but of course! Is that even a question?

Comment by Rasalot

Will fire be tuned/buffed again before the expansion? It’s looking really weak right now especially with single target.

Comment by paluchrob

Not god. Blizz is all about balance. They are ganna nerf sunfury visually now to make it closer in line to the others

Comment by Whulle

I'm glad Sunfury came out on top because I've been leaning heavily into the spec fantasy the last few years with fire/flame/molten themed transmog, toys and mounts. Looking forward to this.

Comment by Daws001

Going to start lighting candles and praying for a Fire balance patch before early access.

Comment by Icesong

Is the phoenix actually called Arlo or is this a meme?

Comment by domacleod

Kind of dislike the visual spheres on sunfury (we got a mage class set that already provides orbs, in both blue and green, and these stacked on top look horrid), also dislike that they've completely given up on the swirling orbs we had in legion. Those were much more aesthetically pleasing. Now we're stuck with orbs floating near our heads like we're a burning crusade villain with not enough budget to make swirling orbs work.

Comment by GoingHamm

Patiently waiting for frost mage!

Comment by shadowedscholar

I played frostfire in wrath and I'm looking forward to playing it again

Comment by Taotao10

Will fire be tuned/buffed again before the expansion? It’s looking really weak right now especially with single target.

Blizz doesn't let fire be bad of course it will be

Comment by Zhyrce

Frostfire for the win!

Comment by jowerr

i was really looking forward to playing the new fire in mythic+, a version of it that can actually be taken to lower level keystones.. i hope they tune it before it comes out

Comment by StripedYukon

Really would prefer frostfire. I don't do much with the mage so hopefully it's fine for what I do.

Comment by pipopoke

My fire shall not be tainted by Jaina.

Comment by Auralyon

Anyone else find it ironic that the hero talent tree based on the Sun King discourages using Sun King's Blessing?

Comment by ottoflop

I want to try it just because SKB isn't mandatory anymore, at least for now. I understand a lot of ppl like it, but for us that don't we 've been stuck with it for 2 expacs now