Mage overview

The mage is the classic glass cannon: high damage from range, strong control over enemies, and a long list of conveniences like conjured food and water and teleports to the capitals.

At a glance

Who can be a mage

The Forever client lists Human, Gnome and High Order Skyborne for the Alliance and Undead, Troll and Orc for the Horde. Orc and Skyborne mages are new compared with the original game.

How the class plays

Mages kill from range and stop enemies from reaching them: Frost Nova roots everything nearby, Polymorph takes one enemy out of a fight, and Blink moves you away. You conjure your own food and water, which saves a lot of money while leveling, and later learn to teleport yourself and open portals for others. Area spells like Blizzard and Arcane Explosion make mages the fastest at killing large groups of weak enemies.

Talent trees

Arcane is about mana and raw power. It ends in Arcane Power, a burst that raises spell damage at a higher mana cost, with Arcane Instability one tier below.

Fire is the big critical strike tree. Its top talent is Combustion, which stacks up critical strike chance for Fire spells, and in Forever Fire Power grows with the number of your Fire effects on the target.

Frost is the control tree and the usual leveling choice, and it changed the most in Forever. It ends in Ice Barrier, a shield that now also raises your Frost damage while it holds, and the client has Fingers of Frost and Ice Lance, which Frost talents like Winter’s Chill build on. Which tree is strongest after the rework is something we are still checking in game.

Leveling

Level as Frost. Frostbolt slows the target, so most enemies never reach you; when they do, Frost Nova and step back. From the 20s, gathering several enemies and killing them with area spells is the fastest way to level, but it needs care: one mistake and you die in cloth.

In a group

Your jobs are damage, Polymorph on a target the tank does not hold, and food and water for everyone. Watch your threat, especially with area spells, and keep Arcane Intellect on the casters in the group.

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strong: high damage, best area damage while leveling, free food and water, travel by portal.
• Weak: cloth armor and low health, everything depends on keeping distance, mana runs out in long fights.

Races and talents come from the Forever client files (build 1.60.1.70790); play advice follows the original game and will be checked against Forever’s changes.