What spec easiest to learn and master?

[BorgPokerPro 0]

Hey All

If you were going to give advice to someone starting out brand new mage and they planned to raid at some point what would you say is the easiest spec to get the hang of and master quickest? And why?

 

Thanks

[Syconix 0]

I've tried all the specs readily available for mages. Not current content of course but over the years. I thought that frost was an easy one to get used to. The rotation isn't all that hard to get the hang of and it's still plenty of fun. I'm playing Fire in legion just for a change of pace also a lot of fun but I feel there's a little bit more to fire than frost. As far as arcane goes I hear you can build it to be a real easy rotation but I just didn't enjoy it one bit (Each to their own).

In the end you should try each spec and see what rotation you can really grasp the quickest. Comes down to your own comfortability.

That's my two cents on the matter anyway. Good luck chosing a spec!

[Zadina 923]

I have only played Fire and it's the only spec I know, but from what I've read on the Mage Discord both Arcane and Frost have been made quite more complicated than they used to be.

Especially for Frost if you take all the active skill talents (which are in their majority better), you have double the spells of the other two specialisations. So, it's not that simple as it used to be, you have a lot of skills to juggle + procs etc. Same with Arcane and mana usage: it may seem simple, because you have fewer spells, but there are a lot of things you need to track and factors to take account of.

Surprisingly, what was once the most complicated spec - Fire, that is - is now probably the simplest. And for now, it is the best for PvE so in my opinion it's worth picking it up.

[Nowiser 0]

Fire will probably be the easiest to master. As the rotation is simple and you dont have to worry about mana. Arcane to me is more fun (which is what im playing now) but it eats Mana like crazy. So you have to manage the extra resource. Havent played any frost so I cannot comment on Frost. 

Fire will probably be the least gear dependant early on as well. The bigger aspect is making sure you are talented for the content, Single target and cleave are about 3-4 talents different depending on who you ask.

Overall fire is probably easiest to learn right now. 

[Thazi 4]

Frost is hands down the easiest to master.  Fire takes a lot to learn because of all the micromanaging you have to do with your skills.

 

I personally love Fire, always play Fire except when Arcane pulled ahead in damage.

 

Arcane can be difficult but not horribly hard.  Just managing your mana which isn't really that bad.

[Dee 0]

Frost, in my experience, but I haven't played frost this expansion. 

[VirgilvanDijk 3]

I have to agree with Zadina and Nowiser, Fire mage is the easiest currently. There is simply less variation compared to the other specs. pretty straight forward and only moderate micro management. Frost mage changed into a far harder spec with pet management and a huge tray of active skills to juggle.

[Rosario 0]

Arcane has the talents needed to make it easier to learn to maximize, you can choose options that give solid stable buffs to make your character a less bursty build but have a slight disadvantage in shorter encounters like dungeons in favor of stable DPS

or you can choose bursty talents that require an active skill set which when utilized properly in raiding and longer encounters will be a higher overall output but requires you to learn when to use things to max up. 

the beauty is you can choose to switch to easier talents such as incanters flow and erosion to have fewer abilities you need to track and your standard spell casts will revolve primarily around the timing of incanters flow instead of the cooldown and casting of rune of power.

erosion over nether tempest offers stronger single target damage while sacrificing another way to gain arcane missile procs and aoe available for trash pulls.