Mage PvP Guides for TBC Classic

Being a Mage in PvP, no matter your specialization, is all about following a two-step plan to victory:

1. Control your opponent(s) — This can be as simple as landing a Polymorph in preparation for a Pyroblast, followed by a Presence of Mind Pyroblast one-shot combo, or a complex sequence of freezing and slowing spells meant to exhaust your opponent's means of getting to or away from you.
2. Destroy your opponent(s) — Once they are brought under control, you can simply shatter combo them with Frostbolt and Ice Lance and finish them off with your instant casts of Fire Blast, Cone of Cold, and Arcane Explosion.

The first step is the most important, but also often the hardest one, requiring you to know the tools of the class(es) you are facing and how to trade your cooldowns for theirs. Experience is key!

Mages have two primary talent builds in PvP: Deep Frost, and PoM Pyro.

One small, but important detail to keep in mind, is that you need 3% Hit Chance to be capped in PvP. This means Spell Hit talents such as Elemental Precision are only useful early on, before you have any Hit on your gear.

With the introduction of Summon Water Elemental, Icy Veins, and Ice Lance in TBC, Frost Mages are absolute powerhouses which setup enemies into crowd control chains, and follow up with Shatter burst from Frost Nova and their elemental's Frost Nova.

Our guide below will take you through what you need to know in order to play as Frost in TBC Classic PvP.

If Frost is all about survivability, crowd control, and finesse, Fire is about bursting down enemies with the deadly Arcane Power, Presence of Mind, and Pyroblast combo. If it crits, it can straight up one-shot enemies with low Resilience, allowing you to get free wins that require little-to-no skill to pull off.

Our guide below will take you through what you need to know in order to play as Fire in TBC Classic PvP.

The introduction of Resilience in TBC makes PvP gear the best for PvP, as this new stat reduces your damage intake significantly, allowing your team much more time to kill your enemies before being overrun.

You can read our recommended gear guide below.

Macros and Addons can greatly benefit your gameplay, especially in PvP where split-second decisions translate to wins. Macros lessen the time it takes for you to perform an action by combining two or more commands into a single button. Addons increase the amount of information you are receiving, allowing you to make better decisions on the fly.

We list below our guides for Mage-specific Addons and Macros. While many of these are targeted toward PvE, they can also be quite useful for PvP.

Engineering is no longer nearly as good as it was in WoW Classic, as only rocket boots and the shield belt can be used inside the Arena, but it is still the best profession for world PvP and Battlegrounds. The Epic googles that will be coming in Season 2 are also great, especially due to their increased stealth detection perk.

Tailoring gives you Netherweave Net, which is great for Mages, but cannot be used inside Arenas. The crafted gear can be used early on, but it will leave you very vulnerable to enemy attacks, and you should look to obtain Resilience PvP gear to replace it as soon as you can.

Finally, Enchanting is also a recommended profession, as it increases your Spell Damage with its ring enchants with no downsides.

None of the other professions have any special PvP benefits.

Consumables are not as important in TBC as they used to be in WoW Classic, as Battlegrounds and World PvP are considerably less relevant with the introduction of the Arena.

In the Arena, you cannot use any sort of consumables, can only use the rocket boots and shield belt (both of which can fail) from Engineering, and the only water you can drink is Mage water or Star's Tears. This allows you, as a Mage, to provide free water and food for your teammates and yourself, saving a lot of gold in the process.

The potions listed below have a 2-minute shared cooldown and do not work inside the Arena. Bandages work in the Arena, but apply a debuff that prevents the use of another bandage for 1 minute.

• Heavy Netherweave Bandage
• Super Healing Potion
• Free Action Potion
• Living Action Potion
• Swiftness Potion
• Invisibility Potion

Noggenfogger Elixir is also a popular consumable used for PvP. When you drink it, it will do one of three things: make you smaller, turn you into a skeleton, or cast a Slow Fall spell on you. The shrink effect can be useful to make it harder for players to see and target you, and the Slow Fall can allow you to jump off high places and not die, while attackers will not be able to follow.

If you are interested in learning more about a variety of Arena compositions featuring a Mage and their relative strength in PvP, please consult our guides on them below: