Mage Class Overview

The epitome of the wizard fantasy and capable of harnessing elemental magic to destroy their foes, the Mage is a caster-based class in World of Warcraft. Mage comes in three flavors, all of them focusing on a DPS-eccentric playstyle; Arcane, Frost, and Fire. Regardless of Specialization or playstyle, all Mages use Mana as a resource.

Looking to dive right into the content? Head over to the Mage Leveling Guide to start your adventure in Azeroth!

• Arcane — This specialization focuses not only on your damaging Arcane spells, but also on the utility of a Mage, helping to manage your Mana, shields and resistances.
• Fire — This specialization focuses on the destructive aspect of a Mage, with talents leaning towards buffing your Fire spells and damage.
• Frost — This specialization focuses on slowing enemies and freezing them while they are forced to withstand an assault of Frost damage.

Due to the differences between Classic and modern World of Warcraft, players won't spec completely into a specific Specialization. For Mage, you will mostly have the choice between Fire and Frost with a few talents selected from Arcane to round the class out. For a more in depth look at what this looks like, head over to our detailed Mage Guide linked below.

If you are still deciding if the Mage class is the proper choice for you, feel free to check out the video below from WillE, an avid player and long time content creator for World of Warcraft! This video will give you a solid overview of what Mage is like to level and what it excels at in endgame content and PvP.

Mages can be played as Humans and Gnomes for the Alliance and Undead and Trolls for the Horde in Classic.

Mages are only able to wear Cloth armour and are able to use Daggers, Swords, Staves, and Wands. For best-in-slot lists, please head over to our Mage Gearing Page, linked below.

For information on how best to play your Mage in Classic, you can check out the following guides.

• Mage PvP Guide
• Mage Leveling Guide
• Addons and Macros Guide for Mages
• Making Gold as a Mage

Find our new guides for Mage in WoW Classic Season of Discovery below! The new game mode will have players find and utilize Runes that can then be engraved onto their gear to provide them special bonuses that augment already existing abilities or allow the class to use entirely new spells.

With the introduction of new Runes in Season of Discovery, not only will old builds be increased in power, but Mage now has the option of being played as a Healer.