WoW Classic Mage Weapons Guide

Mages start their journey through Azeroth knowing how to use Staves and Wands. They can also learn Daggers and one-handed Swords from Weapon Masters around the world.

Being able to use Staves from the start will be quite useful, as it means your melee damage will be higher than that of most classes, allowing you to finish off enemies that you previously weakened with your spells easily, conserving Mana in the process.

Once you get your first Wand, start using it to finish off enemies, instead. Because you will not be using your weapon to melee hit once you get your Wand, it will only serve you as a stat stick, which makes it less impactful than that of physical damage dealing classes that rely on their auto-attacks for most of their damage.

You can still expect to upgrade your weapon a few times during your journey, and your weapon will typically represent your main source of spell damage and other important stats. Remember that no matter how good a weapon is at a given level, it will quickly be outclassed by common weapons of higher level, so don't bother chasing the perfect low level weapon unless you are making a twink character or enjoy doing so for the sake of it.

There are many weapons you could use during your journey in Azeroth. Because listing all of them would be confusing, we will focus on the most notable ones, for their power and ease of obtaining. Some notable weapons of each type you might want to be looking out for along the way are listed below.

Wands are very important for Mages who are leveling, before level 35 or so, at which point their damage starts to fall off greatly compared to your spells. They will always be useful when finishing targets off or while regenerating Mana / waiting for the tank to build up threat, regardless.

Staves are powerful two-handed weapons which you can use from your character's creation. This allows them to contribute from the get go towards you finishing melee hits. Later on, they have some of the best caster stats you can find on weapons, and do not require a compatible off-hand to be used, making them easy to use options.

While good Mage daggers are relatively rare, there are a few notable ones, such as Hypnotic Blade, Witchblade and Claw of Chromaggus.

While there are not many Swords Mages can use, as they mostly have physical damage stats, there are a few great Mage Swords, such as Azuresong Mageblade.

Off-hands are not, technically, weapons, but they occupy a weapon slot, so we will be listing them anyway! There are quite a few off-hands in the game, and many sport high amounts of Spell Damage, such as Spirit of Aquementas and Tome of the Ice Lord, which is great for Mages!

Mages cannot use Fist Weapons.

Mages cannot use Axes.

Mages cannot use Maces.

Mages cannot use Polearms.

Mages cannot use Crossbows.

Mages cannot use Bows.

Mages cannot use Guns.

Mages cannot use Thrown Weapons.

You will want to search for of the eagle weapons while leveling, with spirit gear also being welcomed, as a swap-to whenever you leave combat, preferably. Eagle weapons have Intellect and Stamina, which are the most important stats while leveling because they allow you to stay in the fight longer, and you can always eat and drink to full between fights, if needed.

• Try to get an early green Staff with Intellect on it as soon as you can.
• Crescent Staff (Horde) and Staff of Westfall (Alliance) are dungeon quest rewards, from Leaders of the Fang and The Defias Brotherhood respectively. Because they are quest rewards, you are guaranteed to get them from your first full dungeon run, and they can last you for a while.
• Illusionary Rod or Hypnotic Blade (combined with Orb of the Forgotten Seer from Scarlet Monastery: Graveyard) in Scarlet Monastery: Library are very strong options, and relatively easy to farm in Scarlet Monastery.
• Zum'rah's Vexing Cane, from Zul'Farrak is a great staff, having all the stats you need while leveling up, and it can be used while you are farming your pre-raid best in slot.
• Spirit of Aquementas comes from the Linken Un'Goro quest chain. While it is a hard quest chain to do solo, even at 60, this item is the best off-hand available until raiding, so it will probably end up being worth the effort!
• Finally, Glowing Brightwood Staff is a cheap bind on equip option that you can use from level 49 onwards and doubles as the best AoE farming weapon before raid / Rank 14 gear!

Your wand, as a Mage, is the most impactful piece of your gear while leveling until around level 35, as you will often be using it to finish low-health enemies off, saving Mana in the process. As such, looking for wand upgrades is the main thing to look out for, gear-wise, in this bracket.

• Enchanting Wands, such as Lesser Magic Wand (crafted at Enchanting Level 10) and Greater Magic Wand (crafted at Enchanting Level 70) are great for the level at which you can use them, but it can be hard to craft them yourself early on;
• One of the first wands you can get as an alliance player, Elven Wand, is a reward from the Bashal'Aran quest. Horde players can get an early wand, Flaring Baton, from The Escape. Once you reach the endgame, one of the best easily-obtainable wands is Stormrager, from Order Must Be Restored (Alliance) or The Scarlet Oracle, Demetria (Horde);
• White wands sold by NPCs range between the low-level Smoldering Wand, and the high-level Blackbone Wand. These can be purchased easily, if there are no better options for cheaper on the auction house;
• Gravestone Scepter, from the Blackfathom Deeps dungeon quest Blackfathom Villainy, and Icefury Wand, from the Mage Class quest Mage's Wand, are all guaranteed rewards from doing their respective quests, and quite strong for the level at which you can obtain them.

Mages have some end-game weapons at their disposal. The best ones come from raiding, but there are also good options in dungeons and the occasional quest reward.

• Bonecreeper Stylus is the best starter Wand, and you can find it in Scholomance, from Darkmaster Gandling;
• Trindlehaven Staff is the best staff available before raiding. Use Witchblade instead, if you wish to pair with it with Spirit of Aquementas;
• When you begin raiding, try to get Sorcerous Dagger / Azuresong Mageblade and pair them with Fire Runed Grimoire, or simply get Staff of Dominance, all of which come from Molten Core;
• Fang of the Mystics and Cold Snap come from Azuregos and are well worth it if you can arrive in Azshara fast enough to tag him;
• Blackwing Lair has two amazing Mage weapons: Claw of Chromaggus and Staff of the Shadow Flame, both of which can last you for a long time!

While Rank 14 weapons ( High Warlord's Spellblade) are among the best currently in game for Mages, as they are for most classes, there are also a few notable reputation rewards you can chase.

• Crackling Staff is obtained at Alterac Valley Revered and is one of the best Staves available for AoE farming outside of raiding;
• Tome of the Ice Lord and the other Alterac Valley Exalted off-hands are some of the best options available, even when compared to raid items;
• Finally, Wand of Biting Cold is one of the best Frost Mage Wands in the game, and can easily be obtained by completing Hero of the Frostwolf or Hero of the Stormpike in Alterac Valley.

You can find a complete weapon (and armor) list for Mages at itemization.info, including filter options that allow you to restrict and / or order your search by phase, class, slot and other parameters.

For more end-game gearing information, please refer to our BiS gear guides for Mages: