Mage Leveling Guide From 1 to 80 for WotLK Classic (2024)

This guide will aim to provide you with a clear skill and gear path to maxlevel as a Mage in WotLK Classic. We will focus on talents, skills to buy andspell rotation, as well as leveling gear and the class-specific quests you willfind along the way.

Providing non-Mage leveling advice is outside the scope of this articleand is covered in our general WotLK leveling guide.

Mages have three talent trees: Arcane, Fire, and Frost

Frost is the recommended leveling build due to its consistency and flexibilitywhen dealing with World PvP, as well as the strong defensive power of Frost'schill and freeze effects which will render most enemies unable to fight back.Other strong points in the Frost tree are the Summon Water Elemental andIcy Veins abilities, due to many changes that make good leveling talentsrequire less points (for example, Ice Shards and Shatter now requireonly 3 talent points instead of previously 5). These abilities and talentchanges further enhance the already-great Frost Mage capabilities.

Frost can be played with a focus on single-targeting enemies one by one,which is maybe one of the easiest specializations to play in WotLK Classic andextremely safe. The main downside, however, is that it can be slow to level withrelative to the alternative.

You can also throw caution to the wind and specialize in pulling and killing5+ enemies at once, the so-called AoE-Grinding. In order to do this you willrequire a specialized talent tree focused on Improved Blizzard and alot of skill to consistently pull it off. It will also be required that youfarm relatively uncontested spots, as otherwise you will not have enough enemiesto pull inorder to make the AoE Grinding worth it. Contrary to not having enough enemiesto pull, the AoE cap introduced in TBC was changed in WotLK and will also makeyour AoE spells deal a maximum amount of damage which means you can also pulltoo many mobs and deal less damage to them. The AoE cap is generally set tostart 10 at mobs. No matter if you pull 10, 20, or 100 mobs, you will do thesame total damage per attack to 100, as if you would to the same attack to10 mobs.

Another advantage of leveling as Frost is that it gets you acquainted withthe spells and talents you will be using for farming and Dungeon leveling.Frost maximizes your ability to control enemies in 5-man Dungeons and deliversSummon Water Elemental as a great burst-damage tool. In addition toall that, Frost is the most Mana-efficient spec for leveling, raiding, anddungeons. Later on, when you have farmed your pre-raid gear and already havesome raid pieces, you will be able to easily switch to Arcane or Fire spec ifyou choose.

Compared to single-target leveling, AoE leveling will always be faster.The new Fire talents make this task much easier than it was before in TBCwith Fingers of Frost, Shatter, and Blizzard beingable to crit being the main reasons. After reaching Level 80, at themost optimal pace, the AoE spec will only be useful for farming and 5-manDungeons. If you plan to do anything beyond that, respeccing to a properArcane, Fire orFrost raiding spec is recommended.

If you are especially fond of it, Arcane has a flexible, strong, all-roundertree which starts off slow but quickly grows in power once you approach Level 40and beyond. Once you hit 80, the Arcane spec we recommend for leveling will have tobe changed into a raiding spec.

Finally, Fire is a very powerful single-target and AoE leveling spec,having some of the best damage-increasing talents in the game on its tree.Once you hit 80 you will be optimized for Level 80 Dungeons and you mayalso go into Raids with this spec. However, a respec to a Fire raiding specis recommended and generally Arcane will be less-dependent on Hit gear.

The ultimate way to speed level in WotLK Classic is through gatheringlots of enemies at once and killing them all at roughly the same time. Thismethod is called AoE grinding and yields the highest XP per hour. On lowerlevels (before level 22), this can be done with a combination ofFrost Nova, Flamestrike, and Arcane Explosion, but thisis hard to pull off. From level 22 on, the preferred technique is tokill enemies with Blizzard and Improved Blizzard. The WotLK Frost Mage AoE LevelingGuide explains the process from level 1 to 80 in great detail.

A nice bonus of this approach is that by the time you are near Level 80, thismethod of leveling will have made you quite rich from the items the mobs you farmdrop. While doing this AoE grinding method, it is recommended to set your Hearthstone to a nearby inn and have a bank alt you can send all your loot toquickly.

To get an impression of how AoE grinding for Levels 1 to 60 is done, watchthis guide by Stretta.Nevertheless, a few things have changed since Vanilla, and we strongly recommendto check the Frost Aoe Leveling guide above for more AoE leveling locations andupdated strategies.

Leveling with a premade group in Dungeons is extremely fast in WotLK Classic,and you can maximize your experience-per-hour by pulling big groups usingImproved Blizzard-based kiting strategies such as the ones we listin the Mage AoE grinding strategy guide.

While leveling the following way will not be for everyone, as it requires agroup of people of specific classes doing specific pulls for maximumefficiency, feel free to give it a try with your friends. If doing so, werecommendDevilin's Prot Videoas a demonstration of how this method works.

Even though this video is with a Paladin, you can also farm Dungeons in asimilar fashion and make even bigger pulls with five Mages, taking turns onIce Blocking pulls and using your Water Elementals andaggro-ping-pong strategies to kill bosses. There are no limits to your creativitywhen using this method.

Learning Professions early on is very useful, as you can naturally levelthem as you go and avoid extra work at max level. However, leveling professionsduring leveling also decreases your leveling speed because you will not killmobs during that time and gain no experience. It is a decision you have tomake on your own on whether you want to have maxed out professions when you hitLevel 80 or not; the time investment stays regardless. Gathering professions,however, are great to level during your journey from 1-80, since they oftenincrease with your natural progress through the different zones of World ofWarcraft.

We recommend that you learn First Aid as soon as possible for easyself-healing. Skinning, Herbalism, and Miningare great primary professions for a leveling Mage, allowing you to make extragold or accumulate materials that you can use to level crafting professionslater. There is also a case to be made for leveling Engineeringearly on since its crafts, such as Iron Grenade, can make your levelingsignificantly easier

Mages are quite gear-independent while leveling. However, you shouldstill aim to gather items with as much Intellect as possible, making your Manapool last longer before you have to drink or wait for regeneration. Intellectfurther allows you to cast more spells against enemies before you are runningOoM, which is especially important for AoE grinding.

Spirit is also a useful stat for leveling, as it increases your Health andMana regeneration rates, but keep in mind you can only regenerate Healthoutside combat unless you are a Troll and Mana will not regenerate if you casta spell in the past 5 seconds unless you use Mage Armor, making thisstat mostly useful while traveling and eating/drinking, which you will do a lot.

Spell Damage will be very useful at maximum level, but its impact on thespells you will be using while leveling is low, and it has no effect whatsoeveron wand damage which you will be using often to finish enemies off; do notgo out of your way to get it on your gear for the lower levels. During higherlevels past Level 50, and if you do a lot of single-target farming, the valueof Spell Damage greatly increases, as it is free damage that does not cost youany Mana.

Stamina allows you to live for longer and can be useful in PvP situationsand when gathering enemies up for AoE grinding, but for the most part youshould aim to kill enemies from a distance, taking little damage in return.

By the time you hit Level 80 and want to learn how to play in PvE content,we recommend you to use the other Mage articles for guidance. Raid spots forMages in WotLK are more rare than in other expansions of WoW, so gainingadditional knowledge over your competition will help you getting in.