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Leveling up as a Mage can be considered a challenge compared to some of
the more level...

style="width: 565px; height: 88px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/63150">

Leveling up as a Mage can be considered a challenge compared to some of
the more level friendly classes such as the Hunter or Warlock, but that
doesn’t make it any less worthwhile. There is a sort of
mystical enjoyment out of blowing away enemies with fire and frozen
might that you can’t get elsewhere. There are undoubtedly a
massive number of enemies between level one through eighty that need to
be blown away and the more you know about combat then the easier
it’ll be to smash their faces in with burning or frosty might.



Battle Tactics - The Art
of Kiting



Combat for the Mage is pretty dynamic when
they’re confronted with an enemy attacking directly. Mages
don’t fare well to sustained hits and need to take their
enemies out before they can lay a hit in. Think about it this way. A
Warrior is decked out in full plate that is magically augmented to be
stronger will laugh at an ogre throwing a mace about. A Mage who is
wearing nothing but pajamas and dresses are going to have a mighty
different opinion about that mace. That opinion will be GET AWAY FROM
IT which should be your motto during the lower levels.



The Mage comes equipped with a large variety of abilities and tools to
keep enemies far away. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/mage/spells1-40#Frost_Nova_"
target="_blank">Frost Nova is given at a very
early level (level 10 in fact) and will “freeze” an
enemy into place. The freeze affect comes into play at higher levels as
a way to boost DPS, but for now its primary use is to keep enemies
“rooted” into place. This will give you time to get
away and grab some distance.



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hspace="3">Understanding roots and snares is
quintessential in learning kiting. Your first ten levels
won’t have a lot in the way of angry ogres with large maces
(although there may be some nasty gnolls with candles) so you
won’t have to worry much about things beating on you. After
level ten is about when you’ll want to take into
consideration one of two ideologies. You can either kill things before
they can get to you or you can “kite” enemies
about. That is, to blow the enemy apart in front of you or run around
with them chasing you in simpler non-magical terms.



In most cases you’ll want to aim for the first but
that’s not always the case. Sometimes you’ll need
to drag enemies about for a bit before you can get them down. In order
to this you’ll want to either root (Frost Nova for instance)
the enemy or snare them ( href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/mage/spells1-40#Frostbolt"
target="_blank">Frostbolt, href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/mage/spells1-40#Cone_of_Cold_"
target="_blank">Cone of Cold, href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/mage/spells1-40#Ice_Armor"
target="_blank">Ice Armor, etc.) and then gain
some distance and unleash as much arcane/fiery/frosty might as you can.



A good play by play example would be pulling a non-descript slime. As a
Fire Mage you may find that a Pyroblast, href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/mage/spells1-40#Fireball"
target="_blank">Fireball, and then a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/mage/spells1-40#Fire_Blast_"
target="_blank">Fire Blast are enough to decimate
your foe. What if that non-descript slime is super burly, above your
level, and has a unique name (in this instance is known as Bob)? Well,
what can you do? Start off with a Pyroblast, Fireball, and the Fire
Blast but then move in with a Frost Nova. Run as far away as you can
and unload more Fireballs into it. When it reaches you again let it
snag your href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/mage/spells1-40#Ice_Armor"
target="_blank">Ice Armor and then gain more
distance and cast more spells. This way it does a lot less damage to
you, prevents a good deal of knockback (each enemy hit can slow your
casting speed), and lets you successfully solo an encounter that you
may not be able to take by tanking the enemy.



Now, this isn’t always the case. It isn’t always
necessary. Some enemies may arrive to you nearly dead and in need of
one more spell or some enemies may do trivial amounts of damage to you.
Some may be casters which can only be kited with Counterspell (a spell
you get much later). For the difficult to take melee classes this is
the only way to go.



Battle Tactics - Spell
Rotation



Spell rotation is the order in which you cast your spells
or use your abilities. For many classes it’s their key to
success but for Mages there isn’t a lot to talk about. There
are two viable leveling builds: Frost and Fire and each of them have a
very basic rotation for the first forty levels.



First Few Levels



The first few levels are very simple. You’ll
only have one real ability that does damage and that’s href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/mage/spells1-40#Fireball"
target="_blank">Fireball. Until you get level 15
or 20 you’ll just want to constantly spam Fireball until the
enemy is dead. You’ll eventually get href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/mage/spells1-40#Fire_Blast_"
target="_blank">Fire Blast which you can use
whenever the enemy is hitting you for some quick instant DPS.


cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
style="font-weight: bold;">Fire style="font-weight: bold;">Frost

• Pyroblast 
• Fireball
• Fireball 
• Wand/Fire Blast

Get as far away from the enemy as you can and then start with a
Pyroblast. Once the Pyroblast is off begin loading up the Fireball.
With improved Fireball you should be able to get two out before
it’s
had more than one or two hits in on you. Then examine its health. If
it’s below 25% use Fire Blast and then use your wand to
finish it off.
If it’s above 25% cast Frost Nova and stand back. Then cast
another
Fireball. If it’s above 50% then cast Frost Nova and kite it
around
until its dead (see the above section).



If you have a caster then it’s the same rotation as above,
but it will
not get into melee range until it’s out of mana or you cast
Counterspell on it while it’s casting (a level 24 ability).
It’s
usually better to just tank a caster because there is no way to get
range. If they use Fire or Frost magic then use Fire Ward or Frost Ward
before the battle to dampen the affect.

• Frostbolt
• Frostbolt
• Frostbolt 
• Frostbolt
• Cone of Cold (Level 26) or Fire Blast / Wand

Frost has nearly the same rotation as Fire (they both utilize one main
damage ability) except there is no hard hitting Frost spell like
Pryoblast. The benefit though is that you can get more than one
Frostbolt off before the enemy gets to you. Get to the maximum ranger
and cast your first Frostbolt and then get in as many as you can before
it starts battering on you (usually two and then in the middle of the
third it may begin to hit you). Once it’s in melee range use
Cone of
Cold (or Fire Blast) and then Wand it to death. If it’s above
25%
health go ahead and cast Frost Nova and step back to cast another
Frostbolt. If it’s above 40-50% then cast Frost Nova and
start kiting
it around (see above).

If it’s a caster mob then there is no reason
to kite it around. Use Counterspell to shut its mouth and its magics
and then continue Frostbolting it to death. If you can’t get
it to stop
casting then use a Frost or Fire Ward if it uses those kinds of magic
to shield yourself and then just spam Frostbolt until it is dead.

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colspan="2" rowspan="1"> style="font-weight: bold;">Arcane colspan="2" rowspan="1">

Pull with Fireball - Arcane Missiles until dead.



Arcane doesn’t
really have a lot in DPS as you level and very few will recommend it
for such. A lot of the abilities that allow you to kill are higher
level and you’re really stuck with only Arcane Missiles for
damage. If
you’re looking for a challenge then this is the way to go.

Battle Tactics
– Difficult Enemies



A Hunter may be able to use his or her pet to soak up a
ton of damage from a higher level mob and a Warlock may be able to do
the same, but as a Mage you’re not given any such luxury
until a much higher level (and with a certain talent spec). So
it’s up to your skill and ability to move around to defeat
enemies that are much higher than you. Some quest lines between levels
20 – 40 may have you kill elite enemies. There is a way to
defeat them but it may be hard to swallow at first… wait
until the enemies con green.



As you level up you’re going to find that killing equal con
(yellow) elites may take a lot of time and patience and may not be
possible at all. Don’t fret, you’re not the only
class that can’t do it and it’s not like the game
is designed to let you do it in the first place. If you wait until an
elite is green, then you’ll have an excellent chance of
smashing it into the ground rather than the other way around.



When facing a difficult enemy always try to keep href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/mage/spells1-40#Mana_Shield_"
target="_blank">Mana Shield up and have a mana gem
(at higher levels) available.  If you run out of mana href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/mage/spells1-40#Frost_Nova_"
target="_blank">Frost Nova the enemy and gain as
much distance as you can (stop when Frost Nova has 2-3 seconds left)
and use href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/mage/spells1-40#Evocation"
target="_blank">Evocation to get your mana back.
Try to get off as many  powerful spells like Combustion as you
can. If you can’t do it then look for a friend to help. There
is no sense in getting stuck on a single quest.



Mage Friendly Adventuring



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hspace="3">Up until level 20 anywhere you go will
be fine. As long as there are enemies to kill then there
won’t be a problem (not to mention the fact that the game
doesn’t give you much of a choice). After level 20 there are
some zones that are a little bit more Mage friendly than others.



Alliance



Duskwood is a good Mage leveling zone because a lot of the
Undead are rather weak and there is a good deal of enemies around. It
is a little bit unfriendly in the cemetery because of how many enemies
there are but other than that it’s an excellent place to be
between 20 and 30.



Southshore on PvE servers (and PvP if you’re good at keeping
a low profile) is another Mage friendly place during 20-30. There are a
lot of quests, a town close by, and the only enemies to worry about are
the Naga that cast spells (but you have Frost Ward to make them trivial
:D). There is a good bit of cleaning up to be done here and a lot of
things to set on fire.



Arathi Highlands can be a bad choice if you follow any quest line that
has you fighting elementals, but there isn’t a lot of those.
Ignore any quests for elementals and power through the zone.
It’s not difficult and can easily take you to level 40 along
with…



Stranglethorn Vale (STV)! This zone is fantastic and will easily get
you from level 30 to 40 without much reason to leave. There are tons of
enemies and quests, lots of space to cast spells, and nothing that
isn’t too resistant to magic. This is your prime leveling
zone and as a Mage you should take full advantage of it.



Horde



Stonetalon Mountains is a great zone to get 25-27 in and
many leveling guides will point you there. There is a lot of space most
of the time to get spells cast from the max distance and nothing too
resistant to your magic.  Combine it with Ashenvale which has
the same traits and 30 won’t be a problem. You can even stay
in the Barrens until 25 and then just clean up most of both zones
without a hitch.



For level 30 to 40 you’ll want to look into Stranglethorn
Vale (STV). STV is a wonderful zone that will easily get you level 40
and is very Mage friendly. Most of the enemies you fight will allow you
to get maximum range to cast your spells on them and there is so many
quests that you might not ever have to leave the zone. Look into Arathi
Highlands (but don’t do any of the elemental related quests
if you can) or Desolace. Desolace is a pretty Mage friendly zone but it
does have a good deal of wandering aggro.



Mage Specific Quests 1-40



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hspace="3"> style="font-style: italic;">Level 10 – The Orb and
the Staff



At level 10 you’ll be given a race specific
quest that ends with you getting a free orb or a free staff. Each quest
has you use an item in a certain spot and they all start from the
racial capital’s Mage trainer (so Stormwind for Human,
Ironforge for Gnome, Orgrimmar for Troll, etc.).



Human
(Mirror Lake): Starts from Jennea in Stormwind. Go outside of Stormwind
and head west to 28,62. There is a lake called Mirror Lake where you
can get the sample from.



Gnome
(Magetastic Gizmonitor): Starts from Bink in Ironforge. In Dun Morogh
there is an elevator into Gnomeregan at 27,36. Look for a grey box with
the Gizmonitor in it.



Draenei
(Control): Starts from Semid in the Exodar. Go to 36,10 in Azuremyst
and kill murlocs until the NPC spawns. Kill the NPC and return.



Undead 
(The Balnir Farmstead): Starts from Anastasia Hartwell in the
Undercity. Go to 77,61 and get a flower.



Troll (Ju-Ju
Heaps): Starts from Un’Thuwa in Orgimmar. Go to 69,84 to find
the heaps and start destroying. There all in that general area on that
island.



Blood Elf (Fetch!):
A actual quest chain. Get the water from the pond behind him and then
go to 64,72 and get some more water (for the second quest), and then
finally go to 60,70 and kill keepers until you get a branch. Not
difficult, but rather lengthy.



Level 15 – The
Robe



At level 15 you can get a free robe by doing a quick quest
chain.



Alliance - Investigate
the Blue Recluse (Stormwind): Follow the quest directions and
it’s simple. The Blue Recluse is in Stormwind in the Mage
district (not hard to find). Go in and use the scroll to see the ghosts
and then weaken them. When they’re low use the coffer to trap
them. Get three and you’re done.



Horde - Investigate
the Alchemist Shop (Undercity): Go to the alchemist shop and use the
scroll to see the ghosts. Weak them and when they’re low on
health use the coffers to trap them. Get three and you’re
done.



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hspace="3">You’ll need 10 Linen Cloth
and 6 Charged Rift Gems (Alliance) or Dalaran Mana Gems (Horde).
Alliance can get them from the Silver Stream Mine in Loch Modan while
the Horde can get them from the Dalaran Mages.



Level 26 –
Adept’s Robe



The quest lines start wth your Mage Trainer in Stormwind
or Orgrimmar. They lead to Ashenvale (Horde) or Shadowfang Keep
(Alliance) to get some items for the Robe. Pretty simple quest lines,
but mostly skippable.



Level 30 –
Mage Wand



You’ll need to meet Tabetha who will want a
Rituals of Power book from the Scarlet Monastery library wing. Skip it
unless you plan to do that instance. You’ll get a semi-decent
wand as a reward.