TheWorld of Warcraft: Dragonflightpre-patch is finally here, and with it, so are the new talent trees. Based on what we’ve seen so far, it looks like Arcane Mage will be both the least popular (again) and the most unique of the three Mage specs.
If you’re returning to World of Warcraft after a long absence, you may be surprised by the complexity of the new talent trees. Sure, they’re not exactly on the level of something likePath of Exilebut they’re easily the most interesting talent trees we’ve had since World of Warcraft: Classic.
What’s New With Talents In WoW: Dragonflight?
Dragonflight introduces a new system where players get access to aclass talent treealong withseparate talent trees for each spec. The new talent trees are already available in the pre-patch and they’re a blast to play around with. But if you find them a bit too overwhelming, make sure to pick the “Starter Build” option as that will automatically create an all-purpose build for you.
However, if you want to take things to the next level, join us as we explore some alternative builds that will get you a bit more mileage. Arcane Mage is a pretty complicated spec in Dragonflight but don’t worry because you may switch toFire MageorFrost Mageat any time if you don’t like it. In fact, we recommend experimenting with all three and sticking to the one that best suits your playstyle.
Dragonflight Mage Class Talent Build
This first talent tree contains spells and passives that are a must-have for all mages. Although the tree is almost identical for all three specs, you should always change a few talents whenever you switch specializations. For Arcane Mage, in particular, you’ll want to stick mostly to the center of the tree while also grabbing a few of the talents from the left and right sides.
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Row 1:The very first row of the Mage tree only containsPrismatic Barrierand that talent gets unlocked automatically.
Row 2:On the second row you haveIce Block,Invisibility,andOverflowing Energy, three excellent talents that are useful to every Mage.
Row 3:Here’s where we need to start carefully considering our choices. Since we want to preserve most of our points for later, we’re only going to pickSpellstealandRemove Cursefrom this row. Both spells are very situational, but they let us unlock the next row of talents by spending only a measly two points on this one.
Row 4:Here you’ll first want to grab bothMirror ImageandAlter Time. you may also choose between Rune of Power and Incanter’s Flow, but that’s an easy choice to make.Rune of Poweris objectively better, so you’ll want to go with that one.
Row 5:Next up we’re going to grabSlowand a whole bunch of passives includingMaster of Time,Quick Witted,Diverted Energy Rank 2,andCryo-Freeze Rank 2. Mass Polymorph would also be pretty nice to have for an Arcane Mage so feel free to grab it if you’re willing to stick to Cryo-Freeze Rank 1 instead.
Row 6:On this row, you’ll only want to grabShimmerandMass Slow. The remaining talents are better suited for the other two specs. They’re all useful if you want to grab them, but Arcane Mage is already complicated enough without adding extra spells, so we’re going to skip them for this build.
Row 7:Assuming you didn’t grab any of the extra spells from the previous row, your choices here are straightforward:Tome of Rhonin,Tome of Antonidas, andEnergized Barriers. If you’re not a fan of Energized Barriers, you can go with Improved Frost Nova instead, provided you grabbed Cryo-Freeze Rank 2 earlier.
Row 8:Temporal Velocity is more of a PvP talent that doesn’t suit this particular build, so we’re going to skip it in favor ofFrigid Winds Rank 2andFlow of Time Rank 2.
Row 9:You probably won’t use Frost Nova all that often, but you still want to getIce Wardhere just so you can unlock Shifting Power. Additionally, we’re gettingGreater InvisibilityandAccumulative Shielding Rank 2. Just like Ice Ward, Accumulative Shielding Rank 2 isn’t a great investment, but it allows you to unlock Displacement, which has a ton of fun applications when combined with Shimmer and Alter Time.
Row 10:We already mentioned wanting to grabShifting PowerandDisplacement, however, you may skip the latter and go with Freezing Cold if you’re more PvP-oriented. Finally, our last talent point will be spent onTemporal Warpover Time Anomaly just because it’s more reliable.
Dragonflight Arcane Mage Talent Build
The Arcane tree is a bit less straightforward than the Mage tree since all the talents here are technically useful for the spec. However, the amount of talent points you’ll have at your disposal is again pretty limited, so you’ll need to make some tough choices when creating your build.
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Row 1:Just like before, there’s only one talent on the first row, and here’s it’sArcane Barrage.
Row 2:You’re limited to just one talent on the second row as well, so not much to think about here. GrabArcane Missilesand move on to the next one.
Row 3:Not exactly a ton of choices here either. Grab bothArcane OrbandClearcasting.
Row 4:Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles are our bread and butter, so we’re going to prioritize talents that improve them as often as we can. That means pickingImprovedArcane Missiles Rank 2,Crackling Energy Rank 2,andNether Precisionon this row. The new spellArcane Surgeis also a must-have so ensure not to skip it.
Row 5: Slipstreamgives us some nice utility, so we want to grab that along withAmplificationandResonanceto buff two of our core spells. Also on this row, you’ll wantCharged Orbfor that extra Arcane Orb charge andArcane Powerto make Arcane Surge even stronger.
Row 6:This next row is also jam-packed with interesting talents but we need to be picky so we can save up some points for later.Presence of Mindis a must-have, and we also recommend gettingArcing Cleave. For the third talent on this row, we went withImproved Clearcasting, butImpetus is also a pretty good choice so feel free to grab that instead. Finally, we choseNether Tempestover Reverberate. Honestly, both are pretty weak, but we needed to spend one more point somewhere to unlock the last three rows.
Row 7:Here you’ll only want to getTouch of the Magi, which is mandatory to unlock the remaining central section of the tree.
Row 8: EvocationandEnlightenedare a no-brainer considering how you’ll quickly run out of mana as an Arcane Mage. And thenArcane BombardmentandIlluminated Thoughts Rank 2are two other nice talents you’ll want to have in your kit.
Row 9: Siphon Stormis a great passive that makes Evocation even more useful, so you definitely don’t want to skip it. While you’re here, make sure to also getRadiant SparkandConcentration.
Row 10:This final row is a pretty tough one since all three passives are pretty good. But for this build, we went withHarmonic EchoandArcane Harmonybecause they feel just a little bit better than Orb Barrage at the moment, though that may very well change in the future.
As far as the PvP talents are concerned, it all depends on whether you want to focus more on Arenas or Battlegrounds. But, for the most part, with this build you’ll want to go with any combination ofArcanosphere,Arcane Empowerment,Netherwind Armor,Mass Invisibility, andMaster of Escape.
Stay tuned for more Dragonflight content in the days and weeks to come. In the meantime, make sure to also check out ourWotLK Classic Directoryfor more guides just like this one.
