
Conjure a radiant spark that causes Arcane damage instantly and applies a DOT over 8 seconds.You’ll only be able to have one power active at once, and swapping Covenants sounds like it’s going to be a long and involved process. These are the abilities you get at level 60 when you pledge to one of the four Covenants present in Shadowlands. Does this mean Blizzard thinks they’re perfect as is? Doubtful. So far, Frost Mages are getting the short end of the stick with a single notable change. This change will boost the chance of crits against the enemy by both Mage and allies. Flurry’s Winter Chill debuff - now a “much longer debuff,” Winter’s Chill will cause the next two spells to apply as if the target were frozen.Pyroclasm will also see an increase in its damage bonus, making that Pyroblast hit all the harder.As Blizzard described, “for Mages who want to watch the world burn.” Kindling is receiving an improved cooldown reduction for Combustion.Blast Wave will receive a damage boost and duration increase to the 70% movement slow.

When Igniting an enemy, use Fire Blast against them to spread damage to eight enemies around them. Mastery: Ignite received a rework to increase the Fire Mage’s precision.When your mana drops below the magic number, the talent boosts your mana regen. (Mana-gement? I’ll be here all week.) Keep your mana above a certain threshold and this talent buffs all Arcane damage dealt. Enlightened - Provides a different buff, based on your mana management.Mastery: Savant now boosts the damage of all spells, instead of only Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage.Clearcasting receives an additional stack.Casters target an enemy to take an additional burst of damage from all Arcane spells and spread that damage to enemies around them. Touch of the Magi is no longer a talent welcome it to the spell list as a shiny new debuff.It’s an honest-to-goodness two-for-one special. Focus Magic - a sneaky little buff! Cast on your ally to boost their spell crit chance when said ally crits, receive the same buff for a short period.


The class design philosophy presented at BlizzCon raises a question: how do you maintain player agency, giving us choices, while keeping the Mage feeling unique and special? For Shadowlands, Blizzard is embracing the approach of the Mage using spells across all three schools - Frost, Fire, and Arcane - with the primary damage source being from the spec. Is there a more iconic class to be found in fantasy games? (Answer: there’s not)
