The War Within is set to release during the back half of 2024, and it could change more about World of Warcraft than the last two expansions combined. A big part of that is Hero Talents, which could revolutionize how players enjoy their classes.
This new system is designed to add further depth to the existing talents in the game. The trees will operate entirely separately, but the buffs they provide will complement legacy talents and add entirely new synergies for players to build into.
Every class will have three Hero Talent trees in total, with the exception of the Druid and Demon Hunter, who have four and two respectively. Of those three, each spec can pick between two of the available options.
Mage remains as strong a choice as it has ever been and the Frostfire Hero Talents tree will do nothing to damage that. It allows mages to use a true hybrid of Frost and Fire damage, as the name suggests, for the first time in the game’s history. Here’s everything we know so far.
Frostfire Mage full Hero Talent tree explained
As is the case with all Hero Talent trees revealed thus far, Frostfire Mage follows a five-tier talent format. This includes a keystone and a capstone talent, with three tiers for players to prioritize in between. The complete list of talents for this archetype is as follows:
Frostfire Mage keystone talent
Frostfire Mastery: Your damaging Fire spells generate 1 stack of Fire Mastery and Frost spells generate 1 stack of Frost Mastery. Fire Mastery increases your Haste by 1%, and Frost Mastery increases your Mastery by 1% for 12 seconds, stacking up to 8 times each. Adding stacks does not refresh the duration.
Frostfire Mage first-row talents
Choice Node: Imbued Warding & Meltdown
- Imbued Warding: Blazing Barrier also casts an Ice Barrier at 25% effectiveness for Fire. Ice Barrier also casts a Blazing Barrier at 25% effectiveness for Frost. This also affects your Mass Barrier.
- Meltdown: You melt slightly out of your Ice Block and Ice Cold, allowing you to move slowly during Ice Block and increasing your movement speed over time. Ice Block and Ice Cold trigger a Blast Wave when they end.
Frostfire Bolt: Launches a bolt of Frostfire at the enemy, dealing Frostfire damage, slowing movement speed by 50%, and causing additional Frostfire damage over 8 seconds. Frostfire Bolt generates a stack of both Fire Mastery and Frost Mastery. Replaces Frostbolt for Frost and Fireball for Fire. 2 second cast time.
Choice Node: Elemental Affinity & Flame & Frost
- Elemental Affinity: The cooldown of Frost spells is reduced by 10% for Fire. The cooldown of Fire spells is reduced by 30% for Frost.
- Flame and Frost: Cauterize resets the cooldown of your Frost spells with a base cooldown shorter than 4 minutes when it activates for Fire. Cold Snap additionally resets the cooldown of your Fire spells.
Frostfire Mage second-row talents
Isothermic Core: Comet Storm now also calls down a Meteor at 100% effectiveness onto your target’s location. Meteor now also calls down a Comet Storm at 150% effectiveness onto your target location.
Choice Node: Severe Temperatures & Thermal Conditioning
- Severe Temperatures: Casting Frost or Fire spells increases the damage of your next Frostfire Bolt by 6%, stacking up to 5 times.
- Thermal Conditioning: Frostfire Bolt’s cast time is reduced by 10%.
Frostfire Infusion: Your Frost and Fire spells have a chance to trigger an additional bolt of Frostfire, dealing Frostfire damage. This effect generates Frostfire Mastery when activated.
Frostfire Mage third-row talents
Frostfire Empowerment: Your Frost and Fire spells have a chance to activate Frostfire Empowerment, causing your next Frostfire Bolt to always critically strike, explode for 80% of its damage to nearby enemies, and be instant cast.
Excess Fire: Reaching maximum stacks of Fire Mastery causes your next Fire Blast (Fire) / Ice Lance (Frost) to apply Living Bomb at 150% effectiveness. When this Living Bomb explodes, reduce the cooldown of Phoenix Flames by 10 seconds (Fire) / gain Brain Freeze (Frost).
Frostfire Mage capstone talent
Flash Freezeburn: Frostfire Empowerment grants you maximum benefit of Frostfire Mastery and refreshes its duration. Activating Combustion or Icy Veins grants you Frostfire Empowerment.
That’s everything we know about Frostfire Mage Hero Talents as things stand. With The War Within not set to release until the second half of 2024, it’s important to note that these are subject to change and will be updated accordingly when required.