How I Play My Level 75 Mage

• Role: Pet-driven fire DPS. Water elemental tank pet plus swarm pets feeding the rotation.
• Pet of choice: Essence of Water. Switched from the air pet after community feedback. Water pet wins out for boxing.
• New at 75: Thaumaturge's Unity AA replaces individual buff slots, Bolt of Molten Slag replaces the Spear line.
• Boxing two mages: Both run the same rotation, second mage handles Mass Mod Rod casts to free up the main mage's bar.

• Rampaging Servant: Current swarm pet. Most important spell in the rotation. Adds a pet for Shock of the Many scaling.
• Bolt of Molten Slag: Current main nuke. ~400 damage upgrade over the previous Spear line at the same mana cost.
• Shock of Silvered Steel: Magic-based nuke. Slot in for fire-immune mobs by swapping the spell drag-and-drop.
• Rain of Molten Slag: Filler slot. Skip in real zones since AoE rains can hit you when in melee range.
• Summoned: Molten Orb: 10 charge magma jet item. Free 700 damage per click.

Multibind extras: Host of Elements (more swarm pets), Servant of Ro (giant fire elemental, 9min reuse), Turn Summoned (5% chance for 32k on summoned/elemental targets), Companion of Necessity (taunt pet on cooldown).

• Servant of Chaos focus: The Hero's Journey earring focus. Bumps the Essence of Water pet from level 70 to level 72.
• Minion of Darkness focus: Older Vex Thal raid focus. Caps the pet at level 70 even when you cast the level 72 version.
• Why it matters: Same spell cast, two pet levels of difference. Helmet and arms focuses become even more important at higher tiers.
• Source: The earring drops from the Champion of Loping Plains achievement chain in Hero's Journey.

• Burnout VI: Current pet haste line.
• Iceflame Body: Current pet absorb buff.
• Magma Skin: Current damage shield (using the Mage version for icon visibility).
• Wrath Strength Aura: Pet aura for damage boost. Moves into the Aura window around level 85.
• Crystal Belt: Pet item, no upgrade past level 60 but still worth slotting.
• Muzzle of Mowcha: Upgraded muzzle. 20% haste, dexterity, and attack on the pet.
• Searing Torch: Pet weapon (6 ratio, 345 damage). Don't give the Jagged Rage Sword unless you want pet taunting.

Pet bag of crap: Spell weapons now come in a bag. Hold Ctrl and click to dump the bag contents into your inventory bag.

• Take Aegolism: The Cleric AC line.
• Take Thaumaturge's Unity: Combines Prime Shielding and Phantasmal Mana Regen in one cast.
• Block Druid Skin: Doesn't stack with Thaumaturge's Unity AC component.
• Block Steeloak: Doesn't stack either.
• Block Wolf Form: Breaks other things.
• Block Levitate: Personal preference.

• Silent Casting: Aggro reduction. Open with this.
• Frenzied Burnout: Pet damage buff. Pet on steroids.
• Companion's Shielding: Pet durability boost so the now-aggro-magnet pet survives.
• Heart of Froststone: Absorb incoming damage in case you pull aggro.
• Heart of Skyfire: Increase base spell damage.

Always-on: Elemental Form is a permanent buff that auto-upgrades. Always have it active.

• Elegant Defiant: The starting baseline.
• Paragon Silk (Seeds of Destruction): Best non-raid gear at 75. ~852 HP per slot, almost House of Thule tier 1 quality.
• Defending Ocean Green Village: Three quest line that grants Enhance Minion V (buffs level 76 to 90 pets). Doable in an afternoon on six characters.
• Cleansing the Temple of Bertoxxulous: Easier alternative for Paragon pieces.
• Two-handed weapon: Worth the swap. Sympathetic procs trigger off your spells, free damage even while casting.

Always melee: If you're playing one character, melee while casting. Even with zero piercing skill, the proc chance gives free damage between spell casts.