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Taken from WoWWiki.
Arcane
The Arcane tree contains several talents which, if spec'd properly, allow for just as much DPS as a "frostfire build" would, with greater potential mana regen; thus an Arcane-heavy raiding build is one for a raiding mage with an eye out for mana-efficiency.
Recommended talents :
Arcane Fortitude (Increases your armor equals to your Intellect.)
Presence of Mind (Next Mage spell with <10 seconds cast becomes instant.)
Arcane Potency (When PoM is activated, critical chance is dramatically increased.)
Mind Mastery (Increases your SP equals to some of your Intellect.)
Slow (Very useful as it increases attack speed and casting time apart from slowing speed.)
Netherwind Presence (Basically a spell haste.)
Arcane Barrage (Very useful Arcane spell damage.)
Fire
Fire has a focus on DPS and overall damage-increasing talents, in particular on critical strikes. Most of its talents serve the single purpose of increasing the power of Fire spells, providing few (but effective) actual survival tools. This has historically made the Fire tree the obvious choice for high-end raiders who seek to maximize damage output, but has taken a toll on PvP. With the advent of Arenas and Resilience, Fire PvP has become unpopular due to the tree's reliance on critical strikes and lack of mobile spells (without a cast time).
Recommended talents:
World in Flames (Increases critical strike chances on some spells.)
Impact (It stuns opponents for a few seconds.)
Master of Elements (Any critical strikes will give you a mana refund.0
Blast Wave (This is Thunderstorm-version, with an additional Dazing effect.)
Combustion (Unlike other instant-talent skill, this effect lasts till you have 3 critical hits.)
Dragon's Breath (A possible lifesaver in PvP, this one disorients all caught in the cone for a while.)
Living Bomb (A useful DoT spell.)
Frost
Frost specializes in crowd control and snaring foes with its various chills, allowing for powerful kiting, and provides good AoE capability. It is the most mana-efficient spec. That efficiency coupled with the survival abilities derived from its chilling tools make it the most popular leveling and PvP tree. However, it is not as competitive as Fire and Arcane for producing DPS in instances. This lack of competitive DPS is most evident in 25 man, fully buffed raids.
Recommended talents:
Frostbite (A chance to freeze the target for a while.)
Ice Floes (This one reduces CD of some Ice spells, highly useful in kiting.)
Permafrost (Increase dutration and slowing speed.)
Ice Shards (Critical Frost damage is doubled.)
Icy Veins (When activated, this buff gives you a spell haste and reduces pushback suffering.)
Arctic Reach (You need this for a better kiting.)
Ice Barrier (The mage version of PoS. Combine it with Shattered barrier to freeze anyone who breaks it.)
Fingers of Frost (Extremely useful for the last talent.)
Summon Water Elemental (Useful pet that copies your every moves.)
Chilled By the bone (A further slowing speed and more damage.)
Deep Freeze (A very useful stun spell when target is Frozen.)
Arcane
The Arcane tree contains several talents which, if spec'd properly, allow for just as much DPS as a "frostfire build" would, with greater potential mana regen; thus an Arcane-heavy raiding build is one for a raiding mage with an eye out for mana-efficiency.
Recommended talents :
Arcane Fortitude (Increases your armor equals to your Intellect.)
Presence of Mind (Next Mage spell with <10 seconds cast becomes instant.)
Arcane Potency (When PoM is activated, critical chance is dramatically increased.)
Mind Mastery (Increases your SP equals to some of your Intellect.)
Slow (Very useful as it increases attack speed and casting time apart from slowing speed.)
Netherwind Presence (Basically a spell haste.)
Arcane Barrage (Very useful Arcane spell damage.)
Fire
Fire has a focus on DPS and overall damage-increasing talents, in particular on critical strikes. Most of its talents serve the single purpose of increasing the power of Fire spells, providing few (but effective) actual survival tools. This has historically made the Fire tree the obvious choice for high-end raiders who seek to maximize damage output, but has taken a toll on PvP. With the advent of Arenas and Resilience, Fire PvP has become unpopular due to the tree's reliance on critical strikes and lack of mobile spells (without a cast time).
Recommended talents:
World in Flames (Increases critical strike chances on some spells.)
Impact (It stuns opponents for a few seconds.)
Master of Elements (Any critical strikes will give you a mana refund.0
Blast Wave (This is Thunderstorm-version, with an additional Dazing effect.)
Combustion (Unlike other instant-talent skill, this effect lasts till you have 3 critical hits.)
Dragon's Breath (A possible lifesaver in PvP, this one disorients all caught in the cone for a while.)
Living Bomb (A useful DoT spell.)
Frost
Frost specializes in crowd control and snaring foes with its various chills, allowing for powerful kiting, and provides good AoE capability. It is the most mana-efficient spec. That efficiency coupled with the survival abilities derived from its chilling tools make it the most popular leveling and PvP tree. However, it is not as competitive as Fire and Arcane for producing DPS in instances. This lack of competitive DPS is most evident in 25 man, fully buffed raids.
Recommended talents:
Frostbite (A chance to freeze the target for a while.)
Ice Floes (This one reduces CD of some Ice spells, highly useful in kiting.)
Permafrost (Increase dutration and slowing speed.)
Ice Shards (Critical Frost damage is doubled.)
Icy Veins (When activated, this buff gives you a spell haste and reduces pushback suffering.)
Arctic Reach (You need this for a better kiting.)
Ice Barrier (The mage version of PoS. Combine it with Shattered barrier to freeze anyone who breaks it.)
Fingers of Frost (Extremely useful for the last talent.)
Summon Water Elemental (Useful pet that copies your every moves.)
Chilled By the bone (A further slowing speed and more damage.)
Deep Freeze (A very useful stun spell when target is Frozen.)
