Mage Grinding Guide

Horde Grinding Spots:

• 0-15 - Questing fastest possible exp.
  
• 15-20 - The Barrens - Harpies *
  
• 15-20 - The Barrens - Bristleback(s) *
  
• 20-25 - The Barrens - Bael Dun Exavs *
  
• 20-25 - Hillsbrad - Hillsbrad Farmers (etc)
  
• 22-26 - Thousand Needles - Galak Scouts (etc) *
  
• 26-30 - Hillsbrad - Mud Gnolls *
  
• 25-30 - Thousand Needles - Grimtotems
  
• 30-38 - Shimmering Flats - All monsters. *
  
• 38-40 - Dustswallow Swamp - Very North East Islands, Murlock Warriors/Oracles.

Horde And Alliance Grinding Spots:

• 40-46 - Ferales - Woodpaws (stay away from the ones that disease for slow casting speeds) **
  
• 46-48 - Ferales - Frayfeather Skystormers *
  
• 48-50 - Ferales - Harpies
  
• 48-51 - Southwest of Gadgetzan - Thistleshrubs *
  
• 50-54 - Western Plaguelands - First ‘field’ to the left, assorted monsters.
  
• 54-60 - Western Plaguelands - Scarlet Lumberjacks

* = Recommended

EXP Rates:

• Levels 30-40 = 18-20k exp/hour
  
• Levels 40-60 = 20-30k exp/hour

Spell usage and order:

Typically, you don’t want to use spells such as Arcane Missiles, Frost Bolt, Cone of Code, and other horrible DPM/slow spells. Your basic spell order should be something similar to; Fireball, Fireball, Fireball, Frost Nova + Strafe Away, Fireball (Until low HP), Scorch (Until dead). Of course, this doesn’t work for everything, but you get the general idea.

Click here for a video example

Tip: Strafe SIDEWAYS away from monsters, instead of just backing up. Backing up is 70% movement, Strafing sideways = 100% Movement. I’ve seen LOTS of mages just back up. Getting optimal distance helps a lot - especially if you’re using intelligence gear.

Tip: Loot fast! Shift + Right click the body of the monster to auto-loot everything. So many people don’t know about this feature, it’s amazing. I admit, I didn’t even know about it for a very long time.

Knowing your mage:

Knowing how much damage your spells do helps A LOT. This doesn’t only help in grinding, but with PVP too. I would suggest getting a UI that displays the opponents (monster/player) HP as a percentage. This makes it easier to familiarize yourself with damage. I suggest using either Nurfed’s UI or CT Mod. Personally, I use CT Mod and some of the Nurfed add-ons together. The general point to knowing your mage’s damage, is optimizing your mana use. You don’t want to cast a fireball when the monster has only 10% health left - because your fireball’s normally do around 20%. Get the idea?

UIs and Add-ons:

As I just previously said, I personally use CT Mod with some of the Nurfed Add-ons. However, there are some other good UIs out there, such as Gypsy that lots of mages use.

As for add-ons, I also use the following:

• CastAway: Spell Sequencer with adjustable reset timer
  
• Spell Alert: Notifies you when an enemy monster/player starts casting, and includes what spell they’re casting.