The mage can spend his talent points in the skill trees arcane, frost or fire. Having reached level 80, the highest level a player can reach in the addon "wrath of the lich king", the mage can spent a total of 71 points in the three skill trees. Unlike any other class, mages tend to specialize in only one skill tree, spending some remaining points in one of the other two skill trees. That way they can pick very effective low level skills on their way to the best skills. Hybrid talent specs do not really exist among mages.

With the arcane skill tree the mage can be always on the move. Most spells can be cast while still moving which proves very effective, especially in PvP. Besides, the arcane spells produce less threat than frost or fire spells. Some of the best known mage talents of the arcane tree would be "arcane power" and "mind mastery", which can inflict a lot of damage in a short period of time, especially in PvP.

A mage specialized in fire spells puts the most points into the fire skill tree and the remaining skill points in arcane and frost. Depending on his choice, the mage picks as his main aggressive spell either fireball or frostfire bolt, the new addition from wrath of the lich king. The latter one has strong criticals and is very mana efficient, whereas the fireball can be empowered by some talents of the arcane skill tree. As a frost mage you have with a fully developed blizzard the best AoE-spell of the game in your repertoire. On top of that frost mages can summon the mighty frost elemental which is a very good supporter and can serve as tank for a short period of time. The freezing time of enemies also helps a lot to stay alive long enough to cast that one important spell more.