Ever see those mage's in battlegrounds running around freezing everyone in their path then nuking the crap outta them in two shots? I know I hated that and it just wanted me to make a mage so bad. But I didnt know what the secrets were so I never did. Untill I came across some very helpful talent builds. These builds will turn you into a powerhouse nuking machine.
Mage Talent Guide - Fire
Soloing 1-40
The fire line of the mage talent tree is basically fire high damage single target spells. but later on you can do some area of effect with it but it's not recommened. Fire is also the best for raiding and pvp on small scales. Here's the build:
Levels 10-14 : Improve Fireball 5/5
Levels 15-16 : Flame Throwing 2/2
Levels 17-19 : Ignite 3/5
Level 20 : Pyroblast 1/1 1411 damage spell
Levels 21-22 : Ignite 5/5 40% spell damage over 4 seconds
Levels 23-24 : Burning Soul 2/2
Levels 25-29 : Impact 5/5
Level 30 : Blast Wave 1/1
Levels 31-33 : Critical Mass 3/3 6% crit rate increase
Level 34 : Improve Fire Blast 1/3
Levels 35-39 : Fire Power 5/5
Level 40 : Combustion 1/1
Levels 41-43 : Pyromaniac 3/3
Levels 44-45 : Molten Fury 2/2
Levels 46-47 : Improve Fire Blast 3/3
Levels 48-49 : Incinerate 2/2
Level 50 : Dragon Breath 1/1
Levels 51-55: Empowered Fireball 5/5
After 55 you can either go for arcane subtelty for reduced resists, master of the elements for mana regen, or elemental precision for reduced resists.
Mage Talent Guide - Frost AoE
Soloing 40-70
The frost AoE gets very powerful after level 40. So I suggest doing the fire tree levels 1-40 and then re-speccing and going for frost AoE 40-70. AoE means much faster leveling because you can kill multipul mobs at the same time. This is also very good for large group pvp like arathi basin or even warsong gulch battlegrounds. Here's the build:
Levels 10-14: Improved Frostbolt 5/5
Levels 15-16: Improved Frost Nova 2/2 Reduces frost nova by 4 seconds
Levels 17-19: Permafrost 3/3
Level 20: Cold Snap 1/1
Levels 21-23: Improved Blizzard 3/3
Level 24: Elemental Precision 1/3
Levels 25-26: Arctic Reach 2/2
Levels 27-29: Frost Channeling 3/3 15% additional frost damage to all frost spells
Level 30: Ice Block 1/1
Levels 31-33: Improved Cone of Cold 3/3
Level 34: Elemental Precision 2/3
Levels 35-36: Ice Floes 2/2
Level 37: Elemental Precision 3/3
Levels 38-39: Piercing Ice 2/3
Level 40: Ice Barrier 1/1
Level 41: Piercing Ice 3/3
Levels 42-46: Arctic Winds 5/5
Levels 47-49: Empowered Frostbolt 3/5
Level 50: Summon Water Elemental 1/1 This is a pretty cool ability and only has a 3 minute recast. Can save your life if you use it right.
After 50 I would go for arcane subtelty and arcane concentration. Its always good not to have your spells resisted.
Here's a great mage talent guide
Mage Talent Guide - Frost Nuking
About Useless
I would give a build for frost nuking but its basically worthless. If you want to nuke go for fire because it is hands down better for single target encounters. If you want to level the fastest possible and be best for pvp do fire from 1-40 then at 40 respec to frost aoe. This is fail safe for leveling and pvp.
Arcane PvP Build
50 Arcane / 11 Fire
ARCANE TREE
Improved Arcane Missles (5/5)
Arcane Focus (5/5)
Arcane Subtelty (2/2)
Arcane Concentration (5/5)
Arcane Impact (3/3)
Arcane Fortitude (1/1)
Arcane Meditation (3/3)
Improved Counterspell (2/2)
Arcane Mind (5/5)
Prescence Of Mind (1/1)
Improved Blink (2/2)
Arcane Instability (3/3)
Arcane Potency (1/3)
Spell Power (2/2)
Arcane Power (1/1)
Empowered Arcane Missles (3/3)
Mind Mastery (5/5)
Slow (1/1)
FIRE TREE
Impact (5/5)
Improved Fire Blast (3/3)
Ignite (2/5)
Burning Soul (1/2)