For spellcasting classes in World of Warcraft, the process of leveling quickly revolves around one resource, and that is mana. As long as there is sufficient mana, spellcasting classes can generate immense amounts of damage in a very short amount of time. But the tradeoff for these potent damage dealing abilities is a finite limit on the amount of mana available for any one battle.

Now it is possible for spellcasters to do damage without investing large amounts of mana. All spellcasting classes, including mages, warlocks and priests can equip wands which function in much the same way as a hunter's auto-shot does without the minimum range limitation. Wands cannot run out of ammunition either, which means that for what they are worth in terms of the amount of damage they can do, wands are at least capable of producing a sustained, infinite damage per second rate.

But wands cannot generate anywhere near the damage that spells can. So how do mana using classes like mages priests and warlocks sustain their experience accumulation if they have to stop every few minutes to replenish mana?

The answer to that question lies in the same concept for spellcasters as it does for melee. Spellcasters must develop a spell rotation which maximizes their damage output while minimizing the amount of mana being used. This, combined with maximum efficiency in builds and gear will generally provide spellcasters with a way to engage many many different monsters without having to stop due to a shortage of mana.

Of the three pure spellcasters, priests face the steepest challenges when it comes to mana efficiency. The priest's damage-dealing talents and spells are not very mana efficient compared to those of mages and warlocks. Priests are also limited by the fact they have very few abilities with which to increase their mana regeneration. Despite these challenges, however, it is possible to maximize damage output for minimal mana while playing a priest.

Priests, like all spellcasters, should avoid spending mana on anything that doesn't generate damage. Casting self-heals or buffs like inner fire only reduce the available mana for the next fight. Against even level monsters, priests shouldn't need either of those abilities anyway. Second, priests should avoid heavy mana costs like dots and use low mana cost damage spells like mind flay instead.

Almost all spellcaster battles involve at least one use of a "crowd control" spell to clear the area around the caster so they can successfully cast their spells. For priests, the psychic scream ability causes their opponents to run in fear for a few seconds. However, many priests cast their highest rank of this spell even when fighting a single opponent. This is a waste of mana, because there is no reason to attempt to send five opponents running away in fear for an extra couple of hundred mana when there is only one opponent.

Mages and Warlocks have a number of ways to replenish mana after a victory in pve (player vs environment) combat. Mages, of course, can make their own water, and they also have the ability to produce mana gems which act as temporary mana potions. Warlocks can life tap, trading health for mana, and can also acquire extra mana from their pets. However, spell rotations are just as necessary for mages and warlocks as they are for priests. Lower ranked spells like frost nova and fear will save mana in each battle, and casting spells with lower mana costs more often increases the chance for a critical hit from each spell, which can, on average, reduce the overall mana cost of any given battle.

Unlike Priests, Mages and warlocks also have AoE (area of effect) spells which allow them to engage multiple opponents simultaneously. Use of these spells can greatly magnify a mage or a warlock's ability to rapidly accumulate very large amounts of experience for a very low per-battle mana cost.

Despite all of these strategies, however, there will be times when spellcasters will have to replenish mana with water. It is of vital importance that spellcasters attempt to find the lowest cost, highest regenerative rate water available when fighting monsters in pve. Expensive purchased water can reduce the total gold looted from a given number of battles by as much as half, meaning that for every two battles, one must be fought to replace the water purchased in order to afford the mana for that fight! Finding water with bonuses is also helpful, as it can help replenish mana faster for a zero water cost.

It is also important to note that spellcasters must employ strategies that give them maximum control over their battles, because when things go wrong for spellcasters, they go disastrously wrong. With the exception of mages at higher levels, most spellcasters have few reliable ways to recover from or escape from what is known in the game as a "bad pull." A bad pull occurs when instead of engaging one monster in combat, the spellcaster finds themselves confronted with two or more (sometimes many more) opponents. When this happens, it is always better to run, then come back and reset. A heroic mana-draining battle to the last monster is only going to increase the amount of time required to reach the next level.