Mage Ward

Mage Ward is a mage spell that casts a shield on the caster which absorbs fire, frost or arcane damage. The shield lasts 30 seconds or until the given amount of damage is absorbed, whichever comes first. Mage Ward is self-cast only.

Mage Ward was introduced in Patch 4.0.1 as a replacement for Fire Ward and Frost Ward spells which mages would cast previously. Previously, mages could only ward against either Fire or Frost, but not both simultaneously.

Talent improvements
The Molten Shields talent from the Fire tree reduces the global cooldown of Mage Ward by 1 sec and causes Mage Ward to trigger the Blazing Speed if it dissipates from absorbing damage.

Tips and tactics
Note that the duration is the same as the cooldown. If you absorb the given damage before the spell cools down, you're stuck taking any additional damage until you can cast again. If you know you're about to take a lot of fire damage, wait 10 or 15 seconds after casting before charging into battle.

If you cast this spell after a caster completes a spell, but before it reaches you (e.g. a Fireball from an enemy mage at long range) the damage will be absorbed. Think fast!