Nope, full fire all the way unless you're doing instances over your head then grab Ele Precision. There's no reason to get clearcast until you get dragon's breath. I leveled a mage very recently.
I was looking through my characters talent trees, and although I'm still pretty stupid at mages, how viable is a spec that uses Spell Power and Ice Shards? That's 250% crit damage, right?
Your frost spells when they crit will do 2.25x their normal damage.
Actually, I don't even have to wand anymore, since I never run out of mana. I did have to use a mana emerald against the last guy of arcatraz once.
I'm not sure that's something to brag about...
You've done the most damage possible if you've finished the boss fight with low mana and exhausted every method of regeneration over that period of time.
Uh...my mana regen is 75 mana per 5, and I get 20% of mana cost back on crits...I have 30% crit, and I scorch a lot. Fireblast crits a lot as well. I do very good damage, and if the boss hits 20% and I have goodly mana left, I swap to molten armour, and keep going.
Right now my Mage's spec is 50/11/0 (in fire I took Imp Fireball, Ignite, and Pyro) and I'm loving it. I have so much mana too, it's lovely.
Arcane Fortitude?Improved Blink?Wand Spec?No no no my friend. We can do better, yes we can. Like so.
You tell me ewww and you leave the point in Prismatic Cloak... man what did you smoke :P
That build suits my needs, Imp Blink for easier getaways in PvP, Wand Spec for when I need to whittle down mobs while farming, same goes for the armor. Slow is too precious to me to lose. It's the staple of my build.
I can't look at the build, but from what I see, you should easily be able to move 3 points out of less useful arcane talents (Imp Blink, Fort, Wand Spec) and put it in elemental precision. +hit is always good.
Right, but I imagine the talent would be more useful than say Arcane Fortitude/Imp Blink/Wand Spec. It's hard to say, but he might be chaincasting fireballs with an AB only thrown in once in a while, in which case the +hit would help.
Right now my Mage's spec is 50/11/0 (in fire I took Imp Fireball, Ignite, and Pyro) and I'm loving it. I have so much mana too, it's lovely.
Arcane Fortitude?Improved Blink?Wand Spec?No no no my friend. We can do better, yes we can. Like so.
You tell me ewww and you leave the point in Prismatic Cloak... man what did you smoke :P
That build suits my needs, Imp Blink for easier getaways in PvP, Wand Spec for when I need to whittle down mobs while farming, same goes for the armor. Slow is too precious to me to lose. It's the staple of my build.
Hey, don't laugh at me, you're the one who put it there in the first place. It was late, and I didn't have time to mess with it more.
You can wittle down your arcane to 41 points and keep your slow, then throw another few points into fire to make it more useful. Maybe take Impact for PvP if that's your thing. It works wonders with Molten Armor.
~250 Armor is not worth a talent point. And with the amount of mana you'd have with that build, it's not worth your time to sit there and wand a mob when your could just drop a rank 1 frost nova -> ice lance 'til dead.
I can't hit up the talent calculators at work, or I'd mess with it more for ya.
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This space eventually to be filled with excitement
I'm 18, close to 19 on my mage and starting to think about WSG.
Right now I am entirely frost (improved frostbolt, frostbite, and improved frost nova), would it be worth the respec to temporarily go fire, or is the new honor system forgiving enough now that the warsong-friendly CC frost provides outweighs the extra raw DPS you get for going fire this early?
In the low level WSG (especially on its holiday weekend) you get enough honor from just winning that I never had an honor problem it is always a Marks problem. Once you get to AB level you rake in honor as well. I won't say a Mage won't get more as one spec or the other but as a Rogue I did just fine defending the flag in WSG (low HKs normally) to keep up decent honor.
Right now my Mage's spec is 50/11/0 (in fire I took Imp Fireball, Ignite, and Pyro) and I'm loving it. I have so much mana too, it's lovely.
Arcane Fortitude?Improved Blink?Wand Spec?No no no my friend. We can do better, yes we can. Like so.
You tell me ewww and you leave the point in Prismatic Cloak... man what did you smoke :P
That build suits my needs, Imp Blink for easier getaways in PvP, Wand Spec for when I need to whittle down mobs while farming, same goes for the armor. Slow is too precious to me to lose. It's the staple of my build.
Hey, don't laugh at me, you're the one who put it there in the first place. It was late, and I didn't have time to mess with it more.
You can wittle down your arcane to 41 points and keep your slow, then throw another few points into fire to make it more useful. Maybe take Impact for PvP if that's your thing. It works wonders with Molten Armor.
~250 Armor is not worth a talent point. And with the amount of mana you'd have with that build, it's not worth your time to sit there and wand a mob when your could just drop a rank 1 frost nova -> ice lance 'til dead.
I can't hit up the talent calculators at work, or I'd mess with it more for ya.
I suppose you're right about the wand thing, problem is... I'm broke (shame). Ice Lance is good and all, but having 0 mana means I have to wand it out. Maybe I will go farming today and respec into something a little more appropriate.
PS: Wanding people to death is just hillarious :P
edit: There is some reason in me having 50 points in Arcane, and that's because I want to try it out in as many situations as I can to see how well it works and how well it doesn't. For 52 levels I have been an all fire Mage, and from 62 - 70 all ice. It's just something new for now, and I will probably go back to my all fire build.
I remember I got a Priest in AB once with my wand. He was almost dead by the time I got to him, but it was still satisfying.
Arcane is a pretty damn viable tree, it just needs one of the elemental trees to back it up. I actually want to try something similar to what we're discussing (heavy arc/ rest fire). Slow is a very nice spell, but I'm an Ice Block whore. I think that once I get a nice cast rotation down involving Arcane Blast (and therefore less threat), I might be able to more comfortably spec away from my precious Ice Block.
Ice Block: It makes the bad man go away.
I'm suprised you'd run out of mana at all with that build though. How do you go about grinding?
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WulfDisciple of TzeentchThe Void... (New Jersey)Registered Userregular
edited March 2007
Wombat, we need to get Athena to 70 so we can get a Fire/Frost/Arcane mage rape-fest rolling :P
If you're going to be pvping a good bit, or if you'll be in the arena at all (which mages, quite frankly, aren't suited for anyway), then i'd suggest dropping slow for iceblock, since it's almost neccesary nowadays. That's if you're looking for a deep arcane/frost build, at least.
Arc/fire is starting to go out of style with the advent of arenas, because there's almost no chance of getting a 6s pyro off, and 1 ap/trinket/pomd pyroblast, even if it crits, isn't enough damage anymore. And you only will get one of those per arena match.
I'm suprised you'd run out of mana at all with that build though. How do you go about grinding?
When I grind I usually dont through up AB or any type of armor, Im just lazy. The only time I use AB is for timed sessions (when I only want to grind for 30 minutes, or an hour). Strategy is simple, Fireball opener > Fireball > Fire Blast and thats usually enough to do it. If its a little more tough, Frost Nova and then a CoC. Then I just keep killing until I need mana. The only times when I run out of mana is when something goes bad and I get an extra mob or two. Or when I'm just not paying attention.
Mage Armor and Molten Armor will always grant you benefits more than their cost over their duration. There's never a reason to not have them.
Also, CoC against single targets? gah! Barring acts of desperation, that's like the least efficient spell to cast. Ice Lance, Scorch, back up further and fireball again, whatever.
All this Nova + get off multiple Ice Lance talk is reminding me how pissed off I am that it breaks constantly now when I crit, which is 65% of the time, or damn near always.
I mean, its still nice to Frostbite something and then Frostbolt+Ice Lance it for double crits at the same time, but it used to be sooo much better.
Seriously, couldn't they have just made it function like that for PvP, kinda like they did Polymorph?
I don't get all riled up over much, because after all, it's just a game. But this one really irks me.
It almost makes me wish I didn't have Shatter. Tossing out more than one Ice Lance at a frozen mob wasn't so much about the damage as it was being able to do so on the fly, while those cooldowns tick down. Now it pretty much breaks on the first lance.
I guess I could just wait longer before tossing out the first IL...but where's the fun in that? ;-)
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This space eventually to be filled with excitement
Absolutely. PvP, I can understand, but PvE? Man...
I was happy and a bit shocked when I landed 4 Ice Lance crits on Novaed stuff... 3 was pretty common, and I was just happy with that. I was still happy with the big numbers, but when I only got 2 in a row it was pretty suprising and I took notice that it was just 2.
Now, its always 1. It is a real shock when I get 2. I have not seen 3 since the nerf.
All the numbers are from solo play, so no one else is critting/upping the break chances. 4 crits might have been a bit silly even for PvE, but 2-3 isnt that bad.
Sucks for Mages that never got to enjoy it.
And your phrase 'on the fly'... hehehe, yeah. I'd frostbolt x 3 until a mob was in my face, then nova, run away from it, jump and spin and Lance and spin and run and jump and spin and Lance and spin and... that was so fun when they stayed put, till I got back to 1-2 more Frostbolts range.
My brother plays a Lock and would always be standing way back or off to the side when we group together, and he would tell me on the phone later that the 180 spin Ice Lance trick shots looked like the Ice Lance was coming out of my back when I jumped from video/server lag. Hehehe. Shitting Ice Lances.
Frostbolt: 80% left
Frostbolt: 60% left
Frost nova
Frostbolt>Icelance: dead
Frostbolt crit: 60% left, frostbite proc
Frostbolt>Icelance: dead
What I enjoy currently as a fire mage?
Fireball! Scorch! Scorch! Scorch! Frost Nova! Ice Lance! Ice Lance! Scorch! Scorch! Scorch! haha nothing can interrupt me! Fireblast!
Strangely, the nerf did not affect either of these.
I dont use Scorch because if I want something dead, like 2 seconds ago, I am gonna use an instant cast. In the end, CoC is better for me, and it gets my point across to the mob that I want it dead.
The only reason I dont put up any of my armors is when I'm grinding I just kinda space out and go on a killing spree, usually things I'm killing die in 2 or 3 shots so they never touch me.
So I started using Arcane Blast yesterday durin a late night Shadow Labs run.
It's pretty good dps. Tough on the mana, but hey, when you got 10k mana to burn...
On trash, I was trying AB -> AB -> AB -> Fireblast -> Frostbolt -> repeat if necessary. This was a pretty high DPS group, including a full- Frost mage, so things died fast.
AB does indeed make a great mage "execute". I used it at the end to burn down that mana bar, and at %40 threat reduciton, who can argue?
I've never seen Murmur go down so hard before.
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WulfDisciple of TzeentchThe Void... (New Jersey)Registered Userregular
edited March 2007
I... I use Molten Armor when I raid >_> That doesn't make me a bad person does it? Mmm Mmm ignites!
As long as you aren't running OOM and end the boss fight with little to no mana left, and are dpsing for almost the whole time (Evocate wait, and invis drink if a really long fight exempt) then using Molten Armor shouldn't be an issue.
In the end, smart mana usage and 3% crit should be more damage then you'd regen with mage armor right?
According to DrDamage my damage till OOM is higher with Molten Armor then with Mage Armor. Meanwhile, it gets their quicker and makes better use out of any additional mana gained from Evocation/Gems/Pots. Molten Armor is just too good.
The Oz event is where the frost mage truly shines, unless it's your first time and you decide that frostbolt is a better choice against Tinman than spamming ice lance to stack the debuff. Then he closes on you and is all like, IF I ONLY HAD A HEART. MAYBE I WILL TAKE YOURS. LOLCLEAVE.
Posts
Your frost spells when they crit will do 2.25x their normal damage.
Uh...my mana regen is 75 mana per 5, and I get 20% of mana cost back on crits...I have 30% crit, and I scorch a lot. Fireblast crits a lot as well. I do very good damage, and if the boss hits 20% and I have goodly mana left, I swap to molten armour, and keep going.
Arcane Fortitude?Improved Blink?Wand Spec?No no no my friend. We can do better, yes we can. Like so.
My build
edit: woke up in the middle of the night realizing i need to edit this post
My build, gear, etc all rolled into one.
EDIT: Damn, replace the ring from karazhan with the ring of eternal flame.
You tell me ewww and you leave the point in Prismatic Cloak... man what did you smoke :P
That build suits my needs, Imp Blink for easier getaways in PvP, Wand Spec for when I need to whittle down mobs while farming, same goes for the armor. Slow is too precious to me to lose. It's the staple of my build.
Hey, don't laugh at me, you're the one who put it there in the first place. It was late, and I didn't have time to mess with it more.
You can wittle down your arcane to 41 points and keep your slow, then throw another few points into fire to make it more useful. Maybe take Impact for PvP if that's your thing. It works wonders with Molten Armor.
~250 Armor is not worth a talent point. And with the amount of mana you'd have with that build, it's not worth your time to sit there and wand a mob when your could just drop a rank 1 frost nova -> ice lance 'til dead.
I can't hit up the talent calculators at work, or I'd mess with it more for ya.
Right now I am entirely frost (improved frostbolt, frostbite, and improved frost nova), would it be worth the respec to temporarily go fire, or is the new honor system forgiving enough now that the warsong-friendly CC frost provides outweighs the extra raw DPS you get for going fire this early?
Bing 60 Warrior
Wymond 40 Rogue
There's really no reason for imp. wands.
]FROST![/url]
Im currently only level 67 so I dont have the 2 points in frost warding and only 2/3 in im blizz
I'd drop Imp. Blizzard and Frost Warding for Arctic Winds easily.
As of now, I really dont get hit by any melee. Ranged maybe.
I suppose you're right about the wand thing, problem is... I'm broke (shame). Ice Lance is good and all, but having 0 mana means I have to wand it out. Maybe I will go farming today and respec into something a little more appropriate.
PS: Wanding people to death is just hillarious :P
edit: There is some reason in me having 50 points in Arcane, and that's because I want to try it out in as many situations as I can to see how well it works and how well it doesn't. For 52 levels I have been an all fire Mage, and from 62 - 70 all ice. It's just something new for now, and I will probably go back to my all fire build.
Now this, I cannot argue with
I remember I got a Priest in AB once with my wand. He was almost dead by the time I got to him, but it was still satisfying.
Arcane is a pretty damn viable tree, it just needs one of the elemental trees to back it up. I actually want to try something similar to what we're discussing (heavy arc/ rest fire). Slow is a very nice spell, but I'm an Ice Block whore. I think that once I get a nice cast rotation down involving Arcane Blast (and therefore less threat), I might be able to more comfortably spec away from my precious Ice Block.
Ice Block: It makes the bad man go away.
I'm suprised you'd run out of mana at all with that build though. How do you go about grinding?
Arc/fire is starting to go out of style with the advent of arenas, because there's almost no chance of getting a 6s pyro off, and 1 ap/trinket/pomd pyroblast, even if it crits, isn't enough damage anymore. And you only will get one of those per arena match.
When I grind I usually dont through up AB or any type of armor, Im just lazy. The only time I use AB is for timed sessions (when I only want to grind for 30 minutes, or an hour). Strategy is simple, Fireball opener > Fireball > Fire Blast and thats usually enough to do it. If its a little more tough, Frost Nova and then a CoC. Then I just keep killing until I need mana. The only times when I run out of mana is when something goes bad and I get an extra mob or two. Or when I'm just not paying attention.
Also, CoC against single targets? gah! Barring acts of desperation, that's like the least efficient spell to cast. Ice Lance, Scorch, back up further and fireball again, whatever.
Fireball -> Fireball -> Rank 1 Nova -> Ice Lance 'til Nova breaks -> Finish with Scorch or Fireblast, depending on how things went.
You'll be golden.
I mean, its still nice to Frostbite something and then Frostbolt+Ice Lance it for double crits at the same time, but it used to be sooo much better.
Fuck you, Blizzard.
Red'd for more anger.
Seriously, couldn't they have just made it function like that for PvP, kinda like they did Polymorph?
I don't get all riled up over much, because after all, it's just a game. But this one really irks me.
It almost makes me wish I didn't have Shatter. Tossing out more than one Ice Lance at a frozen mob wasn't so much about the damage as it was being able to do so on the fly, while those cooldowns tick down. Now it pretty much breaks on the first lance.
I guess I could just wait longer before tossing out the first IL...but where's the fun in that? ;-)
I was happy and a bit shocked when I landed 4 Ice Lance crits on Novaed stuff... 3 was pretty common, and I was just happy with that. I was still happy with the big numbers, but when I only got 2 in a row it was pretty suprising and I took notice that it was just 2.
Now, its always 1. It is a real shock when I get 2. I have not seen 3 since the nerf.
All the numbers are from solo play, so no one else is critting/upping the break chances. 4 crits might have been a bit silly even for PvE, but 2-3 isnt that bad.
Sucks for Mages that never got to enjoy it.
And your phrase 'on the fly'... hehehe, yeah. I'd frostbolt x 3 until a mob was in my face, then nova, run away from it, jump and spin and Lance and spin and run and jump and spin and Lance and spin and... that was so fun when they stayed put, till I got back to 1-2 more Frostbolts range.
My brother plays a Lock and would always be standing way back or off to the side when we group together, and he would tell me on the phone later that the 180 spin Ice Lance trick shots looked like the Ice Lance was coming out of my back when I jumped from video/server lag. Hehehe. Shitting Ice Lances.
Frostbolt: 80% left
Frostbolt: 60% left
Frost nova
Frostbolt>Icelance: dead
Frostbolt crit: 60% left, frostbite proc
Frostbolt>Icelance: dead
What I enjoy currently as a fire mage?
Fireball! Scorch! Scorch! Scorch! Frost Nova! Ice Lance! Ice Lance! Scorch! Scorch! Scorch! haha nothing can interrupt me! Fireblast!
Strangely, the nerf did not affect either of these.
The only reason I dont put up any of my armors is when I'm grinding I just kinda space out and go on a killing spree, usually things I'm killing die in 2 or 3 shots so they never touch me.
It is, that's why I use it for raids
It's pretty good dps. Tough on the mana, but hey, when you got 10k mana to burn...
On trash, I was trying AB -> AB -> AB -> Fireblast -> Frostbolt -> repeat if necessary. This was a pretty high DPS group, including a full- Frost mage, so things died fast.
AB does indeed make a great mage "execute". I used it at the end to burn down that mana bar, and at %40 threat reduciton, who can argue?
I've never seen Murmur go down so hard before.
In the end, smart mana usage and 3% crit should be more damage then you'd regen with mage armor right?
I wonder what the math looks like for that.