[Mage] Viable Raid Spec/Spell Rotation - Page 2

Fantim · 04/06/07, 1:38 AM

Originally Posted by Treos

Here is my current spec I am running: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...000000000#none

I just do not see the point in running Blast Wave in PvE, I have not seen a use for it in anyway in the raiding scene as most mobs I could use it against are immune to the daze.

As it stands right now here are my stats with AI and MA up:

Spell Damage: 837 with the buffs from the Arcane Tree
Crit: 17.00% (18.43% for fire)
Int: 493 with AI

I am currently stuck at no. 2/3 on the damage lists behind two extremely good/geared Rogues and I just cannot seem to break the barrier on them and go into the top spot.

Personally for raiding I would get 2/3 MoE before Blastwave and Pyroblast, especially if you don't always have a shadowpriest in your group.

Teenee · 04/06/07, 6:44 AM

Originally Posted by thebuddha

10/48/3 is the only raid spec where you can even hope to compare with warlocks.

Or outdo them, and by a good margin. Sure the Warlock didn't have a shadowpriest (my alt is the only SP in the guild so far /cry). I'll add that I'm in all-out tailor gear (as is the warlock), and about the only upgrade for me would be dagger from Prince in Karazhan or the sword from Gruul (which the warlock has, so about equal gear I'd say). So my mana regen is quite weak, and I choose to use Molten Armor instead. I found that I need JoW at least partially up on the boss, to be able to sustain this, even though I'm chaining Unstable Mana pots (too much of a cheap skate to chain supers), and at the end of the fight, I'm resorting to Demonic Runes since the mana gems are getting to be too little mana returns.

So mana is extremely tight. But you can blow everyone else away sitting at 1300 spelldmg and 35% crit from normal buffs and flask/potions (so no group stacking at all).

Navaash summarises the entire mage thread, more or less.

BeeLz · 04/06/07, 8:07 AM

Originally Posted by Maligne

Deep fire will outperform everything on boss fights, even more so when your +damage approaches very high levels (900+). Fireball spam will produce the most DPS.

40/21/0 will perform very well at medium levels of +damage, and will give you more options outside of boss fights (arcane power/POM). This one will probably produce more damage over the entire night, because on trash you can easily excel by spamming blast and drinking immediately after. This obviously won't work on boss fights, and you'll have to switch to some sort of AB overlap cycle.

I personally prefer 3x/0/2x because it allows for competetive DPS on raids and gives me most of the frost tricks for PVP.

Well, I quit playing my mage before TBC but wouldn't deep arcane/fire outdamage deep fire when you're very heavy crit stacked? You basically have unlimited mana and a double crit bonus? Or am I totally wrong ? :p

Teenee · 04/06/07, 8:24 AM

Deep Arcane lacks the scaling that deep Fire gets. Basicly "all" Arcane gets is Arcane instability (which is still a sweet 3 points) and Mind Mastery. If you're a tailor, you're already fairly weak on the Int side, so the Arcane tree doesn't emphasize these aspects as much as if you were in say full tier gear (ditto Arcane Meditation).

Phalanx · 04/06/07, 9:06 AM

Originally Posted by Treos

That's the problem, I don't see anywhere else to spend the 5 points that would better suit my PvE need.

Ignite is about the only talent in the top half of the Fire tree which will add damage to your Fire spells. Everything else is utility.

Take the Ignite.

Treos · 04/06/07, 12:28 PM

Last night, I was about 1% away from the top of the damage list (a rogue was the top of the list, with very good gear, better than mine at the moment) and I was using 41/20/0 going down to slow instead of blast wave.

Now, out of what seems to be only 4 viable raid specs: 41/20, 33/28, 10/48/3, 40/0/21 and 10/0/51, which one do you guys think is the best for long sustained damage (i know this was in the marathon thread, but no one has yet to go back and summarize).

Sustained Damage as in over the course of a raid night...about 4 or 5 hours.

Vontre · 04/06/07, 12:31 PM

How long?

Forget about ice unless you're pvping.

For base casting 10/48/3 if you don't go oom. However the effect of arcane power if used properly is pretty startling. Just from the pom pyro alone - that's at least 30 dps extra (averaged over the 3 minute timer). I need a way to model combustion, and the rest of the duration of arcane power. Guh... brain hurt.

Leto · 04/06/07, 1:13 PM

If you just want to top the charts on a whole run (mainly trash), then arcane/fire would probably do it, with abusing arcane blast and excessive drinking, as well as ap/flamestrike/pom/flamestrike/blastwave hijinks on aoe pulls.

My view is skewed in kara though, since I'm the only mage in my 10 man group usually, so I am on top for a whole run easily due to aoe, etc, regardless of spec.

Stein · 04/06/07, 1:22 PM

Originally Posted by Leto

abusing arcane blast and excessive drinking

<signed/>

Once we stop doing Kara, i'll spec 10/48/3. Till then, AB abuse is just too much fun (-40% aggro is also great for trash).

Northerner · 04/06/07, 2:38 PM

AB spam is certainly great trash dps but unless you are pulling very slowly, you'll never catch up on mana in my experience. I tried it for a bit with and without scorch and frankly, I'm happier just using fireball with a decent tank. The excessive drinking should be standard though; if I'm not actively casting my ass is on the ground. That's an old EQ habit anyhow.

Tempestra · 04/06/07, 7:15 PM

Both 33/28/0 and 1x/4y/3 are extremely powerful DPS specs. Both rely on scorchx1/fireballx7-8 rotations. 33/28/0 scales extremely well with crit rating (ignite + spell power = 245% crits), and 1x/4y/3 scales well with +dmg (105% +dmg on fireball). 33/28 gives you the option for semi-legit arcane blast cycles, while 1x/4y/3 is all about the scorch-fireball rotation. 1x/4y/3 also provides 3% spell hit if your spell hit gear is lacking. I find that if you're hit capped, 33/28 is just as good, if not better.

Deep arcane is acceptable if your gear is trashy, but it gets outdated extremely quickly.

Bekah · 04/07/07, 1:13 PM

Originally Posted by Tempestra

Deep arcane is acceptable if your gear is trashy, but it gets outdated extremely quickly.

At the moment my gear is pretty trashy (unbuffed- under 500+dmg, about 16% crit). I want to get out of my low damage frost leveling spec and into a spec that I can grow into over the next month or so while my gear improves- something that won't make my guild recoil in horror at my inability to dps effectively.

Is the arcane superiority so significant for bad gear that I should just spec into it now and go fire in a few weeks? Or is it mostly a matter of a few dps anyways? In other words- can I "grow into" a deep fire spec or is it better to just bite the bullet and go Arcane temporarily. I expect to have competitive gear in a few weeks at most and I really loathe respeccing =(

Edit:

Originally Posted by Copernicus

Close.

Leveling - Frost is amazing.

1x/4y/3 doesn't pull away from a 41/20 (or 40/21) until around +800 damage. Until then, they're close enought that playstyle is far more important.

Also, Shadow Priests are your bestest friends.

Last few pages of the huge thread is answering my questions. This is what you get for posting before waking up. Sorry for the clutter.