[Mage] The Elementalist

• Maligne · 04/27/07, 4:29 PM

Ok, stop laughing, I'm serious. I wanted to make a thread to get some input on a few issues regarding this style of build/play. I've been trying it out for a few weeks now and it's actually been pretty useful (not to mention extremely fun to play).

For clarification, I'm guessing that most builds are going to be close to 0/30/31. My current build is: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=RZVgGzfzcRZVVGoobxsbo. One of the things I've been considering is 34ish in fire because combustion and molten fury are so good (especially in arenas), but that would require giving up ice barrier, which I'm not sure is worth it. And it's getting a new rank after the patch, becoming that much better.

My experiences so far:

Obviously where this build suffers in PVE, and I've definitely noticed it. I use a 4(ish) fireball/scorch rotation, without the reduced cast time on fireball. On trash I'm quite threat limited, and on bosses the damage is pretty lackluster. Thankfully I'm not too concerned with this part, as we only do Kara once or twice a week, and I can get by just fine there.

For battlegrounds and world pvp I think this is the best spec to have. The advantages are obvious - great defenses while having a multitude of instants and short casts that hit pretty hard. The limiting factor here is mana, which I find myself out of quite a bit. I really want to try and max out master of elements, which is one of my questions for you guys. Where can I spare two points in fire? Critical mass maybe?

For 2's and 3's arenas I think this spec is pretty under appreciated. I don't really do 5v5, and I think 33/0/28 would be better for it. But for the shorter battles of 2v2 and 3v3 you still have pretty good burst, and you're able to tank just fine, which comes into play quite a bit during the smaller battles. Blazing speed is really nice here.

Anyway, some input would be appreciated (and more mage threads are always a good thing =p).

◊ Vontre · 04/27/07, 4:38 PM

Move points out of fire blast. It's extremely mana intensive and you don't need to whore instants with 30 points in fire.

I've tried the build and it's decent... but without fire power it's not just your boss dps that is suffering. This build is going to straight up hit like a fairy, I mean it's not that bad but beyond blast wave you're not going to see much burst until you can stack scorch to 5. It looks like you're going the spam instants approach though, which isn't bad, but no amount of mana conservation talents are going to save you from going oom if you're busting out cone of cold, blast wave, and fire blast every cooldown. So make sure your team setup is based around burst dps, or else you'll need a more efficient and controlled build.

Which brings me full circle, keep fire blast if you want to go that route, just keep in mind you will end up being the limitation on how long your team can last if nobody is dieing.

P.S. Mage threads for the win

Tempestra · 04/27/07, 5:49 PM

Drop 1 point from MoE and 2 points from imp fireblast.

Drop them into 3/5 fire power.

This is assuming you use fire to hurt things...

Good defense and pretty good offense. *terrible* in PvE but you went over that =)

◊ Vontre · 04/27/07, 5:51 PM

Originally Posted by Tempestra

Drop 1 point from MoE and 2 points from imp fireblast.

Drop them into 3/5 fire power.

This is assuming you use fire to hurt things...

Good defense and pretty good offense. *terrible* in PvE but you went over that =)

Probably a better idea, yeah, that hadn't occured to me.

• Maligne · 04/28/07, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by Tempestra

Drop 1 point from MoE and 2 points from imp fireblast.

Drop them into 3/5 fire power.

This is assuming you use fire to hurt things...

Good defense and pretty good offense. *terrible* in PvE but you went over that =)

Seriously? 6% more fire damage would really be better than 1 second faster fireblasts and MOE? I guess I could limit my fireblasts this way to *make* myself save mana...

if you're busting out cone of cold, blast wave, and fire blast every cooldown.

I am. I use maybe 3 scorches a fight. It works well, but anything more than 2 opponents and I have mana problems. I thought that's where this build shines? If I wanted to sit there and scorch till 5 then fireball, deep fire would obviously be better. Mobility and instants are the name of the game.

And about our team being based around burst, it is. I'm on a 3v3 with a shadow priest and rogue. I've found that if someone on the other team doesn't die right away, we're probably going to lose.

◊ Vontre · 04/28/07, 10:06 PM

Originally Posted by Maligne

Seriously? 6% more fire damage would really be better than 1 second faster fireblasts and MOE? I guess I could limit my fireblasts this way to *make* myself save mana...

I am. I use maybe 3 scorches a fight. It works well, but anything more than 2 opponents and I have mana problems. I thought that's where this build shines? If I wanted to sit there and scorch till 5 then fireball, deep fire would obviously be better. Mobility and instants are the name of the game.

And about our team being based around burst, it is. I'm on a 3v3 with a shadow priest and rogue. I've found that if someone on the other team doesn't die right away, we're probably going to lose.

In that case I personally would just go full tilt and spec arcane power. It's going to get you your instagib much more reliably and has better tools than fire to boot, excusing ice block.

Tempestra · 04/29/07, 2:56 AM

1/3 MoE is useless if you calculate it.

If you're really after burst, spec AP.

• Maligne · 04/30/07, 5:21 PM

I'll try 1/3 fireblast and 3/5 firepower next. It's a good thing there are new quest hubs coming out - all of this respeccing is draining my gold!