Kir

That's the thing, their weapon didn't matter before, cause I could just use rank 1 frostbolts, blink, nova, frost armor proccing frostbite etc.. to stay out of range the whole time. I'd generally get off a frostbite proc in between nova cooldowns from spamming rank 1. I'd save blink for when they intercept, nova broke early or otherwise got unlucky. It could take a bit, so in BGs I sometimes couldn't kill them before backup showed up, but I never lost to a warrior 1v1. With spell reflect, they mess up that rhythm, and can close the distance more often.

 

Tower

I don't think any mage has time to wait for it to wear with warriors getting their 4 piece intercept bonus again. I see it go up I Icelance immediately.

 

Maligne

Keep in mind that in order to spell reflect they have to be in battle or defensive stance, and have a shield. That means they have to switch stances to intercept, and switch weapons to actually hurt you after they intercept. That's two global cooldowns and some human lag time. Add in another global cooldown on your end for the icelance, and it's almost the same as just waiting 5 seconds or waiting 3 seconds and starting a cast. Not to mention the 300-500 damage you take from lancing yourself.

With that said generally I agree with you, just lance as soon as it goes up to get it out of the way. The key is still being ready for it so you don't end up really hurting yourself.

I have only read Pages 1,2 & 5 so far, when making this post.

 

Vermis

Thats only 1 gcd, changing stances wont trigger gcd not to talk about global cooldown being 1 second for warriors, unlike 1.5s for mages. So assuming warrior has insane reflexes and he's good at foretelling he could have shield and spell reflect on before you can use your first icelance.

 

Calantus

Warrior GCD is 1.5, rogues are the only full class that gets a 1 second GCD. Cat druids might also but I really can't recall so don't quote me on it.

 

Cwealm

Mine is MouseWheelDown and I have never missed a CS since I put it there.

 

Kimoshi

What do people think of 0 27 34(Blazing Speed+Ice Barrier) specs for high end arenas?

All I really see high end mages spec usually are either 17 0 44 or 0 5 56. Having spent some time on the PTRs with the spec for world pvp, kinda grew to enjoy it. Kinda curious to see what others think.

 

annemelooni

I'll prefer more 3/5 points in fire power than wasting them on frost tree.
But that just my opnion.

Pros:

-Many instant spells

-Blazing speed<3

-And still u got Ice Barrier and Ice Block for survivability.

Cons:

-Mana ends up quickly

 

Kimoshi

Was thinking something like
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft, don't see any waste points in Frost really =x

 

Tower

Hey Kimo,
The problem with that build is it's really only good for 2v2 and for a 3v3 team where you are a likely target. Specing that deep into fire for Blazing Speed generally means survivabilty on a small scale (see 2v2) while specing deep frost is specing survivability for large scale (3v3 and 5v5). Lacking both PoM and WE, you've traded various survivability (that overlap and undervalue its usefulness) while you sacrifice quite a bit of burst.

The way I see it, grabbing Ice Barrier is just a great way to spend 31 talent points to increase PvP survivability 2 fold, once you've done that, spending 10 more to get the Water Elemental easily trumps anything you'd gain from investing deep fire.

An Ice Mage in 5v5 just isn't going to get targetted a lot, no matter what the makeup. So having Barrier + Blazing speed is redundant. However in 2v2, your proposed spec allows for what a healer/mage does best and that's keep range, CC and wear a team down. Would seem solid in 3v3 if you're playing a lot with a warrior and paladin. as both barrier and speed make you an even less likely target (and if targetted, a punishing decision). But if you're running with a rogue and priest or priest and lock, once again your talents in that much survivability kind of go to waste.

 

Kimoshi

Meh, I spose so, but blazing speed really isn't the only reason one would probably do that spec.

All you *truly* need in frost is Iceblock and Ice Barrier to survive/give out the idea that I shouldn't be attacked.

Between sheeps, you'll be able to throw out fireballs for a bit higher dps instead of frostbolts. You'll have slightly better 'instant' dps. In addition to all that, the few games where mages are focused first, or it's down to like a 2v2 or 3v3(from 5), it might mean the difference of blowing iceblock or being able to save it for later use.

./shrug

 

Aoife

I have to agree with binding CS to Mouse Wheel. At the start of 3v3, I set the other team's healer to my focus. We start to burn our target, I hit the mouse wheel at the right town, one person goes down. It's just so much easier to hit those clutch CSes when you don't even have to worry about switching targets or moving your left hand.

 

Cwealm

I have even caught pallies trying to fake a heal with it, MWD is so fast.

 

Kimoshi

On Tuesday, I was able to pickup the Spyglass of the Hidden Fleet trinket from SSC.

After much thinking, I couldn't decide between Talisman of the Alliance(Talisman of the Alliance - Items - World of Warcraft) and the Spyglass(Spyglass of the Hidden Fleet - Items - World of Warcraft). I'm looking for any help to decide between the two =x

 

Aoife

Which do you need more, resilience or stamina?

 

Kimoshi

I'm not sure really. Without either of them equipped, I'm sitting at 381 resilience and 10313 HP. Both of which seem to be relatively close to what the top end arena mages have.

 

Cwealm

Am I alone in that in my arena experiences (which, admittedly, have all been on what can only be described as "craptacular" teams) are such that I never cast any big nukes. Ever.

I am chain-sheeping, casting detect magic, snaring and ice lancing, counterspelling and I use fire blast and CoC, but I rarely have any chance to use big nukes. I am always under too much pressure to stand still for longer casts, and if I am casting frostbolt, it is during the mop up phase when several of the opposition team are dead.

Higher dps on frostbolt or fireball is never a concern when I spec for arenas. At least for me.

 

Tower

Depends on the team you run, and if there's a better focus for the other team. I play my mage with warlocks and shadowpriests, so I get a lot of Frostbolt time in.

 

Aoife

Well, in 3v3 at least, teams never seem to go after me. They're focus is usually making our pally burn our bubble or disabling the pally and burning the warrior. I'm pretty sure this is solely due to my being frost and they see Ice Barrier up at the beginning. Usually if they don't do much to cc/pressure me, I can dish out some pretty good damage before they realized their mistake.

 

Vermis

We had few games where I was focused (0/5/56) the result was a drastic drop in our dps making it mana race between healers. When being focused by warrior and felguard its not just the dmg or kiting, the sheer amount of interecept stuns and mace stuns made my game just a pathetic try to kite merry-go-round.

Up till now I've allways thought that focusing frost mage in pvp was more or less weird and futile. But with 2 interecept stuns and mace stuns my dps was worth nothing. Of course at the same time the team allways remembered to kill my elemental. All this lead to thinking if frost isnt actually the best choice in the end. I reckon I could have pulled more dps and better survivability as elemental mage, combining blazing speed with fireblast and scorching.

While running a setup without a single tank class, hunter/shaman/paladin/warrior and me. It tends to draw heat for me sometimes and focused frost mage cant pull miracles out of the wizard hat.

How do people deal if focused? Tried low rank ice armour spamming but dispelling on their side worked a bit too well. In our bg (rampage eu) there are few running with warrior lock priest paladin mage. And there should be some kind of solution to this. Or just perhaps we just need to change composition, I dont know. That's why I'm asking

 

zach

What do you guys recommend as far as gems go? Just all +12 stam?

 

Maligne

+12 stam is good if you're playing without a healer or do a lot of BGs. Resilience gems are much better if you have a healer behind you (as long as you don't go below 10k or so hp).

I have only read Pages 1,2 & 5 so far, when making this post.

 

zach

I play with a feral druid in 2v2 (or am least planning to)

 

Borland

when you get focused as frost mage - use all cooldowns - trink off intercept stun/hamstring combination on you and then blink before he uses piercing howl.

Also - use Cone of Cold on him. And ask for support , alone you cant do that much to survive.
But as blessing of freedom works on them - so it works on you too.
Btw dont run and spam ice lances - thats giving him free enrage procs. Also some warriors depends on your nova to get rage (second wind) - rank 1 coc works better than FN sometimes.
As for the felguard - spec 0/7/54 - felguard hits pretty often and he gets impacted alot.

And most important - GET HIM IN COMBAT BEFORE HE CHARGES. Ice lance/fireblast with improved range usualy works.

 

Eulogy

Good suggestions Borland, will help a lot of mages.