Maynard

I was speaking to a comparatively well-geared druid in AV about this the other day, realising he had a Mystical Skyfire Diamond in his helm as opposed to the more conventional Powerful Earthstorm Diamond.

I was mostly considering the utility of this item for my 2v2 team (rogue/resto druid), in particular against double caster/healer lockdown teams as this should allow me to squeeze out the occasional 0.7s cyclone or 1s regrowth, depending on circumstances, potentially freeing my rogue of a kite lockdown and allowing us to seal a match. I can see this gem as allowing me to use spells I'd otherwise have to avoid completely against particular teams or in particular situations. With luck, I can even imagine that I might cause a counterspell/silence ability to miss completely because the caster didn't expect the spell to land so quickly.

What are people's (all classes) experiences with this gem?

 

Gankt

It's amazing. it has absolutely no hidden cooldown, back to back procs happen all the time as a result.

 

Kasi

Yeah I've been wondering what I should do with my elemental shaman's meta gem. Currently I just have the spirit shard one from auchindoun. But my issue is my utter inability to do anything when I get focus fired, especially with a rogue. Now sure the stun resist/stamina one has its pluses, like mainly helping me live through it, but I'd like more options than doing nothing but shocking and cleansing when getting beat on.

 

Symbul

I have this gem on my Paladin, along with most if not all of my caster teammates and it's excellent. Procs a lot at 5%. I got it not expecting much but I wouldn't go without one now.

 

Zure

99% sure this doesn't warrant its own thread, but I'll add my 2 cents:

I'd agree, awesome gem. On both my mage and druid! I'd go so far as to say it's BETTER for classes that cast a lot of instants, like druids. You get more procs due to easier chain casting and won't immediately eat the charge with a short cast spell.

I'll admit to having moderate lag and slightly below average reflexes, but I can't hit a 1/2 cast cyclone to save my life.

It's worth mentioning that the requirements (more blues than yellows) are fairly easily met in pvp due to solid stars.

 

Herrera

I assume instant spells dont consume the charge while effect is up?

 

Quixotic

No, and neither do channeled spells. I've frequently used about 2 seconds of a drain mana, then casting a 2nd drain mana with the haste buff still applied.

 

Maligne

Currently using Presence of Mind and a spell with a cast time does consume the proc, but I view being able to cast double speed Arcane Missiles as just balancing that out.

Inform your dealers and whores of my credit, and pour me a goddamned drink!

 

Herrera

Does that mean my Tranquility is affected, too? That'd be fun.

 

Mekkapiano

That would make it a true AoE taunt, untalented.

Mystical Skyfire is very underrated. I think it's the best PvP meta gem you can get as a caster, and far better than the run speed or stun resist ones. What it basically gives you in PvP is a 5% chance to cast a spell you would not have been able to normally. For me, that gives me a 0.75 second Fear or Unstable Affliction, which is much less likely to be interrupted, or a 1.25 second Shadow Bolt where normally I can't reliably have 2-3 seconds of uninterrupted cast time. Get a Nightfall at the same time and you can do a 2 second Soul Fire followed by an instant Shadow Bolt. They won't know what hit them.

In PvE you proc it very often, especially if you're a heavy user of DoTs or anything fast casting. For warlocks, it moves Shadow Bolt to the top of the cast priority list when it procs. It's like having an extra source of Nightfall. It's a huge DPS boost.

The two best effects, in my opinion, are on Drain Life and Hellfire. Drain Life will drag about 1,000HPS out of a target, which is insane. Hellfire looks hilarious with it - you tick twice per second. It's actually the highest sustained DPS spell when under the skyfire effect (last I worked it out). It's also a nice way to remove 50-75% of your HP in seconds. If you stood next to a boss and had plenty of healing, this would deal nice raid dps

 

fatasswilly

Talented instant spells such as nightfall, PoM, and Corruption consume the buff.

 

Lymmel

I had it for a while and if you are really fast you can get off 3 1.5 sec mind flays (2 in 90% of the situations) which is kinda awesome since mind flay doesn't consume it. Hence it's a truckton of damage for us if one is wary of the proc, but I am assuming that's a bug.

 

Maynard

Thanks guys, glad I decided to wait for the helm instead of just picking up the pretty shoulders.

Yeah, me either. But I didn't realise it'd be such a unanimous issue either

 

Mekkapiano

Corruption doesn't, and I think neither does Nightfall, although it's rare that you have both effects up in any case. This was patched a couple of patches ago along with a bunch of similar instant-through-talents spells. I don't have Skyfire on my mage, so no idea about PoM.

 

teliot

Does anyone think this gem would be worthwhile for a shadow priest in a 5v5 arena? Even by reducing mind flay from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds, I don't see much benefit when two or more dpsers are on you.

 

Sethlans

Agreed that it's a great gem but "more blue than yellow?" That's horrible. For PVE casters the blue gems are slim to none...glowing nightseye is about it. Not to mention that in a majority of cases people use veiled noble topaz or great dawnstone to increase their +hit. I would love to use this meta gem but I cannot sacrifice all the +hit from my yellow gems for it, nor do I want to replace a bunch of gems with blues. A great meta gem, but very difficult to meet the requirements for in a serious PvE caster. But then again, this is in the PvP forum, so maybe I am missing the point.

 

Kcolraw

this gem is buffed to 10 seconds after the patch, i wonder if they've "fixed" drain spells not using the buff though

 

chase

Channeled spells do eat the proc on the PTR.

 

demonen

I use it on my mage, and I use stamina/stunresist on my druid.

I did consider it on my druid, but decided against it because of the gem requirements - the kodohide set together with honor neck and bracers has 4 red and 4 yellow sockets, with no good purple healing gem.

Though I will try it next patch, when I can replace my yellow gems with stamina/resilience gems to meet the gem requirements. And I believe the increase in buff duration will make it a lot more useful for druids, for example giving you the ability to cast a well timed .7 second cyclone while focused.

 

• frmorrison

Currently Nightfall procs will consume Focus buff, not sure if that is the same way on the PTR.

While getting 2 Drain Life/Drain Mana is neat, I much prefer the 10 second buff and the consuming the buff on Chained spells.

 

CasT

Last time I used it it had the wonderful useage of 5s Hearthstone

Anything else to say is that the time the buff lasts is too short. As a druid, having it proc on a insta cast LB, and already spamming for the following Rej before you notices the buff, and having the
GCD and lag remove it stings. But when you catch it its awesome.


This is going to be changed in next patch right?

Do not matter how much you play, you will never get the carrot.

 

• frmorrison

Yes, it will be 10 seconds in 2.2.

 

probiscus

Ignorant question, but does it work on resurrection as well?

 

• frmorrison

It works on Soulstone and Summon castimes, and rez is a spell just like those, so why not?

 

Nennx

Does anyone know if this gem effects the global cooldown or not?

Like, if I casted a .75 second chain lightning, would I still have .75 seconds of GCD, or could I instantly start casting again?