Playing with haste values in Rawr, I found the dps of a 1.47second Pyroblast to match the dps of a 1.00second Fireball (for my char on the left, ilvl 367). YMMV depending on gear. I can't recall how many stacks of haste buff correspond to a ~1.47 Pyro, however.

So, I've been working on (normal mode) Ragnaros for a few days now. Since I'm our only mage, I've been assigned to deal with Magma Traps, and there's a few things I've picked up.

First off, it's gonna be a DPS loss. Since they can spawn on pretty much anyone, you'll probably be moving quite a bit. I've found there's a few ways to offset the DPS loss, though. Since Magma Traps are fired off at set intervals, you have some leeway for tripping them. Taking 2/2 Incanter's Absorption is a must for this fight. When you pre-pot before the fight starts, throw up Mage Ward as well, since it'll benefit from the extra SP. Using it whenever it comes off CD will provide some damage reduction AND extra spellpower quite often, since it'll be up for every trap. Try to keep up your AB stacks with PoM when you're moving to the trap, then blink-jump when it explodes to reduce your DPS downtime.

Lastly, if you blow your MI + AP + trinket at the beginning of the fight (immediately as the tank pulls), AP should wear off just as the first trap is launched, allowing you to run, PoM AB, hit the trap, blink down, and continue burning.

I disagree with this. If you're blinking as soon as the trap explodes, you should land with enough time to keep up your stacks.

EDIT: Oh, and if you mis-time your blink-jump and end up flying into the air, wait until the last moment to slowfall yourself. Ragnaros can still knock you back while you're in mid-air and being slowfalled at that time will end up with you flying into the lava.

This post should probably go under the UI section, but while on the subject of Alysrazr - anyone have tips/advice on how to best fly hitting rings, keep up dots, hit the correct instant proc's. I tend to have issues making the rings and keeping up the dps at the same time.

I Keyboard fly and use the 1-9 key's for casting. Pretty old school and inefficient so I'm looking for the best methods for maximizing dps on alysrazor.

Blame it on the years of playing arc...

Thanks in advance.

Try moving by holding down both mouse buttons and use the space bar to go vertically. Doing this will allow you to free up your left hand to hit 1-5(or whatever your binds are). Can a Mod please move this to the Mage Tips or Simple Q/A thread?

Keep in mind that with PoM it's possible to enter the transition phases with 4 stacks. Therefore I would only use it early in the fight and then save it.

Due to the latest hotfixes, this should no longer work.

For Heroic Baleroc: Iceblock will not remove the Tormented debuff and you'll still take damage from Crystals' Torment whilst in the Iceblock itself. Proper Shard Management is the only way to avoid dying to Crystal / Tormented related mechanics. Iceblock doesn't remove Countdown either.

On Heroic Majordomo: Iceblock will remove Searing Seeds and prevent you from taking damage, but everyone else around you will. Iceblock will prevent you from taking damage from Burning Orbs, but you'll still continue to accumulate stacks whilst in the Iceblock itself.

If you have the "Keep Your Concentration" job on Heroic Majordomo: You can easily go the entire fight without taking damage with good reflexes - just a touch of luck is needed. Using Iceblock on the First Searing Seeds / Second Scorpion Phase will ensure you keep Concentration there. Just make sure you IB away from the raid, and stand away enough such that other people running Seeds out won't damage you.

For subsequent Cat phases, a well-timed Blink will ensure you always retain Concentration if Fandral Leaping Flames' you. Easily doable if you ensure you're never mid-GCD as he reaches 100 energy. If you receive two Leaps in a Row, before Blink is back off cooldown, you'll likely lose Concentration unless you get a very fast Life Grip or use Rocket Boots.

Depending on your strat / raidcomp, chances are for the fourth Scorpion phase you're going to need+want to start soaking, even if you lose Concentration in the process. By this point the boss has 6 stacks of Fury, you may not have all raid cooldowns available to manage Scythe with only 9 soakers, and there's a good chance you're ahead of the Enrage timer anyway (if you've kept your Concentration for this long)

If Fandral is done in the aforementioned manner, and you have the Keep Concentration job, the only time Invocation (via Mage Ward) sees use is the Fourth Scorpion Phase, or if you're unlucky and get two Leaping Flames in a row earlier in the fight.

Be careful using the Human Racial, however. If you racial out of the Fiery Tornado (and your tank doesn't) - any living Spirits of the Flame will turn and attack you. (Probably killing you, let alone causing a loss of Concentration). Whether a Spirit is still living will vary based on Raid Comp, how far Fandral jumped for the last Leaping Flames, and how quickly you stacked up.

You are correct about using Iceblock before he stuns you as that's how I do it. I blink in when we have to stack and immediately Iceblock. As Tyrian mentions, if you cancel it too early you can take hits from the leftover cat, so you want to sit in your block until the stun ends and it can go back on the tank. Doing it this way saves you the time of needing to run out and block off your seed, giving you more time to cast with the 100% buff.

@ Ragnaros Normal ..some of these tips might work on Heroic as well

If you are set to trigger the Magma Traps I have some tips that I would like to share:

• Always blink immediately after triggering the trap. This will save you a lot of wasted time flying in the air.
• Buff yourself with Mage Ward before triggering traps.
• On the first trap, you are probably still in the burn phase of your rotation. If you wish to keep up your burn, simply use PoM and make sure to do the blink as stated above.

When Ragnaros uses Molten Seed in phase two, you can avoid taking damage from it, simply blink away when you see the first seed is flying in the air. Make sure that you blink to a spot where no one is standing, so you wont get hit by their seed.

I find Arcane Mage superior on nuking Sons of Flames (the Fire Elementals that spawn for the first time when Ragnaros is on 40%). What I do is make sure I keep up my Arcane Blast stacks on 4. Use PoM so you can instantly cast it on the first Son of Flame that spawns. Two Arcane Blasts should be enough to get a Son of Flame to 50% health where it will lose the Burning Speed buff*.

* For every 5% of their remaining health above 50%, Sons of Flame move 75% faster. When players reduce a Son of Flame to below 50% remaining health, the Son of Flame loses the Burning Speed effect.

If you are up on the web you can cheese Smoldering Devastation by popping invisibility right before the cast finishes. If you do it right you will take no damage and Beth won't do the aoe spit thing to the people below the web thus trivializing a main part of the encounter. Once Beth turns to attack you pop images or iceblock to stall until your tank comes back up. With 2 mages your raid should be able to negate this mechanic.