Cataclysm Arcane Mage Compendium - Page 11

lgelissen · 06/03/11, 9:22 AM

Just got 2 questions about Fire vs. Arcane.

1.) Did the 4.1 changes buff Arcane as hard, that you now easylie can play arcane even in fights like Atramedes or Magmaw on heroic? Or is it still better to just go fire at that raidtier to avoid loss of overalldmg?

2.) concerning the Cho'Gall heroic encounter: I, as a mage, were just recruited to be the victim of corruption on this boss. I shall stack up asap to 100 corruption and start spamming pyro because of the no-mana/no-casttime-buff at this point of corruption. I was wondering: I stay at 100% mana. Isn't arcane pretty good because of the full mastery-buff? Does anyone have infos on that? - Solved. You still need Mana.

Lgs · 06/03/11, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by lgelissen

1.) Did the 4.1 changes buff Arcane as hard, that you now easylie can play arcane even in fights like Atramedes or Magmaw on heroic? Or is it still better to just go fire at that raidtier to avoid loss of overalldmg?

Arcane currently scales with int at a rather high rate: 4.4/int instead of 2.85/int for fire. Assuming you will be getting upgrades and not staying in your current gear, this scaling should offset this smallish 4.2 nerf at high item levels, especially when compared to fire.

I have been finding that even on fights with high movement, there are still periods of time when unloading all cooldowns during a stationary timeframe will allow arc to out-dps fire. However, arcane still can't approach fire in AE.

For fight-by-fight rankings, look at State of DPS. That should give you an idea of the ideal spec for a fight, but keep in mind that there will be fluctuations based on your gear and playstyle. Also, Fire can allow for some outlying high-dps kills while arcane is more consistent. So the highest 200 fire meters might beat the 200 highest arc meters, even though arcane would average out to be better over the top 400 or so.

aztdaniel · 06/03/11, 1:17 PM

How is AoE best handled as an Arcane Mage? In Wrath I remember it involving Flamestrike and Blizzard, is this still the case?

Lurama · 06/03/11, 3:32 PM

Originally Posted by aztdaniel

How is AoE best handled as an Arcane Mage? In Wrath I remember it involving Flamestrike and Blizzard, is this still the case?

I've found it to be particularly effective to drop a flame strike and then just keep an ABx4 stack up and use Arcane Explosion. I can normally get 3-4 AE in before having to refresh the AB buff. If you cannot get in close enough or threat is an issue then yes, Flame Strike and blizzard.

Omnia · 06/03/11, 4:31 PM

Originally Posted by Lgs

However, arcane still can't approach fire in AE.

I think that's a slight misconception today. The buff to Arcane Explosion (4xAB, 4xAE, 1xAB, 4xAE, 1xAB, ...) makes it very viable aoe for Arcane. It won't beat a good Combustion off a debuffed Halfus onto whelps, but it's competitive.

World of Logs - Real Time Raid Analysis (H Halfus, whelps segment)

silentshift · 06/04/11, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by Omnia

I think that's a slight misconception today. The buff to Arcane Explosion (4xAB, 4xAE, 1xAB, 4xAE, 1xAB, ...) makes it very viable aoe for Arcane. It won't beat a good Combustion off a debuffed Halfus onto whelps, but it's competitive.

World of Logs - Real Time Raid Analysis (H Halfus, whelps segment)

I find from personal experience that if you are encountering any movement at all its usually safe to do 3x Arcane Explosion's then a blast to keep up the 4 stack of Arcane Blast. However if you at stand still if you have good ms and a decent amount of haste getting off 4x explosions is possible.

Also Regarding the Halfus Whelps watch what logs you look at because Halfus got a sizable change from when he was out with the damage he takes. If you are arcane on Halfus you are not usually the person assigned to the whelps so that may skew logs because of the lack of data. If you look at Maloriak i know personally Mages that aoe so that would be a decent comparison between the two specs.

Arcticghost · 06/04/11, 5:14 PM

In my personal expierence for Arcane aoe it's best to be arcane for something like green phase on maloriak, consistent damage every fight to adds and pretty easy to set up, fire is a bit harder to get a crit and an impact spread to adds before debuff wears off. And when it comes to fire dps compared to arcane its tough to compare since fire is so rng based and arcane isn't as much so its safe to assume that on any single target fight because you'll get some consistent numbers.

KroLeXz · 06/04/11, 9:19 PM

Originally Posted by Arcticghost

In my personal expierence for Arcane aoe it's best to be arcane for something like green phase on maloriak, consistent damage every fight to adds and pretty easy to set up, fire is a bit harder to get a crit and an impact spread to adds before debuff wears off. And when it comes to fire dps compared to arcane its tough to compare since fire is so rng based and arcane isn't as much so its safe to assume that on any single target fight because you'll get some consistent numbers.

Is it better to pop all cooldowns on a single target on Halfus for example or pop all cooldowns on aoeing on whelps?

Bondey · 06/05/11, 3:42 AM

I don't know about going arcane for halfus, i can see why on Maloriak seeing how there is only a small window to try and get your good combustion off but halfus you have ages.

Esarael · 06/05/11, 4:03 PM

I have searched this thread but haven't found it anywhere; has there been any discussion on whether or not or in which situation one should finish channeling Arcane Missiles (ie, not interrupting it after only, say, 3 missiles to begin another AB cast)? Has there been any discussion that relates the value of "/cast [nochanneling] Arcane Blast" with latency values?

I know there's such an interaction but I don't really know the adequate modeling behind that.

Arcosine · 06/05/11, 8:36 PM

Originally Posted by Bondey

I don't know about going arcane for halfus, i can see why on Maloriak seeing how there is only a small window to try and get your good combustion off but halfus you have ages.

In my personal experience Arcane offers more during Halfus than fire does. While fire pads the meters with combustion spreads during this encounter in the end it's all about how fast the drakes go down to assist your raid. Arcane offers more burst which is very important on H-Halfus during the first 30 seconds.

Also, on Maloriak I have a much harder time getting a good combustion off during green phase whereas Arcane's AE is static and you don't have to build up to it. Fire does seem much better during Black phase though just because you have time to ramp up a good combustion. In my experience thus far though, on almost every encounter Arcane is viable.

zimzamzoom · 06/07/11, 2:16 PM

With 4 set T12, would it make sense to use Arcane Power during conservation phase instead of the burn?

Edit: To reply to Bondey below, my understanding would be:

- ABSpam burn as usual at start, without AP
- Evo
- Hover as usual at ~95%, but with AP

Thereby (unproven) increasing dps in the conserve phase. This would also allow AP and Evo cd's to remain in sync.

Bondey · 06/07/11, 6:27 PM

Originally Posted by zimzamzoom

With 4 set T12, would it make sense to use Arcane Power during conservation phase instead of the burn?

Then there would be no "burn" phase.

Rahdik · 06/07/11, 6:54 PM

I never did fully understand the wording of [Darkmoon Card: Blue Dragon] but would it even work for Arcane let alone be beneficial to allow more AB spam?

WanderingMage20 · 06/09/11, 5:18 AM

The level 60 Trinkets don't work starting at level 80. That was a great trinket at 80 for resto druids until Blizz broke it.