General Mage Discussion and Information - Page 2

♦ Seonid · 12/10/08, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by ohnoes

Is there ever time you don't want to use living bomb in your rotation? ie. Icy Veins, Haste proc, and Hero

The final detonation of LB will consume a combustion charge which would be a bit of a waste, so that's the main time to skip or delay the LB cast.

Thegoodman · 12/10/08, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by ohnoes

Is there ever time you don't want to use living bomb in your rotation? ie. Icy Veins, Haste proc, and Hero

Just started playing my mage again and couldn't seem to find this one within the threads so I figure this is the best place to ask.

The only time you won't want to use Living Bomb is a situation where AoE is flat out not allowed. The only time I know of that you shouldn't be doing any AoE are on specific achievements that tell you not to kill any adds.

Loatheb - Spore Loser - Achievement - World of Warcraft

That comes to mind but I am not sure what other achievements have low HP adds that you cannot kill.

cylipsa · 12/10/08, 12:43 PM

Originally Posted by ohnoes

Is there ever time you don't want to use living bomb in your rotation? ie. Icy Veins, Haste proc, and Hero

Just started playing my mage again and couldn't seem to find this one within the threads so I figure this is the best place to ask.

During the Kel'Thuzad fight, if you are on banshee's, do not cast living bomb early, it will go off while the banshee's are still in the cubby and aggro others.

Cirxia · 12/10/08, 1:15 PM

Which Potion works out better [Potion of Speed] or [Potion of Wild Magic]?

Assuming you are using Wild Magic, during your Hero/IV phase of the fight?

ohnoes · 12/10/08, 5:22 PM

Originally Posted by cylipsa

During the Kel'Thuzad fight, if you are on banshee's, do not cast living bomb early, it will go off while the banshee's are still in the cubby and aggro others.

Yea I made that mistake once, good times. So even if you use Icy Veins+Hero+Haste pot, its still worth the global recasting Living Bomb correct?

Plankel · 12/10/08, 7:15 PM

Yes it is. Keep in mind that haste effects the global cooldown as well, so living bomb scales just as good with haste as any other spell (except you can only cast it once every 12 seconds ofcourse).

Crit is a different matter, since LB scales badly with that. Especially on Loatheb I am not sure if it is worth to keep LB up

havocc · 12/11/08, 8:45 AM

hi all love the forum

i have just hit lvl80 full arcane spec
my spell rotation is ab-arc barrage misile barrage when procc.
at this level what is the best dps specc and spell rotaion and what would be my stat priority?

i would appreciate any help you could give

thanks

Obfu · 12/11/08, 8:56 AM

10 man Faerlina is another situation where AOE can be bad. 2X LB, a DK and a tank with a damage shield, well we killed all the adds before we even realised what was happening

Maje · 12/11/08, 9:04 AM

Originally Posted by Obfu

10 man Faerlina is another situation where AOE can be bad. 2X LB, a DK and a tank with a damage shield, well we killed all the adds before we even realised what was happening

Somehow I doubt your living bombs killed adds that have 200k hp, even if you were 4 mages.

It would take 50 living bombs each criting for 4k explosion, or 4 very lucky mages and it would take them around 2 and a half minutes LBing the crap out of it.

Obfu · 12/11/08, 10:19 AM

It seems I should have been much more thorough explaining the details of my previous post.

For those whom are are unfamiliar with the 10 man Faerlina.
Briefly:
Those adds have 80K health.
They are typically tanked close to the boss since they are not MC'd, and casters are difficult to move at the proper time.

I mentioned DK but I failed to explain that they also use a powerful AOE (Death and Decay) as part of a typical DPS rotation.

The warrior ability Damage shield causes a small amount of DPS each time they block a melee attack

I thought 2XLB clearly implied 2 mages casting LB, but I suppose that I should have been more clear.

I'd guess it took about 50-60s to kill them all. A quite modest 1333 dps between the 4 people incidentally hitting them. With the exception of the DK, we were wearing >80% SWP gear, so I would be quite surprised if other better geared groups didn't have a similar experience.

Enthorn · 12/11/08, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by Cirxia

Which Potion works out better [Potion of Speed] or [Potion of Wild Magic]?

Potion of Speed is used in a Frostfire rotation. Runic Mana Potion is used in a Fireball rotation, unless you have ideal mana return (which is not always the case in 10-mans, which can also be said of Frostfire though).

Suffice to say, it's vastly better to use Runic Mana Potion than use Evocation and Potion of Speed. There's absolutely no reason to stop DPS at any time if it can be prevented.

Zynix · 12/12/08, 4:59 AM

1 - Generally I AOE when the tank is tanking around 3 mobs minimum, for example the waves in COT:Stratholm, if it's 2 mobs then I would DOT one and zerg the other.

2 - If the mobs are nearly dead, and it's not worth spamming another AOE, on a rare occassion, I would use CoC on the pack along with Dragon's Breath. With the talents to increase CoC crit, it makes it an ok move to use, but I am personally not a fan of it.

3 - I mainly use Mirror Image on boss fights for HC's, but during Naxx I would use it for some mob packs. I like to use AOE right at the start of a pack pull, if I pull I generally blame it on the tank, a pala tank is always nice for the pack pulls.

4 - Not experienced this yet.

5 - For the first 10 seconds of a boss fight, I make sure combustion is renewed before the pull. When the fight begins, 99% of the time my first 2 scorches proc Hot Streak and I pop my macro which includes Mirror Image, Trinket and Icy Veins, and then begin the zerg with a Frostfire Bolt, an instant Pyroblast before it fades, and then put on Living Bomb (I renew this everytime it is out).

Hoffski · 12/12/08, 9:09 AM

Originally Posted by Zynix

5 - For the first 10 seconds of a boss fight, I make sure combustion is renewed before the pull. When the fight begins, 99% of the time my first 2 scorches proc Hot Streak and I pop my macro which includes Mirror Image, Trinket and Icy Veins, and then begin the zerg with a Frostfire Bolt, an instant Pyroblast before it fades, and then put on Living Bomb (I renew this everytime it is out).

So you're wasting 2 of your combustion charges on scorches instead of FFBs?

Zynix · 12/12/08, 9:40 AM

Originally Posted by Hoffski

So you're wasting 2 of your combustion charges on scorches instead of FFBs?

If you think it's wasting combustion charges then so be it. But I prefer to stack scorch ASAP, and then use the proc of Hot Streak with a FFB and instant Pyroblast. I don't believe choosing to stack scorch first is wasting 2 combustion charges. I am using the scorches first not just to get the stack of 5 immediately, but also because I like to set off my Hot Streak ASAP rather than wait for it, and stack scorch later on in the fight.

Hoffski · 12/12/08, 9:48 AM

Originally Posted by Zynix

If you think it's wasting combustion charges then so be it. But I prefer to stack scorch ASAP, and then use the proc of Hot Streak with a FFB and instant Pyroblast. I don't believe choosing to stack scorch first is wasting 2 combustion charges. I am using the scorches first not just to get the stack of 5 immediately, but also because I like to set off my Hot Streak ASAP rather than wait for it, and stack scorch later on in the fight. Please explain how stacking scorch is wasting it.

Nothing is stopping you from stacking scorches first, but also nothing is forcing you to pop combustion before the fight even starts. If you wait 3 seconds to pop combustion so you can stack scorches first, then you'll get much more damage from 3 FFB crits than 2 scorch crits and 1 pyro/ffb crit. On boss fights I usually do the following:

1) Cast living bomb while tank aggros and I move into position.
2) Cast scorch twice.
3) Cast FFB until living bomb explodes. While casting, use mirror image.
4) After bomb explodes, pop icy veins and combustion.

This pretty much guarantees all 3 combustion charges will be used for FFBs and does a ton of damage in the first 20 seconds of the fight without pulling aggro.