Mage help

[suicidesspyder]

Ok im trying out mage specs as well as others on the ptr. My question is whats the best spec and spell rotation for a mage im in arcane but can only hit 2200 dps which i know seems wicked low as a lvl 80. Even lower due to the fact ptr gives u BIS gear.

[Ualaa]

The PvE rotation for Arcane is... Arcane Blast x4, Arcane Missiles x1.
Frost is Frost Bolt spam (with Water Elemental at every opportunity).
Not sure on the Fire Rotation, but fire needs to track procs for max dps.

[Niley]

specs here:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Stormreaver&n=Thix

rotations - i have no clue, i have lvl 80 mage but i only use her for free water and ports.

[Ualaa]

For a lot of classes/spec's, you can visit www.maxdps.com

At the top right you can enter your realm and toon name.
And it will armory you for your stats.
Either that or manually enter them in, although there are a lot of them.

Even if you have it retrieve everything for you, configure which buffs you will have.
In a boxed group, pick the buffs your group gives.
In a raid, pick the buffs the raid provides.
By default it won't have the correct buff types like Earth & Moon or whatever, not just MotW etc.

Then it will calculate which spells to do, in what order and how many times, based on how much damage they do with everything taken into consideration for your toon.
Their rotation is a suggestion, but its a place to start when building your own rotations.

[jimbobobb]

For arcane, the best rotation is simply arcane blast until you run out of mana. If you're at around 20k mana, this should be enough for any normal fight, and for heroic bosses, should also be plenty as long as you actually use your gems/evocation. If you're raiding (where mana becomes a concern), go ahead and do as above and figure out an actual rotation, but otherwise just cast arcane blast - it's the best dps you can do.

[OogaJiggaWooga]

For arcane, the best rotation is simply arcane blast until you run out of mana. If you're at around 20k mana, this should be enough for any normal fight, and for heroic bosses, should also be plenty as long as you actually use your gems/evocation. If you're raiding (where mana becomes a concern), go ahead and do as above and figure out an actual rotation, but otherwise just cast arcane blast - it's the best dps you can do.

This, but you will be drinking every other pull and coming close to oom early in even heroic boss fights unless your group is sufficiently high dps so as to trivialise the content.

[daviddoran]

I have a big macro that pops as many CDs as possible, so i use Icy Veins, (arcane spec, with the leftover points in frost) arcane power, presence of mind, trinkets, etc. I also pop mirror image right at the start of the fight (for aggro help) and i use gems every cooldown. My mage is one of my worst geared toons, but does some of the highest dps.

[MageMe]

The PvE rotation for Arcane is... Arcane Blast x4, Arcane Missiles x1.
Frost is Frost Bolt spam (with Water Elemental at every opportunity).


This is correct but with arcane you want to use Arcane Barrage (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=44781)if you have to move otherwise leave it be, BUT if you can time it right ( on your 4th missile) you can get the bonus crit with both Missiles and Barrage as long as the 5th Missile lands at the same time as Abarr. Using straight arcane blast rotation without using missiles after the 3rd-4th blast cast is proven to be a dps/damg loss

go here for some numbers to support this..

http://elitistjerks.com/f75/t42876-arcane_thread/
(http://elitistjerks.com/f75/t42876-arcane_thread/)

[olipcs]

Using straight arcane blast rotation without using missiles after the 3rd-4th blast cast is proven to be a dps/damg loss

Could you be so kind and maybe put me to the direct post, where they verify this? (The Thread is more than 125 pages long...)
- I'm asking, because it is a little bit contrary to my experiences.
On heroic trash, I use the 4xAB+AM-Macro for my mage (which puts him at about 3k-dps), and for bosses I know I can down very soon, I sometimes switch that to a straight ABlast-spam, which runs my mage OOM very quickly, but increases his dps to about 5k-dps, for the 30-50 seconds I need to down the boss...

This could be compromiesed by the fact, that for bosses I also hit the big 'boom' button, which activates 'Mirror Image' also, but this shouldn't be that much of an dps-increase...

..of course for longer (raid) fights, I see that point that an straight AB-Spam could be less DPS than an 4xAB+AM, but only because you need to use evocation, managems, potions and so on...

[MageMe]

Could you be so kind and maybe put me to the direct post, where they verify this? (The Thread is more than 125 pages long...)
- I'm asking, because it is a little bit contrary to my experiences.
On heroic trash, I use the 4xAB+AM-Macro for my mage (which puts him at about 3k-dps), and for bosses I know I can down very soon, I sometimes switch that to a straight ABlast-spam, which runs my mage OOM very quickly, but increases his dps to about 5k-dps, for the 30-50 seconds I need to down the boss...

This could be compromised by the fact, that for bosses I also hit the big 'boom' button, which activates 'Mirror Image' also, but this shouldn't be that much of an dps-increase...

..of course for longer (raid) fights, I see that point that an straight AB-Spam could be less DPS than an 4xAB+AM, but only because you need to use evocation, managems, potions and so on...

On the very 1st page, they discuss the numbers, granted a 100% AB rotation could be a higher dps bracket, but the oom issue far outweighs the dps loss while evoking or suddenly realizing you just used your last gem and have to make a new set of 3 or used your only mana pot for that fight.

In the rotations section, no where does it state that using a straight AB rotation is best or even recommended. Of course rotation is what works best for you for each situation. :) I myself use a AB rotation at times when i know the fights will be less time consuming.

[heffner]

Ripped from here: http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t40824-mage_pve_dps_wotlk/

Frostfire and Fireball Spell Choice and Rotation

Effective Spell Arsenal

Frostfire Bolt or Fireball, Scorch, Living Bomb, Pyroblast and Fire Blast. Fireball or Frostfire Bolt are your primary nukes, depending on spec. Scorch is critical for applying the fire vulnerability debuff, but much lower dps than fireball or frostfire bolt. Fire Blast is an inefficient use of mana, but is an instant attack, giving it special use at certain times and while moving. Living Bomb is a powerful dot that should be re-applied after every time it explodes, and should additionally be kept up on all mobs that need to be killed. Pyroblast is for use on Hot Streak procs only.

[/URL]Casting Method

Basic casting method is to maintain the Scorch debuff if needed, react to all Hot Streak procs and reapply Living Bomb after each time it explodes. Do not ever overwrite Living Bomb as this is a major loss of damage due to its backloaded explosion.

It can be a good idea to get a DoT timer to track Living Bomb and a mod that will alert you to Hot Streak procs. Missing either one of these opportunities is a significant loss in dps.

In general, timers should be popped immediately as long as agro isn't a concern, and used again immediately whenever the cooldown is up. The effect of stacking timers with mismatched cooldowns is negligible, however stacking a significant number of powerful timers can have a great effect, and be worth saving your cooldown. Bloodlust/Heroism should be saved for the end of the fight so that it can stack against Molten Fury. It's advantageous to save other timers such as Combustion, trinkets and Icy Veins to stack against this powerful combo, but don't save them for so long that you miss an entire cooldown cycle. When in doubt, burn everything immediately.

Frostfire build is not much different from Fireball build other than using Frostfire Bolt in place of Fireball.

(http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t40824-mage_pve_dps_wotlk/#top)Frost Spell Choice and Rotation

Effective Spell Arsenal

Frostbolt, Fire Blast, Ice Lance, Fireball, Frostfire Bolt. Frostbolt is the primary nuke, providing the best dps all around. Fire Blast is a mana inefficient nuke, but is useful as an instant attack. Ice Lance is useless damage against anything that's not frozen, but will refresh the winter's chill debuff if it hits.

[URL="http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t40824-mage_pve_dps_wotlk/#top"]Casting Method

Frostbolt. Know it, love it. Cast fire blast during movement, but otherwise frostbolt constantly for best dps. Frostbolt will apply the winter's chill stack on its own, and maintain it, but keeping it up for an entire fight can be difficult due to its 15 second duration. An ice lance hit will immediately refresh the stack, and can be useful while moving or otherwise unable to deliver a full frostbolt. Do not use ice lance to put up the initial stack of winter's chill, the massive difference in damage makes it unwise to ever use ice lance when a frostbolt could be used in its place.

It can be a good idea to get a mod that will alert you to Brain Freeze procs. It is always a good idea to use your free Fireball.

Fingers of Frost is still being studied, however there is currently a small timing oddity that allows you to get 3 spells from the 2 charge buff. Using a frostbolt->ice lance combo for the second charge will cause both spells to gain the frozen status from the buff. This is a very, very slight dps increase. If your latency does not allow you to reliably use the combo, don't even try.

Timing the water elemental is crucial to maintaining good dps. As frost, the water elemental should account for upwards of 10-15% of your overall damage, possibly more. However, the water elemental has extremely low health. If possible, time water elemental summons to maximize the chance that it will stay alive for its full duration. Remember that water elemental bolts benefit from winter's chill, so it's a good idea to wait until winter's chill is applied before the first summon. Stacking timers against the water elemental is overall not important, with the major exception of bloodlust. Summon a water elemental right before Bloodlust is activated, it will not get the effect unless the pet is active while the spell is cast. Be sure to use cold snap to summon an extra water elemental at some point during the fight.

Arcane Spell Choice and Rotation

Effective Spell Arsenal

Arcane Missiles, Arcane Blast, Arcane Barrage. Arcane Blast is the highest dps spell in the game when ramped fully, but has terrible mana efficiency. Conversely the first (and only the first) cast of Arcane Blast has the best mana efficiency of any spell. Each stack of the Arcane Blast debuff will greatly increase the damage of your next arcane spell as well. Arcane Missiles is a weak primary nuke with a high rate of fire, however due to its long channel time and incredibly high damage per cast it is extremely powerful when comboed with Arcane Blast correctly. Arcane Barrage is a high damage instant attack, but has a 3 second cooldown.

Casting Method

Arcane has a few viable cycles depending on the situation and available mana. The primary arcane rotation is [Arcane Blast]x4 [Arcane Missiles]. It is also possible to continue spamming Arcane Blast beyond the 4-stack until a Missile Barrage proc is ensured, increasing dps slightly, but this can be extremely hard on mana. The goal of Arcane damage rotations is to cast as may 4-stacked Missile Barrage'd Arcane Missiles as possible; when fully ramped during a Missile Barrage proc, Arcane Missiles can hit for over 16,000 dps. Being aware of your cycles can be extremely valuable for burst phases. It is more valuable to use a high mana rotation and Evocate than it is to use a mana efficient rotation, but only if dps continues for another two minutes after Evocate is used.

Arcane Barrage should be used for movement, and only when your Arcane Blast stack is at 1 or less, or about to drop. For short movement, it is more beneficial to save your Arcane Blast stack for a Missile Barrage than to reset it on an Arcane Barrage.

[jimbobobb]

Arcane Blast is the highest dps spell in the game when ramped fully

Tested a bit yesterday on heroic test dummy
Mage used:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Stormreaver&n=Haic

arcane blast only: 4-5k dps

Arcane blast X 4, missiles (using a click macro): 3-4k dps (if you get a few unlucky streaks where you don't proc and use missiles, it really destroys you btw, and as boxers we can't micro manage this) Also missiles breaks af, and causes your mage to turn

HOWEVER...
Arcane blast X 4 (more if don't proc) missiles (I micromanged it) was equal to about the same as blast only (usually 4-5k dps)

Also, pure arcane blast spam = about 100k to 150k damage before oom (no evoc or gems)

arcane blasts plus missiles = about 250k damage before oom (no evoc or gems)

My advice:

If you are playing a mage single and raiding, use blast and missiles - you have mana concerns and if micro managed it probably does the same dps as just blast, and lasts longer

If you are boxing, just cast arcane blast. You're probably not doing anything that will be a problem for mana (dailies, heroics, etc), and also missiles breaks af and your facing can get screwed up. Also it's not as if most mobs live past 4 or 5 arcane blast casts, and boxing you can't do things like make sure you don't waste a missiles cast (and a 4 stack of blast) on a mob that is at 1%, etc etc etc.

we're boxers - that doesn't mean we play 5 characters at 100% efficiency - it just won't happen. We play 5 characters at like 80% efficiency.