Mages versus the Boxer

[Sbrowne55]

Honestly, this class just single handed gives me the most trouble.

I have been seing alot of mages, running pve gear and really well played mages are excellerating with this strat, there dps is monstrous.

I have around 45% res , and I'm getting hit by arcane blasts for upwards of 30k. On average its around 18k
So what I'm thinking since QQ for a nerf never has ever worked from my point of view. I may roll some and really piss some players off.

Share some feedback no mages if you want, or let me know if it works out well boxing in PVP.

I was thinking trio mage, with 2 heals. I think 3 arcane blasts will global anyone. Since I'm getting two shotted.

[Kalyse]

Is Arcane really the best PVP spec for Mages>?

[heyaz]

Is Arcane really the best PVP spec for Mages>?

No, it's a gimmick one trick pony spec with almost no utility. You stand behind something and spam arcane blast for about 30 seconds then you are oom. The pvp spec is still frost.

[Boylston]

I have been seing alot of mages, running pve gear and really well played mages are excellerating with this strat, there dps is monstrous.


Congrats on inventing a new word!

I don't think arcane mages are a real issue, long-term. As heyaz said, it's a gimmick right now and will be less of one at L85.

[Sam DeathWalker]

Does anyone wonder why I just ditched 15 level 46 shaman accounts to make mages .....

And for boxers the pvp spec is fire. 40 yards baby, instant cast living bomb and scorch (well 1.5 second cast but WHILE MOVING and ZERO MANA).

[Ualaa]

I anticipate Frost Mages, as the deadliest thing for my Ferals.

I remember a solo Blood Elf Frost mage, in full Wrathful... outside of Stormwind.
He is pvp flagged, and going against two Ret pallies.
My druids are in a mix of iLV200-245 gear, plus questing pieces (average iLV of 199)... I attack the mage as I'm running past.
So we have two Rets (two players) and five Ferals (one player) vs a single mage.
Granted I didn't have macros beyond Mangle spam... but still...
The mage won.


We have a few tools as Ferals, against the mage:
- Stealth, should let us open with a good chance at killing him outright, via Ravage x5.
- Once combat starts, Feral Charge is the counter to Blink.
- We have +30% movement, and our attacks snare him to 50% movement.
- The mage can Iceblock, we can either stay close or try to restealth.

But almost every attack we land, applies a snare effect to us.
We can /cast !Cat Form, to remove the snare (or a frost nova), the mana cost is negligible but it is still a GCD.

In the Cataclysm era, we'll have a lot more survivability, via a larger health pool.
Boxers in general should be harder to kill, because of that.
But there's no guarantee, it won't be 5v5 at whatever node...




@Sam:
Well, if its 10 casts to kill something with one mage.
That is both 10 casts of time, and 10 casts of mana spent.

If you have 10 mages, it is one cast each.
And only a little mana to regen, across each mage who regens at the same time.

But that is true for any class with a resource system.

[Sbrowne55]

Congrats on inventing a new word!

ROFL it happens

What you guys aren't missing, is an arcane mage, coupled with healer, and you're screwed. Ya they go OOM fast, but it's pvp'n. Mana is nothing if you kill faster. After 4 stacks of arcane buff, its 10k-42k crits. Most avg 17k. So take that into account, how many arcane blasts can you use after 4 stacks toss a mana pot in there, and maybe get another.? then assume you 2 shot everything, its game over.

I'm dusting off an old account and moving over 3 mages, and running 2 druids or 2 priests or maybe 2 shammies just to own it up.

[blast3r]

A single geared well played mage = nightmare.

[Sbrowne55]

Mind my spelling. haha When I type in my blackberry the wall of text slowly slips off the screen and I usually leave the proof reading for work.

Sam are you simply running 5 x mages?

I really thought about having 3 mage, 2 shammys(heals) for the fears.

[Littleburst]

Mind my spelling. haha When I type in my blackberry the wall of text slowly slips off the screen and I usually leave the proof reading for work.

Sam are you simply running 5 x mages?

I really thought about having 3 mage, 2 shammys(heals) for the fears.

Mages are way to squishy to succesfully box in pvp imo. You can't tank with a mage, like you can with shaman.

Let me make a famous statement:

"Cata will fix it." I think it'll balance out somewhat. Also windshear on round robin > the long arcane blast cast.

[Alemi]

Does anyone wonder why I just ditched 15 level 46 shaman accounts to make mages .....

And for boxers the pvp spec is fire. 40 yards baby, instant cast living bomb and scorch (well 1.5 second cast but WHILE MOVING and ZERO MANA).

Insanity? 15 hunters hitting auto shot at 40 yards has the same effect, really.

[heyaz]

I'm playin ga mage solo in the expansion

I can't wait to completely shut down boxing teams... I figure if people who had never boxed were so effective, how much more so would I be, having been the boxer.

[Sam DeathWalker]

And auto shot is as good as 15 mages with mirror image how? (if nothing else I'll lag my oppent out lol).

Not to mention ring of frost might be the ultimate defensive spell.

Not to mention frost nova.

Not to mention spellsteal and polym .....



Tanking with a Shaman? Ummm ....


Ualaa is right though one of my greatest assets is the fact that mana is being regenerated at 36X or whatever and that by spreading the damage over X characters 1/X mana is only needed per character. Still in an open battle where there are multiple on multiple targets a no mana basically GCD spell is nice to have for sure.

[Littleburst]

Tanking with a Shaman? Ummm ....


Yes. If you do not kill a target it will attack you and thereby you are tanking that target. Which will happen a lot for most quad or quint boxers. A solo player mage kites, to avoid damage. Which is somewhat hard for a boxer.

Yes I know you're incredible with your army and infinite mirror image and whatnot. But as far as i know the topic is about 'normal' boxers.

[lightstriker]

A good kiter can be murder for melee teams. I've been take down faster by Ice than Fire when they get the jump on me.

[EaTCarbS]

Mages used to just irritate me... but never killed me. I always had problems with warriors and pallies.

[Kicksome]

The reason I quit playing 4x pallies and 1x DK was because 1 frost mage could lock me down and sometimes even kill my entire team. If nothing else grief the hell out of me.

With shamans, they aren't a problem. Just put pressure on the mages when they are easy to target, and watch out for their AOEs. Don't chase them down, focus on the easy targets to relive some pressure. Once they blow their ice block they are a lot less aggressive.

You have to put pressure on the mage though when you can, otherwise they can really go to town.

Seems like most mages are frost now, which is just a pain with all their frost novas.

[Kicksome]

Also, if mages give you problems, I suggest spending some time dueling mages 1v1. And watch other people duel them, you'll learn their tricks and how to counter them.

As a ele shaman with decent gear, you should be able to beat mages 1v1. It just takes well timed stone claws, wind shears and grounding totems, and knowing when to trinket.

e.g. put a grounding totem down right before you are about to heal yourself so you don't get counter spelled. Stone claw or trinket to avoid a deadly shatter combo etc...

[Sbrowne55]

I'm very experienced fighting mages, I played a solo rogue for quite some time and I sub spec purely for owning mages. Good times even when sub was brutal.

When I fight mages on my druids, I'm fighting his cooldowns, and that's what bothers me. My sub rogue just had more counters to his tools. Most classes have a cooldown, but mages have many more, and there all awesome in pvp
Another problem is I can normally drop a target fairly quickly, but with mana shield, and ice barrier, its harder downing a mage then it is a decked out wraftful prot pally. I land 3 ravages on a mage, and it brings him to 60% if im lucky. Most of my ravages are followed up with a shred and Ferocious bite, in 2 seconds I deal about 60k or more.

If I can't drop a frost mage, it's a monstrous kiting match, and I usually just let them go. and kill the easy targetrs. But arcane mages, I can't they 2 shot anything in my group when they've got 4 stacks up.

The mage class to box, I think with a healer lead would be fantastic combo in pvp.