Priest + 4 mages, questing

So far it's been a mixed bag, but with a lot more good than bad. The group is level 31, almost 32. I plan to level them to 80 via outdoor quests, and then... I don't know. I do plan to level their alchemy and jewelcrafting to max at some point as well.

The good
It's an AoE fest with this group- I can use Flamestrike and Blizzard if I want, but mostly I just use Arcane Explosion, and occasionally Blast Wave for kicks. The priest has Holy Nova and Power Word: Shield, which means that I can round up a few mobs without worrying about her health (or that of the mages, after the first AE).

Also, single-target DPS is very high. Four Fireballs will typically obliterate anything of even levels. Anything that survives can be wanded down, assuming that the fire DoTs don't finish it first. For elites, there is Pyroblast, which takes a while to cast but is a great opener against high-HP targets.

And of course, free food, free drink, and eventually free ports.

The bad
So far, dealing with mobs that are 4+ levels above them is a royal pain in the ass. This is decidedly different from the group of hunters that I had leveled up some time back. I think their record was 10 or 11 levels (I recall that they easily killed a level 25 named storm lizard in the Barrens at level 15). Every now and then I am in an area killing mobs that are +2 or +3 levels, and suddenly I get one that takes very little damage and it turns out to be a +5 or +6 and I have to run or die.

Other than that, it's pretty much a cakewalk, and I am even enjoying collection quests in areas where I can gather 3-6 mobs or more. I guess at some point the novelty may wear off, but only if I don't find enough good AE spots as I level.

I'm spec'ing them fire at the moment, since it provides good range and good single-target DPS. Blast Wave is nice, but so far is really just a gimmick. I'm wondering if I might be better off spec'ing them as frost. Frostbolt doesn't do as much damage as Fireball, but it seems to use much less mana. Not that mana is much of an issue with this group...

I've got a Priest + 4x Warlocks.

I'd imagine they'll be similar in a lot of ways.
This particular team is for random battlegrounds, just for fun and as a change of pace.

I've had fun with them, the little that I've played them.
Kind of decided on Druids and Warlock/Priest at the same time.
And then sidelined both teams for 34 alchemists.

Man if you threw a tank in place of one of your mages you'd have a very solid group that could deal with anything thrown its way. That is for PVE with PVP you should have a blast.

Like with your hunters you had tanks in your pets- poor clothies just can't take a beating at all unless you're stacking stamina, lol. Maybe after you get water elementals and more advanced spells things will work out differently.

You might go something else untill you hit 60 and get living bomb, the ultimate pvp spell.

I really think this combo should outdo 4 shaman and a priest. I mean if the shaman never heal but only dps then why not use mages?

In my experience with mages, have at least 1 spec to frost, the slowdown/freeze from that first frostbolt can give you 2 or 3 more casts before getting stomped at by tougher mobs.

if you are frost you should 1 shot mobs...

I've been wondering about that, about different talent specs for the mages. I may try that at some point, for now fire spec is the lazy way out and it lets me more than double their crit rate on fire spells (to a whopping 10.32%, heh). I figure that at level 60, when I've got 51 points to play with and a few Outland starter upgrades, I can try out a few different talent builds and see what works. Both Arcane and Frost have lots of goodies for the group. I will probably try Arcane first, since it buffs both Arcane Explosion and Arcane Missiles (4x Arcane Missiles is just SAVAGE).

For leveling, fire is just easy and does nice damage. Four fireballs still one shot almost anything that isn't more than two levels above the group, and anything that survives that either dies from the DoTs, Ignite, or wands. I just wish there were more concentrations of mobs, because AEing never gets old. :P My record is something like 9 or 10 (some trolls near Nesingwary's Camp in Stranglethorn, in a small ruined building) but usually it's only 3-5 mobs because that's all I can round up due to tethering.

+5 mobs are still a pain, but +4 are becoming more manageable, in part because the priest's healing has improved with levels and talent points. They are level 35. At 36 they get another round of useful upgrades (new Blast Wave, new Fireball, new Pyroblast!) so they should waltz right through the next few levels. There should also be a ton more quests that will be yellow/orange in various zones. I'm being slowed down more by a lack of time than anything else.

I'm normally not a PVPer, but I did start PVPing with my hunter and have been having a blast. It's a ways off, but I'm wondering how I'd do in Wintergrasp with this group...

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Originally Posted by Tonuss

I've been wondering about that, about different talent specs for the mages. I may try that at some point, for now fire spec is the lazy way out and it lets me more than double their crit rate on fire spells (to a whopping 10.32%, heh). I figure that at level 60, when I've got 51 points to play with and a few Outland starter upgrades, I can try out a few different talent builds and see what works. Both Arcane and Frost have lots of goodies for the group. I will probably try Arcane first, since it buffs both Arcane Explosion and Arcane Missiles (4x Arcane Missiles is just SAVAGE).

For leveling, fire is just easy and does nice damage. Four fireballs still one shot almost anything that isn't more than two levels above the group, and anything that survives that either dies from the DoTs, Ignite, or wands. I just wish there were more concentrations of mobs, because AEing never gets old. :P My record is something like 9 or 10 (some trolls near Nesingwary's Camp in Stranglethorn, in a small ruined building) but usually it's only 3-5 mobs because that's all I can round up due to tethering.

+5 mobs are still a pain, but +4 are becoming more manageable, in part because the priest's healing has improved with levels and talent points. They are level 35. At 36 they get another round of useful upgrades (new Blast Wave, new Fireball, new Pyroblast!) so they should waltz right through the next few levels. There should also be a ton more quests that will be yellow/orange in various zones. I'm being slowed down more by a lack of time than anything else.

I'm normally not a PVPer, but I did start PVPing with my hunter and have been having a blast. It's a ways off, but I'm wondering how I'd do in Wintergrasp with this group...

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The range on Fire spells can be really really nice, stand on a wall or so and hit stuff which can't hit you :D

It could be a lot of fun. Allthough i hope you'll survive a bit vs melee in pvp. Since that's the mage's real problem. If a solo mage can't kite a melee, he's dead. You don't even try to kite people as boxer. So i hope that's managable.

I just started a 4-box team of 1 priest, 3 mages. I'm certain that I'll actually like this team. I've gotten bored of all my other teams except the mage team which I've temporarily retired. Hopefully healing and DPSing will give me a nice challenge.

Does anyone have any experience with a similar set-up in PvP? I know Xzin was rocking the 1 holy priest 4 fire mages thing a long, long time ago. Is it still workable?

I made a slight change to this group. At level 60 I PL'ed the mages to 63, then leveled a shaman to 63 to join them. The group is level 71 now, and about halfway to 72. The shaman is resto now. I had her spec elemental for a short time, but it's pretty useless with four mages and having an insta-cast HoT and Earth Shield is more useful.

They are spec'ed Arcane now, and it's become more easy-mode than Fire spec was before Cata. Focus Magic adds 3% crit to each of them (gets them to about 17% now) and whenever they crit, the mage that provided the FM buff gets an additional 3% crit for 10 seconds... and if she crits, then the other mage... you get the picture.

But for outdoors questing it's mostly moot. 4x Arcane Blast will take down anything within three levels. 4x Arcane Barrage will take down 90% of anything within two levels, and it's an insta-cast spell. Anything that survives that initial strike gets a helping of Arcane Missiles. In the rare chance that one of the four mages didn't proc AM, an Arcane Explosion does the trick. For elites, it is Frostfire Bolt, Arcane Blast x2 or x3, then Arcane Barrage and then loot the corpse. On the rare occasion that I remember to use it, 4x Mirror Image is a hoot. I haven't done much AOE'ing, though 4x Arcane Explosion is still a formidable tool. Part of the reason is that mobs die so fast now, and they also respawn quickly. I don't bother wasting time rounding up mobs; I just kill them one right after another non-stop, and since I kill so fast they respawn fast enough that there is almost never a time when I have to stop and wait. It has made even some collection quests tolerable.

I have limited time to play now, but they're leveling at a decent rate. I'm curious as to how things will go when they ding 80 and hit Hyjal. I do not plan to bother with gearing them up aside from quest drops-- once they ding 80 it's on to Cata zones in whatever they're wearing.

Deep in the arcane talent tree you can specc into having Arcane Blast slow your target + Arcane mages do more dmg! I use a simple dps macro like this:

/#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=combat/target Arcane Blast, Arcane Blast, Arcane Blast, Arcane Blast
/cast Arcane Missiles, Arcane Blast
/use 13
/use 14

And @ lvl 63 Im doing 1,1 k dps++ on boss fights. Something to think about :)

Edit: Didnt see that last post about you respeccing to Arcane. Keep us posted thou!

Will a group of 4 mages + healer be able to do dungeons as well?

If I'm correct I've seen someone doing even heroics with 5 mages? If so, does it mean it's doable or is that person extremely skilled and it's actually very very difficult?

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Originally Posted by valle2000

Will a group of 4 mages + healer be able to do dungeons as well?

If I'm correct I've seen someone doing even heroics with 5 mages? If so, does it mean it's doable or is that person extremely skilled and it's actually very very difficult?

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The 5x mage thing works because you are able to burn most bosses down very fast. Some even before they use their abilities. Going 4x mage + priest will reduce your dps by like 20% and thus make that strategy somewhat harder. I did blackrock caverns in a 5 mage team several times to farm faction and that is somewhat easy but I still think runtu (the guy doing the videos) is really skilled.

I played a team of 4 warlocks + priest to 81 and successfully did almost all pre-cata instances with that team. Had to return 1-2 levels later to complete one or two because some bosses are very hard for a 5x caster team. Having 4x soulstone available really helped with not running back in case the healer died.

Okay, thanks.

Does mage have any kind of self heal?
Or is healing completely out of the question if using 5 mages?

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Originally Posted by valle2000

Okay, thanks.

Does mage have any kind of self heal?
Or is healing completely out of the question if using 5 mages?

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You can glyph for some healing.

http://www.wowhead.com/item=42738/glyph-of-evocation

And there are always bandages
http://www.wowhead.com/skill=129

Additionally, 4 x frosties would give you elementals... The elementals could pull and then wait 3-10 seconds and open up with some frost bolts and later some frostfire. The ice barrier + other mage shields + mirror images + blink + invisibility can give some great aggro mechanics... and icy veins helps as well for the haste

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RSM72

The 5x mage thing works because you are able to burn most bosses down very fast. Some even before they use their abilities. Going 4x mage + priest will reduce your dps by like 20% and thus make that strategy somewhat harder. I did blackrock caverns in a 5 mage team several times to farm faction and that is somewhat easy but I still think runtu (the guy doing the videos) is really skilled.

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How well does a shadow priest perform compared to a mage? What really annoys me now when trying out 5 mages in dungeons is that everytime one of them dies I must release and run all the way from graveyard. So my thought is if I can put a shadow priest in one slot just to get resurrection ability (not use for any holy healing at all).