How to Utilize SpellSteal Perfectly ?

[a C e]

Hello guys,

How can I utilize spellsteal in Arena, which buffs should I steal?
is there are list of stealable buffs ?

thanks for the help, please provide a lengthy explanation

[Conscripts]

Whenever something has a stealable buff under it. Spam Spellsteal.

[Tradu]

Spam spellsteal until it doesn't remove anything anymore.

[Deleted]

Personally I'd almost avoid using it altogether. The GCD and huge mana cost, plus its random nature means that
in the small number of situation where it is actually useful, it is only marginally so.

I would only recommend its usage if a) you can't burst an opponent down b) they have a number of buffs
up which are strong c) they do not have too many weak/useless buffs up c) you can escape behind a pillar
and evocate, which requires you to have more mobility than the classes you face.

[Kenbud]

Spam spellsteal until it doesn't remove anything anymore.

Whenever something has a stealable buff under it. Spam Spellsteal.

No. Just no.

Spellsteal is very situational as it has a huge mana cost like Adv said but its too powerful to no use. The main things that come to mind are:

Mage - Alter Time, Icy Veins, PoM and in 1v1s or 2v2s Ice Barrier
Druid - NS, Innervate and cleaning hots on a hard switch is very helpful. Bookies/Ferals just clean Rejuvs and CWs in 1v1s
Pally - Divine Favor
Priest - Fear Ward, GS and cleaning Renew, PoM and PW:S on switches is helpful. Also steal those in 1v1s against Shadow
Warlock - Twilight Ward in 1v1s
Shaman - NS and hots on switches, Stoneskin Bulwark in 1v1s

Might have missed a few but thats about it.

[Not Againnn]

make weak auras for important buffs then when they show, spam spellsteal. jacking their buffs keeps you alive and makes you do way more dps if u can take the right buffs. jacking ffb from a mage and il procs for a kill is always hilarious.

[ablib]

The addon Spellstealer is neat.

[Rucati]

Personally I'd almost avoid using it altogether. The GCD and huge mana cost, plus its random nature means that
in the small number of situation where it is actually useful, it is only marginally so.

Out of pure curiosity, why would you comment on something you know nothing about?

You should spam Spellsteal when the gates open until you're just about OOM. Spell Steal costs like 20% of your mana, sure, but none of your other spells cost any and it regens super fast. Plus you can always mana gem if you need it.

Spellsteal is an incredibly good spell in arenas, stealing HoTs to keep yourself alive while your healer is CC'd, stealing BoP, Alter Time, Icy Veins, etc are all crucial, but you can't do that if you haven't stripped the person of buffs previously. If you only use Spell Steal to try to get Alter Time off, good luck, because that Mage will have 5+ other buffs on top of it, but if you've been spell stealing from the beginning of the game you're far more likely to get it.

It also depends on the comp you're playing, if you're running Mage/Rogue/Druid you're the only offensive dispel, so you'll use spellsteal more than if you're running Mage/Spriest/RShaman, because that comp has other people that can remove buffs and keep them off just as well, so it'll be split between the team more.

But trying to say it's only marginally useful is incredibly ignorant. Yes, at 1600 MMR you don't need to use spellsteal, but at 1600 MMR you don't need to use half you skills.

[Not Againnn]

Out of pure curiosity, why would you comment on something you know nothing about?

You should spam Spellsteal when the gates open until you're just about OOM. Spell Steal costs like 20% of your mana, sure, but none of your other spells cost any and it regens super fast. Plus you can always mana gem if you need it.

Spellsteal is an incredibly good spell in arenas, stealing HoTs to keep yourself alive while your healer is CC'd, stealing BoP, Alter Time, Icy Veins, etc are all crucial, but you can't do that if you haven't stripped the person of buffs previously. If you only use Spell Steal to try to get Alter Time off, good luck, because that Mage will have 5+ other buffs on top of it, but if you've been spell stealing from the beginning of the game you're far more likely to get it.

It also depends on the comp you're playing, if you're running Mage/Rogue/Druid you're the only offensive dispel, so you'll use spellsteal more than if you're running Mage/Spriest/RShaman, because that comp has other people that can remove buffs and keep them off just as well, so it'll be split between the team more.

But trying to say it's only marginally useful is incredibly ignorant. Yes, at 1600 MMR you don't need to use spellsteal, but at 1600 MMR you don't need to use half you skills.

im not sure why people have the mentality of spellsteal = a way to get buffs.

its a fucking dispel on zero second cool down. run it like purge or like. dispel.

[Deleted]

But trying to say it's only marginally useful is incredibly ignorant.

Use simple mathematics. The value of spellsteal is the value of the buff for its subsequent duration + the disadvantage of the opponent not having the buff, subtracted by the cost of a global cooldown. This would be great if you could select the buff you want, but you can't, so the value of spellsteal is the average of all possible spellsteals-crap like slowfall cuts down the value.

The value of spellsteal is subsequently cut down further by the possibility of the stolen buff itself being dispelled.

The loss of a GCD isn't just whatever spell or fraction of a spell you could get off in that time, its procs and damage multipliers also.

Additionally, and this is important, there's a psychological effect-you let the pressure off your opponent momentarily, your not forcing
errors-no one is intimidated by spellsteal. A pyro in the face is intimidating. If you are spamming spellsteal out the gate you are surrendering the initiative to your opponents.

All this assumes you have no OOM issues at all.

Finally, because it can't be used predictably it has no on-demand utility. We know that burst damage is more useful than unfocused damage, this suffers from the same thing. The fact that this works better than expected some of the time does not compensate exactly for the time its useless and costs you a GCD.

However you try and spin this spellsteal is going to be marginally useful relative to doing almost anything else. No amount of personal
insults and anecdotal/empirical evidence is going to change that. To come up with a significant gain you'd have to come up with
infrequently occurring largely hypothetical scenario.

I haven't even got into the relative ease with which sophisticated players can counter spellsteal.

[Kenbud]

Use simple mathematics. The value of spellsteal is the value of the buff for its subsequent duration + the disadvantage of the opponent not having the buff, subtracted by the cost of a global cooldown. This would be great if you could select the buff you want, but you can't, so the value of spellsteal is the average of all possible spellsteals-crap like slowfall cuts down the value.

The value of spellsteal is subsequently cut down further by the possibility of the stolen buff itself being dispelled.

The loss of a GCD isn't just whatever spell or fraction of a spell you could get off in that time, its procs and damage multipliers also.

Additionally, and this is important, there's a psychological effect-you let the pressure off your opponent momentarily, your not forcing
errors-no one is intimidated by spellsteal. A pyro in the face is intimidating. If you are spamming spellsteal out the gate you are surrendering the initiative to your opponents.

All this assumes you have no OOM issues at all.

Finally, because it can't be used predictably it has no on-demand utility. We know that burst damage is more useful than unfocused damage, this suffers from the same thing. The fact that this works better than expected some of the time does not compensate exactly for the time its useless and costs you a GCD.

However you try and spin this spellsteal is going to be marginally useful relative to doing almost anything else. No amount of personal
insults and anecdotal/empirical evidence is going to change that. To come up with a significant gain you'd have to come up with
infrequently occurring largely hypothetical scenario.

I haven't even got into the relative ease with which sophisticated players can counter spellsteal.

That was a lot of non sense to say that the value of Spellsteal cant be quantified. If you want to not use SS please by all means but if you want to get up anywhere respectable in PvP it is a must to learn how to use effectively so don't go around giving bad advice to new Mages.

[Deleted]

That was a lot of non sense to say that the value of Spellsteal cant be quantified. If you want to not use SS please by all means but if you want to get up anywhere respectable in PvP it is a must to learn how to use effectively so don't go around giving bad advice to new Mages.

I think you mean "can" be qualified. You didn't manage to type two sentences without a major typo.
Things require proof. That's how you prove things work.

You obviously aren't intellectually capable of or are too lazy to respond to what I wrote substantively.

I'm not responding or reading further in this thread.


Infracted for flaming.

[mrgreenthump]

Can we please cool down a bit.

[Kenbud]

You didn't manage to type two sentences without a major typo.

qualified

You didn't make it one. Oh the irony.

Things require proof. That's how you prove things work.

You obviously aren't intellectually capable of or are too lazy to respond to what I wrote substantively.

I'm not responding or reading further in this thread.

I did not make a typo, i typed what i meant to because i am in fact correct. It is literally impossible to assign a numeric value to stealing things like Guardian Spirit and Alter time and because you are obviously such a smart guy im sure you will agree with me. If not please show me your maths. Also you have failed to provide an evidence what so ever, same as myself, only difference is i can show you countless videos of the best Mages in the game using Spellsteal on the reg. What do you have?

[matters]

No. Just no.

Spellsteal is very situational as it has a huge mana cost like Adv said but its too powerful to no use. The main things that come to mind are:

Mage - Alter Time, Icy Veins, PoM and in 1v1s or 2v2s Ice Barrier
Druid - NS, Innervate and cleaning hots on a hard switch is very helpful. Bookies/Ferals just clean Rejuvs and CWs in 1v1s
Pally - Divine Favor
Priest - Fear Ward, GS and cleaning Renew, PoM and PW:S on switches is helpful. Also steal those in 1v1s against Shadow
Warlock - Twilight Ward in 1v1s
Shaman - NS and hots on switches, Stoneskin Bulwark in 1v1s

Might have missed a few but thats about it.

Quoted Kenbud because he is 100% correct.

If you choose to ignore it due to its high mana cost then you have other problems other than figuring out what is worth spellstealing.
Kenbuds list is great, and knowing when to spam spellsteal on a target can help you score a kill (talking about removing shields, HoTs, and even offensive CDs).

Edit: Also worth mentioning, using spellsteal is something you hone over time as it is entirely dependent on your current situation. Two days ago in a 2s game my warrior was dead and so was their warrior (leaving me alone to fight a moonkin with far more health left than i had). My use of spellsteal allowed me to kill the moonkin simply because i had a stolen rejuv on me. I survived the match with less than 5k hp but the only reason the match was won was due to my spellsteals.