Page 1 of 2
1
2
LastLast
  1. #1
    High Overlord
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Stjørdal, Norway
    Posts
    103

    How to play fire mage

    Hey, i recently lvled my mage alt up to 85 and just looking for some tips on how to play and stuff.
    I currently play as fire 3/35/3, and as for rotation im always keeping scorch debuff up, living bomb, hot streak when it procs and combustion when i have ignite up and all said dots to try maximising it's dmg, im sure there's something that can be done better so feel free to throw some hints in my direction, and it's just an alt i'll probably just do some hc's and at best a normal FL or something with it so im not looking to be worlds best mage nor am i going arcane.

    Also not sure about gemming and enchanting, some say gem crit some say int some say haste for more fireballs, im abit confused about that ;p

  2. #2
    General rotation:
    • Single target:
      Scorch for 5% crit debuff (or time a hard casted pyroblast so it hits the target as the tank pulls), living bomb, fireball spam. From here use your hot streak procs, refresh living bomb. If you get unlucky with procs, you may have to cast scorch to get refresh the buff. Try and get a good combustion, keeping in mind that you want a big fireball or even better pyro crit to give a big ignite. Ignite will contribute the most to your combustion.
    • Aoe (with a few adds):
      Ideal: Pyroblast on tank pull as mentioned above, blast wave, living bomb, impact to spread your dots. If pyro crits, use combustion after living bomb and THEN spread for some fantastic damage.

      If you had no time to set up a pyroblast and combustion is on CD then spread your living bomb and keep up your single target dps. Spread ignite if you can because it does hit hard.
    • AoE (clusterf*ck of adds):
      Blast wave and flamestrike spam will do a lot of damage. If you can set up a combustion spread do it, but the time taken to do that will probably do less damage and you might get unlucky. If they're going to stay alive long enough set up living bomb as the explosion will do a nice chunk of damage if there's a lot of them still alive.

    General gameplay tips:

    • Get an addon to track your dots, combustionhelper is pretty popular as it's specifically designed for the job.
    • On trash and bosses, spread your dots! Use blast wave and flamestrike to help give you the impact proc if it's being resistant. Sometimes it just won't proc though, and you're a bit screwed. One of the current annoyances of playing fire.
    • Combustion only has a 2 minute cooldown, so make liberal use of it. It's good for bosses, but it's even better for trash. Remember this: Living bomb has a 3 target limit, but none of your other dots have a limit, including combustion which is your best. In cases where there are a ton of adds (e.g. Jan'alai if he releases all his dragonhawks at once), spread combustion to all of those to save the day.
      Bear in mind though, it can be so devastatingly powerful that no tank in the world will outthreat you. Mirror images will counteract this, and if they're on CD prepare to ice block.
      Also, try to use your combustion during a timewarp/lust as the haste gives more combustion ticks.
    • Cauterize! Use it to troll boss mechanics, such as Mandokir's decapitate. He may do a few million damage to you, but you've just cauterized and used ice block to remove the debuff. As long as he doesn't jump you twice in a row you can have cauterize save your life, and if ice block is on CD the healer should easily catch you.
      Cauterize has saved my life hundreds of times, giving you 140% health every 3 minutes with ice block, or just allows you to ignore certain mechanics that are completely fatal to other classes and specs.
      Final cauterize tip, if ice block is on CD and healers have more important things to do than heal you then use mana shield and mage ward to mitigate a bit of the damage and keep yourself alive.
    • If you use your first gem at ~80% mana, and then again every time it comes off CD. That should allow you to keep going for a long time. If a fight is really dragging on (or you're spamming aoe) then you may have to evocate. I very rarely use evocate in combat though as it's usually unnecessary.
    • As with all dps, never stop casting. If you have to move, switch from fireballs to scorch but remember to keep throwing hot streaks and refreshing living bomb. Movement is really punishing to arcane dps, but doesn't affect fire very much at all.

    Gear:

    • General rule: Int>spell power>hit cap (1742 rating for raid bosses)>haste/crit>mastery

      For secondary stats, mastery has always been pretty weak for fire. But haste and crit are a bit trickier. Generally haste is the one to go for, though some people go for certain haste breakpoints and putting the rest into crit. The best thing to do is to run a RAWR sim of your character to find out what will give you the most damage. If you can't be arsed, then stack haste as it gives you more dot ticks at certain points, and flat out reduces cast times.

    • For gemming, same rules apply as they do for all caster dps. Go for nearly flatout 40 ints, only going for mixes when the socket bonus is +20/30 int. The secondary stats just aren't worth that much.

    • BoEs: if you've got the money, try and get a nice firelands weapon for the spellpower. A cheaper option is the 365 molten front caster dagger.
      Pick up a darkmoon card:Volcano too, it's an incredibly powerful trinket that doesn't cost all that much.


    Well....that was more than I intended to write. Let me know if anything I said was plain wrong, or you have any questions about my ramblings.

  3. #3
    High Overlord
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Stjørdal, Norway
    Posts
    103
    thanks for the tips im not planning to race for worlds first on my mage so this will probably be more than enough to get me trough it, just fun to try out a new class

  4. #4
    If you like you can link your armory and I can make some suggestions for upgrades/changes.

    All the mage specs are pretty easy to play, but they are fun, especially fire. It is quite flawed though, with a pretty brainless single target rotation with your dps being largely based on luck. The fire buffs in 4.3 will help make us more competitive with arcane on single target though.

    Fire also has a fantastic bug where impact will spread all your dots except living bomb which drives me mad.

  5. #5
    High Overlord
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Stjørdal, Norway
    Posts
    103
    just dinged so not much to see but here it is and dont mind the name, had a brainfart when i made the char xD
    http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...bigears/simple

  6. #6
    Ah freshly dinged, a lot of work to do then. I see what you mean about the name...
    • Enchants: Remember that mages get nothing from spirit, so change your bracer enchant to hit/haste or int. Don't put too much money into enchants until you get epics really as it's a bit of a waste. Also remember that there are cheaper alternatives.
    • Professions: Make full use of them! Max your tailoring and put the 580 int proc on your cloak instead of 50 int. And put the 40 int enchant on your rings when you get decent ones. And change your leg embroider to the int/stam one.
    • Talents: Maybe your armory isn't up to date, but you've got one unspent point still. Also, move your points from improved fire blast to cauterize. Fire blast is pretty weak, and if it crits the ignite could overwrite a much better ignite from a fireball/pyro (this is called ignite munching).
    • Glyphs:
      • Prime: Change living bomb to fireball
      • Major: Scrap frost nova, it's not bad for levelling but useless in groups. I would take evocation as a must (the heal can be very helpful), and polymorph. I use blast wave as my third but it's up to you.
      • Minor: Yours are fine, I like glyph of conjuring though.

    • Get yourself some BoE's if you have the cash, as I said try buying the darkmoon card. As you have tailoring, once you max it and get some dreamcloth you can craft yourself a belt, don't bother with the legs as the JP ones are better, and you can eventually replace with VP ones. You can also craft yourself some of the tailoring pvp starter gear to replace those greens and low level blues.
    • And finally, sort the rep enchants. You want hyjal for the head enchant and deepholm (earthern ring) for the shoulder one.

  7. #7
    Combustion helper

    seriously, it's a must have as a fire mage, it tracks all your dots as well as ignite damage, so it can give you a much better idea of when to pop combustion on a target.

    fire's getting buffs in 4.3, but i honestly dont know whether it'll be best dps spec (in best dps gear - if you dont have BiS gear, play however the hell you like) but be warned, currently RNG can cause massive swings in dps, with differences in the range of 5k to 7k overall dps loss through shitty RNG

    as for haste Vs crit, it comes down to haste plateaus. i generally tend to aim for 12.5% haste, which i believe is an extra tick on living bomb, then i go full crit (after hit cap ofc). the next haste plateau is miles off, it's like 24% or something and only with bloodlust/heroism and full raid buffs is it reachable or anything to worry about. so yea, as an alt, not going full hardcore min max, aim for about 12.5% haste and then reforge/gem to crit after the hit cap. or at least, thats how i do it.
    Last edited by smokii; 2011-10-25 at 10:01 AM.
    <insert witty signature here>

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by smokii View Post
    Combustion helper

    seriously, it's a must have as a fire mage, it tracks all your dots as well as ignite damage, so it can give you a much better idea of when to pop combustion on a target.

    fire's getting buffs in 4.3, but i honestly dont know whether it'll be best dps spec (in best dps gear - if you dont have BiS gear, play however the hell you like) but be warned, currently RNG can cause massive swings in dps, with differences in the range of 5k to 7k overall dps loss through shitty RNG

    as for haste Vs crit, it comes down to haste plateaus. i generally tend to aim for 12.5% haste, which i believe is an extra tick on living bomb, then i go full crit (after hit cap ofc). the next haste plateau is miles off, it's like 24% or something and only with bloodlust/heroism and full raid buffs is it reachable or anything to worry about. so yea, as an alt, not going full hardcore min max, aim for about 12.5% haste and then reforge/gem to crit after the hit cap. or at least, thats how i do it.

    Meh, I wouldn't use the word MUST but it does give tons of insight with the main problem wrong with fire. I love seeing 280k+ ignite on Alysrazor, only to hit combustion and it suddenly shows 50k. ;_;

  9. #9
    I mostly use combustionhelper for the debuff timers. I've modified the default setup to make it auto-hide out of combat and put the timer bars in. I just judge ignite based on how big of a crit fireball/pyro just gave.

    And about haste, all of the times I've simmed it in rawr it's always suggested that I stack more haste. Granted I don't really know my way around it, but my friend who's far more into it than I am gears that same way and we do pretty good dps.
    I was going to link my armory but I don't have enough posts yet. But i'm currently on 17.52% haste and 18.16% crit.
    (phallanges on scarshield-legion EU in case you're interested)

    edit: just saw your armory eec003, damn son.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by smokii View Post
    Combustion helper

    seriously, it's a must have as a fire mage
    No, it isn't. Good combustion = LB up + pyroblast crit. As simple as that.
    That addon is all-in-one wonder for rookies, who don't understand the basics of Fire.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Rzzzor View Post
    No, it isn't. Good combustion = LB up + pyroblast crit. As simple as that.
    That addon is all-in-one wonder for rookies, who don't understand the basics of Fire.
    True. I do use -an- AddOn to track my debuffs, but not CombustionHelper.
    I don't need it, it just helps. =)
    Last edited by Sluimerstand; 2011-10-25 at 05:47 PM.

  12. #12
    Fluffy Kitten Wilderness's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Maryland
    Posts
    6,799
    Quote Originally Posted by Rzzzor View Post
    No, it isn't. Good combustion = LB up + pyroblast crit. As simple as that.
    That addon is all-in-one wonder for rookies, who don't understand the basics of Fire.
    Having an idea of what your ignite is ticking for is useful information for any mage, rookie or not.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Wilderness81 View Post
    Having an idea of what your ignite is ticking for is useful information for any mage, rookie or not.
    That's pretty obvious that Ignite from 60K Pb crit is larger than one from 15K Scorch. I don't see why would a precise number of Ignite damage concern anyone in combat.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Rzzzor View Post
    That's pretty obvious that Ignite from 60K Pb crit is larger than one from 15K Scorch. I don't see why would a precise number of Ignite damage concern anyone in combat.
    Since ignite makes up the vast majority of your combustion damage? Being able to determine what it's at or identify an upward trend would be better than blindly throwing up combustion with just LB/pyro DoT and a small ignite stack. Significant difference on Alys between having a 50k/tick ignite and popping combustion or waiting until you're at 300k+...having CH would help to know the ideal time to Comb.

    Not sure why scorch is even part of that example...
    "You six-piece Chicken McNobody."
    Quote Originally Posted by RICH816 View Post
    You are a legend thats why.

  15. #15
    That's the most helpful/relevant second post I've ever seen on MMO-Champ.

  16. #16
    Fluffy Kitten Wilderness's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Maryland
    Posts
    6,799
    Quote Originally Posted by Rzzzor View Post
    That's pretty obvious that Ignite from 60K Pb crit is larger than one from 15K Scorch. I don't see why would a precise number of Ignite damage concern anyone in combat.
    Since you can build your ignite up, and ignite is by far the biggest contributor to Combustion dps, exactly what ignite is ticking for should be the primary concern for anyone before they pop Combustion.

  17. #17
    How to play fire mage....
    hmmm....

    Have you ever played Three Card Poker?

  18. #18
    Deleted
    With regards to your point putting the points from improved fire blast into cauterize... wouldn't it make sense to put it into arcance concentration for the freecast? while not having mage armor I guess fire mages could get into some mana problems. What do you think?

  19. #19
    You could go for that, although you should have very few mana problems. Unless your spamming aoe, your mana gems should keep you going. In a raid situation I've very rarely had a fight last long enough for me to even evocate. I have however had cauterize save my life more times than I can count. It does seem more like a pvp talent, but after having it I couldn't imagine playing fire without it now.

  20. #20
    @namtlade That is the most concise, yet detailed Fire mage guide I've ever seen. Very pro; well done.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rzzzor View Post
    No, it isn't. Good combustion = LB up + pyroblast crit. As simple as that.
    That addon is all-in-one wonder for rookies, who don't understand the basics of Fire.
    This is not true at all. ALL FIRE MAGES SHOULD PICK UP COMBUSTIONHELPER. It is TOO GOOD not to use. Knowing the actual value of your dot ticks is essential information for knowing when to combust the target...and it also is great for tracking how many targets have living bomb up, and how long your debuffs have until they expire. It simply is a MUST, for rookies and pros alike. Get it.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •