Some questions about Invocation

[Keyblader]

So I have been frost for quite sometime and have been enjoying it, mostly because I was having problems getting sparks down on elegon at my old item level. Though now I think I'm going to try fire again since my ilvl is higher, and we have cleared.

Most of the top parses on any fight with fire mages, I notice on their armory pages they are all using Invocation. I have been using incanter's ward, primarily because I can't really remember to evocate every 35 seconds. Also I somewhat assumed I'd lose a good chunk of dps if I had to stop and evo every so often. Especially if you need to evo, and in the middle something unexpected happens and it's a situation where you gotta dash and gtfo of dodge.

So is invocation really "that" good, I know it's almost a constant 25% increased spell power bonus if you can keep it up, but is that enough to make up for the portions where you actually have to cast it? What are you guys using to help you remember to use it? I don't currently use power auras but was thinking about it if that would help remember to cast it.

[Flogre]

So I have been frost for quite sometime and have been enjoying it, mostly because I was having problems getting sparks down on elegon at my old item level. Though now I think I'm going to try fire again since my ilvl is higher, and we have cleared.

Most of the top parses on any fight with fire mages, I notice on their armory pages they are all using Invocation. I have been using incanter's ward, primarily because I can't really remember to evocate every 35 seconds. Also I somewhat assumed I'd lose a good chunk of dps if I had to stop and evo every so often. Especially if you need to evo, and in the middle something unexpected happens and it's a situation where you gotta dash and gtfo of dodge.

So is invocation really "that" good, I know it's almost a constant 25% increased spell power bonus if you can keep it up, but is that enough to make up for the portions where you actually have to cast it? What are you guys using to help you remember to use it? I don't currently use power auras but was thinking about it if that would help remember to cast it.

I would really encourage you to think for yourself in this case. Each talent has its own drawbacks. The cast time is obviously an issue for invocation, but the benefit is you can get 100% up time. Rune of power doesn't eat up as much cast time, but lots of movement will more severely punish those using rune of power. Incanter's ward has no cast time, but its dependent on how much damage you take (other than the passive portion). Think about the encounters, and swap our the talents accordingly.

And yes, add-ons are very helpful in maintaining buffs/debuffs. I'd recommend needtoknow or weakauras.

[Zavri]

Once you know the fight mechanics invocation is simply the best choice out of all 3 for most cases.

[Tickspoon]

Unless you can use the active effect of IW fairly regularly, Invocation is the best option IMO.

With perfect uptime, it is technically a smaller boost than RoP (11% vs 12% DPS increase). The advantage of Invocation though - aside from mobility which is huge - is that you use it in lower DPS parts of the fight.

Epicenter is an obvious example. But more generally you use it when cooldowns & procs are down and your bombs are ticking. In other words, that 5 second evocation would have mostly been spent casting Fireballs or Frostbolts so it's not as big a loss as it seems.

[Windry]

You guys are doing it wrong...

You don't go for 100% up-time. You DPS the full 40 seconds, when it falls off, you gauge the situation, THEN you decide whether or not to evocate.
Situations where you choose not to evocate again:
- The remainder of the fight will last less than 25 seconds
- Your group NEEDS to push the boss into the next phase and you have less than 25 seconds to do so (or else Elegon will spawn an extra Protector, or Feng will do an extra Arcane Velocity/Epicenter kind of situation).
- You have 5 seconds left on Bloodlust, you should DPS for 4 seconds, and then Evocate on the last second of Lust.
- You will likely have to move in the next 5 seconds (like stack for Arcane Velocity, Dodge the line of soldiers on Spirit Kings).
- If none of the above, then Evocate.

How did I get 25 seconds?
1.25(x-k) = x
Where k = the time of your evocate. I used 5 second evocate in my calculation. My actual evocate is like 4.9 seconds.

25 seconds (straight DPS)= 2500% DPS
25 seconds (evocate) = 20*1.25 + 5*0 = 2500% DPS

There are several addons/macros that can help you track this buff, pick one that suites your UI.

---------- Post added 2012-10-15 at 03:51 PM ----------

Invocation gains per cycle:
45 seconds = 40*1.25 -> 50000% DPS/45 seconds =
1.1111 DPS

Rune of Power gains per cycle:
60 seconds = 58.5*1.15 -> 67275% DPS/60 seconds =
1.12125 DPS

Of course, you can't move for the whole fight with Rune of Power, and Glyph of Evocate healing is likely to be better with Invocate.

[reflection]

Maybe I should get used to it. My problem is that I always forget it when the buff wears off -.- I should get an AddOn to help me remembering it. With a little training I think this is a great talent. I'm running fine with RoP atm.

[Bloodline]

Maybe I should get used to it. My problem is that I always forget it when the buff wears off -.- I should get an AddOn to help me remembering it. With a little training I think this is a great talent. I'm running fine with RoP atm.

Power Aura's is perfect for this. The official version is sadly not up to date, but there's a temp fixed version maintained by someone else. I'm at the office now but I'm more than willing to provide you with the Aura that I made for it when I get home.

When the buff is up the icon will show in your screen with a timer underneath it showing how much buff still remains. When it drops off it'll give you a sound notice as well that you lost the buff.

Also I let Power Aura's display the most important spells when off CD (think Inferno Blast, Mirror Images or Alter Time).

You know what, I'll just share my complete setup when I get home You can add to it or remove stuff as you desire. Also it's currently far from complete, so it might miss some abilities, but then you can copy another Aura that works on the same principle.

[Abraxis]

Use Weak auras as a reminder.

I use 3 Auras just for invocation

1. Shows me that i've the buff anf how long it will last.
2. When i've just 6sec left of the Buff. (Here is where i decide when i will cast it again)
3. When i do NOT have the buff.

For me its important that, if u dont have the buff, the aura has to be big and annoying enough, so that u're remindet in any situation.
Just reminded, whether u use it or not depends on the situation.

Another sidenote:

Make sure that u get the prepull time u need.
Evo -> Images -> Elixier -> Hardcast Pyro

U can do the pullcount, or tell the counter to set it to 12sec.

[Wh1teFyster]

Maybe I should get used to it. My problem is that I always forget it when the buff wears off -.- I should get an AddOn to help me remembering it. With a little training I think this is a great talent. I'm running fine with RoP atm.

I use TellMeWhen for Invoker's Energy(the buff), Frost Bomb (cooldown) and Frost Orb(cooldown). TellMeWhen creates large reference icons for your visual benefit to alert you to such things. Works best for me..