Question about Mage Gem and Challenge Mode

[Deleted]

Hello everyone

I have a problem to put gems on my Mage. Until now i used this kind of combination:

Red: 160 int
Yellow: 80 int 160 haste
Blue: 80 int 160 hit


and thats my armory character:

http://eu.battle.net/wow/it/characte...enendor/simple


Now looking at the various mage at the TOP challenge mode in my server, i noticed people like to GEM all socket with Critical and Int, like that:


http://eu.battle.net/wow/it/characte...s/Natsu/simple


But im not sure if that kind of combination work better for RAID or for CHALLENGE .


Could anyone help me?

Thanks

[Cellyna]

i believe this guy is raiding with fire spec, though for some reason he logged out in frost spec.. thats all...

[Deleted]

i believe this guy is raiding with fire spec, though for some reason he logged out in frost spec.. thats all...

But he is not the only one, i taken the first one, but there are more like these :

http://eu.battle.net/wow/it/characte...Rythiel/simple

http://eu.battle.net/wow/it/characte...v%C3%A8/simple

http://eu.battle.net/wow/it/characte...C3%ABth/simple


and lot of more.. 90% of mage on my server are using that :S


Would know if use gems with critical have greater utility in challenge Mode

[Lyreth]

They are gemming for fire for when they raid. There is no benefit for doing it in challenge modes. You are losing a ton of SP going pure crit and its a dps loss on bosses. Mages that tend to be on the higher end of gear play fire because it has the more potential than fire, but its all up to rng. When it comes to challenge modes its all about frost bomb and nova before it detonates for those big shatter crits. There are very few mages that focus strictly on challenge modes after they have all gold because there really isn't a reason to.

[Jesikins]

Are you sure that the armory is catching them with what they actually use for CMs?

The one with an average ilvl of 500 you might be right about, but the others wearing 520ish could easily have an entire other set of gear that they use for CMs (since it is all scaled down anyway, the higher numbers of sockets are all that there is to gain for their best gear).

That said, I could imagine getting closer to the crit cap being viable for frost CMs, since a lot of your dps will come from good shatters. Id think haste is also somewhat devalued relative to a raid environment, as, aside from bosses, you won't be chain casting frostbolts much. You'd also have the freedom to choose non-RPPM trinkets if you wanted. Not aware of any special benefit beyond that though, and I'd think the armory picking up raiding gear/gems might be more likely.

But I'm no CM expert by any stretch so take my thoughts for what you will. Maybe you should just ask one of the mages that you see gearing this way?

[Lyreth]

Jesikins brings up a great point with shatter, but sacrificing haste is not worth it due to boss duration. Adds will due quick enough for cc chains without stacking crit, but the bosses lasting longer can result in some bad times.

[Polarthief]

I do CMs in Fire gear (C > H > M) as Frost with Frost Bomb.

Don't worry too much about stats/gear more than worrying about your Frost Bomb Shatters. Assuming you know how to shatter, you're nearly guaranteed a Silver, if not Gold, unless your teammates suck horribly.

[Deleted]

They are gemmed for fire, if you're doing CMs as frost (which you should) the prio is as previously mentioned Haste>Crit>mastery, and btw the mage who you linked as a top CM player hasn't got any noticeably fast times, here is the best CM mage in the world: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...3%A1/challenge
Notice how he gears.

[Deleted]

You shouldn't regem for CMs, it's not necessary, unless you are gunning for record times. Just spec Frost, gem and enchant accordingly, and you'll be more than fine. I've managed some golds in my Fire gear,gem,reforge but specced as Frost, doing great damage, so don't truly worry that much. It's all about setting up Frost Bomb Shatters without screwing your melee DPS .

[kif]

How does the Sinister meta work in challenge modes?

[Malfecto]

How does the Sinister meta work in challenge modes?

It doesn't. Neither do your tier bonuses. Trinkets still work, but they are scaled down. The sha gem is also nullified if I remember correctly.

[TwentyNine]

I also have all golds (not gunning for anything more than that) from doing CMs in Fire gear/gemming (despite having N Wushoo and STILL having N Wushoo, fml right?) and damage still works out via shatters + abusing the living crap out of RoF + Frost Nova + glyphed Cone of Cold as necessary; I tend to figure all of that + skipping the necessary mobs + listening to your group's strat as a higher priority than boss health and appropriately spec statting. Otherwise, it also all depends on how your stats diminish (should I take glyph of Icy Veins, etc.)