The Mage solo thread, because who needs a DK ?

[isaac2314]

Nice job - of course, the Dark Animus kill is the most interesting: which trinkets did you use to kill all the small golems, and how did you survive the enrage?

Eagerly waiting for your video!

[isaac2314]

Some miscellaneous kills (874, Shard of the Exodar):

Amber-Shaper 25H: if your DPS isn't enough to push him into P3, consider delaying potion until P2, or some other source of damage. Either way, health is largely irrelevant on this fight, so the primary concern is the usage of DPS CD to push through each phase before the timer in that phase runs out.

Grand Empress 25H: Remember to Ice Block the fear effects in p2, but otherwise you should have no problem killing this boss after killing Amber-Shaper.

Brackenspore 10N: Doing this at 874 is really just cheating. Haven't actually figured out any strategy - will do on heroic, I suppose.

Also,



The good news is, Mirror Image does avoid Soul Cleave
The bad news is, Ice Block doesn't remove Befouled, so Zakuun is still not quite possible right now.
However, I am very close to being able to push him into ~30% before first Soul Cleave, so I might do just that - I couldn't manage high DPS with mirror image and the fight has a pretty strict timer, since you cannot heal effectively with Befouled up all the time. Probably doable at ~880?

PS: the problem with Zakuun for me is that, without RoP, I take too long to push him into p2, to the point that it's quite impossible to survive much past entering p2. By the time I have the gear to survive it, I can probably already push him into p2 in 30 seconds after pull, so either way the Mirror Image strategy doesn't seem to be very useful.

[Araitik]

Wow, I tried Amber-Shaper 25h a couple weeks ago and couldn't get anywhere, impressive kill !

Attempted Archimonde further, but the damage output is insane to survive even with high Leech. Not the mention the DPS requirements.

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Nice job - of course, the Dark Animus kill is the most interesting: which trinkets did you use to kill all the small golems, and how did you survive the enrage?

Eagerly waiting for your video!

Actually, killing the small golems is 100% placement

Dark Animus 25 Heroic



Lei Shen 25 Heroic, solely for the fun I had getting 1M Leech ticks



Ra-den 25 Heroic, 100% DPS race



Enjoy

[isaac2314]

The Animus fight is interesting - I tried using LB on boss but it didn't do enough damage to kill everything, but with a high ilvl it should be easy (the new potion probably also helped)
Do you think running and scorching actually helped mitigate the damage? Or just stand and burst with all CDs?

PS: What is your opinion on Leech/ilvl tradeoff in Legion? I haven't yet met any boss that I think more leech would help much, but I'm curious about other possibilities.

[Araitik]

The Animus fight is interesting - I tried using LB on boss but it didn't do enough damage to kill everything, but with a high ilvl it should be easy (the new potion probably also helped)
Do you think running and scorching actually helped mitigate the damage? Or just stand and burst with all CDs?

PS: What is your opinion on Leech/ilvl tradeoff in Legion? I haven't yet met any boss that I think more leech would help much, but I'm curious about other possibilities.

The Animus down was not the best (I forgot to BL during kiting phase), but you cannot facetank the enrage, that's for sure. Each bolt deal 50k, cannot miss, and there's a TON of them falling on you.

Theoretically, you could kite the enrage if you go at the entrance of the room (the furthest away from the boss) and go back and forth, the enrage should barely not reach you.

About the Leech/ilvl, I'm not sold on it, usually 2% Leech (1 item) is enough to survive, with the occasionnal 6% on some bosses.

The absolute best item to get for soloing though are the Legendary robes (Belo'vir), which I got recently. This allowed be to put Archimonde to 9% HP, but I cannot burst him before the first banish. Mirror Images get oneshot and yields pretty much the same result. More gear needed, or a Blademaster trinket replacement found

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Edit : Well, I sure love my legendary robes.

Done with 878 ilvl :



It is possible to burst him to 30% before the first Soul Cleave, but you need very good trinket procs and I'm bad at RNG, so I went with the easy/lazy way with Mirror Images

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Edit 2 : Well, this legendary sure is great :



79k HPS (as a Mage, wtf), with only 2% leech. 45% of the healing is the legendary, 30% is cauterizing blink.

I let the eye on the ground up to the last possible moment (500k ticks) and then held the eye and kited.

Just so you can get an idea, here is my health bar 5s before the kill :



I can't get a closer call than that

[isaac2314]

Ugh, Legendary RNG. But grats - with this robe, you should be able to kill many more bosses! The entire Mythic Highmaul/BRF should be worth trying at this stage, although you might want help getting past Hans/Franz.
BTW, how did you survive Zakuun p2 with Befouled? Legendary absorb shields?

[Araitik]

Ugh, Legendary RNG. But grats - with this robe, you should be able to kill many more bosses! The entire Mythic Highmaul/BRF should be worth trying at this stage, although you might want help getting past Hans/Franz.
BTW, how did you survive Zakuun p2 with Befouled? Legendary absorb shields?

Yeah, I will be attempting BrF soon
For Zakuun, P2 was surprisingly easy, indeed with legendary absorb.

I also attempted Velhari but it's impossible to reset the tank stacks, so it's a dead end after a mere minute of fight.

[Deleted]

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[Araitik]

It's not hard at all. I've cleared it for the belt transmog from the hidden boss weeks before. If you have enough gear, it's easy as piss. Just make sure you kill the adds before they get to you. Once only the big one is left, you're done.

We were talking about 25 Heroic, which is not "easy as piss". 10 Heroic was, that's why I soloed him almost a year ago.

If you were indeed talking about 25HC, then congrats for your kill

[Deleted]

We were talking about 25 Heroic, which is not "easy as piss". 10 Heroic was, that's why I soloed him almost a year ago.

If you were indeed talking about 25HC, then congrats for your kill

Ah nevermind then. Sorry. I kind of didn't think of the different difficulties. Gosh ... sorry mate. No offense.

[Ethenil]

Hello, I've been recently pondering over what class to main, and mage is one of the three classes I've decided to try.

I'm not sure if this is the right thread, but I've done the arcane artifact questline on a level 100 trial character.

The problem is, I couldn't survive more than one mob most times, and could only beat the bosses because after my death their health wasn't restored.

Basically, I was extremely squishy. The ice barrier was destroyed before its cooldown was over, causing an amount of time where it wasn't on.

My question is: are (arcane) mages naturally so squishy? Is it rather because the trial gear is too low, or something else entirely?

Thank you!

[Araitik]

Hello, I've been recently pondering over what class to main, and mage is one of the three classes I've decided to try.

I'm not sure if this is the right thread, but I've done the arcane artifact questline on a level 100 trial character.

The problem is, I couldn't survive more than one mob most times, and could only beat the bosses because after my death their health wasn't restored.

Basically, I was extremely squishy. The ice barrier was destroyed before its cooldown was over, causing an amount of time where it wasn't on.

My question is: are (arcane) mages naturally so squishy? Is it rather because the trial gear is too low, or something else entirely?

Thank you!

For what I remember, both Fire and Arcane trial were unforgiving. Doing them on alpha/beta with 680 ilvl was a torture.
Mages are squishy by nature, we are supposed to be glass cannons, but in reality we are glass Nerf guns, especially at low ilvl.

[isaac2314]

Hello, I've been recently pondering over what class to main, and mage is one of the three classes I've decided to try.

I'm not sure if this is the right thread, but I've done the arcane artifact questline on a level 100 trial character.

The problem is, I couldn't survive more than one mob most times, and could only beat the bosses because after my death their health wasn't restored.

Basically, I was extremely squishy. The ice barrier was destroyed before its cooldown was over, causing an amount of time where it wasn't on.

My question is: are (arcane) mages naturally so squishy? Is it rather because the trial gear is too low, or something else entirely?

Thank you!

Bascially what Araitik said, but also pitching in: Mages are among the least sturdy of the damage dealers, probably. You should realize that the sturdiness of classes change over time - for example, mages are better at survival in the past two expansions, although the rankings don't change very much or very often. Other classes generally have pets or can heal themselves or have more sustainable healing/absorbing/damage reducing methods, but I haven't played any other DPS class this expansion, so take that with some salt.

Now, this generally doesn't matter when you play with other people, since there will be tanks and healers, but when alone mages are pretty weak. It gets better with higher item levels, but frankly so do other classes, and we don't really get THAT much better.

Of course, there IS always the chance that mages will be the best and sturdiest damage dealer next patch/next expansion, but I wouldn't bet on it.


PS: and, of course, always keep things like http://www.simulationcraft.org/reports/Raid_T19M.html in mind. You might not care about your own DPS (I know I never cared about mine), but your friends and fellows in parties/raids most assuredly would, at least somewhat.

@Araitik: I have forgotten - do you think you can manage normal dungeons with your new robe? It seems to me that we're at that ilvl where normals should be within reach.

[Ethenil]

Thanks for the responses! I came to this thread mainly because I was worried of the overall solo experience. Since it is somewhat important to me to have good survivability in the open world, mage has now lost points in relation to the other two classes I'm considering xD

Thank you nonetheless ^^

[Araitik]

Thanks for the responses! I came to this thread mainly because I was worried of the overall solo experience. Since it is somewhat important to me to have good survivability in the open world, mage has now lost points in relation to the other two classes I'm considering xD

Thank you nonetheless ^^

Mage need a lot more dedication if you want to solo than many other classes.
If you need to solo without having a special optimization, consider DH, DK or Hunter

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@Araitik: I have forgotten - do you think you can manage normal dungeons with your new robe? It seems to me that we're at that ilvl where normals should be within reach.

I attempted Normal Maw of Souls last week (without legendary robe) and got wrecked on the first boss. I may attempt it again soon

[isaac2314]

Marginally relevant, my impression on Blazing Soul/Blazing Barrier.

As a side note, I made it to buff level 10 on the Draenor Tank Dummy with it on first pull. You can probably go higher with better play, but as I explained in the link there are reasons you won't go much higher.

EDIT: 21 on Arcane, 25 on Fire. Might try a boss or two to see how it works in real fights.



PS: Presenting:



One Pump-Action Bandage Gun, two Silkweave Bandages.
Yes, it's silly. But at least we've downed all the bosses in WotLK now.

[Deleted]

Newest kills from BRF: Gruul and Flamebender Ka'graz

There isn't much to speak about, other than using Cold Snap for maximum immunity. Still working on Iron Maidens/Mythic Oregorger/Mythic Kromog.

EDIT:

Mythic Siege: Malkorok, Spoils and Blackfuse.

None of the three really needs much explanation. Sometimes on Malkorok (well, actually often) the white orbs will spawn right under you, so if you don't move you'll get your shield dispelled. I personally just stood there and bursted the boss down.

how did you kill mythic sha of pride?

[isaac2314]

how did you kill mythic sha of pride?

It's just a plain, old DPS race. You stand there and hit boss until it dies. You have approximately 40 seconds to push boss into p2 (below 30%) and probably another 40 to kill it (I didn't have DBM on, I'll admit, so timers are guessworks). I had Shard of the Exodar and was around 870 ilvl, so it might be harder in other situations.

[Araitik]

Hooray for Legendary upgrades and good trinket procs !




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Normal Archimonde



Enjoy

[isaac2314]

......wow. Well done!

Does Archimonde always cast Rain of Chaos first if you push him fast enough? Or do you need to use some huge-hit trinket like Wriggling Sinew to make that happen?

EDIT: I really think they nerfed WoD raids by a lot, compared to MoP. Garrosh wasn't even conceivable until much, much later into HFC, while here we are, killing Archimonde!
Would also explain why even mages are eyeing Mythic bosses, when usually at first tier that's the prerogative of tanks.