Mage PVE spec for dungs/raids

[Harty]

i no this question has probably been asked a thousand times before, and ive read over and over again posts about it,

which is the best spec? a lot of people are saying they are all relatively balanced

[Moddycss]

I play an arcane mage myself, my father plays frost mage.
As it seems, they seem to be balanced enough to not really matter, and you should focus more on what you find fun than which is the 0.5% better than the other.

[Deleted]

i used to loathe frost, even after akraens whole frost speadsheet and theorycrafting, and i love theorycraft!
but this expansion has really made me think differently, and i think its all down to water Jet and multistrike!

i'd push more to frost because its a little more forgiving on crap gear.

[Nohara]

i no this question has probably been asked a thousand times before, and ive read over and over again posts about it,

which is the best spec? a lot of people are saying they are all relatively balanced

I play Fire. It is defenitly NOT Fire.

[Deleted]

I play Fire. It is defenitly NOT Fire.

For single target, yes. But AoEing the trash is really nice with fire at least for me (LB+IF+Meteor). Although my gear is still really crap (614), I can compete with others (or even be #1) in hc dungeon trash. I know, it's just trash, but it has to be killed, too. :P
(Haven't seen any mages in groups yet to compare.)

[Daerken]

For single target, yes. But AoEing the trash is really nice with fire at least for me (LB+IF+Meteor). Although my gear is still really crap (614), I can compete with others (or even be #1) in hc dungeon trash. I know, it's just trash, but it has to be killed, too. :P
(Haven't seen any mages in groups yet to compare.)

I'm willing to bet that frost does better in AoE with Frost Bomb, Frozen Orb, Blizzard and Ice Lance. With like 621 ilvl I've hit at maximum 85k DPS on a big pack. Consistently hit 50k+ as well.

[PPN]

I tried all 3 specs. Fire is in single target horrible, at lest for me. Frost and arcane were about the same, while frost is at least for me easier to execute properly. Arcane seems in fights which require a lot of movement more complex to execute properly. At least thats what i felt like.

[Sheridanjohn]

Frost is real strong right now and will pull even further ahead in dungeons when there is more gear (Shorter fights emphasize burst phases). Our group (were doing Draenor Dungeron Hero) is all 635 + and on short boss fights I can end at over 40k. In raids this will obviously drop due to longer fights.
In CM's popping prismatic + orb and novas into a big pack is insane dps

[Mountain Called Monkey]

Frost is the most consistent spec damage wise. It's fairly simple to use and still gives large numbers in all damage scenarios with the right talent set up.

[KalarMage]

As much as I would rather play fire throughout the whole expansion, Simcraft has Frost leading the pack throughout all of T17. These are all Patchwerk style fights, but it's a good baseline.

http://www.simulationcraft.org/reports/Raid_T17M.html

[ralphie]

I'm willing to bet that frost does better in AoE with Frost Bomb, Frozen Orb, Blizzard and Ice Lance. With like 621 ilvl I've hit at maximum 85k DPS on a big pack. Consistently hit 50k+ as well.

Consistently 50K eh??

[Mountain Called Monkey]

Consistently 50K eh??

For AoE; if you run PC and pop all your cd's while using Blizzard as filler this is a very easy number to reach

[rhandric]

For AoE; if you run PC and pop all your cd's while using Blizzard as filler this is a very easy number to reach

Yes, but your cds won't be consistently up for all pulls, and when they aren't up, your damage will be shit.

[kaelleria]

Pretty sure people that get consistant high dps are running with groups that pull multiple packs at a time rather than what a majority of the players are doing right now...

[Mountain Called Monkey]

Yes, but your cds won't be consistently up for all pulls, and when they aren't up, your damage will be shit.

I should have specified what cd's I was talking about which was PC, Frozen Orb, and Ice Nova(if you run that). But yes for AoE scenarios you should use all 3 and in doing so it is fairly easy to reach 50k consistent dps with a 610 ilvl. And with improved Blizzard, Frost Orb should be up by the time you move on to the next pull.

There should very few times during an instance where one of these three spells aren't up. Properly managing your burst damage is an important aspect of being any damage spec

[rhandric]

I should have specified what cd's I was talking about which was PC, Frozen Orb, and Ice Nova(if you run that). But yes for AoE scenarios you should use all 3 and in doing so it is fairly easy to reach 50k consistent dps with a 610 ilvl. And with improved Blizzard, Frost Orb should be up by the time you move on to the next pull.

There should very few times during an instance where one of these three spells aren't up. Properly managing your burst damage is an important aspect of being any damage spec

Depending on the size (and duration) of pulls, absolutely. In 609 (equipped, 610 overall) gear, I've pulled 85k on certain pulls (and only those specific pulls); it all depends on how many mobs there are (both for damage and improved blizzard -> FO cd), and how long it takes until the next pull (whether PC is up or not).