Challenge Mode Gear: options list and bis list

[Psychokwak]

Good morning,

I was seeking a BiS list for doing CM as a Frost Mage, updated with the new loot from BRF. I could not find one. There is a topic on Altered-Time, however the discussion did not took off.
So I took information from there, added a sip of my limited knowledge, sprinkled some of my own loots on the top, and eventually looked at the stuff / stats orientation of the Frost Mages at the highest records.

On a larger scale, maybe we could make this topic the embodiment of the leading research center on Mage Challenge Mode BiS list for our three specs? We would have robots. Computers. Tachikomas. Who knows? I know some people enjoy doing CMs in both Fire and Arcane. Even if it is not today considered viable on a "competing level", for Frost is the Ace card for that stuff. But yeah, it could be cool to offer those lists and discuss on them.

Or maybe everything I just wrote is plain useless and I will perish in a soon coming tsunami

So regarding Frost spec, I found most of the people playing Multi > Crit, with Multi and Crit everywhere. I also found some high ranked people going for the Multi > Haste, with almost those stats everywhere (but some Crit too).

Now, the list of things I found interesting. In bold I put what sounds to me as the best option for the slot.
EVERYTHING IS SCALE TO ILVL 630.

Head
Iron burner Cowl of the Savage 87 Crit 126 Multi
Vilebreath Mask 95 Mast 121 Multi
Hood of Volatile Ice of the Merciless 85 Mast 127 Multi

Neck
Odyssian Choker 64 Crit 61 Multi
Stag Coated Cabochon 58 Crit 66 Multi
Bleak Temple Choker of the Deft 58 Hast 66 Multi
Primal Aspirant’s Pendant of Cruelty 51 Mast 44 Multi

Shoulders
Mantle of Volatile Ice of the Savage 74 Crit 90 Multi
Slaughterhouse Spaulders 91 Mast 72 Multi

Back
Runescribed Gronncloak 57 Hast 66 Multi

Chest
Robes of Swirling Light 103 Crit 116 Multi
Robes of Arcane Ultimatum 113 Crit 109 Multi
Robes of Brutal Tantrums 98 Hast 120 Multi
Robes of Necrotic Whispers 124 Hast 90 Multi
Arcanoshatter Robes 98 Mast 120 Multi

Wrists
Bracers of Spattered Steel 70 Crit 51 Multi
Bracers of Darkened Skies 60 Mast 65 Multi
Primal Combattant’s Cuff of Cruelty 61 Crit 53 Multi

Hands
Gloves of Swirling Light 76 Crit 89 Multi
Primal Combattant’s Silk Handguards 76 Hast 76 Multi

Waist
Felflame Belt 74 Crit 90 Multi
Deckhand’s Rope Belt 72 Crit 91 Multi

Legs
Arcanoshatter Leggings 98 Crit 120 Multi
Sea-Cursed Leggings 126 Hast 87 Multi

Feet
Inferno Breath Sandals 74 Crit 90 Multi
Sandals of Volatile Ice of the Strategist 74 Versa 90 Multi

Finger
Signet of Crystalline Barrage 63 Hast 63 Multi
Aryu’s Puzzle Ring 61 Versa 64 Multi
Primal Combattant’s Band of Victory 61 Crit 53 Multi

Trinket
Coagulated Genesaur Blood 88 Int / 1383 Multi 10s
Quiescent Runestone 181 Int 106 Hast 106 Multi
Sandman’s Pouch 159 Int / 1272 Crit 20s
Copeland’s Clarity 210 Crit / 795 SP 20s use
Darmac’s Unstable Talisman 195 Int / 1383 Hast 10s
Goren Soul Repository 195 Int / 1383 Crit 10s

Weapon
2M
Staff of the Grand Imperator 958 SP 167 Int 113 Crit 109 Multi
Thogar’s Imperialistic Spire 958 SP 167 Int 103 Hast 113 Multi
1H
Painbringer’s Crystal 956 SP 72 Int 48 Haste 46 Multi
OH
Erorus’ Ledger of Trade 94 Int 64 Versa 61 Multi
Gug’rokk’s Grandmother 94 Int 57 Versa 66 Multi


Please if you have any comment or addition to make, go! I bet there is a correction to be made for each slot.

Thanks!

[Deleted]

If you decide to go with MH + OH, your offhands have versatility, visit the nearest vendor and go get the Engine Stoker's Lantern from Thogar - Its got Haste and a bigger amount of Multistrike.

[Zulandia]

Multi/Haste is the way to go imo it's much better dps for large bomb/orb pulls which make up the majority of CMs so you could change a couple pieces up there to favour that (don't forget crafted/garrison gear can have any stats). Multi/Crit isn't bad though by any means. Trinkets need a lot of work imo Micro-crucible, and the alchemy trinkets are both better options than any of the ones you listed though CC, Runestone and Genesuar are decent choices too.

[shi]

Would strongly consider micro crucible, goren soul, and the stone of wind/earth/water/fire alch trinkets.

Micro crucible and goren soul have retarded amounts of intellect when scaled down and their procs are decent for aoe. The epic alchemy stones have vers which is better in CMs than mastery and scale down better than the 620 alchemy trinket.

[Deleted]

Multi/Haste is the way to go imo it's much better dps for large bomb/orb pulls which make up the majority of CMs so you could change a couple pieces up there to favour that (don't forget crafted/garrison gear can have any stats). Multi/Crit isn't bad though by any means. Trinkets need a lot of work imo Micro-crucible, and the alchemy trinkets are both better options than any of the ones you listed though CC, Runestone and Genesuar are decent choices too.

Aren't the 615 trinkets which give significantly more int than genesaur stronger than it?

[Zulandia]

Aren't the 615 trinkets which give significantly more int than genesaur stronger than it?

Probably but both are fairly low on the list anyways. A WF version of the 615 is a fairly good choice overall but a pain to get (I would still probably run Crucible/Alchemy though).

[Aantu]

For multi/haste, which I found more often in the good runs I checked (which was not a lot of runs, admittedly), I have:

Head - Crafted (Multistrike/Haste) - Tailoring or Engineering

Neck - Slag-Coated Cabochon - Oregorger

Shoulder - Mantle of Arcane Mystery - Heroics

Back - Runescribed Greatcloak - Gruul

Chest - Ebonflame Robes - Flamebender

Wrist - Felflame Bracers - Heroics

Hands - PvP (Multistrike/Haste) - PvP

Waist - PvP (Multistrike/Haste) - PvP

Legs - Cave Smasher Leggings - Gruul

Feet - Crafted (Multistrike/Haste) - Tailoring

Finger - PvP (Multistrike/Haste) - PvP

Finger - Signet of Crystalline Barrage - Tectus

Trinket - Stone of Fire - Alchemy

Trinket - Blackiron Micro Crucible - Blackhand

Weapon - Thogar's Imperialistic Spire - Thogar

This list doesn't include random items like the challenge mode daily reward aside from the crafted pieces, which you can control. This list assumes multistrike>haste>crit and that the difference between haste and crit is large enough to not choose crit/multistrike items over haste/multistrike items even if the crit items have a bunch of multistrike. Also there are a few items that are very close and as I went by MS/haste ratio rather than looking directly at the challenge mode versions of the items, scaling issues might bump of few of these items out. Regardless, this is much better than everything else I found and a good starting point.

[Deleted]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...#gid=125232033

[Psychokwak]

Hey everyone!

Thank you for answering and giving all your information.
I'm sorry I did not bounce back earlier.

I have a quick question before pursuing this quest on the BiS list.
I'm not sure in fact I fully understood what are the pros and cons of the critical strike and the haste optimizations, respectively.

For what I understood, the critical strike optimization was aiming at the shatter effect. Looking for as much critical strike as possible, so that when the big pack of trash mobs is made, you can explode them with big assured crits.
Regarding the haste optimization, the thing I recall is: the more quickly you cast : the more you cast : the most procs you have. Which is good. But I'm not too sure of that effect when we spam our numerous Ice Lances that procs from our Frozen Orb when we have a big pack of trash mobs.

Would you be so kind to light my lantern on that matter please?

Thanks,

[Zulandia]

Haste build = more ice lances during frozen orb due to reduced global cooldown. In both crit and haste builds MS is still by far your highest priority.

[Drevneus]

Haste build = more ice lances during frozen orb due to reduced global cooldown.

And how much more Ice Lance? I do not try, but watched a lot of videos and in my opinion the difference between crit and the speed is reduced to luck procs.

[Drevneus]

Haste build = more ice lances during frozen orb due to reduced global cooldown.

No answer?

[Deleted]

Any idea on a Hpala BiS list?

[Zulandia]

Any idea on a Hpala BiS list?

I mean mage forum but regardless. I'd probably look to go haste > crit > MS > w.e as it will allow you 'good' dps without compromising your healing throughput much. If you feel you need more healing then go spirit to comfort > haste > mastery > crit > MS > w.e. (lower HS usage lowers value of crit from normal). For trinkets I'd run candle if you need regen (and if you somehow need a second regen trinket take your pick, chew toy probably) otherwise I'd go pure throughput on them with Stone of Fire, Darmac's or the conquest vers/int on proc trinket.

If your group is half competent you likely don't need to run any spirit/regen trinkets just make sure to spam your drink on combat breaks.

Not going to bog this thread down with a full gear list as this is off topic enough as is. I've given you more than enough to build something.

And how much more Ice Lance? I do not try, but watched a lot of videos and in my opinion the difference between crit and the speed is reduced to luck procs.

Frozen orb on 3+ targets like every CM pull has no FoF RNG in practice. You will get them barring astronomically bad luck.

[Drevneus]

Frozen orb on 3+ targets like every CM pull has no FoF RNG in practice. You will get them barring astronomically bad luck.

3 targets its only 45% chance to FoF, but I am waiting for an answer to my question =) And I still confident that the difference between Haste and Crit comes down to luck. Not for the whole CM, but in a particular fight, if the difference is not for the whole CM, why to advise Haste?

[Deleted]

3 targets its only 45% chance to FoF, but I am waiting for an answer to my question =) And I still confident that the difference between Haste and Crit comes down to luck. Not for the whole CM, but in a particular fight, if the difference is not for the whole CM, why to advise Haste?

More spells cast during Icy Veins/trinkets, more spells cast on prismatic, more/faster ticks from frozen orb=more chances for ice lance to proc, more frostbolt casts=more chances for brainfreeze procs, faster ticks from blizzard=orb resetting faster etcetc

[Drevneus]

More

Even with Haste on all items, more casts will not work Again, for a particular battle, not for the whole CM.

[Deleted]

Have you even played frost in cms?

[Drevneus]

Not much, it completed only 45 times, and there are no records (hopefully not for long). But I would like to hear someone's calculations and specific figures. On paper, it is not calculated, but in my head is clear. I can do once there is nobody ...

[Polarthief]

I did a pretty much full MS>Haste>Crit build (every piece I have for the CM set is MS + Crit or Haste; bit of an emphasis on Haste>Crit though), and did just fine ("fine" as in 8/8G CMs while being the top DPS in the group), though the times were nothing award-worthy (outside of 8/8G of course, lol).

As far as trinkets go, the raiding ones definitely scale way higher, even when scaled down. I used Blackiron and Quiescent for one proc and one passive, on top of their massive stat boosts.

Again though, I was just doing what's enough for 8/8G. If you're shooting for Realm Best or World Best times, completely ignore my post and move on