PvE Mage FAQ (The A B C of basic mage questions)

[Swizzle]

sigh, the people in this forum are getting hazardous to my health. they all want to Fm boomkins and elemental shaman. /shrug.

okay, moving on past gearing which was covered by my previous post, i'll tackle gemming and specs with this one. note, i will post the standard cookie cutter specs that yield the highest DPS, i won't cover alternate specs for reduced damage or hard mode progression here, that's up to players to decide based on their guild needs.

arcane:
57/3/11

gems
meta:Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
red:Runed Cardinal Ruby or Reckless Ametrine once haste=1.2 spellpower for you.
blue:Purified Dreadstone(with socket bonuses of 5+spellpower with 2 piece t9 or 7+ spellpower without). otherwise Runed Cardinal Ruby or Reckless Ametrine once haste=1.2 spellpower for you.
yellow:Reckless Ametrine

TtW/fire:
20/51/0

gems
meta:Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
red:Runed Cardinal Ruby or Reckless Ametrine once haste=1.2 spellpower for you.
blue:Purified Dreadstone(with socket bonuses of 5+spellpower with 2 piece t9 or 7+ spellpower without). otherwise Runed Cardinal Ruby or Reckless Ametrine once haste=1.2 spellpower for you.
yellow:Reckless Ametrine

FFB(standard, non-anub):
0/51/20

gems
meta:Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
red:Runed Cardinal Ruby
blue:Purified Dreadstone(with socket bonuses of 5+spellpower with 2 piece t9 or 7+ spellpower without). otherwise Runed Cardinal Ruby or Potent Ametrine once 1 crit=1.2 spellpower for you.
yellow:Potent Ametrine

enjoy.

[Swizzle]

triple post time.

this time, i will cover enchants for each spec. note, you may not be able to get all of these enchants depending on your professions.

helm:Arcanum of Burning Mysteries
neck: none, neck enchants don't exist my friend
shoulders:Greater Inscription of the Storm, Master's Inscription of the Storm
back:Formula: Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed, Lightweave Embroidery, Springy Arachnoweave
chest:Formula: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats
bracers:Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower
gloves:Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower, Hyperspeed Accelerators
belt:Frag Belt
legs:Briliant Spellthread
boots:Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality, Nitro Boosts
ring 1:Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower
ring 2:Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower
weapon: sword/dagger=Black Magic, staff=Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower

[Swizzle]

and the final update post: rotation.

COMMONLY USED ACRONYMS (know these)

arcane:
ab= arcane blast
abarr= arcane barrage
mbarr= missile barrage
mbam= missile barrage arcane missiles
am= arcane missiles
PoM= presence of mind
AP= arcane power
evo= evocation
invis= invisibility

fire:
fb= fireball
lb= living bomb
pyro= pyroblast
HS= hot streak
DB= dragon's breath
BW= blast wave
FFB= frostfire bolt

frost:
FrB= frostbolt
IV= icy veins
CS= cold snap
shatter= 50% crit bonus on frozen targets
FoF= fingers of frost
BrF= brain freeze
WE= water elemental
IB= ice block
ibarr= ice barrier
DF= deep freeze


rotations

arcane:

arcane blastx4-->mbarr
if high on mana: you may extend the arcane blast spam to fish for a mbarr proc
if low on mana: reduce arcane blast spam to 3 followed by mbarr (if procced), otherwise use an unhasted arcane missiles
NEVER cast arcane barrage unless moving
stagger haste cooldowns to keep from going under the 1 second GCD cap with your arcane blasts and mbarr.

fire:

without demo/affli lock
scorch-->lb-->fb spam-->HS on proc
refresh lb when it falls off
with 2 piece t10, refresh lb before using HS if lb has 1-3 seconds remaining

with demo/affli lock
lb-->fb spam-->HS on proc
refresh lb when it falls off
with 2 piece t10, refresh lb before using HS if lb has 1-3 seconds remaining

FFB:

without demo/affli lock
scorch-->lb-->FFB spam-->HS on proc
refresh lb when it falls off
with 2 piece t10, refresh lb before using HS if lb has 1-3 seconds remaining

with demo/affli lock
lb-->FFB spam-->HS on proc
refresh lb when it falls off
with 2 piece t10, refresh lb before using HS if lb has 1-3 seconds remaining

frost (i hate you if you play this spec in a raid setting):
FrB spam-->DF (when off CD and during FoF ghost charges)

[Milamber]

Nice... our sticky is definetly outdated... soloing onyxia? Comeon...

[Swizzle]

Nice... our sticky is definetly outdated... soloing onyxia? Comeon...

i made a fresh updated mage FAQ, it's just not stickied cause they hate me. i'd also like to put in your haste calc tomorrow to go along with the my explanation of what haste is, the haste formula, and soft and hard cap definitions. do i have the creators permission?

[Milamber]

i made a fresh updated mage FAQ, it's just not stickied cause they hate me. i'd also like to put in your haste calc tomorrow to go along with the my explanation of what haste is, the haste formula, and soft and hard cap definitions. do i have the creators permission?

sure

[chaud]

Unstickied as it is outdated.