Spamming AB with Molten Armor up.

[HellBurn]

High guys.
A few days ago I downed Malygos 25 with my mates. On the first few tries I was astonished to always finish the fight (well, P2) with loads of mana.
Therefore, I tried simply spamming AB and having molten armor up. And wow did my dps shine.
I haven't done this only on Malygos, but also on loads of fights. For example in OS, the drakes are wso weak you can simply spam AB and they die before you even have to use a mana gem. Also tried it on Archavon (don't know how it' spelt in english ), it's a bit harder cause we pug'd it so dps was slow, hence the fight was long and mana demanding.

I was wondering if you guys sometimes just spam AB with molten armor up or not.

For information here's a link to my char: I know I don't have a lot of haste (405), but still my mana pool isn't huge or anything, I think anyone can pull this off.
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...une&n=Hellburn ( I might be in pvp gear, if so ignore my equipment).

So does this make arcane the best specc? Cause getting three 15k arcane blast in a row is something you won't find in deep fire of FFB spec.

[AuthurDent]

This is happening a lot more than the "skilled arcane" mages will admit.

All this chatter about how "fun" and "skill requiring" arcane is to play and when you parse the logs.... AB spam.

Then you see a post like a previous one here about how a mage feels his RaidLeader timed Heroism to spike his own dps... lol... Only a hawtdawg would even think of things in such terms.

I suspect at some point arcane getting more nerfs to combat the 1 button spam... perhaps an AB exaustion... 3 stacks and cannot be cast til buff is removed with another spell.

On the other hand... maybe come Ulduar. arcane will become the new sheep beotches... and the AB spam will allow them to keep some dps in the game while the FFB/Fire mages get the job done.

lol...

Seriously tho... it's a shame that a person can 1 button spam to within the top few positions of the meters and glean some level of satisfaction from it.

[Cyrant]

I never did the one button spam when I was arcane much, simply due to being a very PvP oriented arcane spec and having no real mana regen talents or glyphs. However there is no doubt that a well timed Icy Viens > Arcane power > AB spam is great to move you up on the meters real quick. On most fights it's simply not possible though, which is why most arcane mages seem to do Blast x3 > Barrage x 1

[chitanblue]

15k AB?? holy crap

[Steady]

Not using a Missile Barrage proc is a DPS loss - MBAM at 3 AB stacks is the top DPS available to an Arcane Mage.

Also, a ramped up AB costs about 1800 mana per cast, if I recall correctly. At my current haste (23% incl. talents) ABlast is about a 2 sec cast. thats ~900 mana per second, with a mana pool of 23k fully buffed thats gone in 25 seconds or so (replenishment/wisdom etc will give enough mana back for another 1 stack AB in that time). Evoc = another ~18 seconds of AB spam, mana gem = 2 more casts, mana pot = 2 more casts. So you've pretty much run completely dry of mana after about a minute, taking into account raid mana regen and average clearcasting procs. AB spam really isn't viable unless either the fight is very short, say Faerlina style, or all regen cooldowns are used on you, i.e. Innervates/Mana Tides and even then you'll be hard pushed to sustain 2 minutes of AB spam especially using IV/Heroism/Arcane Power.

[Gravlax]

The reason arcane is fun, is due to its dynamic casting cycle...

If mana allows sure we can just AB spam and MBAM on procs, however if the fight is lasting more than a couple of minutes even with a mana gem and a pot your not going to be able to keep that going.
So this is where the fun comes in, you want to Ab3MBAM as much as you can, but you have to balance that with a cheaper rotation, your plan should always be to kill the boss with the very last of your mana, ending a (boss)fight with any mana left means you didnt maximise your AB spam uptime enough.

So rather than a fixed cycle, we have to choose what to cast next....

[Stieger23]

Not using a Missile Barrage proc is a DPS loss - MBAM at 3 AB stacks is the top DPS available to an Arcane Mage.

Also, a ramped up AB costs about 1800 mana per cast, if I recall correctly. At my current haste (23% incl. talents) ABlast is about a 2 sec cast. thats ~900 mana per second, with a mana pool of 23k fully buffed thats gone in 25 seconds or so (replenishment/wisdom etc will give enough mana back for another 1 stack AB in that time). Evoc = another ~18 seconds of AB spam, mana gem = 2 more casts, mana pot = 2 more casts. So you've pretty much run completely dry of mana after about a minute, taking into account raid mana regen and average clearcasting procs. AB spam really isn't viable unless either the fight is very short, say Faerlina style, or all regen cooldowns are used on you, i.e. Innervates/Mana Tides and even then you'll be hard pushed to sustain 2 minutes of AB spam especially using IV/Heroism/Arcane Power.

Don't forget about Arcane Concentration, so that will give you a few more casts. But that hardly changes your main point. 60 seconds or 70 seconds, you still can't keep it up for long.

[AuthurDent]

I hear that from time to time... and it's a cop out.

Choosing to cast anything other than the optimal rotation is simply a drop in DPS... doesn't really matter if you cast optimal and go oom 15 secs earlier or skimp on rotation and have mana to the very end. (timing CD's not withstanding)

Arcane is bursty, and tho there prob are some that do play the mana pool... more are apt to simply go ballz to the wallz, use mana regens as best as possible and let the DPS fly.

In current fights outside of Sarth3D... this is easily done with minimal downtime to oom. And what little may be lost, is made up by the bursted damage to begin with.

It's possible that 3.1's mana regen changes will make more impact on the spec... as will hopefully more complex fights...

I'm not arguing to say that acane is not viable... just that so many 1 button spammers indeed hide in this "fun and complex" rotations and playstyle. (Or they really pick up the pace and hit TWO or 3 buttons)

The reason arcane is fun, is due to its dynamic casting cycle...

If mana allows sure we can just AB spam and MBAM on procs, however if the fight is lasting more than a couple of minutes even with a mana gem and a pot your not going to be able to keep that going.
So this is where the fun comes in, you want to Ab3MBAM as much as you can, but you have to balance that with a cheaper rotation, your plan should always be to kill the boss with the very last of your mana, ending a (boss)fight with any mana left means you didnt maximise your AB spam uptime enough.

So rather than a fixed cycle, we have to choose what to cast next....

[Wanell]

15k AB?? holy crap

15k is quite low on Malygos, especially 25man lol. I'm also quite sure getting 3 AB crits in a row is about as RNG as getting 3 FFB crits in a row. You also can't say it's something you won't see in a deep fire build because you have COMBUSTION LOL.

[Steady]

Simply put, you might see these AB spammers on fights like Anub'Rekhan/Faerlina/Gothik Phase 2 short burst bosses. But show me a valid WWS parse of an Arcane Mage spamming AB for the entire duration of a Kel'thuzad, Sarth+3D, Sapphiron etc. fight that tend to last over 3 minutes and I'll believe you. As it is to MAXIMISE damage from the spec it is a very fun and interactive way to play, from CD management to mana management, constantly changing rotations depending on situation. What arcane lacks in buttons to press it makes up for in making you choose what's best to use. Granted, an arcane mage may put out decent enough damage just following a set rotation for the whole fight, but to reach top numbers it requires this micro-management of what to use when and where.

[HellBurn]

I don't understand what does MBAM mean ( i'm not english so this is confusing me). And what 'proc' (i know what it means) are you talking about ?

15k is quite low on Malygos, especially 25man lol. I'm also quite sure getting 3 AB crits in a row is about as RNG as getting 3 FFB crits in a row. You also can't say it's something you won't see in a deep fire build because you have COMBUSTION LOL.

N°1- 15 isn't quite low. I'm talking about a normal AB without the +50% damage (or more if stacked).
N°2- I doubt how, even with 3 FFB crits you can get more than 45k damage in less than 6seconds.

Simply put, you might see these AB spammers on fights like Anub'Rekhan/Faerlina/Gothik Phase 2 short burst bosses. But show me a valid WWS parse of an Arcane Mage spamming AB for the entire duration of a Kel'thuzad, Sarth+3D, Sapphiron etc. fight that tend to last over 3 minutes and I'll believe you.

As i've stated, this can not be doable on every boss fights. I was just wondering if anybody had tried this on some fights, and if yes which ones, when durin the fight etc etc. I am very cautious that spamming AB is extremely mana demanding, yet you can't compare the damage you'll inflict during that short period of time to anything. (please no flamming on the latter comment).

[Wanell]

3 FFB crits > 3 AB crits because you aren't factoring in the ignites after. It might not be within the 6 secs you are talking about, but 1:1 FFB crits higher then AB because of ignites.

Cause getting three 15k arcane blast in a row is something you won't find in deep fire of FFB spec.

But you'll find my comment was in regards to that.

[Steady]

MBAM = Missile Barrage Arcane Missiles, i.e. the talent in deep Arcane which cuts your AMissiles channelling time in half when it procs. http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=54490

On their own 3 FFB crits wouldn't do as much damage as 3 AB crits, but they would also cause a pretty decent ignite and of course proc an instant Pyro. Guess which wins . But Fireball > FFB anyway.

[whiskey_oktober]

arcane is a great spec for many of the reasons people have said above. it provides on-demand dps (i've had 7k+ on tene/shadron portion of s3d), as well as more then decent maintainable damage.

[Malentra]

This is happening a lot more than the "skilled arcane" mages will admit.

All this chatter about how "fun" and "skill requiring" arcane is to play and when you parse the logs.... AB spam.

Saying Arcane is about spamming AB is just like saying Fireball spec is spamming Fireball, or Destruction is about spamming Incinerate or Boomkins spam Wrath.  Just when a spell comprises a large portion of total damage done *does not mean* that the spell is being spammed, nor that spamming it is max dps.

This post really gives away the fact you haven't tried to play the spec correctly nor imagine how the spec will play in Ulduar when fights may actually go longer than 2-3 minutes.  Additionally, its actually extremely difficult to spam AB for any sustained amount of time.  I'd be surprised if someone could keep it up non-stop for more than 30 seconds without an innervate.

Seriously tho... it's a shame that a person can 1 button spam to within the top few positions of the meters and glean some level of satisfaction from it.

Since when was this about TBC Destrolocks?

[moongleam]

When I was frostfire, I would get over 10k self buffed, and I've seen over 13k raidbuffed from a FFB crit, when things line up, they line up for every spec. A string of crits will give more damage to FFB. If you took a frostfire mage and an arcane mage, gave them both a 100% crit rate, the frostfire would win, they just get more out of crits.

On the other hand, theres nothing quite like getting a clearcast missile barrage when all your clickies are down and standing in two stacks on mally and seeing rapid-fire 10k+ arcane missile crits

-Moon

[AuthurDent]

My point relates the the actual post topic... and the inherent masses of mages that play the meters not the spec. As soon as one spec nudges ahead in dps potential there is some mass exodus to that spec.

In this case, the AB spamming does allow competetive DPS with pushing 1-2 buttons... EVEN if they go OOM for short periods.

I think Arcane is a viable spec... but it will be some more massaging (lolz) from Blizz... and there will once again be a huge QQ over the horrible nerfs.... but mostly by the 1 button spammers.

Those mages that truly play the spec for it's "challenge" will still be competetive. The rest may have to go back to their Huntard's BM 1 macro mashing toon.

[Anobix]

AB spam and using Mbar on procs is the best dps cycle you can do as arcane, so what you are saying is correct.

[slipshade]

3 FFB crits > 3 AB crits because you aren't factoring in the ignites after. It might not be within the 6 secs you are talking about, but 1:1 FFB crits higher then AB because of ignites.

But you'll find my comment was in regards to that.

ignites stack again????? news to me

[rathok]

wow... you guys are all WAY OT. He is just saying that for short fights AB spam does retardedly high damage and rightfully so as it destroys your mana. This is not something sustainable or practical for clearing new content. But when you have patchwerk down in <3 mins it doesn't hurt to blow a little extra mana on a 4th AB or chain them with 2x spark on maly.