Mage top dps spec in live wow atm

[Doran]

Sry i know im a hunter but i just lvled my mage up and i was wondering what the absolute top dps spec is for mages at this moment in time thank you

[Risura]

From experience of my mage and other mages it depends on gear level.

I was doing more DPS at 70 with full KZ gear than I was at freshly dinged 80 (1.5k DPS in TK compared to 1.2 in my first naxx gearcheck run).

After changing to Arcane I got back to 1.5 and as I collected my heroic gear and free 2 part of T7 I was moving onto 1.9, after a few drops from naxx and a new rotation always above 2k dps in heroics and up to 4k dps on boss fights.

Once you are at this level I would suggest rolling onto FFB as you should have the crit to pull it off and FFB will out dps arcane on the long boss fights.

[Steady]

The potential top DPS spec is 18/53/0.

However, as you've recently dinged 80, I'd suggest speccing Arcane or Frost until you get better gear. FFB and FB specs are absolutely dire without a truckload of crit in FFB's case, and a truckload of hit in FB's case.

Have a look around, you'll see plenty of threads asking about this on the first few pages of this forum. However, PLEASE don't listen to the brainwashed masses who say FFB is best whatever gear you're in. It's not.

Good luck!

[Doran]

sry should of been a lil more specific, its my buddies mage and hes quittin. He has most 25 man naxx gear and some 10 man gear so its a geared mage

[extrudedcow]

The arcane and torment/fire specs are the strongest two. Arcane tends to perform better in shorter fights (does extremely well in the 2-3 minute range), torment/fire does consistent damage but lacks in cooldowns, and FFB has high efficiency and strong AOE.

All of these specs will be mediocre if not played well. Read the sticky, it should be able to answer most of your questions.

[FieldEffect]

Sry i know im a hunter but i just lvled my mage up and i was wondering what the absolute top dps spec is for mages at this moment in time thank you

sry should of been a lil more specific, its my buddies mage and hes quittin. He has most 25 man naxx gear and some 10 man gear so its a geared mage

wha?

[Gadirm]

HAI I JUST BOUGHT A MAGE HOW DO I PLAY

I lol'd ;D

Tbh dude, it is fairly clear that either you bought the account or you didn't level it, in either case the best way to learn the class is to ACTUALLY play it (go figure).

Anyhow i think the best thing to do is to just use the current spec your "friend" had because he probably are using the gear for his current spec... sry you will be using the gear for YOUR current spec.

Few pointers: Arcane = less need for hitrating (210 with boomkin in raid or 280 (something like that) without) and goes better with high hasterating
FFB (Frostfire bolt, just in case you dont understand the abrevasions in mage community) spec = High crit is a must as most DPS is the massive crits from it and a hitrating on about 330 i think.
Im not going to go into the FB spec since i havent tried it out myself yet so i cant rly talk out of own experience.

PS I dont think you will perform any good in raids atm so dont worry about hitrating since you probably will mess up spellrotation on your newly bought char, enjoy.

[Romanoo]

I'd say 0/0/0...

get a good wand and press the "Shoot" button, will get you over 350dps! :O:O:O:O

[Wiimage]

I'd say 0/0/0...

get a good wand and press the "Shoot" button, will get you over 350dps! :O:O:O:O

Too bad that got nerfed in like 3.0 when they removed the "improved wand" tallent from the arcane tree.

[Izzybear8]

arcane spec 57/3/11, but you have to be geared enough and be sure you are on top of your rotation, glyph of arc blast, missles, and molten armor.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=of0ifz0IzxGuMxedcZbhf0o

some people opt for arcane stability, I personally feel its a waste in the current content seeing as i dont really ever get interrupted. rotation arc barrage, arc blast x3, (x2 if your mana pool / regen cant handle it, but if it is x2, you may wanna look for a dif spec because you should be able to handle it) anyways then arc barrage after the x3, if you get a proc from the arcane blast you use your missles instead of arc barrage after the 3rd stack. after you arcane missles you always arcane barrage, and if you get a missle barrage proc any time you have 0 stacks of arc blast then you use it immediately. if you dont then you would arc blast as normal... so here is an example

you are in a bossfight you start with a barrage, you get a Mbarrage proc, you would use it right then, then arc barrage after it, if no proc you go arcane blast x3, lets say you got a mbarrage proc after your 2nd stack you would use arcane blast still to the 3rd stack, and then mbarrage on the 3rd and arcane barrage right after. Lets say you got a mbarrage proc you would use it, and then arc barrage. I have had it several times where i arc barraged got a proc, missle barraged, arc barrage, missle barrage etc.

I hope all this makes sense, and yea just because he wants to learn a new class dont dog him for it... jeez.... any questions just message me

[Romanoo]

Too bad that got nerfed in like 3.0 when they removed the "improved wand" tallent from the arcane tree.

it must have been for ebayers who came too close in dps

[Izzybear8]

and yeah i meant to say i put out 5.2k dps on patch this week with a long kill time. wasnt even achievement worthy yeap..... I topped my overall data for damage done with about 4.5k dps average.

[Orcrist]

some people opt for arcane stability, I personally feel its a waste in the current content seeing as i dont really ever get interrupted. rotation arc barrage, arc blast x3, (x2 if your mana pool / regen cant handle it, but if it is x2, you may wanna look for a dif spec because you should be able to handle it) anyways then arc barrage after the x3, if you get a proc from the arcane blast you use your missles instead of arc barrage after the 3rd stack. after you arcane missles you always arcane barrage, and if you get a missle barrage proc any time you have 0 stacks of arc blast then you use it immediately. if you dont then you would arc blast as normal... so here is an example

you are in a bossfight you start with a barrage, you get a Mbarrage proc, you would use it right then, then arc barrage after it, if no proc you go arcane blast x3, lets say you got a mbarrage proc after your 2nd stack you would use arcane blast still to the 3rd stack, and then mbarrage on the 3rd and arcane barrage right after. Lets say you got a mbarrage proc you would use it, and then arc barrage. I have had it several times where i arc barraged got a proc, missle barraged, arc barrage, missle barrage etc.

I know you are trying to be helpful, but this is awful advice. Go look at the relevant thread in EJ

http://elitistjerks.com/f75/t42876-arcane_thread/

and model it with Rawr.

Arcane Barrage no longer belongs in any rotation whilst standing still. The last changes to the ABar spell damage modifier mean that the the only relevant (very boring) rotations are:

AB, AB, AB, AM/MBAM if you have the mana *
AB, AB, AM/MBAM if mana is tight
AB spam (MBAM when proc) in extreme haste conditiosn (Heroism/Bloodlust or IV + haste trinket Proc).

* AB, AB, AB, AM/MBAM or ABar was discussed as the high dps rotation but discarded on grounds that it's very small extra damage is too high in mana costs.

I'm desperately hoping that Blizzard will make some changes in 3.1, as the above rotations are sooo boring, and their brand-new, shiny spell Arcane Barrage is all but useless in PvE (makes up 5% of damage over the course of a raid).

Edited for Typo

[Izzybear8]

thats funny because i have tested the other way and countless times and i keep turning up with the same results being that arcane barrage ups my net dps by a good amount, rather than hindering it. I know about EJs thread but unfortunately it does not seem to be the truth when i am raiding. I guess i will take a closer look and see, but im pretty sure its going to come back the same way it always does for me

[Orcrist]

OK - I didn't do the maths, but I trust the guy doing it in EJ (Kavan).
Also from my personal experience arcane barrage can only be used to execute trash (to get off a quick blast right at the end), when moving (Heigan), or if you have real excess mana in a boss fight (which you shouldn't have, it means you haven't used it in the right way - for instance not spammed AB in heroism - or have let evocate tick for too long, for instance).

I am pretty consistently top dps in my raid, and have done 5700 dps on Patchwork (which I know isn't anywhere near really top dps - we still haven't managed Patchwork in under 3 min in my raid so the fight is going on for too long).

Whether arcane remains competitve in 3.1 is in the lap of the Gods. The fights are much longer and apparently it's difficult getting in full evocates ...

[Xevec]

I still do the regular rotation of 3x arcane blast arcane barrage. This idea that the ONLY rotation of 3x AB, AM regardless of whether or not you get missile barrage seems to take up too much time. Sitting there for 4 seconds, and having your missiles fire seems to be a waste of time. I am still able to get 12k crits with arcane barrage.

With this rotation, I am able to get 7k DPS on patchwerk(people still laugh at me calling my DPS terribad).

Mana issues are few and far between for me as being arcane. It's all about using evocate at the right time. I usually try to do it right before the bloodlust ends. I do the 3x arcane blast spam repeatedly to get the most out of my DPS(of course, I don't ignore the MB proc).

But people calling arcane barrage TOTALLY useless in PvE are insane. I haven't read much up on the raids, but I hope these raids are mobile. Arcane barrage is excellent for those fights on the move. Heigan during P2 is such an example. I spam fire blast and arcane barrage constantly.

[rathok]

As a mage who recently dung 80 and is going through getting geared up i would highly recommend going arcane. It gives you more +sp dmg, 6% hit from talents, +int, +spirit and you can alter your rotation to fit the needs of your mana (either 3xAB+AM/Abarr or just 2xAB+AM/Abarr). You also have 2 minute evocates so you can get in 2 evocates on some of the longer fights if need be. FFB is good but as mentioned previously you will need a lot of crit to make it really shine. Arcane... doesn't really require anything special and that 6% hit is KEY when you are gearing up because you know that you aren't going to be at the hit cap with the gear you have from leveling.

57/3/11 is definitely the way to go. fun for PVP too = D

[Bentusi]

and yeah i meant to say i put out 5.2k dps on patch this week with a long kill time. wasnt even achievement worthy yeap..... I topped my overall data for damage done with about 4.5k dps average.

look....

we are raiding harmless content and as for PW you might as well get the guild to stand around the heroic training dummy in SW for 3 minutes.

epeen about spamming a rotation in perfect safety with less lag than 15 other people is unjustified, please post stuff like that in the wow forums

[Spomo]

I really don't see why people are qq and worried about arcane disappearing. You can easily spec into arcane concentration and increased spirit plus with the new glyph you'll be getting 100% increased mana regen in combat, coupled with a shaman in group with mana tide etc, I have no idea why people are soo qq about mana right now. Even fights like hodir that have debuffs that stack the more you stay stationary offer you plenty of time to use evo, not being able to spar the like6 or so seconds for an evo is ridiculous.