Need some help gem-wise!

[Healsalot]

Hey guys,

Im an alt (this i hope will excuse my poor knowledge/judgment regarding my mage), and i kinda enjoy raiding a bit on my mage as arcane.

This saturday, i wanted to join an icc25 pug, RL was stricht and required achievement links for x-bosses, and an inspection. He did however not like my gemming, and basicly told me to go to hell and l2p. I have been doing icc25 pugs 4/12, and topping meters on Saurfang with 11k dps including most dmg done on the adds.

The gems he mentioned as shit was my 20 haste gem(s), but when i told him i did this to keep my 2p t10 set active 100%, he laughed at me... He was a mage aswell, and had alot of experience from hardcore mage raiding (so he told me), but he was currently in fire spec, so it was hard to see if i was totally wrong when i compared myself to him on armory.

Could you guys give me a few pointers pls? Thx a million

http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...hj&cn=Shegyver

Signature is for my pala, so dont bother looking in that 8)

[Bielz]

gemming spellpower/haste in stead of haste for yellow slots.
Otherwise your gemming looks fine.

[hlin]

Gems look ok in general, but yes, change the pure haste for haste/sp as Bielz says. And here's why

Spellpower and haste are about equal for an arcane mage (depending on gear of course), so if we set each stat equal to 1 point, we get:

20 haste = 20 points
24 SP = 24 points
12 SP + 10 haste = 22 points

So your socket bonus has to make up 2 SP every time you plop a SP/haste in a yellow socket instead of a pure SP gem. On ICC gear they easily do that, so it's usually worth it to gem SP/haste in all yellows.

General piece of advice: try to dump some hit, you are waaaaay over cap.
If you have a little gold to burn, get the other crafted boots, they have spirit, but would be a much better than the +hit ones you currently have equipped.
Or even better: if you tend to run with a +hit debuff (spriest or boomkin), try and get a hold of Mag'hari Chieftain's Staff from saurfang 10, it has delicious amounts of haste.
Be careful not to grab it out of the hands of a holy priest or restodruid though, it is clearly itemized for them even if it's a good arcane mage weapon.

Another good weapon alternative is Nibelung of course.

[Tonomi]

20 haste gems don't provide as much damage as 23 sp or 12 sp/10 haste. For the sake of comparison, consider 1 haste to equal 1 sp. It's not quite that, but it this is for example's sake, not hardcore math. By gemming 12 sp/10 haste, you'll get 22 "sp" without losing haste as opposed to the 20 "sp" from the 20 haste gem.

If being above 810 haste is important to you, swap your off-hand to the Shriveled Heart from Heroic Halls of Reflection, especially since you are over hitcap. Even after replacing your haste gems with 12sp/10 haste, this will put you at 835 haste. This haste increase will counter the slight loss in sp from losing the Scourgelord's Baton, and should increase your dps by about half a percent in general.

[Healsalot]

Awesome feedback guys, thx alot!

I read somewhere, that i have to stay at or above 814 haste for the 2set t10 to have a 100% uptime on the 4xAB rotation i use, is this total BS or ?

Cause, if it is not BS, i think that 12% haste on the 4th AB is far more worth than say 30 sp... Am i wrong?

[Healsalot]

Right, changed to Mag'hari now, and it all looks sweet now

Take a look and comment if more corrections are needed

http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...hj&cn=Shegyver

Cheers

[sidphoenix]

milamber.ch/spellhastecap.html

this shows you what level of haste you need for various speeds of casting.

but as a quick overview, you're not going to get AB4MBAM fully hasted without icy veins or berserking or lust.

lets say you cast arcane missiles, using the missile barrage. a fraction of a second after the cast finishes, "pushing the limit" procs. you now have 12% haste for 5 seconds. AB casts*4 +AM starting to cast before the end of 5 seconds would require that you be under 1.25 seconds each(even assuming no latency after channeled spells or regular spells).

So even with Wrath of air, moonkin, pushing the limit, and netherwind presence, 814 only gets you to 1.56 seconds per cast, which is why i advocate the AB3MBAM rotation to keep uptime high, and mana consumption low. 1.56 seconds*3 is 4.68 seconds for the 3, so you can get your MBAM shooting off hasted, but if you do another blast, then the missiles will be at the lower speed.

The funny thing about the number you mention is it is close to a significant one. If you stay UNDER 812, then you can pop icy veins during bloodlust and not go under GCD even with pushing the limit. my mage sits at 1037 in arcane gear and is a troll, so i stagger my cooldowns.

[Healsalot]

Very interesting Sid, but...

Now just feel free to correct me if im wrong, still learning here

- Wouldnt ur math regarding AB3MBAM (1.56*3) ie. the 4.68 sec., still be what to aim for when going AB4 as u only have to start casting 4th AB while pushing the limit is active? (Read: "Pushing the limit" buff can fall off during 4th AB cast, but still count for the full lenght of the 4th AB, as it was cast be4 "Pushing the limit" ran out)?

If i make non-sense in my choise of words, just say so, and i will try to elaborate

Again thx to all u helpful souls out there.

[ref1mind]

great read in here! thanks

[GISP]

edit: And your now properly gemmed.
Tread can be closed now

[Healsalot]

Still need a feedback on:

Very interesting Sid, but...

Now just feel free to correct me if im wrong, still learning here

- Wouldnt ur math regarding AB3MBAM (1.56*3) ie. the 4.68 sec., still be what to aim for when going AB4 as u only have to start casting 4th AB while pushing the limit is active? (Read: "Pushing the limit" buff can fall off during 4th AB cast, but still count for the full lenght of the 4th AB, as it was cast be4 "Pushing the limit" ran out)?

If i make non-sense in my choise of words, just say so, and i will try to elaborate

Again thx to all u helpful souls out there.

[Skarrd]

Very interesting Sid, but...

Now just feel free to correct me if im wrong, still learning here

- Wouldnt ur math regarding AB3MBAM (1.56*3) ie. the 4.68 sec., still be what to aim for when going AB4 as u only have to start casting 4th AB while pushing the limit is active? (Read: "Pushing the limit" buff can fall off during 4th AB cast, but still count for the full lenght of the 4th AB, as it was cast be4 "Pushing the limit" ran out)?

If i make non-sense in my choise of words, just say so, and i will try to elaborate

Again thx to all u helpful souls out there.

Correct, but you also need to make sure you are accounting for latency when you think about what the cast time needs to be.

[sidphoenix]

your fourth AB will be hasted.

BUT

you were planning on casting a spell after that yes?

That spell will not be hasted.

so the AB3MBAM rotation is 100% uptime with procs permitting, which they will 64% of the time, while AB4MBAM without cooldowns blown is going to have the MBAM casting without the haste. AB4MBAM is a marginally higher DPS choice, but burns mana between 30 and 50% faster depending on how long you fish before terminating the AB stack. you can use either, but the second you start taking mana into consideration, AB3 should win with 2pc t10

[Healsalot]

This feedback is simply awesome. Im so glad i made this thread, it really helped me out alot.

Thanks for all the shared thoughts/corrections, really appreciate it <3

/thread i guess