85 Mage Spec and Rotation HELP

[Deadlyshotz]

Ok so I'm having a problem. I am currently an 85 Gnome mage with item lvl 329(not 229, sorry) and am arcane spec. I plan on staying arcane for heroics because its what I have liked as a mage (but will change to fire if it matters). I'm a currently speced pretty and am using the rotation arcane blast x 3---> Arcane missles and then my cooldowns thrown in there but for some reason, I'm only pulling like a max of 4.5 K dps while I talked to another arcane mage who said her spec was arcane too and a similar rotation and she is pulling almost 12K. I may not be as geared as here (IDK wat her gear was) but I know I should be doing more DPS. So what I'm asking is can anyone help me with a heroic spec for arcane and a detailed rotation because I want to be doing better before I even start heroics, thansk

And if arcane is not what you think is best, please do the same for fire ( spec and detailed rotation)

Thanks

[Weenietot]

Are you keeping your mana near full at all times? If you're not, you're losing a lot of DPS due to Mana Adept Mastery. That gives you more damage the higher your mana pool is. You want to stay near 100% mana as best you can.

Here's a suggestion: try frost. Dps is about the same as Arcane and Fire, yet you get nice burst and nice additional CCs. The rotation is also a blast.

As far as fire, AoEing you want to do Living Bomb 3 targets, Flame Orb, Blastwave, DBreath, spam Flamestrike if mana is not an issue (it is), in which case you refresh Flamestrike when the dot wears off.

For single target, Flame Orb whenever it's up, Living Bomb, one Scorch to proc Critical Mass and then either Fireball or Scorch. Scorch does 90% of the damage Fireball does, but it's mana free and can be cast while moving. Mana management is key as pure Fireball spam will leave you without mana very fast. You want to end up with zero mana by the time the fight ends. You will need to judge how much mana you're using and decide which spell is more appropriate. The optimal situation is save as much mana for <35% boss life so molten fury kicks in and then fireball the rest of the fight.

[Deleted]

BTW you dont need to keep your mana full at all times to get the best dps out of arcane just the more mana you have the higher your spells will hit for
As for the rotation where you are going wrong is reseting the arcane blast stacks a bit early as you get most of your damage from a 4 stack arcane blast you see for the rotations of arcane you have burn phase and conserve phases you are either blowing all your mana or not using any now this is all dependant on gear but what you need to be doing is some thing like this.

@ 100% mana evo is up start of fight cast 4 arcane blast then use mana gem (or even 3 then pom AB) at this point you will be back at 100% mana then you start spamming arcane blast you can also proc arcane power and even trinkets here mirror image too if you are pulling threat now you will spam AB untill you go oom then evo then spam to 4 AB again then reset that is the burn now after that reset depending on your gear you will need to find the sweet spot where you are either gaining mana or not using any with my current gear i can stack to 2 AB's and reset during this conserve phase and some times 3 with good clear casting procs i will aslo add a the spec i use after this just armory is messing up and will need to use a diff calculator hope this helps

Also just to add any mana left at end of fight is wasted dps (as they say) so i usually at the last 15-25% go all out AB spam again i can pull above 25k burst and hold 12-14k non burst with this rotation

---------- Post added 2010-12-15 at 04:36 PM ----------

This is the current spec and glyphs that i am using with that rotation also take advantage of incanters absorption by keeping mage ward and mana shield up some of the time also the healer will thank you and dont forget counter spell for the invocation buff ^^
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#ohIrMRhRMRRofZc:qV00MaomV

Also you need to be running with mage armour on if you did not know it's not molten armour any more

[iamtripz]

For Arcane, It is ALL about managing mana. I start off the fight spamming AB to get ABx4 once I hit that, I pop mana gem
+ AP and start spamming AB until I hit 25% mana. Then I Evocate and do a ABx3 -> AM or Abar depending on if AM procs. I repeat that and I stay around 85% mana the whole time. THEN once all your cooldowns are back up.. go back to spamming AB's.. BAM 13k dps easily

[ShadCroly]

http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/12/04/ar...ide-for-mages/

To answer your rotation question, and to expand upon Mana Adept:

Basic rotation Arcane's rotation is governed by Mana Adept's dependency on your mana pool. Your highest damage rotation is simple Arcane Blast spam, but spamming that spell also burns through your mana pool at an incredibly rapid clip. The idea is to break your rotation up into phases.

* Burn phase Arcane Blast spam until you get to about 40 percent of your mana pool. Slip in Arcane Power and your Mana Gem when you deem appropriate (to buff your damage output during this high-output phase and return your mana to full when it gets low enough).
* Recovery phase Evocation to get your mana pool back to 100 percent.
* Conservation phase The actual rotation here varies based on your gear and level. The concept is to keep your mana at the same optimal level long enough to get close to the cooldown of your Evocation being up and thus primed for another burn phase. For most mages, you want your mana pool top stay around 85 to 90 percent. The best rotation to maintain this mana level (and thus consistent high DPS output) will change as your gear improves, and you will need to do some tinkering and/or research to determine the rotation specific to your mage.

The basic template to follow for the conservation phase is:

Arcane Blast x2 (or more) --> Arcane Missiles (or Arcane Barrage if Arcane Missiles hasn't procced) --> repeat

Adjust that as necessary to make sure your mana pool stays at 85 to 90 percent; then when Evocation comes back, you begin the burn phase. Mastery of this complex rotation is something of an art, and I firmly believe that Blizzard has placed playing this this spec properly so far beyond the scope of the casual WoW player's reach that number-crunching, spreadsheet jiggery, and outside research is pretty much required for arcane mages now.

If that sounds like too much work to you, don't spec arcane.

I played using this style in the BETA when it was still active, and it's not that hard to get down. The above URL has some awesome information for both Fire and Frost mages if your wanna take a look into them as well.

[Deleted]

I am currently an 85 Gnome mage with item lvl 229

Really? ilev 229 would mean you're in Ulduar 25/ToC 10 level gear. Go buy some level 85 BoE greens/blues from AH and stick some cheap enchants on them (as you'll be swapping them within a week no doubt). That may just explain why there is so much of a difference between your DPS and your friends. I'm currently level 83 (took my time to buy the game, and have gone casual due to new work ) and I'm pulling 9-10k steady on long boss fights as Frost.

Otherwise, did you mean ilev 329? If so then what has been posted above me should sort you out.