Which artifact/spec should I pick to get into raiding ASAP?

[Merixa]

I currently play a holy paladin but I'm looking to level a mage as my raiding alt. I don't know anything about mages however and I'm not sure which artifact would be the best for me to rush to 54 first for the sake of raiding. She wont be kitted out in raid BoEs and ofc I don't know what legendaries she will get.

[Deleted]

They are all good. However lately people have been saying frost are best for raiding.

[Fayenoor]

Correction. They are all bad; so doesn't matter which one you pick.

[MaddyLif3]

as opposed to the above post, mages are a little down right now. however, starting from scratch with no legendaries, I'd go either Frost or Arcane. fire is in a bad state right now unless you have the BiS legendaries. Frost is best ST spec and great at 2 target cleave. Arcane scales well and is very solid.

[Fayenoor]

as opposed to the above post, mages are a little down right now. however, starting from scratch with no legendaries, I'd go either Frost or Arcane. fire is in a bad state right now unless you have the BiS legendaries. Frost is best ST spec and great at 2 target cleave. Arcane scales well and is very solid.

Problem with that advice is with frost as main spec, unless he has a set group, he is never going to get invited to Mythic+ PuGs (even lower ones). And despite any length of wall-of-text Blizzard posts, we still need to run a LOT of Mythic+ to get AP and gear in order to be raid viable.

[HuxNeva]

I would go for the play style you prefer. None of them are strong at the moment. One simple tuning hotfix can turn the tables upside down any day. Most guilds will let you play whatever, and those that don't probably also require at least 54/35/35.

[MaddyLif3]

Problem with that advice is with frost as main spec, unless he has a set group, he is never going to get invited to Mythic+ PuGs (even lower ones). And despite any length of wall-of-text Blizzard posts, we still need to run a LOT of Mythic+ to get AP and gear in order to be raid viable.

well, unless they ask him he'll get in, because he is a mage lol. but frost isn't so terrible at M+ that they can't manage it.

[Merixa]

So... Arcane or Frost is the best choice as a starting spec until i have the legendaries and AP to switch between fights?

[D3athsting]

So... Arcane or Frost is the best choice as a starting spec until i have the legendaries and AP to switch between fights?

Keep in mind that if you have loot set to frost you will never get arcane/fire specific legendaries but only the x-spec ones like tw ring or the x-class ones like chest neck trinket and the terrible sephuz, so you have to decide what legendaries fish for...

[stevenho]

Frost is best for single target and 2/3 target stacked cleave. There are not many fights in NH where it is the highest mage spec on the meters, but having a strong ST is always useful on progression. It is quite meh on farm though. And farm usually lasts many months.

[nickseng]

Problem with that advice is with frost as main spec, unless he has a set group, he is never going to get invited to Mythic+ PuGs (even lower ones). And despite any length of wall-of-text Blizzard posts, we still need to run a LOT of Mythic+ to get AP and gear in order to be raid viable.

Lower mythics are usually very forgiving in what they spec they pick. And if you're running to farm AP, it's going to be the lower ones.

[elfporn]

So... Arcane or Frost is the best choice as a starting spec until i have the legendaries and AP to switch between fights?

Max your fire weapon, set lootspec to arcane or frost. Should take very little time to get the fire wep to 35 since it's an alt and you can begin at AK-20.

Maxxing fire first will make it easier to get into dungeons for gearing.

[Deleted]

Problem with that advice is with frost as main spec, unless he has a set group, he is never going to get invited to Mythic+ PuGs (even lower ones). And despite any length of wall-of-text Blizzard posts, we still need to run a LOT of Mythic+ to get AP and gear in order to be raid viable.

M+ pugs dont care about what mage spec you are, ilvl is king there. Playing frost from launch, never asked what spec I am.

[mrgreenthump]

M+ pugs dont care about what mage spec you are, ilvl is king there. Playing frost from launch, never asked what spec I am.

Nah, I've seen Arcane and Frost Mages get kicked out the instant the group has found out they weren't Fire. Though I've also left those groups, because they clearly don't know what's what.

[jaakkeli]

Nah, I've seen Arcane and Frost Mages get kicked out the instant the group has found out they weren't Fire. Though I've also left those groups, because they clearly don't know what's what.

Yeah, for whatever reason there's a perception that arcane is a bad aoe spec even though it's one of the best in the game and arcane explosion spam is often even better than what fire has to offer.

Frost mages are great at higher level mythics whenever the mods require the tank to kite but most pugs won't understand that.

[Nico3337]

Frost is best for single target and 2/3 target stacked cleave. There are not many fights in NH where it is the highest mage spec on the meters, but having a strong ST is always useful on progression. It is quite meh on farm though. And farm usually lasts many months.

this is just not true. Frost is the best mage specc by far in NH. https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/11#dataset=99

[stevenho]

Of course its true.
Frost is best on single target/2-3 cleave and nothing else.

[Deleted]

Of course its true.
Frost is best on single target/2-3 cleave and nothing else.

Not like there's a ton of other stuff that matters in NH. You've got the adds on aluriel that need to be cleaved swiftly, other than that frost dominates fire and arcane on every single fight.

[noimawizard]

Correction. They are all bad; so doesn't matter which one you pick.

so incorrect it's laughable. https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/11

Frost is so hella strong right now and borderline OP with correct legs. It's also very sstrong in high m+. Typical Fire cry babies trying to bring us all down.

[Mahogany]

so incorrect it's laughable. https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/11

Frost is so hella strong right now and borderline OP with correct legs. It's also very sstrong in high m+. Typical Fire cry babies trying to bring us all down.

You forget that it is that strong due to Legendaries and all the "Fire Cry Babies" put months of effort into Fire only to now find out it sucks and they have to reinvest AP (something Blizzard said would not happen) AND restart the legendary farm, which means getting 1 every 6 weeks or so asuming you have a life beside wow.

I was lucky with my fire Legendaries, gotten Bracers & Belt - but the ones after in order: Norgannon -> Belovir -> Prydaz -> Sephuz
I would gladly trade all of those for just 1 Frost DPS legendary, not to mention I still don't have the legendary helm, which is what makes Fire decent on AoE fights!