Mage specs for 5.0.4

[zomgDPS]

Fire's mobility isn't as bad as you might think.

Its not bad, but it can't hold a candle to frost's mobility.

Remember, Frost has access to pretty much everything Fire has as far as mobility is concerned, but it also has FOrb and the Elemental on top of all that to help with mobility. Esp since FOrb is pretty much a FoF-proccing machine.

[Statix]

Fire is looking really amazing with Ingite as Mastery and Inferno Blast having a 100% crit chance. The single most annoying thing about Fire in Cataclysm was the no-crit-streak that would screw up your DPS; no Ignite, no Pyroblast and therefore, no Combustion. Back when I played, this made the difference between 85k burst or barely getting past 30k burst on Ultraxion.

I'll probably level as Frost still, but I will go Fire for raiding. Fire has always been my favorite raiding spec. For some reason Arcane and Frost don't feel as raiding specs.

[rokk]

One thing that really helps fire's mobility is the fact you can still force a Pyro with Inferno Blast even though Scorch has no travel time. I'm assuming it has to do with the queuing system. When you see a Scorch crit, and you queue an Inferno Blast just before the next Scorch cast ends, it will proc your Pyro.

Combine this with the fact Scorch has a smaller cast time, you end up with a lot more Pyro procs than with Fireball. I tested this on the new dummies in Shat, I killed 2 of them (50 mill HP). The first one I killed using Fireball as my main nuke, the second I used only Scorch. I was wearing the PVP gear, un-gemed and un-enchanted as recommended by a blue post. I used no trinkets, and chose Incanter's Ward as level 90 talent in order to minimize any outside influences.

There was only a 5% difference in the end, with Fireball being on top. Granted this includes human error, I know for a fact there were Pyro procs that I missed with Scorch, and I know once I popped a combust under sub-optimal conditions with Fireball, so take this for what it is -- anecdotal evidence. But I figured it was worth mentioning due to the length of the test and the controlled environment.

[Biiru]

My mage is an alt that's why I didn't pay too much attention to the changes... Is now frost possible for pve?

[Sattori]

My mage is an alt that's why I didn't pay too much attention to the changes... Is now frost possible for pve?

Frost and Fire are both viable for 85-90 PvE, Arcane seems to be the late bloomer but all three are solid at 90.

[Zavri]

For 85:

Arcane is unplayable
Frost is Subpar
Fire is King

[Mage1]

For 85:

Arcane is unplayable
Frost is Subpar
Fire is King

I'd have to disagree with fire... I tried fire first as my main spec and reforged to 35 % crit and 25 % haste with 16 % mastery and fire was horrible.

On fights like zonozz and ultraxion it did well but only on those fights. On fights like morchok or warmaster it was garbage.

[Babylonia]

I'd have to disagree with fire... I tried fire first as my main spec and reforged to 35 % crit and 25 % haste with 16 % mastery and fire was horrible.

On fights like zonozz and ultraxion it did well but only on those fights. On fights like morchok or warmaster it was garbage.

I was able to sustain 50k (some heroic gear) using fire with combustion glyph on dummies (maxed out at 56k). Granted this is on multiple targets but 2 of em were lvl 90 so I was missing a lot. Additionally, I am using mastery (was geared for H Spine and never reforged). I'm interested in reforging with new fire spec as mastery seems viable with combustion bonus. My guild did a cata achive run last night (done farming DS) and fire was competitive on all fights. Fire seems much less RNG dependent. My only complaint is a lack of true AOE ability. Haven't tried frost yet, and I am looking for input.

[klaps_05]

fire too good
frost 1shot pvp

good expansion imo



ps. although warlock still crit for over 200k with chaos bolt, so nerf that and me gusta

[Mage1]

I was able to sustain 50k (some heroic gear) using fire with combustion glyph on dummies (maxed out at 56k). Granted this is on multiple targets but 2 of em were lvl 90 so I was missing a lot. Additionally, I am using mastery (was geared for H Spine and never reforged). I'm interested in reforging with new fire spec as mastery seems viable with combustion bonus. My guild did a cata achive run last night (done farming DS) and fire was competitive on all fights. Fire seems much less RNG dependent. My only complaint is a lack of true AOE ability. Haven't tried frost yet, and I am looking for input.

Fire does well with good mastery. I reforged to 35 % crit, 15 % haste, 20 % mastery and was pulling 60 k dps on three target lvl 85 dummies and 40 k dps on one dummy.