Mage PvE FAQ

[TruffleMuffin]

what skarrd said, but i would highly recommend proc trinkets. why? the ICD is usually a full 75 seconds shorter than an on-use CD is (45 seconds vs 2 minutes) and proc trinkets don't trigger the "burst cooldown", which, if you're an engineer, is an occurrence that kills your face.

proc trinkets also have better (usually, there are a few rare exceptions) passive stats on them and higher proc numbers than an on-use has.

the only thing that favors the on-use is the control you have over it, but your guild could lust 105 seconds after you popped your trinket, which means you have another 15 seconds to go before you can use it again, whereas the proc trinket could proc whenever (and usually procs within lust anyway).

Agreed, perhaps the only On-use trinket I would go for (one of my current ones) is Talisman of resurgence. The CD is a bit killer but I pop it with Arcane Power with either BL or Icy Veins.

[Marcshall]

Then I would be moving back to Mage Armor for Mana regen. 3 seconds is not much for Arcane Power. But the mana regen from Mage armor will facilitate much longer burns with AB alone.

No, that's way off. Mage armor should never be used in a raid situation and abspam is with BiS gear, even only with 2pT10, not the best dps rotation.

[TruffleMuffin]

No, that's way off. Mage armor should never be used in a raid situation and abspam is with BiS gear, even only with 2pT10, not the best dps rotation.

Perhaps I should clarify. AB Spam searching for a proc of missiles.

[BendyStraws]

I want to see some more numbers on frost PvE! WTH SWIZZLE. (maybe a bis setup for frost. XD)



But in all seriousness, we needed an update on the mage pve FAQ. Nice work indeed.

[oophillipoo]

NEVER cast arcane barrage unless moving

I have heard from numerous sources that is better to use arcane barrage on every single cooldown confirm/deny?

[Swizzle]

a frost BiS list would be precluded by a trip to the mage trainer.

I have heard from numerous sources that is better to use arcane barrage on every single cooldown confirm/deny?

phil...i really do hate you.

[Skarrd]

I have heard from numerous sources that is better to use arcane barrage on every single cooldown confirm/deny?

I said this in another thread. I support this message. Spam AM and Barrage, make sure barrage interrupts every AM and casts every 3 seconds on the dot.

[Orgasmatron]

how much haste soft cap for troll mages? just wanna learn it i have 1050 haste rating and i'm waiting to drop dislodged foreign object

[Chaoslux]

how much haste soft cap for troll mages? just wanna learn it i have 1050 haste rating and i'm waiting to drop dislodged foreign object

The haste cap is the same for troll mages than it is for any other mages

as said in the faq: If heroism brings you to the 1.0-1.1 region (where using Berserking or Icy Viens would get that under 1), then dont use them, just use Berserking After heroism. and then Icy veins After Berserking.

Edit: my own question i forgot to write:

Where can i find out when haste = 1.2 spellpower?
If the answer is to be "Download Rawr", then where in Rawr would i find such value?

[Deleted]

TtW/fire*: hit till cap>haste>spellpower>crit

Wrong.

Crit is needed a lot more than Haste in Fire to give more chance of getting 2 crits in a row to proc HS. I still think spellpower beats crit, not sure on the numbers though.

Fire BiS list is also wrong as you've made the assumption you need haste more than crit with the Fire spec. Wand, ring and that awful haste trinket are wrong at a quick glance (Rapid Ascent ring is fine afaik). Try playing Fire in all that haste, and hardly any crit/spirit and you'll fail at DPS miserably. Fire mages are probably the most dependant on crit than any other class/spec to be able to do good DPS (after Spriests).

I'm not saying haste is bad, its good to have a decent amount of haste in Fire too, but Crit is worth a lot more.

[BendyStraws]

Wrong.

We all know how Hotstreak works. But haste is more valuable for fireball ttw then crit is. Crit is in fact better for FFB then haste

Hotstreak is indeed nice, but ignite does more damage then your pyros. Mages have tons of crit already as fire. With more haste, you can keep those ignites rollin'

Yes there are numbers about how much better SP is then haste, haste is better then crit, and so forth but you get the idea.

[Skarrd]

We all know how Hotstreak works. But haste is more valuable for fireball ttw then crit is. Crit is in fact better for FFB then haste

Hotstreak is indeed nice, but ignite does more damage then your pyros. Mages have tons of crit already as fire. With more haste, you can keep those ignites rollin'

Yes there are numbers about how much better SP is then haste, haste is better then crit, and so forth but you get the idea.

It's been a while (and a lot of itemlevels) since I've messed with fireball specs in rawr, but haste and crit used to be very close and it would switch up my orange gems between the two all the time as i replaced pieces.

[Milamber]

Where can i find out when haste = 1.2 spellpower?
If the answer is to be "Download Rawr", then where in Rawr would i find such value?

Take a loot at
Slot: Relative Stat Values
and
Slot: Scaling vs. Spell Power

Keep in mind that these numbers are pretty dynamic.

[draconith]

ok so, If I want to calculate the damge I can do with my arcane blast/missles after each stack of AB is applied would I just add 15% to their coefficients per stack? Or is it +15% of the damage I would already do with the spell?

[Azioth]

Blame me, but i cant understand why Reing of Whatever is a BiS trinket for Arcane mages

[DirewolfX]

Blame me, but i cant understand why Reing of Whatever is a BiS trinket for Arcane mages

Even though crit isn't valuable to us, we still have 60%+ raid buffed crit chances. Combine that with our high rate of fire (with 2pt10, my Arcane Blasts are < 1.5 second casts and then I can fire off 5 arcane missiles in ~1.7 seconds), we crit frequently and proc the fire damage. And of course 150/168 passive spell power is nothing to sneeze at.

Swizzle is also assuming that two Dislodged Foreign Objects will not play nice together (if you can even equip them). If the procs don't share an ICD and you can equip both the 277 and 264 DFO, that will be best in slot. Furthermore, the other ICC 25 caster trinket procs on DoT ticks, making it useless for Arcane (Phylactery of the Nameless Lich).

Reign is better than Muradin's Spyglass for arcane, because even though it loses about 32 spell power (heroic vs. heroic), the passive crit is mediocre for Arcane while the crit proc of Reign is still good (see above) and actually increases the value of the crit we have on our gear anyway.

[Milamber]

Swizzle is also assuming that two Dislodged Foreign Objects will not play nice together (if you can even equip them).

you can't (patchnotes 3.x)

[Huldre]

Swizzle here, since the current sticky regarding mage pve FAQ is outdated and I know many people don't bother to read it, I am posting an up-to-date FAQ regarding mages in 3.3 raiding. If you have questions, post them here or hit me up via messages. Since I have been unable to run rawr for a while now, I open the floor for skilled and intelligent players to place their input in here.


FAVORED STATS

Arcane*: hit till cap>haste>spellpower>crit
TtW/fire*: hit till cap>haste>spellpower>crit
FFB: hit till cap>spellpower>crit>haste
Frost: hit till cap>spellpower>haste>crit

*Note: Haste and spellpower are nearly equal for these specs. Spellpower is more valued than haste at low to mid/mid-high level gearing, while haste is valued more at high-end levels.


GEARING

ARCANE BIS (final pre-arthas):

Helm:Sanctified Bloodmage Hood
Neck:Blood Queen's Crimson Choker
Shoulders:Sanctified Bloodmage Shoulderpads
Back:Frostbinder's Shredded Cape
Chest:Sanctified Bloodmage Robe
Bracers:Ether-Soaked Bracers
Gloves:Sanctified Bloodmage Gloves
Belt:Crushing Coldwraith Belt
Legs:Leggings of Woven Death
Feet:Plague Scientist's Boots
Ring 1:Ring of Rapid Ascent
Ring 2:Ashen Band of Endless Destruction
Trinket 1:Dislodged Foreign Object
Trinket 2:Reign of the Dead
Weapon:Rigormortis
Off Hand:Shadow Silk Spindle
Wand:Corpse Impaling Spike

FIRE BIS (final pre-arthas):

Helm:Sanctified Bloodmage Hood
Neck:Blood Queen's Crimson Choker
Shoulders:Sanctified Bloodmage Shoulderpads
Back:Frostbinder's Shredded Cape
Chest:Sanctified Bloodmage Robe
Bracers:The Lady's Brittle Bracers
Gloves:Sanctified Bloodmage Gloves
Belt:Crushing Coldwraith Belt
Legs:Plaguebringer's Stained Pants
Feet:Plague Scientist's Boots
Ring 1:Ring of Rapid Ascent
Ring 2:Ashen Band of Endless Destruction
Trinket 1:Dislodged Foreign Object
Trinket 2:Phylactery of the Nameless Lich
Weapon:Rigormortis
Off Hand:Shadow Silk Spindle
Wand:Wand of Ruby Claret


TALENT SPECS & GEMS

Arcane:
57/3/11

Gems
Meta:Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
Red:Runed Cardinal Ruby or Reckless Ametrine once haste=1.2 spellpower for you.
Blue:Purified Dreadstone(with socket bonuses of 5+spellpower with 2 piece t9 or 7+ spellpower without). Otherwise Runed Cardinal Ruby or Reckless Ametrine once haste=1.2 spellpower for you.
Yellow:Reckless Ametrine

TtW/fire:
20/51/0

Gems
Meta:Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
Red:Runed Cardinal Ruby or Reckless Ametrine once haste=1.2 spellpower for you.
Blue:Purified Dreadstone(with socket bonuses of 5+spellpower with 2 piece t9 or 7+ spellpower without). Otherwise Runed Cardinal Ruby or Reckless Ametrine once haste=1.2 spellpower for you.
Yellow:Reckless Ametrine

FFB(standard, non-anub):
0/51/20

Gems
Meta:Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
Red:Runed Cardinal Ruby
Blue:Purified Dreadstone(with socket bonuses of 5+spellpower with 2 piece t9 or 7+ spellpower without). Otherwise Runed Cardinal Ruby or Potent Ametrine once 1 crit=1.2 spellpower for you.
Yellow:Potent Ametrine

Note: You need 2 Purified Dreadtsone to activate your meta.


ENCHANTS

Helm:Arcanum of Burning Mysteries
Neck: none, neck enchants don't exist my friend
Shoulders:Greater Inscription of the Storm, Master's Inscription of the Storm
Back:Formula: Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed, Lightweave Embroidery, Springy Arachnoweave
Chest:Formula: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats
Bracers:Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower, Fur Lining - Spell Power
Gloves:Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower, Hyperspeed Accelerators
Belt:Frag Belt
Legs:Brilliant Spellthread
Boots:Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality, Nitro Boosts
Ring 1:Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower
Ring 2:Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower
Weapon: Sword/Dagger=Black Magic, Staff=Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower


ROTATIONS

COMMONLY USED ACRONYMS (know these):

Arcane:
ab= Arcane Blast
abarr= Arcane Barrage
mbarr= Missile Barrage
mbam= Missile Barrage Arcane Missiles
am= Arcane Missiles
PoM= Presence of Mind
AP= Arcane Power
evo= Evocation
invis= Invisibility

Fire:
fb= Fireball
lb= Living Bomb
pyro= Pyroblast
HS= Hot Streak
DB= Dragon's Breath
BW= Blast Wave
FFB= Frostfire Bolt

Frost:
FrB= Frostbolt
IV= Icy Veins
CS= Cold Snap
shatter= 50% crit bonus on frozen targets
FoF= Fingers of Frost
BrF= Brain Freeze
WE= Water Elemental
IB= Ice Block
ibarr= Ice Barrier
DF= Deep Freeze


Rotations

Arcane:

abx4-->mbarr
If high on mana: you may extend the arcane blast spam to fish for a mbarr proc
If low on mana: reduce arcane blast spam to 3 followed by mbarr (if procced), otherwise use an unhasted arcane missiles
NEVER cast arcane barrage unless moving
Stagger haste cooldowns to keep from going under the 1 second GCD cap with your arcane blasts and mbarr.

Fire:

Without demo/affli lock
scorch-->lb-->fb spam-->HS on proc
Refresh lb when it falls off
With 2 piece t10, refresh lb before using HS if lb has 1-3 seconds remaining

With demo/affli lock
lb-->fb spam-->HS on proc
Refresh lb when it falls off
With 2 piece t10, refresh lb before using HS if lb has 1-3 seconds remaining

FFB:

Without demo/affli lock
scorch-->lb-->FFB spam-->HS on proc
Refresh lb when it falls off
With 2 piece t10, refresh lb before using HS if lb has 1-3 seconds remaining

With demo/affli lock
lb-->FFB spam-->HS on proc
Refresh lb when it falls off
With 2 piece t10, refresh lb before using HS if lb has 1-3 seconds remaining

Frost (i hate you if you play this spec in a raid setting):
FrB spam-->DF (when off CD and during FoF ghost charges)


HIT RATING REQUIREMENTS FOR RAIDS

TOTAL HIT REQUIRED

Arcane: 17%
TtW/fire: 17%
FFB: 17%
Frost: 17%

HIT FROM TALENTS

Arcane: 6% (Precision+Arcane Focus)
TtW/fire: 0%
FFB: 3% (Precision)
Frost: 3% (Precision)

RAIDWIDE HIT BUFFS

3% from Misery or Improved Faerie Fire
1% alliance from Heroic Presence

HIT REQUIRED FROM GEAR

Arcane: 8% (7% alliance)
TtW/fire: 14% (13% alliance)
FFB: 11% (10% alliance)
Frost: 11% (10% alliance)


SPELLPOWER COEFFICIENTS

Note: DD designates the direct damage portion of a spell, aka the big number you see when your spell hits the target. DoT represents the damage over time portion. For living bomb, DD represents the explosion part of the spell whereas DoT represents the damage it does for the duration of the spell prior to the explosion.

Arcane Abilites

Arcane Blast: 71.43% (80.43% with Arcane Empowerment)

Arcane Explosion: 21.28%

Arcane Missiles: 142.86% total, 28.57% per pulse (187.86%/37.57% with Arcane Empowerment)

Mana Shield: 80.53%

Arcane Barrage: 71.43%

Fire Abilities

Blast Wave: 19.36%

Dragon's Breath: 19.36%

Fire Blast: 42.86%

Fireball: 100.0% (115.0% with Empowered Fire)

FireballDoT: 0.0%

Flamestrike: 23.57%

FlamestrikeDoT: 48.8% (12.2% per tick)

Pyroblast: 115.0%

PyroblastDoT: 20.0% (5% per tick)

Scorch: 42.86%

Frostfire BoltDD: 85.71% (100.71% with Empowered Fire)

Frostfire BoltDoT: 0.0%

Living BombDoT: 80.0% (20.0% per tick)

Living BombDD: 40.0%

Frost Abilities

Blizzard: 115% (14.37% per tick)

Cone of Cold: 21.4%

Frost Nova: 19.3%

Frostbolt: 81.43% (91.43% with Empowered Frostbolt)

Ice Barrier: 80.53%

Ice Lance: 14.29%

Summons and pet abilities

Mirror Image: 33% of the mage's spell power

Frost Bolt (Mirror Image): 30% of the image's spell power (10% of the mage's spell power)

Fire Blast (Mirror Image): 15% of the image's spell power (5% of the mage's spell power)

Summon Water Elemental: 33% of the mage's spell power

Water Bolt (Water Elemental): 83.33% of the elemental's spell power (27.78% of the mage's spell power)


CALCULATING DAMAGE

Once you know the coefficient of your spell, you can make a rough estimate of how much it will hit for.

To illustrate, I will be using Fireball: 100.0% (115.0% with Empowered Fire) as an example.

Let us assume you have 1,000 spellpower exactly. To calculate how much of this your fireball would get, you first divide the percentage by 100 to attain a decimal amount.

115/100= 1.15

Now that you have the decimal amount, you multiply it with your spellpower total.

1,000x1.15= 1,150

In this case, your fireball is gaining 1,150 additional damage. But what does that mean? Well, take a look at the spell tooltip Fireball. Do you see the high and low end estimates for damage? Good, because that is what you will use to figure out how much your fireball will hit for.

Take the low end for your max rank Fireball:

888

to that, add the bonus damage from spellpower:

888+1,150=2,038

So with 1,000 spellpower, your Fireballs will do a minimum of 2,038 damage (before partial resists are factored in, but those are kind of random).

Take the high end for your max rank Fireball:

1,132

to that, add the bonus damage from spellpower:

1,132+1,150=2,282

So with 1,000 spellpower, your Fireballs will do a maximum of 2,282 damage (before partial resists and damage buffs are factored in).

As you can see, your spellpower took Fireball from doing 888-1,132 damage to 2,038-2,282 damage. You can use this method to figure out, on your own, a rough estimate of how much damage you SHOULD be doing.


Today, we move on to one of my favorite topics and one that gets readily mistaken/butchered on these forums: spell haste.


SPELL HASTE DEFINED

Contrary to popular belief, haste does not reduce your cast time directly, rather it speeds up the rate at which you cast. Think of it more like crack or speed rather than a weight loss pill.


HASTE FORMULA

Yes, much like everything else in this game, haste is calculated using a mathematical formula. In case for some reason you were not aware of this, everything in WoW is decided by formulas and math. Having a basic grasp of this makes the game much easier.

THE FORMULA:

New Cast Time = (Base Casting Time)/(1 + (% Spell Haste/100) )

The reason I added in the "/100" aspect to the formula is because many people would simply plug in the percentage haste they saw on their character pane and added 1 to it (i.e. 32%+1=33%).
This is wrong.

Let's work out an example.

Let us assume you have 30% haste from gear and NO haste increasing talents and a base cast time of 2 seconds. "x" will represent the final cast time.

x= (2)/(1+(30/100)
x= (2)/(1+.3)
x= 2/1.3
x= 1.54

So with this we see that 30% haste would reduce the cast time to 1.54 seconds. This is the proper calculation due to the fact that we are INCREASING cast speed and NOT reducing cast time.

If haste simply reduced your cast time, the formula would look like this: New Cast Time = (Base Casting Time) - (Base Cast Time x (% Spell Haste/100))

Let's work out an improper example using the same 2 second cast time and 30% haste. "x" still represents the final cast time.

x= (2)-(2 x (30/100))
x= 2-(2 x 0.3)
x= 2-0.6
x= 1.4

Using the wrong formula and incorrect understanding of haste gives a new cast time of 1.4 seconds. This can cause confusion in game and incorrect gearing/planning in game.

AVOID THIS MISTAKE AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!


HASTE RATINGS

Level 80: 1% is equal to 32.79 rating


POSSIBLE RAID/GROUP HASTE BUFFS

5% from Wrath of Air Totem
3% from Improved Moonkin Form or Swift Retribution
20% for 15 seconds from Power Infusion
20% for 20 seconds from Icy Veins(self only)
30% for 40 seconds from Bloodlust/Heroism
20% for 10 seconds from Berserking(trolls only)


HARD & SOFT CAPS EXPLAINED

When talking about haste caps, one has to understand the differences between 3 types (2 if you fold GCD cap into one of the others): hard cap, soft cap, and GCD cap.

GCD CAP

This cap refers to the point at which your global cooldown, base 1.5 seconds, is reduced to its minimum of 1 second.

Percent haste needed for cap: 50%

HARD CAP

This is the point at which your main nuke is reduced to the length of the minimal global cooldown WITHOUT any sort of haste buffs, aka from gear alone.

Percent haste needed for cap:

1.5 second nuke- 50% haste
2 second nuke- 100% haste
2.5 second nuke- 150% haste
3 second nuke- 200% haste

Keep in mind, you would need these values from gear alone to reach the hard cap. As you can see, the numbers are pretty much unobtainable, but it's not bad to know.

SOFT CAP

This is the simplest cap to reach yet hardest to explain. This is the amount of haste you would need to bring your main nuke down to the minimal GCD of 1 second using cooldowns and buffs. The problem with this is that for us mages, this cap is entirely within our control. Our haste buffs are all activated so if we hit this cap during a combination of cooldowns (lust and icy veins for example), we can simply stagger them to avoid the problem.

The most readily noticed soft cap would be Bloodlust or Heroism up-time. If you are attaining a main nuke of 1 second using bloodlust/heroism alone, you are at the accepted mage soft cap for haste.


SWIZZLE APPROVED HASTE TOOL

There is one tool out there, created by a MMO poster no less, that I recommend heavily when dealing with issues of haste.
Milamber's "Haste Cap Calculator"

If you are having problems figuring out your caps on your own, then this calc is a great tool to see where you stand and what you can change around to avoid/reach said caps.

[Huldre]

Thank you. Thank you everyone. My mage was my main until we hit Northrend then I changed to a Shaman and am now back to the mage. I have not taken her into a guild raid yet but am planning to as her stats are now better than the Shamans. I have been confused as to how to make her do more damage because of the long casting times. By the time I get a fireball off the mob is dead! (5 man dungeons) I have figured out that I am much better in a long fight. And I really dislike Arcane, I have tried and tried with that spec and ultimately returned to fire, well forstfire. Thanks again!

[DirewolfX]

you can't (patchnotes 3.x)

Ah, true:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

Icecrown Citadel Items: Normal and Heroic versions of Icecrown Citadel rings and trinkets are considered Unique-Equipped and cannot be used at the same time.