General Raiding Mage Info

Annihilati Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:42 pm

As we have a few mages here, some having asked for tips or advice on the mage class in general, I'll try to highlight some key points in mage raiding.

Which spec do I choose? BECAUSE I`M A WANKER

Picking a spec is a compromise between what is fun for you and how much DPS your guild wants you to produce. At the end of the day, a mage will fling either blue red or white thingies at the enemy, and all specs can be made to work in a raid. That isn't to say they will all perform equally well, though. What follows are some sample builds with a bit of strategy and general information on them.

10/48/3. the golden standard.

This build is a good starting point for any raider. It's the third best for DPS and offers great mana efficiency. The basic strategy is to scorch an enemy until it has the 5 debuffs, then blow it's head off with fireballs. renew the scorch debuff after every 8 fireballs.
Fire specs are blessed and cursed: scorch is very mana efficient, yet puts out low damage. Fireballs are the second biggest nuke a mage has, yet has lousy mana efficiency. Now while this gives mages a tool for every situation, it makes figuring out the situation rather tricky: "Boss fight? scorch and fireball spam! Mob fight? scorch and then .. errr..." While scorching your way through mobs is really mana efficient, you won't stay on top of damage meters and it's a telltale sign of your lazyiness. Find a balance between damage on mana efficiency on mobs. This is the true test for any fire mage!

Icy Fury. When winning the threat meter matters.

The same general fire spec rules apply to this build. This build isn't as mana efficient as the previous one but while the gems, evocation and mana pots you shouldn't have to run out of mana, ever. The strength and fun of this build lies in the molten fury and icy veins combo. wait for the mob to drop under the magical 20%, activate combustion, trinkets and icy veins, get the shamans to pop bloodlust, the leatherworkers to drop their drums, drink a destruction pot and eat a firecap and watch those fireballs crit for OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAND. As a guild rule, you need to make a macro for all the CD popping and item eating with one of following /yells:
"FLAME ON!"
"DODGE THIS!"
"KISS YOUR AGGRO GOODBYE, BIRCHY!"
"I'M GONNA LIGHT YOU UP, SWEETCHEEKS!"
"I`M A WANKER AND I`LL STEAL ALL THE GUILD GOLD AND MATS AND FAIL AT GETTING A GUILD TOGETHER...."

Ice, ice, baby!

Frost has the lousiest DPS but the best mana efficiency and defensive spells. Spam frostbolts, icy veins and the water elemental, making sure your cold snap is up for every boss. While many would argue that shatter makes frost *the* choice for trash, the reality is that 7 people whacking away at a mob removes the nova effect quicker than you can get a frostbolt off.

I've specced improved polymorph!

I've never played an arcane spec so I can't really write much about it. Arcane blast is THE best DPS spell in the game. second to none. It also ooms you pretty fast. As such, if the fights aren't going to last long, you may as well give this build a whirl. but be warned: a manaless mage is a mage that better have an awesome wand.

WEEE! So how do I gear up?

There's an interesting topic in the official wow forums that (on average) dictates that hit rating > spell damage > spell crit. As such, you should aim at getting items that boost your hit rating and spelldamage. With elemental precision, you only need another 13% of hit to have your maximised chance of hitting a boss. I generally find alot of items that conflict in use: spellfire items for example offer loads of damage, but lousy base stats. Some incanter's items offer great stats, but average damage boosts. If you're faced with a similar situation, look at your gear in total. Can you sacrifice a little damage for more health? A dead mage is a useless mage! What about your mana pool? only got 6k mana? That's waaaaaaay too little! Another point I'd like to make is different sets of gear: bosses necessitate high hit rating, mobs don't. consider grabbing yourself a second set of crit gear for trash.

Important things I need to know:

- Decurse is a very important mage spell. Druids are generally too busy with healing, help out!
- you can reset your threat with invisibility.
- Dampen and Amplify magic are important in solo play and physically heavy fights.
- Counterspell is your friend! I've seen far too many mages not using it! Don't be a noob, join the CS club today!
- you can buff yourself with: food, oil and elixirs. All are relatively cheap to get. grab them for utility.

- DONT STEAL FROM THE GUILD BANK YOU FUCKING GERMAN

Right, can't think of anything else to write, if you have any ideas, suggestions or questions, post here and I'll add stuff as we go along.