Fire Mage Questions

[Sozin 0]

Hello,

 

So my question is for whoever wrote the Icy Veins guide for Fire Mages, specifically the updated Stats/Priority part.  

 

     So if i am understanding this right, since the latest patch and assuming i don't have the Tier 4 piece bonus, Mastery is now above Crit for fire mages at all times?  There isn't a general Crit% that i should try to be hovering around while trying to build up Mastery too?  

     So I see how, through Mastery, bigger ignites = more damage, but Fire Mages have always been super reliant on Crit%.  Has it gotten to the point that Crit is now definitely behind Mastery in all cases?  My thinking is that if i don't Crit as often, then that is way less Pyroblasts that i am casting, which, in turn, not only results in less damage from the bigger spell pyroblast, but less chance of getting the pyroblast crits needed to set up a proper Combustion.  I feel that even using the "Heating up Trick" i will be much less likely to get the bigger numbers i need to get a big Combustion.

 

Thoughts?

[Sozin 0]

This thread is also open to anybody that would like to ask additional questions. Others, please feel free to post here and ask your questions.  I hope everyone finds the help that they need.

[demonardvark 556]

You are on the right track but your mindset is still pandaria. The draenor perk enhanced pyrotechnics changed some things. Each time you don't crit with a spell you get a 5% increase chance on the next that stacks. I have never gone more than 4 fireballs without getting a crit. Critical mass passive also increases the crit chance by 1.3% for your fire spells. What this means is getting your heating up proc isn't that hard. Now inferno blast always crits, so by using the heating up trick alongside your next fireball (cast fireball then immediately inferno blast). You will get your pyroblast proc and potentially another heating up. Profit. Also with the tier 7 talent meteor, you get more ignite build up from that then any of your spells so you shove that into your rotation.

 

TLDR Draenor made it easier for fire mages to crit in our chain of fire spells. Because of this we now focus more on mastery to build up bigger ignites and thus bigger combustions. A 20% mastery meteor vs a 80% mastery meteor is a huge amount of differential in your dots. You still want some crit but you aren't starved for it like you were in previous expansions. 

[Xaskepios 4]

Hi there,

The reason fire mages are rolling mastery so hard is because most mages who are further in progression switch between fire and arcane for multi/single target fights. With our fire two set bonus, we are able to spread ignite very frequently. Even with killer combusts, it's not uncommon to see ignite be your highest damage ability on multi target fights. If you don't think you'll be switching back and forth between specs, you'll see better results getting more crit to be more consistent across all fights in BRF.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Xaskepios

[Sozin 0]

Thanks guys,

 

Demonardvark, is there a general Crit% that you find it is wise to hover around while trying to acquire more mastery?  Or do you find it better to just hands down take mastery over crit in all cases?

[Berlinia 168]

Hey,

A bit of explanation on statistics for Fire.

Single Target: Haste to 900> Crit > mastery > rest

This requires the 4set. The 900 haste is there so you can fit 3 Pyro's when the 4set procs. 

Multi Target:

Mastery > Crit > rest

Considering arcane's stat prio heavily favours mastery, most mages have gear enchanted with mastery. And considering most players play ARcane for Single Target that is beneficial as swapping around specs needs you to not reenchant/regem