[General] Siege of Orgrimmar Mage Style

[Oltier 471]

This thread is meant to collect useful pieces of information for Mages attempting bosses in the Siege of Orgrimmar. We will add some contributions ourselves and hope that the rest will come from comments in this thread.  Please keep in mind, that these talent/glyph suggestions are NOT mandatory to successfully kill a boss, they might just help you. If you prefer other builds than these, you should will do fine that way just as well.

 

Table of Contents

• Immerseus
• The Fallen Protectors
• Norushen
• Sha of Pride
• Galakras
• Iron Juggernaut
• Kor'kron Dark Shaman
• General Nazgrim
• Malkorok
• Spoils of Pandaria
• Thok the Bloodthirsty
• Siegecrafter Blackfuse
• Paragons of the Klaxxi
• Garrosh Hellscream
• Special Thanks

Important: Kokivo made an encounter-by-encounter list of which bomb you should be using in the Siege of Orgrimmar: https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/3037-siege-of-orgrimmar-mage-style/#entry34608

 

Basic talent and glyph suggestions

These are considered the best build choices in most cases. A note will be given at the bosses if anything should be changed.

Talents

• For first tier talents have a look at the normal class guides.
• Temporal Shield
• Arcane: Rune of Power; Fire and Frost: Invocation
  (NOTE: There has been a little Theory crafting going on in connection with Incanter's Ward that makes it viable for every specs. For further information read here: https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/4599-some-guidance-on-l90s-alternative-use-of-incaners-ward/ )

Glyphs:

Frost

• Cone of Cold
• Icy Veins
• Splitting Ice

Arcane

• Arcane Power
• Cone of Cold
• Arcane Explosion

Fire

• Inferno Blast
• Cone of Cold
• Combustion

Immerseus

Glyphs

• Heroic: Frost bomb
• Heroic: Greater Invisibility

Glyphs

• Heroic: Glyph of Rapid Displacement
• Heroic: Glyph of Water Elemental

Tips:

• You can use Blink to Blink through the Swirl, or you can Blink to the back of the room. The Swirl doesn't reach that far, so it is a safe place to stay.
• Arcane: It is possible to stack up to 7 Sha Puddles in your rune. Use up the space wisely. Switching to Incanter's Ward for Arcane especially on heroic might be a very good idea.
• Heroic: Glyph of Rapid displacement might be viable instead of Cone of Cold on Heroic mode especially if you will have to get to the other side of the room in the Split phase.
• Heroic: In this very same scenario Glyph of Water Elemental can be also useful, since the elemental's Freeze spell works on the adds in the normal and split phase. The glyph will ensure that your elemental will always be in the range of the adds and you need instant help with rooting.
• Heroic: You can use Greater Invisibility to remove Sha Corruption debuff.

Additional tips from the community:

• Advice for choosing spec from Bableet
• Tips for optimizing DPS on adds from Koviko
• Tips for making good use of Blink, Glyph of Rapid Displacement, and Blazing Speed on the adds from Koviko
• Tips avoiding Swirl with Blink from Koviko

Links:

• Immerseus Strategy
• Immerseus PTR Video Preview

The Fallen Protectors

Talents

• Nether Tempest
• Greater Invisibility

Additional tips from the community:

• Heroic: You can use Ice Block to effectively tank the Mark of Anguish on heroic, but keep in mind that this is a significant DPS loss.
• Frost Mages can use the Water Elemental Freeze spell during Sun's Desperate measures phase on the little adds for some extra FoF charges.
• You can use Greater Invisibility to remove Garrote debuff.
• Advice for choosing spec from Bableet

Links:

• The Fallen Protectors Strategy
• The Fallen Protectors PTR Video Preview

Norushen

Talents

• Normal: Nether Tempest
• Heroic: Living Bomb

Glyphs

• Glyph of Rapid Displacement

Additional tips from the community:

• Glyph of Rapid Displacement lets you move around in the Test Realm and allows you to dot up everything -almost- immediately.
• Use Blink to blink through the death wall.
• Dot everything up!
• You can use Water Elemental's Freeze spell on the bigger adds to fish for some extra FoF charges. If your group is too lazy and the add won't die in 5 seconds, you can also use Deep Freeze on it for a lots of extra guaranteed critical LB/NT ticks and Frostbolt hits.
• Save DPS cooldowns, for when you get purified.
• Advice for choosing spec from Bableet
• Tips for making good use of Blink and Glyph of Rapid Displacement from Koviko

Links:

• Norushen Strategy
• Norushen PTR Video Preview

Sha of Pride

Talents:

• Living Bomb
• Greater Invisibility

Additional tips from the community:

• Save Frozen Orb for the adds.
• You can use Water Elemental's Freeze on Self-Reflections and the Sha manifestation at the back to get some extra FoF charges. If necessary (it dies slowly), you can also use Deep Freeze on the manifestation.
• You can use Greater Invisibility to remove Mark of Arrogance debuff.
• Movement tip for the prisons from Mariketa
• Tips for making good use of Blink and Glyph of Rapid Displacement from Koviko
• Glyph of Arcane Explosion tip from Koviko

Links:

• Sha of Pride Strategy
• Sha of Pride PTR Video Preview

Galakras

Talents:

• Frost Bomb if assigned to the ground
• Nether Tempest if assigned to tower.
• Blazing Speed if assigned to tower.
• Greater Invisibility

Glyphs:

• Glyph of Rapid Displacement if assigned to tower
• Glyph of Water Elemental if assigned to tower

Additional tips from the community:

• You can use your Water Elemental's Freeze on several adds on the ground to get some extra FoF charges.
• You can use Deep Freeze on the charging mobs if your raid is low on stuns.
• Aim to use Pet Freeze and Frost Nova just before Frost bomb is about to explode on the adds, so you can benefit from your Shatter passive.
• You can use Greater Invisibility to remove Flames of Galakrond debuff.
• Tips for making good use of Blink and Glyph of Rapid Displacement from Koviko

Links:

• Galakras Strategy
• Galakras PTR Video Preview

Iron Juggernaut

Talents

• Living Bomb
• Blazing Speed
• Greater Invisibility

Glyphs:

• Glyph of Rapid Displacement
• Glyph of Blink

Additional tips from the community:

• You can use Greater Invisibility/Ice Block BEFORE clicking on a Crawler Mine to mitigate their whole damage.
• Use Blink WITHOUT Glyph of Momentum to reduce the distance of the knock back during siege mode. (If something goes wrong with positioning.)
• Keep in mind, if your Frozen Orb hit a Crawler Mine that is immune its damage, the Orb will still stop and not move to the boss. Try to stay in melee range if possible.
• Heroic: Use Temporal Shield/Greater Invisibility on Shock Pulse. Frost mages can order their pet to keep attacking the boss even if you use the tactic with running away from it.
• Tips for making good use of Blink, Glyph of Blink, and Glyph of Rapid Displacement from Koviko
• Greater Invisibility tip for Crawler Mines from spachi1281
• Trick for using Ice Block for Crawler Mines from Ethen
• Survivability tips for using Greater Invisibility and Temporal Shield from Gambolputty

Links:

• Iron Juggernaut Strategy
• Iron Juggernaut PTR Video Preview

Kor'kron Dark Shaman

Talents:

• Nether Tempest
• Blazing Speed
• Heroic: Living bomb

Glyphs:

• Glyph of Rapid Displacement
• Glyph of Water Elemental

Additional tips from the community:

• Use Blink to cleverly move around the area.
• Save Frozen Orb for Foul Slimes.
• Use Blizzard on the Slimes to help your tank kiting them, and Dot them up.
• Tips for optimizing damage on Foul Slimes from Koviko
• Glyph of Arcane Explosion tip from Koviko

Links:

• Kor'kron Dark Shaman Strategy
• Kor'kron Dark Shaman PTR Video Preview

General Nazgrim

Talents:

• 10 man: Living Bomb
• 25 man: Nether Tempest
• Greater Invisibility

Glyphs:

• Glyph of Water Elemental

Additional tips from the community:

• Dot everything up!
• You can order your pet to stay on Nazgrim even during Defensive Stance.
• Apply a DoT right before Nazgrim goes Defensive Stance.
• You can use your Water Elemental's Freeze spell on the spawned adds for a few extra FoF charges.
• You can use Deep Freeze on any adds if necessary.
• You can use Greater Invisibility to remove Bonecracker debuff.
• Tips for making good use of Blink and Glyph of Rapid Displacement from Koviko

Links:

• General Nazgrim Strategy
• General Nazgrim PTR Video Preview

Malkorok

Talents:

• Living Bomb
• Greater Invisibility

Glyphs:

• Glyph of Rapid Displacement
• Heroic: Glyph of Ice Block

Additional tips from the community:

• Use Blink and Blazing Speed/Ice Flows effectively to get to Imploding Energies.
• You can use Greater Invisibility to remove Displaced Energy debuff.
• Heroic: You can use Greater Invisibility to clear the black orbs during Blood Rage. With Glyph of Ice Block you can get 3 seconds of immunity to the black orbs' damage.
• Tips for making good use of Blink and Glyph of Rapid Displacement from Koviko
• Tips for soaking abilitiy rotation from RyanStanley

Links:

• Malkorok Strategy
• Malkorok PTR Video Preview

Spoils of Pandaria

Talents:

• Nether Tempest
• Heroic: Greater Invisibility allows you to soak Klaxxi-side bombs and clear debuffs/soak other sources of damage regularly.

Glyphs:

• If, for some reason you cannot stay in melee range of the adds most of the time to benefit from Glyph of Cone of Cold, you might want to use Glyph of Water Elemental that will ensure your Elemental to be in range of the adds all of the time and fish for some extra FoF charges thanks to Freeze.

Additional tips from the community:

• DOT!
• Save Frozen Orb for high AoE box openings.
• Tips for making good use of Blink and Glyph of Rapid Displacement from Koviko

Links:

• Spoils of Pandaria Strategy
• Spoils of Pandaria PTR Video Preview

Thok the Bloodthirsty

Talents:

• Living Bomb
• Blazing Speed
• Greater Invisibility

Glyphs:

• Glyph of Water Elemental
• Glyph of Rapid Displacement
• Glyph of Cone of Cold

Additional tips from the community:

• You can order your Water Elemental to follow Thok during fixates.
• You can use Invisibility to stop Thok from fixating on you and make him go to the tank. When Invisibility expires and the fixate is still on you, Thok will come back to you.
• Use Blazing Speed and Rapid Displacement Blink to cleverly chase Thok down.
• As an arcane mage, you can use Arcane Explosion when the Deafening Screech interrupts you frequently, to keep up your Arcane Charges.
• Frost and Fire can use glyphed Cone of Cold on CD in this case.
• You can use Greater Invisibility to remove Corrosive Blood debuff.
• Tips for making good use of Blink and Glyph of Rapid Displacement from Koviko
• Arcane Explosion tip from Mih
• Cone of Cold and Greater Invisibility tips from Koviko

Links:

• Thok the Bloodthirsty Strategy
• Thok the Bloodthirsty PTR Video Preview

Siegecrafter Blackfuse

Talents:

• Living Bomb
• Blazing Speed if assigned to belt
• Greater Invisibility

Glyphs:

• Glyph of Water Elemental if assigned to belt
• Glyph of Rapid Displacement

Additional tips from the community:

• If you are assigned to the belt, you can use Blazing Speed to jump off in the middle of the belt, you don't have to wait (until)/run to the end.
• Blinking obviously helps you moving around the belt.
• You can use Water Elemental's Freeze on Crawler Mines.
• You can use Greater Invisibility to remove Superheated debuff.
• If you have trouble with mines, engineers can put EMP Generator on their belts for 30 yards of mechanical stun, instead of the speed boost.
• Tips for making good use of Blink and Glyph of Rapid Displacement from Koviko

Links:

• Siegecrafter Blackfuse Strategy
• Siegecrafter Blackfuse PTR Video Preview

Paragons of the Klaxxi

Talents:

• Living Bomb
• Greater Invisibility

Additional tips from the community:

• You can use Greater Invisibility to free yourself from Aim, and it will not hit you or anyone at all.
• You can use Invisibility/Greater Invisibility to cancel the effect of Mesmerize completely.
• Use Blink if you get unlucky and get stunned by Whirling.
• Greater Invisibility tip from Mih

Links:

• Paragons of the Klaxxi Strategy
• Paragons of the Klaxxi PTR Video Preview

Garrosh Hellscream

Heroic:

• Sikkz has made an in depth Frost Mage specific guide for Garrosh Hellscream HC. I really suggest you to read it! https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/3037-general-siege-of-orgrimmar-mage-style/page-5#entry72356

Talents:

• Living Bomb

Glyphs

• Glyph of Water Elemental

Additional tips from the community:

• You can use Water Elemental's Freeze spell on mind controlled people (p2) for free FoF charges and to burst them down. The same applied to the minions of pride, but use it with caution. You still don't want to kill them close to each other. The glyph will ensure that the elemental will always be in range of these people.
• You can use Deep Freeze on the MCed people in P2, and on any Manifestations of Pride.
• Use Blink to blink between the stacking spots or out of Annihilate.
• Dot Garrosh and any adds up before going into the realm.
• Tip for quickly burning mind-controlled players as Arcane from Koviko

Links:

• Garrosh Hellscream Strategy
• Garrosh Hellscream PTR Video Preview

Special Thanks

The moderators of Icy-Veins would like to give a special thanks to the following users who contributed a lot to this topic.

• Bableet
• Koviko
• Mariketa
• spachi1281
• Ethen
• Gambolputty
• RyanStanley
• Mih
• lynx
• Sikkz

Edited September 9, 2014 by Oltier
Updated on 2014.09.09.

[Bableet 1]

Now i havent got much exp on the bossses as of yet but i can higly recommend the following

 

Imerseus: Frost - this allows easier cleaving on the adds 

 

Council: Arcane - stronger for burning down the add in rogue powerup

 

Norushen: Frost - this allows easier cleaving on adds resulting in higher dps, fire is also very viable due to combustion spread but i feel frost is stronger still

[Koviko 19]

@Bableet:

 

I'm not sure when you are able to cleave adds on Immerseus since they are usually fairly spread apart, which is something in which both Arcane and Fire excel. If you stack Mastery as Arcane, Nether Tempest will be very strong to apply to as many adds as you can (complementing this with the Blazing Speed talent). As Fire, your Pyroblast! DoT ticks very hard and is worth putting on as many adds as possible. As for your analysis on Council, Arcane's burst isn't really stronger than Fire's, and Fire's cleave will be more effective in that fight than Arcane's cleave. This isn't to say that Arcane won't be able to pull more DPS than Fire since the amount of movement necessary is random and is the main suppressing factor of Arcane's DPS. But I can't agree that Arcane would be "the recommended spec" for it.

 

That said, play whatever spec tickles your fancy. But when it comes to recommending specs as the most viable for a fight, I feel you are a bit biased and we should probably let the logs speak for themselves.

Edited September 17, 2013 by Koviko

[Mariketa 8]

On Sha of Fear Prisons:

I took Blazing Speed (Tier 1 talent) to get to my assigned lock to release the other raider. Do not use blink to get there, you can get stuck on the center part where the person is.

I unglyphed my Blink spell to make it the correct distance to use to come back to the stack point. You won't get stuck as the prison disappears and clears your path back. Depending on the location of your lock assignment may need the glyph or not to reduce movement in the fight.

[Koviko 19]

On the Malkorok encounter, Temporal Shield does not work as one might expect. Mages are accustomed to using this ability for predictable, strong attacks, so it may seem natural to use it on this encounter to soak the Imploding Energy void zones. However, the Ancient Barrier mechanic prevents you from actually taking damage (the damage is considered "absorbed"), so your Temporal Shield will only trigger if you end up using your entire Barrier and the damage dips into your actual health.

 

As such, you should probably use Ice Barrier on this fight.

[Koviko 19]

Use the new Glyph of Rapid Displacement!

 

As a general Glyph preference, for any fight without a Stun mechanic, the new Glyph of Rapid Displacement (formerly the Glyph of Invisibility, so if you had that one, you have this one) is great for bouncing in and out of certain locations, traveling far distances quickly, and fixing improper positioning so you don't die because "Blink was on cooldown."

 

Immerseus: In Phase 1, the Swirl mechanic doesn't reach the walls of the room. So, you can Blink to the wall in order to avoid the 143309, or you can simply Blink past it (which may be difficult to time if you are experiencing lag during this fight).

 

In Phase 2, if your raid is spread around the room, you and another Mage in the raid can both use this Glyph to swap positions in the raid during the transition, allowing you to apply DoTs on the adds nearby you, the adds along your path, and the adds nearby the other Mage. Alternately, you can use the transitioning time to position yourself farther from your start point with Blazing Speed, DoT the adds nearby, and then go back to your start point with double-Blink and DoT those adds.

 

The Fallen Protectors: If you are using Rune of Power, then you will find that it's possible for the entire Rune to be covered by Corrupted Brews. In this situation, it is wise to Blink away before the Brew lands (remember that the brew will land quicker and quicker as Rook remains out of his Desperate Measures phase) and Blink back to your Rune of Power after it is safe, again.

 

Norushen: The main use of this Glyph for this fight will be Blinking back and forth to avoid the Blind Hatred mechanic while still reducing your movement. Simply choosing two points to alternate between will do fine. This is best done by making your two points opposite of each other in the arena (and it's worth getting your entire raid to participate in order to reduce overall movement). This significantly improves Arcane's DPS on this fight.

 

The Glyph is also very useful for dealing with the frontal shields of the adds during your Test of Serenity. You should always be able to use Blink to position yourself behind the smaller adds and kill them as quickly as possible.

 

Sha of Pride: When you need to stand on the lock to release a player, Blink to the lock to stand on it, and Blink away from the lock once the player inside is released. If you aren't fortunate to be placed on the inner side of the lock (nearest to your stack point), then don't attempt to Blink straight to your position as it will not work. Just Blink to an open area nearby your position and then go back to that same spot when it's time to Blink back.

 

Galakras: You can Blink away from void zone and cleave mechanics (eg. Crusher's Call), and then right back to where you were. You can also use it to travel quickly to the towers if you are assigned to enter them.

 

Iron Juggernaut: If you Blink just as the Shock Pulse knockback is cast, you should negate it entirely. However, if your timing is bad even once, the Glyph will help you recover and minimize your DPS loss. For this purpose, the Glyph of Blink will also be useful. However, if you are confident in your timing, you shouldn't really need either.

 

Kor'kron Dark Shaman: You can use Glyph of Arcane Explosion to get decent damage on the Foul Slime. Combined with the Glyph of Rapid Displacement, you will be able to quickly move from one side of the pack of adds to the other, preventing them from ever physically reaching you. Because the adds die very quickly when you assign most or all of your ranged players to attack them, there aren't many other means of doing good damage to them, especially if they get spread out (which they probably will if your player with Foul Geyser plans on living through the phase).

 

General Nazgrim: You can use the Glyph to kite any adds that attack you, particularly the Kor'kron Assassin. If you have the Assassin's Mark and your healers have their hands full, you can kite the add while it is still in Stealth since it moves 50% slower (you just have to guess where it is). Personally, I prefer to pull it out of stealth immediately so that it can start taking damage sooner, but the option is there.

 

Malkorok: This Glyph is especially useful on this fight and I'd almost say it's required if you plan on soaking the Imploding Energy void zones. Occasionally (and by occasionally, I mean basically every time), before casting Breath of Y'Shaarj, the boss will put a void zone in the area you don't want to be left in when the cast finishes. So, what you want to do is Blink into the void zone, soak it, and then Blink back out immediately. This will oftentimes be a life saver for both you and the entire raid.

 

Spoils of Pandaria: When you are Set to Blow,  Blink away from everyone before you explode, use a cooldown to mitigate the damage, and then Blink back into position.

 

Thok the Bloodthirsty: Use the Glyph to kite the boss. It's especially useful if you prefer Presence of Mind to Blazing Speed.

 

Siegecrafter Blackfuse: You can use the Glyph to react to Shockwave Missile, but that's probably overkill since you'll generally only need to move a few yards to avoid the damage. You can also use the Glyph to help you kill and kite the Crawler Mine adds.

 

Paragons of the Klaxxi: The Glyph will help you travel around the room quickly to help with reaching Blood adds, to quickly grab the Extra Action Button buff from your assigned boss, and to help soak the Aim mechanic. However, since the Glyph removes Blink's ability to negate a stun, it will make you vulnerable to Ka'roz the Locust's Whirling.

 

Garrosh Hellscream: The Glyph is mostly a failsafe in this fight, depending on the amount of movement your raid's strategy forces upon you. I've found no consistent specific use for it aside from being able to quickly use Blink to stack with the rest of the raid and then use Blink again to leave the stack.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Koviko

[Koviko 19]

Which Mage Bomb should I use: Nether Tempest, Living Bomb, or Frost Bomb?

 

Immerseus: Nether Tempest if the adds survive long enough to get most of your DoT's ticks in and you are in 10-man. Living Bomb if the adds die quickly or you are in 25-man, meaning more of the room is covered and you won't have to move as much. Try to apply your DoT to as many targets as possible during Phase 2, preferably targets that don't have a lot of DPS targeting them.

 

Immerseus (Heroic only): I still recommend using the same bomb as in Normal mode, but you have the option of using Frost Bomb. This will give you grossly superior numbers if the adds from the boss are stacked tightly and you cast Frost Nova or Freeze right before the bomb's duration expires for a Shatter. I personally find it to be more hassle than it's worth, but it's nice when it works.

 

The Fallen Protectors: Nether Tempest. While there are only 3 bosses to kill, two of the bosses will almost always be stacked for the DoT's cleave damage and almost every Desperate Measure mechanic increases the amount of attackable targets, with the exception of the one that simple replaces the boss with the Embodied Anguish add.

 

Norushen: Living Bomb. I used to recommend Nether Tempest because there are a lot of adds, however the uptime of the adds should be very short depending on your raid's DPS, making it only worthwhile to put your bomb on the boss and the Manifestation of Corruptions. If you are in a low-DPS raid (or LFR), then you'll probably get better numbers with liberal application of Nether Tempest.

 

Sha of Pride: Living Bomb. The only time more than 3 adds are present is when your entire raid is going to be AoEing them at once, making it more efficient to AoE the adds than to multidot them.

 

Galakras: Nether Tempest. The amount of adds leave plenty of room for you to apply this DoT liberally. That said, Fire Mages will find that intelligent application and spreading of their Pyroblast! DoT will yield better numbers than Nether Tempest will, so they will need to balance their multi-dotting priorities. Choosing to use a different talent will put less pressure on the Mage to keep all of the DoTs rolling and allow them to focus more on their Pyroblast!. YMMV

 

Iron Juggernaut: Living Bomb. This is a single-target fight.

 

Kor'kron Dark Shaman: Living Bomb. While there are adds in this fight, they should die fairly quickly making multidotting less attractive than AoEing for damage. You have the option of using Frost Bomb which will give you great damage on the adds if you are capable of freezing them prior to the bomb's explosion for a Shatter.

 

General Nazgrim: Living Bomb. Though adds will spawn during this fight, they are few and you spend a large portion of the fight just fighting the boss.

 

Malkorok: Living Bomb. This is a single-target fight.

 

Spoils of Pandaria: Nether Tempest. Since your raid will probably be pulling a lot of adds at a time and some of the adds don't move from their initial position of their boxes, your Nether Tempest will likely pull ahead of your cleave.

 

Thok the Bloodthirsty: Living Bomb. This is a single-target fight.

 

Siegecrafter Blackfuse: Living Bomb. When the Crawler Mines spawn should be the only time there will be more than 2 targets to attack and they shouldn't live very long. This is largely a single target fight aside from the rare opportunities to deal damage to the Automated Shredder.

 

Paragons of the Klaxxi: Living Bomb, though Nether Tempest may pull ahead if the Paragons remain stacked. However, most of your multidotting is going to be in the interest of padding your numbers (aside from stack camping as Arcane). Not that I have any problem with that, though.

 

Garrosh Hellscream: Living Bomb. Though Nether Tempest or Frost Bomb is technically stronger at the very start of the fight, the majority of this fight is single target with very few AoE or multi-DoTting opportunities. When you have opportunities to multi-DoT in the later phases, they need to be done carefully as not to pull aggro of the adds, making a lot of multi-DoTting risky. Make sure that you are multi-DoTting the Desecrated Weapons with Living Bomb throughout the fight.

Edited November 19, 2013 by Koviko

[Koviko 19]

For non-Arcane Mages in 25-man raiding (Arcane Mages already commonly use this Glyph), the Glyph of Arcane Explosion is very useful for fights where a large amount of adds will be loosely spread when they spawn. There wasn't much place for it in Throne of Thunder aside from Lei Shen, but in Siege, a few fights meet this criteria:

 

Immerseus (Heroic-only): When the Congealed Shas are spawned, they will spawn based on the number of Swelling Corruption stacks on the boss. The first time the boss gains this debuff, there will be 50 stacks. Your only AoE abilities that can take advantage of hitting 50 targets at once are Flamestrike, Blizzard, and Arcane Explosion. While the adds are spawning, they will likely be spread. So, spam glyphed Arcane Explosion until they are stacked, and then use your Flamestrike on them. Continue to use Arcane Explosion until there are less than 4 adds alive.

 

Sha of Pride: When the Reflections (and Corrupted Fragments in Heroic) spawn on your raid group, glyphed Arcane Explosion will be your best bet if they are spread beyond an 8-yard radius. Otherwise, (pre-casted) Flamestrike combined with Blizzard will be more effective and less prone to lag.

 

Also, in Heroic mode, glyphed Arcane Explosion will ensure that you have a good contribution to the death of the Corrupted Fragments, assuming your raid group purposely places them nearby the other adds.

 

Galakras: Depending on your raid's DPS, it's possible that there will be certain parts of the fight where there are so many adds to hit that AoEing is the smartest option. This is generally when one pack of adds is almost dead but another pack spawns. When this happens, Arcane Explosion is very strong to use. Just keep note of your aggro and use fail-safes such as Mirror Image and Greater Invisibility to avoid getting melee'd while tanks are picking up the adds.

 

Kor'kron Dark Shaman: When the Foul Slimes are spawned, they will be moving. If the player with Foul Geyser can manage to minimize their movement, it will be wise to use a (pre-casted) Flamestrike on their general spawn area. After that, spam glyphed Arcane Explosion while avoiding being too close to them. You can also use Greater Invisibility and your level 30 tier ability to stand directly in the middle of the adds and spam your Arcane Explosion when they are around half health.

 

Alternately, if your tank that is spawning the Foul Slimes keeps all of them close together, it's more beneficial for you to use Blizzard (and Flamestrike if you are Fire) to help snare the adds while doing damage.

 

Paragons of the Klaxxi: If your tank fails at their Injection mechanic, you can AoE the Amber Parasites adds that spawn until someone uses Prey on the adds. This is just padding the meters, though.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Koviko

[Mih 2]

A very intesting info for the Paragons of the Klaxxi: You can use Greater Invisibility to escape from the Aim damage. So your raid does not need to move when u're target by it.
For Thok the Bloodthirsty i recommend spamming Arcane Explosion as your main spell when the boss starts to cast Deafening Screech faster and you can't finish your spellcasts. Remember to always refresh your bomb on the target.
I recommend Blazing Speed for almost all the fights, to stack fast or escape from mechanics. When you are faster, you can get a better position to focus dps on targets w/o doing a lot of movement.
About the bombs, i agree with Koviko, but i think Living Bomb is better for the Fallen Protectors.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Mih

[Koviko 19]

To add to the points made by Mih:

 

For Thok the Bloodthirsty, if you have space for the Glyph of Cone of Cold, you should replace Arcane Explosion with Cone of Cold in your instant cast rotation when it's off cooldown unless you are Arcane, since Arcane has a chance to get Arcane Charges from using Arcane Explosion, allowing them to use Arcane Barrage at max stacks. Though, if you still find yourself getting interrupted, it might be worth the Glyph slot for when you are Arcane locked.

 

Also on Thok the Bloodthirsty, you can make use of Greater Invisibility to cause the boss to stop chasing you when you are Fixated and chase after the player with the highest threat (generally the tank). Just be sure that this player is aware of what you are doing and try to stall a bit before casting so that the boss ping-pongs from you to them.

 

As for the assertion about the use of Living Bomb on Fallen Protectors, if logs prove differently in the coming weeks, I will update that suggestion. So far, I was able to produce higher numbers with Nether Tempest, but that's purely anecdotal.

Edited October 3, 2013 by Koviko

[Vladamyr 169]

Koviko, very nice suggestions!    I have one suggestion and one question.

 

Immerseus:  Nether Tempest if the adds survive long enough to get most of your DoT's ticks in.  Living Bomb if they do not. Because their health isn't particularly high but they are spread all around the room, you will want to apply your DoT to as many targets as possible.

 

I don't think Living Bomb would be your bomb choice here.  You'll get a higher percentage of your bomb damage in on low health mobs using NT.  For example: (in a non haste world for simplicity) the add is alive for 8 seconds, you would get 8 ticks of NT and only 2 ticks of LB.  Also occasionally the adds are cleaveable and in larger raid sizes it's easy to dot up more than 3.

 

Spoils of Pandaria:  Living Bomb, unless you are Arcane. Arcane Mages should use  Nether Tempest for this fight. Non-Arcane Mages will prioritize their other abilities for doing damage and cleaving.

 

 

Could you clarify on this some?

[Koviko 19]

@Vladamyr:

 

You make a good point for Immerseus. I'll keep an eye on logs for the next few weeks before changing my personal recommendation, though, since the better the fight is executed, the less time is spent killing adds.

 

As for Spoils of Pandaria, Arcane's DPS on fights with a large amount of adds will always have Nether Tempest at the top. However, for the other specs, focusing on cleaves and putting less effort into using your Mage Bomb should result in better numbers. This may not be a definitive truth, but it is my recommendation for the moment.

 

UPDATE: After further testing, I've found that Nether Tempest should be able to pull ahead for both Fire and Frost, mostly because of the adds that cannot be tanked. Fire will pull ahead using Living Bomb if they can manage to apply their Pyroblast! DoT as liberally as they would place their Nether Tempest DoT, but this requires good RNG.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Koviko

[Damien 1,514]

Took me a while, but I finally added links to every contribution.

[spachi1281 2]

Similar to Norushen's Blind Hatred beam attack, for Immerseus it is possible to blink through Immerseus' channeled jet during the Swirl mechanic.

 

For Iron Juggernaut, only Greater Invisibility seems to work on mitigating the damage from stomping on a Crawler Mine. 

Edited September 26, 2013 by spachi1281

[Damien 1,514]

Similar to Norushen's Blind Hatred beam attack, for Immerseus it is possible to blink through Immerseus' channeled jet during the Swirl mechanic.

 

For Iron Juggernaut, only Greater Invisibility seems to work on mitigating the damage from stomping on a Crawler Mine.

Added, thanks!

[Ethen 4]

Hi,

For Iron Juggernaut, you can Ice Block and then clic on the mine.

[Belicosa 11]

A couple of observations on Immersius. Ice block to avoid the spray can be very dangerous due to the sha splashes. If you block at lower health and a splash procs under you, you're essentially dead when you break block, even with ice barrier and blink.

 

Also, the sha splashes make Rune problematic. Yes, the expanded range makes it where you can keep in range of the rune until a 7th splash forces you out, and a splash will usually form under you while you cast your next rune. Be willing to experiment with Incanters Ward for the mobility and the instant cast, the problem here being that you can use it up before it cools down and you have down time, but at least you can keep moving.

Edited September 30, 2013 by Belicosa

[Koviko 19]

@Belicosa:

 

While using Ice Block to prevent damage from the Swirl on Immerseus is a valid strategy, I'd personally recommend using Blink with Glyph of Blink and Glyph of Rapid Displacement. You can handle this mechanic one of two ways:

1. Blink past the Swirl as it is about to reach you (though the timing will likely take some practice considering how laggy this fight gets in Heroic)
2. Blink far from the boss (against the wall) as the Swirl passes and then Blink back into position.

The Swirl doesn't actually reach the farthest walls of the room, so it is safe to stand there during the Swirl mechanic.

[Koviko 19]

As Arcane, if your raid stacks for Garrosh Hellscream's Touch of Y'Shaarj mind-control mechanic, your Arcane Barrage's cleave will be instrumental in quickly dropping the health of the mind-controlled players. It's also the only time you can cleave (or at least "should cleave" since cleaving the Minion of Y'Shaarj adds implies they are close enough to buff each other) with your Arcane Barrage, making it the most beneficial time to do so for your DPS.

Edited October 3, 2013 by Koviko

[Damien 1,514]

All added, thanks!

[RyanStanley 0]

Malkorok-

 

Covered an entire quadrant without regard for my shield for imploding energy by:

 

First one- using alter time, as it aligns somewhat with initial burst/procs/FoF

Second one- greater invis (used here so it will be off cd later)

Third- ice block

 

For the second iteration.. have to watch your shield and will probably get one more greater invis, and maybe an alter time, depending on your raid's dps.

[Oltier 471]

Malkorok-

 

Covered an entire quadrant without regard for my shield for imploding energy by:

 

First one- using alter time, as it aligns somewhat with initial burst/procs/FoF

Second one- greater invis (used here so it will be off cd later)

Third- ice block

 

For the second iteration.. have to watch your shield and will probably get one more greater invis, and maybe an alter time, depending on your raid's dps.

Added

[Christoph 0]

A very intesting info for the Paragons of the Klaxxi: You can use Greater Invisibility to escape from the Aim damage. So your raid does not need to move when u're target by it.

For Thok the Bloodthirsty i recommend spamming Arcane Explosion as your main spell when the boss starts to cast Deafening Screech faster and you can't finish your spellcasts. Remember to always refresh your bomb on the target.

I recommend Blazing Speed for almost all the fights, to stack fast or escape from mechanics. When you are faster, you can get a better position to focus dps on targets w/o doing a lot of movement.

About the bombs, i agree with Koviko, but i think Living Bomb is better for the Fallen Protectors.

           I don't usually step in on these, but I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. Fallen Protectors is the perfect fight for Nether Tempest. Allowing this dot to be up 90% of the fight on at least 3 targets will result in a huge dps increase over living bomb. It is incredible the damage output of this dot on this fight. Specifically during Suns transition, apply to everything... yes everything... So what your ranged. Put it up on the adds in the center while drawing forth & spamming procs  on the outer "Ranged" adds. My dps alone jumped about 50k on this fight doing this. Remember to use Glyph of Splitting Ice here. It is easily missed by mages so don't miss it. 50% additional ice lance damage is fantastic. i wouldn't bother with arcane explosion as frost. I dont see why some use it. A proper Frost Bomb + Freeze +Ring of Frost + Blizzard will produce a far greater Damage Spike than any Arcane Explosion Spam. Since on The Fallen Protectors only the small addz can be frozen and draw ice lance procs with freeze, do just that. No need for a full blown aoe rotation. Just apply nether tempest to everything up and continue a single target rotation. Utilize the natural cleave of Glyph of Splitting Ice, trinkets and Nether Tempest while maintaining a properly executed "single target rotation". (It truly is unbeatable)  

         On Another Note. Trinkets of choice on The Fallen Protectors are Purified Bindings of Immerseus and Kadris Toxic Totem.  You may be tempted to use Frenzied Crystal of Rage, but this trinket is like Frost Bomb. Its only good at 4 or more stacked in a close proximity really (Galakras). Good Luck Mages   /wink

Edited October 29, 2013 by Christoph

[Oltier 471]

Icy-veins also suggests NT on Fallen protectors :)

[Alvala 0]

Progressing on Dark Shamans Heroic, and getting the Iron Prison debuff a lot. Tried to use both Ice Barrier and Temporal Shield, but taking a lot of damage from it regardless. On a few tries the Temporal Ripples has been registered, but hasn't healed for a whole lot. Ice Barrier seems shoddy as well, but I have a hard time telling exactly how hard it hits, as I'm being healed by a holy paladin stacking shields on me.

 

So any tips for this particular mechanic and what defensive to use?