[General] Siege of Orgrimmar Mage Style

[Kver 65]

Useful stuff in there, nice. I actually noticed the same behaviour on my Frozen Orb on Juggernaut, but I can't tell if it actually gives charges, I highly doubt it though.

[Telvan 0]

You can spellsteal Rage of the Empress at Spoils

[Ghanjo 37]

You can spellsteal Rage of the Empress at Spoils

As far as I know, your allies don't get the damage buff from this if you spellsteal it, the only effect is that you dispell it from the bug.

[Dutchmagoz 30]

As far as I know, your allies don't get the damage buff from this if you spellsteal it, the only effect is that you dispell it from the bug.

 

True! You don't get a damage increase out of it, so unless people are dropping low, I see no reason to dispell it.

[Oltier 471]

True! You don't get a damage increase out of it, so unless people are dropping low, I see no reason to dispell it.

It's actually a DPS loss for you. There are the healers with purge etc, they should do this task.

[Sikkz 27]

I'm confused.

 

I spell steal that buff whenever I do spoils and I receive the damage increase (it's really nice).  Are you guys saying that when you use spellsteal, it will dispell rage of the empress, but not give the buff to you?  My experience has been different, and can 100% guarantee that I get the damage increase. Maybe I'm reading something wrong?

[TLTeo 29]

Something is definitely wrong because you are not supposed to get the damage buff on Spoils.

[durrtygoodz 60]

I think the buff shows, but it doesn't do anything

[Sikkz 27]

Hmm.  That's very odd.  I will get some logs of a spoils encounter and analyze it further.  Will post the results of what I find.

[Ghanjo 37]

The Rage of the empress spellsteal thing was discussed a lot in this thread from february, with the same conclusion: the buff shows up with your other buffs, but it doesn't buff you. Haven't seen any solid proof of this anywhere, but everyone seems to agree on it when I try to find more info about it.

[Sikkz 27]

http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/QPHdLFNY47D2MTAG#type=auras&fight=38&source=10

 

Edit:

 

Did some more research and I guess the general consensus is that you don't benefit from the buff.  Why blizzard would allow you to spell-steal it AND have it show up on your buffs is totally beyond me (Did they think we wouldn't notice?).  Possibly a bug?  Or Blizzard is trolling massively hard.  

 

The link above will take you to one of my heroic spoils kills in which I "stole" the buff.  If anyone wants to take a look, go ahead.  If you find anything that might be evidence of me benefiting from the buff, let me know, because this still doesn't sit well with me :-[

Edited June 5, 2014 by Scottylol

[Sikkz 27]

I have had Garrosh HC on farm for a little while, and have decided to consolidate the tips and strategies that have worked well for me in the hopes that they assist others who wish to make the most of their class during this fight.  Most of these tips are frost-specific, but many universal tips will be included as well.  Enjoy, and feel free to message me with any questions, comments, or concerns.

 

Disclaimer: These suggestions are from my experience only, and may be more biased towards the strategy my team uses to kill Garrosh.  Raid sizes and strategies vary, so some of these tips may not be optimal for your team's specific tactic for killing the boss.  Great effort was taken to make these tips universally beneficial regardless of these variables, but there may be exceptions.  

 

1.) Glyphs: Icy Veins, Splitting Ice, Rapid Displacement/Cone of cold.  If you are in the group that moves in and out to drop desecrate, I suggest Rapid Displacement.  If your strategy is more of a non-mobile one, you should consider cone of cold for the adds that you see throughout the fight, along with the MCs in phase 2/3. The distance that blink teleports you is almost identical to the distance you need to move out and back in for desecrate, so this is the default third glyph choice that I use.  If you aren't very familiar with controlling your water elemental and find that it's often out of range, you can also glyph for that.  

 

2.) Talents: Living bomb is definitely best.  Single target Garrosh damage to push him as quickly as possible from phase to phase is pretty much always the most crucial aspect of this fight.  There isn't enough up-time on adds to justify NT/FB.  Make sure you take temporal shield for this fight.  Most of the big damage on this fight (Desecrate/Whirling Corruption) isn't instant and is dealt over 5-10 seconds, making TS an incredible asset to your survival. 

 

3.) PHASE ONE: Frozen orb when first set of adds reaches Garrosh and spam glyphed Ice Lance on him.  Others might have more total damage from AOE, but you will be at the top of the charts for damage on Garrosh himself, and that's what really matters in this phase.   If you're doing this fight on normal, you should have frozen orb up again towards the end of the second set of adds, just use it then.  For heroic, I highly suggest saving your second frozen orb for that first intermission since it's such a tight DPS race.  If your group stacks in this phase, make sure you're using Temporal Shield every time desecrate goes down (your healers will thank you).  In heroic, the adds will fixate random members.  When Hellscream's Warsong goes out, they will really hurt (especially since you're wearing cloth).  Your raid leader will most likely create a stun rotation to counter this, but if one happens to be attacking you, you can use TS for this as well.  Lastly, make sure you are using your pet's freeze on the adds whenever possible for some free FoF charges.  If your group uses the stack method for phase one, there is a trick you can use to quickly burst down the desecrated weapon.  The adds reaching your group and the desecrate going down happen at almost the exact same time, so you can use your pet freeze to get two quick FoF charges, and use them to quickly bring down the desecrate.

 

4.) PHASE TWO: Here comes the first intermission, and this is arguably the more difficult aspect of the fight on heroic.  It's a tight DPS race, so you need to think ahead and plan every single global you are going to use during those 25 seconds.  I developed a tactic that worked well for me and maximized the amount of damage I did during the intermission, and it revolves around pooling your resources.  Keep an eye on your timer for the first intermission.  When the timer reaches 10 seconds until you are sent up, DO NOT USE ANY BRAIN FREEZE OR FINGERS OF FROST CHARGES THAT YOU ACQUIRE FROM THAT POINT.  If you are assigned to one of the group of adds in the back of the room, then start doing this at 6 seconds instead of 10.  Just keep Living Bomb up and spam Frostbolt, but also make sure to refresh your Invocation buff before you go up if it has less than 30 seconds remaining.    You should also have your Frozen Orb off cooldown.  By doing this, you enter the intermission with 5 icicles and with some BF/FoF charges.  Right when you go in and get to the first group of adds you are assigned to, launch frozen orb, and use any BF/FoF charges.  This will give you some big damage, and will release all 5 icicles onto the adds (which will hit two of them because of Splitting Ice).  If you are assigned to go to a second group of adds afterwards, you might find it beneficial to save your frozen orb, because the first set usually goes down pretty quickly since you came to the intermission prepared!  Make use of Ice Floes during Annihilate, and don't be afraid to blink if you think you won't make it out in time.  Congrats! You put out your max potential on the hardest aspect of the fight!  The rest of phase two is pretty simple. Maximize your use of blink if moving out for desecrate.  If your raid leader wants some side damage on the desecrate to shrink them down a bit, dot them up.  Try to resist padding the meters if bringing down the desecrate isn't a part of the strategy your group is doing (maximum up-time on Garrosh is crucial, and you padding could be the difference between skipping the second intermission).  You can use your pet freeze for every set of MCs for some free FoF charges, but make sure you use it right away (They go down quickly when done properly).  Make sure you are using Temporal Shield for every single whirling corruption.  If you get an empowered whirling corruption in phase two, I suggest planning ahead just like you did for the first intermission.  Pool some of your resources just as I explained earlier, and you will be able to quickly pick up and burst down an add or two.

 

5.) PHASE THREE: Very similar to phase two in terms of using your abilities properly with some minor tweaks.  Your pet freeze won't give FoF charges for MCs anymore since they're empowered, so don't bother.  I mentioned potentially dotting up the desecrates if it fits your strategy in phase two, but you shouldn't do this in phase three. This is total padding and does nothing but hold your raid group back.  

 

6.) PHASE FOUR (HEROIC ONLY): Make sure you refresh your Living Bomb and pool 5 icicles right as Garrosh finishes his RP and pulls the group to Stormwind where phase 4 takes place. Skip the cut-scene, and order your pet to begin attacking Garrosh (Everyone will be stunned during the RP, but pets are still free to attack).  Make good use of ice flows during malice; it will allow you to maximize DPS while moving in and out of the circle.  Mages are a prime candidate for the clump group to spawn the iron star.  When you go in for the clump, you can just ice block or pop greater invisibility to negate the high damage of a potential second malice stack.  The second that the clump is found and the iron star is fired, blink away towards the next stacking point (This is crucially important, you do NOT want to spawn a second iron star).  After that, basically just rinse and repeat.  If you have made it to this point, all that's left if making sure your iron star kiter hits Garrosh at the right time.  Make sure you're not casting when the iron star hits, it will silence you for 10 seconds.  Also, when the star is about to hit, pop any remaining defensive cooldowns you have (it does a lot of damage).  Lastly, make sure you use blink to move out of the group a couple seconds before the next bombardment is called to avoid spawning a second iron star.  

 

Congrats!  You have successfully killed Garrosh and maximized the potential your class has in this fight! Even if just a little bit, I hope this guide helped you out!  Feel free to message me on here or in game with any questions, comments, or concerns.  Best of luck and have fun!!

Edited September 10, 2014 by Sikkz

[Oltier 471]

Thank you for the in depth guide! I have added it to the main post. :)

[Berlinia 168]

Quick thing for sikkzs,

 

Rapid Displacement should only be used if your tactic requires you to do so.

CoC is very handy if a) you have trouble killing adds on Phase 1, b) you want to kill small adds fast in second intermission, c) you want to pad like crazy on P3 adds.

 

Pooling, although handy you kind of overdo it. 10 seconds is too much and if you have to go to the far end of the room you are probably going to lose them. I'd say pool everything under 6 seconds (which is just enough for you to Cap Icicles as well). This applies to 25 man, as 10man is a mystery to me these days.

 

I assume that on 10man you kill the small adds on P3, so i ain't commenting at all there.

 

I do strongly dissagree though in your notion of using Pet Freeze on MC's. It should be avoided at all costs, because if the target takes a sudden burst of damage, they are freed and the freeze aint broken!

[Sikkz 27]

I think I'm a bit biased towards Rapid Displacement glyph since my strategy greatly requires it, but I agree with you that CoC is  better in a more non-mobile strategy (or if you aren't moving out for desecrate).  I'm always in the group that moves out for desecrate - so I find it extremely valuable.  

 

In regards to pooling; I just found that about 70% of my wipes came from failing the first intermission.  If that 10 seconds was the difference between whether or not we skip the second intermission, then I would reconsider, but that wasn't the case for my group.  10 seconds is a little long if you are assigned to a far group, I agree.  I will edit the main post to be more clear.

 

For the freezing of MCs...this is a potential scenario, although I have never seen it happen.  My group always stacks for MCs and the whirling corruptions anyways, so even if they did stay frozen outside of the MC, it would be no harm done.  A group that spreads out immediately when MCs are broken, then I definitely agree.  Again, I will edit the main post to be more clear.

 

I think I was biased in writing the guide because it's based off my strategy in 10-man, and these strategies/tactics can vary.  Going to edit the main post now to clarify!

[Berlinia 168]

May I assume you recently killed garrosh?

Gratz if that's the case :)

[Sikkz 27]

Somewhat recently, have had it on farm for like a month and a half. Thank you:))

[Galatea 2]

I think I'm a bit biased towards Rapid Displacement glyph since my strategy greatly requires it, but I agree with you that CoC is  better in a more non-mobile strategy (or if you aren't moving out for desecrate).  I'm always in the group that moves out for desecrate - so I find it extremely valuable.

 

Have you considered using blazing speed as your t1 talent instead of ice floes?  That way you could glyph cone of cold, and still be able to blink to the desecrate location, and use blazing speed to get back pretty much instantly.

[Sikkz 27]

Have you considered using blazing speed as your t1 talent instead of ice floes?  That way you could glyph cone of cold, and still be able to blink to the desecrate location, and use blazing speed to get back pretty much instantly.

If you prefer, you can absolutely use blazing speed.  For me personally, I have always been more of an Ice Floes kind of guy, and find that I tend to put out more damage with it compared to blazing speed.  They are both viable, but if you are doing it on heroic difficulty I would recommend Ice Floes.  It works really well with the movement that is required in phase four.

[Berlinia 168]

SoO is done. Thread locked.