Mage PvP 1.12 (Classic)

[Valks 2,375]

This thread is for feedback concerning our Mage PvP guide for World of Warcraft: Classic.

[Horus 0]

Pvp race?

[Valks 2,375]

On 8/10/2019 at 12:20 PM, Horus said:

Pvp race?

We'll get those added ASAP!

[Seksi 208]

The general guide introduction already talks in depth about races, also for PvP: https://www.icy-veins.com/wow-classic/mage-dps-pve-guide.

But to make it extra-convenient I will edit this page to also display the PvP remarks of the intro page ? 

[Supajee 3]

All 3 builds look really fun. Are they all used competetively? Is it too difficult question to answer when's the best time to use any of those 3 builds? :)

[Seksi 208]

They are! It all comes down to what you are looking for:

Deep Frost is what people are mostly using for now, its great with low gear levels and provides the highest defensive potential with Ice Barrier and all the frost goodies.

Elementalist is also a nice build with more offensive potential and a ton of instant casts, but it has so many spells that its a bit harder to play, and of course, squishier than Deep Frost.

Pom Pyro is all about the namesake combo. At high level you can easily one shot someone if it crits, no matter what else is going on, so its great against targets who have healers with them or are very hard to catch, such as Druids running the flag on WSG. Outside of this window, you are mostly an elementalist without frost spells, which is the squishiest a Mage can be.

[Guest Frostytoot-Sulfuras]

Hello! I just wanted to add Angelista's Grasp to the belts. 

For more casual PvPers who are probably going to stop at Rank 10 (like me), that belt allows you to get hit-capped in combination with the Rank 7 boots AND also has pretty good stats + spell power.

Also, in MY humble opinion, stat priority for PvP should be: Stamina > Intellect > Resistances > Crit = Spell Power

I think that the most important thing as a mage is to stay alive. We can have so much control over a battle and that's not possible if we're dead in the first place. 
I've literally helped my flag carrier escape having less than 100 hp myself so many times. Not by critting someone to death, but by using my CC and harassing the opponent who thinks they're about to kill me cause "I'm a little squishy mage" ("I'm a Gnome ^^).

For PvE, of course you should look to max Spell Power and crit, cause you're not supposed to be getting hit.

I would also add another super good PvP spec that I've been using lately. I actually think it's OP. Once my Blade of Etternal BiS (or Darkness, as Blizzard named it -meh-) I will probably never switch back from this spec. It can be used for raiding, PvP, AoE farming, basically anything. It's super fun to play, and you get all the frost goodies like Ice Block, Ice Barrier, Shatter combos, etc. while also getting the extra instant burst from the Fire tree.

https://classic.wowhead.com/talent-calc/mage/2-0550020123-05053220102151301

I did NOT come up with this spec. All credits go to Venruki, one of the best mages in Classic in my opinion.

For AoE Farming i would let Frostbite go and get Improved Blizzard instead, dropping one point in Improved Frostbolt, although, when I get my infinte mana dagger, I wont be using Blizzard that much, so maybe I'll do 3/3 Frost Channeling and 3/3 Permafrost.

Hope this helps!

 

[Guest Frostytoot-Sulfuras]

Actually I would like to add something else. 
Your "deep frost" spec is all wrong. I don't care what this guy Francis (on the video) or anyone else tells you. If you don't have Ice Barrier, then you ARE NOT going Deep Frost, period.

Ice Barrier combined with coldsnap can easily absorb 2k damage. It is the backbone of frost spec.
Yes, slows, frostbite procs, shatter combos, all of those are good to deal damage. But again, you can't deal damage if you're dead!

And also, if this is supposed to be a PvP spec, and you're already going that deep into arcane tree, you MUST take improved Counterspell.

Arcane Resilience is not that good. If you are REALLY geared, you will probably get about 300 armor from it, which in my opinion you don't need, because if you're deep frost, you're supposed to be KITING, not getting hit. I guess Imp Arcane Explosion is a bit good for finishing enemies up, but again, your bread and butter is using shatter combos to almost one-shot people. I find the utility that Improved Blizzard and Frost channeling give WAY more usefull than some random crits from AE now and then. 

Deep Frost is about staying alive and mana-gement (see what I did there). The mana you get back with Arc Absorption and the mana you don't spend from Frost Channeling will help you win more fights for your team than going to Arcane Explosion like a madman running Stockades.

This Francis guy doesn't know what he's doing obviously.

Sorry, but I'm looking out for all the mages out there cause sadly this is the only PvP guide I could find on Icyveins and I don't want people to make these big mistakes. Probably no one reads the comments anyway, but here's my 2 cents.

Here's the real Deep Frost spec. You should add it instead of the one you have there.

https://classic.wowhead.com/talent-calc/mage/23005500002--05053230112251301

Assuming you are hit capped from gear, which you can easily be if you get rank 7, and Star of Mystaria + Ban'thok sash. 

Again, for AoE farming, you would drop Frostbite and get 3/3 Improved blizzard.

[Seksi 208]

Those are great remarks, indeed PvP has evolved quite a bit in Classic relative to the original Vanilla when people mostly didn't know how to play, will review the guide accordingly, thanks!

[Shrine 0]

Hello  Seksixeny and dear writer of the pvp-guide for mages in classic!,

Let me introduce myself. I am an experienced wow player who plays wow for over 20 years since vanilla wow. At the moment I fully dedicate myself to wowclassic. I play lvl 60 hunter/warlock and nowadays a lvl 36 mage. 

First of all, thank you for the comprehensive and detailed guide! Very nice!

Can I ask a question. My question is:
"Why do you not use max improved fireblast in one of your three talent builds?"
(because in the introduction and opening of your article, I citate in Paragraph I:
"Destroy your opponent(s) — Once they are brought under control, you can simply use maximum rank  Frostbolt,  Fire Blast, or AoE spells like  Cone of Cold and  Arcane Explosion to finish them off."
 

You clearly say this in your opening paragraph under the head "1. Core concepts for PvP Mages". So again, my question is: 
"why would you not do what you say in your opening paragraph, why do you not use these concepts, core concepts, in the rest of your article?".

I hope you understand my question. And I hope it is a good question.

Thanks in advance.

Yf,

Shrine
 

[Seksi 208]

8 hours ago, Shrine said:

Hello  Seksixeny and dear writer of the pvp-guide for mages in classic!,

Let me introduce myself. I am an experienced wow player who plays wow for over 20 years since vanilla wow. At the moment I fully dedicate myself to wowclassic. I play lvl 60 hunter/warlock and nowadays a lvl 36 mage. 

First of all, thank you for the comprehensive and detailed guide! Very nice!

Can I ask a question. My question is:
"Why do you not use max improved fireblast in one of your three talent builds?"
(because in the introduction and opening of your article, I citate in Paragraph I:
"Destroy your opponent(s) — Once they are brought under control, you can simply use maximum rank  Frostbolt,  Fire Blast, or AoE spells like  Cone of Cold and  Arcane Explosion to finish them off."
 

You clearly say this in your opening paragraph under the head "1. Core concepts for PvP Mages". So again, my question is: 
"why would you not do what you say in your opening paragraph, why do you not use these concepts, core concepts, in the rest of your article?".

I hope you understand my question. And I hope it is a good question.

Thanks in advance.

Yf,

Shrine
 

Hey Shrine, thanks a lot for your reply ? the answer is simple: Improved Fireblast only reduces the cooldown of the spell, but you are only supposed to use it once per fight, to finish enemies off, thus reducing its cooldown is mostly pointless since it will be off-cooldown by the time you need it in the next fight anyway, and you will generally benefit more from the alternative talents while PvPing.

[Guest Ring Selection]

What is up with the ring choices . Where are the 2 zg rings?      Ring of spell power band of forced concentration ? alot of garbage rings on the list

[Seksi 208]

8 hours ago, Guest Ring Selection said:

What is up with the ring choices . Where are the 2 zg rings?      Ring of spell power band of forced concentration ? alot of garbage rings on the list

They were made for earlier patches and in earlier days. Will be reviewing the whole list for Phase 5 soon! ?

[Seksi 208]

On 7/6/2020 at 3:32 PM, Guest Ring Selection said:

What is up with the ring choices . Where are the 2 zg rings?      Ring of spell power band of forced concentration ? alot of garbage rings on the list

The new list is up. Decided against putting the 2 ZG rings there because, while a decent option, they are outshined by a lot of other rings, especially in PvP where having extra Hit chance matters much less because of the low cap to begin with, and they provide low Stamina, when used as a set. Feel free to get / use them regardless, if I had placed them on the list they would have been around Freezing Band's place.