FAQ for Mages & Macros (All Specs)

[Archimage 98]

In a horrible excuse of moderation, to save space, I have combined FAQ & Macros. One of the 3 mage mods will keep this updated. Love, Akraen:

This FAQ made by me and Oltier intends to answer some commonly occurring questions. If anything is unclear, inaccurate or if you feel a question should be added then please tell us. All information here is correct, though at times simplified for clarity.

 

List of questions:

General:

• What spec should I play?
• Why should I use orange gems instead of pure intellect gems?
• Why do you put expertise gems into your gem slot?
• How much DPS should I do with 5xx item level?
• How much haste should I have if I have PBoI?
• What is snapshotting and how do I do it?
• How do I use Alter Time properly?
• What trinkets should I use?
• What bomb to use on which encounter?
• Does Mirror Images' damage snapshot?
• Which addons do you suggest for tracking buffs and mage bombs?

​Fire:

• Is Crit>Mastery>Haste viable for Fire mage?
• When can I switch to Fire?
• Should I use the 4 piece set bonus?

​Frost:

• Why should I NOT macro Alter Time and Icy Veins?
• Should I use the 2 or 4 piece set bonus?
• Which frost build should I go for?
• What is 14242 haste in Mixture build? What is the next break point?
• How do I set up 14242 haste rating in AMR?
• Does Frozen Orb's damage snapshot?

​Arcane:

• Should I use the 4 piece set bonus?

 

 

General

 

What spec should I play?

You can achieve almost the same numbers with all three specs. However, as a Fire mage under 40% crit chance, you might not get the numbers you would expect. Keep in mind that while gear matters, correct gameplay is a very important factor. If your numbers are low, post some logs with a request for help rather than respeccing immediately.

 

Why should I use orange gems instead of pure intellect gems?

Because 2 secondary stat points are stronger than 1 intellect stat point, and gems give twice as many secondary stat points than they give primary stat points. However, you do not want to break socket bonuses, that is why you will gem orange in red sockets.

 

Why do you put expertise gems in your gem slots?

As mentioned above, gems give 2 secondary stat points, and expertise counts towards hit rating for casters, so you are actually gemming hit. This means that you can then reforge hit away on your equipment, to a different secondary stat, making the orange gem worth more points because you don't "waste" budget on intellect.

 

How much DPS should I do with 5xx item level?

That is a difficult question to answer, because item level does not accurately predict your potential DPS, for not item slots are not equally powerful. For example: you have 570 item level, but your trinkets and weapon come from raid finder; your DPS will be a lot lower than you would suspect. 

If you feel that you are underperforming then the culprit is primarily bad gameplay. In this case, if you send us a link to your armory and a warcraftlogs.com log from one of your Malkorok kills, we will be more than happy to have a look at it and give you some pointers.

 

How much haste should I have if I have PBoI?

Purified Bindings of Immerseus adds a passive amount of haste rating based on the rest of your equipment(Unequip PBoI, your haste rating will drop), so you do not have to worry about haste. 

 

What is snapshotting and how do I do it?

Check this amazing guide for a detailed explanation of snapshotting: http://www.icy-veins...shotting-guide/

 

How do I use Alter Time properly?

Frost: capture Icy Veins and your strongest trinkets and buffs, let it run its full course.

 

Fire: Use Alter time to save a Heating up proc and a Pyroblast! proc together with your strongest int procs(both trinkets ideally) and Presence of Mind. Sidestep and spam pyroblasts, manually reset alter time when you run out and spam pyroblasts again, press Combustion before the presence of mind pyroblast hits.

 

Arcane: Once you are at 4 stacks with both your trinkets up, activate your mana gem to get to full mana, active Arcane Power and then activate Alter Time. Cast your missiles accompanied with arcane blast, shoot Arcane Barrage before AT ends.

 

What trinkets should I use?

Purified Bindings of Immerseus is a definite must for any specializations.

Your other trinket choice depends on the item level and spec. For fire, if Black Blood of Yshaarj is the same or a higher ilvl than your other trinket, equip it. For frost and arcane, if the item level of your Kardris Toxic Totem is the same or higher than your other trinket, equip it.

 

Of course, there are no clear-cut winners here, and every build with its own theorycrafting might suggest a different 2nd trinket, so it is possible that you'll read that somewhere. As a rule of thumb though, this is correct.

 

What bomb do I use on which encounter?

See here: https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/3037-siege-of-orgrimmar-mage-style/

 

Does Mirror Images' damage snapshot?

No, Mirror Images' damage is being updated dynamically.

 

Which addons do you suggest for tracking buffs and mage bombs?

For tracking buffs we suggest either TellMeWhen or Weakauras. Both addons are very easy to configure and very powerful, their functions range from basic buff/cooldown tracking to advanced events and conditions.

 

For multidotting you can either opt to go for TidyPlates and multidot using plates, or use ForteXorcist or MageBombTracker to multidot using a list of targets. Keep in mind that you will always need to apply your mage bomb first using the latter 2 addons. You can also configure your boss frames for bosses such as The Fallen Protectors.

 

We highly advise the use of a mousover macro found here: https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/4796-mage-macros/

 

Fire specific

 

Is Crit>Mastery>Haste viable for Fire mage?

The only fight on which Crit > Mastery > Haste works well is on The Fallen Protectors if your guild stacks the bosses. Otherwise the loss of haste simply is too expensive. For a more detailed explanation visit https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/4991-kvers-comprehensive-guide-to-fire-v10/

 

When can I switch to Fire?

For Fire we would suggest at least having the 4 set with the reasonable amount of 45% critical chance(AMR shows this as 42%). Any lower and you are subject to a large fluctuation in your performance.

 

Should I use the 4 piece set bonus?

Absolutely, it is just that good, it can help massively with smoothing RNG. You will want to include the 4 piece's buff in your Alter Time combination if possible. 

 

The 2 piece is very powerful if played with correctly. You can "camp" at 5 stacks, but this is quite advanced. For more information, see https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/4991-kvers-comprehensive-guide-to-fire-v10/

 

 

Frost specific

 

Why should I NOT macro Alter Time and Icy Veins?

With IV glyph you cast a triple number of Frostbolts, FFBs and ILs. (Without the glyph you still cast more overall)

This means that your trinkets have a 3x higher chance to proc since trinket procs are calculated per hit.

 

Consequently: More hits=higher chance to proc trinkets.

 

Then, you can use Alter Time more beneficially.

 

Should I use the 2 or 4 piece set bonus?

Check the flowchart in this guide for a detailed explanation: https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/3678-akraens-comprehensive-guide-to-54-frost-pve-advanced/#entry41271

 

Which frost build should I go for?

All three builds mentioned in Akraen's guide are completely viable in all situations. Although on some fights one will pull ahead, on other fights, the other build will be better. This is all explained in Akraen's Frost Mage guide here: http://www.icy-veins...t-pve-advanced/

What I can suggest you is: try out all of them and play the one you like the most.

 

What is 14242 haste in Mixture build? What is the next break point?

14242 is the 50% haste rating, with Frost Armor and raid haste buff. This is basically the GCD cap for frost mages. If you choose the mixture build, you should stop at this rating and start stacking mastery.

If you go for the Haste build, then there is no "next break point". In that build, you just keep stacking haste.

 

How do I set up 14242 haste rating in AMR?

Click "Edit Weights". In Haste Soft Cap section, select "Manual". Insert the demanded haste rating.

 

Does Frozen Orb's damage snapshot?

No, Frozen Orb's damage is being updated dynamically.

 

Arcane specific

 

Should I use the 4 piece set bonus?

Yes, you will want to keep the 4 piece equiped in general.

If you have 2 heroic tier pieces and 2 normal tier pieces then equip the 4 set. If you only have 1 heroic tier piece, or none at all, and the alternatives are heroic items, then break the 4 set.

 

 

Conclusion

This concludes the FAQ, we hope that this clarifies the most common issues and questions mages face.

 

I tinkered around with macros for my mage, so I came up with the following:

 

Now Evocation becomes spammable; stops you from clipping your previous evocation if you are using it to heal yourself.

#showtooltiptext Evocation
/cast [nochanneling:Evocation] Evocation

 

One button for summoning your pet and using Freeze spell

#showtooltip
/cast [nopet] Summon Water Elemental
/cast Freeze

 

Opening Sequence Macro, after Mirror Images of course.

#showtooltip Potion of the Jade Serpent
/use Potion of the Jade Serpent
/castsequence Frostbolt, Mage Bomb, Frozen Orb

 

Normal Frostbolt + Pet Attack

#showtooltip Frostbolt
/dismount
/cast [harm, nochanneling:Evocation] Frostbolt
/petattack

Most mages already has this, however I added a "nochanneling:Evocation" so that you don't clip your evocation. Also added "harm" so you don't heal you Water Elemental

You can also add "nochanneling:Evocation" infront of your other spells like Mage Bomb, Ice Lance and Frostfire Bolt so you don't clip your evocate.

Previously I had a line to target the next target if the current target is dead, but that didn't work so great as I started pulling other mob groups.

 

 

This is one of the most basic macros for PvP, just putting it out there.

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:alt, @focus]Counterspell; Counterspell

 

Using Mage Bomb (NT, LB, FB) on the enemy you have your mouse on, or just on the current target.

#showtooltip Mage Bomb
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead] Mage Bomb; Mage Bomb

 

Ice Block macro, use once to Ice Block, use again to cancel iceblock

#showtooltip Ice Block
/cancelaura Ice Block
/cast Ice Block

 

Macro I use to summon and control my pet.

/cast Summon Water Elemental
/petfollow

>[Commence discussion]<

Edited March 24, 2014 by Akraen

[Oltier 471]

I kinda like these :)

 

I myself will make use of some in game imo. :P

[Akraen 230]

Ok wow I had no idea 'harm' was an option.

 

You win points today, major points.

 

 

Mod note: I pinned/stickied this, but let's see if we can get some more added to the list.

[Hybrys 199]

I'm really surprised no-one has posted the IB macro yet.

 

#showtooltip Ice Block

/cancelaura Ice Block

/cast Ice Block

 

I'm also a big fan of having these in one bind.

 

#showtooltip Ice Lance

/cast [mod:alt] Deep Freeze; Ice Lance

 

And Blazing Speed/Blink.

 

#showtooltip Blink

/cast Blink

/cast [mod:alt] Blazing Speed

[Archimage 98]

I also use the following macro if I want to summon my pet, or to let it follow when I am running away:

 

/cast Summon Water Elemental

/petfollow

[Anderson 7]

Is there a macro for changing mage bomb? It should do the following:

 

1. Change Talent 

2. Learn Talent

3. Cast Frostarmor

4. Replace Mage Bomb Macro in Action Bar. No need for that, you can use "Mage Bomb" for all your Bombs in Macros.

 

Sometimes I forget one of the steps and notice it during the fight

Edited March 14, 2014 by Anderson

[Akraen 230]

I'm really surprised no-one has posted the IB macro yet.

 

#showtooltip Ice Block

/cancelaura Ice Block

/cast Ice Block

 

I'm also a big fan of having these in one bind.

 

#showtooltip Ice Lance

/cast [mod:alt] Deep Freeze; Ice Lance

 

And Blazing Speed/Blink.

 

#showtooltip Blink

/cast Blink

/cast [mod:alt] Blazing Speed

 

When I first saw your avatar, I twisted the direction of your cactus' arms. Did a doubletake. Thought we had Cactus Hitler on our hands.

[Kver 65]

Dynamic mouseover mage bomb:

 

 

#showtooltip Mage Bomb

/cast [@mouseover,harm,exists,nodead,nohelp] Mage Bomb; Mage Bomb

[Anderson 7]

@ Archimage: I would love to see the contributed macros being included in your original post, as well as some formatting :)

[Hybrys 199]

When I first saw your avatar, I twisted the direction of your cactus' arms. Did a doubletake. Thought we had Cactus Hitler on our hands.

Wow.  I... don't have a response to that.

 

Dynamic mouseover mage bomb:

 

 

#showtooltip Mage Bomb

/cast [@mouseover,harm,exists,nodead,nohelp] Mage Bomb; Mage Bomb

Your macro is very redundant.  Remember that harm implies exists, and harm implies nohelp.  In fact, I think just this would do the exact same thing:

 

#showtooltip Mage Bomb

/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead] Mage Bomb; Mage Bomb

[Archimage 98]

Is there a macro for changing mage bomb? It should do the following:

 

1. Change Talent 

2. Learn Talent

3. Cast Frostarmor

4. Replace Mage Bomb Macro in Action Bar. No need for that, you can use "Mage Bomb" for all your Bombs in Macros.

 

Sometimes I forget one of the steps and notice it during the fight

 

To remove any Talent in a certain row:

/run LoadAddOn('Blizzard_TalentUI')

/click PlayerTalentFrameTalentsTalentRow1Talent1 RightButton

/click StaticPopup1Button

 

You can replace the "TalentRow#" with the Tier Number and the second "Talent#" with the column number

 

And then to learn one:

/run LearnTalent(#)

# is: PoM = 1, Blazing Speed = 2, Ice Floes = 3, Temp Shield = 4, etc

 

Note that the game take a very little moment to register the removal of the talent, so you cannot add the /run LearnTalent just after, but you can add a /cast Frost Armor to the LearnTalent macro

 

(Learn Nether Tempest)

/run LearnTalent(13)

/cast Frost Armor

 

You can however press THIS macro twice:

/run LoadAddOn('Blizzard_TalentUI')

/click PlayerTalentFrameTalentsTalentRow5Talent1 RightButton

/click StaticPopup1Button1

/stopcasting

/run LearnTalent(14)

/cast Frost Armor

[TLTeo 29]

A few i use are:

 

/cast Frostjaw
/cast Circle of Frost
/cast Ice Ward

 

/cast Presence of Mind
/cast Blazing Speed
/cast Ice Floes

 

so i dont have to switch buttons when changing talents (you need to keep one icon though)

 

#show Remove Curse
/cast [target=mouseover, exists][target=player] Remove Curse

 

to decurse, and most importantly:

 

#showtooltip Combustion
/cast Combustion
/script PlaySoundFile("Sound/Creature/Ragnaros/RagnarosSpecialAttack01.wav")

 

to hear Ragnaros saying BY FIRE BE PURGED every time i use combustion.

Edited March 14, 2014 by TLTeo

[Kver 65]

Wow.  I... don't have a response to that.

 

Your macro is very redundant.  Remember that harm implies exists, and harm implies nohelp.  In fact, I think just this would do the exact same thing:

 

#showtooltip Mage Bomb

/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead] Mage Bomb; Mage Bomb

 

You are right on the exists part, I am not sure of the nohelp part since it does not technically imply it, but it can be seen as the opposite I suppose. Redundancy in short macros is not necessarily a bad thing but I'll put the shorter version in.

 

Edit: was that macro in his post initially? Because we totally wasted time in that case :D

[Farrfrost 0]

Hey, 

 

Dont know if its the right place to post my question but Ill give it a try.

 

When i check my logs I always see myself missing brain freeze procs although i am using it asap. My question is : would it be beneficial to use a macro like

/stop casting

/cast FFB

That way i couldnt possibly be missing a proc.
The way im doing right now is that when a BF procs i am currently casting a frostbolt and sometimes i just "queued" one so im like damn should I cancel and use FFB instead?

Dont remember reading anything on the subject so maybe my question is dumb and simple but I hate seeing 33 frozen thoughts with 40 brain freeze in my logs...

 

Log of Jugg 25man N : 

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-f398vfhhs5ulkcso/details/11/?s=7006&e=7243

 

If you have anyway for me to stop missing procs that would be awesome :)

 

 

Thx a lot, have a nice day

[Oltier 471]

Hey, 

 

Dont know if its the right place to post my question but Ill give it a try.

 

When i check my logs I always see myself missing brain freeze procs although i am using it asap. My question is : would it be beneficial to use a macro like

/stop casting

/cast FFB

That way i couldnt possibly be missing a proc.

The way im doing right now is that when a BF procs i am currently casting a frostbolt and sometimes i just "queued" one so im like damn should I cancel and use FFB instead?

Dont remember reading anything on the subject so maybe my question is dumb and simple but I hate seeing 33 frozen thoughts with 40 brain freeze in my logs...

 

Log of Jugg 25man N : 

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-f398vfhhs5ulkcso/details/11/?s=7006&e=7243

 

If you have anyway for me to stop missing procs that would be awesome

 

 

Thx a lot, have a nice day

NEVER EVER interrupt casting. That is against the no1 rule of casters: Always cast something.

You have to pay attention to it. Maybe make an annoying sound to be played when it procs, huge vibrating screen. Anything. :)

[Farrfrost 0]

Guess I'll just work on my awereness and check if I can configure a sound effet of some sort among those I already have ! 

 

Thx!

[Kver 65]

This FAQ made by me and Oltier intends to answer some commonly occurring questions. If anything is unclear, inaccurate or if you feel a question should be added then please tell us. All information here is correct, though at times simplified for clarity.

 

List of questions:

General:

• What spec should I play?
• Why should I use orange gems instead of pure intellect gems?
• Why do you put expertise gems into your gem slot?
• How much DPS should I do with 5xx item level?
• How much haste should I have if I have PBoI?
• What is snapshotting and how do I do it?
• How do I use Alter Time properly?
• What trinkets should I use?
• What bomb to use on which encounter?
• Does Mirror Images' damage snapshot?
• Which addons do you suggest for tracking buffs and mage bombs?

​Fire:

• Is Crit>Mastery>Haste viable for Fire mage?
• When can I switch to Fire?
• Should I use the 4 piece set bonus?

​Frost:

• Why should I NOT macro Alter Time and Icy Veins?
• Should I use the 2 or 4 piece set bonus?
• Which frost build should I go for?
• What is 14242 haste in Mixture build? What is the next break point?
• How do I set up 14242 haste rating in AMR?
• Does Frozen Orb's damage snapshot?

​Arcane:

• Should I use the 4 piece set bonus?

 

 

General

 

What spec should I play?

You can achieve almost the same numbers with all three specs. However, as a Fire mage under 40% crit chance, you might not get the numbers you would expect. Keep in mind that while gear matters, correct gameplay is a very important factor. If your numbers are low, post some logs with a request for help rather than respeccing immediately.

 

Why should I use orange gems instead of pure intellect gems?

Because 2 secondary stat points are stronger than 1 intellect stat point, and gems give twice as many secondary stat points than they give primary stat points. However, you do not want to break socket bonuses, that is why you will gem orange in red sockets.

 

Why do you put expertise gems in your gem slots?

As mentioned above, gems give 2 secondary stat points, and expertise counts towards hit rating for casters, so you are actually gemming hit. This means that you can then reforge hit away on your equipment, to a different secondary stat, making the orange gem worth more points because you don't "waste" budget on intellect.

 

How much DPS should I do with 5xx item level?

That is a difficult question to answer, because item level does not accurately predict your potential DPS, for not item slots are not equally powerful. For example: you have 570 item level, but your trinkets and weapon come from raid finder; your DPS will be a lot lower than you would suspect. 

If you feel that you are underperforming then the culprit is primarily bad gameplay. In this case, if you send us a link to your armory and a warcraftlogs.com log from one of your Malkorok kills, we will be more than happy to have a look at it and give you some pointers.

 

How much haste should I have if I have PBoI?

Purified Bindings of Immerseus adds a passive amount of haste rating based on the rest of your equipment(Unequip PBoI, your haste rating will drop), so you do not have to worry about haste. 

 

What is snapshotting and how do I do it?

Check this amazing guide for a detailed explanation of snapshotting: http://www.icy-veins...shotting-guide/

 

How do I use Alter Time properly?

Frost: capture Icy Veins and your strongest trinkets and buffs, let it run its full course.

 

Fire: Use Alter time to save a Heating up proc and a Pyroblast! proc together with your strongest int procs(both trinkets ideally) and Presence of Mind. Sidestep and spam pyroblasts, manually reset alter time when you run out and spam pyroblasts again, press Combustion before the presence of mind pyroblast hits.

 

Arcane: Once you are at 4 stacks with both your trinkets up, activate your mana gem to get to full mana, active Arcane Power and then activate Alter Time. Cast your missiles accompanied with arcane blast, shoot Arcane Barrage before AT ends.

 

What trinkets should I use?

Purified Bindings of Immerseus is a definite must for any specializations.

Your other trinket choice depends on the item level and spec. For fire, if Black Blood of Yshaarj is the same or a higher ilvl than your other trinket, equip it. For frost and arcane, if the item level of your Kardris Toxic Totem is the same or higher than your other trinket, equip it.

 

Of course, there are no clear-cut winners here, and every build with its own theorycrafting might suggest a different 2nd trinket, so it is possible that you'll read that somewhere. As a rule of thumb though, this is correct.

 

What bomb do I use on which encounter?

See here: https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/3037-siege-of-orgrimmar-mage-style/

 

Does Mirror Images' damage snapshot?

No, Mirror Images' damage is being updated dynamically.

 

Which addons do you suggest for tracking buffs and mage bombs?

For tracking buffs we suggest either TellMeWhen or Weakauras. Both addons are very easy to configure and very powerful, their functions range from basic buff/cooldown tracking to advanced events and conditions.

 

For multidotting you can either opt to go for TidyPlates and multidot using plates, or use ForteXorcist or MageBombTracker to multidot using a list of targets. Keep in mind that you will always need to apply your mage bomb first using the latter 2 addons. You can also configure your boss frames for bosses such as The Fallen Protectors.

 

We highly advise the use of a mousover macro found here: https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/4796-mage-macros/

 

Fire specific

 

Is Crit>Mastery>Haste viable for Fire mage?

The only fight on which Crit > Mastery > Haste works well is on The Fallen Protectors if your guild stacks the bosses. Otherwise the loss of haste simply is too expensive. For a more detailed explanation visit https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/4991-kvers-comprehensive-guide-to-fire-v10/

 

When can I switch to Fire?

For Fire we would suggest at least having the 4 set with the reasonable amount of 45% critical chance(AMR shows this as 42%). Any lower and you are subject to a large fluctuation in your performance.

 

Should I use the 4 piece set bonus?

Absolutely, it is just that good, it can help massively with smoothing RNG. You will want to include the 4 piece's buff in your Alter Time combination if possible. 

 

The 2 piece is very powerful if played with correctly. You can "camp" at 5 stacks, but this is quite advanced. For more information, see https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/4991-kvers-comprehensive-guide-to-fire-v10/

 

 

Frost specific

 

Why should I NOT macro Alter Time and Icy Veins?

With IV glyph you cast a triple number of Frostbolts, FFBs and ILs. (Without the glyph you still cast more overall)

This means that your trinkets have a 3x higher chance to proc since trinket procs are calculated per hit.

 

Consequently: More hits=higher chance to proc trinkets.

 

Then, you can use Alter Time more beneficially.

 

Should I use the 2 or 4 piece set bonus?

Check the flowchart in this guide for a detailed explanation: https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/3678-akraens-comprehensive-guide-to-54-frost-pve-advanced/#entry41271

 

Which frost build should I go for?

All three builds mentioned in Akraen's guide are completely viable in all situations. Although on some fights one will pull ahead, on other fights, the other build will be better. This is all explained in Akraen's Frost Mage guide here: http://www.icy-veins...t-pve-advanced/

What I can suggest you is: try out all of them and play the one you like the most.

 

What is 14242 haste in Mixture build? What is the next break point?

14242 is the 50% haste rating, with Frost Armor and raid haste buff. This is basically the GCD cap for frost mages. If you choose the mixture build, you should stop at this rating and start stacking mastery.

If you go for the Haste build, then there is no "next break point". In that build, you just keep stacking haste.

 

How do I set up 14242 haste rating in AMR?

Click "Edit Weights". In Haste Soft Cap section, select "Manual". Insert the demanded haste rating.

 

Does Frozen Orb's damage snapshot?

No, Frozen Orb's damage is being updated dynamically.

 

Arcane specific

 

Should I use the 4 piece set bonus?

Yes, you will want to keep the 4 piece equiped in general.

If you have 2 heroic tier pieces and 2 normal tier pieces then equip the 4 set. If you only have 1 heroic tier piece, or none at all, and the alternatives are heroic items, then break the 4 set.

 

 

Conclusion

This concludes the FAQ, we hope that this clarifies the most common issues and questions mages face.

[TLTeo 29]

Quick question regarding Arcane and Alter Time. Forgive me if i say something silly as i don't know that spec at all:

 

How does the Arcane Power/Alter Time interaction work? On the one hand, you would want to separate them, use AP on cd and Alter Time appropriately as things proc/stacks grow, like you would as Frost. On the other, by using them together you can also optimize the mana% at which you will Alter Time. Which one is optimal?

[Kver 65]

Quick question regarding Arcane and Alter Time. Forgive me if i say something silly as i don't know that spec at all:

 

How does the Arcane Power/Alter Time interaction work? On the one hand, you would want to separate them, use AP on cd and Alter Time appropriately as things proc/stacks grow, like you would as Frost. On the other, by using them together you can also optimize the mana% at which you will Alter Time. Which one is optimal?

Use Arcane Power together with Bindings' proc. AP cooldown is 3 minutes. It lasts for 20 seconds, just like Bindings. Capture them together with AT.

 

If you screw up your mana before you AT, just use a mana gem? That's what they are there for.

[Dutchmagoz 30]

Quick question regarding Arcane and Alter Time. Forgive me if i say something silly as i don't know that spec at all:

 

How does the Arcane Power/Alter Time interaction work? On the one hand, you would want to separate them, use AP on cd and Alter Time appropriately as things proc/stacks grow, like you would as Frost. On the other, by using them together you can also optimize the mana% at which you will Alter Time. Which one is optimal?

 

 

 

You'll want to glyph AP and use them together. En the opener, wait for all trinkets, 2x AM and preferably full mana (mana gem otherwise) and use it then. At 3 minutes you want to try to do the same. If PBOI comes up soon (which it should roughlyt 20-30 seconds after AT comes off cd) you want to wait for that and go AP+AT again.

Edited March 22, 2014 by Dutchmagoz