[Archived] Arcane Mage 5.4

[Morinehtar 0]

In general, I would say AMR is correct here. Pure int tends to be worse than int + secondary or pure secondary due to the fact int isn't worth twice as much as a secondary stat.

In practice, I would say you need to check simcraft and find your OWN stat weightings (as they change every time you change your gear) and input them in AMR to get the best possible results.

Thank you for reporting this. In general, you should trust Ask Mr. Robot. We don't have the tools that they have to test that stat weights have changed. With patch 5.1, the value of Mastery slightly increased, in such a way that Intellect is no longer more than twice better than Mastery.

We are working on such a tool for ourselves, but meanwhile there are always slight changes like this that we are going to miss

Thanks to you two for the feedback and update.

Cheers

[Carsten 0]

Hello everyone !

I've been simming my char : http://eu.battle.net/wow/fr/character/khaz-modan/Meldin/advanced and discovered haste sims a lot higher than mastery on all modes proposed by simcraft.

Should I reforge everything to haste or trust the almighty guide ? :)

[Guest Nic J Walsh]

there is a small error in the section 1.2.2

"Naturally, it is advised to add /use 13, /use 14 (for your on-use trinkets), and/or /use Volcanic Potion, as well as any other spell/item that grants you increased damage, before the /cast Icy Veinscommand."

It's supposed to be Arcane Power.

[Damien 1,514]

Hello everyone !

I've been simming my char : http://eu.battle.net/wow/fr/character/khaz-modan/Meldin/advanced and discovered haste sims a lot higher than mastery on all modes proposed by simcraft.

Should I reforge everything to haste or trust the almighty guide ? :)

There are things that we can't afford to say in the guide, and you just stumbled onto one of them :P

You are using Nether Tempest, for which you gain a third additional tick at 6414 Haste Rating (provided you have all the Haste buffs, which SimC assumes). So, in your particular case, Haste Rating is slightly more valuable than Mastery Rating until you reach that particular Haste Rating value.

The reason why we avoid such topics in the guides is that it would make them cluttered, especially since all three mage Tier 5 talents. In your case, the difference between your current reforging and a more optimal reforging is about +500 DPS.

there is a small error in the section 1.2.2

"Naturally, it is advised to add /use 13, /use 14 (for your on-use trinkets), and/or /use Volcanic Potion, as well as any other spell/item that grants you increased damage, before the /cast Icy Veinscommand."

It's supposed to be Arcane Power.

Indeed, this was a mistake. Thank you very much for spotting it and reporting it. It will be fixed shortly, as soon as we deploy a new round of changes :)

[Guest Henrik]

I'm curious about 2 things.

1)How come you don't use Arcane Misslies for multiple targets, as far as I can see it has the same cast time but higher damage then Arcane Blast

2)How come you dont use Arcane Barrage for AOE on 5+ targets, spamming Arcane Explosion will grant you stacks to spread over targets

[Blaze78 1]

The first thing I'm concerned with is your glyph choices for minor: As Arcane you should get a dps increase from using glyph of Mirror Image. It is probably just because the images themselves also generate up to six Arcane Charges, which steadily makes their Arcane Blasts stronger. I personally got 40-50k more damage with each use of the cooldown with the glyph as opposed to not using the glyph.

I'd also like to point out a typo in your 1.1 section about the Tier 6 Talent. "If you chose Invocation has..." just get rid of the h, I believe. :P

Still some great organized guides!

[Damien 1,514]

I'm curious about 2 things.

1)How come you don't use Arcane Misslies for multiple targets, as far as I can see it has the same cast time but higher damage then Arcane Blast

2)How come you dont use Arcane Barrage for AOE on 5+ targets, spamming Arcane Explosion will grant you stacks to spread over targets

Thank you for your comment!

1) I'm not quite certain I understand what you mean :)

2) That was an omission and I fixed it!

The first thing I'm concerned with is your glyph choices for minor: As Arcane you should get a dps increase from using glyph of Mirror Image. It is probably just because the images themselves also generate up to six Arcane Charges, which steadily makes their Arcane Blasts stronger. I personally got 40-50k more damage with each use of the cooldown with the glyph as opposed to not using the glyph.

I'd also like to point out a typo in your 1.1 section about the Tier 6 Talent. "If you chose Invocation has..." just get rid of the h, I believe.

Still some great organized guides!

Thank you for reporting a typo. This is very much appreciated and I wish more people would report them.

Regarding the Glyph of Mirror Image, indeed, it is a DPS gain. I remember testing it early in the beta of MoP and it no longer made a difference. In any case, the guide now advises players to use it.

[Mutterkorn 8]

Forgive me, if that already came up. I didn't read through the whole thread.

- Arcane Charge is in fact a debuff on yourself. Maybe you should mention that. It's interessting if someone wants to create a Weakaura Icon for that.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Mutterkorn

[Damien 1,514]

Forgive me, if that already came up. I didn't read through the whole thread.

- Arcane Charge is in fact a debuff on yourself. Maybe you should mention that. It's interessting if someone wants to create a Weakaura Icon for that.

Done, thanks! :)

[Guest Guest]

Hey! I was bored, so I made an all in one macro for polymorph.

If no mods are held, it will set the moon marker on your current target, set the target as your focus, and cast polymorph on your target.

if alt is held, it will cast polymorph on your focus.

You can substitute alt for any modifier you want by changing it in the macro. I.E. ctrl, shift

you can also use any version of polymorph you have learned by typing Polymorph(version) where "version" will be replaced by the specific polymorph. I.E. Polymorph(turtle)

Also, if you wish to change the icon you wish to use, change the number in the second line to the number of the icon you wish to use. The following link lists this info: http://macro-wow.com/macro/set-raid-target-icon-macros/

#showtooltip Polymorph

/script if UnitExists("focus") then print() else SetRaidTargetIcon("target", 5) end

/cast [modifier:alt, @focus] Polymorph

/cast [nomod, @target] Polymorph

/focus [nomod]

With the way this macro is set up, it won't change or get rid of the moon marker unless you clear your focus and rerun the macro on a new target.

If there is a forum for mages in general, this should probably go there, but I couldn't find one for mages in general. Hope this helps!

[Guest Vinstone]

You mention Scorch in this guide as part of the rotation however I do not believe that is an option for Arcane.

[Damien 1,514]

Thank you for the suggestion! Indeed, it should go in Class Discussions / Mage (see, there is a forum for mages).

The problem with writing the macro here is that the people you want to discuss it with will probably miss it :P

[Guest Manuel]

You mention Scorch in this guide as part of the rotation however I do not believe that is an option for Arcane.

You have to use scorch in conservation phase for:

1. Keep your mana up as it consumes very very low mana

2. You need to cast while moving

3. It procs Arcane missles too.....keep in mind in a fight that requires movent ....if you cast scorch while moving and cast Nether Tempest too...you have a great chance by the time you get to your destination both your arcane missiles to be active!!!

[Daowen 27]

well scorch is no more, but maybe someone else does, but i don't see a point in "blazing speed" which replaced it.

guess presence of mind is a better choice now or am I......?

[Guest Skwishy]

Any chance of getting an updated guide soon?

I am struggling to maximize my DPS while avoiding OOM and could use some suggestions.

[Damien 1,514]

Any chance of getting an updated guide soon?

I am struggling to maximize my DPS while avoiding OOM and could use some suggestions.

It's going to be updated in a few minutes :)

[Guest Hio]

Is frost armor going to surpass mage armor with t15 gear when haste becomes a little more valuable?

[Damien 1,514]

Is frost armor going to surpass mage armor with t15 gear when haste becomes a little more valuable?

It appears that it will. I'll update the SimC profiles a bit later though. I have more testing to do on that.

EDIT: Actually, Frost Armor is better in almost all situations. I'm updating SimC and our guide right now.

[Guest Epijunky]

Love the new guide. My only problem is that Mr Robot does NOT have the option to stack haste over Mastery for those over T14. I tried using Simscraft and not sure if I am doing it right. I get different stats everythime I use with no changes to my mage. Is there a way to get Mr. Robot to update to go along with the new guide changes?

Thanks

[Guest Proderic]

I'm not seeing Nether Tempest over Frost Bomb when it comes to DPS. Just looking at the numbers I have it's a clear choice for Frost Bomb, yet that's not what the guide is calling for. Anyone with any thoughts on those two choices?

[Guest ijoemomma]

Love the new guide. My only problem is that Mr Robot does NOT have the option to stack haste over Mastery for those over T14. I tried using Simscraft and not sure if I am doing it right. I get different stats everythime I use with no changes to my mage. Is there a way to get Mr. Robot to update to go along with the new guide changes?

Thanks

I tweeted AMR and they basically said do custom weight and just switch out the values for haste and mastery.

[DiiGiiTAL 1]

Nice to see this guide still going strong. It's the definitely the most comprehensive, and friendliest one I have found.

Splendid work all round chaps.

[Tarazet 144]

I'm not seeing Nether Tempest over Frost Bomb when it comes to DPS. Just looking at the numbers I have it's a clear choice for Frost Bomb, yet that's not what the guide is calling for. Anyone with any thoughts on those two choices?

Nether Tempest does "smart damage" every time it ticks. If there is no second target, then the extra damage goes to the same target. If you keep it up on a bunch of adds, then it goes all around. All of the talents are well balanced for single-target damage, but the others are more situational in the way they work in AoE. Nether Tempest will be the best choice in most situations.

[Vladamyr 169]

If there is no second target, then the extra damage goes to the same target.

Pretty sure that part is not true but the rest of what you said is spot on. Always use Nether Tempest!

About the only reasons to ever switch away from Nether Tempest would be the following and it's not a dps gain in most situations:

Council of Elders: If you are the dps primarily responsible for Loa Spirits and need them to go down quickly.

Tortos: If for some random reason you are on the bats.

Ji-Kun: If for some reason you are on nests.

None of those situations should normally happen

[Guest Draenen]

It seems like this guide has gone through some additions are revisions recently, but it needs some serious editing - it's contradictory from paragraph to paragraph ("All tier 6 talents are viable!" "Rune of power is the only viable tier 6 talent!") and it makes good arcane performance seem an impossible mess to achieve with very little solid direction on the best way to do anything.

Sums up Arcane right now perfectly, now that I think about it.