Arcane Mage questions.

[datrunk2dunk 0]

This is what my gear looks like right now:

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/ragnaros/Petfood/simple

 

I have a few questions to be honest:

 

1. How well are the stats balanced against each other? And how do Intellect and mastery and haste fare against each other?

 

2. Do i replace the shoulder and legs with the tier pieces to get the 4piece bonus? I'm having this question because, secondary stats wise the legs im using now (also ilvl wise) seem to be better, is it worth swapping over?

 

 

[Kver 65]

Mastery > Haste > Crit. Mastery is your strongest stat, haste is pretty nice as well, you ignore intellect.

 

And yes, you should swap those out for tier, especially once you get heroic tier. You don't break the 4 set until 2 heroic warforged off-pieces.

[Oltier 471]

There is a possible haste build, but that is only viable on single target fights and it is extremely hard to play decently. I wouldn't really suggest that for the possible extra 5k DPS.

 

Stick to the above mentioned mastery. :)

[datrunk2dunk 0]

So the 4 piece is really powerful enough to compensate for the mastery/int i lose? 

[voltaa 16]

So the 4 piece is really powerful enough to compensate for the mastery/int i lose? 

ish, in full best in slot no, the 4 set doesn't theoretically make up the loss in stats, for 95% of arcane mages, yes the 4 piece will make up the loss in stats.

[Belicosa 11]

Definitely keep the 4-piece. The chance to proc missiles 4 or even 5 times in a row (only happened to me once so far, but 3 is common) is a definite dps boost. And focus your reforges on mastery after hit cap, but also remember to keep your mana bar as full as possible (usually by standing in your rune and remembering to clear stacks).

 

And manage your bombs, LB for single target, Tempest for multi target fights.

[datrunk2dunk 0]

Thanks for the replies :).

 

Another thing that i cant really determine:

 

Whats the best way to maximize arcane power? And to glyph or not to glyph it?

[lynx 19]

Align AP with other procs (PBoI is the most important one) as much as you can. On pull just blatantly wait till PBoI procs. And be extra careful not to cast extra AB or your dps will dive.

Glyph only on short fights or when you want bigger delayed burst. I'm not the best arcane mage, but I didn't find any use for it except on garrosh where I can perfectly align many things together, and galakras when that prolonged burst really makes a difference in p2.

Sub 3 minutes kills on normals are common though, so you might want to glyph it in these situations if you're after the rankings.

[voltaa 16]

Glyph only on short fights or when you want bigger delayed burst. I'm not the best arcane mage, but I didn't find any use for it except on garrosh where I can perfectly align many things together

Not quite how to optimally use the glyph but close.  You'll want to use it on any fight that you lust at the start of, so strat depending, you should be using it on every fight except for Klaxxi and Garrosh (even if you leave it glyphed for those by accident it isn't a huge detriment).

[datrunk2dunk 0]

For AoE at times i find it better to just get to 4 stacks asap and shoot of a barrage, and repeat to maximize number of barrages i get out. Like at Galakras. Is this actually a good thing or am i imagining it to be good? Like i even use arcane missiles to step the stacks up and not use them at 4 alone. 

[voltaa 16]

For AoE at times i find it better to just get to 4 stacks asap and shoot of a barrage, and repeat to maximize number of barrages i get out. Like at Galakras. Is this actually a good thing or am i imagining it to be good? Like i even use arcane missiles to step the stacks up and not use them at 4 alone. 

 

For 4 targets, yes this is absolutely what to do, basically our target to rotation priority is as follows:

 

1-3 targets, stay at max stacks as much long as possible.

4 targets, keep DoTs on everything and build to 4 stacks as fast as possible to reset.

5+ targets, CoC/AE.

 

Now this rule sort of gets bent when you have priority targets to kill, you clearly aren't going to CoC/AE when there is a target that needs to die ASAP.

Edited April 14, 2014 by voltaa

[datrunk2dunk 0]

K i'm gonna start using warcraft logs and for starters what boss should i log to show you guys so you get an overall impression about my play. I read somewhere that lfr/flex malkorok is good place to start?

[Oltier 471]

K i'm gonna start using warcraft logs and for starters what boss should i log to show you guys so you get an overall impression about my play. I read somewhere that lfr/flex malkorok is good place to start?

Any Malkorok difficulty.

[datrunk2dunk 0]

Awesome. Will get on it now.