Alright, I need advice in regards to my Mage.
First, here’s my Armory: Ernst Armory
Or at WoW-Heroes if it’s more helpful: Ernst @ Wow-Heroes
My problem: Simply put, my damage per second is not as high as it should be.
By the time I stopped running instances with my Death Knight, she was getting close to doing 3,000 dps on boss fights. She was usually first or second on the DPS lists, depending on which boss it was.
Now, my Mage is quite better geared than my DK was, and yet I can’t seem to do more than 2,300 dps on bosses, either in Heroics or in 10man raids.
I used to go as Frost, because my guildies appreciated the Replenishment from my Enduring Winter. Since 3.3, though, they (healers in particular) have been able to get their Mp5 higher, so I’ve been going Arcane.
As Arcane, my rotation usually is thus: Arcane Blast – Arcane Blast – Arcane Blast – Missile Barraged Arcane Missiles
If MB hasn’t procced by the third AB, I’ll cast AB once more. If MB procs that time, I hit AM. If it hasn’t procced by the fourth AB, then I hit Arcane Barrage so I can get back to my main rotation right away.
When I play frost, My rotation is basically to spam Frostbolt. When Brain Freeze procs, I throw a Fireball. If Fingers of Frost procs, and we’re fighting a boss, I hit Deep Freeze; otherwise I toss an Ice Lance.
I usually save my talents like Icy Veins, Arcane Power, Mirror Image, etc. until the bosses so that we can burn them down. I also have a trinket, Mark of the War Prisoner, that I pop as well.
Since reaching the Hit Cap, I was going to focus my gemming on Spell Power and Haste with Reckless Ametrine, but I’m thinking… should I instead focus my gems on Crit and Haste?
The bottom line is that I’m missing about 1,000 dps. I’m a frakkin mage for crying out loud, and it’s not like my gear is horrible. It’d say it’s pretty good for about a month at level 80. Am I doing something wrong? Am I missing something in my rotation(s)?
I really need to figure this out; we want to try Lord Marrowgar again in Icecrown Citadel, and Lady Deathwhisper if we can. Our guild leader says all DPS should be doing at least 3k, but I’m not even close to being able to maintain that. Not even against target dummies.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m an arcane mage and can give you some advice that I’ve found helpful as in ICC5 I did 5400 DPS :D Really made my evening that a new strategy worked.
And since I don’t see your Arcane spec anymore I’m going to go by my own: Kaisura of Arathor.
The rundown:
Gem for SP and Haste, skip crit. Between Focus Magic and Arcane Empowerment with Molten Armor, you’ll need haste more. Glyph for Arcane Missiles, AB, and Molten Armor.
Don’t get gear with MP5 on it, stick with spirit but don’t gear for spirit either.
Fill all slots with SP gems, make sure you have a chaotic skyflare and two purified dreadstones and then fill out the rest with Runed Cardinals or Reckless as you mentioned above. Don’t socket for INT.
Run randoms like crazy for new gear. :) I love the dungeon finder too.
My rotation:
Before the fight, right before engage, drink potion of speed. Then open with Arcane Power and Mirror Images (to kill threat). Spam AB. Even if MB procs, spam AB until the potion of speed cooldown is gone, then discharge with MB. Watch your timer for the MIs to die too expect threat to come back when they’re down. Then pop a macro of trinks, Icy Veins and whatever else you can pop. Again, AB spam until Icy Veins fades. Then discharge with MB again.
When all of your stuff is on cooldown, just do a regular rotation. ABx4 then when MB procs, discharge.
I found this super helpful. You may not have the mana pool depending on what you’re running but if you test on dummies it might work out for you.
Your chants look okay except boots I’d go with Icewalker instead.
And when you’re facerolling a dungeon and can’t keep a rotation down, AoE with POM + Flamestrike then Blizzard.
Hope this helps if a bit jumbled.
That’s the same Arcane spec I was using, and I believe those were the glyphs I was using, also.
How important are the 2 dreadstones? Will the 20 spirit make a difference, or would I be better off using those slots for Reckless to get the haste? Btw, I haven’t even cared about INT since I landed in Northrend ;)
So you suggest only using my haste talents (AP and IV) one at a time? Do they stack, or have I been wasting them? Basically, while these buffs are up, Arcane Blast is the only spell I should be casting?
This definitely gives me something to work on; I’ll be hitting the training dummies next chance I get. I really appreciate your help!
Drev,
If you use the Chaotic Skyflare you need the two dreadstones (well two blues but purified dreadstones seemed the best option to me) for the meta bonus, that meta bonus is worth socketing for.
You *can* do AP with Icy Veins and trinks, I just found it handy to have on the first set of cooldowns so it’s cooling down as I’m popping Icy Veins/trinks. AP is only a dmg buff, not a haste buff. http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=12042
Yep try AB as the only spell when IV and Potion of Speed are up.
If it’s going to be a really long DPS fight, do the Potion of Speed before the tank attacks, that way you have a 2nd one to use during the fight (if you don’t need the mana potion option handy). Potion of Speed has a 1 minute cooldown between uses. Of course you can only use 1 potion during each fight.
On an unrelated note consider installing subscribe to comments on the blog, it’ll allow users to track when someone makes a comment without forgetting to come back (sends an email notification if you opt in).