On Icy Veins it says to cast Ice Lance after every Flurry cast, but I saw someone say on another post recently that it’s not ever worth casting Ice Lance. just wanting to check which of these 2 conflicting instructions, if either, is correct.
Also on a completely separate note, I noticed that the top Fire mage in PvE was using a Balefire Branch. I was told that the Gladiator’s badge was the best in slot and Bloodmallet doesn’t have Balefire Branch that high up on its list. Just wondering whether to use Bloodmallet, what Raidbots/Pawn/SImulationcraft tell me or just try to copy the top PvE mages.
Yes, you are supposed to hardcast -> flurry -> ice lance, that’s the combo. I think the post you mentioned of someone saying “it’s not worth using ice lance” was because they had 3 flash freeze traits, and even with that I’m not 100% sure it’s correct. I could ask around and edit this post later, but without 3 flash freeze traits always follow the hard cast -> flurry -> ice lance combo.
No idea about fire mage trinkets, but you could sim it at raidbots.com for yourself. Also, the top fire mages obviously use the trinkets for a reason, meaning that it sims the highest for them, but there are other factors as well such as stats that can change what the best trinket is for you. I’d recommend just simming everything for yourself, and considering the trinkets that the top dogs use as BiS. Still sim it though.
Yes I have simmed it and it leaves me with 3 choices: what Bloodmallet says, what the simming tells me or what the top mages go with. This is for Fire and Frost specs by theway, since I play both.
Are the trinkets that different for each? Your own sims are the most important though, trust them the most. Bloodmallet just gives averages, so that’s the least reliable method. And looking at the top mages is kind of situational as well. Simming is the most accurate.
PS. To the earlier confusion about whether or not to ice lance: In some trait set-ups you’re actually not supposed to ice lance, ever, but that’ll depend on how many flash freezes you have and if you have ice lance traits or not, etc. There’s no definitive answer, but if you don’t have 3 flash freezes then I’d just continue using ice lances. If you want other people’s opinions on stuff like this, then I’d recommend asking from the mage discord server (there’s a text channel for questions). Here’s the link: https://discord.gg/4rWft7a
The thing about the gladiator’s badge is that it’s a pvp trinket. To get it at a higher ilvl than 385 atm you either have to be lucky or do a lot of rated pvp and even then you have to be lucky. The balefire branch would drop at a min of 400 from m10+ and is the best on use trink available from pve content. In the top 10 trinkets for fire mage, one is from BoD, 2 from m+, the rest are pvp/wqs which are likely to come in at a lower ilvl.
No IL build is ideally 3x FF and 3x ToI but the only shoulders than have that combo are pvp so it’s usually 3x FF 2x ToI and a area trait like treacherous covenant. If you don’t have this setup or there’s more than one target you will lose dps and if you do the gain isn’t huge. However having FoF charges available for if you HAVE to move feels good.
If the FF traits aren’t dropping for you and your mastery is low you might also find that a TV build increases you dps. If your dead set on min maxing frost is a spec you have to sim alot as a lot of the talents are really well balanced.