I have a few questions on mage in PvE:
It says to Shatter Glacial Spikes using Flurry, but the duration of Winter’s Chill is given as only 1 second here:
Glacial Spike is a 3 second cast, so how do I use Flurry to Shatter it?
As Frost, Should I go Bone Chilling or Lonely Winter?
Which other talents should I take for Frost?
I saw a Frost mage top the dmg in a group on Rasatkhan last night and noticed his top 3 abilities were Frozen Orb Glacial Spike and Blizzard. I didn’t think to check his talents as I was in a rush to leave aftrwards, but I wonder if he might have been running Freezing Rain. What do you think?
I’m currently in Fire gear. If I get any Frost stuff, which traits should I go for for BoD?
Also, which traits should I have for Fire and Arcane in BoD?
Bone Chilling, Rastkhan is a cleave fight, the player probably used Splitting ice. Commet Storm is better for burst AoE and ST.
Traits - Flash Freeze #1 . Anything else takes a back seat to it.
As fire - #1 is Treacherous Covenant, 2nd is Blightborne infusuin and 3rd is Wildfire, due to the “desperately needed” nerf. All 3 are close together, but you can’t stack them. Your 4th one that combines with the 3 previous is Firemind.
As Arcane, you need Equipoise + Treacherous Covenant on chest and helm, which come from 1st and 2nd boss in BDA. Don’t even bother playing the spec without them. They literally give 1.8k dps each. As for shoulders you need Equipoise + Galvanizing spark, or Arcane Pummeling. Arcane is a meme spec, that got 10% total damage buff through traits, I have no clue what Blizzard were thinking. Without those 3x Equipoise and double Treacherous Covenant, Arcane does less damage than a Holy Priest.
Ok thanks. So at the moment with Fire gear that has Blaster Master and Firemind, which would be the best spec to play?
Also, as Frost, it says to Shatter Glacial Spikes using Flurry, but the duration of Winter’s Chill is given as only 1 second here:
Glacial Spike is a 3 second cast, so how do I use Flurry to Shatter it?
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Save a Flurry proc, cast Glacial, cast Flurry after, finish the combo with a Lance. Due the travel animation, Flurry hits first, then Glacial Shatters and lance does a 2nd shatter. This whole mechanic makes frost fun, but the way you get Flurry procs is what makes the spec garbage to play. Yesterday I had a 16 frost blot casts without a proc.
Frost without Flash Freeze is as bad as Arcane without Equipoise, so you might jsut stick with Fire until you get 3x Flash Freeze.
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Ok thanks but I’m not sure how good Fire is with these traits either. The reason I have this is that I’ve only been doing PvP until recently and Blaster Master was (not sure if it still is a trait ppl were saying was best in that context). is Blaster Master still the best trait in PvP? If not, is it still ok or decent?
In PvE I have the most experience with Arcane, which isn’t much, but at least I’m comfortable with the rotation, which isn’t the case for Frost and not so much for Fire either, although I’m probably more comfortable with Fire than Frost at the moment.
I’m not a PvPer, but I think Wildfire is.
It’s not good. Fire has only 2 good specific traits atm - Wildfire and Firemind. Every other fire decent trait is neutral. The problem with Fire is - it is very crit dependant at the same time it is very haste dependant and traits need to be close to perfect. Granted it has more leenway than Forst and Arcane, but most traits that are good for Fire are neutral and hard to come by.
Is Arcane better for single target though, or would Frost or Fire be better? I’m thinking mainly about the final 3 bosses of BoD, since I think I’m right in saying 2 or maybe all 3 of them have hard dps caps i.e. Stormwall requires the boss to be killed b4 the wipe cast.
Also, is shattering Ebonbolt done in the same way as with Glacial Spike: i.e. is the travel time longer than Flurry’s?
Frost is the best spec for single and spread damage.
You need 3x flash freeze though, 2x or 1x wont work.
You keep spamming frostbolt until you get 5 popsicles and then you wait for the flurry proc. Cast glacial spike > flurry (sametime> followed by icelance.
Thanks. On the Icy Veins website it says that you actually use Flurry procs to shatter an Ebonbolt at 1 or 2 popcicles, Glacial at 3-5.
For cleave, yes, but for single target? Since when? Even with 3xFF my arcane sims waaaay higher. Sure I have 3 Equipose as well, but still. Your sources seems to be outdated.
It’s probably the most versatile spec, though.
Mekkatorque, sure, but Stormwall will have add cleave, and you do need to kill those adds. You can cleave them and boss due to large hit boxes. On Jaina, you can cleave ice blocked people. I think Frost would be overall better. It’s not like rotation is that punishing for it in the end. It seems to me way easier to execute than for the other two.
Hmm. Interesting.
Anyway, getting back to my previous unanswered question, do I shatter Ebonbolts using instant Flurries i.e. do they have a longer travel time as in the case of Glacial Spike?
Also, is Ebonbolt the best talent in any situation/s and if so, which?
Arcane is better on a target dummy single target than both other specs but in reality it is one of the lowest preforming specs in BoD of any class. Check out the statistics on warcraftlogs.
Ebonbolt > flurry > ice lance
Ebonbolt is generally the go too talent for all situations yh but there’s not a huge diiference between it and frozen touch. If your in a situation where you can’t get off the long cast you could drop it.
Flurry has almost no travel time and hits 3 times so its almost like a channel. In the time its hitting the target your previous cast hits it and your following ice lance will too. The only time this wont apply is if your right in melee.
Also master blaster in still strong in Arena but there’s more than one build style.
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Not true, frost is way ahead of arcane.
Flash freeze 3x is a must or dont play frost with glacial spike.
My glacial spike literally hits for 120-150k and it crit probably around 90%
For arcane mage, many play it wrong in pve. They focus on equipoise instead of arcane pummeling. I have 3x arcane pummeling and I don’t even use a single arcane blast. My rotation is spam arcane missile all day.
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Really??!! In a raid encounter? What happens when you run out of mana?
I get ton of clear cast proc with arcane pummeling trait and by the time I go oom, I usually have evocation up. I almost get clear casting after casting arcane missile each time.
- am playing with ton of haste and mastery, my haste is 29% and around 22% mastery For mana recovery.
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Usually? Sounds like a fun rotation to play. Good luck to you.
So just to confirm, Icy Veins advice is wrong then?
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Flurry has very short travel time + notice that it does 3 damage ticks, you should use Glacial Spike and then Flurry immediately, so Flurry even if used later will reach its target faster and Glacial Spike will benefit from shatter.
That should be Ebonbolt > Glacial Spike > Flurry > Ice Lance if going Glacial Spike build ofc.
No they are not wrong, but based on the performance i tried out. My way was better.