Mage killamajiggering tactics and a talent build

[Mort]

Well I just hit 22 (Yups i know low and inexperienced) got Scorch and was wondering whether this spell loses effectiveness?

If i'm fighting a hard mob (Level or 2 above me) I generally open with a Frost Bolt, Fireball and then scorch at least once if not twice before the mob is upon me. Then I throw in Arcane Missiles once or twice all the while Fire Blasting when its available and its normally deaded. This leaves Frost Nova and Blink open if i ever get into trouble or if i'm getting hit hard i Frost Nova back of a few feet and carry on scorching.

Mobs my level or lower i just Frost Bolt and Scorch using Fire Blast when its there. I Get a new fire ball at Level 24 and so it might change to Frost Bolt, Fireball, Scorch. We shall see though. This seems to be very mana efficient at the moment good fun all round. All the scorching also leads to quite a few clear casts.

I was wondering how everyone else normally kills stuffs though so please share any killamajiggering techiniques you use and feel free to bash my method in a polite and constructive manner ^^.

The build i was thinking about using is (Bashing of the talent is welcome in the same way as above);

Fire Magic 30 Pts
Impact 5/5
Ignite 5/5
Improved Fire Blast 5/5
Flame Throwing 2/2
Incinerate 2/2
Burning Soul 3/3
Improved Scorch 5/5
Critical Mass 3/3

Arcane Magic 21 Pts
Improved Arcane Missile 5/5
Arcane Concentration 5/5
Improved Arcane Explosion 5/5
Evocation 1/1
Improved Mana Shield 2/2
Improved Counterspell 2/2
Presence of Mind 1/1

I'm unsure about the points in Flame Throwing but apart from that i'm quite looking forward to trying it out...

On a closing note i realise that builds and killamajiggering all come down to personal choice but this has given me something to do on an other wise very boring morning at work.


Rawr!

[Ashandar]

Lo...

Nice post.. gives me something to think about.

Ive just hit 24 on my mage myself so i was interested to read your thoughts on how to play him... ya know i never really understood the point of scorch until now! More mana efficient you say.. hmmm cool.

Usually (depending on where and what mobs im fighting) Ive been leading with frost bolt then fireball repeatedly and either whacking them when near death or occasionally insta fireblast them down... NOT mana efficient (although i have a healthy supply of conjured water available and a little downtime isnt a biggy, gives me time to organise my backpacks)

Also ive got pyroblast, so on occasion if its a single mob in the way, i'll blast it with this.. close to 300 with crits and DOT to follow is always nice.

I guess its down to play style, i kinda like to blast first and ask questions later efficient.. maybe not... fun yep!

[Mort]

Yup i definately find Scorch more mana efficient and at the moment i don't actually lose any damage over my firebolt. Get a new one at 24 so it will probably be better to get at least one fireball in.

As for the fireblast I definately agree with being trigger happy on that one.

Thanks for the reply matey, Its made me consider Pyroblast, sounds like its definately worth thinking about.

[Scutter]

I'm currently lvl 29 mage, I'll post my talent build later (can't access any friggin sites from work) but I think it's 33 in arcane, 18 in fire. The tactics I use really depend on the mobs i'm hitting. Currently have imp arc missile 5, arc concentration 5, imp arc explosion 5 & imp fire ball 5.

If the mobs are 2 or more levels below I run into the camp and spam arcane explosion, depending on mob type will need to use mana shield thingy & a heal potion. When fighting mobs above or at my lvl it depends on the mob type, humanoid mobs I start with frost bolt which gives enough time for 2 fire balls before it reaches me, then use scorch which has fast cast time and very mana efficient, tend to save fire blast for when mobs run away (generally anything that runs away I save fire blast for it). For other mobs I tend to start with 2 fire balls and fire blast before the mob reaches me then scorch away, I find other mobs do less damage than humanoids so I don't bother slowing them down, let them take a few swings to improve your defence skill and they don't run away so when they at low health you can use your staff to finish it off and keep your staff skills from being too far below. With the arcane spells I currently have it means that 10% of my spells cost no mana which is nice, random but nice (you can go 20 spells without clearcast activating then you get 3 in a row). The arcane line has a lot of usefull things which help with mana usage and a few things from the fire line to improve damage and flexibility (like improved fire blast which effectivley makes your highest damage dd spell instant cooldown).

Arcane explosion is a big agro magnet, great for soloing multiple mobs and very good in instances where the group gets a lot of agro, if the mobs are under control don't use it (you'll get all the agro and die when you didn;t need to), but if there's too many to handle use it to draw all the agro so your healer can get away and stays alive.

I'm still experimenting with trying different combinations of spells on mobs and don't use a lot of spells which could improve things a lot, but as a mage there are so many options available I don't think there is a 'best way' to kill mobs, it's finding a way that suits you.

[Sycho]

Best specs in my view are: 31 arcane 20 fire or 18 arcane 33 frost.

I am currently frost on my mage, i have no downtime til after 5 mobs or so, the frost talents are too hard to ignore.Shatter 5, frostbite 5, improved cone of cold 3(this is great if your group mass pulls), frost channeling 3, artic reach 2, ice shards 5, ice barrier....these are all good frost talents.As for fire line, blastwave, pyroblast, impact 5, ignite 5, critical mass 3,impact 5, firepower 5 and that crit talent for scorch/fireblast which i forgot name of you will want to aim for.

I can solo elites same level as me too, i love frost, i was arcane/fire and fire/arcane too...frost just suits my playstyle more since it has most damage per mana cast(frostbolt which can crit for 100% more damage with ice shards 5 and if you got frostbite 5/shatter 5 then you will be amazing vs melee classes or high elites)

With the 31 arcane/20 fire spec, this gives you best 1vs1 spec, end of story.You can instant pyroblast with 35% damage boost onto it, or even instant AoE with 35% boost on that, the damage bonus lasts 15s too(arcane power).

Also wands shouldn't be ignored, they great if out of mana and do a lot more damage than staves, i only have 220 skill with wand at the moment but with a nice blue/purp one you could hit for 150 or so a go whilst out of mana.

[Whisperess]

Originally Posted by Ashandar

More mana efficient you say..

At your level Scorch does ~ 1,18 damage per mana.

Arcane Missiles should be slightly more mana efficient if you manage to land all 5 missiles, and Frostbolt has roughly 1,2 damage per mana. (Fireball roughly 1,16 damage per mana).

(cut-n-pasted from an old chart I made a while back, could be wrong.)

[Danya]

I normally spam frostbolts till the mob reaches me, fireblast, frost nova, back off a bit and frostbolt it - get a lot of crits on a frozen mob due to shatter.

[Turamber]

Ice is nice, but the best talents in the tree are at the top. If you fancy exploring the ice line it's probably advisable to go arcane/fire up till 40 or so and then respec to ice.

Also if you have a regular group and play with another ice mage then you might want to reconsider, one ice mage is generally sufficient for the extra crowd control options it brings to the party.

Not that I've taken mine above level 5 in retail but I did play a cute Gnome mage in closed beta

[Wyleia]

Ill probably be doing the crit template for endgame, but atm I have 18 arcane and rest in fire (Trying out all the fire stuff but have my basic REQUIRED 18 in arcane

Scorch is a cheap spell, that does dmg (quite a bit with improved scorch) and allows you to get clearcasts rather quickly. When I am in an instance and I know we have several waves of mobs to fight in a row, instead of going full out IAE (instant arcane explosion) I scorch a mob til I get a clearcast then I flamestrike or blizzard (usually flamestrike as blizzard gets interupted since its channeled).

by the time you are 25 you should really have:
5/5 Arcane Missle
5/5 Clearcasting
5/5 Instant Arcane Explosion
1/1 Evocation

That is the basis for most ANY mage build and are all VERY useful to you at that level and upwards.. then ofc you should have 2/2 improved counterspell for silence, but that is more impt for pvp, and also comes in handy to pull caster mobs to your group.

When you start going up the fire line, you can get the 10% chance to stun target which works with scorch, the extra dmg on crits, which works with scorch, and improved scorch which gives even more dmg, so scorch is pretty darn efficient at a higher level of fire Not to mention the extra crit chance talent you can get on scorch( which is also crit talent for fireblast which you will want if you are a firemage).. Scorch is pretty darn uber at my level and build so far

Pyroblast is ok, but only usable in a few situations. If you have PoM to insta cast it, or casting it on someone from sheep. Its a 6 second cast which is kind of zzz. If you want some big powerful spell to open with on a sheeped target, become an engineer and get the deathray 800 dmg normally and about 1200 on crit. Have critted for 2100 on mobs before with that thing AND its a shorter cast time than pyrblast and cant be 'slowed' down by 'interrupts' as spells are.

[Wyleia]

The talent build ill prolly be respeccing to is:

Arcane (28 points)
Improved Arcane Missle 5/5
Arcane Concentration 5/5
Improved Arcane Explosion 5/5
Evocation 1/1
Improved Counterspell 2/2
Improved Mana Shield 2/2 (needed 2 more poitns to get to 20)
Prescence of Mind 1/1
Arcane Mind 4/4
Arcane Instability 3/3

Fire (23 Points)
Impact 5/5
Ignite 5/5
Incenerate 2/2
Improved Flamestrike 3/3
Improved Scorch 5/5
Critical Mass 3/3


What I get from this is:

• 3% extra damage on all spells
• 3% crit chance on all spells
• 9% crit chance on all fire spells
• 13% crit chance on Scorch
• 13% crit chance on fire blast
• 24% crit chance on Flamestrike
• 10% chance to stun target with fire spells
• 40% extra damage from fire spell crits
• 25% extra damage from scorch

Not to mention the crit % increase I will get from my int and gear, should have pretty high crit chance on fire

After playing around with blastwave and pyroblast, I can throw grenades for same effect as blastwave (just isnt instant) and deathray instead of pyroblast, I would rather just crit A LOT than worry about having these spells that are on 1 minute timers

[Wyleia]

Ahh also forgot to mention (and can only edit for up to 10minutes after i posted)

Arcane Mind 4/4 - gives 8% more mana

This talent is handy to let you go for a few stamina heavy items to keep your hit points up and not making your mana suffer too terribly

[Pinp]

Atm my Mage is :

Arcane Talents (21 points)


Improved Arcane Missiles - 5/5 points
Gives you a 100% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while channeling Arcane Missiles.


Arcane Concentration - 5/5 points
Gives you a 10% chance of entering a Clearcasting state after any damage spell hits a target. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next damage spell by 100%.


Evocation - 1/1 point
While channeling this spell, your mana regeneration is active and increased by 1500%. Lasts 8 seconds.


Improved Arcane Explosion - 5/5 points
Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 1.5 seconds.


Improved Counterspell - 2/2 points
Gives your Counterspell a 100% chance to silence the target for 4 seconds.


Improved Mana Shield - 2/2 points
Increases the damage absorbed by your Mana Shield by 75%.


Presence of Mind - 1/1 point
When activated, your next Mage spell with a casting time less than 10 seconds becomes an instant cast spell.




Frost Talents (0 points)


None


Fire Talents (30 points)


Improved Fireball - 5/5 points
Reduces the casting time of your Fireball by 0.5 seconds.


Impact - 5/5 points
Gives your fire spells a 10% chance to stun the taget for 2 seconds.


Ignite - 5/5 points
Your critical strikes from fire damage spells cause the target to burn for an additional 40% of your spell's damage over 4 seconds.


Flame Throwing - 2/2 points
Increases the range of your fire spells by 6 yards.


Improved Fire Blast - 4/5 points
Reduces the cooldown of your Fire Blast spell by 1.3 seconds.


Pyroblast - 1/1 point
Hurls an immense fiery boulder that causes 148 to 195 fire damage and an additional 56 damage over 12 seconds.


Critical Mass - 3/3 points
Increases the critical strike chance of your fire spells by 6%.


Fire Power - 5/5 points
Increases the damage done by your fire spells by 10%.

I'm thinking of respeccing to get the 35% damage add thing, it's pretty nice

[Behmoth]

Originally Posted by Scutter

tend to save fire blast for when mobs run away (generally anything that runs away I save fire blast for it).

i always use arcane missiles as it auto faces

[Danya]

Originally Posted by Turamber

Ice is nice, but the best talents in the tree are at the top. If you fancy exploring the ice line it's probably advisable to go arcane/fire up till 40 or so and then respec to ice.

On the other hand nova, coc, frostsnap, nova, coc is silly damage.

Originally Posted by Turamber

Also if you have a regular group and play with another ice mage then you might want to reconsider, one ice mage is generally sufficient for the extra crowd control options it brings to the party.

Ice isn't really about extra CC (as you don't get much other than slows and short roots). It's much more about big crits on your ice spells.

[Turamber]

... with ice doing substantially less damage than the fire line, but the benefit being the slows, roots etc. which are additional CC forms especially useful for instance fighting