<< Ducking and Weaving – Fire #2
Geeezzz, all the mages are coming out to play… in an all start line up it’s Frost and Arcane mages against the Fire Mages… hang on that’s Fire Mage singular…
Where are all the Fire Mages?
As I said over at Automagica!
I actually had this vision last night, like in the movies, where the hero is standing in the smokey blasted out building, with hundreds of enemies rushing in at them.
Me (the hero of course…) firing of blasts left right and centre… everyone connecting for an instant death of course…
You guys (the nasty villains) coming in waves – and not one (or maybe the occasional one) of you blasts hitting me…And then… < click >… < click >… uuuhhhh Ohhhh. /OOM
Then I wake momentarily, roll over and enter my fitful dreamstate again.
Larisa has done a Call to Arms, Euripedes‘ is shattering all opposition, krizzlybear is throwing specs about and even Mage-Alts are coming out of the closet.. but where are the Fire Mages at my side?
Thankfully Spicytuna is remaining neutral… for the moment…
OK, maybe it’s just that us Fire mages are just OP, and there only needs to be one, no matter how height challenged.
Now Larisa has been kind enough to introduce us all to the talent that all mages need like the whole in the head they will receive (or maybe already have, if they selected the talent) if they choose this talent.
Now I believe the Priest equivelent of Wand Specialiation is worthwhile… afterall, throwing on a bubble and healing oneself while wanding may be a good way for a priest to finish off a mob… but what self respecting Mage would let a mob get that close in the 1st place, let alone rely on wands as a form of DPS…
Mages, wands are there for addition stats! Even if it’s a uber-overpowered-wand of Fire, you aren’t getting it for the 1.2 dps the wand gives, you are getting it for the +40 fire damage it adds to your spells.
Here’s the tool tip.. read about it at your leisure…
Zupa is cutting down his casting time with a bit of Improved Frostbolt.. but then of course he needs to cut his frostbolts down, now my fireballs are only 3 sec, he’s going to have to throw in a few extra frostbolts to make up for his 81.43 damage coefficient.
On top of that, he is improving his kiting potential. His Rank 1 Frostbolt now only takes 1 second to cast.
So what can I offer to this discussion….
Well feeling a little bruised (from those awesome wand hits) and little bit chilled, I offer a couple of heart warming talents into the mix.
The 1st one let’s me stay out of range of those crippling frostbolts.
Flame Throwing.
Need I say more?
Ok, extra 3 yards per point for all fire spells.
- Fireball was 35 yards, now 41.
- Fireblast was 20 yards, now 26.
- Scorch was 30 yards, now 36.
- Flamestrike was 30 yards, now 36.
In many ways this is a Fire Mages biggest survivability talent. Yes there are others, but being able to shoot fireballs from the back rows means all sorts of things.
- Out of AoE range
- Out of most other spell/missle range
- Greater chance of getting a hit on that fleeing mob.
- Out of fear range (not always the best thing, but if the tank resists and continues to generate threat, then keep on blasting.
- An extra spell before the mob closes on you
I guess they are all pretty self explanatory, but just touching on the last point. As a Fire Mage I don’t want to get hit (OK, no one does, but…) As stated previously, my best defense is offence.
While I am grinding I know I can get off 2-3 fireballs before the mob gets a hit – that’s due to the extra range.
When a mob peels off the tank with <10k health, I know it’s burnt toast before it hits me. I don’t mind if I pull aggro at the end, it’s all over for the mob.
I actually had to spend a bit of time training our fury warrior and rogue to ignore this last ditch attempt by the mob. They would come chasing after it – a long way (all 41 yards) – only to be standing over the mobs corpse at my feet. (Worst case a quick Dragon’s breath and the mob just stands there nose-to-nose with me while I wind up a last scorch & fireblast combo.)
Note to Mages with Dragon’s Breath:
- Don’t hit your Instant Cast!
- Don’t wind up a fireball!
- Cast a Scorch (1.5 second cast) followed by a Fireblast.
Why?
- Fireball takes too long (longer than the 2 second disorient)
- Instant Cast puts you on cooldown and;
- Damage interrupts the disorient.
Whereas Scorch is less that the 2 seconds, allowing the uninterrupted cast, and consumes the GCD – so you can follow up with an Instant Fireblast if necessary.
OK, final volley for this week.
Ignite… let the pain roll on…
Critical Strikes from Fire damages spells cause the target to burn for an extra 40% of your spells damage over 4 seconds
Now a Frost mage might live by Spell Crit, but a Fire Mage kills by it 😉
I can’t remember off the top of my head what my crit is, but I think it varies from 25% in my Boss +Hit gear to over 30% in my Trash +damage gear. So an extra 40% damage every 3-4 casts.
Remeber how I mentioned before that with my extra range, mobs drop in 2-3 casts… Well this is where the 2 comes in. The number of times I crit with the 1st cast, see the mob coming, launch the 2nd, it hits, but the mob isn’t down.. I am still winding up the 3rd when I see the mob drop…. aaaahhh thank you ignite!
And remeber that laster on we are getting talents for increasing our crit chance, and doing extra damage in the last 20% of the mobs health… combine all of this, and watch the mob burn… burn damn you burn….
OK, gotta go look for some safetly…
Might take a trip out to visit Dr Boom at some point, but it might not be this week… might pack a picnic basket and have a BBQ.. don’t want to rush these things.
PS: WoW Insider tells me fire is dead…. Arcane Brilliance
Gnomer & Out
i’ve been reading your blog for a little while now, and it’s quickly rising to the top of my WoW-related reading list. sure, i read WoW insider, ten ton hammer, etc., but it’s hard to find mage love, let alone fire mage love.
**SOLIDARITY**, brutha! fire mages all the way! keep on preaching the gospel of fire, we’ve got your back.
Ohh don’t you worry, I will continue to preach fire even when I am being char-grilled in my own pryo-blasts.
That isn’t to say I have anything against the other trees.. just I can’t imagine Gnome throwing snowballs or lightbulbs.
Great to hear you have my back, and you are enjoying the read!
Oh, I must admit that I really miss the longer range of the fire balls. It definitly makes a difference that I need to be 25 percent closer to the mobs as arcane.
And Ignite is really cool. When I used to look at my damage done I remember quite a bit came from the after-burning stuff.
You see how friendly I am! (Arcane mages are a bit wiser you know, we’re to cleaver to put our energy into futile fighting…)
Anyway I guess I should sharpen my weapons and get a bit tougher, sending away an arcane blast that will silence you for a while.
I’m glad that I seem to have Euripedes (http://criticalqq.wordpress.com/) if not totally dedicated to arcane, so at least understanding and not totally against it. It gives me some courage!
[…] August 8, 2008 by gnomeaggedon << Ducking and Weaving Fire #3 […]