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Mage PvP Guide
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Post by
Achloryn
Okay, so, per Malgayne's suggestion, i'm redoing this thread so we don't have to worry about having people's posts deleted and such, and trying to work on ways to make the format cleaner and easier to navigate. One thing I would like to point out is that this guide is ALL the opinions of either myself, or the people who contributed the specific portions that they wrote. There is no be-all, end-all guaranteed way to win with mages, because not every opponent you face will react the same way.
Take everything written here as mere advisement rather than strict guides of what you have to do.
Index -
PvP Builds (including glyphs)
How to fight:
Enchants, Gems, and Gear
Professions
--------------------1. TALENT ANALYSIS--------------------
(I would like to thank Dant especially for giving me the basis for some of my ideas with his own
Talent Analysis
on wowwiki. This isn't ripped verbatim from him by any means. In fact, I disagree with him on several points, but he did have some good points to say that made me rethink some of my own opinions as well)
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that a lot of the things I say about these talents is my own personal opinion. As such it can be swayed and is by NO means set in stone anywhere.
Tier 1
Arcane Subtlety - 2 points - Reduces the chance your helpful spells and DoT effects will be dispelled by 15/30% and reduces the threat caused by your arcane spells by 20/40%.
My thoughts: At first glance, I thought this talent was worthless, but it has been pointed out that this can help keep things like your ice barrier from being knocked off of you, so it's really a matter of preference.
Arcane Focus - 3 points - Increases your chance to hit and reduces mana cost of your arcane spells by 1/2/3%.
My thoughts: I'm slightly torn on this talent. You don't need a lot of hit for PvP, but the reduced mana cost would be nice, especially since mana regen is basically pointless for PvP. If you're going deep arcane, Arcane Stability is a much better place for your points, but it's preferential.
Arcane Stability - 5 points - Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Arcane Missiles and Arcane Blast by 20/40/60/80/100%.
My Thoughts: if you're NOT going deep arcane, skip this talent. If you are, I think this could be a worthwhile talent, but it also has drawbacks. 0 pushback on your main nukes can mean the difference between winning or losing an arena match. However, it can also mean locking your arcane school and putting you in a world of trouble.
Tier 2 (requires 5 points)
Arcane Fortitude - 3 points - Increases your armor by an amount equal to 50/100/150% of your Intellect.
My thoughts: there's better places in tier 2 for points. Even with 150% armor increase, you're running around the same armor range as a rogue. Since armor has no effect on spells, and we know that rogues aren't known for being able to take a lot of melee damage, you're better off skipping this.
Magic Absorption - 2 points - Increases all resistances by .5/1 per level and causes all spells you fully resist to restore 1/2% of your total mana. 1s internal cooldown.
My thoughts: For only two points, you can't miss with this talent. Giving yourself an automatic 80 resistance to all schools of magic is huge, and the mana back is nice too. Note: this DOES stack with Mage Armor/Ice armor, although there has been some question to the stacking of this and mage armor talented with Arcane Shielding.
Arcane Concentration - 5 points - Gives you a 2/4/6/8/10% 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%.
My thoughts: for 5 points, this is kind of a hefty price to pay for only a 10% chance of a free spell..... by itself. However, going deep arcane and pairing this with Arcane Potency can make this quite nice for an almost guaranteed crit. Use at your own discretion.
Tier 3 (requires 10 points)
Magic Attunement - 2 points - Increases the range of your Arcane spells by 3/6 yards and the effect of your amplify magic and dampen magic spells by 25/50%.
My thoughts: if you're deep arcane, take this. For two points and 6 yards, it's huge. Also, for not getting the ice barrier, putting dampen magic on yourself is another way to put a damper on other caster's lives. If you're any other spec, you don't need this.
Spell Impact - 3 points - Increases the damage of your arcane explosion, arcane blast, blast wave, fire blast, scorch, fireball, ice lance, and cone of cold spells by an additional 2/4/6%.
My thoughts: This is a choice call. I like it because it's free damage on all of your instant cast spells except arcane barrage. This will make your mobility much more dangerous, and mages don't always have the luxury of sitting back and slinging spells in the middle of a BG, and even less so in arenas.
Student of the Mind - 3 points - Increases your total spirit by 4/7/10%.
My thoughts: Skip this. PvP gear has no spirit, and mana regen is almost pointless in BGs or arenas.
Focus Magic - 1 point - Increases the target's chance to critically hit with spells by 3%. When the target critically hits the caster's chance to critically hit with spells is increased by 3% for 10s. Cannot be cast on self.
My thoughts: This is a pretty good choice, especially for only one point. Since it's unlimited range it is a solid choice for BGs and arena's alike (provided your arena team has another caster/healer)
Tier 4 (requires 15 points)
Arcane Shielding - 2 points - Decreases the mana lost per point of damage taken when Mana Shield is active by 17/33% and increases the resistances granted by Mage Armor by 25/50%.
My thoughts: If you're not deep frost, you'll probably want this. Mage armor is great for 1v1 against casters (and your mana regen), and lowering the mana loss from mana shield is also quite nice, albeit situational.
Post by
Achloryn
Improved Counterspell - 2 points - Your counterspell also silences the target for 2/4s.
My thoughts: TAKE.... THIS.... TALENT.... CS is a needed spell in pvp anyway, to lock out schools of magic (especially handy for those nasty healers) but making a total silence for 4 seconds can mean the difference between that paladin bubbling and healing full again, or dying right then and there.
Arcane Meditation - 3 points - Allows 17/33/50% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting.
My thoughts: skip it. Mana regen is just about worthless in PvP.
Torment the Weak - 3 points - Your frostbolt, fireball, frostfire bolt, arcane missiles, arcane blast, and arcane barrage abilities deal 4/8/12% more damage to snared or slowed targets.
My thoughts: this is a good talent for 3 points. It's free damage, and useful for almost every spell you'd ever use, regardless of spec.
Tier 5 (requires 20 points)
Improved Blink - 2 points - Reduces the mana cost of blink by 25/50% and for 4s after casting your chance to be hit by all attacks and spells is reduced by 15/30%.
My thoughts: Cheap at 2 points, and exceptionally useful in PvP. 30% extra miss on melee AND spells after your main distance getting spell is huge.
Presence of Mind - 1 point - When activated, your next mage spell with a casting time less than 10s becomes an instant cast spell.
My thoughts: Worth every bit of 1 point if you're going this deep into arcane. An instant cast spell every 2 minutes as needed just adds to your burst and mobility.
Arcane Mind - 5 points - Increases your total intellect by 3/6/9/12/15%.
My thoughts: 5 points for this is kind of hefty, but an increased mana pool is always nice as instant cast spells are much more mana intensive overall. Can be good filler for dropping a couple points in as you work down the tree. Total judgement call.
Tier 6 (requires 25 points)
Prismatic Cloak - 3 points - Reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6% and reduces the fade time of your invisibility spell by 1/2/3s.
My Thoughts: If you're going this deep into arcane, you CANNOT miss this. Reduces all damage taken and makes invis an instant spell without a fade time? You cant miss.
Arcane Instability - 3 points (requires Presence of Mind) - Increases your spell damage and critical strike chance by 1/2/3%. My thoughts: Free damage and crit chance... sign me up.
Arcane Potency: - 2 points (requires Presence of Mind) - Increases the critical strike chance of your next damaging spell by 15/30% after gaining Clearcasting or Presence of Mind.
My thoughts: A really cheap way to adding a lot of crit. 30% on one spell every 2 minutes with PoM make this godly.
Tier 7 (requires 30 points)
Arcane Empowerment - 3 points - Increases the damage of your arcane missiles spell by an amount equal to 15/30/45% of your spell power and the damage of your arcane blast by 3/6/9% of your spell power.
My thoughts: Can be situationally good in BGs where there's a chance you can sneak up to someone already fighting and sling a couple spells for the easy HK, but not very worthwhile in arenas, because you don't have that luxury.
Arcane Power - 1 point (requires 3 in Arcane Instability) - When activated, your spells deal 20% more mana damage while costing 20% more mana to cast. This effect lasts 15s.
My thoughts: Can be great when you're locked in on that one on one combat with that guy you just can't kill for one reason or another. Less useful in BGs where you may have to go from fight to fight to fight to fight with no time to regain your mana.
Incanter's Absorption - 3 points - When you absorb damage your spell damage is increased by 5/10/15% of the amount absorbed for 10s. Total spell damage increase cannot exceed 5% of your health.
My thoughts: This can be a situationally good talent. Absorbing spell damage, and increasing your spellpower? Sounds like fun. Especially useful with your extra resistances from Magic absorption/Arcane shielding.
Tier 8 (requires 35 points)
Arcane Flows - 2 points (requires Arcane Power) - Reduces the cooldown of your Presence of Mind, Arcane Power, and Invisibility spells by 15/30% and the cooldown of your Evocation spell by 1/2 min.
My thoughts: you can't afford to miss this. For two measly points, the 2 minute evocation alone would be worth it, especially when you pair this with the glyph of evocation.
Mind Mastery - 5 points - Increases spell power by 3/6/9/12/15% of your total intellect.
My thoughts: situational. Worth possibly dropping a couple points in as filler if you need it, but I probably wouldn't max it out. PvP gear doesn't come with huge mana pools, making this less effective the more gear you get.
Tier 9 (requires 40 points)
Slow - 1 point - Reduces target's movement speed by 60%, increases the time between ranged attacks by 60%, and increases casting time by 30%. Lasts 15s. Slow can only affect one target at a time (per mage).
My thoughts: if you're going this deep into arcane, you need to pick this up. It's a great way to nab someone off a mount in BGs and close the distance quickly with a blink. Also great for those flag running kitties/ghost wolves. It's usefulness in the reduced attack/casting speed is just an added bonus.
Missile Barrage - 5 points - Gives your arcane blast, arcane barrage, fireball, frostbolt, and frostfire bolt a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to reduce the channeled duration of the next Arcane Missiles spell by 2.5s and missiles will fire every .5s.
My thoughts: I'm a big fan of this talent, but there's been some debate about it. 5 points can be kind of heavy for some people, but firing off a torpedo salvo at that kittie who just shifted out of your slow and back into cat form, ignoring LoS issues, this can be a hellacious punch.
Tier 10 (requires 45 points)
Netherwind Presence - 3 points - Increases your spell haste by 2/4/6%.
My thoughts: Haste is ridiculously important for pvp. The more haste you have, the more chance you have (even in arenas) to stop briefly and cast a spell. This just makes the stop that much shorter.
Spell Power - 2 points - Increases critical strike damage bonus of all spells by 25/50%
My thoughts: Extra crit damage... take it.
Tier 11 (require 50 points)
Arcane Barrage - 1 point - Launches several missiles at the enemy target, causing X to Y arcane damage.
My thoughts: this is the reason you went deep arcane in the first place isn't it?
Post by
Achloryn
Tier 1
Improved Fire Blast - 2 points - Reduces the cooldown of your fire blast spell by 1/2 seconds.
My thoughts: Definitely worth it in almost any build. Fire blast may not be very damaging in the grand scheme of things, but an instant cast that's useable more often is just an increase to your mobility and burst.
Incineration - 3 points - Increases the critical strike chane of your fire blast, scorch, arcane blast, and cone of cold spells by 2/4/6%
My thoughts: Very iffy to take this talent. The extra crit chance on fire blast and CoC are nice, but most builds don't have a lot of points to spare for fire talents.
Improved Fireball - 5 points - Reduces the casting time of your fireball spell by .1/.2/.3/.4/.5s.
My thoughts: Only take this if you're going deep fire.
Tier 2 (requires 5 points)
Ignite: Your critical strikes from fire damage spells cause the target to burn for an additional 8/16/24/32/40% of the spells damage over 4s.
My thoughts: if you're going deep fire, you need it. No question. If you're not, it's worthless.
Burning Determination - 2 points - When interrupted or silenced you have a 50/100% chance to become immune to both mechanics for 10s.
My thoughts: for 2 points, this talent is a great bonus for mages. The only downside is, as i said, most pvp builds don't find many points to spare for fire talents.
World In Flames - 3 points - Increases the critical strike chance of your flamestrike, pyroblast, blast wave, dragon's breath, living bomb, blizzard, and arcane explosion spells by 2/4/6%
My thoughts: only take this if you plan on going deep fire to pvp.
Tier 3 (requires 10 points)
Flame Throwing - 2 points - Increases the range of all fire spells except frostfire bolt by 3/6 yards.
My thoughts: again, only take this if you plan on going deep fire to pvp.
Impact - 3 points - Gives your damaging spells a 4/8/12% chance to cause the next fire blast you cast to stun the target for 2s.
My thoughts: This is an iffy talent. The chance to stun isn't very large, and since the changes to it, it doesn't seem a very worthwhile place for 3 talent points.
Pyroblast - 1 point - Hurls an immense firey boulder that causes X to Y fire damage and an additional Z fire damage over 12s.
My thoughts: A great spell for going deep fire, but very situational use. Also the old PoM/Pyro build is still around, so this is the other basis for that build if it's what you're going for.
Burning Soul - 2 points - Reduces the pushback suffered form damaging attacks while casting fire spells by 35/70% and reduces the threat caused by your fire spells by 5/10%
My thoughts: it's a cheap talent for the pushback reduction, but as it is, fire spells generally are the longer casting spells in the mage school, so you probably won't be doing much sit and cast. If you're going deep fire, it's something to consider.
Tier 4 (requires 15 points)
Improved scorch - 3 points - Increases your chance to critically hit with scorch, fireball, and frostfire bolt by an additional 1/2/3% and your damaging scorch spells have a 33/66/100% chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to spell damage, increasing spell critical strike chance against the target by 1% and last 30s. Stacks up to 5 times.
My thoughts: if you're going to go deep fire, you should look into this along with the glyph of improved scorch. It helps not only you, but any other caster in the area for the really short 1.5s cast time of scorch.
Molten Shields - 2 points - Causes your fire ward and frost ward spells to have a 15/30% chance to reflect the warded spell while active. In addition, your molten armor has a 50/100% chance to affect ranged and spell attacks.
My thoughts: I'm torn over this one. I don't find myself using the wards very often in PvP, although if you do, this could definitely be two points to consider investing. The molten armor bit is almost a joke because it does very little damage regardless.
Master of Elements - 3 points - Your spell criticals will refund 10/20/30% of their base mana cost.
My thoughts: if you roll fire, this is something to invest in. Your mana pool is your life, and the mana back after each crit is just gonna make your life that much longer.
Tier 5 (requires 20 points)
Playing with Fire - 3 points - Increases all spell damage caused by 1/2/3% and all spell damage taken by 1/2/3%
My thoughts: avoid this talent. The extra damage output isn't worth the extra damage intake, and we're squishy enough as it is.
Critical Mass - 3 points - Increases the critical strike chance of your fire spells by 2/4/6%
My thoughts: if you're going farther down the fire tree, this is a must. Not only is a prereq for combustion AND Dragon's breath (both of which are great talents that shouldn't be missed), it also increases the chance of Ignite proccing due to a fire spell crit.
Blast wave - 1 point (requires Pyroblast) - A wave of flame radiates outward from the caster, damaging all enemies caught within the blast for X to Y fire damage, knocking them back and dazing them for 6 seconds.
My thoughts: This is one of the key talents if you're going deep into the fire tree. The knockback and daze can save your life in so many ways with pally's or dk's doing everything they can to get as close to you as possible.
Tier 6 (requires 25 points)
Blazing Speed - 2 points - Gives you a 5/10% chance when hit by a melee or ranged attack to increase your movement speed by 50/100% and dispell all movement impairing effects. This effect lasts 8s.
My thoughts: As i write this, I find myself wondering why more people DON'T go deeper into the fire tree for PvP. This is a great talent for PvP cause the last place you want to be is in melee range of someone like a dk/pally/rogue. The burst of speed and movement imparing freedom can save your life and make them wonder just where their "easy HK" went.
Fire Power - 5 points - Increases the damage done by your fire spells by 2/4/6/8/10%.
My thoughts: a 10% allaround increase for your fire spells is worth the heavy 5 point price tag. You dont want to miss this if you're deep fire.
Tier 7 (requires 30 points)
Pyromaniac - Increases chance to critically hit by 1/2/3% and allows 17/33/50% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting.
My thoughts: I'm slightly torn on this personally. 3 points is a bit heavy for the 3% crit increase. Mana regen is worthless in PvP, so use this talent with at your discretion.
Combustion - 1 point (requires 3 in critical mass) - When activated this spell causes each of your fire damage spell hits to increase your critical strike chance with fire damage spells by 10%. This effect lasts until you have caused 3 critical strikes with fire spells.
My thoughts: there's no reason whatsoever to pass this up. The only drawback is that living bomb will cause this to tick off as well. I'm not sure if that is ONLY true for glyphing LB or not. (Anyone have any thoughts?)
Molten Fury - 2 ponits - Increases damage of all spells against targets with less than 35% health by 6/12%
My thoughts: if someone's down below 35% health, this can make the difference between that hot streak'ed pyroblast killing them or not kiling them. For two points, you should definitely go for it.
Post by
Achloryn
Tier 8 (requires 35 points)
Fiery Payback - 2 points - When below 35% health all damage taken is reduced by 10% and your pyroblast's spell cast time is reduced by 1.75/3.5s while the cooldown is increased by 2.5/5s. In addition, melee and ranged attacks made against you have a 5/10% chance to disarm your attacker's main hand and ranged weapons.
My thoughts: If you're pvping as fire, this is a must have. Casting a pyroblast in 1.5s (not counting haste), 10% damage reduction, and chance to disarm melee/ranged weapons... These can make you live long enough for that next tick off a druid's HoT, or let that other big heal come along and save your squishy life.
Empowered Fire - 3 points - Increases the damage of your fireball and frostfire bolt spells by an amount equal to 5/10/15% of your spell power.
My thoughts: chances are you won't be taking the long amount of time it takes to cast fireballs, so this spell may not be very useful other than filler.
Tier 9 (requires 40 points)
Dragon's Breath - 1 point (requires combustion) - Targets in a cone in front of the caster take X to Y fire damage and are disoriented for 5s. Any direct damaging attack will revive your targets. Turns off your attack when used.
My thoughts: Another must have for PvP. The disorienting effect can save your life, or end theirs, and it's a good damaging effect on top of that.
Firestarter - 2 points (requires Dragon's breath) - Your damaging blast wave & dragon's breath spells have a 50/100% chance to make your next flamestrike spell instant cast. Lasts 10s.
My thoughts: The instant cast flamestrike could be nice, but overall i'm not a big fan of this. If you're doing a blast wave or dragon's breath, it's probably because you're in trouble, and if that's the case, the last thing you want to do is break the disorientation. It's circumstantial.
Tier 10 (requires 45 points)
Burnout - 5 points - Increases your spell critical damage vonus with all spells by 10/20/30/40/50% but your spell criticals cost an additional 1/2/3/4/5% of the spell's cost.
My thoughts: Fire is about burst, and this is worth the extra spell cost for the extreme amount of damage increase.
Tier 11 (requires 50 points)
Living Bomb - 1 point - The target becomes a living bomb taking X fire damage over 12s. After the 12s, or when the spell is dispelled, the target explodes dealing Y fire damage to all enemies within 10 yards. This spell can only affect one target at a time (per mage).
My thoughts: Take this. It scales very nicely with spell power and the damaging effect to all the surrounding buddies is quite a sweet deal, making this something you can't miss.
Tier 1
Frostbite - 3 points - Gives your chill effects a 5/10/15% chance to freeze the target for 5s.
My thoughts: If you're gonna go frost, this is something you can't miss. Sling a frostbolt, have it possibly stick them in place, grab the powerup and win the game.
Improved Frostbolt - 5 points - Reduces the casting time of your frostbolt spell by .1/.2/.3/.4/.5s.
My thoughts: Again, if you're gonna go frost, you want this. It makes the frostbolt something very useable in pvp due to it's short time.
Ice Floes - 3 points - Reduces the cooldown of your frost nova, cone of cold, ice block, and icy veins spells by 7/14/20%
My thoughts: All builds, regardless of spec, can find a place for these 3 points. Lower cooldown on nova, and ice block make for better survivability, and cone of cold is another instant cast spell, making your mobility useful.
Tier 2 (requires 5 points)
Ice Shards - 3 points - Increases the critical strike bonus of your frost spells by 33/66/100%.
My thoughts: frost mages will take this.
Frost Warding - 2 points - Increases the armor and resistances given by your frost armor and ice armor spells by 25/50%. In addition gives your frost and fire wards a 15/30% chance to negate the warded damage spell and restore mana equal to the damage caused.
My thoughts: Conditional. For two points, the damage negation can be quite nice, and the mana back is always a bonus. However, as i said earlier, i don't find myself using the wards all that much. Invest at your discretion.
Precision - 3 points - reduces the mana cost and increases your chance to hit with spells by 1/2/3%.
My thoughts: Same as Arcane focus. The reduced mana is nice, but marginal, and the hit is almost unnecessary for PvPing. I think points could be better placed elsewhere.
Permafrost - 3 points - Increases the duration of your chill effects by 1/2/3s and reduces the target's speed by an additional 4/8/12%.
My thoughts: Frost mages will definitely want this. Extended duration and increased speed reduction make the survivability of this very nice.
Tier 3 (requires 10 points)
Piercing Ice - 3 points - Increases the damage done by your frost spells by 2/4/6%
My thoughts: Frost mages should take this. Frost has the lowest scaling of spellpower to spells, so the extra damage is a must to make you a real force to be reckoned with.
Icy Veins - 1 point - Hastens your spellcasting, increasing spellcasting speed by 20% and reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting by 100%. Lasts 20s.
My thoughts: Mages of any build would benefit from this. With the introduction of the glyph of icy veins, this is another escape mechanism to get out of snares as well.
Improved Blizzard - 3 points - Adds a chill effect to your Blizzard spell. This effect lowers the targets movemtn speed by 25/40/50%. Lasts 1.5s.
My thoughts: Blizzard is too many heavy, and leaves you too open to be much use in PvP.
Tier 4 (requires 15 points)
Arctic Reach - Increases the range of your frostbolt, ice lance, deep freeze, and blizzard spells and the radius of your frost nova and cone of cold spells by 10/20%.
My thoughts: A must have for going deep frost. Range is everything, and this is a cheap way to give you an extra benefit. The added bonus of making your frost nova and cone of cold's radius larger is just... icing on the cake.
Frost channelling - 3 points - Reduces the mana cost of all spells by 4/8/12% and reduces the threat caused by your frost spells by 4/8/12%.
My thoghts: Again with the mana reduction/threat reduction. I think this is more worthwhile than precision simply because for the same amount of points, it's a 12% mana decrease as opposed to a 3% decrease. AGain, use at your discretion.
Shatter - 3 points - Increases the critical strike chance of all your spells against frozen targets by 17/33/50%.
My thoughts: the crux of the frost mage's power. This is made even more useful with the introduction of Fingers of Frost in patch 3.0. Shatter combos can break some of the highest health pvp'ers, and slow them down for easy pickin's in the process.
Tier 5 (requires 20 points)
Cold Snap - 1 point - When activated, this spell finishes the cooldown on all frost spells you recently cast.
My thoughts: Any frost mage would be a fool to miss this. Makes you have double the uptime on water elemental, frost nova, ice block, deep freeze... Possibilities are endless.
Improved Cone of Cold - 3 points - Increases the damage dealt by your cone of cold spell by 15/30/45%
My thoughts: This is a great talent to have. CoC being instant cast, this just makes the burst much better, and used in conjuction with frostbite or fingers of frost, can be just made even stronger.
Post by
Achloryn
Frozen Core - 3 points - Reduces the damage taken from all spells by 2/4/6%
My thoughts: Not as good as it should be. Mages don't mitigate damage, they either avoid it, or get blown up.
Tier 6 (requires 25 points)
Cold as Ice - 2 points (requires cold snap) - REduces the cooldown of your cold snap, ice barrier, and summon water elemental spells by 10/20%.
My thoughts: a necessity. Cold snap alone has a really long CD time, this just makes it more useful, along with your ice barrier and water ele, this is a cheap investment for all the utility you'll get out of it.
Winter's Chill - 3 points - Increases your chance to critically hit with forstbolt by an additional 1/2/3%, and gives your frost damage spells a 33/66/100% chance to apply the winter's chill effect, which increases the chance spells will critically hit the target by 1% for 15s. STacks up to 5 times.
My thoughts: The frost mage's answer to Improved Scorch. At first, I was skeptical of this talent's usage in pvp, since you're not always going to be able to get 5 spells off on a target without him wondering who's throwing frostbolts at him. However, the increased crit chance for FB's alone i think make it worth the 3 point investment.
Tier 7 (requires 30 points)
Ice Barrier - 1 point (requires cold snap) - Instantly shields you, absorbing X damage. Lasts 1 min. While the shield holds, spellcasting will not be delayed by damage.
My thoughts: I cannot express in enough words how necessary this talent is if you're going deep frost. And I shouldn't have to.
Shattered Barrier - 2 points (requires ice barrier) - Gives your Ice barrier spell a 50/100% chance to freeze all enemies within 10 yds for 8s when it is destroyed.
My thoughts: This spell is just as mandatory for frost mages as ice barrier is. It gives you just another edge to get away from someone and start walloping them again, or run away to get healed.
Arctic winds - 5 points - Increases all frost damage you cause by 1/2/3/4/5%, and reduces the chance melee and ranged attacks will hit you by 1/2/3/4/5%.
My thoughts: As much as I like this talent, 5 points is a really heavy investment to get this. Feel free to sink a couple of points here if you have them, but don't make maxing it a priority. There's just too much good stuff to get.
Tier 8 (requires 35 points)
Empowered Frostbolt - 2 points - Increases the damage of your frostbolt spell by an amount equal to 5/10% of your spell power and increases the critical strike chance by an additional 2/4%.
My thoughts: Since frostbolt is such a quick cast, you'll probably be more apt to use frostbolt more frequently. This just makes it that much more useful.
Fingers of Frost - 2 points - Gives your chill effects a 7/15% chance to grant you the Fingers of frost effect, which treats your next 2 spells cast as if the target were frozen. Lasts 15s.
My thoughts: Very dangerous to your opponent in PvP. This procs seemingly a lot more often than the 15% belies, and it makes your shatter combos that much more devastating. Even if the opponent isn't frozen, you can ice lance them on the move twice for a great deal of damage with this.
Tier 9 (requires 40 points)
Brain Freeze - 3 points - Your frost damage spells with chilling effects have a 5/10/15% chance to cause your next fireball spell to be instant cast and cost no mana.
My thoughts: An excellent investment for 3 points, giving you a completely mana free spell to use on the run that hits moderatly hard, and like FoF, procs seemingly more often than the 15% would seem.
Summon Water Elemental - 1 point - Summons a water elemental to fight for the caster for 45s.
My thoughts: One of the most useful spells as it's a decent DPS booster, as well as has it's own frost nova ability.
Enduring Water - 3 points (requires Summon Water Elemental) - Increases the duration of your summon water elemental spell by 5/10/15s and your frostbolt spell has a 33/66/100% chance to grant the replenishment effect to up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 0.25% of their maximum mana per second for 15s.
My thoughts: As useful as the water ele is, these extra 3 points are almost as useless. Keeping the ele out for an additional 15s isn't going to make that much off a difference, and replenishment is pointless cause it's not like you can sit there slinging your frostbolts without anyone coming to see what's going on in your corner. I'd personally avoid this talent.
Tier 10 (requires 45 points)
Chilled to the bone - 5 points - Increases the damage caused by your frostbolt, frostfire bolt, and ice lance spells by 1/2/3/4/5% and reduces the movement speed of all chilled targets by an additional 2/4/6/8/10%.
My thoughts: for 5 points it's almost a requirement. The additional damage just makes frostbolt and ice lance that much more dangerous, and the additional slowdown from chill effect makes you live that much longer.
Tier 11 (requires 50 points)
Deep Freeze - 1 point - Stuns the target for 5s. Only usable on frozen targets.
My thoughts: If chilled to the bone is "
almost a requirement
" for pvp, than this is as necessary as ice barrier is. Despite what the tooltip says, you can use this when fingers of frost is procced, because it treats the target like it's frozen. This is a great way to apply a shatter combo on that pesky DK when frost nova is on CD and your water ele has already been crushed.
--------------------2. PVP BUILDS--------------------
This is the place for builds, gems, glyphs, enchants, and PvP gear as well.. It's all quite intertwined. This area will definitely expand.
(20/0/51)
Frost + Imp. Counterspell.
This is a build I got from arenajunkies.com. I disagree with some of the choices within it, but a lot of the posters there seem to think it's overall a solid build that allows you some point shifting here and there. It doesn't include glyphs on arenajunkies, so I suppose that is your own personal discretion. I would personally go for Glyph of Evocate, Glyph of Ice Barrier, and a 3rd yet undecided glyph.
(57/14/0)
Classic PoM/Pyro build, adapted for 3.1.
I nabbed this from Mathron's
The Best Builds - Rotations, Gear, Glyphs
thread. If you've been a mage from BC or earlier, you know this build. Again, it doesn't include glyphs. Glyph of evocate should be standard in PvP, but the other two are discretionary. If anyone has any specific ideas, let me know and i'll be glad to include them in this section.
I Run The Flag
This one was also nabbed from Mathron's thread, which he in turn nabbed from another wowhead contributer. I think this is a sneaky underhanded attempt at surviving as long as humanly possible, and I think it's awesome. You won't get many HK's on your own with this in a BG, however it could also be interesting to be in an arena with this spec as a squishy "target" for your opponents while they get pummled by the others in your group.
Post by
Achloryn
(19/52/0)
Deep Fire + Imp. CS
I see so much hate on using fire for PvP, but when I was typing up my talent analysis I saw that there's actually some quite useful talents deeper in the fire tree, so I decided to cook this one up. Feel free to hate on it, it doesn't matter to me, but I am going to try it out to see how good it works. The main idea of this spec is to not use fireball, but to take advantage of the improved scorch glyph to help hot streak proc's and your overall damage. Blast wave and Dragon's breath are exceptionally fun spells in PvP, and I think there could be some fun to be had in BGs with this.
Glyphs
- this section is dedicated to the ridiculous amount of glyphs that mages are offered, and their uses in PvP.. I'll only go over the ones I think are going to be the most useful, unless it's requested that I go through all of the glyphs.
I didn't include any minor glyphs, because they're generally irrelevent for PvP. However, for the sake of completeness, the Glyph of Fire Ward, and the Glyph of Frost Ward can be quite useful, as well as the Glyph of Slow Fall.
--------------------3. HOW TO FIGHT--------------------
Death Knights
Armor of Choice: Ice Armor
Difficulty: 7/10
Here are some gimmicks I have noticed with this class. First of all, when you try to Blink out of the Death Grip, you cannot control your direction if you're in the process of being pulled. Turning will not affect this. You will Blink 20 yards away from your Grip destination in the direction of the grip. If you want to control it, you need to wait until after landing.
With that aside, you first want to open up with a Polymorph onto the DK. If a pet exists, he must go. DK pets have a stun, which is too much of a pain to deal with. If you get stunned when next to a DK, then GG, because he just forced a Blink on you.
Once the pet is dead, treat the DK like you would a Warrior, stay the hell away from him, and in general, you'll be using the same strats vs. Warriors in TBC. However, when attempting to line up a Shatter combo, Anti-Magic Shell and Strangulate need to be addressed. A good DK will save those CDs for when you're attempting to Nova/Shatter them. As a result, you want to lead in your Shatter combo with an Imp. Counterspell. AFAIK, a majority of DK abilities are spells, so silencing before shatters helps.
TLDR: They're Warriors that use spells, and have pets. Cast Counterspell to set up Shatters, kill that pet, and you should be fine.(Suggestion written by Open)
Frost ward to negate some of the frost damage. Should be similar to warrior kite. Not too hard. (Achloryn's note... i'd honestly NEVER thought of that before.. /facepalm) (Written by blueshoes)
BTW - For deathknights you want Mage Armor. It will reduce Disease and Chains of Ice time by 50%.
Means you will start walking 5 seconds after you have been chained instead of 10. And strangulate will last half too.(suggested by danroe)
Balance Druids
Armor of Choice: Mage Armor
Difficulty: 3/10
In all honestly, not too difficult of a fight. The only thing you really need to watch out for are the Treants, which can be effectively delayed by a Cone of Cold.
Use Water Elemental, the works. The only thing I want to note here, is that you want to use CS on a nature spell, and not on Starfire. You should LoS, Blink, or jump behind the Druid towards the end of the cast to avoid that.
I'll only put more down if there's demand for it.(written by Open]
Feral Druids
Armor of Choice: Ice Armor
Difficulty: 8/10
They're difficult fights. Their main strength against you is their ability to shift out of your snares. In this case, your key ability to victory is Mirror Image.
This is the way it's going to happen. First, they're going to get an opener on you. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE NOT FACING AN OBSTACLE, OR YOUR CHANCES OF VICTORY DRAMATICALLY DECREASE. Blink the Pounce. Really, Blink it, it's bugged against Maim anyways. The next step is to pay attention to what the Druid does immediately afterward.
Post by
Achloryn
If he's bad, he will stay in Cat Form and charge you from there. In that case, then just Frost Nova into a Deep Freeze and Shatter him. Proceed to Mirror Image, then Blink away. At this point, treat him like a Rogue, and this shouldn't be too difficult of a win. Obviously, you should use Water Elemental liberally, and use it to Shatter him. Finally, you don't want to eat a full duration Maim. Use Ice Block and Trinket to prevent that. If the Maim is at 5 seconds, break it. If not, then sit there, you can take that damage, assuming you kept Ice Barrier up.
If he's good, he'll shift to Bear Form and charge you. This way, you will be rooted to the guy. That's bad, you just blew a Blink. The moment you see him go Bear, those Images need to out. Frost Nova into a Deep Freeze (he may trinket this), and use that time to move away. Don't shatter, just move, because this fight will last longer than your Mirror Image duration.
At a sufficient distance (estimate 15+ yards), pop Water Elemental, and Shatter away. In this case, you want to apply as much pressure as possible. Shatter whenever procs and Elemental allows you to, and as before: Never eat a 5 second Maim. The more pressure you apply, the more he will shift to get close to you. That's good. You want to win the mana war. Again, Deep Freeze Shatter combos as much as you can. There is only one thing I need to note here. If your enemy has blown his trinket, on the next Deep Freeze (assuming he's at ~50%, he should be), you use every single last offensive CD to line up a large Shatter combo.
Icy Veins (assuming you stacked 10% haste) will allow you to use Frostbolt+Frostbolt+Ice Lance during a Deep Freeze if he has not Stun Duration Reduction talents (if he does, FB+2xIL will do here. You should pay attention to the first DF to see whether or not it actually lasted 5 seconds.)
TLDR: Your goal is to force him to spend more Mana/GCD's on shifting than special attacks.
Sidenote: Fakecasting is a very useful way to get him to charge you when Blink is off CD. That way, you'll leave yourself open to using some real attacks, as opposed to just Cone of Cold/Ice Lance.(written by Open)
Restoration Druids
Armor of Choice: Mage Armor
Difficulty 4/10
Simple. The mana war. Lifebloom is a horrible spell if he keeps it rolling. All you want to do is to is apply lots of pressure through aggressive use of DF and Water Elemental in order to force him into using his less efficient heals. All you really need to do is to force him to keep a 3x stack of Lifebloom. If he does, and you have Replenishment, then he should go OOM long before you do.(written by Open)
Resto Druid
Lifebloom isnt a horrible spell - its an awesome spell. Remember as a mage you CAN spellsteal this without triggering the "Bloom". Remember to spellsteal hots if he allows himself to get too low and go for a quick burst (Nova Deep freeze etc with Counterspell). If somehow you can out DPS the HOTs at some point (lucky crits) then CS the regrowth/nourish which he will generally use at <60% to get a 8 second peroid with no nature spells. then GO GO GO full burst. Time the Deep freeze after the 8 second peroid - DO NOT blow this before the 8 second period is up!
Just remember, dont go over the top with spell steal. Its not very mana friendly and you could run oom before the druid if you use it too often. Refrain from using Cone of Cold as well as its very mana inneficient - Stick with your casting spells.
Lastly, if he decides to go for a few Wraths + Moonfire, dont worry - your ice barrier should hold you. Instead, take the offensive especially if he is at <80% health. Noob druids often get carried away with dpsing too much at <80% health. By the time they realize they have to heal you can CS/Deep freeze = gg.
Use trinket when he Cyclones you at LOW health. No need to blow it at the start.
Unfortunately, all this crap only works on stupid druids. if hes a decent druid he wont let himself get low and you should just play the mana game. Spellsteal innervate when it pops.
Obviously all this would change in arena when druids can LOS everything.(written by Blueshoes)
Balance Druid
Spellsteal MOTW for extra resistance (A good balance druid should debuff this before the battle starts). Remember a Balance druid is a wannabe mage who can heal. CS the nature tree Deep freeze and burst gg. If he goes for the cyclone + starfire combo, usually trinket the cyclone and blink behind - Save CS for nature spell.(written by Blueshoes)
Beast Mastery Hunters (applies to all, but BM centric)
Armor of Choice: Ice Armor.
Difficulty: 7 (6 if not)/10
Really, one button wonders. TBW is what is going to kill you. That's what your Ice Block is for. It's also why you refresh IB whenever you can. The goal of fighting a Hunter is to get up close to him to prevent him from shooting you. Some things to keep note of:
Realistically, it's not a good idea to try to Shatter without the assistance of Deep Freeze. Too many things can be done to prevent you from successfully doing so, including Scatter Shot, Traps, shooting your face off, Feign Death, etc. Deep Freeze, and wind up a large combo that doesn't include Icy Veins in it. The guy will be left into a position where he has to blow a CD in order to not instantly die. That's good. Other than that, stay up close, and keep him snared with CoC. Ice Lance whenever possible, you should get loads of FoF procs from that pet.
He will TBW you. In that case, you need to stay in his face for as long as you can, and put up Ice Barrier. Your goal is to live for 8 seconds without going below 50-60% hp. If you can do this, then you're in a good position to win. After 8 seconds, just Ice Block. It's too hard to deal with Big Red and the Hunter for 18 seconds straight, so just wait it out. Congrats, finish the fight. Note: After this, you have about a minute. If you can't kill him before TBW resets, you're screwed. Oh yeah, save your Water Elemental and Icy Veins until after he blows TBW.
TLDR: Ice Block the TBW, stay in his face for as long as you can.(written by Open)
Open with poly and full shatter combo. Then stay in close range to stop too much DPS. Usually blink when he disengages. Instant casts all the way when at close range, Fire blast and cone of cold constantly. If he ever gets range on you and starts laying into you - make sure you get Fire ward to stop explosive shop from doing too much dmg.(written by blueshoes)
One thing i've noticed is that if you get in melee range of a hunter (one who's NOT BM especially) they'll try to wing clip you, then disengage to get distance on you again. The best way to counter this is to cone of cold them and blink right back up to them. The more you're up in a hunter's face, the worse off they are. (written by Achloryn)
Post by
Achloryn
As Frost:
Difficulty: ?/10
(? because fighting someone using the same spec and same class means how difficult it is depends completely on how skilled your opponent is)
Armor: Mage Armor. Ice Armor gives you more frost resistance sure, but arcane resist and 50% magic debuffs are much more important here.
The duel starts off with both mages spellstealing each other dry, and then starting to go offensive while their barriers and wards are on CD (starting with a polymorph let's you have 5 seconds to spellsteal to your hearts content). The major buff you're looking to spellsteal is Ice Barrier. It costs upwards of 800 mana to cast, and only costs 600 mana to steal (your alternative would be to try bashing your way through the barrier with roughly 3 frostbolts for nearly 1k mana, but then complications arise like if he's close to you, you'd get trapped in shattered barrier and you'd be forced to blink or blow some sort of defensive CD). I'm stressing mana because fighting another frost mage is trying to run him dry, and then killing him when he's completely defenseless.
This really is a fluid fight and there's never a set pattern that you can force your opponent to follow, and sometimes RNG can bone you over (30% dispel resistance and arcane school resistance if you don't have 140 spell penetration). Here's a really really rough order of things to do as you're having your showdown with the other team's mage after both of your rogues died.
Polymorph if you want to, and spam spellsteal until you have Ice Barrier. This is the only buff you want, once you have it, ignore anything else the mage has. Make sure to cancel mana shield if you stole it, or had it up already as purge fodder. Also, stay close to the mage as much as possible the entire fight.
Spam instants. Fire Blast + Ice Lance. CoC if you're very far ahead in mana, but if not, it's too expensive to spam per CD. There's no way to stop the incoming damage once his ward+ice barrier are on CD except a CS silence for 2 seconds or mana shield (but my fire blast hits for 2k damage, meaning if he did that, I'd have instantly burned away 3k mana with a spell that cost 600 to cast. Good trade imo).
Blow CDs, Mirror Image and WE. Frost Nova+IL, and after the blink, WE Freeze+Deep Freeze into Ice Lance spam (with mage armor up, you'll only be able to get 2 off with the frozen bonus). This will either force a trinket or an Ice Block. Both are good for you, but an Ice Block at this point means a shorter fight.
Keep spellstealing Ice Barrier+Frost Ward, never use Mana Shield, and spam instants when he has no defenses.You'll quickly work through his health with your pets. Line up your shatter combo with another Frost Nova+IL to force a blink. If the mage trinketed earlier, use WE Freeze into a DF+ILx2 to force an Ice Block. If it was an Ice Block, use a regular shatter combo FB+IL on a WE Freeze at the last second.
Save counterspell for Evocation, finish the fight with instant spam, and keep spellstealing his barriers.
If you're on the receiving end of this, try to spellsteal your barrier back and force yourself back into the offensive by making him cast his own IB+Frost Ward thus putting himself on the 24 & 30 sec CD timer, giving you a nice gap of time to do as much damage to him as possible. Trying to damage through barrier + ward is impossible to win in regards to mana, but if you get Ice Barrier, there's ways to work around a ward if you want to save mana.
That's about it, except a slot of mages don't know the benefits of spellstealing instead of manhandling your way through barriers. If they don't even follow that part of my guide then you're in for an easy fight because they're going to run themselves dry in no time flat, and as their HP visibly and steadily drops quickly, they'll panic when you're hardly taking any damage at all and your mana bar never goes below 50%(written by StrangerWifCandy)
As Arcane: Spellsteal Ice Barrier. Use your own Frost Ward, and spellsteal his if it fades or is spellstolen.
Spam Slow+Arcane Barrage.
Use Images after he pops his, or after he summons his WE.
Never use PoM or Arcane Power while he's spamming Spellsteal on you.
While he doesn't have Ice Barrier, his only way to stop Arcane Barrage+Fire Blast spam is Counterspell silence, and Ice Block. GG, he's going to be dead soon.
(Written by StrangerWifCandy)
Now then, let's address Paladins. There are three different specs that I'll talk about here. Holy/Prot, Ret/Prot, and Shockadin (32-0-39)
Holy Paladin
Armor of Choice: Mage Armor, you'll want the regen.
Difficulty: 5/10
In all seriousness though, not overly hard to solo. The thing that you need to note here is that you can knock him from 50% all the way to 0% if he is caught in a full Deep Freeze. Just apply enough pressure to cause force him into a casted heal. Then you CS him, Freeze into a FB+DF, then do 2x FB with IL, and he should be dead.
If that doesn't work, play the mana war. You can (and should) spellsteal Divine Plea.(written by Open)
Ret Paladin
Armor of Choice: Frost Armor
Difficulty: 9/10 (if he's good)
This is a problem. A really big problem. Analyzing them, they have everything needed to render you useless. Cleanse on snares, Hand of Freedom on Deep Freeze, and lots of instant heals. A couple of things to note: Blink can be used twice for every single HoJ he has. A suggestion for you is that after you Blink the 1st HoJ, you should (if he already bubbled) cast Mirror Image, then proceed to Blink behind him. If you just run from him, then he can proceed to oneshot your images. You need their snare. You'll force him into a freedom.
As always, you'll want to open up with Polymorph, into Spellsteal. Rip off all his buffs. If he reapplies them (he should), then don't bother, just proceed to kite like another melee. Trinket Repentance, Blink all Hammers.
Another note: If he already blew his bubble and is at approx. 50%, it is possible for you to end the fight right then and there by Counterspelling into Deep Freeze so he cannot Freedom out of the following Shatter combo.
Finally, you want to maintain Winter's Chill on him, because you need to protect your snares.(written by Open)
Shockadin
Armor of Choice: Still go Frost Armor.
Difficulty: 10/10 if he doesn't have downs.
To you, he will be like the Shadowfrost DK of S5. Except worse, because there is nothing you can do about Holy damage, and he can heal himself with that spell. Treat this like you would a Ret Paladin, except you need to play MUCH more offensively. You have a little bit more leeway due to the absense of Crusader Strike/Divine Storm, but the longer the fight lasts, the worse off you'll be.
I haven't much experience dealing with them yet, so I'll elaborate on this later.(written by Open)
Post by
Achloryn
Priests are going to be a particularly nasty fight for two reasons... 1 - their healing ability. 2 - their mana burn. The thing is, a priest has to sit still long enough to cast a mana burn. They will most certainly keep Power Word: Shield up on them as much as they can throughout the fight. The quicker you spell steal it, the more time you can damage them because of the weakened soul debuff. A smart PvP priest will have
Glyph of Power Word: Shield
on, which can make some of the damage you cause to them negated. Spellstealing is mana heavy so make sure you use your mana gems wisely. Shadow priests have the extra nasty spells of Vampiric Embrace and Dispersion.. Your best bet with shadow priests is to keep moving and keep behind them. Put your Imp. CS to use as often as it comes off of CD, but wait for them to cast.. locking them out of their schools of magic for the short period of time can mean the difference between winning and losing. For holy or holy/disc priests, if the battle lasts a long time, you probably won't win. Your best bet is to beat them down quickly before you go OOM, because their healing abilities will drive you insane. (Written by Achloryn)
Armor of Choice: Ice Armor
Difficulty: 7-9/10
(very skill dependant)
They'll usually start the fight with ya, unless U're on arena with a rogue in team who has the required skills to sap him first. If he indeed starts look at what he's doing. If it's sap followed by some damage ability(assuming u had ice barrier up) it may fade freezing him. He will probably cloak so u may be able to throw an Ice Lance only. If u're sure(and u'll never be) that the lag wont screw it up u can try deep freeze at that momment and try to shatter forcing him to trinket(which helps u later). If he will cloak just be4 the freeze u're entering harder time. If he opens with cheap shot that usually means he's tryin start stunlock. Blink and(your choice depends if he pops sprint at this momment) nova or CoC. If he's sprinted CoC wont give u much so I suggest nova then. If he uses cloak u may be lucky enough to be able to run keeping ur ass alive with barrier. If u survive this pop elemental and shatter him. If u dont have the cd up(try to keep ur cooldown <15 when ure in middle of arena) Ice block is the only thingy that will help u(unless u can let him stun u and blink - but if hes fast u wont be able to). I dont know the actual builds but even if they dont use Shadowstep u should be ready to avoid it. Keep moving. Frostbolt only when hes deep freezed or nova'd and u know he doesnt have sprint/cloak/shadowstep ready. Dont wait when he recently used his cooldowns. Let them wear off (in worst case Ice block) and nuke just after. U should be able to blow him really fast as the only thing that helps him is Cheat death (or nothing at all). Theese are just major advices, which works on average and little better then average rogues, but the biggest part of this fight is YOUR own, personal experience in such fights. Its one of the fastest fights, as both of u are burst classes.(written by vipeout)
Enhancement shaman's can be particularly nasty. One thing they're going to try to do is earth shock you to interrupt your spell casts. If you find yourself sitting back to cast, cast something that's not your primary school to cause them to lock out something that won't hinder you. Watch out for their spirit wolves, as they can put out a lot of damage, especially if they're glyphed. Their grounding totems will also cause you quite a bit of problems, so try throwing an ice lance out from time to time to keep this neutralized before you throw out a bigger spell. Spellsteal their earth/water/lighting shields and you put a big hurting on them. KEEP MANUEVERING - stay behind them as much as possible, and out of melee range cause windfury procs can put a serious hurt on your squishy self. Elemental shaman's are a bit easier because they're basically gonna have some similar tactics as you, probably throwing up an earthbind totem or hitting you with a frost shock to keep your mobility at a minimum. Resto shamans are going to cause a headache for you as they can heal thru of your damage quite effectively. Keep that imp. counterspell at the ready for their heals. (written by Achloryn)
Affliction Warlock:
Difficulty: 5/10
Armor of Choice: Mage Armor. You could probably build up a case for Frost Armor due to FoF procs, but this way, you'll render Death Coil near useless.
You'll have to work for this one, but by no means is this a faceroll fight. With this in mind, your strategy is simple, win as fast as you can. The longer the fight lasts, the progressively worse you'll do.
First thing you want to do is just to open up with a Frostbolt, assuming he has a Felhunter out. Right at the half-way mark, stop casting it. Hopefully, he used Spell Lock on you. Then, the next step is for you to Polymorph him. Soul Link is a pain in the butt to deal with, so you want that Felhunter gone. You also don't want to get interrupted during a Shatter combo.
With the Felhunter down, the fight gets progressively easier. Don't waste CS on his Shadowbolts/DoT casts. Just utilize LoS on them, and save it for Fear. Yes, Fear only lasts for 5 seconds, but you don't want to give him a chance to resummon that Felhunter. That's practically a fight reset.
Once you CS his Fear, just burst him down. They're not that hard to kill, but remember to take them seriously.
I'm not posting any strategies for Destruction until Nether Protection gets nerfed. Otherwise, there is no valid reason for a Destruction Warlock to be losing to you.
(Written by Open)
In spite of the warrior's usually high health, I find this to be one of the easier fights you'll have. Most warriors will try to catch you with a charge or intercept to instantly close the distance. If they DO charge or intercept, just blink or use your pvp trinket to get out of the stun, cause those 3 seconds can be deadly. After you've gotten out, nova them in place and pop your mirror image. If you have deep freeze, use it, as a quick shatter combo can usually get rid of a lot of their high health pool. If you see them whirlwinding, get out of the way FAST as that will make short work of you. If you need to, blink or ice block. Do your best to keep them snared or slowed with cone of cold and frost nova, and stay out of melee range in case they put a Gag order on you. Also, watch for their spell reflection, as it can turn the tables on you pretty quickly if you're not careful. (written by Achloryn)
Post by
Achloryn
Enchants, Gear, and Gems.
One thing i've noticed while pvping is that we are squishy... This may not come as much of a revelation to any of you reading this, (and honestly, it really wasn't to me either) but squishyness in pvp makes for a difficult time. With that having been said, looking through the LK enchants, I see that some slots have very few real choices. They're going to rely on either, making you survive a bit longer, or making you kill stuff a bit quicker. I should specify that I only went off of enchants and gems that came out with WotLK. I should also note that any profession specific enchants i will put in the professions section (to come at a later date).
Cloaks
-
Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed
. 16 Infinite Dust, 4 Greater Cosmic Essence. There isn't much in the way of cloak enchants that aren't profession specific, so use your judgement.
Enchant Cloak - Spell Piercing
. 15 Infinte Dust. Spell Penetration is apparently a lot more necessary for pvp than I originally thought. With good arguements given to me, i would say that this is an equally viable option for cloak enchants.
Chest
-
Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats
. 4 Dream Shards, 4 Abyss Crystals. This improves everything, thus making it something you really almost have to have.
Enchant Chest - Super Stats
. 4 Infinite Dust, 2 Lesser Cosmic Essence. If you find yourself short on cash for those abyss crystals, this is almost as good, with mats that are 10x cheaper. You probably shouldn't pick anything other than these two.
Enchant Chest - Exceptional Resilience
. 2 Dream Shard, 2 Greater Cosmic Essence. Unfortunatly, resilience is broken for mages at the moment. If you're stacking all the resil in the world, it somehow doesn't keep you from getting crit for 10k. However, if there ever comes a point where it starts working for us the way it should, this would be a good (and much more cost effective) enchant to look for. It's still not as good as +10 to all stats though.
Boots
-
Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality
. 10 Infinite Dust, 2 Greater Cosmic Essence, 2 Dream Shard. This is making a large appearance in pvp due to the extra run speed. Between this and blinking, it makes things easier getting away from that pesky melee person who's wailing on you.
Enchant Boots - Icewalker
. 8 Infinte dust, 1 Crystallized Water. This is much more of a pve enchant, but the little bit of crit rating is nice. I personally think Tuskarr's vit. is a better choice, overall.
Enchant Boots - Greater Fortitude
. 4 Lesser Cosmic Essence, 3 Infinite Dust. 22 stam translates a nice little bit of health, but it probably won't make the difference between living and dying most of the time.
Gloves
-
Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower
. 4 Infinite Dust, 1 Lesser Cosmic Essence. 28 Spell power. Need any more explanation?
Enchant Gloves - Greater Blasting
30 Infinite Dust, 1 Dream Shard. 16 Crit rating is nice, but it's not quite as good, overall, as the spell power.
Legs
-
Sapphire Spellthread
. 4 Eternal Fire, 4 Iceweb Spider Silk, Frozen Orb. This is really the only one you should go with. The other spellthread has spirit which is good for the crit increase, but 30 stam is nothing to sneeze at.
Weapons
-
Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower
. 40 Infinite Dust, 6 Dream Shard, 6 Abyss Crystal. If you're using a staff over a mh/oh, this is what you need. 81 SP. No question.
Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower
. 30 Infinite Dust, 6 Dream Shard, 6 Abyss Crystal. If you're using a MH/OH, then this is where you wanna go.
Enchant Weapon - Exceptional Spellpower
. 10 Infinite Dust, 2 Greater Cosmic Essence. I'm putting this up here because the above enchants have ridiculously expensive mats. This should really only be a suplement until you can get the mats you need for the 63 or 81 SP (depending on your wep).
Bracers
-
Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower
. 6 Infinite Dust, 6 Greater Cosmic Essence, Dream Shard. 30 Spell power, yup... This should probably be your priority.
Enchant Bracers - Greater Stats
. 16 Infinte Dust, 3 Greater Cosmic Essence. This isn't a bad substitute cause it boosts every stat. It's really a situational call though.
Head
-
Arcanum of Dominance
. Purchased at Wintergrasp. 29 spell power and 20 resilience is probably the best pvp centric head enchant, but again there's the problem with resilience and mages.
Arcanum of Burning Mysteries
. Kirin Tor: Revered. 30 SP and 20 Crit rating. Both of these are nice. You could really pick either one of the above head enchants for pvping.
Arcanum of the Savage Gladiator
. Alliance Vanguard/Horde Expedition: Exalted. The stam and resil are nice, but the other two choices are much better overall.
Shoulders
-
Greater Inscription of the Storm
. Sons of Hodir: Exalted. This is pretty much the only shoulder enchant to get.
Lesser Inscription of the Storm
. Sons of Hodir: Honored. If you're still working towards exalted, pick this up till you get there.
Post by
Achloryn
Professions: this is the long-awaited (and even longer put together) PvP professions guide. This is dealing with the items within each profession that you
must
be of that profession to use. (For instance, only enchanters can enchant rings, etc)
Alchemy
-
Crazy Alchemist's Potion
. I hadn't looked much at the specific alchemy only benefits, but this item can be ridiculously good in BGs. Health AND mana in one pot... You can't beat that.
Mercurial Alchemist Stone
. Making your pots more powerful is definitely a worthwhile cause. The Spell Power and Haste benefits are nothing to sneeze at either.
Endless Healing
and
Endless Mana
potions. I'm lumping them together because they are both on an even plane imo. The bonuses are small, but the fact that they're sanctioned for arenas can literally mean the difference between life and death in that 2v2 match.
Blacksmithing
-
Socket Bracer
and
Socket Gloves
. Again, grouped together because they're on an even plane. Adding extra gems that others don't have? Sounds kind of nice, but you don't see many mage blacksmiths, because mages can't benefit from the BoP crafted items other than these. Blacksmithing hardly seems worth it for an extra 38 spell power (or more when epic gems are released) from extra sockets.
Enchanting
-
Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower
This will more than likely be what you do with your enchanting. Now, while the 38 spell power again may not be a lot of improvement, the actual profession of enchanting is quite a lucrative one to be had, as people are ALWAYS enchanting their gear everytime they get upgrades at end game.
Enchant Ring - Stamina
A few fair people may pick this enchant as a bonus to their life health pool may give them a slight extra bit of survivability... but overall, you'd be better off with the spellpower.
Engineering
-
Greensight Gogs
, and
Visage Liquification Goggles
.So, it appears that engineers have a lot of things that can be nice for mages to use. 73 Crit, and 87 Spell power? wow... And these items are equippable at 72? that just seems unreal.
Noise Machine
. A lot of extra spell power, and a proc to absorb damage? Sounds like a winner to me.
Gnomish Lightning Generator
. The insane amount of crit given here is nice, and the extra damage effect is also quite nice. I'd say it's a pretty equal choice between this and the Noise machine... Really you own personal preference.
Hyperspeed Accelerators
. An insane haste buff, with a short cooldown.. stack this on icy veins and watch your cast time disappear.
Hand-mounted Pyro Rocket
. More extra damage without wasting mana. Short CD on this as well...
Springy Arachnoweave
. The second best cape "enchant" in the game, pve or pvp for casters.The parachute effect is also nice too, for BGs, but we already have slow fall... so take your pick.
Nitro boosts
. The use effect of these is a great way to get range on someone, especially when your blink is on CD and you
need to get away
. The extra crit chance is quite nice as well.
Inscription
-
Master's Inscription of the Storm
. This is the only real benefit you get as far as being an inscriptionist. It's nice to not have to grind rep for Son's of Hodir. (but in all honesty.. the amount of money you get for doing so is more than worth the time for doing so).
Jewelcrafting
-
Runed Dragon's Eye
. A great gem to have, as you can fit 3 of them (that's 96 SP!) in your gear. Unfortunatly, in the next major patch, it's been rumored and leaked that they are taking away the prismatic properties of these gems. However, that doesn't take away the fact that 3 of these is equal to 5 Runed Crimson Spinels
Solid Dragon's Eye
. 41 Stamina could defintely be a useful extra chunk of health, but you'd probably be better off with the 3 runed dragon's eyes.
Figurine - Sapphire Owl
. A nice trinket to have for the extra mana you get from using it. However, the cooldown is rather long unfortunatly.
Figurine - Twilight Serpent
. This trinket is really the one you should go for. The hit rating is moderately unnecessary for pvp, but the usage is quite awesome. 20 seconds uptime with a 2 minute cooldown for a great SP bonus.
Leatherworking
-
Fur Lining - Spell Power
. 67 Spell power. Quite a hefty bonus. Unfortunatly, it's just about the only one you'd get from being a leatherworker that would help a mage out, every time.
Fur Lining - Stamina
. This is only worth mentioning because 90 stam is too INSANELY large to overlook... but You'd be much better served with the spell power.
Tailoring
-
Lightweave Embroidery
. If you're going for tailoring, this right here is
THE reason
to do so. The proc chance of this is ridiculously high, the amount of spell power you get is quite nice, and youdon't have to do anything to activate it other than do what you do best... Cast spells! This is pretty much the only real reason to go for tailoring strictly for pvp purposes. There is the darkglow which gives you a bit of mana back, however it's really not in the same league as this.
edit: HA! figured out what was screwing with the bullets. Was too tired last night.
Post by
150866
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Achloryn
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER
I suppose it's safe after the fifth placeholder...
So is there a lot more planned yet? Like that professions part you were gonna put in?
I'd like to go into discussion into the finer points of everything once it's more solid if it's going into Helpful Threads.
I'd forgotten that I said I was going to put a profession part in there.. "Get Engineering"... is that what it was? lol.
As far as I see it now, the thread is *mostly* done barring the ridiculous amount of updates and patches and such. I need a warlock strat, which open said he was going to post at some point, and I am going to add a PvP gear section, as well as a section for enchants and such. But at this point, I don't see why we couldn't discuss things. (I really hope 5 placeholders is enough.. sheesh)
Post by
79146
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
79146
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Achloryn
Ach, can you bold the headings to the various sections? They'll be much easier to read.
do you mean like.. bolding the different specs within each class? (i.e. Resto druid, Feral Druid, Protadin, Retadin, etc)
Post by
243007
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Achloryn
I've got little suggestion: in the first post u made a list what is where and in what order. If u would be able to make them links to specify posts it could help navigate thru all of that. U know what I mean, u're clicking the 'Mage' in 1st post and it comes to post where is mage strategy.
I could definitely do that.. I didn't want to as I was reposting because I wasn't sure how everything would line up, but I think I could do that pretty safely now (especially with the parts about the talents and the builds/glyphs/gear, etc)
I may rearrange the order simply because the part with the builds/gear/glyphs etc will probably be expanding much more than the other parts... Or maybe i'll just seperate the Gear/gems/enchants from the builds/glyphs part so i have more room to expand at the end.
Post by
239511
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
danroe
Frozen Core - 3 points - Reduces the damage taken from all spells by 2/4/6%
My thoughts: You need this if you're this far down the frost tree.
I disagree. Frozen Core sucks. Those 3 points are better placed somewhere else.
Also,
Tier 3 (requires 10 points)
Magic Attunement - 2 points - Increases the range of your Arcane spells by 3/6 yards and the effect of your amplify magic and dampen magic spells by 25/50%.
My thoughts: if you're deep arcane, take this. For two points and 6 yards, it's huge. Also, for not getting the ice barrier, putting dampen magic on yourself is another way to put a damper on other caster's lives. If you're any other spec, you don't need this.
+6 Yards on CS and Polymorph are, like, dah secks
Tier 7 (requires 30 points)
Arcane Empowerment - 3 points - Increases the damage of your arcane missiles spell by an amount equal to 15/30/45% of your spell power and the damage of your arcane blast by 3/6/9% of your spell power.
My thoughts: Can be situationally good in BGs where there's a chance you can sneak up to someone already fighting and sling a couple spells for the easy HK, but not very worthwhile in arenas, because you don't have that luxury.
45% Coefficient extra for arcane missiles? If you are arcane, you
are
grabbing missile barrage anyways, so making it
even
stronger won't hurt (you)
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