39 BiS Standards (All Classes) Updated for Phase 5!

mrfunktastik said:
First off, I've really enjoyed this thread and keep coming back to it nine months in. So thanks so much for doing all the work to start it! When I started playing my fire mage I wasn't super satisfied with scorch spamming, and I used to run an Arcane Explosion spec as a cheese build back in BC so I thought I'd try it out. I've actually had a lot more fun with it than Fire, especially since people are so thrown off by the different style.

Instant polymorphs and frostbolts are so handy in WSG, instant fireballs make for great burst, and my mana pool sits at around 4k which makes me a decent FC. Plus hunters and rogues are always stunned whenever I blink at them and spam AE. They crit for around 280 apiece, so while not super mana efficient the uninterruptible dps is excellent (also, in groups there's a lot of clearcasting going on).

Curious to hear if anyone else has goofed off with Arcane. Presence of Mind just gave me a lot of fun and improved counterspell is not to be ignored in such a caster heavy bracket. I'll probably go back to fire eventually, but as a "for the love of god play objectives" player I'm fine with sacrificing kb's for clutch flag saves. There's also a lot of +Arcane greens avail, I think I cap out at +231 Arcane Damage (but I carry a full eagle set with me and swap around as needed) If there's interest I can post the gear/build.
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So glad people are getting good mileage out of the thread. It would be great to see your build and I'll look into adding an Arcane setup to the list.
 
Have you tried out uninterruptible Melfs Magic Missiles? I had so much fun doggin gnelfs with those on my 49 arcane magus. AP + PoM was insane burst too. Could drop anybody once every 3 min. Definitely enjoyed playing a spec ppl that wasnt well known. Did have that sunfire enchant tho which comes later. GLHF!
 
I dig it. Personally i would drop the magic absorption for Melfs Magic Missiles, but thats just me. I destroyed ppl without the pushback@49. Gear looks great. Might run 9/9 gloves instead, but i havent played a magus in 15 yrs so would have to play around with it. Thanks for putting all the lists together. I use this resource often.
 
Yeah the main benefits I see to Arcane, and they are very nice ones, are improved CS, your sheeps always land and resist Dispels like a mf, PoM and the extra survivability from Mana Shield and +resists. I can't really picture anyone standing still face tanking using Missiles, that's like the antithesis of Mage playstyle imo. Main part I like about Missiles are that they track around corners and could be pretty potent finishers on escapees. Not that you couldn't make it work and have fun with it, I just don't really see it in competitive play.
 
Cant say i was running premades with it, but i almost always led the boards just nuking ppl with missiles, fire blast and some AEs. Of course the real highlight was 3 min mage, but missiles were hella fun in the down minutes. Most opponents didn’t know what to do, and i was consistently underestimated. With my health pool i almost always won dps race. Im sure AGM helped too. Very fond memories. Wish I would have taken some vids.
 
Outofspace said:
Here's my first poke at an Arcane build. What do people think?
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It's a bit different than mine, more on the defensive side. I've never noticed an issue with resists so I opted, like @Indexfinger mentioned, for Improved Arcane Missiles and for Clearcasting (which procs a lot when you AoE). Here's my spec:

https://classic.wowhead.com/talent-calc/mage/025005031220153--001

Your gear is spot on though, my only difference is I rotate engineering trinkets with my Tidal Charm and AGM and keep Insignia in my bottom slot, so I don't have anything passive up like Guardian Talisman. (but I know the intention is to keep your builds profession and rep neutral)

I keep a full Eagle set in my bag depending on the composition of the group if I need to stack stats to play more defensively or run flags. I think with the extra 10% mana you get more use out of Intellect, which makes it more valuable (with Zandalar buff I'm at 4850 mana in this set). And you end up using Fireblast and Frostbolt quite a bit still. So the more you're stacking +Arcane damage you're not really helping those casts. By stacking Stam and Int you stay alive longer to cast more AE and maximize your damage that way (granted I like to play a lot of kamikaze style run-in-boom die repeat).

To your point, I use Missiles mostly for finishing. But you know, mages do a lot of finishing ;) It's not super mana efficient, but what's great about it is constant damage, not losing out on a full cast because they went out of range. I've found that the more I can subvert expectations on playstyle, the better I do. People like to play one way and assume that's how every matchup will go. So when I lead against a caster with a counterspell (because it silences), PoM a Fireball + Fireblast, Tidal Charm + Missiles, then blink in and AE, I can tell it's a little disorienting and they have a hard time reacting well.
 
Ok the list has been updated for Phase 5 and new Arcane Mage builds have been added!
 
Question for all you shaman experts out there: could there be an enhancement build that works +Nature Damage into its stats? As I've been leveling one for 39s it seems shocks are still a large part of my damage output.

I'm planning on using Staff of Jordan as a melee weapon, and I was thinking of trying out a Green Lens of Nature's Wrath to see how much it boosts my overall damage. Maybe even working in some other pieces from the Elemental set. What do you guys think?
 
I also use Staff of Jordan with crusader as enh. Hits like a truck and love the caster stats it brings to the table. You could try a spellhance build. I plan on trying it out soon. I believe the focus is more on spell dmg as it affects all your schools of magic and your heals. I think my helm of choice for that will be green lens of healing or Miners Hat of The Deep. Spellhance builds tend to rock 1H (prolly SM mace or dagger) and a shield. Think they are very hard to kill and put out consistent dmg with 1H and shocks and totems. Couldn’t say how viable it is@this point in classic, but def gonna give it a go after some elemental.
 
I'm having a hard time finding a Miner's hat, but maybe I'll fiddle with that kind of build for a utility spec. BG's usually have enough big dick damage anyway, tides tend to turn when there's someone clicking a purge button. I'm planning on building a full resto set for him anyway, really love the flexibility of the class.

The other idea I had was if I'm Enhance rocking a SoJ and a Green Lens, maybe I just go ahead and throw Robes of the Lich on so everyone thinks I'm Elemental. It's such a typical caster uniform that I might be able to trick some people into coming at me. Like a bait and switch
 
I'm looking at something like this for a 'spellhance' type build. I would imagine swapping to a PoD when lower on Mana. You could also go Bear instead of Eagle in a couple slots. 3/5 Flurry to keep SoJ above the 3 second WF internal CD.
 
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The builds i saw rocked 1H and shield, and focused more on spell gear. Id like to give both approaches a try tho and see how they play. Shaman are great because there is so much versatility.
 
Aye. Helps with heals, totems, orbs, CL and LB too tho. Not that you will throw out many of the last. Ill be using the rest tho.
 
Yeah you're not going to casting many LBs. Orbs and totems suffer the same issue. I have healing gear I throw on when I think I should be backup healing. Spellhance really became a thing when Intel granted ap in the talent tree. Super fun to play.
 
Ahh makes sense. Thought i remembered spellhance being a timing thing. Was that BC? Or later? Cant recall. Definitely gonna try it eventually, but maybe ill wait as i have plenty of other specs to play. Loving the new glove enchants :)
 
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