lolipopp
Legend
Lolîpop's Arcane Mage Guide!
enjoy!
Table of Content
- Mage overview
- Game Awareness
- Targets
- Rotation
- Tips and Tricks
- Gearing
- Talents
- Race's
“Mages wield the elements of fire, frost, and arcane to destroy or neutralize their enemies. They are a robed-cloth class that excels at dealing massive damage from afar, casting elemental bolts at a single target, or raining destruction down upon their enemies in a wide area of effect. Mages can also augment their allies' spell-casting powers, summon food or drink to restore their friends, and even travel across the world in an instant by opening arcane portals to distant lands. Their arsenal includes some powerful buffs, debuffs, stuns, and snares, enabling them to dictate the terms of any fight.”
Level 20 Mage’s have a limited amount of spells, however are one of the funnest Classes to play with new challenges every BG. Because of the lack of spells and the vulnerability of the Class you have to think about every step you make, you can’t just wander into a fight and roll your face over the keyboard and destroy everything in sight like Hunters. I am making this Guide to try and help Mage’s improve and help them out.
Arcane Charge <-- Hover Mouse over me! =)
Playing Arcane you are constantly trying to stack your Charges to 4 (max) in order to put out the most damage you can. You simply just cast Arcane Blast 4 times and use Arcane Explosion to refresh your Charges, the Charges last for 10 seconds. Simple right? well no.
If you want to take your playing to the next level and become a more effective player you can’t just spam one button. As a Mage, you have Polymorph (Sheep’s the target), Counterspell (Interrupts enemy spell’s), Frostfire Bolt (slows the enemies movement speed), Frost Nova (Freeze’s the enemy in place). All these Spells will help control the enemy and protect your fellow team mate’s. Peeling - Peeling means giving your team mates ‘breathing space’, e.g if a Rogue opens on a team mate you should sheep/slow/freeze the Rogue so the team mate can run away and survive. In order to survive in a group situation you need to be putting out huge numbers while protecting your team mate’s and controlling the enemies movements. In order to do this effectively you need a few things - Macro’s (will put all the ones you need at end of guide) and game awareness.
Game Awareness
Game awareness means knowing what is happening around you all the time by predicting enemies thoughts and being able to see multiple things at once. Most players will only look at one thing a time, like their enemies portrait, or their spell bar.
You MUST practice your vision, try not to focus on one thing at a time but to be able to look at the centre of your screen and build outwards. (this will take time, it will be frustrating, but will make you a better player). This will help your game awareness massively.
Predicting enemies thoughts
This is something that will come in time as you get more experienced in the game. You will know what is about to happen and be able to place yourself in a position that you will be able to escape from/avoid the situation.
If a priest is running towards me, i know straight away they are going to Fear me. I can avoid this by blinking (only do this if it’s 1 v 1), or in most case’s ‘Kiting’. Kiting basically means running away, as a Mage this is one of your most important game play strategies.
Targets
Focus Target’s is a MUST. You should always have a focus target in 1 v X situations. I use ‘Mouseover focus/clear focus’ Macro’s. This means all i need to do is hover my mouse over an enemy and press the ‘Focus’ button on my action bar and it will set that person as a focus. (This means i don’t need to click the enemy and can carry on attacking the current target.) Counterspell and Sheep Focus Macro’s are why you have a Focus target.
Putting it simply: When playing you have 3 things on your mind.
1st - Your current target
2nd - Your focus target
3rd - Everything around you
Your current target is the target you do damage/CC too. Your Focus target should be the healer (or a pesky hunter in DPS only fights) You should chain CC this target.
3 Polymorphs
1 Counterspell
(stun grenade if you have them [Engineering])
So while sh*tting all over your current target with your insane Mage power you should be aware of the focus target and chaining Polymorph perfectly. This will give you some time to kill your current target as their healer is sheeped/counterspelled. (this will take practice but will come to you quite quickly) - Remember while killing your current target you should be kiting to avoid taking damage or using Line of Sight (Hiding behind object’s and popping in and out of sight to avoid enemy spells.)
High Burst rotation -
4x Arcane Blast (chuck in the odd Frostfire Bolt to slow the enemy) (Arcane Explosion to refresh Charges)
1x Frost Nova (Shatter - increases critical strike chance by 50% when enemy is frozen)
1x Arcane Blast/Frostfire Bolt
1x Arcane Barrage
Make sure to cast Arcane Barrage as soon as you have casted Arcane Blast/Frostfire Bolt. Arcane Barrage is an instant cast spell so the Arcane Blast/Frostfire Bolt and Arcane Barrage should hit the target at the same time causing (hopefully) both spells to crit.
This will cause the Enemy to blow up and wonder what in god’s name has just happened to their character.
Tips and Tricks -
Positioning: ALWAYS remember you are one of the most vulnerable classes as a clothie (little armour). No matter how much i convince myself, i am not a Protection Warrior who can charge into 5 people and survive. You will get blown up if you run around into fight’s like a dumb ass. If you are going into a fight that you dont think you will win, dont go into it. That simple. (0 deaths is better than 100 killing blows)
Counterspell: Always save Counterspell for the perfect moment, only use it if the counterspell will lead to an Enemies death or a Team mates survival.
Fake casting: Players can interrupt you, Fake cast to trick the enemy into casting an interrupting spell, they will find they have interrupted thin air. You do this by casting a spell then stopping the cast half way through.. a ‘fake cast’. I strongly reccomend getting the ‘InterruptBar’ addon from Curse - WoW Addons, Minecraft Mods, Curse Client and Gaming News, this will tell you the cooldown times on enemy CC (Interupts, Stuns, Fears etc..)
Blink (Teleports the caster 20 yards forwards) - This spell can be used in a number of ways...
Stuns: You can Blink out of Stuns. (instead of using trinket)
Escaping: Blink can be a life saver if you need to escape fast.
Avoiding enemy casts: If an enemy is casting on you, you can blink straight into them and teleport behind them, this will daze most people and they will stumble about for a second wondering where you went. They can’t cast backwards (unless your Onixx, spamming denounce through your back).
Extra Blink Tip's for advanced playing - you can blink onto platforms while in mid air if you time it perfectly (Shaman’s can blast you off the edge of Lumber Mill, Blink as soon as you can and you might be able to get back on the ledge [is possible, i troll shammy’s all the time]
Blink can also make you survive huge falls. (if you fall a massive distance you can blink when you get close to the ground and not lose any health, great quick way to get down Lumber Mill and Gold Mine etc...)
Gearing
Your damage will suck until you have some Spell Power (Heirlooms)
Here is a few examples of the sort of gear you can use:
Click names for link to armoury's!
Lolîpop
Trickynick
Nevmind
Ranze
Activate
Faelxo
Mialu
Sabzep
Stat Stacking for Gear
Haste - You can stack Haste with 2 Heirloom (Haste) trinkets, Belt and Cloak from Random Dungeon feature. This can be very useful as you cast spells quicker and that can save your A** in a lot of situations. (The quick Polymorphs are very useful)
Crit - Crit stacking for Arcane in my opinion is one of the most important stats, The Crits in BG's can lead to death or victory, Lucky crits can completely change a game. You can obtain a lot of Crit Heirlooms and can also gain Crit from Intellect
Hit - Hit is important, you should stack Hit to 6% Hit cap.. Its important but again personal preference. I am not Hit capped but still Hit most of the time, however the odd miss can be frustrating.
Stamina - Stacking Stamina is not that important for Arcane. If you decide to go Frost then stacking Stamina is important. I have a Stamina set in case I need to FC, It's probably worth getting a Stamina set for safety.
Intellect - This in my opinion is the most important Stat for Arcane. If you want to get them huge number's then stack as much Int as you can. Int will increase your spell power and crit.
Balanced Set - You don't have to have one or the other, you can mix it up a bit and add stam - Int - haste for example. Make sure to build your gear around you, try different gear and use the one you find the most beneficial. I stack Intellect - Crit - Stamina. In that order of priority.
Flag Carrier Set - For this you should stack Stamina and have trinket's.
Talents
--- Hover mouse over Abilities for information ---
Ice Floes
Presence of Mind
Blazing Speed
All of these talents are useful in their own ways, this is something you will have to test for yourself and see which one you enjoy the most (Hint - I have respeced 49 times on this character and 100+ on my other character.) They are all really fun talents and you will have a hard time deciding which one you enjoy the most. Blazing speed is great for escaping and has saved me countless times. Ice Flows is great for mobility and my favourite talent at the moment. Presence of mind can change the course of a game as well with that instant Polymorph.
Race's
--- Hover mouse over Abilities for information ---
Horde
Undead - Touch of the Grave Cannibalize Will of the Forsaken Shadow Resistance
Orc - Blood Fury Hardiness
Troll - Beast Slaying Beserking Da Voodoo Shuffle Regeneration
Blood Elf - Resistance Torrent Blood Elves also get to have Bloodthistle
Goblin - Rocket Barrage Rocket Jump Time is Money
Panda - Bouncy Epicuraen Quaking Palm
Alliance
Human - Every Man for Himself The Human Spirit
Night Elf - Nature Resistance Quickness Shadowmeld
Gnome - Arcane Resistance Escape Artist Expansive Mind
Dwarf - Frost Resistance Stoneform
Draenei - Gift of the Naaru Heroic Presence Shadow Resistance
Worgen - Aberration Darkflight Enable Worgen Altered Form Running Wild Viciousness
enjoy!
Table of Content
- Mage overview
- Game Awareness
- Targets
- Rotation
- Tips and Tricks
- Gearing
- Talents
- Race's
“Mages wield the elements of fire, frost, and arcane to destroy or neutralize their enemies. They are a robed-cloth class that excels at dealing massive damage from afar, casting elemental bolts at a single target, or raining destruction down upon their enemies in a wide area of effect. Mages can also augment their allies' spell-casting powers, summon food or drink to restore their friends, and even travel across the world in an instant by opening arcane portals to distant lands. Their arsenal includes some powerful buffs, debuffs, stuns, and snares, enabling them to dictate the terms of any fight.”
Level 20 Mage’s have a limited amount of spells, however are one of the funnest Classes to play with new challenges every BG. Because of the lack of spells and the vulnerability of the Class you have to think about every step you make, you can’t just wander into a fight and roll your face over the keyboard and destroy everything in sight like Hunters. I am making this Guide to try and help Mage’s improve and help them out.
Arcane Charge <-- Hover Mouse over me! =)
Playing Arcane you are constantly trying to stack your Charges to 4 (max) in order to put out the most damage you can. You simply just cast Arcane Blast 4 times and use Arcane Explosion to refresh your Charges, the Charges last for 10 seconds. Simple right? well no.
If you want to take your playing to the next level and become a more effective player you can’t just spam one button. As a Mage, you have Polymorph (Sheep’s the target), Counterspell (Interrupts enemy spell’s), Frostfire Bolt (slows the enemies movement speed), Frost Nova (Freeze’s the enemy in place). All these Spells will help control the enemy and protect your fellow team mate’s. Peeling - Peeling means giving your team mates ‘breathing space’, e.g if a Rogue opens on a team mate you should sheep/slow/freeze the Rogue so the team mate can run away and survive. In order to survive in a group situation you need to be putting out huge numbers while protecting your team mate’s and controlling the enemies movements. In order to do this effectively you need a few things - Macro’s (will put all the ones you need at end of guide) and game awareness.
Game Awareness
Game awareness means knowing what is happening around you all the time by predicting enemies thoughts and being able to see multiple things at once. Most players will only look at one thing a time, like their enemies portrait, or their spell bar.
You MUST practice your vision, try not to focus on one thing at a time but to be able to look at the centre of your screen and build outwards. (this will take time, it will be frustrating, but will make you a better player). This will help your game awareness massively.
Predicting enemies thoughts
This is something that will come in time as you get more experienced in the game. You will know what is about to happen and be able to place yourself in a position that you will be able to escape from/avoid the situation.
If a priest is running towards me, i know straight away they are going to Fear me. I can avoid this by blinking (only do this if it’s 1 v 1), or in most case’s ‘Kiting’. Kiting basically means running away, as a Mage this is one of your most important game play strategies.
Targets
Focus Target’s is a MUST. You should always have a focus target in 1 v X situations. I use ‘Mouseover focus/clear focus’ Macro’s. This means all i need to do is hover my mouse over an enemy and press the ‘Focus’ button on my action bar and it will set that person as a focus. (This means i don’t need to click the enemy and can carry on attacking the current target.) Counterspell and Sheep Focus Macro’s are why you have a Focus target.
Putting it simply: When playing you have 3 things on your mind.
1st - Your current target
2nd - Your focus target
3rd - Everything around you
Your current target is the target you do damage/CC too. Your Focus target should be the healer (or a pesky hunter in DPS only fights) You should chain CC this target.
3 Polymorphs
1 Counterspell
(stun grenade if you have them [Engineering])
So while sh*tting all over your current target with your insane Mage power you should be aware of the focus target and chaining Polymorph perfectly. This will give you some time to kill your current target as their healer is sheeped/counterspelled. (this will take practice but will come to you quite quickly) - Remember while killing your current target you should be kiting to avoid taking damage or using Line of Sight (Hiding behind object’s and popping in and out of sight to avoid enemy spells.)
High Burst rotation -
4x Arcane Blast (chuck in the odd Frostfire Bolt to slow the enemy) (Arcane Explosion to refresh Charges)
1x Frost Nova (Shatter - increases critical strike chance by 50% when enemy is frozen)
1x Arcane Blast/Frostfire Bolt
1x Arcane Barrage
Make sure to cast Arcane Barrage as soon as you have casted Arcane Blast/Frostfire Bolt. Arcane Barrage is an instant cast spell so the Arcane Blast/Frostfire Bolt and Arcane Barrage should hit the target at the same time causing (hopefully) both spells to crit.
This will cause the Enemy to blow up and wonder what in god’s name has just happened to their character.
Tips and Tricks -
Positioning: ALWAYS remember you are one of the most vulnerable classes as a clothie (little armour). No matter how much i convince myself, i am not a Protection Warrior who can charge into 5 people and survive. You will get blown up if you run around into fight’s like a dumb ass. If you are going into a fight that you dont think you will win, dont go into it. That simple. (0 deaths is better than 100 killing blows)
Counterspell: Always save Counterspell for the perfect moment, only use it if the counterspell will lead to an Enemies death or a Team mates survival.
Fake casting: Players can interrupt you, Fake cast to trick the enemy into casting an interrupting spell, they will find they have interrupted thin air. You do this by casting a spell then stopping the cast half way through.. a ‘fake cast’. I strongly reccomend getting the ‘InterruptBar’ addon from Curse - WoW Addons, Minecraft Mods, Curse Client and Gaming News, this will tell you the cooldown times on enemy CC (Interupts, Stuns, Fears etc..)
Blink (Teleports the caster 20 yards forwards) - This spell can be used in a number of ways...
Stuns: You can Blink out of Stuns. (instead of using trinket)
Escaping: Blink can be a life saver if you need to escape fast.
Avoiding enemy casts: If an enemy is casting on you, you can blink straight into them and teleport behind them, this will daze most people and they will stumble about for a second wondering where you went. They can’t cast backwards (unless your Onixx, spamming denounce through your back).
Extra Blink Tip's for advanced playing - you can blink onto platforms while in mid air if you time it perfectly (Shaman’s can blast you off the edge of Lumber Mill, Blink as soon as you can and you might be able to get back on the ledge [is possible, i troll shammy’s all the time]
Blink can also make you survive huge falls. (if you fall a massive distance you can blink when you get close to the ground and not lose any health, great quick way to get down Lumber Mill and Gold Mine etc...)
Gearing
Your damage will suck until you have some Spell Power (Heirlooms)
Here is a few examples of the sort of gear you can use:
Click names for link to armoury's!
Lolîpop
Trickynick
Nevmind
Ranze
Activate
Faelxo
Mialu
Sabzep
Stat Stacking for Gear
Haste - You can stack Haste with 2 Heirloom (Haste) trinkets, Belt and Cloak from Random Dungeon feature. This can be very useful as you cast spells quicker and that can save your A** in a lot of situations. (The quick Polymorphs are very useful)
Crit - Crit stacking for Arcane in my opinion is one of the most important stats, The Crits in BG's can lead to death or victory, Lucky crits can completely change a game. You can obtain a lot of Crit Heirlooms and can also gain Crit from Intellect
Hit - Hit is important, you should stack Hit to 6% Hit cap.. Its important but again personal preference. I am not Hit capped but still Hit most of the time, however the odd miss can be frustrating.
Stamina - Stacking Stamina is not that important for Arcane. If you decide to go Frost then stacking Stamina is important. I have a Stamina set in case I need to FC, It's probably worth getting a Stamina set for safety.
Intellect - This in my opinion is the most important Stat for Arcane. If you want to get them huge number's then stack as much Int as you can. Int will increase your spell power and crit.
Balanced Set - You don't have to have one or the other, you can mix it up a bit and add stam - Int - haste for example. Make sure to build your gear around you, try different gear and use the one you find the most beneficial. I stack Intellect - Crit - Stamina. In that order of priority.
Flag Carrier Set - For this you should stack Stamina and have trinket's.
Talents
--- Hover mouse over Abilities for information ---
Ice Floes
Presence of Mind
Blazing Speed
All of these talents are useful in their own ways, this is something you will have to test for yourself and see which one you enjoy the most (Hint - I have respeced 49 times on this character and 100+ on my other character.) They are all really fun talents and you will have a hard time deciding which one you enjoy the most. Blazing speed is great for escaping and has saved me countless times. Ice Flows is great for mobility and my favourite talent at the moment. Presence of mind can change the course of a game as well with that instant Polymorph.
Race's
--- Hover mouse over Abilities for information ---
Horde
Undead - Touch of the Grave Cannibalize Will of the Forsaken Shadow Resistance
Orc - Blood Fury Hardiness
Troll - Beast Slaying Beserking Da Voodoo Shuffle Regeneration
Blood Elf - Resistance Torrent Blood Elves also get to have Bloodthistle
Goblin - Rocket Barrage Rocket Jump Time is Money
Panda - Bouncy Epicuraen Quaking Palm
Alliance
Human - Every Man for Himself The Human Spirit
Night Elf - Nature Resistance Quickness Shadowmeld
Gnome - Arcane Resistance Escape Artist Expansive Mind
Dwarf - Frost Resistance Stoneform
Draenei - Gift of the Naaru Heroic Presence Shadow Resistance
Worgen - Aberration Darkflight Enable Worgen Altered Form Running Wild Viciousness
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