Quara
OG
I. Introduction
Burstcasting is a fairly simple concept that you should be familiar with while playing a 19 caster, especially a priest. Of course every caster needs to cast certain spells and use up their mana, but there are certain tricks you can use to really get the most out of that blue juice. Burstcasting, as the name infers, involves casting your spells together in short ‘bursts’ in order to minimize the amount of time spent under the dreaded 5-Second Rule. By staying aware of the spells you have cast and will need to cast, and by clumping these spells together into short bursts of magic-flinging, you will find yourself being able to go long stretches of time before needing to cast again. During these periods you will be happily gaining back the whole 100% of your mana regeneration.
Ignoring the 5 second rule will lead to eminent disaster in the long run. Have you ever found yourself almost completely drained of mana and wondering how it’s possible that other priests, though doing just as much as you, still have a healthy supply of mana? Chances are you are spending almost all of your time in the black hole that is the 5-Second Rule. This guide will help you learn to get the most out of your Mana Regeneration while not sacrificing any efficiency.
II. The 5-Second Rule
To those not familiar with what the Five Second Rule (5SR from now on) is, let me first explain. If you roll over your Mana Regen stat in the character menu, it will read “___ mana regenerated every 5 seconds while not casting.” Many players disregard this; they just assume ‘casting’ means physically casting a spell. Unfortunately this is not the case. The Five Second Rule is this: Whenever you cast a spell, for the next 5 seconds you will not regenerate any mana. (NOTE: +mp5 items are an exception)
Think of it this way: Every spell you cast will start up a 5-second timer in which you will be without regen. If you cast another spell some time later, you’ll again become cloaked by the 5SR. But here’s where the fun begins! Suppose you cast two spells right after one another? Still 5-seconds. What if you cast 8 all together? Still only 5 seconds after you're done. Smell what I’m cooking here?
III. Some Number Crunching
I just want to show you a few examples of how much mana you could be saving if you switch your style of casting (jeez, that sounded like a Geico ad.) Suppose you’re playing against a rogue and you’re running down a long stretch of open terrain. You’re currently at around half health (but never mind the specifics here, since this is a hypothetical exercise.) Most of the time as a priest you will find yourself with quite a few different spells that need casting. In this case, let’s say you want to do the following: Renew, PW:S, re-cast your Inner Fire, re-DoT your target, fear, and Heal. That’s a good bit of mana consumption right there, but each of these spells is necessary if you want to be playing to the best of your ability. But consider the difference between these two sequences:
Let’s say you cast Renew and keep running for 5 seconds before casting PW:S. You continue running on until you decide to cast your inner fire (let’s say, oh, 5 seconds later.) This pattern continues on until you’ve dot’d, feared and Healed. I know this is a bit unrealistic, but just bear with me. This whole sequence of events (from first renew to getting the heal off) will have taken 25 seconds and, at the end, you’ll have a hefty 497 (69+94+58+91+54+131) less mana than you did before this sequence.
Now what if you did this as a single ‘burstcast’? Factoring in the GCD (1.5 seconds), casting all of these spells one after another will take 7.5 seconds. You then keep running for the next 22.5 seconds not casting anything. [Note that I said 22.5 seconds for a total of 30 seconds, because in the following 5 seconds of the first example you will be getting no mp5.] Now let’s compare the final mana pools of the two. Suppose your Mana Regen is 40mp5. Though in both cases the same spells have been cast for the same cost, the second scenario will leave you only 357 mana down from where you were originally. That’s a 140 mana difference, for nothing. After you finished casting your burst of 6 spells, you were content to sit back and gain the full effect of 17.5 seconds of mana regen. Your other self has effectively lost 140 mana by ignoring the all-important 5SR.
As you string more and more spells together, the amount of mana you saved compared to casting them one at a time increases, percentage-wise. Don’t think of it as having more mana, though; instead, anytime you whimsically DoT a target just think of the mana cost of the spell being the Cost + your Mp5. But ‘attaching’ another spell onto the back of another cuts this ‘hidden cost’ in half. The equation for ‘Final Mana Cost’ of a burst cast is, ignoring the GCD, Costs of the Spell + (your mp5 / number of spells in the Burst.)
IV. How to Burstcast and Not Lose Efficiency
This is mostly common sense. In most cases (there are exceptions of course) you won’t want to throw in casting an extra DoT when your target still has half-duration on it, or Renew yourself a second time just to ‘burst.' But if you can make all of your ‘mental timers’ go off at once, your bursts will be as efficient as possible. Let me explain: every one of your instant casts, except for Dispels (I’ll get to those later), has a ‘timer’ attached to it – you’ll want to reapply each when their duration runs out and so you have to keep track of each one. These 'timers' are independent, though, so you would think you’d be reapplying them at different times. There are patterns though. 30 seconds for SW
, 15 seconds for PW:S (that is, if it gets eaten.), 15 seconds for Renew, 30 seconds CD for Scream.
Generally, if you get in the habit of burstcasting you will find that you can keep these ‘timers’ getting low at relatively the same time – and then capitalize by ‘resetting’ them again. Together. As a burst. It’s a great feeling knowing exactly what needs to get cast and get it all done efficiently and swiftly. After every long burst you'll get that warm fuzzy feeling.
You can see from this, too, that disorder breeds disorder: if you start out by scattering renews and dots every so often, you’ll find yourself in a whirlpool of these mental ‘timers’ and will need to continue to cast sporadically in order to 'play efficiently.'
The world isn’t perfect, though, and while this theory of Order and Efficiency looks great in print, your opponents during real situations won’t always let you have your way with your casting. LoS issues, stuns, silences and of course the need for Dispels and life-saving Heals will throw off your timings quite a bit. I could sit here and write about hundreds of examples of how the game won’t go perfectly and how to react properly, but it would be pointless. The only way to practice something in PvP is to go and try it. A lot.
I’ll give some guiding words of advice to go by as you learn to use this theory to your advantage.
-Firstly, don’t let this idea make you afraid to ‘break the Rule’. If a spell has to be cast, it has to be cast. The point of managing your mana is so that when you really have to use it, you’ll have it!
-The spell that will trip up your bursting the most is Dispel Magic. Probably the most important ability of a Priest, you have to be ready to quickly Dispel both offensively and defensively. Your opponent’s won’t just happen to pop their AGM or fear your teammates right as you are getting ready to burst. That’s just how it goes. Try and work with it, and be wary of what and when you dispel.
-Also, don’t just cast random spells just to ‘lengthen the burst.’ Every spell still costs mana, and if you’re spending it on spells that you won't benefit fully from, then you probably shouldn’t cast it. Use your judgment well, and the more you play focused on your mana and making good decisions the better you’ll become.
V. How to Get the Most Time Between Bursts
There are a lot of helpful abilities you can use when in danger that don’t involve actual casting. If you’re trying to conserve mana, then you’ll want to try and hold off from bursting for as long as possible – you want to milk as much mp5 as you can. If you’re low on health, think before you whip out the Glowy-Hands. Lifeblood and Bandaging both don’t count as ‘casting’ so if you’re worried about your health, stay out of the 5SR and instead just use a healing ability (Gift of the Naaru doesn’t trigger the 5SR either). Same goes for the AGM or even eating and drinking (in WSG or if you have a mage.) In addition to all these splendid non-casting options for self-preservation, the most important thing you can do is stay on the move. A priest’s power is in his mobility, and you shouldn’t cut yourself short. You can use your kiting skills to try and elongate the time in between needing to cast. I’ll leave the lecturing about the importance of Wanding and Staffing to another guide, but for now just remember that your 29.0 dps wand is just begging to be used, and also does not count as casting.
VI. Conclusion
If you’re not use to thinking about the 5-second rule, you’ll now see your class in a whole new way. This idea of burstcasting was my personal way of working around it, and has helped me greatly. If you can keep this strategy in mind as you play you will find yourself making smarter decisions and, in the long run, with a lot more options. Hopefully instead of asking yourself why the other priest(s) has so much mana compared to you, now you will realize that they have ran OOM while you still have a healthy amount left. Of course there’s a lot more to managing your mana than just dancing with the 5SR, but it is a great thing to keep track of. I hope you’ve enjoyed this rather long read and learned at least a new perspective on things.
-Quara
Please, if you have any corrections or feel like I have presented anything poorly tell me and I'll fix it!
Burstcasting is a fairly simple concept that you should be familiar with while playing a 19 caster, especially a priest. Of course every caster needs to cast certain spells and use up their mana, but there are certain tricks you can use to really get the most out of that blue juice. Burstcasting, as the name infers, involves casting your spells together in short ‘bursts’ in order to minimize the amount of time spent under the dreaded 5-Second Rule. By staying aware of the spells you have cast and will need to cast, and by clumping these spells together into short bursts of magic-flinging, you will find yourself being able to go long stretches of time before needing to cast again. During these periods you will be happily gaining back the whole 100% of your mana regeneration.
Ignoring the 5 second rule will lead to eminent disaster in the long run. Have you ever found yourself almost completely drained of mana and wondering how it’s possible that other priests, though doing just as much as you, still have a healthy supply of mana? Chances are you are spending almost all of your time in the black hole that is the 5-Second Rule. This guide will help you learn to get the most out of your Mana Regeneration while not sacrificing any efficiency.
II. The 5-Second Rule
To those not familiar with what the Five Second Rule (5SR from now on) is, let me first explain. If you roll over your Mana Regen stat in the character menu, it will read “___ mana regenerated every 5 seconds while not casting.” Many players disregard this; they just assume ‘casting’ means physically casting a spell. Unfortunately this is not the case. The Five Second Rule is this: Whenever you cast a spell, for the next 5 seconds you will not regenerate any mana. (NOTE: +mp5 items are an exception)
Think of it this way: Every spell you cast will start up a 5-second timer in which you will be without regen. If you cast another spell some time later, you’ll again become cloaked by the 5SR. But here’s where the fun begins! Suppose you cast two spells right after one another? Still 5-seconds. What if you cast 8 all together? Still only 5 seconds after you're done. Smell what I’m cooking here?
III. Some Number Crunching
I just want to show you a few examples of how much mana you could be saving if you switch your style of casting (jeez, that sounded like a Geico ad.) Suppose you’re playing against a rogue and you’re running down a long stretch of open terrain. You’re currently at around half health (but never mind the specifics here, since this is a hypothetical exercise.) Most of the time as a priest you will find yourself with quite a few different spells that need casting. In this case, let’s say you want to do the following: Renew, PW:S, re-cast your Inner Fire, re-DoT your target, fear, and Heal. That’s a good bit of mana consumption right there, but each of these spells is necessary if you want to be playing to the best of your ability. But consider the difference between these two sequences:
Let’s say you cast Renew and keep running for 5 seconds before casting PW:S. You continue running on until you decide to cast your inner fire (let’s say, oh, 5 seconds later.) This pattern continues on until you’ve dot’d, feared and Healed. I know this is a bit unrealistic, but just bear with me. This whole sequence of events (from first renew to getting the heal off) will have taken 25 seconds and, at the end, you’ll have a hefty 497 (69+94+58+91+54+131) less mana than you did before this sequence.
Now what if you did this as a single ‘burstcast’? Factoring in the GCD (1.5 seconds), casting all of these spells one after another will take 7.5 seconds. You then keep running for the next 22.5 seconds not casting anything. [Note that I said 22.5 seconds for a total of 30 seconds, because in the following 5 seconds of the first example you will be getting no mp5.] Now let’s compare the final mana pools of the two. Suppose your Mana Regen is 40mp5. Though in both cases the same spells have been cast for the same cost, the second scenario will leave you only 357 mana down from where you were originally. That’s a 140 mana difference, for nothing. After you finished casting your burst of 6 spells, you were content to sit back and gain the full effect of 17.5 seconds of mana regen. Your other self has effectively lost 140 mana by ignoring the all-important 5SR.
As you string more and more spells together, the amount of mana you saved compared to casting them one at a time increases, percentage-wise. Don’t think of it as having more mana, though; instead, anytime you whimsically DoT a target just think of the mana cost of the spell being the Cost + your Mp5. But ‘attaching’ another spell onto the back of another cuts this ‘hidden cost’ in half. The equation for ‘Final Mana Cost’ of a burst cast is, ignoring the GCD, Costs of the Spell + (your mp5 / number of spells in the Burst.)
IV. How to Burstcast and Not Lose Efficiency
This is mostly common sense. In most cases (there are exceptions of course) you won’t want to throw in casting an extra DoT when your target still has half-duration on it, or Renew yourself a second time just to ‘burst.' But if you can make all of your ‘mental timers’ go off at once, your bursts will be as efficient as possible. Let me explain: every one of your instant casts, except for Dispels (I’ll get to those later), has a ‘timer’ attached to it – you’ll want to reapply each when their duration runs out and so you have to keep track of each one. These 'timers' are independent, though, so you would think you’d be reapplying them at different times. There are patterns though. 30 seconds for SW
, 15 seconds for PW:S (that is, if it gets eaten.), 15 seconds for Renew, 30 seconds CD for Scream. Generally, if you get in the habit of burstcasting you will find that you can keep these ‘timers’ getting low at relatively the same time – and then capitalize by ‘resetting’ them again. Together. As a burst. It’s a great feeling knowing exactly what needs to get cast and get it all done efficiently and swiftly. After every long burst you'll get that warm fuzzy feeling.
You can see from this, too, that disorder breeds disorder: if you start out by scattering renews and dots every so often, you’ll find yourself in a whirlpool of these mental ‘timers’ and will need to continue to cast sporadically in order to 'play efficiently.'
The world isn’t perfect, though, and while this theory of Order and Efficiency looks great in print, your opponents during real situations won’t always let you have your way with your casting. LoS issues, stuns, silences and of course the need for Dispels and life-saving Heals will throw off your timings quite a bit. I could sit here and write about hundreds of examples of how the game won’t go perfectly and how to react properly, but it would be pointless. The only way to practice something in PvP is to go and try it. A lot.
I’ll give some guiding words of advice to go by as you learn to use this theory to your advantage.
-Firstly, don’t let this idea make you afraid to ‘break the Rule’. If a spell has to be cast, it has to be cast. The point of managing your mana is so that when you really have to use it, you’ll have it!
-The spell that will trip up your bursting the most is Dispel Magic. Probably the most important ability of a Priest, you have to be ready to quickly Dispel both offensively and defensively. Your opponent’s won’t just happen to pop their AGM or fear your teammates right as you are getting ready to burst. That’s just how it goes. Try and work with it, and be wary of what and when you dispel.
-Also, don’t just cast random spells just to ‘lengthen the burst.’ Every spell still costs mana, and if you’re spending it on spells that you won't benefit fully from, then you probably shouldn’t cast it. Use your judgment well, and the more you play focused on your mana and making good decisions the better you’ll become.
V. How to Get the Most Time Between Bursts
There are a lot of helpful abilities you can use when in danger that don’t involve actual casting. If you’re trying to conserve mana, then you’ll want to try and hold off from bursting for as long as possible – you want to milk as much mp5 as you can. If you’re low on health, think before you whip out the Glowy-Hands. Lifeblood and Bandaging both don’t count as ‘casting’ so if you’re worried about your health, stay out of the 5SR and instead just use a healing ability (Gift of the Naaru doesn’t trigger the 5SR either
). Same goes for the AGM or even eating and drinking (in WSG or if you have a mage.) In addition to all these splendid non-casting options for self-preservation, the most important thing you can do is stay on the move. A priest’s power is in his mobility, and you shouldn’t cut yourself short. You can use your kiting skills to try and elongate the time in between needing to cast. I’ll leave the lecturing about the importance of Wanding and Staffing to another guide, but for now just remember that your 29.0 dps wand is just begging to be used, and also does not count as casting.VI. Conclusion
If you’re not use to thinking about the 5-second rule, you’ll now see your class in a whole new way. This idea of burstcasting was my personal way of working around it, and has helped me greatly. If you can keep this strategy in mind as you play you will find yourself making smarter decisions and, in the long run, with a lot more options. Hopefully instead of asking yourself why the other priest(s) has so much mana compared to you, now you will realize that they have ran OOM while you still have a healthy amount left. Of course there’s a lot more to managing your mana than just dancing with the 5SR, but it is a great thing to keep track of. I hope you’ve enjoyed this rather long read and learned at least a new perspective on things.
-Quara
Please, if you have any corrections or feel like I have presented anything poorly tell me and I'll fix it!
