Unvi's Guide For PvE Mages

This is not a mage guide for specs and spell rotations instead it is a general breakdown of tips and tricks that apply to almost all mages in PvE and general play. A lot of these tricks will seem obvious to most players while other pieces of advice you may disagree with entirely. This topic is based on my play style and so it won’t always be in perfect agreement with 100% theory crafted numbers, instead it is a more practical way to deal with different encounters.

Most mage skills can be broken down into offensive and defensive categories, we produce great damage when allowed to attack without being interrupted and can then use other spells to keep ourselves and the party alive.


Defence

Mages are the squishiest class and carry a stigma of being the first to die. In truth mages have almost the best survivability of any class in a raid apart from the tanks, a good mage will have the least deaths and damage taken over a normal run.
- We are a ranged class, this is an advantage over melee.
- We have 2 instant aggro drops that can not be resisted and 1 hard to use aggro reset. All on fairly short cool downs.
- Blink.
- Ice block immunity to any attack if you get caught out.
- Can kite/snare trash if we pull.
- Have amazing magic damage mitigation in shields, armor and damp magic, this reduces most raid damage taken.
- Have an emergency mana shield and possibly Ice Barrier
- We can survive a wipe with invisibility
- Great threat reduction in arcane, tougher with other specs.
- Blink.

Our defence provides incredible utility but it is far more subtle in raids than a combat rez, soulstone or the ability to off heal or tank. Instead the way we can help a group is to prevent the problem in the first place, we can save the healer from adds or sheep an untanked mob or CS a caster nuking the tank from range. This will never show up on meters, instead it will lower your dps and go unnoticed by ignorant players. Doing it will make you a better player though and it will benefit the whole raid even if they don’t realise it.



Blink: This is the defining mage spell. Most important skill you have and my favourite spell in the game. There is no denying the obvious bugs that can make you go backwards or travel 2 steps but with practice you can recognise when this will happen and do it anyway.
- can be used to survive a fall from any height, cast before you hit the ground to arrive safely, works better if you rotate camera down and blink towards ground when in range. Great for fights where you get knocked up like Anub.
- You can move through any aoe effects or lava pits etc with this spell and appear safely on the other side.
- Can be used to break stuns and snares so you can continue dps (last boss of UK) or avoid taking damage. Remember to face a safe direction when you expect to be stunned so you don’t blink into something worse.
- If you pull an add and have to move towards the tank then blink is your best friend, you can blink through the add or blink through the tank and any cleaving mobs he may be surrounded with.
- Blink to get out of LoS, travel faster or stay in range. Running takes time, every second saved is a second you can spend casting.



Mirror Image: A useful spell with a small dps boost, it has undergone changes to the base mechanics so not everyone is clear on how it works.
- casting MI will immediately lower your threat by a huge amount (-4 million), this effect lasts for 30 seconds even if the images die. After 30 seconds you regain all your threat, including the threat caused while under the effect of MI.
- When cast the images are not added to the threat table, this means that while you are solo and pull a mob it will continue to attack you until the images have attacked it. This is a change to the original mechanic.
- As of 3.1 the images will no longer cast polymorph
- The images will attack random targets and break CC, they are still more intelligent than a lot of people you meet in pugs.



Ice Block: The spell that saves us most, apart from the obvious uses it can be used to pre-empt an attack if you have very fast reactions as well. On a boss that randomly attacks people if you see him target you and IB instantly it can save your life, vital when you are low on HP or would get 1 shot (impale on GD last boss). The number of times I’ve managed to cast this with less than 5% hp left is terrifying, has probably saved thousands of gold in repairs over the years.

Also remember to cast it at least one time when fighting Sapphiron.



Invisibility: A hard to use spell that is vital if you have threat issues or want to survive a wipe. You can cast Mana shield before using it in order to prevent interruption.
Very few mages use it to avoid dying in a wipe, if timed with other CDs this is easy. Pop MI to drop to lowest threat in raid then Invis while avoiding any aoe, has to be done while other members are still alive. People will start to hate you and cheer future deaths, luckily only hunters and rogues have misdirect and they are hated for the same reason.

Can be used in conjunction with a swiftness potion taken first to stealth through areas (eg the mobs before Loatheb) or you can use an invisibility potion at the end of its duration.

As a frost mage trying to escape it is important to dismiss your elemental when you invis or it will keep you in combat. Right click on pet portrait and select dismiss.



Mana Shield: The spell you should NEVER use actually has a few good applications.
- Will stop a dismount if you are riding through a pack of mobs (until they break it).
- It has no CD so can be spammed if you are almost dead with a dot on you, this can buy a few seconds for the healers. OOM > Dead
- Can use it before an evocate if there is incoming damage, not a great idea but we don’t have much choice. After Evo cancel the spell so it dosnt drain your mana.

A base mage defensive skill, would be 1000 times more useful if we could cast it on enemies.



Frost Barrier: Frost talent and not seen very often in raiding, useful in every way.



Frost Nova: AoE CC with a short cooldown, can be used to save healers, help tanks and kill melee.
- A frozen mob will attack anyone in range not just the highest on threat. So if you pull and nova a mob next to a healer then you will quite rightly be hated. Same applies to freezing the mobs around the tank, if he takes 2 steps backwards then the melee dps will be surrounded by elites looking too thump something. A great way to grief rogues for the years of torment. Also applies to Improved Blizzard with Frostbite.



Cone of Cold: Every mage has this spell, fantastic aoe snare even if the mana cost is fairly high. Mages that never pvp seem to ignore it even though you can kite a group of mobs to death without using anything else. Don’t be scared of getting in range of a mob to use it, just takes good timing or you die a painful instant death.



Slow: Not in a raid spec but amazing for kiting anything and spammable. Can be used to kite multiple mobs by alternating it between them keeping the closest one slowed, this helps to gather them into a group as well.



Frost Bolt (Rank 1): Downranking died with TBC but this spell is still worth using, a 1.5s cast ranged snare that should be on all mage cast bars. Only worthless to a raiding frost mage with the Frost bolt glyph but they have plenty of other options. Can be used on Gluth adds easily.



Polymorph: If you don’t have a focus macro for polymorph then stop reading this and go get one.
CC is rarely used now in raids or dungeons but when it is required you are responsible for the mob. If poly is broken don’t just spam it again, there is normally a reason for the break. If the add is dotted by a retarded lock or an idiot DK you are left with a few options:
- ignore it and let the tank pick it up
- attack it and kite it, if it can be sheeped it can be snared and frozen until dots wear off.
- With casters, leave it alone and CS the important spells, eg with a lock caster ignore Shadowbolt but CS rain of fire if it is targeting the tank and melee or if it targets you then CS shadowbolt and let it cast the aoe on your location while you move away from others, pop fire ward and then move out of fire for the cast duration.
- If it is a healer then you must CS heals and can reapply poly even with the dots to interrupt casts.

There are macros and addons that will warn anyone targeting your mob that you are about to poly it. These are annoying and used by idiots. If you really need to have something then make a separate macro that will send a /w to the target of your target telling them to stop breaking sheep, can also use a mouseover macro or scream at them on Vent.

Be prepared to use it on Mind controlled players, this should normally be organised with someone to dispel Poly when the MC breaks.

If you see a horde with very low hp you can run over and polymorph them then /wave. Best healing spell in the game can make you some friends.



Blast Wave: Feared by the bad, loved by the good. All knockback spells should be banned from aoe dps unless glyphed, to know why go look at a 50 page post on any tanking forum. At the same time this is an amazing utility spell to have in the hands of a decent player. Trash aoe will usually end up with 1or 2 mobs charging the casters, with this spell you can knock them back towards the tank, back into the aoe and save a lot of hassle. Same applies to mobs with random aggro resets or runners.

Knocking all the mobs away from the tank can have some benefits in 5 man runs, tank is about to die or healer CCd then you can knock all mobs away from him and nova them in place until recovered.

Best use is to help tanks round up casters, if one breaks away from the group you can knock them to the tank while also interrupting a cast.

Kiting benefits are also obvious

Also lets you dismount players from flying mounts, can send horde plummeting to their death while you blink or slow fall down. Easiest to do outside Naxx. Druids and Shammies can do this with their knockback spells as well but don’t have the class skills to survive the fall.



Counterspell: CC on trash sometimes need to be marked, most of the time they aren’t even needed. Ranged casters should ALWAYS be counterspelled to help the tank without him needing to ask. On a boss that isn’t immune you should be using it every time it’s off CD to help your healers. Try to use it at the end of a longer cast so that the mob wastes 2-3 seconds, over the course of a raid that adds up to a lot.

This spell needs to be used with a stopcasting macro, no excuses.

/stopcasting
/cast counter spell



Spellsteal: Situational but fun spell, usually has a great benefit for us like the insane haste buff from Phase 2 of Malygos. Increases our dps while lowering the damage taken by raid in 1 GCD. There are a few mobs that have buffs which don’t help us but if nobody else is there to dispel then we should, things like lightning shields or melee crit buffs. Works really well on mobs that use HoTs or shields.



Frost & Fire Ward: Less damage taken = live longer = more damage done. On Sapphiron use frost ward on every CD to help healers, there are so many fights with aoe fire damage that you should always be using a ward. Healers are busiest when there is heavy raid damage and could be too busy to save us unless we help them out. Good guilds and players will also look at damage taken over a raid, being top of the meters means less if you required twice as much healing.

Also means you can tank a hit in order to finish a cast when you know there is damage incoming, eg stand in fire for 1 second longer.



Slow Fall: Small use in a raid when cast on others as we have blink, can prevent fall damage on others when knocked up (Anub) and can help people not miss the jump on Thaddius.



Decurse: If a mage dosnt help with decursing when needed then it would be justified to kick them from a raid. Get an addon like Decursive and it becomes really easy. Prioritise tanks, healers and yourself not pets or Death Knights.



Amplify Magic: There are a few fights with no magic damage or low aoe like Loatheb, since this fight needs short bursts of healing the buff can help a lot. Throw on a tank or others if they wont be getting hit with magic or only get hit with large slow hits.



Dampen Magic: Can be fantastic or a nightmare depending on your healer setup. For Sapphiron this will provide a huge reduction in damage taken since it applies to each aoe tick but it will also reduce the tick of each HoT, use it if you have a pally healer or lots of direct heals but reconsider if you rely on druids for raid heals. A player with higher frost resistance will get more benefit from it as it will reduce a larger percentage of the incoming damage for them so they need less heals anyway. It is a judgement call on each fight.

Always use while solo since you wont get heals anyway.



Armors
Mage Armor: As a defensive armor there are times you will use it instead of Molten even if mana is not an issue. The passive mitigation can reduce a lot of damage while also halving the effects of fears, silences and DoTs. The extra mana can allow you to use more defensive spells if you normally use MA, an extra mana shield or ward. Better in some fights for mitigation even if you have 0 spirit.


Ice Armor: In any fight where you expect to get hit by melee attacks this is vital, in raid gear it will double your armor and more importantly it will slow your attacker. Used in fights where you are expected to kite mobs, makes the difference between being 1 shot or surviving with the attacker snared.


Molten Armor: The armor all mages use for dps (even arcane) provides a crit buff that in 3.1 will be based on your spirit. This will be a nerf for almost every mage while solo and a buff in 25 man raids. Details are to be confirmed.

MA can crit and proc ignite when attackers hit you, this can be a nightmare when you are trying to sheep a mob and will also munch other ignites from spells like BW, DB, FBlast etc.

OFFENSIVE CONTENT


Threat: This hasn’t been an issue for most of WotLK but now some specs are really struggling with single target threat and not just aoe. The main problem is for fire/ttw which only has 10% threat reduction and relies on cooldowns, if invisibility is interrupted then it has to hold back on dps.

Depending on the boss, raid composition and the length you expect the fight to last there are different tactics for aggro management. Most mages use MI at the start of the fight so they can start nuking with cooldowns straight away. This gives the tank a chance to build aggro but after 30 seconds of a high dps cycle (using IV, trinkets, 2T7 mana gem bonus, AP, Combustion etc) the threat returns and the mage might have to pop Invisibility which is a dps loss. The mage might be able to overtake the tank on threat again over the next few minutes before MI or Invis are available, especially on fights like Heigan where we can continue dps while melee cant or Malygos where even an Arcane mage can easily pull while standing in 2 sparks.

Alternatively if the fight will last long enough for all CDs to be stacked twice but not 3 times then you can afford to start by using only normal dps for 15 seconds. Then you use MI, pop all CDs and nuke away. This means you don’t waste the mana gem just for the 2T7 buff and at the end of the 30 seconds your average threat will be lower as it is based over 45-50 seconds. Hopefully the tank is still ahead of you and since you are now using a low dps cycle he will remain there. This saves Invis for survival and gives 2-3 extra seconds of dps time.

This is only an example of how a small change in CD use can have a large effect throughout the whole fight, planning is the best way to maximise dps.

If you do reach the threat cap with no CDs available then play smart. You have to do lower dps or even stop completely, if you continue then switch to mana efficient rotations. DON’T just throw an instant high cost spell every few seconds. ReScorch, keep Winters Chill up, make a new mana gem if needed or even evocate or bandage. Try to leave yourself in a better position to do high dps when you can start again.



Hit: Now that there is a lot more hit available on pre raid gear every mage should be hit capped. Hit is the most valuable stat you can have until capped, anything extra is completely useless. Due to this it is a good idea to keep extra gear with different values of hit depending on your group, spec and fight.

Mob Level:	80	81	82 (HC Boss)	83 (Raid Boss)
Hit Required:	4%	5%	6%	17%

Hit required versus a level 83 raid boss (all specs are cookie cutter):

Spec	Unbuffed	Draenei in group	S.Priest or Boomkin in Raid	Draenei and S.Priest or Boomkin
Arcane / Frost	11%	10%	8%	7%
Fire / TTW	17%	16%	14%	13%
FFB	14%	13%	11%	10%
Frost	14%	13%	11%	10%

With the right group setup you require 4% less hit on a boss, at 26.3 hit rating per 1% you can gear for 105.2 less hit which would mean a huge amount of extra SP, Crit or Haste. Keeping a few extra items with more/less hit means you can easily swap for more damage.




Mana: Not a huge issue right now given that most fights are short, the only spec with active management is arcane. If you don’t need to evocate every 2 minutes then you are doing it wrong, this makes Evocate the most important skill an Arcane mage has.

This isn’t a guide on how to play Arcane but I will talk about timing Evo, if it is interrupted in any way then you will ruin your dps for the whole fight so planning is required. On fights with no raid damage it is easy to use but casting it is still a dps loss. To combat this you can use it in conjunction with Icy Veins, popping Evo on the last tick of IV will provide the haste buff for the whole channelling time without wasting the dps boost. This will not provide pushback protection for the spell though, that only applies while IV is still active.

Using Evo on fights with raid damage, random void zones, damage auras etc can be done if you are careful but no matter what you do it can still be interrupted by RNG. If there is pulsing raid damage like Sapphiron then you can use Mana Shield or IV to stop pushback, this is a dps loss but vital. Try to time it so you start immediately after a tick, this gives you the best chance to not have the first tick hit. Being hit at the start will lose more of the spell than being hit at the end.

If there is an RNG effect that will make you move like the void zones on KT you can try a few things to minimise the odds of being hit. Stay away from anyone else so you don’t get hit by a zone aimed at them. Wait until right after another void has been cast, especially if it was cast on you. Pray, we work on finite resources and can be reduced to wanding if something unexpected happens.




General tips:

Frost - on long fights use Cold Snap right after summoning the first elemental so it will be available again before the end.


Living Bomb - any spec with this relies on having 100% uptime or as close as you can get without stopping a cast. Make this top priority on cast sequence.
On trash cast LB on the last mob to die so it has a chance to detonate.


HS Procs – If there are only a couple of mobs it can be worthwhile spamming scorch to get a HS proc, especially if mobs die fast.
On bosses where you need to keep the scorch buff up it is good to time it with a HS. HS right after FB/FFB means they can hit simultaneously and if they both crit then only 1 ignite will be applied.
My personal rule is:

<6 seconds scorch buff remaining + HS Procs
Then
Cast Scorch then HS

Leave scorch until last moment at all other times.


Cast while moving - always strafe or spin jump while moving so you can fire instants. In 3.1 there will be less benefit in not casting as the 5 second regen has been nerfed.


If you run out of mana gems in a fight that will last another 2 minutes then create another, 1 use gives more mana than the cast.


AoE: Blizzard is the best spell for all specs but fire and arc mages can combine it with Flamestrike for higher dps. The dot from different ranks of FS stacks so you can precast the 2nd highest rank on the tank (like consecrate) then cast top rank then Blizzard. PoM + FS helps here



Kiting: Use terrain to your advantage, mobs can’t jump down from ledges so you can easily jump down while they have to run around to get back up. You can use this with Blast Wave to knock them off ledges as well. Becomes easy to solo a lot of pulls with tricks like this.

Obviously we can solo almost every elite that can be snared but frost mages can also solo elites that are immune. This is a method I use although there are plenty of variations, the goal is to have the mob run around while you stay still.
- cast barrier, ice armor and summon elemental, make pet stay just out of aggro range of the elite and move 30 yards away so the 3 of you form a triangle.
- Pull the elite, have your pet start attacking when it gets into range.
- Tank it with your barrier, use IV and trinkets, recast Barrier as it should be off CD.
- When second barrier breaks cast Ice Block, elite will run to pet.
- Let pet take 1 hit (if it can) and leave IB, cold snap, barrier, nuke.
- When shield breaks cast Mirror Image, elite will run at Elemental.
- Run/Blink from the Images to create a new triangle, when elemental dies resummon in the new position and move again. Elite will attack images. Barrier as soon as it’s available
- This is the last chance to nuke non stop, save IV for when images and pet are dead. If you have the Evocate glyph you can use it during IV to heal up while tanking him.

This depends on your gear and having enough dps to nuke the elite down before your cooldowns are used up. Can also be combined with a ledge kite in order to get a few extra hits in.

Started putting a guide together, still needs a lot of editing and formatting. Posted here as a draft work in progress.

Comments appreciated


Adding more generic tips:


Mobs with spell reflect can be a pain, but they will still be hit by AoE spells and wanding. If you are worried about getting hit by your own spells then use fire/frost ward. Also if you run low on hp you can polymorph yourself for a heal.

When invisible you can see and be seen by invisible mobs, handy for spotting a hidden patrol (corridor between Gluth and Thaddius).

Dalaran intellect is a waste of gold, it will not automatically downrank for lower level players and is identical apart from a different icon. Worst of all, nobody recognises the new icon so you get a lot of whines "I NEED INT", "MAGE BUFF INT", "FFS INT!!!" the irony of this will be forever lost on them and another mage will overwrite your buff 99% of the time anyway.

End of a raid, use IV to save 2 seconds on portal casts. DO NOT keep portal and teleport macros next to each other as it will cause confusion and get you in trouble for abandoning people. Stacking portals to different cities on top of each other is childish and should be done a lot, eventually guildees will stop being so trusting and you'll have to wait a few months before catching them out again. If you make a portal on the spot that portal takes you to it will create a perpetual motion device as the player keeps falling through the same loop.

Polymorph critters for fun, THAT SHEEP IS A COW!!! Turning a sheep into a sheep is a profound act that philosophers will discuss for centuries. (Thanks Ely)

Slowfall the tank before Gluth so the dps land first.

Cast slowfall on people so they can jump off mountains, wait for it to run out while they are halfway down.

In Northrend be careful when you blink underwater, there is a bug that can teleport you straight to the bottom. Having no breath and being stuck at the bottom of a trench is bad, IB to reset air then try to escape.

You can cast PoM then use a channeled spell to get the +30% crit chance Arcane Potency buff on it without consuming PoM. The Arcane Potency buff from PoM dosnt have a time limit so you can press PoM then cancel it so the CD starts and you will still have the 30% crit on next spell even if it is cast hours later, handy for annoying tanks at the start of fights.

PoM + Pyro isnt in any pve spec but you should have these macrod: PoM + ...
Polymorph
AB (builds stacks faster)
Frost Bolt (snare)
FFB (snare with a dot so Rogues/Mages/Nightelves cant vanish)
Flame Strike (important part of aoe rotation)

Reserved

Found it very interesting - made me want to play mage

Also, I like the aproach you've taken. Optimal rotations (and specs for that matter) are good to know, but when playing it's really a matter of how you adapt to not being able to follow that rotation, which counts.

Got no corrections so far. Except that you mention blink twice on the list in the beginning. Something leads me to believe that it was intentional however

Looking forward to reading the rest.

Very nice guide alot of well thought tricks.

One thing though:

unvincible wrote:

Also lets you dismount players from flying
mounts, can send horde plummeting to their death while you blink or
slow fall down. Easiest to do outside Naxx. Druids and Shammies can do
this with their knockback spells as well but don’t have the class
skills to survive the fall.

I know you're talking about horde druids, but can't night elf druids shadowmeld / flightform in the air?

Cant shadowmeld while moving but if you are high enough you might leave combat before hitting the ground.

I guess Ankh counts too, just go naked so you dont take a durability hit.

Killing this way gives honour and they get a repair bill too /cheer.

No idea what to add to the "guide", most other tricks are known by everyone or are pvp based. If I keep adding more it will warp even further into a strange ramble about how much I love mages and my mental instability.

Spec guides:

3AB,ABr/MBAM

LB > Sc > HS > FB/FFB

Ele > FrB



Glad it made you want to play a mage though Crux, guess that's what I was aiming for

unvincible wrote:

Glad it made you want to play a mage though Crux, guess that's what I was aiming for

NO! Always go for World Domination! Everything else comes second.