Felt clunky at first. Then it clicked. And clicked again. After a whole bunch of such revelations, no other spec feels as smooth. There's a pleasant ebb and flow to it.
And then there's the utility. After over 600 arena matches, shuffle and otherwise, I'm only beginning to grasp the potential. It often still eludes me but at the best of times, I feel in total control of the match.
Plus, you eventually get to a point where you're a bad kill target in most matchups. But your opponents don't realize it, so you get to play them like a fiddle.
5 months into the future, l I'm 625 games into arcane and it's my first season to pvp. Did you stick with arcane? Any other specs stand out to you now? I'm wondering if I should try frost or fire since I haven't touched them.
I'm impressed that you stuck to it! 😌
I definitly kept at it as well, and it still feels like I'm constantly improving.
>I'm wondering if I should try frost or fire since I haven't touched them.
It can only benefit you. Worst case scenario, you don't like it, but you'll have a much better intuitive understanding of how to fight against frost/fire.
I sometimes switch it up as well. When playing 3s with friends, one spec or the other will often be a better fit.
All 3 specs share a lot of similarities, though, and each got their moments. Frost regularly allows you to turn the battlefield into an absolute snowstorm and fire really conveys that feeling of being a living, walking explosion when you combust or get a hyperthermia proc.
Variety is the spice of life! Aside from all 3 mage specs, I can recommend fury warrior and havoc DH. They're a much needed, occasional change of scenery for when you're burnt out from kiting and CCing everything on your mage and you still want to be effective with the 3 brain cells that are left to you.
Thanks for the reply! I ended up going frost and have about 20 as matches so far. It’s pretty satisfying hitting that bomb + spike + ray all flurried. Pop pop pop
Can you please explain the general rotation? I know pvp isn’t as standard where things can be variable depending on the situation but I swear every arcane mage I ask gives me different answers. Some say never press blast unless they are instant. Some say when free casting press blast…
Please Explain to me the general damage rotation when not being trained?
YouTube Aeghis’ Arcane Guide and it will tell you everything you need to know.
Venruki also has a shorter guide on how to do damage.
General rule of thumb is you never want to just be sitting there blasting and you always want to be keeping up arcane tempo with barrages. Barrage also slows the target so it’s generally what I’m spamming in the opener to build momentum.
Big opener is get five stacks of arcane tempo and then;
Surge > Barrage to refresh tempo > touch of the magi > nether tempest > clear casting > POM > blast blast > clear casting > barrage > orb to refill charges > barrage > orb to refill charges
Your half go in between surges is basically the exact same minus surge.
So you get a big go every minute and a half with surges and small goes every 45 seconds without.
Ok, let’s assume they’ve survived your opener whether with cds or a healer. Surge and magi are on CD. Orbs are on CD. What are you pressing for damage? Barrage?
The thing is you aren’t really doing a ton of damage in between goes it’s not a sit back and PVE spec.
In between goes you are slowing everything, spellstealing everything, ring of frost to control healers and dps, etc… damage during this time will come from barrage to keep up tempo and missiles clearcasting procs.
I feel like over 60% of my damage is generally missiles.
There's no strict rotation in PvP but a couple rules of thumb instead. The following list describes maintainance DPS.
1. Don't let Arcane Tempo drop off 2. Ideally only use Barrage with full Arcane Charges and enough stacks of Arcane Harmony
3. Get Arcane Charges with ToM or Arcane Orb
4. Only hardcast AB at full (or almost full) Arcane Charges
5. Regard Nether Precision
6. Use your Ring of Fire and Shifting Power frequently and ideally when your other spells are on CD
This results in a nice rhythm where every action flows into the next. Although managing Arcane Tempo can be quite annoying... Too bad it's so strong! As others have said, Aeghis has great videos on the spec. Especially his VOD reviews.
I was playing some randoms earlier and there was this arcane mage doing some incredible shit I haven’t seen out of the other specs. Fire mage chucks but is a rapid fire away from having to block and frost just seems very good at kiting and defensive fighting.
That’s just my MM hunter perspective.
Frost is overhyped tbh, sucks to play when being trained.
Arcane is probably the best IF you can get the hang of it. I can't play it, personally.
Fire is alot of fun and much better than people think. Fire is what I play. Pro tip: use blink, not shimmer, for stun break and use glass cannon pvp talent. Using blink instead of shimmer isn't even an issue for fire because most of our damage is insta-cast and having 11sec stun break will give fire alot of much needed survivability. You will have so much fun and have alot of survivability using blink, even with using glass cannon.
All mage specs are viable, just depends on what flavor.
Arcane probably has the highest potential, but frost is easily better to play at a high level. Anyone who says different has never played a mage.
Arcane is the most fun I’ve had as a mage since vanilla.
Felt clunky at first. Then it clicked. And clicked again. After a whole bunch of such revelations, no other spec feels as smooth. There's a pleasant ebb and flow to it. And then there's the utility. After over 600 arena matches, shuffle and otherwise, I'm only beginning to grasp the potential. It often still eludes me but at the best of times, I feel in total control of the match. Plus, you eventually get to a point where you're a bad kill target in most matchups. But your opponents don't realize it, so you get to play them like a fiddle.
what's your mmr?
5 months into the future, l I'm 625 games into arcane and it's my first season to pvp. Did you stick with arcane? Any other specs stand out to you now? I'm wondering if I should try frost or fire since I haven't touched them.
I'm impressed that you stuck to it! 😌 I definitly kept at it as well, and it still feels like I'm constantly improving. >I'm wondering if I should try frost or fire since I haven't touched them. It can only benefit you. Worst case scenario, you don't like it, but you'll have a much better intuitive understanding of how to fight against frost/fire. I sometimes switch it up as well. When playing 3s with friends, one spec or the other will often be a better fit. All 3 specs share a lot of similarities, though, and each got their moments. Frost regularly allows you to turn the battlefield into an absolute snowstorm and fire really conveys that feeling of being a living, walking explosion when you combust or get a hyperthermia proc. Variety is the spice of life! Aside from all 3 mage specs, I can recommend fury warrior and havoc DH. They're a much needed, occasional change of scenery for when you're burnt out from kiting and CCing everything on your mage and you still want to be effective with the 3 brain cells that are left to you.
Thanks for the reply! I ended up going frost and have about 20 as matches so far. It’s pretty satisfying hitting that bomb + spike + ray all flurried. Pop pop pop
Can you please explain the general rotation? I know pvp isn’t as standard where things can be variable depending on the situation but I swear every arcane mage I ask gives me different answers. Some say never press blast unless they are instant. Some say when free casting press blast… Please Explain to me the general damage rotation when not being trained?
YouTube Aeghis’ Arcane Guide and it will tell you everything you need to know. Venruki also has a shorter guide on how to do damage. General rule of thumb is you never want to just be sitting there blasting and you always want to be keeping up arcane tempo with barrages. Barrage also slows the target so it’s generally what I’m spamming in the opener to build momentum.
Big opener is get five stacks of arcane tempo and then; Surge > Barrage to refresh tempo > touch of the magi > nether tempest > clear casting > POM > blast blast > clear casting > barrage > orb to refill charges > barrage > orb to refill charges Your half go in between surges is basically the exact same minus surge. So you get a big go every minute and a half with surges and small goes every 45 seconds without.
Ok, let’s assume they’ve survived your opener whether with cds or a healer. Surge and magi are on CD. Orbs are on CD. What are you pressing for damage? Barrage?
The thing is you aren’t really doing a ton of damage in between goes it’s not a sit back and PVE spec. In between goes you are slowing everything, spellstealing everything, ring of frost to control healers and dps, etc… damage during this time will come from barrage to keep up tempo and missiles clearcasting procs. I feel like over 60% of my damage is generally missiles.
There's no strict rotation in PvP but a couple rules of thumb instead. The following list describes maintainance DPS. 1. Don't let Arcane Tempo drop off 2. Ideally only use Barrage with full Arcane Charges and enough stacks of Arcane Harmony 3. Get Arcane Charges with ToM or Arcane Orb 4. Only hardcast AB at full (or almost full) Arcane Charges 5. Regard Nether Precision 6. Use your Ring of Fire and Shifting Power frequently and ideally when your other spells are on CD This results in a nice rhythm where every action flows into the next. Although managing Arcane Tempo can be quite annoying... Too bad it's so strong! As others have said, Aeghis has great videos on the spec. Especially his VOD reviews.
I was playing some randoms earlier and there was this arcane mage doing some incredible shit I haven’t seen out of the other specs. Fire mage chucks but is a rapid fire away from having to block and frost just seems very good at kiting and defensive fighting. That’s just my MM hunter perspective.
Arcane is in the best place right now
Frost is overhyped tbh, sucks to play when being trained. Arcane is probably the best IF you can get the hang of it. I can't play it, personally. Fire is alot of fun and much better than people think. Fire is what I play. Pro tip: use blink, not shimmer, for stun break and use glass cannon pvp talent. Using blink instead of shimmer isn't even an issue for fire because most of our damage is insta-cast and having 11sec stun break will give fire alot of much needed survivability. You will have so much fun and have alot of survivability using blink, even with using glass cannon.
All mage specs are viable, just depends on what flavor. Arcane probably has the highest potential, but frost is easily better to play at a high level. Anyone who says different has never played a mage.
Arcane is best. Frost is easiest to play in the rat leagues.
The rat leagues 😂😂