Question about Spell sequenceFollow

Edit: wow, I've just read this back to myself, and it's a bit of a Wall-o-text. Apologies for that, but I tend to get carried away sometimes. However, please give it a read, I would really appreciate it.

Hi all,

I am a level 37 mage, spec'd fire, and have a question regarding 2 methods of taking down mobs.

Firstly, this is pretty much focussed on Solo levelling, which means I am planning on taking down same-level, to one or 2 levels above me, as fast as possible.

Up until now, I've been doing the standard, Open with Pyro, fireball, fire blast.. 90% of the time, mob dead. The other 10% of the time, it's followed by frost nova, scorch, scorch (fire blast when it's up again). Ofc, the extra scorches / fire blast is heavily dependant on how much damage my initial attacks do, and if anything is resisted. Normally (if the pyro crits), the fire blast isn't required, cos ignite does the job, essentially allowing me to 2-shot the mob.

Stock standard imo, and works like a dream (especially If I get a pyro crit, then I feel so totally Imba ;->)

However, I recently respecced imp scorch, and am feeling a bit like I don't use the benefit of it enough, so I started trying this out last night. Open with Scorch, Scorch (maybe a third one), hopefully (if impact procs) a 4th one. At that stage he's at me, so Frost nova, take 2 steps back and fire up a pyro.

FN breaks just before the pyro is released, and fireblast is ready if the pyro doesn't finish it. That's the thing ... with the extra fire vulnerability from scorch, my pyro's are now critting for just short of 900 (I don't have anything special in terms of gear ... but I total anout 89 fire damege, nearly 100 with wizard oil), so Pyro is pretty much doing the job after the scorches.

It may actually be my imagination, but I think the second method is more mana efficient, not too sure about the time it take to drop the mob, it may or may not be quicker.

So, the question is, which is the best mechanism to perfect between the 2 above, the bottom line is pretty much, Scorch as an opener with Pyro as a secondary attack, or Pyro as the opener with fireball as the secondary attack, and scorch as a finishing move.

Ofc, the overriding question is, should I be speccing Imp scorch if I'm going to be solo 90% of the time.

Thanks all in advance.



Edited, Oct 5th 2007 3:49am by robertlofthouse

Imp Scorch tends to be useful mainly in boss fights, in PvP, and on scorch builds.

Continue opening with Pyro, in my opinion. If you really want to scorch, perhaps a Pyro, Scorch x 3, Frost Nova, Fireball.

Thanks Pol,

I thought about popping scorch in there, but then I realised that I would be doing that simply to use a spell because it was in my spell book, with no real reasoning behind it. Fireball as a follow up is very handy, and I'm a little undecided as to whether 1 fireball is better or worse than 2x scorches.

I used to reserve scorch for the end of the fight, where I could see that the mob had a little health left and the mana of a fireball would be wasted. Other than that, it's the 3 main attacks, and CoC / FN which forms the basis of more repertoire (the last 2 used when things don't go according to the plan of dropping him before he's on my lap).

Edited, Oct 5th 2007 4:21am by robertlofthouse

I got a little excited...down there...just reading this. It's one of my most favoritest things about being a fire (hybrid, but w/e) mage. I love the 2-cast kill. At 32ish% crit self-buffed, it happens quite a bit.

Still, no matter the pure visceral pleasure, one can't rely on such things. Like you, I've been trying to fit Scorch into the rotation a bit more b/c it's only been about a month now that I've had improved scorch. Feels like the talent points are wasted if I'm not using it in regular fights. That's silly, of course, b/c it's a fantastic enough talent on instance bosses that even if you never used it otherwise, it would be worth it. Still, such ponderances are in the nature of being a fire mage.

As my gear has improved and regular grinding mobs have become more and more of a joke, I've become less and less concerned with starting fights at full (41yard) fire range. As a result of this, I often find myself in a situation where I may not get off my standard Pyro-Fireball opener before the mob is whacking at my cerebellum with his ax. In such situations, I enjoy a quick scorch in place of the Fireball, followed then by an FN. Unfortunately, this doesn't always take advantage of the Imp Scorch talent b/c often I'll then Ice Lance b/c of the pure mana efficiency of the spell (not to mention its instant cast). ...or does it...

This leads to my semi-related question: does casting Scorch while a Pyro or Fireball DoT is already ticking increase the dmg done by the DoT? Same question applies to Ignite DoTs as well.

LMAO

Anyway, I'm a bit of a mana gobbler, so I find that Pyro/FB/Fireball/FB hurts even the hardest of mobs badly :)

I know this probably isn't standard operating procedure, but I didn't spec into improved scorch until I hit level 70.

I did this for many of the reasons listed above. It is mainly used in boss fights, and while leveling, I didn't go into many dungeons.

Becuase of the vulnerability of the mage in melee range, I put my points into improved arcane missles, improved fireblast, and burning soul so that I could survive better one on one without having my spells pushed back.