- Forums
- World of Warcraft
- Class Discussion
- Spell damage vs Mana per second
Spell damage vs Mana per secondFollow
10 posts
Just curious want other mages prefer, more spell damage or mana/second when it comes to raiding Kara or other mana taxing instances. My question came up when I had to make a decision between using Superior Mana Oil (14 mana/5 sec) or Superior Wizard Oil (+42 spell damage). On boss fights, Im constantly running out of mana. On average Im guessing each fight lasts 5+ minutes. In a five minute fight, im getting about 840 mana, which is only about 2 spells. It seems hardly worth it to use the mana oil. I prefer spell damage, but I wanted to get the input of other mages.
Spell damage is, in my opinion, the most important raid attribute for a mage, followed closely by spell hit and spell critical strike rating. If you are having mana consistency problems, I would suggest making appropriate changes in your talent build to help with this. Also, while it may be expensive to buy the high end mana potions, I would suggest spending the money anyway and burning a potion as soon as your mana is low enough that you aren't wasting. Then, by the later part of the fight, the cooldown on your potion will be up and you can get two per fight. You will also presumably have evocation and a mana gem for each boss fight as well. With the two available potions, the gem, and evocation, you should be more than fine on mana. It is also worth noting that additional damage indirectly increases mana efficiency as it will take less spells to kill your opponent. I am in no way saying that this indirect help rivals pure mana regeneration attributes, but it does help some. For a mage, though, I believe that all gems, enchants, etc. should help with your damage, crit, and hit ratings while your talent builds and proper potion usage should get you through the boss fights. The popular 10/48/3 raiding build is probably the way to go as far as mana consistency while maintaining high damage output. I hope this helps.
For buffs, I'd use the +damage one as 14 mana/5 won't give you the same return as extra damage. For the raiding mage, I feel the stats are:
+hit > +spell Damage > +spell Crit
Also, if you see that you are running out of mana a lot, try putting on mage armor/ seeing if you can get in a group with a shammy (mana tide ftw!)/ seeing if you can get in a group with a shadow priest, using all your gems and potions when appropriate and using evocation. It'll be really nice when they buff evocation so you will get a larger amount back and arcane meditation, should you go that deep into arcane.
+hit > +spell Damage > +spell Crit
Also, if you see that you are running out of mana a lot, try putting on mage armor/ seeing if you can get in a group with a shammy (mana tide ftw!)/ seeing if you can get in a group with a shadow priest, using all your gems and potions when appropriate and using evocation. It'll be really nice when they buff evocation so you will get a larger amount back and arcane meditation, should you go that deep into arcane.
ktangent wrote:
+hit > +spell Damage > +spell Crit
The +hit is universal, but how the other two are ranked is highly situational, IMO. Depends upon what gear you have(specifically, trinkets) and what your spec is.
Edit: Oh, and OP, Spell damage is the better bet most of the time. Occasionally, mana oil will be better for you(Illhoof and for tanking Krosh in Gruul's Lair). But the best choice if you're a fire mage is Spell Damage and Crit. Find someone who can make Brilliant Wizard oil. That stuff is godly(mana returns from crits with MoE, good bonus to damage, and the best all around weapon buff you can have).
Edited, Oct 24th 2007 6:38pm by Poldaran
ktangent wrote:
+hit > +spell Damage > +spell Crit
While I can see DPS dropping at a point when choosing Spell Crit than Spell Damage, I view Spell Crit for the 10/48/3 build as more important than Spell Damage. The reason why is because if those mages are having trouble being mana-efficient, DPS can be sacrificed for DPM, especially since I'd think that DPS is less important than DPM in a raid environment than say PvP.
Why I say Spell Crit gives more DPM for the 10/48/3 build is Master of Elements, and Arcane Concentration. More crits means more mana returns, for more spells. More spells means more chances for Arcane Concentration to proc for more spells.
Edited, Oct 26th 2007 5:32pm by Raglu
Raglu wrote:
ktangent wrote:
+hit > +spell Damage > +spell Crit
While I can see DPS dropping at a point when choosing Spell Crit than Spell Damage, I view Spell Crit for the 10/48/3 build as more important than Spell Damage. The reason why is because if those mages are having trouble being mana-efficient, DPS can be sacrificed for DPM, especially since I'd think that DPS is less important than DPM in a raid environment than say PvP.
Why I say Spell Crit gives more DPM for the 10/48/3 build is Master of Elements, and Arcane Concentration. More crits means more mana returns, for more spells. More spells means more chances for Arcane Concentration to proc for more spells.
Edited, Oct 26th 2007 5:32pm by Raglu
I can understand that to an extent, although if you time your pots/gems correctly you shouldn't ever really be OOM.
Perhaps it's just the O-boards, but I find many raiding mages complaining about mage mana-management in boss fights.
Raglu wrote:
Perhaps it's just the O-boards, but I find many raiding mages complaining about mage mana-management in boss fights.
The oboards would complain about the color of the water bottles we summon if they ever managed to think of it.
The One and Only Poldaran wrote:
Raglu wrote:
Perhaps it's just the O-boards, but I find many raiding mages complaining about mage mana-management in boss fights.
The oboards would complain about the color of the water bottles we summon if they ever managed to think of it.
And mana management is a problem for raiding mages... But there are plenty of solutions (gems, evo, consumables, spell rotations, talents, gear). If you are having trouble, look around and you'll find some ideas on how to get better.
Recent Visitors: 54
All times are in CST
Anonymous Guests (54)
- Forums
- World of Warcraft
- Class Discussion
- Spell damage vs Mana per second
© 2024 Fanbyte LLC