Tips for multi-mob situationsFollow

My mage is fire specced, level 45. This is the first class I've played up to the mid-levels that really needs to back up and control the fight versus just bashing everything, and I could use some advice from the more experienced.

I can take up to 3 mobs as long as the fight is on my terms - that is, if I can stand back, poly one of them, start on another (it's nearly dead by the time they get to me), frost nova, AOE if necessary til #2 is down, kill #3, then go back to the sheep.

My problem is with quests where this kind of advance planning isn't possible - say I have to go upstairs in a building someplace, just for an example, let's call the place "Tanaris," and there's 3 mobs, let's just call them "pirates," in the room. Due to LOS I can't pull or hit any in advance. So I walk in the room, or get so close that they come out, frost nova, poly one, the other two are beating on me and FN is on cooldown, and even with an advance Gift of the Naaru and using ice block, it seems that no matter what I do I'm dead before I can get them down or get FN back.

I realize that frost is the control spec and the way to control mobs with fire is to kill them before they can hit you. But what do you do in these situations where that's just not possible? Is the only answer Abandon Quest, or am I missing something?

If there is no other way to get within casting sight then nova them to the ground to start with as i could guise you did next sheep any cast/rangers there (if there are not any i think a rouge sheep would be next and so on in damage) pull the others forward use your CoC to slow them pull them out of the building and start kiting if needed mana and heath pots will help use instant casts as you run around (you will also need space to kite them around so watch the other mobsaround there) when you're frost novas cooldowns done use a firebolt repeat watch your sheep and try to keep frost slow on them if this dose not work then get some help from someone doing the quest you may want to check your armor if it looks like your not doing that good

fire spec can sometimes be a pain in pve you might want to respec frost for questing

Edited, Feb 20th 2008 12:38am by epicforsaken

I was in your situation about a week ago - playing a level 45 fire specced mage - dying a lot in Lost Rigger Cove. I loved being a fire mage - blowing up mobs one on one and throwing fire about.
Then I watched In Frost We Trust and The Art of Grinding on warcraftmovies.
Respecced Frost immediately - a few hours of practice in lower level areas - now suddenly taking on multiple mobs/adds is a walk in the park.

However, if you don't want to respec - which is completely understandable since fire mages are great fun - I would suggest your best bet is the mana shield - pull to more open space - nova and blink to get distance - set on fire as usual - use pots etc if you need to.

However, sometimes there are quests that are just really hard for certain classes and one needs a helping hand - on my server Lost Rigger Cove always has people looking to group up.

Thanks all. Rate ups for the good ideas (and also DarkHybrid for the laugh!).

I think for me a lot of it comes down to practice moving around in combat more and kiting. My hand-eye coordination stinks and I'm kind of used to mostly standing there and pressing buttons til the thing is dead. You can imagine what a master at PVP I'm not.

Do any of you try to fit Improved Fire Blast into your builds for this purpose? I wasn't planning on it (and it would be tough to make room for it), because the sticky implies it's mainly a PVP talent. But it seems like faster access to instant casts would be big for this kind of thing.

Edited, Feb 20th 2008 8:28am by teacake

QFT.

Leveling my alliance mage now, and I die so much less often because... sometimes you just need to run away. For your scenario, I'd focus on killing one of them, use frost nova & blink to get away, then run out of aggro range, then come back and poly one and kill the other...

Playing a lower level mage = knowing when to run, and sometimes running is an offensive tactic. Fight them when YOU want to, not where Bliz dictates. Also, running back to your body down there is a long trek... so running away > dying.