40/21/0 VS 2/48/11Follow

Hello fellow mages. I've been reading FAQs as well as reading through blogs and the like, all in the eternal quest of making my mage as lethal of a raiding dps machine as can be. I can hear it now whispers coming at me *lawl roll a lock*. No thanks, I love my mage, do not care about being #1 on dmg meters. I care about pulling my own weight, and providing what my group needs that I am capable of providing.

Now that thats out of the way, I am in need of some advice from more knowledgable mages. I tried out a 40/21/0 spec in the interest of maximizing my dps and efficiency for raiding. I was very pleased with the performance of this spec.
Just to give a rough idea of where i was at, this is my armory NOW with a 2/48/11 spec.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Demon+Soul&n=Deadkidd


I've been told 2/48/11 is the way to go now for msx raid dps, however, im curious as to where exactly the increase in my dps will come from.

with 40/21/0 I had 1087 + fire dmg, 9146 mana, and 20.58 chance to crit <-- UNBUFFED (no AI/MoltenArmor)
With 2/48/11, I ***HAD*** (I have since regemmed) 963+ fire dmg, 8216 mana, 25.81% chance to crit <---UNBUFFED (no AI/Moltenarmor)


Now the part about where I regemmed, I learned that I was well above the hit rating cap, so i swapped in plenty of +haste/+dmg gems.

So it seems with the respec, I have lost the mana efficiency of clearcasting, and arcane meditation lost about 900 mana (which in terms of intellect, I lost out on potential dmg from my spellfire set bonus, as well as potential dmg from Mind Mastery from the arcane tree.)

As far as gains with the respec, I've gained about +5% chance to crit with fire, combustion, and Molten Fury, and Icy Veins.



Squaring major talents off against each other...

Arcane Power Vs Icy Veins...Both 3 minute CD's, boosting DPS significantly for the duration

Spellfire Set Bonus + Mind Mastery synergy with Arcane Mind Vs Molten Fury + Pyromaniac

(Nothing really given up) Vs Combustion... Seems like a pure gain to me

Clearcasting and Arcane Meditation vs nothing in particular that was gained for efficiency, other than 1 or 2 fire talents that reduce mana cost of fire spells by a few %




So, over all it seems to me the talents balance out well. Is Icy Veins that powerful of a talent that makes up for the +dmg gains over the ENTIRE span of the fight? or is it Icy veins coupled with Molten Fury at the final 20% of the boss that really pulls ahead? Or are they pretty much the same, but the latter build just barely squeaking ahead in dmg, and hence being 'the' raiding spec?


Lastly, can anyone comment on my choice of gems? Im really not familiar with +haste as a stat, and so i'm not very confident in whether putting them in was a good choice or not.

Thank you in advance for any responses. I tried putting my ideas in as organized and thought out as I could so I'm sorry if it seems a little confusing.

Edited, Aug 15th 2008 4:11pm by LeetSpeak

Ive tried both, gemmed correctly and without 2 piece t5. We're in the content so it should come soon.

And before i begin, 2 piece t5 is godly, HOWEVER unless you have the right group make up, it is trash. Without a ton of raid support, your 40/0/21 spec will not work. I know you posted 40/21, but throw that out it is garbage now that you have the gear.

Arcane blast spam will be THE BEST dps even without 2 piece t5, but unless your guild wants to cater to you with innervates, a shadow priest and shaman, 2/48/11 is going to win on the 5 min + fights. With the availability of spell haste gems, 2/48/11 can pull ahead farther.

So, taking 40/21 out of the mix and comparing 40/0/21 and 2/48/11, it comes down to the specific fight, your total raid dps, and personal preference. If your guild is starting out with low dps, 40/0/21 is going to have you OOM very often since the bosses are lasting 60-120 seconds longer then they will once you all are geared. When i did 40/0/21 i gemmed for INT because i had no SP, it was fun but on long fights if i were to gem 2/48/11 correctly with hit and +haste it would out dps and have error room

Thank you all very much for your responses, it has clarified well for me 40/21/0 vs 2/48/11.


Just one last thing. Can anyone comment my gemming, and the option of stacking +haste?

In my mage's case, I think his mana pool is somewhat low, but I could be wrong. Is gemming for haste+dmg a better idea than throwing in a few +8 intellect gems?

I've also heard +haste > +dmg at 1000 spelldamage. Is this true?