Hello Mages,
I wanted to ask you guys why people do not like Arcane Missiles? To me it seems like it would be a pretty neat spell especially when you take the talents to make it uninterruptible. As well since you have a crit chance on each bolt, it seems like it would be a great spell to cast. I have never seen it in any guides, so I assume that it is not used for some reason. Any thoughts?
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Arcane Missiles?Follow
Moonkissed wrote:
Hello Mages,
I wanted to ask you guys why people do not like Arcane Missiles? To me it seems like it would be a pretty neat spell especially when you take the talents to make it uninterruptible. As well since you have a crit chance on each bolt, it seems like it would be a great spell to cast. I have never seen it in any guides, so I assume that it is not used for some reason. Any thoughts?
I wanted to ask you guys why people do not like Arcane Missiles? To me it seems like it would be a pretty neat spell especially when you take the talents to make it uninterruptible. As well since you have a crit chance on each bolt, it seems like it would be a great spell to cast. I have never seen it in any guides, so I assume that it is not used for some reason. Any thoughts?
Biggest problems with AM:
1)Short range. Means you get hit a lot in solo situations where a fireball or frostbolt using mage would not.
2)Need to stay still while channeling. 5s is a long time to be unmoving as a class who lives and dies by its mobility. Sure, you can interrupt midcast and move, but then DPM goes down the crapper.
3)Scaling. Thanks to a lack of the major talents that frost and fire get, AM scales poorly comparatively. This is especially evident in the burst of increased power of both crits and the faster casting talents that Fire and Frost get.
Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, per se. It's just not quite as good. Even the most commonly used arcane build rarely use AM, preferring the nature of AB to set them free.
That and it is still very mana inefficient as Pold alluded to with the DPM.
As far as I can tell it only has one really good use. If you have great pvp gear (12k HP, 1k dmg) its great for messing up casters in BGs and 5s. I'll roll deep arcane with imp and emp AM with ap/pom/pyro in there in 5s every now and then depending on our team make up.
Other then that like Pold said, it's range makes it pretty bad for questing/grinding since any mob will get to you before you can get all 5 off. And it's not very mana effecient.
Other then that like Pold said, it's range makes it pretty bad for questing/grinding since any mob will get to you before you can get all 5 off. And it's not very mana effecient.
I use AM all the time, but I'm mostly a battleground pvper. My spec is 41/20/0, and I have uninterruptable AM with extra damage (maybe extra crit damage--it's a late tier talent). I've got decent gear, not great, but I can buff over 11K HP, and I have over 1k spell damage. Great spell that puts out serious damage...I sometimes see crits of 1400+ per missle. I tend to use it as a finisher after PoM Pyro + Fire Blast when I get the drop on somebody. That often ends the fight before they can do much in response.
The downside is having to be stay in one spot, with a glowing line leading right back to the caster. Practically screams "Silence/Stun/Fear/Otherwise Distract Me". Also AM is a mana hog. Doesn't particularly matter in BGs, where enemy encounters tend to be sudden, violent, and brief.
In a PVE situation, sometimes I'll add AM to the mix when clearcasting procs. It has the potential to hit as hard or harder than pyroblast, and harder than a single AB. Also useful if I've been pulling aggro with fire spells...think I get extra threat reduction for arcane damage....
Edited, Sep 9th 2008 12:04am by Kahbueme
The downside is having to be stay in one spot, with a glowing line leading right back to the caster. Practically screams "Silence/Stun/Fear/Otherwise Distract Me". Also AM is a mana hog. Doesn't particularly matter in BGs, where enemy encounters tend to be sudden, violent, and brief.
In a PVE situation, sometimes I'll add AM to the mix when clearcasting procs. It has the potential to hit as hard or harder than pyroblast, and harder than a single AB. Also useful if I've been pulling aggro with fire spells...think I get extra threat reduction for arcane damage....
Edited, Sep 9th 2008 12:04am by Kahbueme
7 posts
Arcane missles are great in BGs and if you are specced arc/frost you can farm with them nicely. Frostbolt to slow the mob down then AM to finish him off. Maybe not the most efficient way to do things but it's fun.
I asked this because my GF is arcane spec and she tears through mobs with Arcane Missiles. The theory numbers seem to point to Arcane Missiles being the wrong spell, but it seems to work well for her. To improve its preformance she has increased her crit chance. Anything else she could do?
She's gonna want the biggest mana pool she can get, because AM uses lots of mana. I favor +damage over +crit. My stats are currently a little over 1k damage, and around 24% crit. That will shred non-elite mobs...except a couple of the blood elf types that seem to have some kind of defense to it...dunno if it is spell resist, or some tank-like ability, or what.
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