So I have taken an interest in my mage again and I am leveling him as an alt. I'm curious about Arcane and the appropriate spell rotation. Now I've done some research and read the stickies here and the Stratfu Arcane Mage guide but I am still a little fuzzy on some details.
I heard that Arcane Barrage got nerfed in a recent patch. So what is the standard "rotation" now? I know that your rotation can be changed to do more DPS at the cost of going OOM quicker (and vice versa).
Is the standard rotation Arcane Blast x 3 > [Missile Barrage] OR Arcane Barrage
Or is it Arcane Blast x 3 > [Missile Barrage] OR just regular Arcane Missiles
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Actually, I just looked a little further (I sometimes am researching and posting at the same time) and found the answer to my question.
A rotation of AB AB AB ([mbarr] or abarr) wins out it seems, slightly.
A rotation of AB AB AB ([mbarr] or abarr) wins out it seems, slightly.
Abarr or mbarr does win out slightly more than just ABx3 AM (whether you get the proc or not), but also costs a good deal more mana.
Edited, May 12th 2009 4:25pm by Anobix
Edited, May 12th 2009 4:25pm by Anobix
I always go AB->AB->AB-> ABar (AMissile ONLY if proc)
Missiles cost too darn much and are too slow. Barrage lets you instant cast, then begin AB rotation again.
Try both against a dummy for 5min. See which does more and if you have the MP to do it.
Missiles cost too darn much and are too slow. Barrage lets you instant cast, then begin AB rotation again.
Try both against a dummy for 5min. See which does more and if you have the MP to do it.
The point about mana usage is really important!
It does you no good to gain a slight amount of dps only to find yourself having to go to a mana conserving rotation for longer periods.
When things are really cooking and you've got stacked haste/heroism/icy-veins and everything you've got turned on, that mbarr isn't going to seem so much faster, and isn't going to seem to hit so hard. You're not going to want to waste a bit of that building your stack of ABs back up (that is, don't use either, if you can). I think the dps gain you get from that makes playing the periods between cooldowns a bit more mana conservatively worth it.
It does you no good to gain a slight amount of dps only to find yourself having to go to a mana conserving rotation for longer periods.
When things are really cooking and you've got stacked haste/heroism/icy-veins and everything you've got turned on, that mbarr isn't going to seem so much faster, and isn't going to seem to hit so hard. You're not going to want to waste a bit of that building your stack of ABs back up (that is, don't use either, if you can). I think the dps gain you get from that makes playing the periods between cooldowns a bit more mana conservatively worth it.
On long fights (raid bosses) I go ABx2 then MBarr or ABarr depending on procs.
On Heroic bosses I spam AB till some boss mechanic will cause me to miss a MBarr proc or have 3x AB fall off.... (Time Freeze, or Bane, or whatever - something that will cause my 3x AB to fall off or me to miss a MBarr.) So basically I go /oom in about 90 seconds, Gem, /oom in 30 seconds...
On Heroic bosses I spam AB till some boss mechanic will cause me to miss a MBarr proc or have 3x AB fall off.... (Time Freeze, or Bane, or whatever - something that will cause my 3x AB to fall off or me to miss a MBarr.) So basically I go /oom in about 90 seconds, Gem, /oom in 30 seconds...
I wonder, is it worth it to do 3 AB if you have MB proc'd? The chance of it re-proc'ing wastes chances to do it again, but you lose out on damage buff.
Sometimes I'll go three FULL Rotations (ABx3. ABar) without it proc'ing once.
Sometimes I'll go three FULL Rotations (ABx3. ABar) without it proc'ing once.
You should always stack to ABx3 when you get mbar.
Eh... I'm not a fan of strict rotations. I tend to look at my mana bar as damage fuel, if I have enough of it I burn it up as quick as possible and keep my cooldowns (icy veins/arcane power/evocation/gem) on cooldown as much as possible.
Usually start fight burning all my cooldowns so that they come up again, gem as soon as I'll get full value for it, evocate when I'll get full mana from that, burn down to about 50-60% mana then do 3 AB > MBarr or ABarr until my cooldowns are up or my mana has recovered enough to burn some more off. I've always been a fan of fire and kind of dislike arcane but I like the flexibility and control I have as arcane. Definitely takes more management of your mana to pull out good damage.
Usually start fight burning all my cooldowns so that they come up again, gem as soon as I'll get full value for it, evocate when I'll get full mana from that, burn down to about 50-60% mana then do 3 AB > MBarr or ABarr until my cooldowns are up or my mana has recovered enough to burn some more off. I've always been a fan of fire and kind of dislike arcane but I like the flexibility and control I have as arcane. Definitely takes more management of your mana to pull out good damage.
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