I just started a Mage and I gotta say I love it. I have a high level enhance Shammy, Prot Tank, and Holy Priest, so I wanted to try something that required compeltely different tactics.
The mage is tough because I cannot stand and go hack for hack for mobs, and I understand this. My problem is, I seem to be using so much mana for individual and secondary mobs, that I am drinking almost after every kill. My shammy, even at low levels, had no problems taking down 4-5 mobs before needing a "recharge".
So my question is, what are some people's combos for pulling mobs, and taking them down efficiently, without getting wacked and having to drink/eat every other mob? Or is this a nessecary aprt of being a Mage? My mage is level Undead 17, currently in Silverpine.
I appriciate your sincere responses.
Cheers
Just stack intellect items. Always use AI, and usually use frost spells at low level at level 17 - it'll slow them giving you more time to attack, and with the quicker cast on frostbolt if you specced frost, you'll down them faster than on fire anyway, with overall a reduced mana cost.
Thanks for the tip. Is it unusual to have to drink after every enemy or should I just expect a lot of downtime between mobs?
i find that i always have a lot of downtime between mobs but i can take them down fast i think its a bit of a trade off
with my lvl 20 mage i have a tactic while fighting mobs (1 at a time) that is mana efficient enough to last through 3 to 4 mobs before i have to drink. I have about 1k mana.
What i do is this: frostbolt-arcane missiles-(by that time the mob has reached melee distance) frost nova- backup a bit- firebolt- most of the time the frost nova wears off by now, so I start instacast spells- fire blast- most of the time the mob is dead by now, if not 1 extra arcane explosion will do the trick or I wand them to death.
The mobs are of the same lvl as I am or maybe 1 lvl below me, but I can repeat this routine 3 to 4 times before I'm totally out of mana and need to drink. :-) Hope that helps
I'm not a pro or anything (I'm actually relatively new to WoW), and this isn't meant to be accusing, but the above post doesn't seem to be too mana efficient. At level 20, your Arcane Missiles will do about 144-148 damage and cost 140 mana. Thats about 1.05 (I'm a nerd) damage per mana point. Rank 4 Frostbolt does an average of 78 damage and costs 63 mana with the Elemental Precision talent. That means Frostbolt does about 1.23 damage per mana point. Although Arcane Missiles is faster damage, you have to remember that if you're spamming Frostbolt with the Frostbite talent, you'll have about a 15% chance to freeze the target on each hit, allowing more time for casting and less time for the enemy to hit you.
Also, at level 20 Arcane Explosion is not mana efficient at all, dealing an average of 60 damage and costing 75 mana. I'll stop bothering you with damage/mana, but its obvious that this spell is not efficient on a 1v1 basis (which I believe is what the above poster was talking about, but I may be wrong).
Like I said, I'm no pro, but here's my tactic for 1v1 (which is probably flawed in its own way):
Frostbolt until the enemy is too close for you to cast without being hit.
For less DPM but higher DPS, use Fireblast
Use Frost Nova and run until you are just within range of Frostbolt.
Rinse and Repeat.
I'm a 38 fire mage with about 3k mana, and here's a really mana efficient (for fire :p) DPS 1v1.
1. pyro (rank 4)
2. fireball (rank 7)
3. another fireball/scorch(3) if the guy's too close
4. fireblast(5)
5. If the guy's not dead, frost nova(2)
6. step back
7. arcane explosion(4)(I don't advise AE)/scorch
I've got master of elements so if im lucky (a few crits) I'll have like 2.2k mana left, and after another mob using that, I have to drink.
Improved scorch is good, although I've got it to rank 2. But ignite rocks. with a crit, my pyro can do 700+ starting damage, I think about 100-300 damage from ignite, 90-100 damage from the DoT, and only cost 136.5 (i calculated it) mana :) But this is with Fire Power rank 4(+8% fire dmg)
I have a level 22 mage, with talent points spent soley in the Arcane line of magic. With mobs equal to or one level more than mine I can usually go through three or four of them before I need to drink anything. I find when I pull single mobs that it is usually better to use fireball than frostbolt to pull them because of the added range (5 yards doesn't seem like much but it's a huge difference). True, frostbolt does slow them, but there's a chance it will be resisted, and depending on the mob you are pulling, it might activate a speed spell that negates the slow effect anyway. Also, the fireball deals more damage, an important factor since the faster you kill the mob the less damage they do the mage (they don't exactly have the best armor). Once I have pulled them with the fireball I use another fireball to maximize damage before they reach me. From here I slam them with two full sets of arcane missiles. If you need, you can use frostnova first before they get to you to avoid damage, and use the four to eight seconds to hit them with the arcane missiles. Now, the next part depends on their remaining health. Some mobs will attempt to run away, which gives you an awesome opportunity to use your wand. Doing this will recharge some of your mana since you won't be spell casting. If the mob doesn't run away, or if their health isn't quite low enough for them to run away (i.e. if they resist some of your spells), you can fireblast them to deal some quick damage, and then use your wand to finish them off.
If you are flying solo I don't recommend taking on multiple mobs back to back, but if you do find yourself fighting two or three mobs without a full mana bar there are ways to come out on top. First, assess your remaining mana. If you've got 20% of your mana and the mobs are around your level, running is the best idea. If you think you can do it though, then take a quick inventory of your enemies. You should polymorph one of the enemies first, preferably a ranged unit if there is one. Ranged units can still attack while frozen, so get rid of it so you can fight the melee mobs. If you don't have a full mana bar then you probably don't have a full health bar either, so protect yourself first. If you die then your remaining mana doesn't matter. Frostnova the melee units, using fireballs for single units and arcane explosions for multiple opponents. Try to finish off the remaining units before the polymorphed enemy changes back. If you have a few precious seconds before you need to fight again, use it to either get away from the sheep so you have some distance, or if you desperately need the mana you can use evocation.
Now, it's a good idea to keep some potions with you at all times for emergencies. You will sometimes need that extra boost of mana or health. If you can, add some armor, intelligence, and spirit with a good combo of potions, scrolls, and other buffs. This will help you keep going without having to stop.
I hope this helped! I know there are other ways to go about your magery, and this might not be the best for you, but it's the best way for me so I thought I'd share in case it could help you.
Happy Hunting!
-FluffyBSFG
if you spec frost...you end up drinking between battles.. BUT.. you take on 3-5 enemies at once, meaning quick xp as it takes the same time as killing one, maybe 2 mobs, which 1v1 would sometimes make you drink..
takes a bit of practice to do, but it's well worth the deaths you get learning :D heres what i do.
mana shield(depending on size of pull), when they all ball up around me, cone of cold, followed by frost nova. blink away to create distance, and blizzard away. with 3 points in frostbite, the enemies barely ever reach me, if they do frost nova is back/near about back. if you get low on mana, just pop a mana gem or evocation if they are frozen.
doing this DEFINATELY makes grinding fun, as it takes skill to do instead of just auto attacking or spamming one skill,
im a lvl 20 frost mage. heres how i do it
1. pull with frostbolt
2. spam frostbolt till they reach me
3. forst nova when theyre near
4. go back and use frostboly and blizzard
5. if theyre still alive, i mostly wanna get rid of em quick so i use an instant cast
twinkerton
shadowsong
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