Archive for the ‘Mage’ Category

Gamer

What Trinkets?

by Gamer at March 29th, 2008 in Mage | No Comments »

Probably a more appropriate title for this question would be What trinket? Because out of the two precious slots you have to put trinkets in, as a mage one MUSt be Medallion of the Horde/Alliance. however the other trinket can be controversial to different setups and combos.

In 3v3 the second slot should be Battlemaster’s Audacity hands down. this trinket helps a mage survive in 3v3 because generally teams focus the mage because they feel mages are the “squishiest”. however because this trinket grants 1750 hp for 15 secs. in a heated battle when your healer may be CC’d, that extra 1750 health could be the difference between you living and dieing.

In 5v5 however, using the Battlemaster’s Audacity may not be the greatest choice due to your setup. for example, if you are in a burst team, it may be better to use a damage trinket such as Icon of the Silver crescent, because it gives you much needed +spell damage to burst your opponent. on the other hand, if you are on a team where the mage usually get’s blown up, it would be a great help if you used the Battlemaster’s Audacity, once again possibly giving you just enough life to get fully healed.

So basically if you are on a team where the mage tends to die first, Battlemaster’s Audacity is probably the best trinket to keep you alive long enough for heals etc. hoever if you are on a Burst team or a team where the mage does not die first, i would recommend Icon of the Silver Crescent, or the BT trinket if you can get your hands on it.


Gamer

When to Use Rank 1

by Gamer at March 2nd, 2008 in Mage | No Comments »

There are only a few spells that mages have that should be considered to be used as rank 1 instead of full rank. these spells are: ice armor, frostbolt, cone of cold, frost nova, blast wave, dragon’s breath, Blizzard, and Arcane explosion. i am going to start at the top of the list and move down why each spell may be crucial in arenas to use as rank 1 instead of max rank.

Frost armor (rank1)- this spell has a significant amount of importance when it comes to a mages key arena groups (3v3 and 5v5). In most cases a mage enters the arena wearing molten armor, for the extra crit chance, however, if and when a mage gets focused molten armor does very little to help the mage survive. it is a very key decision when playing a mage(especially frost) to put frost armor on when being focused. not only does it consistently slow the target, it procs frostbite quite often, giving the mage time to run away sheep etc. If the mage happens to come out of the gates with full rank Ice armor, in nearly every case it gets dispelled so it is wise to keep the opponent slowed and frostbit by applying rank 1 for mana efficiency and survivability.

Frostbolt (rank1)- this spell can be greatly used, as frost or fire, as a game breaking spell. frostbolt rank 1 not only has a 1 second cast speed, but slows and can possibly frostbite a rushing warrior/rogue, or running focus target. for example, druids may or may not be the focus target, however when they are focused druids constantly shapeshift in and out of slows. however rank 1 frostbolt will make the druid shapeshift many more times than he would have had to because it is much harder to LoS a 1 second cast than a 2.5. along with slowing a druid, it burns much needed mana for him while it costs you a mere 25. this spell works for other classes just as well, priests have to keep wasting global cool down to dispel frostbite/slow effects which may cause them to die due to lack of healing. this spell can also be used to save a teammate’s life by slowing an enemy rogue/warrior/ caster to where your teammate can LoS kite etc.

Cone of Cold (rank1)- this spell can be used for 2 main reasons. the first probably most important reason, is because it is very mana efficient while still getting the job done. cone of cold should basically only be used as rank one because of the enormous amount of mana full rank costs. the second reason is the important reason to even use cone of cold. CoC (cone of cold) is mainly used as an AoE slowing spell which can be very useful in areans for kiting/ getting frostbite procs on targets you are not even trying to avoid. when a mage is bieng focused in an arena, mana is probably the most important thing to a mage, the second most important thing is kiting. since mages generally dont have time to cast with a warrior / rogue on them it is important to try and use CoC intelligently so that the mage can possibly get a frostbite proc(or just slow the target) so they can get a sheep off or even do some hard damage.

Frost nova (rank1)- probably not an important spell to use rank 1 but I’ll explain why it should still be used. Nova (rank1) costs a measly 55 mana while full rank costs 185. when some look at this they dont see it as much of a difference, however, u can either use rank 1 (30 damage) then a 2k crit icelance, or possibly full rank (200 damage) and not have enough mana for ice lance. the decision is your’s. although it may not be much of a difference but rank 1 may be the game breaking mana saver to give u enough to finish off the target.

Blast wave (rank1)- this spell should be widely used as rank one when a mage is being focused due to mana issues. as everyone knows and i have stated before, mages run oom constantly, and when full rank blast wave costs 620 mana it is not worth the loss of survivability by using more shields and more slowing effects. blast wave is a great move to pump out massive damage to multiple targets when used offensively by the mage, however, when a mage is focused they need to play more defensively and mana wise. blast wave is a great move to use defensively as rank 1 because it costs less mana and slows everyone around you possibly giving you enough time to get away and live. basically using blast wave during the right time could save the game because if you can synchronize your blast wave, CoC, frostbolt, nova correctly, it may give you enough time to escape, and using rank one of all of those spells is still less than a full rank blast wave.

Dragon’s breath (Rank1)- this spell goes along with many of the others in regards to mana issues and survivability and even CC in this case. once again, if a mage is bieng focused they cant risk burning 700 mana to do some damage, instead using rank1, it can be used to kite the enemy on you or even help a teammate that is close to dead. stunning that opponent (not the focus target) may be crucial because 3 seconds of stun is enough time for the person to get a huge heal or run away and eat. another great usage for rank 1 is if you are already running low on mana, and need to save it for a burst on a target later… you can simply rank 1 DB an enemy healer or even two and they will be stunned for 3 seconds which may lead into a counterspell or sheep. DB is a great move to use both defensively and offensively.

Blizzard (rank1)- this spell is used at the beginning of matches in which case there is a rogue druid or even shadowmelded night elf. it is a great spell to use in attempts to get the hidden out of stealth. this spell is NOT used for damage and should probably never be used full rank. this is 100% purpose to get enemies out of stealth. using rank 1 is just more mana efficient than full rank and that is why it should be used instead of full when attempting to pull an enemy out of stealth.

Arcane Explosion (rank1)- AE as most call it, is probably the best spell to pull stealthers out. when using rank 1, you only use 75 mana, so spamming this move about 5 times then drinking is very effective when trying to get something out. not only is this great at beginning of games, but can be strategically used later in games to pull rogues out of vanish or shadowmelded drinkers/eaters. AE may be the best move to get things out of stealth because it’s instant, low mana, and spammable.