Mage: Arcane Leveling Spec

[sarge714]

Hey everyone. I was wondering if someone could give me a website that has an arcane leveling spec. Or even you yourself can make me one! I feel that fire is to irritating in terms of how many deaths I've had. (Probably like 15,000 times ). Now frost -- It's alright. However it seems to slow and it get pretty boring. The other day I was browsing youtube and watched a video of an Arcane Mage leveling, it was great! He never ran out of mana, the crits where beyond belief, but most of all the mobs never got to him.

Thanks in advance.
--- Happy Hunting ---

[antacus]

Arcane is the, current, best raiding spec. My 55xx gear score mage pulls (going on memory here as I don't really play him anymore) 5700-6000DPS range with criticals in the 14k-19k range, but I do see 21-22k from time to time.

The way I got my spec at wow heroes . com by filtering on mages for my realm, all three specs. Then I looked at what the top 20 mages were and looked at their builds one by one. It took a lot of time but since then I have not had to respec again and I pull sweet damage.

You can look at Toxis's build for what I have been using if you want to save some time. Keep in mind that my off spec, frost, is not used and I actually still have unused points in that one.

[Kamchak]

Once you are able to get 40% crit or higher, fire is the spec to use. It is very crit based, however, and is ineffective as a superior DPS spec to arcane until at least 40% crit.
If you are running ICC raids the buffs may push you into a 40%+ crit rating.
Plus, for me, it is a much more interesting spec to play. More to do that AB till proc for AM.
The arcane spec is pretty interesting to keep high DPS up and be able to watch the action around you, though. Good to use if you are doing a boss fight you arent very familiar with.

[sarge714]

I forgot to mention I'm level 64. Not 80.

[Kamchak]

OK.. you are about at the level where things are about to get more intense in an instance.
Keep your frost spec for now. Tanks and healers are going to be getting new challanges to their abilities, and will need to work out the adjustments. Frost spec will keep you alive a bit longer while they work out these changes.
I'd say change to arcane around 68 or 69. The new difficulities will be worked out for the most part, and you will be able to start queing for Nax. Also, at these levels now, if the tanks and healers cant hold aggro or heal, the frost shield wont matter much to you anyway. These mobs hurt like hell to a squishy.

[Dragonhawk]

If you have saved your gold, this is a good time to learn Dual Talent Specialization from your Mage trainer. Then you can experiment with an Arcane spec on one Talent set for dungeons and low level raids, while keeping your survival-friendly Frost (or Fire) spec on the other Talent set for leveling.

It's an awesome feeling when you first flex your Arcane muscles in a group and someone more senior compliments you "nice dps!". But as a solo leveler, every time you die or incur serious downtime recovering from a cluster of mobs, you lost valuable time.

[komakala]

Personally I'm not having any issues with the fire spec. I am actually able to run longer on fire than with frost. Most mobs take 3 - 4 spells and they are dead. Granted I'm only level 40 right now, but I've leveled another mage using the frost build and I found that fire seems to get the job done faster. I actually went for about 2 hours without needing to stop and drink where with frost I have to stop after a dozen fights and have a short drink break.

[antacus]

I actually stuck with frost until about level 78 with my mage. You can AoE kill a lot easier solo with frost then fire or arcane. Dual spec is a good idea and between mana gems and evoc you can swap between fights in an instance while not slowing the group much.

My path from 70 to 80 was quest 70-72, then PUG 72-80 with AoE killing the mammoths in the Tundra (lotta gold between skins and trash drops) while waiting for my next random. Pre-80 no one expects huge DPS so if you pull 1250 instead of 1500 ... who cares. Worry about DPS after you hit 80 and can get the real equipment.

[Skippyninja]

The main issue with doing good dps before 80 (and being a fresh 80 for that matter) is the general lack of hit rating. Once you get to the precious 17% hit rating, you're DPS will improve exceptionally (if you plan on being arcane you can get 3% hit from Precision in the frost tree and 3% hit from Arcane focus(?) from the first tier in the arcane tree).

Frost mages tend to have better survivability compared to fire mages, while fire can burn down a single mob or two with ease anymore than 3-4 mobs will likely kill you. A fun thing to do with Living Bomb is to DoT up a couple mobs, get them in Frost Nova range, freeze them, step out of the way and watch the mobs go splody. I PvP as a fire mage to do this to packs of hordies (frost nova > blast wave is also, well... A blast ).

[sarge714]

Thank you so much for the advice. However I switched to Arcane at 66. It is actually a pretty dominant spec for leveling.
My reasons:
- Hardly any downtime (evocate being very fast, mana gem, etc)
- Crazy burst Note: This is bursting for 64+ when you get arcane blast.
- The crits eat the mobs before reaching your feet.
- A little more fun imo. because fire wasn't to good for me, I died a lot, frost seemed to slow. Arcane is interesting with the high crits and amazingly cool spells.
- Survivability, your blink has a low cool down and mana shield absorbs the mana that you don't use. (I've never gotten below 30%).
- A.O.E. (Can't say not to much of an aoe'r.

Thanks again for all your responses
~ Sarge714

[Kamchak]

- A.O.E. (Can't say not to much of an aoe'r.

Thanks again for all your responses
~ Sarge714

If you're not using AoE, you're missing a TON of damage.
Questing, this is not an ideal spell to use; but in dungeons, on 3 or more mob pulls, not using an AoE is counter productive.
There are times when using an AoE in a dungeon or raid is just not smart... for the other times, it is amazingly effective.

Try this next time you are in a dungeon with 3 or more mobs.
1) let tank get full aggro, of course
2) hit flamestrike level 8
3) hit flamestrike level 9
4) blizzard

Set recount to report by fight and see the difference in the numbers.

And, for when you do this..... You are welcome.

[Skippyninja]

Eh, AoE is nice and all... Granted you may pull up to 21K in DPS depending on how many mobs there are. In 25 man raids I feel that AoE isn't always as effective, I like to be the person bursting down the tank's target to move the raid along. You may be doing 21K DPS total, but the damage to each individual target is miniscule. It takes longer for all the AoEs to kill trash than bursting down one target after the other (not very mana efficient, but hey.) still AoE is a great thing, I love it, but sometimes single target is pro.

[Kamchak]

In other words, what Kam said?

"There are times when using an AoE in a dungeon or raid is just not smart... for the other times, it is amazingly effective."

LOL

Not bad at expounding on it though, Skippy.

Basically, NOT AoE'ing is not productive, when the time calls for it.
If the pull is only 1 or 2 mobs, AoE's will do less than single target rotation.
What I recommend (and Im sure Skippy will also) is work on different methods and situations.
For example; in ICC, before each boss, there is trash. I let the tanks grab aggro for the first 15 or 20 seconds, then I start a AoE rotation of FS lvl 8, FS lvl 9, and blizzard. I keep this going until 2/3 of the pull is dead, then I move to single target rotation on highest HP mob.
I also have been running these a lot, and know when I can and shouldnt AoE.
All done by experience and dying... a lot.
Hopefully I can get you some insight so you die less then I had to.

[Skippyninja]

Why, thank you, sir! I didn't mean to hijack your thunder, I just wanted to explain the technical side and the method to our magey madness.

[Kamchak]

Meh.... was poking ya.
Hard to explain the "when to AoE and not to AoE" thing though.
Especially for a mage. There is no other class I have played with a more devestating AoE ability.