Firebound Alliance--how are people using this (if they're using it) and is it worth losing one of my spell slots over? Blazing Jet--a nuke that costs 10 mana? Is it worth a spell slot? Chaotic Fire--any reason to use this over any of our other nukes? The Chaotic Chance has a chance to proc, and the stats on it look nice.
1. Firebound alliance works in conjunction with other magicians. You cast alliance on a mob, other magicians land I believe 8 spells on mob within 15 seconds, and you get credit with a 2.6 million damage blast. As a solo magician it does nothing. 2. Firebound orb is a summoned item. 10 charges, insta cast, can be focused, does around 200k max or so each click. Definitely worth using and summoning. 3. Chaotic spells are definitely useful. When I am in group game I run the following weave- Chaotic- RS- 110 Spear- Chaotic- 105 Spear. Rinse/repeat. Chaotic can allow you to twincast, can improve fire spell damage, lower aggro, give back mana, etc. Lots of good things!
One thing I forgot to mention is, after that 105 spear there is generally anywhere from 0-1.5 seconds until Chaotic refreshes based on lag. This is when you can do Force AA, or I will do either 106 Bolt or Fire rain. Or just wait until Chaotic refreshes...
106 Bolt is definitely not worth casting ever. If chaotic isn't back up, just use the next spell in your weave and skip it instead of wasting forceful or using bolt. Or wait the short amount of time. Either way, if OP is asking about things that are a waste of spellbar space, Bolt is definitely very high up on the list.
Kizant”s tool is really good: http://dps.kizant.net/?class=mag# Note that adding a 5th nuke to your multibind will lower your dps in several multibind lineups. A thing to consider is: RS before Chaotic or vice versa ?
I'm not really sure why Mages have such a strong desire to avoid miniscule amounts of dead time, but please don't add a fifth nuke. That's not to say there haven't been very specific situations where a fifth spell is a DPS increase, but in the vast majority of situations it is not, and this is one of them. You lose a significant number of casts of your higher DPS spells and make up for that with casts of lower DPS spells. As such, it's a net loss. In the lineup Chaotic -> RS -> Spear -> Spear (in which Chaotic casts twice), you are going to be casting Chaotic -> Spear -> Chaotic. Chaotic has a 5.25s recast, and Spear has a 3.5 second cast time without haste. Assuming 50% haste and no lag at all, you're looking at 1.5s (GCD) + 1.75s (Spear cast time) + 1.5s. That creates a maximum of 0.5s worth of dead time. In actuality it's probably <0.25s due to lag; you'll never actually see a 1.5s GCD. The spells you are choosing to fill that down time, Bolt and Rain, have 3s and 4s casting times, respectively. Factoring in haste and the GCD, that's at least 3s and 3.5s of total time spent, respectively, because you chose to cast one of those spells. Filling 0.25-0.5s of downtime with 3-3.5s of casting means you'll be casting your other four spells noticeably less. As your other four spells are better, it's an overall DPS loss. You can test it out on kizant's app and see that it's a DPS loss with either spell. Rains definitely still have some place in group lineups, though. Replacing Spear of Molten Shieldstone with Rain of Knives is a small DPS gain if you don't have any crit chance/damage modifiers present. If you get four lines instead of three, you can replace both Spears with both Rains for a slightly larger DPS gain. They're still pretty mana efficient too. You're not losing a ton of DPS if you stick to spears, but it is definitely an option if you're looking to maximize your group play.
Most magicians use multibinds to maximize DPS, not a specific rotation. The reason is that one of the possible effects of Chaotic Fires spell is a refresh on your spell cool downs. In that case, you should be using it to cast your highest damage spell on cool down. A lot of the times, that's the rampaging servant, which people usually put as their highest priority, or second highest priority. Still, it's not the optimal way of playing the class, just the best trade off between how easy it is, and how effective it is. The optimal way is to see what comes out of your Chaotic Fires and then decide accordingly. For example, twincast = no servant. Fire penalty = limit fire spells. Refresh = servant. But that's a pain to do compared to just clicking one button over and over again, so people use multibinds. In a box group, though, you'll want to stick to a rotation for the same reason - it's easier!
This is sort of accurate but also sort of not. First, I agree about multibinding. Multibinding is generally going to out-compete other methods for casting. However, you should also be using a specific rotation. The two are not mutually exclusive. One of the biggest issues many mages have is that they spam their multibind with no regard for the actual order in which spells are casting. If you're using the multibind Chaotic -> RS -> Spear -> Spear, it should be rotating Chaotic -> RS -> Spear -> Chaotic -> Spear. This gets Chaotic out twice, which is good for proccing things, and gives the Conjurer's Synergy proc to Spear. If it isn't rotating in that order, sitting there and absentmindedly spamming your key is costing you DPS. You need to cast spells intelligently so the order gets back on track. This is a lot more important in raids, both with lag and the importance of maximizing DPS there. I also agree you should react to procs (including Chaotic procs), but not completely in the way you described. When Syllable of Refreshment procs, RS -> Spear isn't a bad choice, but you can also just cast Chaotic again (Chaotic -> RS -> Spear). Thinking about that is definitely a good idea. Flames of Weakness, however, is not limited to fire spells, so that shouldn't really affect your decision making (plus, our Magic spells suck). With regards to Twincast, it isn't really a DPS gain to drop RS, except I guess right now because Theft is broken. In the group game it's definitely a DPS loss dropping it. In raids it depends on modifiers and things, but I generally, ignoring this month, prefer to focus on getting out as many Chaotic casts as possible during TC to keep proccing it. RS actually works better in that regard because it casts quickly. Getting Conjurer's Synergy is important too, and that benefits your whole group. So yeah. Do think about things, do multibind, don't mindlessly spam things.
I admit that I'm very happy with the addition of the Chaotic line for the very reason that you can't just spam your multibind key and expect to have the best DPS. Yes, it's certainly easier to spam multibind, but I am not an end-game raider* because I like things to be easy. Can you elaborate on a few things? Firstly, I want to be sure unequivocally that I am understanding you correctly--you say _do not_ skip RS during Twincast? It pains me to even consider this, but I defer to your experience and wisdom. Secondly, what is Theft and how is it intended to work? Thirdly, what is Conjurer's Synergy? Sorry to have so many noob questions. *retired as and hope to rapidly become again
Check your AA window for Theft of Essence (class tab) and Conjurer’s Synergy (focus tab). The descriptions are fairly straightforward. Theft is a pet buff that happens when casting the Many/eradicate lines. Currently broken but to be fixed next week with patch. Conjurer’s Synergy is an ability that gives you and your group a song window nuke increase buff each time you cast RS.
1. When Flames of Weakness procs from the Chaotic spell, what do you guys cast until it's gone? 2. Is there any script that goes off when the Chaotic spell procs Twincast? As far as I can tell, the only Twincast script is after you cast a nuke... hoping there is some "warning" that Chaotic gives when the Twincast effect procs (other than the Twincast buff). 3. On Firebound Alliance, when it procs on you, what's the best thing to cast? Or does it not matter? 4. How many pets need to be active for the Of Many line to be worth a spell gem? Is it ever useful in the group game, i.e. with two or more mages? Or should it solely be used for raids? 5. Iceflame Keep--I know that when I retired, I was still using Maloseniac Eminence pet buff that procs a weak malo instead of this line. Am I being stupid and sacrificing way too much pet DPS by doing this? It looks like Maloseniac Eminence is actually better if a pet is tanking but Iceflame Keep is better when pet is not tanking, or am I reading the info wrong? 6. Acronite Malosinata--dafuq? 7. Do mages still use the Symbiosis line? (I am still in the habit of casting it every time it refreshes, but my gear still needs a lot of catching up to do.)
1. I just keep casting my DPS weave 2. You can create an in game audio trigger to let you know when you twincast from Chaotic. I believe it is the same message as if you casted the twincast spell 3. Firebound alliance, how it works- you cast the spell on the mob. It places a debuff on the mob that lasts like 12-18 seconds. OTHER magicians not named Mintalie cast fire spells on the mob. If 8 fire spells land on the mob within 12-18 seconds, Mintalie gets credit for a 2.6 million damage spell. If 7 or less spells are casted, Mintalie gets no extra damage given to her. Mintalie can continue to cast fire spells on the mob while Mintalie alliance is on the mob, but they DO NOT count towards the required 8 to fulminate the alliance. 5. I use Iceflame Keep because it is habit for me to use AA malo. If you want to be lazy, use the other. 6. This spell casts the highest rank of your malo spell and your highest rank magic DD spell together. If you have rk3 level 101 Malo and rk3 107 Shock of Arconite Steel, then Arconite Malosinata casts those two spells at same time. 7. Group game I do. Raid I cast it before we engage then forget about it. Probably don't even need to use it on a raid.
Thanks for your answers, very helpful. On this one, I don't think I was particularly clear--I already have an audio trigger set up for when I twincast a spell. What I'm looking for is if there is text for when Chaotic procs the short-term Twincast buff... I hear my twincast audio trigger going off after the fact. I am hoping to know when the Twincast buff is active before I cast a spell, if that makes sense.
*wave Mintalie* *tackle hugs* I remember you posting years ago. It's good to have you back. I am also back from an extended afk. I have been stealthily watching this thread (and others like it) to figure out how to maximize my/roommates mage. Thank you for starting this thread P.S. You are in good hands, the people helping (Sancus Kizant Brohg FCSeven Iblis , just to name a few, there are too many to remember! sorry!) are all top shelf and their reputation for being helpful proceeds them. P.S. If you need good reading material, check out similar posts from earlier in the year / 2017 where certain mages argue with Sancus but they lose the debate to his facts and testing. It was a glorious read
Interesting, i always switched RS out with spell or proc TC assuming it was more dps. Going to test keeping RS during sustained dmg. Thanks!
