Managing aggro as a Mage
#1
Hello all.

Being bored with no Internet I decided to wipe out this little guide on mage aggro control. As we all know, Mages are a high-utility, high-DPS, high-risk class. We get one of the lowest HP ratings in the game and only have access to cloth armor meaning that we are extremely squishy and thus prone to quick death. It might not seem very apparent to you at first, but as you progress throughout the game aggro management becomes a very important part of instance playing, especially in the end-game instances where your typical melee mob can completely knock you out of the fight in 3 or so hits.

The following is a collection of what I consider to be very good practices that will help you keep your aggro under control and make the most out of your DPS capabilities without dying every other pull. Hopefully some of the information in this small guide will be helpful to you in any way.

This small guide is intended to deal solely on the topic of aggro control when doing DPS on an instance. This is simply a preliminary draft; your feedback and thoughtful disagreements on the issue are greatly appreciated.


First Contact

Generally speaking, either the MT or the mages/priests will be handling the pulling (this depends on the instance and the type of pull). When the mobs start running towards the party, it is extremely important that you let the MT make contact with the mobs and build some aggro before you start attacking. If you hit a mob before the MT has had any chance to build aggro, the mob will come running straight towards you and you will make the MT’s work harder because he will have to take aggro off you on every single pull.

Your selection for opener spell is also very important in determining the initial aggro. Mages that open with fireball or pyroblast should be shot, plain and simple. Unless your MT is inhuman, using a pyroblast or a fireball as openers guarantees aggro and extra work for the tank. Now, what spells are good openers? Basically, anything that is low damage and thus low aggro. Reasonably speaking, the only spell that falls in this category is Scorch, as it lets you maintain a constant stream of DPS without building up much aggro. Gently scorching the mobs also gives you more nuking options, as you can fire a volley of AM when clearcasting procs, or switch to a more powerful frostbolt or fireball when the mob’s health falls below 50% or so.

I cannot overstress the importance of Scorch; it’s a great DPS, low aggro spell. Being critically specced changes things a bit, though. Personally, I am not a great fan of critical builds for instance play because I don’t enjoy unexpected critical hits drawing aggro away from the MT. I would rather have +damage, low crit gear that gives me a far greater control of my damage output. If you must absolutely use a critical build in an instance, using a Rank 1 frostbolt to slow down the mobs before you do anything is a great way of helping the MT get aggro from you if you happen to crit on your first Scorch.

Speaking of Rank 1 frostbolt, always keep that spell hotkeyed. If you are on pulling duty, it always helps to fire a quick frostbolt with negligible DPS to make it easier for the MT to get the initial aggro after the sheeps, saps and/or shackles have been made.

To wrap it up, if you see the MT trying to get mobs off your ass on every single pull, you are doing something wrong.


Just because you can cast it, doesn’t mean you should be casting it.

Yes, I know your mana bar is almost full. Does it mean you should be spitting out fireballs every three seconds? Hell no. To put it simple, watch your damage output and don’t be one dimensional. Just because you are fire doesn’t mean you should resort to spam fireballs (or scorches if you are critically specced); same goes for frost builds, don’t just spam frostbolt.

The best way to control your damage output is to alternate between scorch and your main damage dealer (be it fireball or frostbolt), with a volley of AM thrown in when clearcasting procs. Alternate your spells in such a way as to mitigate sudden aggro build-ups from critical hits. For example, if your first fireball or frostbolt crits when the mob is at 60% or 50%, it is a good idea to follow up with a scorch to alleviate the high increase in aggro instead of another fireball/frostbolt. Regarding arcane missiles, getting a clear cast on your very first spell doesn’t mean you should missile right away. Remember, AM is a massive DPS spell and thus high aggro.

Lastly, you are not a machine gun, you are a glass cannon. Wait a few seconds in between casts; not only will it do wonders to your aggro management, but it will help you conserve mana. Your DPS is already good enough as it is; casting spells like a machine gun will make you draw aggro pretty fast even with Scorch. Plus, it always helps to see how much damage you do to the mob before you start casting anything, as it gives you a very good idea of what you should use as a follow up.


When Things Go Wrong ™

So you drew aggro. Take a few milliseconds to evaluate the situation before you hit the Frost Nova hotkey (hopefully Rank 1) and break all the sheeps and shackles. Being a mage, you should be standing far away from where all the blood is being spilled; this should give you a very good picture of where all the sheeps/shackles are so you can decide whether or not a quick cast of frost nova will be enough to help the MT get the aggro back.

Other very good alternatives to frost nova include popping up a mana shield, running to the mob and letting it beat on you so the MT has to cover less ground to get it off you. Blinking in the direction of the mob is also a very good idea, as the mob will make a U turn to catch you, thus running in the direction of the MT.

If you are frost specced, Ice Block is also available. The main problem with Ice Block is that it dumps aggro from you; the aggroed mob just stops walking towards you and makes a beeline for the next target on its aggro list, which is usually the healer. This is particularly bad if you are fighting against very hard hitting melee opponents (virtually any melee mob in the high level instances falls into this category). Mages are expendable when compared to priests, so unless you find yourself in a situation where you are really needed (i.e., a boss fight), don’t Ice Block.

If there is one thing you shouldn’t do when you get aggro, is keep attacking. If you draw aggro from a level 60 elite that is at 50% health, mass-spamming AM is NOT the answer. Such a mob can probably kill you 10 times before you can take him down from 50% to zero by spamming AM. The only exception to this rule is if the mob is at 5% or lower health.


Nukin’

For me, nukes are instant-cast, high-damage, high-aggro spells such as Fireblast and Cone of Cold. The easiest and quickest way to rack up aggro is to nuke. In other words, only use your nukes as finishers or when the mob is at about 30% or so health. Now, you would think this makes perfect sense, but I have seen level 60 mages pulling with Fireblast, and it happens more frequently than you would think.

There is, however, a very valid reason to nuke and draw aggro. Suppose your healer gets aggro in a very tight situation (i.e., the MT is already busy fending off 3 or 4 mobs). You can fireblast the mob, hopefully drawing aggro away from the healer, and then root him in place for 8 seconds with Frost Nova (make it 16 if you have Cold Snap). Neutralizing a mob that is attacking the healer for 8 seconds can make all the difference on those “oh crap” situations, especially if you are five-manning any high-level instance.


Your MT May Vary (YMTMV)

Not all players are equal, and not all warriors are protection specced. When you are playing with a warrior you don’t know, always start slow on the DPS and push it up slowly so you can get a feel of how good he is at keeping aggro. Protection specced warriors are by far the best when it comes to holding aggro, and they are pretty good at getting aggro back from you if you screw up, but it doesn’t mean you should go crazy on the DPS. The best warrior on the server can’t save your ass if you keep stealing aggro from him; in fact, he might just refuse to do anything and leave you to deal with the mob just to teach you a lesson.

Arms/fury warriors are also pretty good at holding aggro, but not as good as protection warriors. Now, I have never played a warrior, but it has been my experience that arms/fury warriors have it more difficult to get aggro back from you. If you know you are playing with an arms/fury warrior, you need to be conservative with your DPS in order to avoid getting killed.


To assist, or not to assist

When you are in a party or raid group for any instance, you are expected to assist either the main tank or the main assist. Main assists are typically needed in situations where there’s not enough crowd control to neutralize all mobs and the MT has to be running around hitting multiple targets, making sure they all stay on him (such as Upper Blackrock Spire). As a mage, it’s very important that you assist or else you risk drawing aggro. Sometimes battles can get out of hand in places such as UBRS, and nobody is going to notice when that Blackhand Assassin is eating you because you were the only one that attacked him.

However, if you happen to be in a really bad group where people don’t assist, things can get very dangerous. Even if you are assisting and are using your assist macro, if only 2 more people are assisting you risk drawing aggro. You need to carefully watch the health bars of all the mobs (hint: use the ‘V’ key), and make sure you are attacking whatever is losing health fast. Mages just don’t have the HP and armor to afford drawing aggro and getting killed because a crappy raid group doesn’t know how to assist.

The same applies to five man groups, whose success on those “oh crap” moments depends solely on assisting. If you happen to be on a five man group and somehow extra mobs add to the fight, it’s better to just stop attacking once the current target dies, and watch health bars so you can identify that one mob that is losing health faster so you can assist. Don’t panic if you need to stand still for 5 whole seconds of chaos before you can decide what to assist; you are far more useful to the group if you can assist properly after those 5 seconds than if you die in 2 because you decided to fireblast a random mob.


Bosses

Bosses come in different sizes and flavors, and have their own unique and annoying abilities. Fortunately, there is no single fire-proof strategy that can be applied to every single boss in the game, other than common sense (otherwise the game would be dull). Depending on the type of boss you are fighting, you may start with slow DPS and gradually increase towards the end when it comes to your typical boss, or simply go all-out DPS (volley after volley of arcane missiles) in the case of head bosses.

As a general rule of thumb, if you are fighting a boss that has an ability that makes the tank lose melee range or contact with the boss (i.e., knockback, stun, etc.), you should downright cut off your damage output or else you risk drawing immediate aggro and getting one-hit killed (“King Gordok mortal strikes you for 3200 damage” comes to mind). Bosses that use ranged attacks such as casters are sometimes more dangerous than their melee counterparts, simply because it’s not that obvious to tell when you have drawn aggro from them; you get hit by a few spells and die, as opposed to watching a huge and ugly female mass of rock suddenly turn around and start walking towards you. When dealing with these types of bosses with ranged attacks, it’s better to position yourself such that the tank’s back is not directly in front of you. That way it’s easy to tell if you have drawn aggro because the boss will turn to face you and start casting.

Lastly, there’s the issue of Ice Block. Boss fights are one of those situations in which Ice Block comes in handy, especially if you are in a five man group. As a mage, you play a very important role in the success of the fight because of your massive DPS, so if you went overboard on the DPS and drew aggro, Ice Block together with Cold Snap can help save your ass at least twice during the battle. You can even use Ice Block to your advantage in case the tank dies, since you are probably the next on the boss’ aggro list. As soon as the boss keeps running towards you, kite him as long as possible before Ice Blocking so that you give the other party members a chance to inflict some crucial damage.

In most cases, you can treat bosses as you would any regular mob. Use common sense and start building aggro slowly so that you can let loose with massive DPS at about 50% without having to worry about drawing aggro.


Final words

To summarize all that has been discussed here (and for those of you that like bullet lists instead of just random thoughts hastily cluttered in sections), the key points that must be taken into consideration when playing the mage are as follows:
  • Let the tank get aggro before you do anything.
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  • Open with a low aggro, low damage spell.
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  • Don’t be one-dimensional; alternate between spells.
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  • Learn how to deal with sudden criticals by switching to low damage spells.
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  • Assist in killing whatever is losing health fast.
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  • And the most important of all: know the capabilities of your tank.<>
    [st]
    With practice, I promise you will be able to learn how to push your DPS to the max without drawing aggro. Also, if you have not yet discovered the wonders of Scorch, you will be amazed at how effective this nifty spell is for squeezing in some fast DPS without drawing aggro. Plus, it’s always fun to see random mages get killed every other pull because they are trying in vain to out-DPS you by mass-spamming fireball.

    Edit: Okay, I give up. Somebody please tell me how to get that bullet list-thingy working. :(
The gods made heavy metal and they saw that is was good
They said to play it louder than Hell
We promised that we would
When losers say it's over with you know that it's a lie
The gods made heavy metal and it's never gonna die

- Manowar
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#2
Thanks for the write-up! My mage instance experience consists of a few runs of The Deadmines so this is pretty handy.
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#3
Thanks for the guide. My comments below are based on my experience with my level 56 frost mage.

Most of the time I leave the pulling to the tank. The one major exception is the sheep pull wherein I sheep a mob and the other mobs make a beeline for me. However, in this situation it is or should be easy for the tank to intercept them before they get to me.
If I do pull, I use frostbolt. I have rarely found this to be a problem.
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The one situation which you did not address is the AoE spells against multiple nonelite mobs. The mage can perform a great service by taking out the group, but if it is not done correctly it will end with the mage's death, and possibly even a total group wipe thereafter.

1. If there are only 3 or 4 mobs, and your tank and main assist are good at holding aggro, just wait a little while before you start. Make sure that you are at some distance from the mobs. Fire off a blizzard. I have improved blizzard and frostbite, so even if I do pull one of the mobs away from the tank, I have plenty of time to react.

2. Make sure that the healer knows that he might have to look out for you. There are situations with multiple non elite mobs where the mobs are most definitely going to aggro you. Essentially, the healer then needs to focus on you rather than the tank. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this situation as long as you and the healer can work together.

3. Sometimes it is better not to AoE, and just take the targets one at a time, focussing on attacking the main assist's target. If the mobs can be done this way without party members dying,it is a safer option for the mage.
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I used to use scorch all the time in instances, but rarely do anymore. I tend to use frostbolt extensively. The key is to pause for a second or two between each bolt. However, I almost always am in pickup groups, and at times the tank simply cannot hold aggro. In those groups, I will wait extra long before I ever fire a frostbolt, and I use my wand a lot.
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The decision whether to attack back against a mob should be based on whether you believe that you can kill or kite that mob, and what effect it will have on the group.
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I have on occasion intentionally drawn aggro to myself in order to protect the priest. This is not a great thing to do, and not really the mage's job. However, if the tank isn't taking care of the priest, what else can you do? Sometimes frost nova does the trick here to give the priest some breathing room. It doesn't hurt to tell the priest that you will use nova to help him so that he will be mentally prepared for the eventuality should it happen.
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I duo a lot with Concillian's priest. He gives a nice description of what we do at this link:
http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index.p...st=&#entry81675

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#4
Ashkael,Jul 11 2005, 09:51 PM Wrote:[*]Open with a low aggro, low damage spell.

OK I'd like to address this point

Firstly, as far as I'm aware, there are no specifically low or high aggro mage spells. There's nothing like Earthshock or Mind Blast that states "this causes additional threat on the target". So low aggro low damage spell is actually a tautology. It's low aggro because it's low damage not both low aggro plus low damage as two separate stackable aspects

And that's where I think this thinking is wrong

Let's for the sake on discussion invent an arbitrary system of hate points - one which approximates how the game handles threat

So first the tank

Second 1 Tank hits mob => 50 hate
Second 2
Second 3 Tank hits mob => +50 hate (100 total)
Second 4
Second 5 Tank sunders => 300 hate + 50 hate for the hit (450 total)
etc

Now the mage's job is to keep below the tank in hate generation

With that in mind consider which of the following is better:

Second 2 low damage spell 100 hate
Second 4 low damage spell 100 hate (200 total)
Second 6 low damage spell 100 hate (300 total)

Second 6 big damage, slow wind up spell 300 hate


Surely the second case is better, since in our two examples the first one would pull aggro in second 2, where the second one doing the same damage by second 6 wouldn't pull aggro

I think in over-simplifying this you're perpetuating a false understanding of threat generation, ie that lots of small spells is better than fewer big spells.

Of course, this doesn't consider crits and with big spells your crits are spikier
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#5
I just wait for first Sunder on mob and then I start casting Frostbolt and just chain-cast (with AM when clearcast) and unless I crit twice in the begining, I hardly ever draw aggro off the tank. That is, if the tank tanks in defensive stance.

If I'm busy sheeping, it's even easier.

Most of the time I draw aggro when I'm impatient and start casting sooner or when I attack wrong target (it's nice to have MA to blame :P ).

This is for stuff up to UBRS.
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#6
Ashkael,Jul 11 2005, 04:51 PM Wrote:When Things Go Wrong ™

So you drew aggro.

If there is one thing you shouldn’t do when you get aggro, is kept attacking.
If you draw aggro from a level 60 elite that is at 50% health, mass-spamming AM is NOT the answer. Such a mob can probably kill you 10 times before you can take him down from 50% to zero by spamming AM. The only exception to this rule is if the mob is at 5% or lower health.[right][snapback]83118[/snapback][/right]

Quoted for god/goddess blessed truth. Nothing is more frustrating to a tank than to taunt, sunder, demo shout and shield bash and see the mob turn back to the squishie because they couldn't resist just ONE more fireball. ;)

Ashkael,Jul 11 2005, 04:51 PM Wrote:Your MT May Vary (YMTMV)

Not all players are equal, and not all warriors are protection specced. When you are playing with a warrior you don’t know, always start slow on the DPS and push it up slowly so you can get a feel of how good he is at keeping aggro. Protection specced warriors are by far the best when it comes to holding aggro, and they are pretty good at getting aggro back from you if you screw up, but it doesn’t mean you should go crazy on the DPS. The best warrior on the server can’t save your ass if you keep stealing aggro from him; in fact, he might just refuse to do anything and leave you to deal with the mob just to teach you a lesson.

Arms/fury warriors are also pretty good at holding aggro, but not as good as protection warriors. Now, I have never played a warrior, but it has been my experience that arms/fury warriors have it more difficult to get aggro back from you. If you know you are playing with an arms/fury warrior, you need to be conservative with your DPS in order to avoid getting killed.
[right][snapback]83118[/snapback][/right]

Getting aggro back isn't usually the problem as we have the same snap aggro as a protection specc'd warrior with the some of the same tools for keeping aggro. A good rule of thumb is if there isn't at least a sunder don't go high dps when you have a arms warrior as your MT. (Like my Shalandrax)

Thanks for this thread by the way. :)
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#7
Tal,Jul 18 2005, 09:10 AM Wrote:Quoted for god/goddess blessed truth. Nothing is more frustrating to a tank than to taunt, sunder, demo shout and shield bash and see the mob turn back to the squishie because they couldn't resist just ONE more fireball. ;)
Getting aggro back isn't usually the problem as we have the same snap aggro as a protection specc'd warrior with the some of the same tools for keeping aggro. A good rule of thumb is if there isn't at least a sunder don't go high dps when you have a arms warrior as your MT. (Like my Shalandrax)

Thanks for this thread by the way. :)
[right][snapback]83687[/snapback][/right]
First a rant: I was in Wailing Caverns with a 4 person party. In front of us are a druid, a big hairy shambler (or whatever they are called) and a boss. Via party chat I, the warrior tank, say, sheep the druid. After a brief pause, the mage proceeds to cast a frostbolt on the shambler. I have 00 rage and I now have to establish aggro on 3 targets, 3 mean targets. Fortunately we did not wipe. Before the next boss we somehow wind up with a bunch of adds. For reasons I do not understand, the mage kept sheeping different targets, breaking his previous sheep. Very confusing for the tank, not to mention horribly inefficient. We did wipe this time, and while I cannot blame the mage for the adds, he wasn't very helpful. Stupid mage!

So...
1. Communicate with the tank, and pull intelligently.
2. Don't change sheep in midstream.
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#8
Thanks for replying!

I did not address mage AoE because AoE is all about drawing aggro to you, and my main focus with this guide was how not to draw aggro. ;) AoE is a completely separate topic, but your comments are spot on.

Regarding pulling, most of the time I leave pulling to the MT. However, there are situations in instances where Counterspell and Sheep pulls are required in order to ensure a safe pull (the Bat patrols in Stratholme come to mind). I am not a fan of slow instance groups, and all the tanks I party with (mostly friends and guildies) know I will pull something if they take too long to do it themselves ;).
The gods made heavy metal and they saw that is was good
They said to play it louder than Hell
We promised that we would
When losers say it's over with you know that it's a lie
The gods made heavy metal and it's never gonna die

- Manowar
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#9
Well, the only mage spell that is considered high-aggro by the game is Counterspell. I can see what you mean when you say that there is no such thing as a low aggro, low damage spell from that point of view. However, I still think it makes sense to think of a low damage spell as being more low aggro when compared to something that packs more of a punch. Even though both spells are standard aggro in game terms, the one that does more damage will rack up more hate per hit .

Regarding the multiple low damage spells coment, I am not saying that chain casting multiple low damage spells is lower aggro than using stronger ones. If you cast Scorch like a machine gun, you re going to draw aggro (and sometimes much faster than spamming fireball or frostbolt). What I was trying to say is that if you go slow on the DPS at first, you will A) make the MT's job easier because he won't have to run to save your ass, and B) you will have much more nuking options as the mob's health bar starts going down. I would rather start slow so that I can let loose with all the DPS I want a bit later, than to make the tank work extra hard and possibly get myself killed.

Regarding the two case example, I would use the low damage spell on second 4, not 2
;).

Now, I wrote this mainly from a 5-man point of view. I rarely raid, and when I do so it's to help guildies. If I ever want to run a high level instance other than UBRS, I do so in a 5 man group. If you raid in guild-only groups, most of this material is meaningless to you because mobs willl be dying faster than you can get 2 frostbolts/fireballs in. However, if you go on pick up groups, it changes things a bit as sometimes you can pull aggro with your wand :P.
The gods made heavy metal and they saw that is was good
They said to play it louder than Hell
We promised that we would
When losers say it's over with you know that it's a lie
The gods made heavy metal and it's never gonna die

- Manowar
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#10
Ashkael,Jul 11 2005, 09:51 PM Wrote:Edit: Okay,&nbsp; I give up. Somebody please tell me how to get that bullet list-thingy working.&nbsp; :(
[right][snapback]83118[/snapback][/right]

Shouldn't the last \ actually be an / ???
There are three types of people in the world. Those who can count and those who can't.
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#11
Ashkael,Jul 18 2005, 11:52 PM Wrote:What I was trying to say is that if you go slow on the DPS at first, you will A) make the MT's job easier because he won't have to run to save your ass, and B) you will have much more nuking options as the mob's health bar starts going down. I would rather start slow so that I can let loose with all the DPS I want a bit later, than to make the tank work extra hard and possibly get myself killed.

I think this is a fallacy

First, remember: all damage is meaningless until the mob dies

So there are no prizes for starting as early as you can

Take a mob with 10k life that the group kills in 20 seconds

Mage 1 starts with conservative nuking, and continues with a moderate low aggro strategy. avoiding pyroblast, fireblast and cone of cold. He starts on second 5 and does 3k damage total

Mage 2 simply waits till second 8 then goes all out. High damage instacasts like Fireblast and Cone of Cold are used. He starts on second 8 and does 3k damage total.

There is no difference between the two mages except that Mage 2 regenerates more mana.

From the tank's point of view Mage 2 is less likely to pull aggro since his damage is that much more back-loaded

If Mage 2 starts with Pyroblast and it crits he probably won't pull aggro but even if he does from a Warrior it falls within the acceptable parameter of "don't make me use Taunt every fight, I don't mind using it occasionally" which most tanks believe

There is no point starting with a low damage short casting time spell.
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#12
Brista,Jul 19 2005, 08:40 AM Wrote:I think this is a fallacy

There is no point starting with a low damage short casting time spell.
[right][snapback]83786[/snapback][/right]

I certainly agree. In fact, if the mob is going to die in 20 seconds, you might as well sit, drink, and top your mana off while your party engages, and then go all out on damage. Possibly your longest cast, or best damage / cast time spells.

Go ahead, storm the castle ready to sacrifice your lives, I'll sit here have a picnic and eat cake until I'm ready, then I'll blast the castle walls down.
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#13
Brista,Jul 19 2005, 01:40 PM Wrote:Mage 2 simply waits till second 8 then goes all out. High damage instacasts like Fireblast and Cone of Cold are used. He starts on second 8 and does 3k damage total.

There is no difference between the two mages except that Mage 2 regenerates more mana.
Quite the opposite. Fireblast and especially CoC have such horrible DPM, that the few extra seconds won't help regenerate extra mana spent on those spells.

OTOH casting spells with long casting in the second half of the fight is risky, because then it's damage might be largely wasted.
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#14
Tharn,Jul 19 2005, 10:41 PM Wrote:Quite the opposite. Fireblast and especially CoC have such horrible DPM, that the few extra seconds won't help regenerate extra mana spent on those spells.

If the extra seconds are spent drinking then it will
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