Links
Intro
Talents
Builds
Gearing
Legendaries
Trinkets
Relics
Racials
Spells and CD Usage
Tips and Tricks
Weakauras
Addons
Consumables and Miscellaneous Items
Engineering
Your role as a Fire Mage
Intro
Mythic+ Dungeons are WoW's small group content which combines speed, precision, awareness and prowess for a fast and fun
tm experience. With an infinite scaling system, there is literally something for everyone whether you collect mounts of world first raid content.
This guide is aimed directly at how to play Fire mage in 5 man content. Your priorities are vastly different than raiding however the playstyle/rotations are all the same. Therefore, I will presume you have read the above guide on rotations and have a basic understanding of how the spec works overall.
You may be thinking,
"Gee, this looks awfully like Herux's m+ guide, you are a copy cat bad man, make your own content!!". That's because I copied the layout exactly for the sake of continuity and time save with one minor difference, it's based on the
FIRE MAGE so is infinity better am I right? Team?
In all seriousness, a big thanks to
Herux for not only giving me his m+ guide template, but for taking the time to share his knowledge of m+ from a frost perspective. Always great to see others getting involved in the community.
Why should I trust you?
You may wonder, who
is this Ezekielyo guy after all? I was previously the highest ranking m+ mage in both 7.2 and 7.2.5 as FIRE and part of the rank 1 team getting a few world first high keys along the way.
Talents
There are multiple builds used in m+ based on the user preference and affixes in play. Unlike in raiding, almost every talent is viable which really speaks for how well blizz designed fire this time around. I will be focusing on what I think are the most powerful talents in terms of dps, utilty and general play-ability.
Tier 15: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205023/conflagration
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205020/pyromaniac is very random when it procs leading to munching and general bad gameplay situations both of which we want to avoid as much as possible.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205023/conflagration is the only choice in this tier due to the other 2 simply not having much affect in any level of key. The aoe damage can quickly ramp up especially if you are pulling huge amounts of mobs and is generally very strong in AoE.
Even on very high
http://www.wowhead.com/affix=9/tyrannical,
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205026/firestarter doesn't provide enough damage to compensate from the loss of damage on trash throughout the whole run.
Tier 30: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=236645/shimmer
Incredible mobility and utility. Castable while casting means dodging boss abilities is super easy while maintaining dps.
The other 2 options also completely suck. So there's that...
Tier 45: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=116011/rune-of-power / http://www.wowhead.com/spell=1463/incanters-flow
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=116011/rune-of-power is the go to talent due to it's highest dps output. Since our spec is based on burst windows, rune gives us the biggest damage output in the shortest amount of time which is exactly what we want when killing packs of mobs. However, because it locks you to the radius of the spell, it is not uncommon for you to have to run out of it with any number of debuffs, essentially wasting the entire charge. It also requires impeccable dungeon knowledge to really get the most out of and losing uptime can really feel very detrimental. The spec also does very little damage during down times between
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=116011/rune-of-power and
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=190319/combustion and can leave some packs feeling very sluggish.
Since the release of Antorus and the new trinkets
http://ptr.wowhead.com/item=151969/term ... =3610:1472 ,
http://ptr.wowhead.com/item=151962/prot ... =3610:1472 and the new T21 set,
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=1463/incanters-flow falls too far behind to consider worth tanking anymore.
Tier 60: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=235870/alexstraszas-fury / http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205029/flame-on
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=235870/alexstraszas-fury offers insane aoe burst damage when paired with
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132863/darc ... ire-diadem for a trade off in less boss damage. However, due to the increasing necessity to interrupt in higher keys,
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=78521/dragons-breath isn't used on cooldown and instead saved to be used in the interrupt rotation. This devalues the power of
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=235870/alexstraszas-fury and can very easily lead to munching the
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=48107/heating-up it also gives. Highly recommended for lower keys both
http://www.wowhead.com/affix=9/tyrannical and
http://www.wowhead.com/affix=10/fortified if you have
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132863/darc ... ire-diadem, otherwise stick to
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205029/flame-on.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205029/flame-on offers more
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=48107/heating-up procs throughout the whole dungeon. This leads to more boss damage and more sustained aoe due to the cooldown of
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=60871/fireblast being lower. I use this 100% of the time in high keys as it is common to sit on
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=78521/dragons-breath for a very long time. I still use
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132863/darc ... ire-diadem as the extra range is still very beneficial, even though it is not 100% guaranteed crit chance.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205033/controlled-burn is too random, similar to
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205020/pyromaniac. Never used.
Tier 75: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=236058/frenetic-speed / http://www.wowhead.com/spell=113724/ring-of-frost / http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205036/ice-ward
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=236058/frenetic-speed is the general go to for more kite potential and being a passive, requiring no additional thought. Use in 95% of cases.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=113724/ring-of-frost has some very niche uses. Any mob that jumps to you to do damage can be negated with a well timed ring. Think wolves in HoV, cats in DHT and cats in CoS. Incredibly useful in high keys, not really worth while in lower ones.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205036/ice-ward could see some play on
http://www.wowhead.com/affix=4/necrotic weeks to help your tank reset his stacks. Not really useful any other time.
Tier 90: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=176670/living-bomb / http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205037/flame-patch
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=176670/living-bomb does more damage the more mobs there are due to the spread mechanic. This makes it very strong in lower keys and dungeons with very large packs which die very quickly. Requires no management outside of picking the right target to get the maximum spreadage. Taken when Priority Target is needed most due to lack of flamestriking.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205037/flame-patch provides the highest AoE dps output we can achieve however is limited by the mobs moving out of the patches. In certain builds, it also becomes worthwhile to swap fireball spam with hardcast flamestrike spamming. Yes, you read the right, hardcast flamestriking.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=157976/unstable-magic, like
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=55342/mirror-image is a pure ST talent and is never used.
Tier 100: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=155148/kindling / http://www.wowhead.com/spell=198929/cinderstorm / http://www.wowhead.com/spell=153561/meteor
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=155148/kindling is my go to choice in this tier. Lower
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=190319/combustion cooldowns means more burst windows. Since m+ is all about bursting packs of mobs,
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=155148/kindling combined with
http://www.wowhead.com/item=144355/pyro ... tion-cloth can lead to
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=190319/combustion being available almost every pack. Very strong and my go to choice.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=198929/cinderstorm does the most aoe damage provided you can hit the cinders. The curved nature of the skillshot and the fact that it can pull mobs which are out of combat make it very hard and frustrating to use. Not advisable unless you are very good at using it or simply want your team to rage at you a lot.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=153561/meteor is a solid choice as it adds more boss damage. Can be used if your team lacks ST damage or you can't get decent timings with
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=155148/kindling. Combined with
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205037/flame-patch can leave very powerful dots ticking on the floor. Pray your tanks not got twitchy wasd fingers!
Builds
There are 2 main builds I consider using every time I am flying to a dungeon.
The Tactical Nuke Build
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205023/conflagration, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=236645/shimmer, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=116011/rune-of-power, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205029/flame-on, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=236058/frenetic-speed, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=176670/living-bomb, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=155148/kindling
This build focuses on bursting into one Priority target via spending
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=48108/hot-streak procs on
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=11366/pyroblast and spreading huge
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=12846/mastery-ignite to all targets in the area. Combined with
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=176670/living-bomb, the build excels at the mixture of both ST and Aoe (PT). An example of where this build shines is when you encounter
http://www.wowhead.com/npc=95842/valarjar-thundercaller in Halls of Valor. These mobs have to be bursted very quickly due to their
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=198595/thunderous-bolt ability targeting a random party member for veyr high amounts of damage. The aim of the game is to kill them as fast as possible before you run out of interupts and you are overwelmed by the damage.
The Carpet Bombing Build
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205023/conflagration, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=236645/shimmer, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=116011/rune-of-power, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=235870/alexstraszas-fury, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=236058/frenetic-speed, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205037/flame-patch, http://www.wowhead.com/spell=155148/kindling
The highest potential dps focusing on consistant, mass aoe spending all
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=48108/hot-streak procs on
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2120/flamestrike to generate as many
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205037/flame-patch as possible. Since your damage is spread amoung all targets you hit with
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2120/flamestrike, this is a very even dps build and excels at killing everything at the same time. However, it requires mobs to remain inside the flamepatch for any of the damage to apply. Mobs suchs as
http://www.wowhead.com/npc=91008/rockbound-pelter have learnt that standing in fire is bad gameplay and end up backflipping out of the pack therefore ignoring all of your built up flamepatch damage. Communication with your tank is also key to make sure they are not constantly moving the mobs out of your damage.
Read
here to understand when to take
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=235870/alexstraszas-fury vs
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205029/flame-on.
"But I don't care about all these words and shit, do I use http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205037/flame-patch or http://www.wowhead.com/spell=176670/living-bomb?"
Use
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205037/flame-patch so you can top the total damage done meter. Go get 'em champ.
Gearing
Stat Priority
SIM YOURSELF SIM YOURSELF SIM YOURSELF SIM YOURSELF SIM YOURSELF SIM YOURSELF SIM YOURSELF
Using the right set of gear for each specific situation is key to maximizing your output throughout the whole dungeon. This makes gear swapping an integral part of every m+ dungeon you run and is necessary if you want to be as effective as possible. Regardless of which build you run, there are 2 things you will be killing in any given dungeon:
Bosses
Most bosses are ST and thus very similar to raids. Please see the
Basic Guide for updated ST stat weights
Consider using 1 target, 2min settings when simming for dungeon bosses.
Trash
The Tactical Nuke Build focuses on
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=12846/mastery-ignite to spread the damage around to other targets. Therefore, Mastery is the highest priority stat when aoeing in this build. Here are my current stats and stat weights:
Consider using 4 target, 1min settings when simming for trash.
The Carpet Bombing Build focuses on Haste as it's primary stat to pump out as many
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205037/flame-patch s as possible via faster GCD's and fast hardcast
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2120/flamestrike s. Yes, you read that correct, hardcasting
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2120/flamestrike on 4+ targets is a dps gain. Again, my stats in my
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205037/flame-patch gear and approriate stat weights:
Credit to
Glynny
Legendaries
ST Legendaries
The best ST setup for bosses currently is
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132406/marq ... e-sun-king +
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132454/kora ... ning-touch.
There are specific bosses where you may want to use
http://www.wowhead.com/item=144355/pyro ... tion-cloth in place of
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132454/kora ... ning-touch to push combustion timings (Ularogg Cragshaper in Neltharion's Lair) but they are few and far between.
Another legendary you will swap to frequently is
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132410/shard-of-the-exodar, allowing you to lust while the rest of the group has the
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=57724/sated debuff. Combined with
http://www.wowhead.com/item=120257/drums-of-fury, you can lust possible 2 - 3 times more than the rest of your group. It is generally always prefer to wear
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132410/shard-of-the-exodar whenever you want to lust a boss twice or if you want to lust a considerably harder pack after a boss. Consider your lust timings every time you start a dungeon.
AoE Legendaries
My personal favourite setup is
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132863/darc ... ire-diadem +
http://www.wowhead.com/item=144355/pyro ... tion-cloth. The extra range
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132863/darc ... ire-diadem provides
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=78521/dragons-breath is a great QoL change along side the great damage potential while
http://www.wowhead.com/item=144355/pyro ... tion-cloth synergizes well with
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=155148/kindling for very low cooldown
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=190319/combustion (roughly 1min).
http://www.wowhead.com/item=144259/kilj ... rning-wish does a lot of AoE damage if you are pulling big packs and can be combined with
http://www.wowhead.com/item=140800/phar ... =3514:1472 for incredible burst damage.
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132452/sephuzs-secret can be combined with
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132863/darc ... ire-diadem to bring some unexpected amounts of burst with
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=176670/living-bomb and
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=116011/rune-of-power. Big trash pulls where you
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=80353/time-warp means you have enough haste to fit in 3
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=176670/living-bomb s during 1
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=190319/combustion provided you proc
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132452/sephuzs-secret with a
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=78521/dragons-breath before hand. Think, first pull in Maw of Souls, give it a go next time
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132454/kora ... ning-touch is also an option on trash especially during
http://www.wowhead.com/affix=10/fortified and when using
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205037/flame-patch. The sheer amount of patchs you can keep rolling is a lot of damage.
Defensive Legendaries
If you're not going to be pushing keys past a 15 don't worry about this section.
The best defensive legendary you could possibly use is
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132444/pryd ... agnum-opus. Paired with
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=235313/blazing-barrier I have roughly 1.7mil absorb shield which is enough to survive almost all targetted mechanics.
http://www.wowhead.com/item=133977/belovirs-final-stand is just as strong giving me a 1.2mil shield every blink. Although in most situations where a defensive legendary is needed,
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132444/pryd ... agnum-opus is a better option due to being passive and not taking up a tier slot.
The mega combination of
http://www.wowhead.com/item=132444/pryd ... agnum-opus +
http://www.wowhead.com/item=133977/belovirs-final-stand +
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=235313/blazing-barrier gives me almost 8mil effective hp making us one of the only classes which can deal with incredibly high Tyrannical keys.
Trinkets
ST Trinkets
Similar to raiding, the ST trinkets do not change. One important thing to note is, it takes 30 seconds for on use trinkets to become usable when swapping to them. This means you need to put
http://www.wowhead.com/item=147017/tarn ... =3562:1497 (and any other active trinkets you have) on the pack before the boss. In order from top to bottom:
http://ptr.wowhead.com/item=154177/norgannons-prowess
http://ptr.wowhead.com/item=151955/acri ... =3610:1472
http://www.wowhead.com/item=147017/tarn ... =3562:1497
http://www.wowhead.com/item=147016/terr ... =3562:1497
http://www.wowhead.com/item=140809/whis ... =3517:1492
http://www.wowhead.com/item=141482/unst ... =3466:1472
http://www.wowhead.com/item=140792/erra ... =3444:1482
http://www.wowhead.com/item=142166/ethereal-urn&bonus=0
http://www.wowhead.com/item=142507/brin ... =3508:1512 (non crit versions)
AoE Trinkets
AoE trinkets differ depending on the type of aoe you are doing . Trinkets like
http://ptr.wowhead.com/item=151962/prot ... =3610:1472,
http://www.wowhead.com/item=147018/spec ... =3562:1497 and
http://www.wowhead.com/item=140801/fury ... =3516:1487 are excellent at consistent AoE damage while others like
http://ptr.wowhead.com/item=151969/term ... =3610:1472,
http://www.wowhead.com/item=140800/phar ... =3516:1487 and
http://www.wowhead.com/item=144259/kilj ... rning-wish are excellent AoE burst trinkets. Again, in order from top to bottom:
http://ptr.wowhead.com/item=151969/term ... =3610:1472
http://ptr.wowhead.com/item=151962/prot ... =3610:1472
http://www.wowhead.com/item=140801/fury ... =3516:1487
http://www.wowhead.com/item=147018/spec ... =3562:1497
http://www.wowhead.com/item=144259/kilj ... rning-wish
http://www.wowhead.com/item=140800/phar ... =3516:1487
http://www.wowhead.com/item=141482/unst ... =3466:1472
http://www.wowhead.com/item=142157/aran ... =1826:1437
http://www.wowhead.com/item=142166/ethereal-urn&bonus=0
http://www.wowhead.com/item=142507/brin ... =3508:1512 (Mastery version)
Relics
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=194314/eve ... onsumption
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=194312/burning-gaze
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=194239/pyr ... c-paranoia
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=210182/blue-flame-special
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=194224/fire-at-will
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=194313/great-balls-of-fire
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=194234/rei ... -overdrive
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=194314/eve ... onsumption and
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=194312/burning-gaze are the best relics since they affect both ST and AoE while the rest specific only affect certain spells.
Racials
Racials in M+ make a huge difference compared to its counterpart. Apart from DPS gains with races like Troll
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=26297/berserking or Dwarf
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=59224/migh ... e-mountain, the utility certain races provide make up for certain aspects Frost lacks in. The top 3 racials to have in M+ in terms of racials are:
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=28730/arcane-torrent
An AoE interrupt and blanket silence. Incredibly strong at grouping caster mobs together and an additional interrupt in the rotation.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=59752/ever ... or-himself
A stun break can save yourself from an unfortunate death
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=58984/shadowmeld
Shadowmeld can completely negate an entire mechanic if timed well.
Dwarf's racial
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=20594/stoneform can also clear certain dots and provides additional damage reduction.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=227742/garrote from
http://www.wowhead.com/npc=114312/moroes#abilities is one example of how strong the racial can be.
Spells and CD Usage
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=190319/combustion
Unlike raiding, it is also important to track your cooldowns when you are not in combat. Knowing when and were to use
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=190319/combustion is key to successfully completing those tighter timed runs.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=190319/combustion allows us to build very large
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=12846/mastery-ignite on a target and then spread that damage to targets around the original nuke target. Not only does
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=190319/combustion give us 100% crit chance, it also gives us 50% of our critical strike stat as Mastery. Combined with a full set of mastery gear, that's close to 40% mastery! Because of the power built into
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=190319/combustion, we want to get as many as possible out during the entire dungeon and on the right targets. We have some ways of lowering the cooldown of
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=190319/combustion in
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=155148/kindling and
http://www.wowhead.com/item=144355/pyro ... tion-cloth with the possibility of shaving off
half of the original cooldown. In high keys this enables combustion in almost every single pack making it a very strong cooldown to deal with Priority Targets.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=11366/pyroblast vs http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2120/flamestrike
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2120/flamestrikedoes more damage on 4+ targets (2+ with
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205037/flame-patch) than
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=11366/pyroblast does. However, like I have detailed previously in this guide, it is important to know when to use either spell. Even in groups of 6 mobs, killing one mob much quicker than the others is highly desirable. Alternatively, there may be a group of really small mobs which should die very fast to stop
http://www.wowhead.com/affix=4/necrotic applications on your tank. Learning which mobs are the dangerous ones comes with practice (and the level of the key) but a general rule of thumb is, if you can't kite it, kill it first!
Survival > DPS
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=236645/shimmer and
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2948/scorch are king in m+. You are far more likely to be targeted by mechanics in smaller group content and knowing when to move is the most important part of dpsing. Staying alive is your #1 focus as your death contributes to 1/5 of the entire group compared to raidings 1/20. Losing 1 second of dps while casting
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2948/scorch to survive the puddles on
http://www.wowhead.com/npc=91808/serpentrix could very well save your life (and your healers sanity). Learning to take as little damage as possible while still doing the most dps is what really separates the best players from the rest. Doing top dps requires luck and class understanding, staying alive requires encounter knowledge, awareness, decision making and reaction time. Take time to learn the fights and then worry about doing the damage.
Potion Usage
http://www.wowhead.com/item=142117/poti ... nged-power usage is very important in higher keys. You want to aim for every pull to be exactly 1min to be able to constantly pre pull before every pack. While not always possible, a sweet trick is to pop
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=66/invisibility to drop combat temporarily to start the cooldown ticking again.
Another thing most people forget,
http://www.wowhead.com/item=142117/poti ... nged-power also adds an additional 200-300k HP on top of your max HP pool. Ever died to a mechanic by 10k overkill? Potion got your back!
It is sometimes worthwhile waiting the additional 10 seconds to be able to double pot in a fight then it is to rush through the dungeon. Like always, try to plan 1 - 2 mins ahead.
Utility Spells
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2139/counterspell is the most important spell in the entire game. The more times you use this in a dungeon, the better the player you are. Use it as close to on cooldown as possible. When playing in organised groups, make sure to coordinate your interrupts so as not to use them all one 1 ability and leave nothing for the rest.
As a mage we have A LOT of utility. We have
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=219407/polymorph,
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=122/frost-nova (two with
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=205036/ice-ward),
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=113724/ring-of-frost, the slow from
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2120/flamestrike, and a ranged aoe disorientate/interrupt
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=78521/dragons-breath. Now you might ask, "what's the point of Utility?" Well when the key level gets higher and higher you can't always pull an entire mob pack and burn through it. Sometimes you have to CC certain mobs to avoid the risk of wiping. This is where spells like
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=219407/polymorph and
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=113724/ring-of-frost come in handy.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=212653/shimmer healing via
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=194318/cauterizing-blink is very underrated. Being able to heal up to 20% of you maximum HP every 15 seconds is a cooldown in itself making your life and your healers life much easier. Standing next to walls and blinking into them to effectively go nowhere is a great way to maximize the uptime of
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=194318/cauterizing-blink without detrimental effects on your dps. The relieved pressure from your healer can also allow them to dps longer, increasing the speed of the dungeon overall.
Specifically, correct
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=219407/polymorph usage is crucial for high m+. CC'ing a mob completely out of combat until ready to be killed is highly valuable. Certain mobs such as
http://www.wowhead.com/npc=95842/valarjar-thundercaller with their
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=198595/thunderous-bolt and
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=198599 can easily wipe a group on a high level
http://www.wowhead.com/affix=10/fortified key.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=113724/ring-of-frost is also very useful in high m+. Mobs such as
http://www.wowhead.com/npc=98691/risen-scout#abilities with their
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=200291 can do millions of damage onto an entire group if not stunned, disorientated, gripped or incapacitated. It is also a tricky spell to get used to, it's not an instant CC like
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=31661/dragons-breath or
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=119381/leg-sweep.
Defensive Spells
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=235313/blazing-barrier is the Fire mage personal absorb shield. The weakest of the 3 specs but granting us increased physical damage reduction when it is active. Since the recent patch which gave each spec their own personal shield,
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=235313/blazing-barrier is a combination of our old
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=35915/molten-armor (in one of it's past variations) and
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=11426/ice-barrier. To compensate for the damage reduction, the total absorb amount is reduced. While designed more towards pvp, it can still save you in many situations. Make sure to keep this spell on a good keybind as you should be using it whenever there is any down time or a big targeted boss ability is coming your way.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=45438/ice-block is one of the best defensive spells in the game. It ignores ALL damage (unless specifically coded to go through immunities) and is one of the most powerful aspects of mage as a whole enabling us to survive bosses which other classes simply die to.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=86949/cauterize provides us a 2nd chance at life. While it is not clear at first which abilties you are able to proc
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=86949/cauterize on, it can still be used as a pseudo defensive cooldown. It's a very good idea to tell your healer when you are about to
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=86949/cauterize since you will require a lot of healing once it procs.
Tips and Tricks
Here are some tips and tricks that can either improve QoL or even provide big DPS increases that you might not have known about.
Spellsteal
The biggest tip I can give you in M+ is keybind
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=30449/spellsteal it is in my opinion one of the most useful aspects of being a mage in M+. There is a huge range of mob abilities that can be spellstolen as well as
purged, here's some of the most notable:
The best way to keep an eye out for these buffs is to either download an addon that displays the spellstealable buffs clearly or through Elvui, which gives an option to highlight spellstealable buffs with a yellow border. There may be other ways to track it that I'm not aware of but I personally go about it through Elvui.
Shimmer and Block Negation
Apart from
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=30449/spellsteal there are plenty of innovative and cool ways to use our spell kit to either mitigate or negate entire mechanics. Spells like
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=236645/shimmer and
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=45438/ice-block.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=236645/shimmer can be used to:
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=45438/ice-block can be used to either clear harmful debuffs or immune a plethora of boss mechanics:
If you haven't noticed yet mechanics that can be avoided by
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=236645/shimmer tend to be mechanics that include a travel time. While mechanics that can be avoided with
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=45438/ice-block tend to be big one-shot mechanics that can either target you or another player.
Gear Swapping
Gear swapping is a HUGE part of optimizing M+ performance. Building multiple gear sets should be part of every m+ players repertoire.
There's two ways to get comfortable with gear swapping. One, is to use the in game gear manager then binding the gear set to a key or clicking the set on a bar while the second uses a specific addon called
Opie. The addon page can explain it in full, but it basically uses one keybind to give you a radial dial which you can add multiple buttons to and using a mouse hover to select the one you want.
-link https://mods.curse.com/addons/wow/opie
One thing to note when it comes to gear swapping is that on-use trinkets will go on a 30 sec CD timer even if it is already "off CD". So if you're using something like
http://www.wowhead.com/item=147012/umbr ... =3562:1497 or
http://www.wowhead.com/item=147017/tarn ... =3562:1497 make sure you give yourself enough time before its use.
-hot tip:use http://www.wowhead.com/spell=66/invisibility to gear swap even in combat!
Weakauras
Weakauras is an addon which lets you customise almost everything. It is the single most powerful addon ever created. We will be using it primarily to display cooldowns, track usables and monitor important information. There is even an entire
forum dedicated to sharing weakauras and even a
discord channel with incredibly helpful people giving advice on the tiny specifics or custom coding.
The 2 most important weakauras for every class in m+ are:
Group Utility Tracker
Interrupt Tracker
Tracking the groups cooldowns is integral to good communication and coordination. Learn to look at them frequently.
No excuse to not use Weakauras. If you can do something similar in TellMeWhen then more power to you, otherwise, USE WEAKAURAS.
Addons
DBM - Boss timings exactly like in raids.
Details! - Good for working out why you died and how you could improve your play, not just your insanely huge dps.
GTFO - Makes the most horrible noise if you are standing in fire
Select - Cool way to combine a lot of icons into one button
Consumables and Miscellaneous Items
With every dungeon you should be prepared to come in with at least:
http://www.wowhead.com/item=127847/flas ... pered-pact
http://www.wowhead.com/item=133573/seed ... fish-plate or food of choice, also keep in mind utility foods such as
http://www.wowhead.com/item=133577/fighter-chow.
http://www.wowhead.com/item=140587/defiled-augment-rune
http://www.wowhead.com/item=142117/poti ... nged-power
http://www.wowhead.com/item=120257/drums-of-fury in case your group doesn't have a 2nd
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2825/bloodlust.
http://www.wowhead.com/item=127834/anci ... ing-potion
http://www.wowhead.com/item=116268/drae ... ity-potion if your
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=66/invisibility is on cd.
Engineering
Engineering deserves it's only header purely because it is by far the best profession.
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=54793/frag-belt and
http://www.wowhead.com/item=40771/cobalt-frag-bomb are ranged, AoE interrupts which do not share a cooldown with each other. That's right, each player can potentially have an additional 2 aoe interrupts. THAT'S INSANE! If you are super serious about m+, everyone in your team should be an engineer, no questions asked.
Your role as a Fire Mage?
We are the gods of mass AoE damage while being pretty lame at cleave and ST (although
http://www.wowhead.com/item=147017/tarn ... =1497:3561 actually makes our ST not completely terrible). We bring permanent AoE slows via
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2120/flamestrike and aoe roots from
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=122/frost-nova. We work extremely well with DK's as their mass grip is an enabler for our aoe
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=2120/flamestrike spammage.
Unfortunately, we lack any powerful utility (stuns/battle resses/push backs). Since
http://www.wowhead.com/item=120257/drums-of-fury makes every class be able to
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=80353/time-warp, we are somewhat mediocre in the current m+ meta. We may see far more play if profession items were removed which maybe the case in the upcoming m+ tournament. It would be more likely that teams will take Elemental Shamans however since their
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=192058/lig ... urge-totem is better than all of our utility combined.
M+ is all about strategy and decision making. If you find that
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=153561/meteor or
http://www.wowhead.com/spell=198929/cinderstorm work for you instead then that's perfectly acceptable. Take the time to find what works best for you and your group.
