FFB mages gather!

[altwight]

Ok so I keep hearing that FFB is super retarded damage in groups. I just respec'd and went to a test dummy thing and got 1.89k DPS no SP buffs and only 1.4k SP.

My question to BG FFB mages is what is your SP, what's your DPS on the test dummys and what is your rotation and choice of armor to use? (Molten or mage)

My rotation starts like this.

Scorch x2, combustion, FFB->living bomb, FFB->fireblast, FFB. Using scorch once to reproc it and pyro whenever it procs. I'm not sure on whether or not to use fireblast at all and I only use it or living bomb directly after a FFB goes off.

As much information on this as possible would be greatful. Also from your experience only none of that he said she said stuff.

[Naramaska]

From what I understand, FFB spec is heavily crit-dependant. Lack of crit or RNG not swinging in your favor will usually result in delicious mage tears.

[avelle]

It appears that you may be mostly in blues with that kind of spell power. You need quite a bit of crit to take advantage of the spec as well.

As far as rotation goes, Living Bomb should go up immediately, followed by scorch, then go into your damage rotation. Living Bomb should always be up before anything else, even if you get a hot streak proc. Also don't use fireblast unless you're moving or the mob is almost dead. FFB until you get a hotstreak proc or scorch or living bomb is going to wear off. I think that covers the basics? We'd be able to help you out more if you posted your armory.

I'm currently arena specced but I'm wearing the PvE gear I use for my FFB setup.
The World of Warcraft Armory

And the FFB spec I use. I have Imp Scorch, Molten Armor, and FFB glyphs.
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

[altwight]

my armory is Altwight on kalecgos bro is the other altwight. he's some super major lock that pwns me x1000 thanks for the advice. I'm thinkin bout going back to arcane til i git more epix. I have a Surplus Limb but no 1h to use it with.

[Lordshin]

From what I understand, FFB spec is heavily crit-dependant. Lack of crit or RNG not swinging in your favor will usually result in delicious mage tears.

This.

Basically focus on Capping hit first once that is done work on Crit, of course try not to sacrifice spell power too much but tbh it doesn't matter much.

as for rotation on single target trash/bosses:
Living Bomb-->Scorchx2(glyphed)-->FFB then refresh scroch and LB when needed and Pyro Blast when Hotstreak procs.

on multi target (3+): i just spam Blizzard (DPS skyrockets with 4+ mobs)

And with my Cooldowns i use Combustion, Icy Veins and Mirror images together for the most DPS also pop a trinket. I either do that at the beginning or if/when a shaman Bloodlusts.

some other tips to maximize DPS:
-Don't use Fire blast
-If Hot streak procs cast scorch FIRST then Pyro so you don't overwrite any ignites w/ scorch (Ignite Munching)
-Download Scorchio2 to keep track or Scorch and Living Bomb timers, i guess polymorph too

Basically this it your stat focus:
Hit(till Capped 368 w/ Precision) > Crit = Spell Damage (get crit w/o sacrificing Spell power) > Haste (not important)

Glyphs:
-Improved Scorch
-Frostfire Bolt
-Molten armor (thats what i use)

most people over look this but get a helm that has a Meta Socket and get Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
it is by far the best thing to have for a FFB mage... period.... According to Elitist Jerks the Tier 5 helm that has a Meta gem is better than a 25naxx helm w/o a meta gem

I suggest getting a Tailor to make you a Hat of Wintry Doom

I havent been to the Dummy lately (then again it wont help you much since i have T7.5gear ><) but i'm sure your DPS will go up by a lot just switching your spell rotation that plus the Hit and Crit will make you a beast

Armory in my sig if you want to look at stats and talents

[Xfaustx]

This.

Basically focus on Capping hit first once that is done work on Crit, of course try not to sacrifice spell power too much but tbh it doesn't matter much.

as for rotation on single target trash/bosses:
Living Bomb-->Scorchx2(glyphed)-->FFB then refresh scroch and LB when needed and Pyro Blast when Hotstreak procs.

on multi target (3+): i just spam Blizzard (DPS skyrockets with 4+ mobs)

And with my Cooldowns i use Combustion, Icy Veins and Mirror images together for the most DPS also pop a trinket. I either do that at the beginning or if/when a shaman Bloodlusts.

some other tips to maximize DPS:
-Don't use Fire blast
-If Hot streak procs cast scorch FIRST then Pyro so you don't overwrite any ignites w/ scorch (Ignite Munching)
-Download Scorchio2 to keep track or Scorch and Living Bomb timers, i guess polymorph too

Basically this it your stat focus:
Hit(till Capped 368 w/ Precision) > Crit = Spell Damage (get crit w/o sacrificing Spell power) > Haste (not important)

Glyphs:
-Improved Scorch
-Frostfire Bolt
-Molten armor (thats what i use)

most people over look this but get a helm that has a Meta Socket and get Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
it is by far the best thing to have for a FFB mage... period.... According to Elitist Jerks the Tier 5 helm that has a Meta gem is better than a 25naxx helm w/o a meta gem

I suggest getting a Tailor to make you a Hat of Wintry Doom

I havent been to the Dummy lately (then again it wont help you much since i have T7.5gear ><) but i'm sure your DPS will go up by a lot just switching your spell rotation that plus the Hit and Crit will make you a beast

Armory in my sig if you want to look at stats and talents

What he said was pretty much right on, FFB is hugely Crit based, if you cant get at least 20% crit unbuffed it may not be worth it for you.

To improve on his AOE method though the utmost best rotation you can use for 3+ targets
is Living Bomb -> Flame Strike rank 9 -> Flame Strike Rank 8 -> Blizzard. The DoTs from rank 9 and 8 stack, don't bother recasting LB after it goes off just focus on blizzard, by that time almost all mobs should be dead anyways. If you start pulling aggro you can either use invis to reset hate or Dragon's Breath incoming to stun them while tank regathers, assuming you specced into it. His cooldown + trinket combo is perfect too, minus the fact I would take out mirror image from it, due to some bosses and mobs can be sheeped by your mirror images which will in turn return their HP to 100%, and or they are not suppose to be attacked until later in the fight, so I just pop my trinket+CD macro and then mirror image when I can. Currently I'm sitting at 1.6k Spellpower and on most bosses I can do anywhere from 2.5-3.5k DPS, it really depends on the boss and how comfortable I am with it, or if there's spawns to AOE. In 25 VoA I pulled a 4k DPS for just the boss(though I don't know how I managed it) prolly lucky procs.

[Kurp]

should edit title to be simply a mage thread

[altwight]

Very nice information and very good tip on the meta gem. This helm is pretty decent for now IMO since it's what I'm currently wearing Titan-forged Hood of Dominance - Item - World of Warcraft


edit: also, in normal heroics do you guys just aoe down trash or single target? (usually 1-4 mobs per pull)

[Korietsu]

Very nice information and very good tip on the meta gem. This helm is pretty decent for now IMO since it's what I'm currently wearing Titan-forged Hood of Dominance - Item - World of Warcraft


edit: also, in normal heroics do you guys just aoe down trash or single target? (usually 1-4 mobs per pull)

AoE trash. Pop all your CD's on boss mobs at the start of the fight, and then they should be up for the bloodlust near the end of the fight.

Since FFB gets 315% critical strike damage, its how we generate the large DPS numbers. So, you should be looking for around 50% crit raid buffed with the scorch and boomkin aura. Also, always always always scorch > pyro or LB > pyro. If you pyro after FFB, you run the risk of "munching" your ignite damage if both the pyro and the FFB crit. You'll lose any rolled damage, and you'll lose a 2-3k ignite tick.

[Plow]

So, my friend just leveled his mage that I play quite a bit to 80, but doesn't give a shit about it.

It has like... 950sp and 11% crit or some shit. Really, really terrible.

Basically what I've been advised to do to start off go is go arcane, Blast x3, missile if it procs, barrage if not.


That the best plan? Wait on ffb etc til geared reasonably?

[Korietsu]

So, my friend just leveled his mage that I play quite a bit to 80, but doesn't give a shit about it.

It has like... 950sp and 11% crit or some shit. Really, really terrible.

Basically what I've been advised to do to start off go is go arcane, Blast x3, missile if it procs, barrage if not.


That the best plan? Wait on ffb etc til geared reasonably?

Go frost 20/0/51 tbh. I wouldn't bother with arcane till you get some decent quest blues. With frost you can at least force crits and with the TTW change, you can go ahead and get an extra 12% damage off the bat. Then once you get reasonable gear go arcane or FFB.

[Plow]

I am fundamentally opposed to frost ><


Thanks though, if I'm too embarrassingly bad as arcane I'll give that a go.

[Korietsu]

I am fundamentally opposed to frost ><


Thanks though, if I'm too embarrassingly bad as arcane I'll give that a go.

Oh well, I could suggest TTW Fire build, which probably wouldn't be half bad.

20/51/0, spam fireball/LB/scorch. But seriously though, frost is the easiest way to DPS at the start. e

[Plow]

Oh well, I could suggest TTW Fire build, which probably wouldn't be half bad.

20/51/0, spam fireball/LB/scorch. But seriously though, frost is the easiest way to DPS at the start. e

hrm, the ttw fire would prob be nice for 5 mans without leaving me in 1 button mode on bosses eh?

[Korietsu]

hrm, the ttw fire would prob be nice for 5 mans without leaving me in 1 button mode on bosses eh?

Any mage spec is pretty much press 1 button the whole time, and press 1 button on procs.

[Falaras]

To be completely honest FFB is very out dated, ToTW Fireball and Arcane are both better. Arcane is the best for raiding if you have a scorch bitch, but ToTW fireball is way to close to count it out. Hell for 5 mans I'd go frost, Replinishment + AoE + Not horrible mana efficiency.

[Plow]

To be completely honest FFB is very out dated, ToTW Fireball and Arcane are both better. Arcane is the best for raiding if you have a scorch bitch, but ToTW fireball is way to close to count it out. Hell for 5 mans I'd go frost, Replinishment + AoE + Not horrible mana efficiency.

This has nothing to do with your actual post, but I thought it was TotW at first too. It's not though, it's just TtW lol.


Also, yeah, after looking through it a bit, how was FFB *ever* better than fireball? Fireball does more dmg and with 5/5 is same cast time, is there reallly anything that good that those 3 points would somehow make ffb better and not be get-able with fireball?

[Korietsu]

This has nothing to do with your actual post, but I thought it was TotW at first too. It's not though, it's just TtW lol.


Also, yeah, after looking through it a bit, how was FFB *ever* better than fireball? Fireball does more dmg and with 5/5 is same cast time, is there reallly anything that good that those 3 points would somehow make ffb better and not be get-able with fireball?

Reason why FFB is so good is the fact its like 310% critical strike damage. Instead of Fireball's 240%. and FFB's mana efficiency.

Regarding TTW, it was called Torment of the Weak, then they changed it to Torment the Weak. :D.

[Plow]

Reason why FFB is so good is the fact its like 310% critical strike damage. Instead of Fireball's 240%. and FFB's mana efficiency.

Regarding TTW, it was called Torment of the Weak, then they changed it to Torment the Weak. :D.

Did they just do that a couple days ago? lol

I could've sworn I saw it as TotW a week or so ago and when I noticed the other day that it's TtW I was confused as hell lol.

[Korietsu]

Did they just do that a couple days ago? lol

I could've sworn I saw it as TotW a week or so ago and when I noticed the other day that it's TtW I was confused as hell lol.

Been Torment the Weak since the release of wrath.