Swindley's guide to doing max raid dps![for mage]

[苦逼热狗]

1. First of all, spec fire, 10/48/3
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=Rf0VZxgRzfcIoeRt0h

This is simply an informative post to highest dps, if you enjoy other specs/talentpoints, then get them instead! I even took blazing speed myself simply because I hate rogues, and find it fun/usefull sometimes.
It even plays the benny hill music when blazing speed procs, how can I pass up on that?
Not to mention sometimes I spec other specs that i enjoy for various other reasons

(ps check page 5 on this thread for proof and theorycraft on dps on different specs/spells)
(Also lots of interesting posts all around this thread if you're bored/determined

Unless you have weird/crap gear (like +700critrating and +200dmg), but then you won't be doing most raid dps anyway.

"but Swindley, I top damage with spec xx/xx/xx"
Answer: your other dps sucks/are undergeared/watching tv/forgot to buy new ranks/not paying attention/afk/using wrong spells etc.

Check this graph if you doubt it: (the math was very well done and detailed, from US mage forums, check at the bottom for original post, as well as dps comparisons in page 5 in this thread)
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/4113/magetriplepointlr0.jpg

 

[苦逼热狗]

2. Become a tailor. Craft spellfire and spellstrike.
Other gear with +dmg and +crit to fill in the gaps. Do heroics for a few good epics, fill in with blues.
Do NOT get blinded by itemcolor, most epics in Kara, and some heoics, suck, use whatever gives you more dps.

3. Use this non fancy rotation: scorch x5 then fireball spam, scorch when debuff is about to wear off.
Once scorch debuffs are up, you can also do fireball fireball fireblast if you have extra mana to burn, like a boss below 20% or if you for some lucky reason have 3 shadowpriests in your group etc.
Notice that /stopcasting doesn't work after a fireblast, since you cannot stop global cooldown, so your results might wary abit. If ping is bad, I'd suggest to allways stick to just fireballing.

4. This is mostly overlooked, but read carefully. Either get an addon that does this for you, or, make a macro for your fireball (and scorch if you're feeling skilled) with /stopcasting then /cast (highest fireballrank)
Hit this macro with between 0,3 to 0,1 sec left of your current spells castingtime. (dependant on your ping, practice to get it right)
(Quartz seems like a popular addon to track your ping and knowing when to /stopcast)

No matter how good ping you think you have, this will help. You can squeeze out 10-20% more dps if you're skilled. (unless pherhaps if you live in Paris and have a cable directly into blizz HQ)

 

[苦逼热狗]

5. Don't bother with scorch debuff on low hp trash, just fireball them. Here you can throw in a scorch/fireblast just before they die for good measure. (ninja execute!)

6. Have at least 3 mana gems. Use first first one early. Use cheap pots, chug them down whenever CD is up. I prefer Major mana pots. Might need Super mana pots with no shpriest.
Use theese also early, as soon as you've spent ~3000 mana. Your Milage may vary.

7 . Get a spirit staff (and wand) with spirit enchant on it! Switch to this before evocation! (mods can do this for you)

8. Although using the most expensive flasks/pots every single time is understandably too expensive, theese cheap items you should get: Superior Wizard Oil (lasts through death, oh joy!), Blackened Basilisk (23spelldmg and spir, supercheap \o/ ).
edit: after Alchemy change, for any important encounters, I'd also use Flask of Pretty good Power. Uhm, I ment supreme power

9. Use Molten armor. With comsumables you should be ok with mana, though very rare cases might need Mage armor. (sheep breaking will be a non issue after 2.1 \o/) edit: damn ignite still breaking;>

10. Bonus tip! Forgot who tipped me off, feel free to post and remind me;P When you start invis, then immidiately start a pyro. As soon as invis kicks in, click off the debuff, and your pyro will cast, when you're at 0 threat Less dps loss while using invis Just a slight nice to know, nothing that will make or break the dps charts

edit: This tip doesn't work anymore as of patch 2.1, leaving it here for a bit anyway;( Pyro has other similar uses as well though, if you can time it just when a spellreflect times off, and other occasional use, nice to remember. Though now you have to wait for invis to finish before starting a cast=/

11. Allmost forgot to add this about combustion! Experienced firemages probably know this, but when you have used 2 of 3 charges of your combustion, then when you do a fireball, immidiately do a fireblast, and get the full critbonus on both spell. Same mechanic as frostbolt +icelance on frozen targets. It's just a minor thing really, but hey, we all like crits and getting 4 crits from allmost every combustion is nice

12. Fireblast while moving. Often you have to quickly change positions, or move short distances while raiding. If you're in range, a quick fireblast while moving will limit your dps loss. In very dynamic fights, this alone can be a reason to not use the fireball fireball fireblast rotation, save the fireblast for movement instead.

 

[苦逼热狗]

Optional:
Sleep with your nearest lock to get him/her to use COE instead of COS.
Beg raidleader to get in a group with a shadowpriest.
Hug your local elemental shaman. (I even managed to talk mine into getting the 3crit/hit totem!)


Will add more here as i feel like/gets tips from people in thread or I get more bored at work


Disclaimer: Good geared shadow priests and locks might beat you, live with it


edit: I'm not saying 10/48/3 is the only viable spec, there are several good mage specs for each preference or task. (I love 41/18/2 for heroics etc) But for highest dps, this is the one.


edit: found the original thread about best damage spec vs gear!
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=94072978&sid=1

(more points added as i remember/am tipped


edit: 10.05.2007

Gear selection:

Favour +dmg, it gets huge multipliers with this spec. But don't neglect your crit, not only for damage, but it's great for mana efficiency with MOE. +hit is also important since it's the best dps increase you can get for its low itemlvl cost. (on bosses, untill max +16% hit with EP)

Switching out for items like Scryers Bloodgem on bosses is a good idea. Another good switch item is the exalted CE ring. The brilliant thing about not running around with allways max cap, and instead switching in things as needed on bosses, it that you sometimes might have a crit/hit shaman totem or the +1% hit dranei aura, so you can tailor your gear for max dps on a single bossfight.

I'd have minimum 6-6.5k unbuffed hp (personal opinion, PVE o/c, NOT pvp), but 7k+ is nice, though buffs often makes up for it.
I have a bit of spare stam gear incase encounters need it, like boots of blasphemy and similar, no point in gimping overall stats for a few selected fights, but having more hp on demand IS usefull. (I know a few encounters require at least 8000+ hp buffed etc)

Mana isn't the most important thing, as long as you keep a decent ammount you feel comfortable with.
The effective mana you have in a fight with gems, pots, evo, shpriest etc is closer to 25000+, so having that 1k more total mana is nice/usefull, but not crucial. Int also gives a small ammount of crit though, so having more is never bad

Ps. even if you favour certain stats, remember to balance a bit. I'd take 50 int over 20 critrating any day, even if the overall theorycrafted dps/crit increase would be lower, just to give an obvious example.

Also, penetration is useless for pve in 99.5% of encounters, get subtlety on your cloak (-2% threat)

 

[苦逼热狗]

我的Evocation宏(如果你有+spirit的wand跟法仗的话)

#showtooltip Evocation
/equip [button:1] Magician's Wand of Spirit
/equip [button:1] Staff of Divine Infusion
/cast [button:1] Evocation
/stopmacro [button:1]
/equip Staff of Infinite Mysteries
/equip Nether Core's Control Rod

此外工会有人能给法仗+20spirit的吗？