Mage Raiding Guide (ICC)

Another good guide from wow-europe forums! Written by a noam Mage Dribbler of  Ravencrest, EU.

Guide: 25-man High End Raiding

Hey, this is just a simple guide to help mages make the most of their class in ICC25 and TOGC25.

I won’t claim to be the best mage in the world, but my experience includes everything up to Arthas (got him to 40% this week before we ran out of attempts Q_Q) I feel like too many mages rely on spreadsheets and Rawr these days, when in my opinion having general gaming skill and reactions + boss experience is the key to best raid performance.

Anyway, I’ll cover specs/macros/basic mage advice first before going into detail for each boss.

Talent Builds (Don’t copy my specs on armory, they change every day for certain fights e.g. Slow for Val’kyrs at Arthas)

Buy dual spec for 1000g. Your first spec will be arcane for single target nuke fights, and your offspec will be Frostfire Bolt with Icy Veins for AOE fights and trash clearing (e.g. before Marrowgar)

Arcane (57/3/11) – http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#of0Vfz0IzxGurxedcZMhf0o:Nzi

This is just a basic arcane spec with +range and 6% hit from talents. Feel free to swap the odd talent point around in the arcane tree, but NEVER lose IA or Frost Warding, and remember that Student of the Mind is awful. Torment the Weak is also 100% needed, the attack speed slows from tanks apply to this. The +6yd range is important because so many fights require the ranged to be spread apart, this makes things much easier. Some prefer to take 7% spirit over 6yd range but these people are bad, and probably stand on 1 spot for every fight spamming 1 button

Frostfire (0/54/17) – http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#oZfVc0RhIuVubustbIfco:ILio

This is FFB with a few talents that you won’t find in a generic spec. You lose some range but that doesn’t matter, and you gain some great AOE burst damage with instant flamestrikes after DB and blast wave. You also have frost warding with this spec because the two fights where you spec FFB involve fire/frost dmg on the raid, and also are very long fights where mana might be an issue. (Anub25 hc and Gunship) Cannot stress enough how important it is to take glyph of blast wave (ask Cinondra, he’ll tell you about some fun Anub25 hc tries) Use this spec for all trash packs in ICC25.

If you don’t understand why certain talent points were taken in the above specs then it will probably become clear when each boss is explained below.

Useful raiding macros:

/cancelaura Invisibility

/cast Icy Veins
/cast Arcane Power
/cast Arcane Blast(Rank 4)

/use Mana Sapphire
/cast Arcane Blast(Rank 4)

/cast Presence of Mind
/cast Arcane Blast(Rank 4)

/cast Icy Veins
/cast Arcane Blast(Rank 4)

Useful mage addons:

MageFever (buffs such as missiles barrage, hot streak, firestarter etc)
DeadlyBossMods (must have for raiding)
Quartz (best cast bars in the world!)

A few mage tips:

Use mana gem as soon as you’ve burned 4k mana, and then every 2 mins.
Try to evocate when you have lots of haste buffs, e.g. 2/5 t10 bonus, icy veins, heroism
Only use a mana potion as a last resort, always use a haste/spell power pot instead with your cooldowns if possible.
After popping invisi, stand still and then begin casting arcane blast 2.5 seconds later. Due to server lag, you will get the full 3 second benefit but continue nuking 0.5 seconds earlier.
Remember that spirit is awful (especially without tier9) and crit rating should always come AFTER spell power and haste.
Blink and your frost/fire wards are very important for dps, think of PvE more like PvP at times. It isn’t all just standing on 1 spot spamming arcane blast for 5 mins.

Anyway, here’s how to get the most out of your class in ICC25:

Lord Marrowgar (Arcane spec)

Use mirror images as your maintank is about to charge/open on Marrowgar. Blink to the bosses’ rear, use Frost Ward, then pop icy veins and cast 3 quick arcane blasts, followed by an instant arcane blast (presence of mind). Use arcane power and any +dmg trinket and full out nuke. Use a mana gem once you have burned 4k mana, and use frost ward every 30 seconds from now on. Only move out of cold flame if your frost ward isn’t up, and don’t bother moving away when he bone storms (easily healable). Try to have 4 stacks of AB up when the boss places his spikes on the raid, and simply tab target + missiles barrage the spike before resuming dps on Marrowgar.

Lady Deathwhisper (Arcane spec)

Stand in the centre of the room but slightly to the left. Nuke the boss with all cooldowns as soon as she is pulled, ignore any type of ward for now. Once adds spawn, pop mirror images and nuke the melee mobs (Fanatics). These mobs also gain a 20% dmg increase buff, spellsteal it asap. Once they’re dead, switch back to the boss and repeat. Blink out of Death+Decay in a direction which allows you to continue nuking Deathwhisper the split second you land. 10 seconds before phase2, pop frost ward and use it every 30 seconds from now on. Keep an eye on the area around your char for any incoming ghosts, blink away if you see one heading towards you. If the boss gains any buffs like renew from mindcontrolled players, spellsteal it. Careful with threat as the tanks have TPS debuffs, use images and invisi when needed. Also feel free to sheep any mindcontrolled people, but some silly DK will probs break it instantly with diseases (better to leave it to druids to cyclone) Also be careful with the cooldowns curse, decurse yourself asap and don’t rely on healers to do it. If you mess up and have 20 secs cooldown on arcane blast, just use fireball instead.

Gunship Battle (Living bomb spec)

Take a cannon and aim your cannonballs towards the back of the ship so they hit rocketeers. When the enemy mage freezes your cannon, tab between every mob within range and spam living bomb + hot streak pyroblasts (don’t touch the boss though) Fire ward every 30 seconds and don’t bother moving out of the rocket AOE, get mana regen from talents by taking fire dmg.

Deathbringer Saurfang (Arcane spec)

Stand as far left (or right) as needed, hug the far wall whilst being about 30yd away from Saurfang and spread from other ranged members. Pop all cooldowns on the pull except mirror images, save them for the first add spawn. Tab and nuke the nearest add, invisi when it’s about 15 yd away from you.
Once adds are dead, return to nuking the boss. Easy fight, beg a discipline priest to shield you every 15 seconds too.

Festergut (Arcane spec)

Your raid group will have more than 8 casters/ranged. Make sure they don’t object to you standing in melee range, then do it. Stand right near the tanks, basically on top of Festergut (blink there on the pull to get there faster) Beg a disc priest for shields in advance, and for the whole fight all you do is stand still and nuke the boss as hard as you can. Ignore spores completely, they don’t affect you at all and even if one lands on your head, it’ll reach the melee and tanks. NEVER use iceblock for any reason other than “Pungent Blight” This is a spell the boss casts approx. half way through the fight, after 3 spores. Normally you would need 3 debuff stacks to survive this, but you can just iceblock as he casts it. If you mess this up you’ll die, but if you time it well you’ll probably be top dps in the raid (maybe rogues will beat you, that’s all) Unless your guild/group are really bad, Festergut will die before he casts a 2nd pungent blight so you won’t need to iceblock twice. Use “Major Shadow Protection Potion” too 5 seconds before the pull for extra dps thru absorbs.

Rotface (Arcane spec)

On the pull, blink to the centre of the room and spin to face Rotface. Stand directly behind him and use all cooldowns, nuke him hard and sidestep quickly to avoid slime spray before continuing dps. Keep an eye out for your disease debuff, if it lands on you blink towards the 2nd tank (he could be anywhere around the edge of the room, kiting a huge ooze) Drag your personal oozeling towards the large one, do not run INTO the huge one or you’ll die instantly. After they merge, blink back to your position from the start and repeat. When the big ooze explodes, stand in the centre while it casts, then blink to the edge for a few seconds to survive it.

Professor Putricide (Arcane spec)

Some prefer fireball for this but IMO it’s better to stay with arcane spec, molten fury isn’t anything to worry about. Mirror images and nuke as soon as the tank pulls, stand in the centre of the room. Sidestep out of slime puddles, if your 2nd tank is drinking the puddle then don’t bother moving cuz it will shrink. Tab and nuke adds without bothering to move unless it’s chasing you. Put the boss on /focus and when he casts “Tear Gas”, pop invisibility fast and cancel the buff a few seconds later. This means you avoid the raid stun, and can keep nuking adds or the boss for 10-15 seconds while the phases switch. Continue like this for the whole fight, using blink to avoid malleable ooze and to escape slime puddles in the final phase. This is a long fight, make sure you have full mana from evocate as phase3 starts because you’re going to be nuking hard (all cooldowns for phase3)

Blood Princes (Arcane spec)

Start off slightly to the left of the room, 36yd away from the first boss. Use all cooldowns and mirror images, nuke him down fast. Keep an eye on which boss has health, never nuke the boss who is on 1% hp. Use fire ward every 30 seconds and iceblock if a fireball is about to hit you on low hp. Kinetic Bombs are easy to handle as a mage – they’re the huge white orbs floating slowly to the ground (if they hit the floor, raid wipes) If you see one in the room, blink towards it and missiles barrage to send it back up to the roof. Never touch the purple floating vortexes, it’s important that your warlock has aggro on these instead.

Blood Queen Latifah (Arcane spec)

30 seconds before the pull, use “Major Shadow Protection Potion”. This will give you a damage increase due to incanter’s absorption, and if used before the pull it means you can use a 2nd potion during the fight. Blink into position and make sure you’re not hugging any other ranged. The first bite has always seemed really random to me, but I’ve been told it usually goes to the top dps. Pop all cooldowns on the pull and nuke hard to try get bitten first. I’m not going to explain the whole fight, but basically use Grid to make sure you don’t mess up bites, and iceblock the AOE fear as she flies into the air. Blink is also great for getting to the centre of the room for the linking debuff. Use a potion of Wild Magic in the final 10% burn phase, you will probably have heroism and end up being uselessly haste capped if you pop a speed pot.

That’s all for now, might update with Dreamwalker, Sindragosa and TOGC25 if anyone wants it.

updated on 14.02.2010:

Valithria Dreamwalker (Arcane spec)

Before the fight starts, buff the green dragon in the room with Amplify Magic. If you specced properly this spell should be “improved”, and it will increase the healing taken by Dreamwalker. Don’t be tempted to spec living bomb for this fight – all the mobs will die before the bombs explode. Stick to arcane spec and move to the centre of the room near Dreamwalker (the huge green dragon). You should be within range to nuke mobs that spawn from either side without moving much. Use frost ward every 30 seconds, and when Blazing Skeletons spawn use fire ward instead. Save arcane power and icy veins for the most important adds: Blazing Skeleton, and Suppressors. These need to die fast, nuke them as priority. You can also counterspell every spell except “lay waste”, and use mirror images as abominations die so you can blizzard the worms without pulling aggro.

Sindragosa (Definitely arcane spec!)

Throughout this entire fight there is a constant frost dmg aura ticking on the raid. Use frost ward before she lands, and then every 30 seconds for the entire fight no matter what is happening. With absorb talents you should be at around 5k spell power and full mana for the entire fight. Occasionally the boss will place Unchained Magic debuff on a few ranged dps or healers. The moment this spell lands on you, iceblock the debuff and continue nuking as if nothing happened. If you get the debuff again and iceblock is on cooldown, keep nuking until you have around 7-8 stacks of the debuff (7 spells later) Stand still and don’t dps, wait a few seconds until the debuff ends and hits you for 16,000 dmg, then continue nuking. Any more than 8 stacks and you will probably 1-shot yourself. Blink is very useful for this fight, you can blink away from Sindragosa when she pulls everyone towards her, and you can blink away from the raid if you become a frost beacon.

Will update with the Lich King soon, haven’t got him past phase3 on 25man yet ;(