4.3 Brief Fire Guide

[Guromin]

Fellow Mages,

This is my guide for Fire Mages in 4.3.2

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Changes to Fire Mages in Patch 4.3.2:

Fireball damage has been reduced by 6%
Pyroblast damage has been reduced by 6%

Yes. Fire mages are getting nerfed, but Fire mages will still do good damage. It should be about a 1-3k dps loss depending on gear. In full BiS gear it will be a 3k dps loss.

Elitist Jerks has mentioned that they are currently in the process of updating the Fire Mage compendium for 4.3, but much of the information on there is still relevant, so if you are new to fire mages I suggest checking that out first.
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Cookie Cutter Fire Mage spec:
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#o0hZfchrkbRRsfoc
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Rotation:

Rotation: Critical Mass Debuff > Flame Orb > Living Bomb > Pyroblast! > Mirror Image > Fireball > Scorch

Please note that using Flame Orb and Mirror Image are not recommended while attempting to apply Combustion. Using these allows Ignite to tick for a second on the target an can result in ignite being munched instead of stacking. This is especially critical when a Hot Streak proc is active.

Mirror Image is a dps increase to use, but less important because of how infrequently it can be used. The 3 minute CD allows some leeway in terms of when it's used.

If Living Bomb going to fall off at the end of a Fireball cast and Hot Streak has procced, refresh the Living Bomb first and then use Pyroblast! unless this occurs while you are attempting to stack Ignite. If this is the case see the Dream Combustion section.
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Stat Weights
Intellect > Hit to cap > Haste to 2005 (or 1505 with t13 2 set) > Crit > Haste > Mastery

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Glyphs:

Prime:

Glyph of Fireball
Glyph of Molten Armor
Glyph of Pyroblast

Major:

None provide a dps increase. They are all purely situational.

Glyph of Evocation (Nice additional heal when using Evocation)
Glyph of Blink (When you need to get somewhere faster)

Minor Glyphs:

Free choice on these, but do note use Glyph of Mirror Images. It is a dps loss for Fire.

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Haste Plateau's

Living Bomb, Pyroblast and FrostFire Bolt all have the same haste tick values.

+1 Tick = 12.5%
+2 Tick = 37.5%
+3 Tick = 62.5%
+4 Tick = 87.5%

Flame Orb and Ignite are not affected by haste.

Keep in mind these are default values and obtaining these requires different amounts of haste depending on what haste buffs you have available (Netherwind Presence, Goblin Haste, T11 Set bonus, Blood Lust, Raid Haste Buff). If your going to calculate the haste values yourself just remember that haste is multiplicative so multiply, don't add.




Dream Combustion:

The secret to Combustion is a large Ignite. I generally won't take an ignite under 20k, but that number may differ depending on your gear. So far, in 4.3, the best Ignite I have been able to reach without any fight mechanics modifying it was 45k. I have noticed that at times I am able to get ignite to "stack" on top of itself. More information bellow.

I have found that the addon MyBigIgnite is the best for tracking ignite and is not only accurate, but fast. The second a spell hits the boss it is updated with how much the spell hit for. This addon is available on Curse if interested.

Combustion thrives off of large ignites to make sure you have an addon to help with this.

Combustion Ticks:

+1 tick = 5% haste needed
+2 ticks = 15% haste needed
+3 ticks = 25% haste needed
+4 ticks = 35% haste needed

How do I get a large Ignite for a big Combustion?
Ignite Stacking

Ignite stacking is the act of two ignites combining their magnitude to form one new ignite. Doing this will help Combustion to be more desirable in size.

What is ignite stacking?

Ignite stacks when a target is crit twice (or more via Dragonwrath) before ignite ticks (2 seconds) the ignite's strenth will stack and be nearly twice as strong. Two hits at the same time do not cause ignite to stack. One of the values will be munched.

This effect is more easily achieved by launching a Pyroblast at the boss after Fireball. Certainly more crits will aid this process, but they must hit before ignite ticks.

What if I don't believe this "Guromin" guy?

Try it for yourself! Go to a target dummy and cast fireball until it crits a few times and take note of the size of the Ignite from that crit. Do the same with Pyroblast. Then wait until you are lucky enough to have both crit and take note of the new ignite size. This can take some time because you will likely not be raid buffed while attacking a target dummy.


Macro's:

Alt Modifiers:

#showtooltip Living Bomb

/cast [modifier:alt, target=focus] Living Bomb/cast [nomodifier:shift] Living Bomb

#showtooltip Fireball

/cast [modifier:alt, target=focus] Fireball/cast [nomodifier:shift] Fireball

Holding alt and the button assigned for the spell will cause it hit your current focus target. If alt is not held down it will hit your current target. Note that holding alt does not change your current target, it only causes the spell to hit your focus.

Stop casting Macro's

#showtooltip Combustion
/stopcasting
/cast Combustion

This really is a must have macro for fire mages. Combustion is not on the GCD and can be quickly cast at any moment a large Ignite appears!

#showtooltip Spellsteal
/stopcasting
/cast Spellsteal

#showtooltip Ice Block
/stopcasting
/cancelaura Ice Block
/cast Ice Block

This macro will stop what your casting and cast Ice Block. When you click it again it will cancel Ice Block.

#showtooltip Counterspell
/stopcasting
/cast [target=mouseover,exists] Counterspell; Counterspell

This is a macro to stop casting and Counterspell your mouseover if your mouse is over a target.If your mouse is not hovering over a target it will interrupt your current target.

This last one isn't specific to just mages. It's good for any class.

/focus

BiS list 4.3:

[rileytucker]

The problem is that the way gear will scale for mages, we will be able to cast arcane blast almost entirely the whole time, so sadly, fire will probably fall behind once again. I wish they'd just make frost good. Frost is, by far, the most fun to play in my opinion.

[Guromin]

Rileytucker,

I honestly do not understand where the concern is coming from and it seems like it's not just you that have this thought that Arcane will be better than Fire as we obtain Dragon Soul gear. Here's a breakdown of why I think Arcane can't even compete with fire in 4.3.

Morchock- One of the most simplistic fights, but there is a decent about of movement involved and because of this it is advantageous to have movement abilities. Under unusual circumstances I do believe that Arcane could compete with fire on this fight at higher gear levels, however, it is not likely that you will be given the privilege of standing still to dps.

Warlord Zon'ozz- This fight does not contain a lot of movement, but it does contain enough to potential hinder Arcane. This mainly depends on how many 'bounces' your guild wishes to do and how well you are able to keep it going back and forth. Our PTR group was not very good at it and we ended up doing a lot of running.

Yor'sahj the Unsleeping- No question fire is the best. Heavy AoE, high movement, and depending on your luck an ability that removed all of your mana for short time. I imagine top fire mages doing more than 50k dps on this fight (easily). It does depend a lot on luck, but if I was able to do 50k dps in LFR I think there will be mages capable of that or more on normal and heroic.

Hagara the Stormbinder- There is no good time for a burn phase with only a 12 second period of taking increased damage, but that is plenty of time to land a nice Pyroblast! and get a large ignite for combustion. In addition there is some AoE from frozen dps and heavy movement in the transition phases.

Ultraxion- This fight is about the closest fight to patchwerk we will ever see. Click a button when an event happens and otherwise stand in one place and do dps. Arcane may do very well at this fight on heroic. There is a mechanic that allows for 100% increased haste and 75% reduced spell cost, but from what I saw they changed this mechanic to be available to only healers. This will be Arcanes strongest fight if fire isn't capable of beating it.

Warmaster Blackhorn- I don't understand how anyone could do good arcane damage on this fight. There's constant movement to obsorb missiles landing on the ship, two melee targets just asking for dots to be spread across them, a small sapper that needs a slow (Blast Wave which also damages other adds), two drakes to dot on each side of the boat, and drakes that fly over the boat. Fire seems to be a much stronger choice on this fight.

Spine of Deathwing-On Normal Arcane is more effect on this fight because of the burst dps required. Fire may be more viable on heroic, but on normal it is detrimental (in some cases) to have AoE damage.

Madness of Deathwing- Arcane doesn't do well with haste. The large haste buffs on this fight and multiple targets to dot will make fire a better choice for overall damage on this fight. I could understand a player choosing arcane if a guild was in need of additional burst on the last platform or Deathwing himself, however, I believe Combustion's burst has become almost as powerful as Arcane's burst if a sufficient Ignite is present.

From these fights I just do not see where a player who wants to play fire would be 'forced' to play Arcane for more damage. If I have incorrectly addressed a fight feel free to provide some insight. Bottom line is that you can't be wrong choosing fire on the fights on 4.3, unless your executing fire incorrectly.

I hope this sheds some light on your concern for Arcane and Fire in 4.3,

-Guromin

[Guromin]

4.3 BiS list:

This may chance as calculations are improved, but here is a rough draft of what the best gear in 4.3 will look like for FIRE mages.

---Bis list updated in original post---

I hope this helps give you an idea of what gear will look like in Dragon Soul. In general the same gear will be true for normal and LFR versions of Dragonsoul, but expect some differences.

Based on Simulation Craft this dps set will in fire will do 48k dps single target and Patchwerk style. I have a feeling that the tier set is not calculating correctly so I will investigate, however, I feel as though that is a promising gain in dps from the past tier. I did not list Arcane BiS, but it came out to be 46k dps with the same parameters. Again,I am almost positive there is an error in the way the set bonus is calculating, so I will work on scripting a solution, but in the mean time I hope this appeases all of the fire skeptics out there.

-Firelord Guromin

[saphienta]

Gosh Guromin..you're a hero really for providing us with all of this info, wish I could thank you more than just with some words on internet. This was exactly what I was looking for <3
Although just wondering, how exactly would you gear up as a fire mage? Will mastery be a viable stat now with high amounts of haste/crit? Also I remember from last tier that haste>crit according to sim which I tried out and without those hot streak procs my dps suffered severely, is it still like that? I'm thinking right now of crit > haste > mastery and as for trinkets choices all the passive intellect ones I can get?

[Guromin]

Saphienta,

It was my pleasure to provide people with this information. In regards to stat weights I did not include stat weights for Fire because they change depending on your gear. By that I mean they change a lot. Players will Dragonwrath will see Haste as a much more powerful stat than someone without because more casts means more chances to proc Dragonwrath's ability (no internal CD on it). All I can really say is to go calculate them yourself with Simulation Craft. If you are unsure on how to do this let me know and I will provide some instruction.

To make matters more complicated the stat weights for fire change based on the fight. Heavy AoE makes mastery and haste more powerful. Bosses like Madness of Deathwing provide some haste and likely cause Critical Strike to be more powerful. Point being that fire is a dynamic spec and the rules change. That's a big portion of why I like it, but if unfamiliar it can be daunting.

I hope that this helps, but if there was something I missed or you have another question let me know.

-Guromin

[saphienta]

Thanks for your fast reply, and yes indeed I would be very grateful if you could provide a short guide about how to use Simulationcraft :). So if I understand you right haste and crit would be best for singletarget dps? Even though DTR will get nerfed next patch you suggest going hard on haste? Thank you in advance

[Guromin]

Here is a brief guide to simulationcraft that I typed up back in may. This should answer your questions and maybe have a few additional details in it that don't directly relate to your questions. If after reading it you still have questions feel free to make a post.


How to use SimulationCraft:
After downloading and launching the application you should see the welcome screen that no one reads. It's not really import, so skip to the options tab. In the options tab there are several important things that should require your attention.

Version: Live or Beta. Beta will include any balancing changes listed in the patch notes.
Iterations: How many times the fight is repeated. Increasing this will make it take longer, but increase the accuracy of it.
Length: How long the fight is.
Vary Length: This will simply change the duration of the fight from run to run.
Adds: Well, how many other targets there are. I don't use this because SimulationCraft doesn't ever seem to know what a good aoe rotation is.
Fight Style: Patchwork is standing still and HelterSkelter is a moving fight.
Target Race: This is the race of the enemy your attacking.
Player Skill: An Elite player setting will use a computer with a percent error of 0. Strive to achieve this Elite dps, but realize that it's always a good reflections of what you can realistically do.
The rest of the options don't need to be changed on this page.

In the next tab select the buffs you would like on you, Then the debuffs you want on your target.

Scaling is really important. What you select to scale is what SimulationCraft is going to tell you stat weights for. Select all of the options that apply to your class.

Skip plots for now. They aren't vital to basic SimulationCrafting.

On to Import. There are several options as to how to import your character, but most likely you will find your character on the armory using the Battle.net tab. All of the tabs work in a similar way; find your character and click import at the bottom right of the screen. Once you import a character it will appear in the History tab for your convenience to use next time. Simply double click to load the history you would like to SimulationCraft.

A series of code will appear on your screen after clicking Import. I recommend you don't edit them right now, but it is fairly self explanatory as to how to edit most of it. On this screen click Simulate! to start your characters Simulation. Depending on the number of scaling factors and Iterations this could take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes.

Your character has now been Simcrafted! Now to review the results and figure things out.

First it will list your character name and how much dps you should do. Keep in mind this is an average of many attempts. Your actual results may vary.

Results, Spec, and Gear
This is the big one. The section you care about. It tells you your stat weights and dps. Scale Factors are your stat weights not in normal form. Normal form is when you take the best stat and it's value and set that equal to 1. Then all the others are scaled down proportionality. In order to get accurate stat weights SimulationCraft recommends 10,000 iterations.

Charts
Charts will tell you various things about your character that are fairly self explanatory. I use this to get a sense of importance of spell casting. It helps me to see that a silly cooldown like Flame Orb is one of my most efficient dps/cast time spells. Charts also graphs your damage sources. This is how much each of your spells should be doing. If your close to this thats good.

Great now I have all this information, but what do I do with it?

Well now you can use this information to test your rotation. If you can pull as much dps on a target dummy as it says you can, then generally that means your rotation is correct. If you can't check your rotation and the setting you used on this. Make sure you don't have raid buffs on for this.

-Guromin

[rileytucker]

[Ti'tahk, the Steps of Time] is not better than the legendary? I really haven't got a clue.

[Guromin]

Rileytucker,

According to early simulation craft and rawr models Dragonwrath does appear to be BiS in 4.3. In fact, it still has a fairly substantial lead on any other weapon.

-Guromin