H-Madness tips and tricks

[conjorer]

we are starting attempts tomorrow. just a few questions

1) 1 point in AC and 1 point in Pyromaniac, or 2 Pyro, 0 in AC?
2) how mana intensive is the fight
3) so i save combustions for cataclysm, or on cooldown (twice per platform)
4) if possible, keep LB on 3 targets at once at all times?
5) should i reforge for max mastery since crit and haste are taken care of during the encounter?
6) do i combustion for regen bloods AND cataclysm, or just cataclysm only?
7) best way to aoe regen bloods?
8) are there special positioning requirements to get the most out of spellweaving?

thanks, we start tomorrow

[Guromin]

Hi,

There was a very similar post made very recently. For your convenience I have adopted the information to answer your questions. Anyone with more experience can feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but I've done my research on the fight. Here is what I've come up with as answers to your questions:

1. See question 2.
2. Very. Points in Arcane Concentration are very helpful over Improved Scorch. Pyromaniac isn't as helpful as you might expect on this fight. If you have severe mana issues it may be worth 3 points in Arcane Concentration. You will want to make a new Mana Gem on the 3rd (yellow) platform and use Evocation twice during the fight.
3. Twice per platform. Once on the Mutated Corruption and once on the wing/arm.
4. No. It's important to focus damage on the Mutated Corruption to avoid unnecessary Impales.
5. I would argue that the only truly important portions of the fight for DPS are the 4th platform and phase 2. Reforging Mastery over haste for the first 3 platforms doesn't give you the dps you need and haste is still strong. You cannot reach the fire mage Haste Cap (Pyroblast under 1 second) on the fight. I would not change reforging for mastery.
6. For bloods I would use Living Bomb (and a Pyroblast! proc if available), then Blast Wave for an impact proc to spread it. After that avoid using excessive Flame Strikes for the sake of mana conservation (unless you can afford to), then cast fireball and spread ignite if possible.
7. See question 6. Also, in Phase 2 you will want to Spread Combustion from the large adds to the bloods. Be willing to take a slightly smaller ignite because there is a short window where spreading this is viable.
8. If I am understanding your question correctly, spell weave does not work based on where you stand.

Again, anyone who has more experience may feel free to add on,

-Guromin

[WishIWasAWarlock]

Hello conjorer,

I would agree with everything Guromin posted, however i myself have not gone through a full madness kill yet, i believe i can throw you some advice (or what i would hope to be) based on my prior experience with mana intensive fights and what ive read through various sources pertaining to H Madness.

To start off, As Guromin stated there was a post similar to this not too long ago on the mage forum. One of the mages from paragon was polite enough to respond and said that you should be using combustion twice on every platform, once preferably on the parasite or corrupted tentacle, and the other on the wing/arm. Don't use it on cataclysm unless you can be sure it's going to last the full or near the full duration.

As for your mana issues, ive found from doing normal mode madness that arcane explosion is actually pretty viable. Guromins suggestion of impact spreading is very good assuming the bloods last long enough to execute that sequence. In our group i simply opened with a blast wave to DoT them all up, followed with a few AE spams. AE does do a bit less damage, but it costs half as much and hits just as frequently. Since Spellweave is what causes the bulk of your AoE damage i think it's worth it.


It seems your main concern with this encounter is being wise with your mana usage. Multi-dotting does increase your DPS, the DPS increase really isnt needed (aside from the 4th platform) so in most cases it's best to just to skip it so you can go from the 4th platform to the end of the fight with out having to evocate.


Good Luck on getting him down! Spine is a huge achievement so i'm sure you'll have no issues.

[Baltha]

You guys pretty much said all that's needed allready there.

Only one thing I'd like to add...with wise mana usage, you can use flamestrike for bloods as much as needed for max spellweave (at least on my gear lvl). With wise mana usage I mean going with close to full mana into last phase, without loosing close to none damage on earlier platforms. Oh and your second combustion on every platform should line up nicely so, that it comes off cd pretty soon after cataclysm cast starts.

[Gobblo]

5) should i reforge for max mastery since crit and haste are taken care of during the encounter?

Crit is taken care of?