BG spec. Arcane vs Frost

Post by 134688

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Post by Boush

Hey Hitoshirenu,
i've mainly played Frost in PvP but i've tried Arcane. Arcane used to have sickass dmg. Used to that is, now i think frost is alot better cuz of the survivability. Arcane mages can still nuke the shiet out of you but a rogue will 2shoot you .
As frost i pretty rarely used fb, i kited the enemy in frost nova, landed few ice lances > repeat . Ice barrier always up. I used mirrors if needed, if i wanted some extra nuke, i summoned my elemental > nova'd with elemental > deep freeze > ice lance 3x . If i had range and i knew i had few free secs i did a fb. Also use CoC too if he's close & instant firebawlz for more dmg.
Mage is all about kiting.

- Boush

Post by 134688

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Post by Boush

Np ;)
mage powwa.

Post by Wildhorn

Go Fire for BGs :)

Post by DirtyApe

I haven't had the chance to pvp with my mage in WOTLK, except for encounters from lvls 70-72, but I can give advice and ideas from what I've learned during TBC and 2 lvls of WOTLK.

For BG's the only time/s I'll actually frostbolt is if I know I have the time to get one off without allowing myself to get within melee range or if the class I'm fighting doesn't have much of a chance to silence me.
Like Boush said previously, frost pvp is mostly about kiting and taking advantage of freezes and deep freeze. Its usually a bad idea to try and cast a frostbolt at other mages or classes that have a ranged silence/counterspell skill.
I'm not sure if you spec for it with frost but Imp. counterspell is awesome against other casters because it gives you a little opening to push their faces in.

I can't wait until I can come back from this deployment and tear up the BG field with my mage again. I have a warrior that I pvp'd with during TBC but I've always enjoyed my mage a little bit more for pvp because of the mobility and being able to use more than a grab and smash playstyle.
Well I'm gonna end my wall of text so I hope I helped out some. Good luck with smashing faces :D

Post by 292516

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Post by Boush

Thats correct, frost's kiting in arenas is great.
I've even owned with my PvE arcane in BG's with a few friends. If you get a chance to nuke from behind its pretty neat dmg. I'd still go for frost for PvP overall tho, it comes down to the player himself , what do you prefer. Frost is superior if u ask me.
mahbauls what are you going to do with your ubr IWIN button if've got you Deep Freezed?
Against Arcane mage i'd try to make him waste he's ubrwinbuttons ( with counterspell, deepfreeze, iceblock).

Post by Makross

mahbauls what are you going to do with your ubr IWIN button if've got you Deep Freezed?

Deep Freeze: 30 sec CD
Blink: 15 sec CD

Stuns in Mage's arsenal are very rare, thought...

And, if mahbauls went to Incanter Abs. may be he had Improved Blink too...

Post by 302364

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Post by StrangerWifCandy

Arcane is a MUCH more offensive-based spec than Frost. Both do absolutely fine in BGs (specced properly), but both also have their key advantages in different situations. If you're planning to tear up the middle field in WSG, then probably Arcane is what you're looking at (Killing Blows galore).

Frost, on top of being much better than Arcane at handling melee DPS, is just generally much stronger at CC and team assistance. Your FC is running down middle with tons of pursuers. You have a 70% AoE slow with talented CoC, quicker Frost Novas, pet Nova, and Deep Freeze for quick peels. Frost Mages have the ABILITY to burst, but setting up a situation where you CAN is lengthy, cool-down dependant, and not guaranteed (Shatter is only 50% increased chance to crit. 4k shatter bombs ftw =| ). Frost is definetely capable of keeping up with Arcane in terms of kill performance, but it strongly relies on enemy team composition. I think all of the control utilities make up for it though.

Arcane on the other hand, basically requires you to utilize three skills. Slow, Arcane Blast, and Arcane Barrage. You're basically just spamming every instant you have, and edging in an AB+ABarr whenever you're not threatened with a school lock, waiting for a MBarr proc. Between just Fire Blast and ABarr spamming, your target's HP will drop surprsingly fast, and an MBarr proc basically seals the kill. It's very bursty, no real form of setup required, and if played right, KBs will start rolling in easily. Now, when I say Arcane has no defense, I mean really only against melee classes (against another caster class, there's nearly nothing they can do, talented Mage Armor+Magic Absorption gives you 160 resistance total against all schools of magic). Advantages Arcane has is if you need to storm a node in AB or EOTS quickly, to grab that flag before team-mates can come to assist, or to break a turtle in WSG.

Well, TL;DR version is this. Frost for defensive and tricky playstyle, and Arcane for strong offensive capabilities and (relatively) less defense.

Both work absolutely fine, if specced for pvp. I can't say one's better than the other tbh, it just depends on what gear you have available to you, and what playstyle you feel more comfortable with. Personally, I play frost because the options available to me when a rogue or hunter ambushes me are much more vast, and it's easier to run away from a losing fight as frost (directly linked to it's kiting ability).

BG spec. Arcane vs Frost

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