Icelancelots Intro to Mage PVP(2500+ Perspective)

[Icelancelot]

~~~~Icelancelots Mage PVP Guide~
2500+ Mage Perspective

Hey all what's up,this is my first guide and attempt to get out of leecher status ^.^(Have been part of MMOwned for quit some time,I figure its time to give back what I can with my mage skills)
Not sure where to start really,have never really written a guide but I have had a lot of requests and questions..

Index-
~^* Frequently Asked Questions *^~
-
~^* Setting up a UI *^~
-
~^* Handling Classes! *^~

The most frequently asked question is... "How do you play a mage so well?". The answer is simple, playing a mage well comes down to a lot more than being good at your class. Most mages actually want to know how do you play a mage in ARENA. So i'll be writing this guide up on the basics of arena, and the role of a mage. Being good at your class means nothing if you can't utilize it in arena. I'll cover some of the niches of a mage later on,and some strategies versus other classes and combos


~^* Frequently Asked Questions *^~

Q: Gladiator Icelancelot, what are some of the good combos a mage can work with?

A: Well young padawan, the truth is a mage can work with any class,even a healer! Don't worry so much about what class your partner is,worry about if you enjoy playing with that person,and their class,and worry about your synergy.

Q: Pfft...come on I know theres a super crazy good combo for mages!

A: It's true indeed, there are very few classes that a mage has complete synergy with. Mostly they have a lot of synergy with rogues because their stuns allow the mage to take advantage of his bursting capabilities. Heres my suggestion on the best combos

2v2- Mage Rogue is your best bet for a 2 DPS team,any other teammate that could work well with a mage will suffer alot from LOS,and be much more difficult to play. However for Mage+Healer,almost any class can work,aside from paladins( Though a shockadin or ret paladin can be successful to an extent as well) Mage Priest allows for alot of control when played well,and can play the outlast game with mana burns,and tons of CC to ninja off drinks.

3v3- Ah now this bracket brings a lot more flexibilty,you can play 3 dps here, RMP,WMD, RMD, I mean basically you can run any comp you want,obviously more favored to ones who have some sort of rogue,or some healing negation attack(Yes a hunter can work also if the hunter is skilled,as a HMDruid comp)

I suppose I should list the keys for these classes

W-Warrior

M-Mage

D-Druid

P-Priest

PLD-Paladin

L-Warlock

S-Shaman

H-Hunter

R-Rogue

5v5- Theres really only 1 or 2 successful comps you see high up with a mage,but in 5v5 teamwork,coordination,and communication are worth alot more than a good combo. Eurocomp(Warlock Rogue Disc Priest Resto Druid Mage) allows for a mage to chain cast frostbolts combined with CC since he is rarely the focus,moreso now with the undispellable frost armor.
The second popular 5v5 for mages is 2345,(Warrior Elemental Shaman Mage Holy Paladin Disc Priest). This setup is less based on CC and more based on hard,lined up burst and quick swaps.with a clutch counterspell on a healer.

Q: Alrighty Ice,I get it,mages work with rogues,and are a high burst class if you let them. But how should I gear?

A: Well,theres plenty of ways to gear. Myself? I go for a full silk set,with the dagger+OH,and gemming? I tend to match the socket bonuses,because a mage can use virtually any stat. Currently I use crit+dmg in my chest,a the Chaotic Skyfire diamond as a meta, a +12 dmg in my helm,with a 10 resil in my neck,and 10 spell hit in my bracers,and Stam/Resil in my shoulders. I also enchant for maximum +dmg. Heres my
armory.

The World of Warcraft Armory

Q: Why the spell hit?

A: Well the cap for PVP equal level players is 4%,but theres always a 1% chance to miss/resist,so 38 or so spell hit is needed for the spell hit cap,and I have 14+ spell hit from my helm enchant,and 18-19 or so from my weapon. You may need to gem differently,or enchant differently if you don't have a full PVP set.

Q: How bout specs?

A: This comes down to preference,my armory says im 2/0/59 but I never go that spec for PVP(Thats my PVE spec atm)
I am a strong proponent of that 17/0/44 spec, people say this spec is a waste of points in the arcane tree,and you lose alot of your burst. But for 2v2,and even 3v3 imp counterspell silence is a god send in some cases, from stopping an NS+Heal go off,or even to stop a druids hots,and its especially great when you're bursting someone, Cheap shot>Kidney Shot> Vanish Garrote> Imp counterspell means assured death for anyone.

Continued in next post.

[Icelancelot]

Alright,now for setting up the basic PVP UI.

Maybe not so basic...

~^* Setting up a UI *^~

Alright,the most important thing in creating a UI is make it CLEAN,SIMPLE,ROOMY. You need to be very aware in PVP and shiny distractions dont help,you also need to be able to see a lot. Being aware and knowledgable is more important than being skilled at your own class ten fold easily. Heres what you want in your UI.
Bar Mod: While this is not completely necessary, it adds alot of versatility with keybinds and can actually compact your UI as a whole and make it smaller. Examples are: Bongos/Bartender.

Cryolysis 2: Also while not completely necessary,it compacts your UI and makes it simple to create food,portals,buffs,gems etc.

Focus Frame: A focus frame is an additional frame that allows you to see your "Focus". A focus is a target that you have selected with the command /focus. What does it do? It
basically makes it so,that if you have the proper macro/command,you can interrupt a target without even targetting that person! This makes it so you do not have to waste time switching back and forth between people waiting for heals. Better yet,people can not know if they are your focus or not,so they will have a tough time faking your heals.

Here is the basic macro for a focus Counterspell macro

/cast [target=focus] Counterspell

Whenever you hit this key,you will counterspell your focus target,you can also do this with sheep, just replace Counterspell with sheep.

There are alot of mods that come with a focus frame bar or something other than their purpose,such as quartz, However there are several others like FocusFrame,or ones that are built into a UI,like Pitbulls etc.

If you need more help with focus macros you can PM me and i'll give you more advanced macros/uses.

Proximo: This is a MUST have arena mod,it makes switching targets and keeping track of peoples health/mana extremely simple. Its basically a box frame that has a list of your opponents health mana,and you can click on the name inside the frame to target them.

Decursive: Another god send from the mage gods! The main role of a mage is to CC/Defend his teammates,and burst at opportune times...many mages have difficulty decursing,because you have to target a teammate and hit your decurse button,this mod simplifies it to having all your teammates represented as boxes,and when 1 is cursed the box lights up red,alerting you to right click the box and decurse them,it also alerts you the duration the curse has been up.

NECB: Ah man this mod is great! It alerts you the DR's of your novas/sheeps or whatever else you would like to know,highly reccomended for efficiecny and accuracy on your sheeps.

Afflicted: This mod is also another great invention,the only downside is that it can get distracting but it gives you all the information you need about your opponents,it tells you when their counterspell is up again,when cloak is gonna end,if they pop sprint,when intercept is up,you name it,it probably has it.
Like I said,those are the basics. You can add fancy UI additions to make your UI look fancy,but I prefer the simple plain look. Heres what my UI looks like if you need some ideas on how to start.

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/3...8214306cq5.jpg

The cast bar is Quartz,the thing under the cast bar is Cryolysis and under that is the normal blizz UI,which I resized with Bongos(Also the bar tool I used to rearrange my bars into the corner)

The map is Simpleminimap,and the faded frame under the minimap is my focus frame. And again,under that is where my Proximo is positioned.

Hmm UI's Specs Combos Gems Gear... What else can I add?


~^* Strats! *^~

Being a mage is a very attentive and complicated job, it requires high precision and great timing, a single mistakes can turn the tide of a game even if its not apparent to you right then and there it will effect you later on.

Here is the priority in which you as a mage are supposed to follow:

CC/Defending teammates: As a mage your CC and ability to control players are unparalleled as a DPS class, and you have many tools to keep the advantage. You have to use your novas defensively,and by that I mean you need to use your novas to snare people,not to get shatter combos off. Keeping your teammates alive is #1 always.

Interrupts: Make sure you can interrupt! All the burst in the world wont save you if you cant stop a crucial heal. This is why focus frames are so important for the mage class,you need to stop any and all heals or CC spells.

Decursing: Curse of tongues is a pain in the ass for ANY caster,it doesnt matter who it is,it leaves them very vulnerable to interrupts and can really crush your survivability or burst if
its on you. Make sure you get curses off like tongues ASAP!

Burst: Yes,even with all the burst capabilities a mage has,it is your LAST priority. The more CC you put out,the more interrupts,the more defensive your team is,it will allow time for more properly lined up bursts, because burst does not matter for a mage if you do it at unopportune times( IE on a target with full row of hots and pain suppresion,you need to spend this time reducing damage incoming to your team)

Ok now thats settled,here is how you handle these classes.

~^* Handling Classes! *^~

Rogues: Rogues have been a thorn in a mages ass ever since ShS became a popular spec. There are in fact ways to beat them though! If you really,desperately need a rogue off you,blow all your CDs to get away,bomb him with novas to burn his CloS/Vanish,this releases pressure off you and wastes the rogues time. After this you need to kite him with a CoC,assuming you are not crippled,if you are,wait till he has enough energy to hemo,or has no energy at all,and do IV+Sheep,it will be so fast its unpredictable and it suffers no pushback. Make sure you pull the rogue out of LOS of a dispeller,and if you cant try to stack winters chill through ice lances to eat the dispels. Also,if you ever get range and they have CP,ALWAYS fake your first poly to catch the deadly throw.

Warlocks: Mmm delicious counter class if you ever thought of one,a magic resistant pet that causes pushback and CAN COUNTERSPELL YOU,along with fears and curses and dots a lock and apply,and also just run away. The best way to deal with them is focus on CC'ing them/Locking them down through whatever means you and your partner have,you can also try an advanced technique that involves killing the pet,interrupting fel dom and spell stealing it off.

Warriors: These can get somewhat tricky,usually they are faceroll worthy to deal with,but if they get alot of imp hamstrings and mace stuns it can mean GG for you in arena. You really have to keep alot of distance,and only blink intercepts.You should be able to sheep him twice,have your partner cc them if they have any and use your novas until DR is up. Just make sure you dont mess up your CC rotation

Priests: Hard uphill battle but doable. If you ever fight a priest team your best bet is really just to CC them as much as possible and avoid being mana burned,and to also interrupt their heals only so you can line up bursts on their partner. Another thing to watch for is them running to you,usually a sign that they are about to fear you.

Shamans: Another annoyance,grounding totems,earth shocks,lightning fast heals,and rediculous buffers. However any shaman team itself should be easy,just make sure you keep a close eye on grounding totems,they can potentially eat a shatter combo or even a counterspell,stomp all totems that you can and CC the shaamn,and perhaps fake him if you sense an earth shock inc.

Other mages: Oh boy,I usually dont have much problems with other mages but i can get pretty reliant on RNG of frostbite etc. The basic strat for 1v1 is,you want to kite them alot,LOS as much as you can until your imp CS is up,and then line up a shatter combo. You want to make sure they have no block/trinket/escape artist,if they do you may just be better off Lancing instead of trying to shatter. Always keep your wards up,IB/Frost or Fire ward. Mana shield is a waste,but use it if you're gonna get splat upon.

Hunters: Mm,they will poop on you if you allow them to get range. So always stay in their melee range,and keep them slowed. If you ever see the chance pop Icy Veins/your pet or your nova and shatter combo the pet,this will allow for you to recover later in the match. Blink to keep up,COC to slow them,spam novas and destroy the pet is your best hope.

Resto Druids:....keel over? You might get lucky with a shatter combo on them when they have a GCD,but otherwise you probably really dont have much of a chance if they play well,you have to hope you RNG them alot or just get alot of mistakes on their part. If they are about to schwf round the corner try to fire arcane missiles,as they will follow them around the pillar.

Paladins: lolwut? Spellsteal freedom and get lots and lots of shatter combos on them or their partner. Paladins should not be a problem for you,stack winters chill also to block their cleanses.

The above was just a mix of how to handle each class in arena,or 1v1,as you can utilize the strategies in either scenario.
Ok thats it for this guide atm,I will try to update it when possible if I feel the need. Please drop some requests if you want to see some additional info,and if you have any questions toss me a PM.

[Obama]

nice post. ill read it.

[qazqaz]

nice guide

[Ulgrim]

what the future president said

[Nartan]

Well made post +Rep

[Oyeahh]

Nicely made post +Rep

[Poglia]

omg nice guide, i lik it

[Spiritblaze]

well made guide, GJ

[trov]

Very nice guide, i've been playing a mage in arenas for awhile now, and i know this is gonna help. Thx and +rep.

[Dragonius89]

really helpul for PvP mages. Dunno did you say about to bind all your most important spells, cuz u won't be kicking ass if you will be clicking something with mage

[Henka44]

Nice man, +1 rep