The Magician's Tower

Summerfrost's Guide To Advanced Mage DPS

((Also see Wired: guide to multibinding))

I'm bored camping PoWater so i figured i'd do a little more revised write-up for Advanced Mage Dps.

First and foremost, this post is not for you IF:

~You have a small mana pool or have troubles with mana
~You have a low mana regen rate
~You have questions about AA's or foci
~You don't know how to burn already
~You have a low AA count

This post is for you IF:

~You are trying to maximize your damage output during a Raid, Group, and or Burn
~You are ready to show people the true potential of Mage Dps
~You want to learn about Multi-binding and Weaves
~You want to see yourself on parses
~You want to be the best

Ok well lets start off with some pieces of gear that are very very helpful with AMD aka Advanced Mage Dps. These will aid in your overall manapool. They are type 8 so you need some non visible raid gear and they take the slot of a regular stat aug, but in the long run is much more mana.

1. Tweyne's Stone of Evocation - 15% evocation mod (DD spells)
2. Stone Guardians Conjuration Shard - 15% conjuration mod (RS and magic spells)


Now to the spells:

Now, people talk about spell order and weave order but my advice is to look at your spell dmg, timers, cooldowns and type of spell. I use DD spells in my lineup first because they have a slightly longer cast timer than RS. I like bolt first because its right in the middle of dmg and cast time. I do this because of the new speed of the RS and because there is a DD component in RS that can break mez's, RS at the start can waste time on Twincast and its for less starting aggro than spear. Having the longer cast timer in the start gives me time to back out if necessary. A Typical lineup for me is Bolt, Spear, RS, Clash, Blazing Sands. This type of lineup will be explained more in the next section of Multi-Binding. For group stuff I take out clash because its not as effective. Clash works off how many pets are near (they don't actually have to be attacking) your target, 9 being the maximum times it can proc with the 9th(max pets=bonus) being way overpowered(sometimes critting for 15k) . Also in Group situations I tend to not use RS unless its with a Gift of Mana proc. The reasons I don't are because they disengage on mez's, really heavy on your manapool and mobs shouldn't live that long. I then use Blazing sands because its very fast cast time (works great as last spell in a key binding weave), decent dmg with rk 3, and can fill in for the refresh time between bolt and spear. Bolt, Sands, Spear, Sands, Bolt, Sands, Spear, etc etc. The best part about its speed/mana cost is its ability to proc GoM in groups, greatly increasing your # of spells cast and therefore your chances of GoM.

Next is Multi-Binding:

A Key Binding can be used by any class and is used sometimes by the unaware. When I press the M key, my map pops up. That is a Key Binding. Here is how you use that same idea but binding multiple actions to 1 single key, called Multi-Binding. To use this to my advantage I Multi-Bind all my weave spells to a 1-0 key (can use anything really). Not in order, but the SAME key. I have all mine set to 1. To do this just go into options-->keys tab-->select category 'spell casting'. At the top of your list in that category you should see 3 separations. Command--Keypress--Alternate. After your there, mark ALL your spell gems that correspond with your weave with your chosen # IN THE ALTERNATE AREA.

It should look like this:

COMMAND--------------------KEYPRESS-------------------ALTERNATE
gem 1..........................alt+1..........................1
gem 10.........................alt+0..........................--
gem 11.........................alt+-..........................--
gem 2..........................alt+2..........................1
gem 3..........................alt+3..........................1

where gem 1,2,3 are your weave spells and so forth............

Once you have done this you can get out of options and try it out. You should be able to spam your # and have all your spells cast in numerical order (spell gem 1 first 2 second etc etc) Now, heres the reason why Multi-Binding weaves are so nice. Once through the first round of spells, hitting your chosen # key will cast whatever spell is NOT on a cooldown first. It will always choose the spell closest to the 1 gem slot possible. For example if 1,3,5 spell gems are on refresh, it will cast 2 before it will cast 4. This allows you to never see your spells refresh. This is the reason I put Clash and Blazing Sands on the END of my weave, they are really fast casts which won't interfere with my main dps spells, they are cheap mana wise, and offer me a spell that is always up in case I hit lag and my refresh timers are all fouled up or i have no lag and it fires in there for added dps. And again more casts = more GoM procs.

One more thing about choosing a ALTERNATE Key Bind. You may already have something tied to them, like your Hotbar or something. I used this to my advantage and put the AA Force of Elements into my Hotbars Key Binding # slot. It does NOT run off the same timers as spells and is very very fast 8.5K+ crit dmg. This AA will cast in between spell casts and will not affect your weave whatsoever. Also, because its a 'Keypress' Bind and not and Alternate Bind it will fire when ever its up BUT usually not first. The way it works is there is a 1 sec or so refresh on your spells depending on lag etc so the only thing your Key Binding is tied to at that Second is the AA. It fires whenever you click your Multi-Bind #, the AA is refreshed AND ONLY in that refresh timer.

On a Side Note:

This type of setup can be used for burns only or your full event dps like me depending on your ability to use rods, gear, regen mana etc etc. It is also VERY mana intensive because your not waiting on GoM procs for RS.

The items I listed above will help you save mana. Personally I cast way more DD spells than RS's so i went and respec'd my primary specialization to evocation and got my secondary in conjuration.

Pets:

Always use a water pet for dps. When able, your pocket pet should be water also with all the fun/dps/defensive/2nd/aegis/ spire AA's for an untimely pet death. Get in the habit of never using the summoned fire swords because there are LOTS of raid situations where Fire=Bad. At EM8 (max AA) I even use the water pet to tank everything up to t4 mobs.

Burns:

Burn early with silent casting/Twincast AA/first spire etc etc. You might die or not be able to use it well again. The spell Twincast refreshes faster than the AA and usually comes back up 1-2 times a raid event, sometimes more. You also don't want to wait for a %mob and then not get the full use out of Fire core/Burnout etc.

Elemental Forms:

Fire: If you encounter more resists than you would like and it also increases the effective level of your spells slightly
Air: If you encounter heavy spell dmg or ae's
Earth: If you encounter lots of adds and might be taking some melee dmg
Water: If you encounter a Long event or want more mana regen.

Lastly:

Please give me feedback about this post, its my first 'write-up' and I am always looking to better myself as a mage. If you find something that I missed please contact me and we can discuss it and/or I'll test it.

For raids, the spells should be multibound in the ones that do the most DPS first. That would be RS, then Spear, then Clash (assuming enough pets), then Bolt, then Sands if you add a fifth - there is a post in another forum about that with the math (http://www.eqmagetower.com/forums/viewt ... 2&start=23). You should also have Thaumatize (spell) and Force (aa) in your multibind so you get the mana kick and extra free nuke whenever possible...and on a short fight/burn you can just click Thaumatize off so it doesn't fire.

You should also be using Gather Potential as much as you can, as well as mod rod clicks like they are candy. Mana is life.

Burning early should NOT be done. You burn when the strategy your raid uses for a particular mob is called. Some things you burn at the start, some the whole fight is a burn, some you burn at some percent point near the end, and so on - the strategy dictates when the burn should occur, not your particular preference as when you might feel like it.

Oh yeah...the Twincast spell should also be in the multibind (up front) so it goes off as soon as it can as well.

Having a 2nd multibind that omits RS for while twincast is in progress also helps in some situations.

using gather potential is situational, most raids i dont even need to use it. long events yes like library etc. takes to long to cast for not that much mana. Same thing with Thaumatize pet and ALSO targets your pet, waste waste waste, in a multibind it would go off all the time and waste it. its not that good.

once again, that post was not for those that cannot control mana consumption.

again, i use blaze cause its cheaper, 1.4 sec faster and 1k less dmg at rank 3, and at the end of the multibind it doesnt go off every time. i consider it like the aa, only when you got everything down. why wait 2.2 sec on bolt lvl 81 and all your real dps stuff is refreshed a sec ago. Blaze is .8 sec cast, think about it....The 20 it casts more than bolt would would net more mana regen with GoM procs than thaumatize pet and GP without the 30 sec loss in actuall dps.

and my thoughts on RS dps. being as mages are ranged, most RS pets dont get max time hitting a mob. Being not at the start of your weave also lets the tank maneuver the mob better because sometimes our pets hold onto them.

and the burn....well to each his own. very few mobs nowadays have a burn phase. why wait?. if you wait for the end % of a mob, i could have used my burn clickys twice. And oh hell yes i burn on trash. you should know your timers, when you need them etc etc.

once again, this post was not for those that ......oh hell you read it =)

edit: BS rk 3 is 827 less dmg than Bolt lvl 81 rk3 not 1k

my apologies, you did say sands as your fifth, i was reading the link you put about math.

Nearly every event we do has a burn phase in HoT and Convo except Convo 4. Convo 6 (sisters) we lead with a burn, Convo 1 and 2 is all burn, Convo 3 the burn is dependent on a number of factors but comes near the end, Convo 5 we burn the final boss in 90ish seconds, Convo 7 (TFC) the burn is from once he starts his healing tricks, RoT has no burn, Tick Tock final is all burn, Grounds is burn, Well is a joke, Library and Eruidin have burns at specified times depending what is going on, UHoT we burn a golem, Alkabor is full burn from the start, Miragul is a burn for the last phase only, MC it depends when they want it on a given night, CT in Fear Itself is from 30ish to the end, etc. Burn moves around based on the strat. In my guild, and most raiding guilds I know of, if I did a burn nilly willy when I felt like it I would be spending the night in the GH pool.

Mana regen is important to use whenever possible - you won't have mana to function on the longer fights if you don't use it, and as I said you click it off when it's a short one (thaum) and GP is not bound to begin with. If you aren't using those on Cleaner or TFC, say, in Convo, you aren't going to be nuking at the end...unless you are saying you stand around until the boss pops? Again, in my guild, if I did that I would be spending the night in the GH pool.

Not sending RS as often as I can? I won't make the parse...if I don't make the parse without a good excuse (i.e. I died for some reason, the druid in the grp went psycho and evac'd us to zone (has happened unfortunately), whatever), well, pool time again.

You said the post was for "~You are trying to maximize your damage output during a Raid, Group, and or Burn
~You are ready to show people the true potential of Mage Dps
~You want to learn about Multi-binding and Weaves
~You want to see yourself on parses
~You want to be the best"...I am telling what to change to correct things so it actually will do what you say it is for. Doing what you suggest is not going to cut it. And I haven't even added in the things like glyphs, proper support things from your group mates, when 7th should be used, etc, etc, etc.

Question, what dps are you pushing out for 2 min burns? What about 3-4 min burns? Please give examples.

Savil

I assume you mean the OP - mine are over in the other thread.

i totally agree with you svenalo, but im not trying to start a thread about '"burn clicks and mana regen durring raids", this is intended to cut the fat, ie. casting thaum and targeting pet, GP and the like. I use them, but thats for trash clearing and stuff. I explain also my burn early strat is so i can get in a few burns and not just 1.

I also state that this isn't for you if you don't know how to burn already or dont have good mana regen. I feel like you keep posting about stuff i omitted for a reason. My main purpose was to help other mages maximize their dmg with spell weaves and understanding cast timers / multibinding / cutting fat.

""Not sending RS as often as I can?""-i explain y i use it in the middle of my weave, and you make it sound like i don't use it as i can, im always casting it, just not at the front runner. It fires as often as its up.

ok so now i would like to state that your idea for multibinding in thaum is a good one, I personally dont need it in my MB. i dont like how it targets my pet, and i dont need that mana. even if i were to click it off id have an empty spell gem in my MB. My suggestion for that is a saved spell set with thaum in one and another same thing with a filler nuke or something. I can def see the advantages for those that need that mana.

Also about MB in twincast, another interesting idea IF...... my twincasts and stuff have first spire running, id prolly make a macro with spell gem cast and alt activate, thro in fire core, tie it into weave. seems bulky and i like to be able to use first spire and imporved TC aa. since spell TC is 5min cooldown and first spire is 10 min, can always get an extra TC off before FS is up. I'll have to see how i can make use of the offset timers to get them to fire together when i want them. but setting them this way may be difficult when i have improved twin up and i want first spire and its down cause of weave.