4/09/2015

PvE Mage Guide 3.3.5a ( Wrath of the Lich King )

On 12:05 PM by Site Admin in , , , , ,
Who I am:

Well ingame my character is Faelarin (or Fae). I am a Former Mage Class Leader and Officer of <Severance> on Deathwing and have been playing Mage as my main since WoW release in 2004.

The Mage class is considered to be a top dps class. Mages can be a RNG or just a flat dps class. RNG meaning Random Number Generators. In the case of molten, most mages are RNG FFB mages. This means they rely on Crits to pull dps, if they dont get them, bye bye dps. An example of a flat dps mage is arcane, where haste is the significant part of dps rather than crits. This guide will focus mostly on RNG mages. Reasons below.


Our reasons to play mage:
1) Sexy Beast
2) High Mobility
3) Easy Defensive CDs
4) High Burst and Sustained Dmg
5) Raid Wide Int. Buff.
6) Easy Raid CC spell for those annoying Mind Controls.
Anyway, down to business.

SPECS
There 5 main PvE specs for mage:

Arcane (57/3/11)
Viable = YES


(3 extra points into Arcane Stability for not worrying about staying in range of Conc aura, These points can be redistributed to Student of the Mind and Arcane Meditation)

As you can see there is no Arcane Barrage or Slow in the spec. This is because they're just not needed. Arcane Barrage will actually drop your dps when used because of the GCD (global cooldown) that it causes. Slow is not in the spec either, this is because as of patch 3.3.3 it is no longer required to have the "Slow" spell debuff on target for Torment the Weak to take effect. This means that tanks now apply a debuff that allows you to take advantage of TTW. However in the case of Molten-WoW, only certain debuffs actually proc TTW properly, the main one being a Death Knights Icy Touch. Because most raids have a Death Knight, it is not required to have Slow in the spec. Those 2 points which most people place in these two talents have been places into Arcane Stability to allow for nearly no pushback with raid buffs for arcane missiles (namely Concentration Aura which gives 35%). It is also possible to remove 1 additional point from Student of the Mind to cap reduced pushback with Conc. Aura.

There are 2 more problems with Arcane on molten, as most people know, this is a subpar spec for dps. This is mainly due to a scaling bug with Arcane Blast. At around 2800-2900 spellpower you will notice that your Arcane Blast damage does not increase as much as it should with further spell power increases. A good way to test this and see for yourself as i have is to use DFO and just spam Arcane Blast. You'll notice that the damage on Arcane Blast does not increase by as rapidly as it should. The second bug is a visual and actual bug depending on your current haste rating. At around 1000 haste, you'll begin to have a visual bug on Arcane Missiles where it only fires 4 instead of 5 times. However this is only visual.

Q: I frequently have only 4 missiles worth of damage when I use my proc, whats causing this?

The main cause for this is just clipping your spell early. This is because clipping Arcane Missiles means that you lose your last missile no matter what because the last missile is at the end of a cast. The best advice for this is to get a cast bar addon which shows delay (Quartz for example).

Even with these bugs, due to ignite fixes, Arcane can now be considered a top end competitive raiding, spec especially since it provides 3% raid damage.
(See TTW/Fire for explanation of how TTW talent works)

Arcane still does exactly what it's supposed to at lower gear levels.

Frost DPS (18/0/53)
Viable = NO


(This is for the top single target frost dps, for aoe, include 1 point in Frostbite and 1 point in Improved Blizzard)

I know what everyone's thinking... "wtf frost dps mage?" Yes this is a viable spec, however it is not viable on molten due to a bug with Deep Freeze (it does not do damage on bosses like it is supposed to, tested as of December 23 2013). Unfortunate for me as this is my favourite spec. It's faster than arcane with more procs to manages. Sadly due to molten bugs, useless spec. Now assuming this spec was viable on molten. The talent set up can be modified quite a bit, the spec posted here is the top dps version possible with Ice Barrier.

Frost Dps will not be mentioned further throughout the guide because of molten bugs, PM me in game if you want more info for the funs xD.

TTW Fire (20/51/0) or (18/53/0)
Viable = YES


(Points into Master of Elements interchangeable with Student of the Mind)

TTW Fire on molten works perfectly fine as long as you fulfill the requirements for Torment The Weak. This generally means having a DK. With a DK this scales almost exactly as it does on Retail with the exception of ignite. (Described in a later post by Chocohole (Lucideto)). The point in master of elements is a free point which can be placed based on needs. Most commonly changed for Blast Wave which can provide utility in raids just like the shamans thunderstorm or druids typhoon.

FAQ: How does the talent Torment the Weak actually work?
Many people wonder about this because bosses cannot actually be slowed, stunned or snared etc, and wonder how TTW actually takes affect. The requirements for TTW is not that a boss actually gets slowed in anyway, but that they have the affecting debuff. This means that as an example, the mages Slow spell does not actually affect a boss, but it appears on the bosses Debuffs, This allows for TTW to proc on the boss. This goes for all slow affects on bosses, however not all of them actually proc TTW though most of them do. (This also goes for Arcane specs as the TTW talent is included in the spec.)

LB FFB (Living Bomb Frostfire Bolt) (0/53/18)
Viable = YES


Again as with TTW Fire, 2 of your point in Master of Elements are interchangeable, however commonly only 1 is taken out for Blast Wave.

CS FFB (Cold Snap Frostfire Bolt) (0/50/21)
Viable = YES


This is the other FFB spec that trades out Living Bomb for Cold Snap to allow for chain use of Icy Veins. The 2 Points in Shatter are interchangeable. This is because Shatter does not affect bosses unless you spec deep frost with Fingers of Frost. (You CANNOT Freeze bosses directly).

These two FFB specs play very similarly. The main difference between these specs is that the LB spec focuses more on sustained dps while CS spec focuses on bursting. In general the LB spec will burst harder however for a shorter time and have a higher sustained phase, while the the CS spec will have a longer burst phase in exchange for dps loss. Overall it comes down to personal preference, though 1 spec may be better than the other for certain fights. 
There is also a difference in gear set up which will be described below.

GLYPHS

Arcane:

Glyph of Arcane Missiles
Glyph of Arcane Blast
Glyph of Molten Armor

TTW Fire:

Glyph of Fireball
Glyph of Living Bomb
Glyph of Molten Armor

Yes glyph of fireball removes the damage over time portion of fireball, however the reduced cast time which the glyph gives increases dps more than keeping the DoT effect of fireball.

LB FFB:

Glyph of Frostfire
Glyph of Living Bomb
Glyph of Molten Armor

CS FFB:

Glyph of Frostfire
Glyph of Molten Armor 
***undefined***

The reason the 3rd glyph is undefined for CS FFB is because there are no direct damage increasing glyphs. Many people will say to take Glyph of Scorch. There is next to no reason to do this because for the sake of 25man raids there will be a Demo Lock. This means that you do not even need to use scorch (unless they die). Glyph of Scorch can provide extra damage, but only in cases where you are actually required to use it.
Options:
Glyph of Scorch
Glyph of Remove Curse
Glyph of Mana Gem (If you have mana problems only)
Glyph of Blink
Glyph of Ice Armor
These 5 choices all serve different purposes within raiding environments. Though generally most are not required.

ROTATION
*BASICS ONLY*

Arcane:
Single Target (mana efficient): 3x Arcane Blast > Arcane Missiles on Missile Barrage proc
Single Target (no mana worries): 4x Arcane Blast > Arcane Missiles on Missile Barrage proc
AoE: Blizzard

TTW Fire
Single Target: Keep LB on target, Keep Scorch on target (assuming no 5% crit from other sources), Spam Fireball till Hotstreak, use Pyroblast on Hotstreak.
AoE: LB, Flamestrike, Blizzard
Alternate AoE: pick one of the above

LB/CS FFB
Single Target: Keep LB on target, Keep Scorch on target (assuming no 5% crit from other sources), Spam Frostfire Bolt till Hotstreak, use Pyroblast on Hotstreak.
AoE: LB (LB spec only), Flamestrike, Blizzard
Alternate AoE: pick one of the above

There are times when you should not be prioritizing LB and times when you should be. These vary drastically based on the RNG you get during fights. Sometimes keeping LB on target will give you more Hotstreak procs and sometimes it will cause you to lose DPS because of the GCD is causes.

Is it worth cancelling a cast to ensure a hotstreak proc?

Rarely. If you are about to move then yes. If not, no. Stopping casts effectively drops your dps and causes extra GCDs to get instant spells off. Generally you want to clip your cast times with instant spells.

RACE

Horde/

Undead: Will of the Forsaken (CC breaker on some bosses)
Troll: Berserking (Cast Speed CD)
Blood Elf: Arcane Torrent (Mana) and Highest Base Intellect (Little extra crit)

Overall the best race for PvE is Troll.

Alliance/

Human: Increased Spirit (More crit with Molten Armor)
Gnome: Increased Int (more crit)
Draenei: Increase Raid Hit by 1%.

Gnome or Draenei best choices for Alliance. Human best race for spirit stacked mages.

GENERAL NUMBERS

Before Getting into Gear, knowing values of stats is important, therefore:

Spell Power:

This it the primary stat after Hit Rating for all specs. It can be argued that some stats have more value over SP however in general increasing SP will show the greatest increase in dps. (Please note Information like bugs.)
Even though SP is generally the best DMG stat it does not mean that 1 SP = 1 DMG on all spells. To determine how much damage each spell gets from Spell power, Coefficients must be used. These are listed Below for most spells.

Spell Power Coefficients can be found at 

Extras (can be requested and I will add them to this list):
Fire Ward ~80.7%
Frost Ward ~80.7%

These work as follows:
The flat damage of a spell (none crit) = Base Dmg + SP * coefficient.
This means that if a player has 1000 spell power and a spell says it does base damage of 2000 and has a coefficient of 50%. the Flat dmg of the spell is: 2000 + (1000 * 50%) = 2500 damage spell.
This is prior to talents and crit multipliers.

Hit Rating:

Missing spells has the highest DPS loss of all stats. Therefore this is the most important stat until it is capped. The PvE hit cap for Level 83 bosses (Raid Bosses) is 17%. This value is combine from raid buffs, gear stats and talents, as well as Draenei for alliance (1%). This means that for the specs listed above, the Hard Hit Cap and Soft Hit Cap (referring to include raid buffs, This means the 3% hit rating obtained from balance druids or shadow priests, they do not stack) from gear are as follows (Reduce all values by 1 when including a Draenei):

Hard Soft
11% 8% Arcane
17% 14% TTW Fire
14% 11% LB FFB
14% 11% CS FFB

These values mean that you need x% to never miss a spell. (Arcane ONLY applies to arcane spells as one of the talents only affects arcane spells. So casting Fire Blast as an example will follow the FFB specs values.)

These values translate into Hit Rating on gear. (1% = 26.232 Rating)
8% = 210 rating
11% = 289 rating
14% = 368 rating
17% = 446 rating

Critical Strike Rating:

There are no caps to Crit rating (other than 100%), however there is a built in diminishing returns system for how much crit increases dps. (NOT INCLUDING DETAILS)
This is one of the most important stats for Fire mages. This is because dps for fire mages generally revolves around Hot Streak procs.

45.91 Crit Rating = 1% Crit.

Haste Rating:

Haste rating also decreases GCD to a minimum of 1 second. This means that if you have enough haste to drop your cast time below 1 second, you are over capped on haste and are wasting stats. At this point focus on other stats.
Haste is the secondary stat for arcane mages and should be prioritized over crit and spirit.

32.79 Haste Rating = 1% Haste

FAQ: How much haste is the right amount?
This varies significantly by spec and values will assume full raid buffs.

Arcane:
Ideally you want your Arcane Blast to be a 1 second cast time while Bloodlust is active. (Or troll racial). This is about 1450 Haste. However the most important haste value is the point where you are able to squeeze in 4 Arcane Blasts in the time of 2pT10. This is because it means you will always have the effective uptime of 2pT10 with the general rotation for arcane. 4xAB > AM (refreshes 2pT10 buff). This means ideally a cast time of 1.25 sec on Arcane Blast. However for this to happen, this means you need 68.5% haste which is 2230 haste. This value is not obtainable. Including raid buffs (not with BL/heroism) this value would be reduced to 55.7% or 1836 haste. This value is also not reasonable. This leaves 3 other options. 

4AB during Bloodlust/Heroism under 2pT10 = 655 haste = 20% haste
3AB during 2pT10 = 590 Haste = 18% haste
5AB during Bloodlust/Heroism under 2pT10 = 1640 Haste = 50% haste
5AB during Bloodlust/Heroism under 2pT10 with BlackMagic = 1390 Haste = 42.4% haste
These Last 2 values also mean that you DO NOT use Icy Veins or Berserking (Troll racial) During Bloodlust.

TTW/Fire:
For TTW/fire you want to be able to ideally fit in 4 Fireballs during the 2pT10 buff. The important milestone values for TTW/fire are as follows.

3FB during 2pT10 = 650 Haste = 20% haste
4FB during 2pT10 with Bloodlust/Heroism with BlackMagic = 925 haste = 28.2% haste
4FB during 2pT10 with Bloodlust/Heroism = 1175 Haste = 35.9% haste

FFB specs.
1 second FFB during BL, IV, Berserking (troll only) under 2pT10 = 918 haste = 28% haste
4FFB during Bloodlust/Heroism with Icy Veins under 2pT10 = 1246 Haste = 38% haste

More values may be added later.

Black Magic can always be used to reach these value. Though I would only use Black Magic when it reaches a bit over the value to compensate for lag.

Intellect:

This should not be gemmed for unless mana is a significant problem. Though this should never be the case.
Intellect gives less crit chance per point compared to crit rating.

166.66 Int. = 1% crit

Spirit:

1.43 Spirit = 1 Crit rating
(65.65 Spirit = 1% Crit)

This is a viable stat because of Molten Armor. This means that you can gear Spirit to increase crit. However this is not optimal in most cases.
Molten Armor gives a base of 35% spirit to Crit Rating, 55% when Glyphed and 70% with 2p T9. Note that you can buff Molten Armor with T9 equip and then swap out the T9 pieces and retain the extra 15%. This was also doable on Retail WoW as well and was never announced to be intentional or a bug. 
Spirit also has more value when talented into Student of the Mind which applies to Arcane and TTW Fire specs.

Generally Intellect is a more valuable mana stat while spirit is a more valuable dps stat.

CONSUMABLES

Potions:
Potion of Speed
Potion of Wild Magic

The uses of these 2 potions varies by spec and gearing. For a crit stacker generally the potion of speed will be more beneficial, while for a SP stacker, the potion of wild magic will be more beneficial. In general both should be carried, but as mages we're all lazy and generally don't even carry either of them.

Scrolls:
Scroll of Spirit VIII

Many people use the Intellect scroll, however using the spirit scroll actually gives more crit % than the int. scroll due to Glyph of Molten Armor.

Flasks/Elixers:
Flask of the Frost Wyrm
Elixer of Deadly Strikes
Elixer of Spirit

Deadly Strikes and Spirit should only be used if you really need that extra ~1.6% crit. But 125 SP is going to be far more beneficial in most occasions.

Food:
Fish Feast
Or various individual food buffs (Crit rating, Haste Rating and SP most common).


EXTRAS I use now and then:
"Wizardry" Cologne (45 sp)
"Enchantress" Perfume (45 sp)
Midsummer Sausage (30 haste)
Toasted Smorc (44 sp)

These 4 all come from either the Love is in the Air or Midsummer Fire Festival events.
On top of these 4 is my personal favorite which most people have never heard of unless they played in TBC. This is the rare spawn herb Flame Cap. This is only for Fire specs. But it is a 1 minute 80 sp buff.

PROFESSIONS

Tailoring: Effectively 98 Spell Power: 295 SP proc for 15 seconds and a 50% proc chance, this equates to roughly a consistant +98 spell power assuming it procs right after the Internal Cooldown finishes (45 second ICD). This replaces the 23 haste enchant.

*Note* This should be a 74 SP consistent buff (295 SP, 15 sec, 60 sec ICD, 35% proc rate) However on molten this is still the above stats of pre-patch 3.3.3. Regardless of which patch, this is still the best profession to have.

Jewelcrafting: Effectively 48 Spell Power: 3 Dragons Eye Gems (39SP, 34 Crit, 34 Haste). Generally SP dragons eyes are taken. This equates to 48 Bonus SP compared to normal epic gems.

Blacksmithing: Effectively 46 Spell Power: 2 bonus gem sockets, 1 on Wrists, 1 on Hands.

Enchanting: Effectively 46 Spell Power: 2 ring enchants (23x2)

Engineering: Effectively 68 Haste and 12 Crit with movespeed boost and 27 SP with (useless) parachute because of Mage Slow Fall: (Hyperspeed Accelerators) 340 Haste active with 20% uptime. This replaces the standard 28 SP enchant. (Nitro Boosts) 3 Minute CD movespeed boost along with 24 Crit rating. This replaces the standard 12 Crit rating 12 hit rating or 18 Spirit enchant. (Springy Arachnoweave) Parachute along with 27 SP cloak enchant. This replaces the standard 23 haste enchant.

Inscription: Effectively 46 Spell Power: This replaces the 24 SP and 15 crit rating enchant from Sons of Hodir.

Alchemy: Effectively 47 Spell Power: Mixology gives bonus SP on Flask of the Frost Wyrm.

Leatherworking: Effectively 46 Spell Power: Fur Lining - Spell Power (76 Spell power) replaces the standard 30 Spell power enchant.

Skinning: 40 Crit Rating: Master of Anatomy

Mining: Gives Stamina = NOT WORTH

Herbalism: Only gives a heal = NOT WORTH

Generally because Spell Power is the most effective dps stat, Tailoring and Jewelcrafting are the best DPS valued Professions. In some cases Skinning and Engineering can have more value as haste or crit may be more valuable. Another way to compare Professions is by equating the Effective Bonuses to gem sockets. (Ex. 46 SP effective bonus = 2 red epic gems)

ENCHANTS
*Note* These are without taking into consideration profession choices listed.

Head Slot: 30 SP and 20 Crit Rating, Arcanum or Burning Mysteries, From Kirin Tor Reputation Vendor (Revered).
Shoulders Slot: 24 SP and 15 Crit Rating. Greater Inscription of the Storm, From The Sons of Hodir Reputation Vendor (Exalted).
Back Slot: 23 Haste. Standard Enchant.
Chest Slot: 10 to all Base Stats. Standard Enchant.
Wrist Slot: 30 SP. Standard Enchant.
Hand Slot: 28 SP. Standard Enchant.
Waist Slot: +1 Gem Slot. Eternal Belt Buckle, From a Blacksmith.
Legs: 50 SP and 20 Spirit. Brilliant Spellthread, From a Tailor.
Feet: 12 Crit Rating and 12 Hit rating, OR 18 Spirit. This depends on if you are hit capped or not. (18 spirit is minorly better than
12 Crit rating assuming the Hit rating has no value)
**SITUATIONAL: Tuskarr's Vitality, This enchant will actually give more dps during certain fights, namely high movement fights because it allows for more time to cast. It also gives extra survival which should not be overlooked either (dying = 0 dps).
Weapon: 63 SP, 81 SP or Black Magic. 81 SP always if using a staff. 63 SP for 1 handed weapons. Black Magic can be used for Arcane spec. Black Magic effectively gives ~71 Haste assuming it procs at end of ICD. Generally Black Magic enchant should be used for the benchmarks described above.

GEMMING
*NOTE* This is without taking JC dragonÔÇÖs eyes into consideration.

Meta Gem: Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
NO EXCEPTIONS

Arcane:

If low on haste:
Red Socket: Reckless Ametrine
Yellow Socket: Reckless Ametrine
Blue Socket (If greater than 5 SP socket bonus or Meta Gem fulfillment): Purified Dreadstone
Blue Socket (If 5 SP socket bonus or worse): Reckless Ametrine

If fine on haste:
Red Socket: Rune Cardinal Ruby
Yellow Socket: Reckless Ametrine
Blue Socket (If greater than 5 SP socket bonus): Purified Dreadstone
Blue Socket (If 5 SP socket bonus or worse): Runed Cardinal Ruby

TTW Fire

Red Socket: Runed Cardinal Ruby
Yellow Socket: Potent Ametrine
Blue Socket (Greater than 5 SP): Purified Dreadstone
Blue Socket (5SP or worse): Runed Cardinal Ruby

FFB specs have been argued over several times with what is the best gemming. Personally what I use is what is Stated in LB FFB (SP gemming)

LB FFB

Red Socket: Runed Cardinal Ruby
Yellow Socket: Potent Ametrine
Blue Socket (Greater than 5 SP): Purified Dreadstone
Blue Socket (5SP or worse): Runed Cardinal Ruby

CS FFB

Red Socket: Potent Ametrine
Yellow Socket: Smooth KingÔÇÖs Amber
Blue Socket (Greater than 5 SP): Misty Eye of Zul
Blue Socket (5SP or worse): Smooth KingÔÇÖs Amber

LB FFB (other)
See CS FFB above.
OR, If you feel like ignoring socket bonuses and only going for Meta Gem Bonus, after obtaining gems for Meta Gem activation, just use Smooth King's Ambers in all sockets. (generally a weak option and used only at lower gear levels)

If you have JC. Replace 3 would be Red/Yellow gems respectively for the DragonÔÇÖs Eye version. This means that if you are SP gemming you use Runed DragonÔÇÖs Eye x3 while Crit gemming you use Smooth DragonÔÇÖs Eye x3.

To explain the difference of SP gemming and Crit gemming you should first think about the fire specs itself. The most important difference in the 2 gemming systems is RNG. By gemming crit you reduce RNG by having more crits. This means you have more consistent DPS than a SP stacker. When compared to SP stackers, The DPS can be lower or higher. This depends on the SP stackers RNG. If a SP stacker gets good RNG, they will very easily outdps a crit stacker. However bad or mediocre RNG will put them even or below crit stackers. 

Another key point about how the DPS differs is with movement. Generally when high movement is involved a SP stacker will out dps a Crit stacker, while on stationary fights it comes down to RNG. 
So in general: SP stackers can pull more DPS but are more RNG based than crit stackers who are more consistent.

GEARING & STAT PRIORITY
*NOTE* All gear is assumed to be Heroic gear unless otherwise stated.
*NOTE* BIS lists will assume SOFT CAP hit rating, not hard cap.

Arcane:
Generally speaking for Arcane you want to gear Haste. This does not mean itÔÇÖs the most important stat 100% of the time. In general the stat priority for Arcane is as follows:
Hit to cap > SP = Haste > Crit > Spirit > Intellect

Unless mana is a problem in which case Intellect and spirit are switched.

Arcane BIS:

Head: Sanctified Bloodmage Hood
Neck: Blood QueenÔÇÖs Crimson Choker
Shoulder: Sanctified Bloodmage Shoulderpads
Cloak: Cloak of Burning Dusk 
Chest: Sanctified Bloodmage Robe
Wrist: Bracers of Fiery Night
Hands: Sanctified Bloodmage Gloves
Belt: Crushing Coldwraith Belt
Legs: PlaguebringerÔÇÖs Stained Pants
Feet: Plague ScientistÔÇÖs Boots
Ring 1: Ashen Band of Endless Destrustion
Ring 2: Ring of Rapid Ascent
Trinket 1: Dislodged Foreign Object
Trinket 2: Charred Twilight Scale
Weapon: Bloodsurge, KelÔÇÖThuzadÔÇÖs Blade of Agony
Offhand: Shadow Silk Spindle
Wand: Corpse-Impaling Spike

TTW Fire:
With TTW you want to focus on SP and Crit. Choosing SP over Crit will generally give more dps, but as stated before it also causes more RNG. For TTW the general stat priority is:
Hit to cap > SP > Crit > Haste > Spirit > Intellect

TTW BIS:

Head: Sanctified Bloodmage Hood
Neck: Blood QueenÔÇÖs Crimson Choker
Shoulder: Sanctified Bloodmage Shoulderpads
Cloak: Cloak of Burning Dusk
Chest: Robe of the Waking Nightmare
Wrist: Bracers of Fiery Night
Hands: Sanctified Bloodmage Gloves
Belt: Crushing Coldwraith Belt
Legs: Sanctified Bloodmage Leggings
Feet: Plague ScientistÔÇÖs Boots
Ring 1: Ashen Band of Endless Destrustion
Ring 2: Loop of Endless Labyrinth (For Tuskarr's Vit enchant.)
OR: Ring of Rapid Accent (REQUIRES: Horde: 2 Veiled Ametrine with Icewalker Enchant // Alliance: Only Icewalker enchant because of Draenei Racial)
Trinket 1: Phylactery of the Nameless Lich
Trinket 2: Charred Twilight Scale
Weapon: Bloodsurge, KelÔÇÖThuzadÔÇÖs Blade of Agony
Offhand: Shadow Silk Spindle
Wand: Corpse-Impaling Spike

CS/LB FFB:
These 2 Specs have more choices with gearing as stats above with gemming, you can focus more on crit and reducing RNG or you can focus on SP and relying on RNG. Personally for CS FFB I would focus on Crit while LB FFB I focus on SP. Therefore Stat priority is as follows:
CS: Hit to cap > SP = Crit > Spirit = Haste > Intellect
LB: Hit to cap > SP > Crit > Haste > Spirit > Intellect

CS FFB BIS:(can also follow LB FFB list)

Head: Sanctified Bloodmage Hood
Neck: Blood QueenÔÇÖs Crimson Choker
Shoulder: Sanctified Bloodmage Shoulderpads
Cloak: Cloak of Burning Dusk
Chest: Sanctified Bloodmage Robe
Wrist: Bracers of Fiery Night
Hands: Sanctified Bloodmage Gloves
Belt: Lingering Illness
Legs: Sanctified Bloodmage Leggings
Feet: Plague ScientistÔÇÖs Boots
Ring 1: Ashen Band of Endless Destrustion
Ring 2: Loop of Endless Labyrinth
Trinket 1: Phylactery of the Nameless Lich
Trinket 2: MuradinÔÇÖs Spyglass OR Charred Twilight Scale (Heroic), normal CTS is not better than Spyglass heroic.
Weapon: Bloodsurge, KelÔÇÖThuzadÔÇÖs Blade of Agony
Offhand: Shadow Silk Spindle
Wand: Nightmare Ender

LB FFB BIS:

Head: Sanctified Bloodmage Hood
Neck: Blood QueenÔÇÖs Crimson Choker
Shoulder: Sanctified Bloodmage Shoulderpads
Cloak: Cloak of Burning Dusk
Chest: Sanctified Bloodmage Robe
Wrist: Bracers of Fiery Night
Hands: Sanctified Bloodmage Gloves
Belt: Crushing Coldwraith Belt
Legs: Sanctified Bloodmage Leggings
Feet: Plague ScientistÔÇÖs Boots
Ring 1: Ashen Band of Endless Destrustion
Ring 2: Loop of Endless Labyrinth
Trinket 1: Phylactery of the Nameless Lich
Trinket 2: Charred Twilight Scale
Weapon: Bloodsurge, KelÔÇÖThuzadÔÇÖs Blade of Agony
Offhand: Shadow Silk Spindle
Wand: Corpse-Impaling Spike

Extra Spell Info and Uses:

Dampen/Amplify Magic: These should not be used when healers are involved as it increases/decreases damage and healing to the benefit of the damage side.
Spellsteal: Some bosses apply buffs to themselves which can be stolen, ABUSE THIS.
Blink: Quick movement to allow for more damage. USE IT
Ice Armor: Should not be used over Mage Armor in raid situations.
Frostbolt: can be used for all specs as a CC effect, be sure to use Rank 1 Frostbolt for the fastest cast to CC faster.
Cone of Cold: CC effect can be useful.
Frost Nova: CC effect.
Polymorph: CC effect, great for mind control. (included in Decursive)
Remove Curse: Helpful if assigned to dispelling (included in Decursive)
Wards: Extra absorbs for Fire and Frost damage. Can be helpful during some fights. 
Mage Armor: Extra resists may help in some cases.
Mana Shield: Absorb if needed.
Ice Block: Temporary aggro wipe, invulnerability, debuff cleanse. Helps in many cases.
Slowfall: Knock Ups, no problem. (minor glyph to remove reagent cost)

COOLDOWNS

Using CDs at the right time can make or break your DPS as a mage. 
As an arcane mage your CDs have fairly short recharge times and can usually get them off more than once on most fights, this means burn your CDs at the start of the fight. There are 2 other options for Arcane with CDs as well. Using them during Bloodlust is the most common, while the other is using them during trinket procs. Using during trinket procs can be harder to do effectively. Mirror Images with 4p T10 also gives a damage increase and should be used with other CDs.

For TTW, combustion should generally be used off recharge. Some exceptions of this will be saving it a few seconds to use during Molten Fury or Bloodlust/Heroism. Mirror Images should always be used during Bloodlust or Molten Fury unless you know you can use it more than once during a fight, in which case use it so that you can use it the maximum number of times.
The FFB specs are more complex with CDs overall because you have more choices. These choices will generally rely on whatÔÇÖs need for each encounter. The use of CDs on FFB specs also relies heavily on gearing and gemming. For example a CS FFB mage can chain haste CDs. This means you can for example use Icy Veins at the start of a fight, activate Cold Snap and use Icy Veins again, and the use Mirror Images and Combustion during Bloodlust. (If troll racial, ad d that into the chain). Or a CS FFB mage use all the CDs during Bloodlust for more burst and then use a 2nd IV after. There are many ways to work around CDs with FFB mages which allows you to manipulate your DPS further based on the raids needs. Do you need opening burst or end fight burst or just need to push more damage out at a certain time? Based on this you need to manage your CDs properly. 

As a LB FFB mage generally you will want to use all your CDs at the same time to burst as hard as possible. While a CS FFB mage will chain their haste CDs to increase their average DPS with this generally lack of haste.

Mirror Images Specific Info:
Mirror Images is one of the most important CDs for a mage once they get 4p T10, this is because of the 30 second 18% damage buff. Another key part of Mirror Images is its ÔÇ£aggro wipeÔÇØ system it has built in. When using Mirror Images all threat you have temporarily equals 0. However you retain all threat and built threat during its activation. This means that bursting with Mirror Images can cause you to pull aggro after the burst. Mirror Images can also be used defensively in case you do pull aggro before using it because of its temporary aggro wipe. This can therefore be difficult to decide on when to use though generally does not have any problems. One major example of when to not use Mirror Images at the start of a fight to burst is if you need to ensure you obtain bite from Blood Queen LanaÔÇÖthel. If Mirror Images is used to increase damage and threat just to ensure you obtain bite, you will actually cause someone else to get the bite due to the simulated 0 threat. This is why in the Macros below, Mirror Images is NOT added into any of the CD macros.

I have a tendency to pull aggro of the tanks after I use CDs, what can I do to prevent this?

Adjust how you manage your CDs to not burst as hard is a possibility however not usually a fun option as we all like seeing the numbers we can pull. Ice Block can help you clear aggro if you pull and give time for the tanks to get enough threat again. The best option however is to have a paladin use Hand of Salvation on you. This stops you from building more threat so the tanks can keep aggro and build more threat than you.

MACROS

In general mages do not need a lot of macros. Some useful ones are as follows: (Keep in mind to never macro Mirror Images into other Cooldown macros because of its ÔÇ£aggro wipeÔÇØ type effect). 
*Note* Berserking only applies to the Troll Racial ability.

TTW Fire CDs
/cast Combustion
/cast Berserking
/use 13
/use 14

(13 and 14 refer to trinket slots assuming you have active trinkets)

FFB specs CDs
/cast Combustion
/cast Icy Veins
/cast Berserking
/use 13
/use 14

Arcane CDs
/cast Arcane Power
/cast Icy Veins
/use 13
/use 14

Silence Macro (Interrupt)
/stopcasting
/cast Counterspell

Slowfall Macro (must still be pressed more than once).
/dismount
/stopcasting
/cast Slow Fall

Presence of Mind Macros (arcane specs)
These will give instant cast spells of the following.

PoM Poly
/cast Presence of Mind
/cast Polymorph

PoM AB
/cast Presence of Mind
/cast Arcane Blast

PoM FFB
/cast Presence of Mind
/cast Frostfire Bolt

For all macros it is possible to add a first line with #showtooltip
This however only shows the first spell on the list unlike retail where it was possible to show a designated spell. 

Decursive macro
This will automatically be added to your general addon tab if you use decursive, DO NOT remove this macro.

/stopcasting
/cast [target=mouseover,nomod,exists] Remove Curse; [target=mouseover,exists,mod:ctrl] Polymorph; [target=mouseover,exists,mod:shift] Remove Curse
This is a secondary system for decursive though removing it may cause LUI errors. (posted in case someone removes it and it does not auto add itself again.

MAGE ADDONS

Mage Nuggets ÔÇô Gives a portal menu, Stat monitor, proc monitors (tends to work better than power auras classic but still buggy with molten mage ui bugs) (Personally i say its MANDATORY)

Decursive ÔÇô Anyone who played during Vanilla will know this addon. Helps with controlling CCs (polymorph) in raid and as the name says, de-cursing (remove curse) raid members. (Also Mandatory)

Quartz ÔÇô useful to minimize how much lag affects dps. (any other cast bar addon that shows delay will work)

IceHUD ÔÇô (with most things disabled l0l) personally use it for a range check for bosses and for a boss HP monitor so I know when Molten Fury becomes active. (any HP and Range monitor will work)

RAID ADDONS

Omen Threat Meter (Mandatory)

Recount or Skada DPS meters

DBM etc Raid Announcer

GearScoreLite Welcome to Warmane. (personally hate this addon)

Mike's Scrolling Combat Text If you want cleaner notifications of damage dealt per spell.

QUESTIONS:

If scorch is fading the same time as LB, which one do I refresh?

Cast scorch and clip it with LB so you don't cause extra downtime.

If LB falls off, do I wait until I have a 'Hot Streak' proc before I refresh it to keep ignite stacked up high?

That's common rumour to keep "high ignite", but there is not actual benefit from "rolling" ignite. Ignite works by having a damage bank (made of those 40% of critical damage). When Ignite ticks, it's damage bank is decreased by 50%. If you do a critical FFB, damage bank of actual ignite on the target is increased by 40% of your FFB's damage. The actual high ignites are "stacked" because the critical strikes are done faster than each 2 seconds, so ignite hasn't ticked even once -damage bank is only increased till you do not crit for 2 seconds. Of course the higher uptime of ignite - the higher dps is, but the reason is not the "rolling" of ignite but simply if its uptime is high, it means you had a lot of crits.

Depending on how much you're critting, how well you know the your cast times and how well you manage your procs will determine when to apply LB. If LB will not cause a double tick of hotstreak, then apply it, but if you apply it right away and the explosion makes you waste a hotstreak because it procs before you have time to use a previous one, then you should delay it slightly, this is because the damage bank of ignite will increase more by having more procs as well since you get more crits with more procs. So as an example, Living Bomb ticks over 12 seconds and causes about a 1.1-1.3second GCD in general. This means that you have give or take 10.8 seconds untill it explodes to cast FFB/Fireball. This will get you 4 or 5 casts depending on procs you get during the casts. If on the last FFB/Fireball you happen to get a Hotstreak proc, and crit with 2 previous spells. Then the 3rd spell, if not clipped with hotstreak, will most likely waste a hotstreak because it will get the hotstreak proc again due to LB. (Wasted Hotstreak). There are ways to avoid this and manipulate it so that you can actually chain 3 Hotstreak procs in a row but it is important to be use to your cast times. Example of chain hotstreaks (assuming all crits for this to happen, also works with TTW): apply LB, FFB, FFB, FFB, FFB (clipped with HS), FFB (Clipped with HS), FFB (Clipped with HS). The reason this works is because Hotstreak does not proc until the spell hits the targets hitbox, rather than at casting. So your first 2 FFBs give a hotstreak, then that wont be overrode until 2 more crits hit the target, so if you clip your 4th FFB before it hits the target, then the 4th FFB will give you a new hotstreak which you use on the next FFB. When the 5th FFB hits, LB should explode to give another hotstreak which you can use to immediately clip another FFB.

ANYMORE QUESTIONS CAN BE ASKED IN GAME OR ON FORUMS HERE, QUESTIONS AND INFORMATION MAY BE ADDED TO THIS SECTION OR OTHER AREAS OF GUIDE AT ANY TIME. (Faelarin)

This is a copied post from Warmane Official Forum

Credits to: Faelarin