Cataclysm Mage PvE Build: Arcane or Fire?

I felt a bit frustrated these days because of my Mage build! I just started the Heroic 5-man dungeons last week, but each time I'm always the NO.3 DPS in the gorup, even sometimes Tank had higher DPS than me!

I always use the Arcane build recommended by my friends, but now the Arcane build seems not so good in Cataclysm! Should I change my build as Fire mage?

Well, I will suggest you choose Fire mage!

Why choose Fire Mage?

Pros:

Excellent DPS Mobility. You can cast Scorch, Living Bomb, Pyroblast!, Blastwave and Flamestrike all on the run. Make sure you take maximum advantage of this, it's a key strength of a Fire Mage on movement heavy encounters. Always cast something while moving: while moving to position, while grouping up or spreading out, while avoiding boss mechanics, while kiting - even while mid-air after being knocked back. Just don't stop casting something!

Excellent AOE Power. Impact, Impact-Combustion, Blastwave, Improved Flamestrike, Pyromaniac: They all work together to make you a powerful AOE caster. Even while nuking a single target, Impact will allow you to splash your DOTs to nearby targets. Take advantage of this whenever possible.

Ability to cast even while OOM. Improved Scorch makes the spell totally free, so you can always cast it regardless of your mana level. A Scorch rotation isn't optimal DPS, but it's much better DPS than an OOM caster who can't cast anything.

Cons

Mana Constraints. Fire Mages must manage their mana well. It's a resource you must be aware of. Failing to manage mana well will result in either going OOM early, or sub-par DPS. A skilled Fire Mage in Cataclysm is one who not only manages their mana well, but understands how and when to use their mana most effectively.
Crit Dependancy: The Fire spec is built around Crit: It's designed around it from the ground up: Hot Streak

Pyroblasts are the result of crits, Master of Elements restores mana after Crits, Flashburn mastery gets more use when spells Crit and leave Ignites, Combustion is a more powerful/easily used cooldown when you crit. Crits make us strong, but it's also our Achilles Heel. Without it, especially in Cataclysm when Combat Ratings are much lower across the board, the Fire spec begins to suffer in several ways.

Recommended Talent build: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#o0hZfchrkbRRsfoc



Source

Wow thy for posting that. i have started raiding and i can't do a lot of damage.. the problem is i have to move around alot in the raid content so going for min 13k dmg in heroics to 7k dmg in raids isn't good.. i will try fire out today.

Arcane is underpowered today and Blizzard even announced that arcane will be buffed next patch. I would recommend fire then.

As a newbie Mage, I once used Arcane Mage, but after being guided by my guild member, now I'm a Fire Mage and I could have more than 10K DPS in 5-man dungeons! Hope I could get higher in the raid!

My friend could do 30k DPS as Frost until they nerfred it big time recently. You know that it was possible since there were lots of changes for Frost.

yeah did play with arcana to but its boring and the dps sucks i did go fire to, much more fun and dps now. what you what more:P

For raiding sake, never go arcane as of right now. FIre and frost are most viable.

I have to TOTALLY disagree! I use Arcane in Dungeons & Raids and for me it is MUCH better than Fire!

I tried Fire with all the proper gear/ench and rotation and I always got 1 1/2 times more damage from Arcane with NEVER having to worry about mana.

I don't really have to run around very much, I keep my eye on my health, the boss/ads/healer, etc. and place myself accordingly. Also, if my health gets too low, I pop evocation (with glyph) to heal myself instead of depending on the healer.

I haven't found myself at the bottom of the DPS pile since I first started running dungeons/raids and had junk for gear. Now, I am ALWAYS at the top (where a good mage should be).

I use Mirror Image/Arcane Power/Time Warp and Focus Magic when I think I should.

Fire imo.Frost is better known for PVP

Arcane was just buffed last patch. Of course it works now.

fire is still on top dps wise as far as i know, so technically your not at your most optimal dps.

fire was the top and still the top.. +1 for fire

i would say that fire is the best spec for mages atm... i tried arcane at once i reached 85 cuz i heard it was the best and did awesome dmg with it... i got max 9k dps with it xD and when i changed to fire it raise to 11k instantly. and that was with crappy gear, i'm now up in 16k on singletarget and its just raiding :)

arcane is the best atm

I try to keep understand what is best NOW....fire or arcane......

Since me and my best m8 playing mages from Classic 2006 and we have calculated all of the mechanics and rotations for fire mages in order to maximize dps.....(crits to max ignite then combustion spread it with impact and while in hotstrike spread that too....etc etc....).and having a single target of arround 17-20k in respect with torrent and trinkets to get more crits tonight we fought 2 fire mages and 1 arcane in a Zandalari dungeon we were having way better gear and still were allways behind dps.....i really need to check it now......i think 4.1 did something bad apart that ignite doesnt trigger anymore from DOT's crits.


I ll let you know asap.....

I have always been fire
But the deviations in DPS were really bad

Went Arcane recently , But went hot Arcane only use AB

current DPS  average 22-24K

Burn thru mana, but use all the mana gems and potions and use flowing water flask

I am simply always at top of chart

I do really good with fire personally...and it is more fun, but that is just my opinion.

[b]Reply [url=http://forum.mmosite.com/thread/2/179/20101222/Cataclysm_Mage_PvE_Build_Arcane_or_Fire-4da846f0a5a28c513-1.html#p4dcea8cd8b9755]16#[/url] [i]75.*.*.201[/i][/b] [br] [br] That's cool, all that epic DPS, but more interesting to know is : 1. Which gear? ilevel 360+ on avg?2. Which buffs? Full raid or 5 man dg?3. Which rotation? 4. Specs? Hit-rating? Haste? etc. Just a "hey I do a million DPS on average" doesn't tell me much, other than this may be measured as a DPS spike on one boss. In other words: people tend to provide misleading information, especially when it comes to "how good they are".

After the patch, I'd have to say Arcane. Arcane Blast hits like a beast.