06-30-2007, 01:13 AM
Quote:Arcane/Fire
What important talents did I miss, and what should I have not picked up?
Considering that your focus is leveling, that's a pretty solid build, but I have the following recommendations:
1) Elemental Precision can be dropped. Especially in a leveling sense, you aren't going to notice the 3% reduced mana cost, and you're unlikely to be attacking anything that really requires a lot of hit. What spellhit you need can be easily made up with gear.
2) By the same token, you don't need all those points in Arcane Focus. You can scale those down.
3)...to put points in Arcane Concentration. It is also a minor efficiency bonus that you're unlikely to notice levelling, but it's very handy for 5-mans.
4) Magic Absorption is a funny talent because it gives a static amount of resistances. That means it's quite powerful at level 40 or below, and gets significantly weaker past about 60. It's typically not selected for leveling or raiding - not that it isn't handy, but Concentration is typically more useful.
5) Prismatic Cloak is also somewhat underwhelming. You're unlikely to notice a mere 4% less damage wherever it occurs. Those points can be saved for better use elsewhere.
6) Impact is a very handy leveling talent. That said, it's coming at the expense of an even better talent...
7) ...Ignite. If you're going to even minor in fire, Ignite is simply too good to pass up. One of the best bonuses of an Arcane/Fire build like the one you've built is that Spell Power and Ignite multiply, unlike Spell Power and Ice Shards. A Spell Power/Ice Shards crit is 225% (100 base + 50% crit + 50% ice shards + 25% spell power), but a Spell Power/Ignite crit is 245% (100 base + 50% crit + 25% spell power, all *1.4 due to Ignite).
8) To power those crits further, taking Arcane Potency raises your effective crit rate and combines nicely with your Empowered Arcane Missiles. With Potency, if you cast an Arcane Missiles while clearcasting, each missile is +30% crit, which can result in some very nice crit strings. Furthermore, because of the way Missiles functions, any Missiles proccing clearcasting will enjoy the crit bonus as well as any missiles cast with one - effectively doubling the power of the talent.
I'd recommend something more like this.