12-21-2004, 07:53 PM
i) Talents
1) Fire Talents
Improved Fireball
1 point â Fireball cast reduced by 0.1 second.
2 points â Fireball cast reduced by 0.2 seconds.
3 points â Fireball cast reduced by 0.3 seconds.
4 points â Fireball cast reduced by 0.4 seconds.
5 points â Fireball cast reduced by 0.5 seconds.
If you want to be able to use Fireball as anything but an opener in the middle to late game, youâll want Improved Fireball. Three and a half seconds is a monster casting time, and while three seconds is still large, the difference between the two is enough to boost Fireballâs DPS past Arcane Missilesâ. Getting it early isnât that bad of an idea, either â getting it when Fireballâs only 2.5 or 3.0 base seconds to cast makes Fireball relatively quick-casting for the time. Five points in this is also a prerequisite for Pyroblast.
Impact
1 point â Your Fire spells have a 2% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.
2 points â Your Fire spells have a 4% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.
3 points â Your Fire spells have a 6% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.
4 points â Your Fire spells have a 8% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.
5 points â Your Fire spells have a 10% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.
Stunning casters can stop an incoming spell right away, and stunning an incoming creature buys precious time to fire off another spell. Ten percent will go off more often than you think.. Useful especially with Scorch, but also with fireballs in solo.
Ignite
1 point â Your critical strikes from Fire spells cause the target to burn for 8% of your spell damage over 4 seconds.
2 points â Your critical strikes from Fire spells cause the target to burn for 16% of your spell damage over 4 seconds.
3 points â Your critical strikes from Fire spells cause the target to burn for 24% of your spell damage over 4 seconds.
4 points â Your critical strikes from Fire spells cause the target to burn for 32% of your spell damage over 4 seconds.
5 points â Your critical strikes from Fire spells cause the target to burn for 40% of your spell damage over 4 seconds.
Ignite simply gives you more damage. Eight percent is not so much, but when maxed this talent drops an additional 40% on the enemy, and thatâs pretty serious stuff. Killing them quicker is always good. If you add Critical Mass, it becomes more frequent, and Combustion guarantees that Ignite will make them burn. Without critical-improving talents, however, Ignite weakens a little â a five-point investment for something that may not happen all that often.
Improved Fire Blast
1 point â Fire Blast cooldown reduced by 0.5 second.
2 points â Fire Blast cooldown reduced by 0.8 second.
3 points â Fire Blast cooldown reduced by 1.0 second.
4 points â Fire Blast cooldown reduced by 1.3 seconds.
5 points â Fire Blast cooldown reduced by 1.5 seconds.
Fire Blastâs spikes in DPS are always welcome additions to any battle, and against especially tough enemies, a few more Fire Blasts can always come in handy. But a 1.5 second reduction against an 8 second cooldown is not that great. And how often are you going to be Fireblasting other than as a finisher? Five talent points may not be a worthwhile investment for such a small effect.
Flame Throwing
1 point â Your Fire spells gain 3 yards of range.
2 points â Your Fire spells gain 6 yards of range.
Range is one of Fireâs advantages. Two points in this kicks your Fireball up to 41 yards range, which makes it an even better opener from a distance. Notably, however, this also improves Fireblast range to 26 yards, making it far easier to use multiple times. Attacking from range is one of the mageâs major advantages â anything that makes it bigger is better. Flame Throwing is even more interesting in the sense that it does something you canât accomplish any other way.
Incinerate
1 point â Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire Blast and Scorch spells by 2%.
2 points â Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire Blast and Scorch spells by 4%.
Fire Blast and Scorch are going to be spells you use a lot, fire specialized or no. If youâve already taken ten points in fire talents so you can take this, you can count on seeing a lot of both these spells in the future, and two percent per point is quite good for critical strikes. Of course, if youâre going deep enough to snag Critical Mass, you may not feel the need to build on that talent with this one.
Pyroblast
1 point â Gain Pyroblast rank 1.
Pyroblast is, essentially, a Fireball with a six-second cast, a one-minute cooldown, and bigger damage. Pyroblast, is, therefore, an opener, since for openers casting times donât matter. It makes a much better opener than Fireball, inflicting up to thirty percent more damage for a tiny increase in mana cost. The six-second cast ensures that you wonât use this in combat, but itâs a great way to reach out and touch someone.
Improved Flamestrike
1 point â Increases Flamestrikeâs critical chance by 5%
2 points â Increases Flamestrikeâs critical chance by 10%
3 points â Increases Flamestrikeâs critical chance by 15%
Increasing the critical strike chance by 15% is a big, big number, the largest improved critical chance any talent offers any spell. With Critical Mass or Arcane Instability, it isnât unreasonable to assume you can get Flamestrikeâs critical strike chance into the 25% ballpark, which makes it much more reliable. That said, Fireball and Pyroblast still make better openers, since they track the target even if it moves, and Flamestrike doesnât And while 25% critical strikes sounds really good, most of the time there still wonât be a critical strike, putting Flamestrike back on the same page with over twice the mana cost.
Burning Soul
1 point â Gives your Fire spells a 25% chance of not being interrupted by damage.
2 points â Gives your Fire spells a 50% chance of not being interrupted by damage.
3 points â Gives your Fire spells a 65% chance of not being interrupted by damage.
Spell interruption is the bane of every mage. Burning Soul lets whatâs probably your best damage spell, Fireball, ignore any interruption over half the time, allowing you to use it semi-reliably even in melee combat. But why, exactly, are you casting Fireball in melee combat? Thereâs a much better option for an offensive spell if you donât want to be interrupted.
Improved Scorch
1 point â Burns the target for 5% of your Scorch damage over 4 seconds.
2 points â Burns the target for 10% of your Scorch damage over 4 seconds.
3 points â Burns the target for 15% of your Scorch damage over 4 seconds.
4 points â Burns the target for 20% of your Scorch damage over 4 seconds.
5 points â Burns the target for 25% of your Scorch damage over 4 seconds.
This is a flat damage increase for Scorch, not conditional like Ignite or having a percentage chance of working. It works all the time, making it even more damage efficient, and it does so in a perfect way for Scorch. An increase to the damage of the initial hit would make Scorch draw more aggro, defeating the purpose â this damage addition burns over the next four seconds, spreading out aggro. If youâre planning a lot of instance runs, this is a great addition to Scorch, which youâll find yourself using a lot. Then again, 25% of Scorch damage isnât really that big of an increase, because Scorchâs base damage is low. There might be better places to put 5 points, especially considering that most fights start with only two or three Scorches before you move on to the heavy stuff.
Improved Fire Ward
1 point â Your Fire Ward reflects 20% of the absorbed damage back to the caster.
2 points â Your Fire Ward reflects 35% of the absorbed damage back to the caster.
Fire Ward isnât exactly a stellar skill, and the Improved version doesnât make it better at all. Even a level 60 Fire Ward, reflecting up to 204 points of damage, isnât a big deal. Fireball at that level is averaging 650 or so damage per cast, and youâll need a few of those. 204 is a drop in the bucket. Not to mention, it only works against things that use fire, and some of those are fire elementals, which wonât overly care what you bother reflecting. This oneâs a filler talent. Donât touch it.
Critical Mass
1 point â Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire spells by 2%.
2 point â Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire spells by 4%.
3 point â Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire spells by 6%.
This is a powerful passive. For three points, 6% is quite a good critical strike chance increase. Its synergistic effects with Ignite arenât to be ignored, either. Beyond thisâ¦well, more criticals, and you donât need to do anything special to get them. Obvious benefits.
Blast Wave
1 point â Gain Blast Wave, rank 1.
Blast Wave is basically a Fire Nova. Unlike Frost Nova, this spell has teeth, and does significant AoE damage. But it doesnât immobilize its targets, just dazing them instead, which reduces their move speed by 50% but isnât as nice as freezing. It has the normal problems associated with AoE spells. It casts instantly but has a 45-second cooldown, and makes a decent additional finisher.
Fire Power
1 point â Fire spell damage increased by 2%.
2 points â Fire spell damage increased by 4%.
3 points â Fire spell damage increased by 6%.
4 points â Fire spell damage increased by 8%.
5 points â Fire spell damage increased by 10%.
Flat damage increase across the board for all Fire spells. Most talents donât work all the time, and so each one that does deserves a good long look. Aside from thatâ¦I donât really need to explain the benefits of more damage, do I?
Combustion
1 point â Gain Combustion.
When you cast Combustion, it guarantees your next Fire spell a critical strike. A five minute cooldown means you can only do it once every so often, but this plus Pyroblast can be quite the opener, even more powerful if you have Ignite. Alternatively, this plus Flamestrike or Blast Wave can really wreck groups, again, even more severe with Ignite.
2) Frost Talents
Improved Frostbolt
1 point â Frostbolt cast reduced by 0.1 second.
2 points â Frostbolt cast reduced by 0.2 seconds.
3 points â Frostbolt cast reduced by 0.3 seconds.
4 points â Frostbolt cast reduced by 0.4 seconds.
5 points â Frostbolt cast reduced by 0.5 seconds.
If youâre going Frost, Frostbolt is going to be your main damage-dealer, much as Fireball is for fire mages. Decreasing its cast time pushes its DPS up over an untalented Fireballâs, and noses it out ahead of Arcane Missiles for some levels (AM will still be higher during four out of every eight levels, at least until you get Piercing Ice). Any kind of frost specialization starts here.
Permafrost
1 point â Your chill effects last 1 second longer.
2 points â Your chill effects last 1.5 seconds longer.
3 points â Your chill effects last 2 seconds longer.
4 points â Your chill effects last 2.5 seconds longer.
5 points â Your chill effects last 3 seconds longer.
On the bright side, a longer chill canât hurt. If you open with Frostbolt, it gives you more time to cast other things as theyâre charging you. But then again, if youâre opening with Frostbolt and are Frost specialized, chances are your next cast will also be Frostbolt. In that case, the duration could be 3 seconds, half what it is without talents, and theyâd still be chilled all the way, so Permafrost adds nothing. And if youâre not Frost specialized, why are you thinking about putting points into Frost talents?
Ice Shards
1 point â Your Frost spell critical strikes deal 20% more damage.
2 points â Your Frost spell critical strikes deal 40% more damage.
3 points â Your Frost spell critical strikes deal 60% more damage.
4 points â Your Frost spell critical strikes deal 80% more damage.
5 points â Your Frost spell critical strikes deal 100% more damage.
Like Ignite, this is just more damage, with the precondition that you have to critical first. Just like the Fire tree, there are ways to make this more frequent, and double damage when you do can end things in rapid fashion. Also like Ignite, but even more, Ice Shards has synergistic effects with the rest of the Frost tree.
Winterâs Chill
1 point â Your chilling effects slow the targetâs movement by an extra 4%.
2 points â Your chilling effects slow the targetâs movement by an extra 7%.
3 points â Your chilling effects slow the targetâs movement by an extra 10%.
Slowing their movement even more translates directly to more shots and more casts as they approach. Especially useful for Blizzard, which really needs the reduction. The bonus, however, isnât all that big for three points.
Improved Frost Nova
1 point â Decreases Frost Nova cooldown by 2 seconds.
2 points â Decreases Frost Nova cooldown by 4 seconds.
Two points buys the cooldown of Nova down from 25 seconds to 21 seconds. The impact will be assuredly minimal. Still, youâll have to take this if your frost build includes Shatter. By itself, itâs a junk talent.
Piercing Ice
1 point â Your Frost spells do 2% more damage.
2 points â Your Frost spells do 4% more damage.
3 points â Your Frost spells do 6% more damage.
More damage, all the time, for all your Frost spells. Good for the same reasons Fire Power is good.
Cold Snap
1 point â Gain Cold Snap.
Cold Snap is a no mana cost, instant cast spell with a 10 minute cooldown. When you cast it, it finishes the cooldowns on all your Frost spells. This does what Improved Nova doesnât: lets you cast another emergency nova if you need it right away, or just another Nova to trigger Shatter. The cooldown is prohibitive, but new abilities are always good deals for one talent point.
Improved Blizzard
1 point â Adds a chilling effect to Blizzard, slowing the targetâs movement to 70% for 6 seconds.
2 points â Improves the chill, slowing the targetâs movement to 40% for 9 seconds.
3 points â Improves the chill, slowing the targetâs movement to 25% for 9 seconds.
This talent is clearly a way to make mobs stay in the Blizzard for the whole eight seconds. When maxed, it cuts 75% off the targetâs movement speed, which is a lot. Add Winterâs Chill on top of it and theyâll be crawling out at 15% of their movement speed, which gives you a really good chance to get the entire Blizzard off. That said, reference âWhy would you want to?â in the section about Blizzard. Blizzardâs damage is pathetic, and even getting off the whole eight seconds is nothing special. Still, if youâre going Frost, you may be using Blizzard as your main AoE â in which case, get this. It also synergizes with Frostbite.
Arctic Reach
1 point â Increases the range of your Frostbolt and radii of Frost Nova and Cone of Cold by 10%.
2 points â Increases the range by 20%.
With two points here, Frostbolt gets a 36 yard range, outranging untalented Fireball. Extra yardage is even better with a slowing effect, and turning your primary weapon into your best opener is an easy decision.
Frost Channeling
1 point â Decreases the mana cost of your Frost spells by 5%.
2 points â Decreases the mana cost of your Frost spells by 10%.
3 points â Decreases the mana cost of your Frost spells by 15%.
Takes the sting out of those costly spells, like Blizzard, but not by that much. Repeat with me: efficiency doesnât matter. At least, not the kind of efficiency which is bought with 3 talent points for a mere 15%.
Shatter
1 point â Increases the critical strike chance of your spells against frozen targets by 10%.
2 points â Increases the critical strike chance of your spells against frozen targets by 20%.
3 points â Increases the critical strike chance of your spells against frozen targets by 30%.
4 points â Increases the critical strike chance of your spells against frozen targets by 40%.
5 points â Increases the critical strike chance of your spells against frozen targets by 50%.
Shatter is one half of the Dynamic Duo thatâs going to characterize heavy Frost specialization. Fifty percent is a LOT, and you can guarantee frozen at least once with Nova. The other half of the Duo is going to make sure more than Nova can do it. The result is guaranteed critical strikes, and with Shards that means big damage quickly. Shatter can still be somewhat interesting with just Nova for frozen, but much less so.
Improved Frost Ward
1 point â 50% of the damage absorbed by your Frost Ward is added to your mana.
Itâs better than the Fire Ward talent, and 50% is a fairly large effect for one point, but Frost Ward absorbs even less damage than Fire Ward, and we already went over the fact that Fire Ward doesnât absorb damage in useful amounts at high levels.
Ice Block
1 point â Gain Ice Block.
When you cast Ice Block, you are instantly surrounded by a block of ice that lasts for 10 seconds. Ice Block has a 5 minute cooldown. While youâre iced, youâre immune to all attacks and damage, but canât do anything more than rearrange your inventory, making this essentially a group talent. This is a quick and useful solution to the problem of a breakout: it gives the tank 10 precious seconds to take aggro back from you. Its drawback is minimal - it stops you from attacking during a time you shouldnât be attacking anyway, and it stops you from moving at a time when you shouldnât really be moving. I like Block just because of Rule One.
Improved Cone of Cold
1 point â Your Cone of Cold damage is increased by 15%.
2 points â Your Cone of Cold damage is increased by 25%.
3 points â Your Cone of Cold damage is increased by 35%.
This is a large unconditional damage increase, and you donât get many of those. Improved Scorch is the closest comparison and you only get 25% for 5 points. Here, you get 35% for 3, which is much better. If youâre going to be using Cone a lot, get this. That said, since you canât really use Cone more than once every ten seconds, you may find it difficult to use Cone a lot even if you want to.
Frostbite
1 point â Your chilling effects have a 3% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds.
2 points â Your chilling effects have a 6% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds.
3 points â Your chilling effects have a 9% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds.
4 points â Your chilling effects have a 12% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds.
5 points â Your chilling effects have a 15% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds.
This is the other half of the Duo, allowing all your spells including Blizzard and Frostbolt to freeze up targets, priming them for a Shatter-powered critical strike. Frostbite links the entire Frost treeâs offensive talents together into a large critical-strike making machine, at least in theory. An Improved Blizzard can freeze things with this, but youâll need something else to crit them with â Blizzard doesnât do that, to my experience.
Ice Barrier
1 point â Gain Ice Barrier, rank 1
This variant of Ice Block doesnât last a guaranteed ten seconds, since it can be broken by sufficient damage. On the upside, you can attack out of it, and it holds for a whole minute. Very nice for mobs in melee range. This can be used if your Block is cooling down in groups, but this is basically a solo talent. Barrier, as a matter of fact, functions much like a long-cooldown, more efficient mana shield, since it only costs 1 mana for each 2 damage prevented. You can use it in much the same way, but this is even better since you can prebuff, drink, and go into battle without having it suck away your offensive power during the fight.
3) Arcane Talents
Arcane Subtlety
1 point â Reduces threat generated by your offensive Arcane spells by 20%.
2 points â Reduces threat generated by your offensive Arcane spells by 30%.
3 points â Reduces threat generated by your offensive Arcane spells by 40%.
This is a group-play only talent, but a fairly useful one. Missiles, as Iâve said before, will always be very near your highest-DPS spell, which also means that you wonât be using it until late in any fight to avoid drawing aggro. This talent lets you use it earlier and raises your overall damage output in a group. That said, it doesnât let you use things that much earlier, and with this talent or not, an early bomb is still going to take too much aggro from the tank.
Arcane Focus
1 point â Reduces the chance for an opponent to resist your Arcane spells by 2%.
2 points â Reduces the chance for an opponent to resist your Arcane spells by 4%.
3 points â Reduces the chance for an opponent to resist your Arcane spells by 6%.
4 points â Reduces the chance for an opponent to resist your Arcane spells by 8%.
5 points â Reduces the chance for an opponent to resist your Arcane spells by 10%.
When youâre at low levels, and âresistâ pops up a lot, you might think this is very tempting. And itâs not a bad talent, but it isnât spectacular. Mobs up to two levels higher than you wonât resist all that much of your spells â maybe fifteen percent. Mobs up to three levels higher will resist a clear 70% of whatever you throw, and beyond that, count yourself lucky to land even 5% of your spells. Itâs nice to virtually ensure that youâll never see a resist on a close-leveled enemy, and if you have extra Arcane points you need for prerequisites then hereâs not a bad place to put them.
Improved Arcane Missiles
1 point â Your Arcane Missiles have a 20% chance to avoid interruption due to damage.
2 points â Your Arcane Missiles have a 40% chance to avoid interruption due to damage.
3 points â Your Arcane Missiles have a 60% chance to avoid interruption due to damage.
4 points â Your Arcane Missiles have a 80% chance to avoid interruption due to damage.
5 points â Your Arcane Missiles have a 100% chance to avoid interruption due to damage.
This talent is huge. Itâs one of the completely transformative talents in the game, changing Arcane Missiles from a spell you want to cast just as mobs are incoming to a backbone offensive powerhouse. The mageâs biggest bane, as I said, is casting time interruption, and only a few instant, long-cooldown spells get around that. Five points in this, however, and one of your biggest guns suddenly is immune to interruption as well. Arcane Missiles isnât just artillery, after this â itâs a melee attack, too, with pretty good DPS. Use missiles against anything that survives to melee with more life than Fireblast damage; use it against casters and ranged attackers who can interrupt your spells from further away; use it against something that spawned on your head. There are so many uses for Missiles after you max this talent, and many of those uses cover previous vulnerabilities. Most importantly, this talent makes Arcane Missiles a safety valve for all those occasions when things go wrong. Invaluable.
Wand Specialization
1 point â Increases your wand damage by 5%.
2 points â Increases your wand damage by 10%.
3 points â Increases your wand damage by 15%.
4 points â Increases your wand damage by 20%.
5 points â Increases your wand damage by 25%.
At first glance, this talent doesnât look very good. And, well, it really isnât. Most of the time youâll be casting spells â wands are just going to be finishers, if you bother training them to the point where you can hit something with them. However, itâs not all bad. A cursory examination of the wands in the game shows that most tend to have somewhere around 1.5x to double the damage of similar-level bows and guns, for the reason that castersâ agility (and therefore, ranged attack power), wonât be very high, and because you canât enhance wandsâ damage with ammo. It could be made to work, but Iâd advise putting points elsewhere.
Arcane Concentration
1 point â You have a 2% chance of gaining Clearcasting (next damage spell is free) every time a damage spell hits its target.
2 points â You have a 4% chance of gaining Clearcasting every time a damage spell hits its target.
3 points â You have a 6% chance of gaining Clearcasting every time a damage spell hits its target.
4 points â You have a 8% chance of gaining Clearcasting every time a damage spell hits its target.
5 points â You have a 10% chance of gaining Clearcasting every time a damage spell hits its target.
At first glance, this talent doesnât look very good. However, it definitely is. Ten percent happens decently often (though it only counts the first hit of each spell, so Missiles and Blizzard donât have a chance to activate this multiple times). The real point, however, is that this mathematically works out to about ten percent more mana. Consider that Arcane Mind offers 2% more mana for one talent point. Thatâs worth it, and Concentration does virtually the same thing, so thereâs little reason not to take it. Itâs even better than Mind in some respects, as Mind offers small mana bonuses which arenât a whole spellâs cost, whereas Concentration makes sure its bonus is useful by refunding a whole spellâs cost at once.
Improved Dampen Magic
1 point â Increases the effect of your Dampen Magic spell by 25%.
2 points â Increases the effect of your Dampen Magic spell by 50%.
Dampen Magicâs effect is tiny, and so a percentage-based increase isnât really impressive. Even at the highest Dampen level, this raises prevention up to only a possible 75 points, and spells are doing four times that much at level 40. Total filler talent.
Improved Arcane Explosion
1 point â Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 0.3 second.
2 points â Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 0.6 second.
3 points â Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 0.9 second.
4 points â Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 1.2 seconds.
5 points â Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 1.5 seconds.
This is another transformative talent in line with IAM. At five points, the reduction of 1.5 seconds is equal to Arcane Explosionâs entire casting time, making itâ¦instant. And it still has no cooldown. In solo play, AE becomes the finisher of last resort â after youâve used Fireblast and Cone, if itâs still alive, just hit AE until done. In group play, AE becomes the best AoE spell available in terms of DPS â though it will eat mana at a ferocious rate, youâll be able to jam the AE button once a second, resulting in truly insane damage. That isnât to say you should use it in every group situation with multiple targets â there are still many cases where using AoE spells is unwise â but when theyâre the right call, Improved Arcane Explosion is the best answer.
Evocation
1 point â Gain Evocation.
Evocation is an activated ability. When you do, you begin to channel a spell, except that instead of using mana, you gain mana. During the eight seconds you channel Evocation, your mana regeneration is active and increased by a whopping 1500%. With medium spirit gear, this is a full recharge in eight seconds â and can be done in combat. Its ten-minute cooldown means that this isnât something youâll do a lot, but especially in long boss fights at the end of instances, a full recharge, essentially for free, is a good thing to have in the back pocket. With less spirit gear this may be less than a full recharge, but it will still be far better than any item. It can be worth wearing a spirit item or two just to make sure this fills you up.
Improved Mana Shield
1 point â Increases the damage absorbed by your Mana Shield by 50%.
2 points â Increases the damage absorbed by your Mana Shield by 75%.
As I said in the Mana Shield discussion, Mana Shield isnât of great use except when running away. Improved Mana Shield definitely makes it better for that purpose. However, unless youâre running a lot of intellect gear, you wonât be seeing mana shield that much. Narrowly useful talents arenât generally good picks. If youâve found lots more straight +int gear than +int/sta gear, you might want this, but when your drops eventually get around to more stamina you may regret it.
Improved Counterspell
1 point â Your Counterspell has a 50% chance to silence the target for 4 seconds.
2 points â Your Counterspell has a 100% chance to silence the target for 4 seconds.
Any talent with 100% in the name is worth taking a look at, and Improved Counterspell is one of those. It isnât very useful pre-level 30 or so, because during that time, caster mobs generally cast from only one school. Therefore, Counterspellâs lockout effect is essentially a silence for 10 seconds. As you get into the mid to high 30s, however, youâll begin to encounter casters with multiple schools, and a basic counter will just get them to start casting something else. You want them to run up to you and start attacking you weakly, and Improved Counterspell strongly encourages that.
Arcane Meditation
1 point â 3% of your mana regeneration is active even when youâre casting.
2 points â 6% of your mana regeneration is active even when youâre casting.
3 points â 9% of your mana regeneration is active even when youâre casting.
4 points â 12% of your mana regeneration is active even when youâre casting.
5 points â 15% of your mana regeneration is active even when youâre casting.
On the one hand, mana regeneration at all times â good. On the other, five points for fifteen percent? 3 spirit gives you 1 mana every two seconds. My mage has about 160 odd spirit at level 44. That works out to about 53 mana every two seconds. With five points in Meditation, thatâs something like eight mana every two seconds, or something like thirty seconds just to pull back enough mana for a Scorch. Compounding this problem is that itâs not really useful in long fights, since what youâll do there is stop casting for five seconds and get 100% of your mana regeneration for a little while. Short fights, tiny percentage of regenerated mana? Not altogether worth it.
Presence of Mind
1 point â Gain Presence of Mind.
An ability like Evocation, Presence of Mind is free to cast, casts instantly and has a 3 minute cooldown. When you cast it, your next spell with a casting time of less than 10 seconds casts instantly. A new ability for one point is always a good deal and Presence has a number of applications. The least of them is shooting a Fireball or Frostbolt instantly, making one of your massive impact spells into an instant finisher. What Presence brings to the table is flexibility, which helps when things go wrong. Rule One.
Arcane Mind
1 point â Increases maximum mana by 2%.
2 points â Increases maximum mana by 4%.
3 points â Increases maximum mana by 6%.
4 points â Increases maximum mana by 8%.
Arcane Mind is a passive ability that gives a small, but significant mana boost. Itâs a talent that works at all times and in all circumstances, fairly uncommon so far as talents go. At level 44 Iâm getting about 70 or so mana for each point; if I pushed intellect harder at the expense of stamina I would have even more. I would classify this as mainly a group ability, as itâs rare to run dry solo. This isnât an astounding ability, however, and if other abilities in Arcane attract you, thereâs no compelling reason to take this. Still, more mana is the foundation for a lot of other things, and you wonât go wrong with points in Mind.
Arcane Instability
1 point â Spell damage and critical strike chance increased by 1%.
2 points â Spell damage and critical strike chance increased by 2%.
3 points â Spell damage and critical strike chance increased by 3%.
The damage bonus is not very large, and the critical strike increase, while nice, isnât as big as other bonuses. Three percent doesnât look big compared to Critical Massâ 6% or Shatterâs 50%. But the great thing about Arcane Instability is that it works on all your spells, not just your Arcane spells, and it works all the time. A talent that does that is hard to find. AI is an excellent pickup.
Arcane Power
1 point â Gain Arcane Power.
Arcane Power is the third ability in the Arcane talents tree, requiring 31 points to take. Like Presence of Mind, it costs nothing to cast, casts instantly and has a 3 minute cooldown. When you cast it, your spells are supercharged for the next 15 seconds â they cost 35% more to cast, but get a 35% boost in damage. Thirty-five percent is a massive damage boost: only Improved Cone of Cold offers a comparable increase and it does so only for one spell and for three talent points. AP only happens once every three minutes, but the option to kick your spells into high gear is extremely useful.
1) Fire Talents
Improved Fireball
1 point â Fireball cast reduced by 0.1 second.
2 points â Fireball cast reduced by 0.2 seconds.
3 points â Fireball cast reduced by 0.3 seconds.
4 points â Fireball cast reduced by 0.4 seconds.
5 points â Fireball cast reduced by 0.5 seconds.
If you want to be able to use Fireball as anything but an opener in the middle to late game, youâll want Improved Fireball. Three and a half seconds is a monster casting time, and while three seconds is still large, the difference between the two is enough to boost Fireballâs DPS past Arcane Missilesâ. Getting it early isnât that bad of an idea, either â getting it when Fireballâs only 2.5 or 3.0 base seconds to cast makes Fireball relatively quick-casting for the time. Five points in this is also a prerequisite for Pyroblast.
Impact
1 point â Your Fire spells have a 2% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.
2 points â Your Fire spells have a 4% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.
3 points â Your Fire spells have a 6% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.
4 points â Your Fire spells have a 8% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.
5 points â Your Fire spells have a 10% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.
Stunning casters can stop an incoming spell right away, and stunning an incoming creature buys precious time to fire off another spell. Ten percent will go off more often than you think.. Useful especially with Scorch, but also with fireballs in solo.
Ignite
1 point â Your critical strikes from Fire spells cause the target to burn for 8% of your spell damage over 4 seconds.
2 points â Your critical strikes from Fire spells cause the target to burn for 16% of your spell damage over 4 seconds.
3 points â Your critical strikes from Fire spells cause the target to burn for 24% of your spell damage over 4 seconds.
4 points â Your critical strikes from Fire spells cause the target to burn for 32% of your spell damage over 4 seconds.
5 points â Your critical strikes from Fire spells cause the target to burn for 40% of your spell damage over 4 seconds.
Ignite simply gives you more damage. Eight percent is not so much, but when maxed this talent drops an additional 40% on the enemy, and thatâs pretty serious stuff. Killing them quicker is always good. If you add Critical Mass, it becomes more frequent, and Combustion guarantees that Ignite will make them burn. Without critical-improving talents, however, Ignite weakens a little â a five-point investment for something that may not happen all that often.
Improved Fire Blast
1 point â Fire Blast cooldown reduced by 0.5 second.
2 points â Fire Blast cooldown reduced by 0.8 second.
3 points â Fire Blast cooldown reduced by 1.0 second.
4 points â Fire Blast cooldown reduced by 1.3 seconds.
5 points â Fire Blast cooldown reduced by 1.5 seconds.
Fire Blastâs spikes in DPS are always welcome additions to any battle, and against especially tough enemies, a few more Fire Blasts can always come in handy. But a 1.5 second reduction against an 8 second cooldown is not that great. And how often are you going to be Fireblasting other than as a finisher? Five talent points may not be a worthwhile investment for such a small effect.
Flame Throwing
1 point â Your Fire spells gain 3 yards of range.
2 points â Your Fire spells gain 6 yards of range.
Range is one of Fireâs advantages. Two points in this kicks your Fireball up to 41 yards range, which makes it an even better opener from a distance. Notably, however, this also improves Fireblast range to 26 yards, making it far easier to use multiple times. Attacking from range is one of the mageâs major advantages â anything that makes it bigger is better. Flame Throwing is even more interesting in the sense that it does something you canât accomplish any other way.
Incinerate
1 point â Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire Blast and Scorch spells by 2%.
2 points â Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire Blast and Scorch spells by 4%.
Fire Blast and Scorch are going to be spells you use a lot, fire specialized or no. If youâve already taken ten points in fire talents so you can take this, you can count on seeing a lot of both these spells in the future, and two percent per point is quite good for critical strikes. Of course, if youâre going deep enough to snag Critical Mass, you may not feel the need to build on that talent with this one.
Pyroblast
1 point â Gain Pyroblast rank 1.
Pyroblast is, essentially, a Fireball with a six-second cast, a one-minute cooldown, and bigger damage. Pyroblast, is, therefore, an opener, since for openers casting times donât matter. It makes a much better opener than Fireball, inflicting up to thirty percent more damage for a tiny increase in mana cost. The six-second cast ensures that you wonât use this in combat, but itâs a great way to reach out and touch someone.
Improved Flamestrike
1 point â Increases Flamestrikeâs critical chance by 5%
2 points â Increases Flamestrikeâs critical chance by 10%
3 points â Increases Flamestrikeâs critical chance by 15%
Increasing the critical strike chance by 15% is a big, big number, the largest improved critical chance any talent offers any spell. With Critical Mass or Arcane Instability, it isnât unreasonable to assume you can get Flamestrikeâs critical strike chance into the 25% ballpark, which makes it much more reliable. That said, Fireball and Pyroblast still make better openers, since they track the target even if it moves, and Flamestrike doesnât And while 25% critical strikes sounds really good, most of the time there still wonât be a critical strike, putting Flamestrike back on the same page with over twice the mana cost.
Burning Soul
1 point â Gives your Fire spells a 25% chance of not being interrupted by damage.
2 points â Gives your Fire spells a 50% chance of not being interrupted by damage.
3 points â Gives your Fire spells a 65% chance of not being interrupted by damage.
Spell interruption is the bane of every mage. Burning Soul lets whatâs probably your best damage spell, Fireball, ignore any interruption over half the time, allowing you to use it semi-reliably even in melee combat. But why, exactly, are you casting Fireball in melee combat? Thereâs a much better option for an offensive spell if you donât want to be interrupted.
Improved Scorch
1 point â Burns the target for 5% of your Scorch damage over 4 seconds.
2 points â Burns the target for 10% of your Scorch damage over 4 seconds.
3 points â Burns the target for 15% of your Scorch damage over 4 seconds.
4 points â Burns the target for 20% of your Scorch damage over 4 seconds.
5 points â Burns the target for 25% of your Scorch damage over 4 seconds.
This is a flat damage increase for Scorch, not conditional like Ignite or having a percentage chance of working. It works all the time, making it even more damage efficient, and it does so in a perfect way for Scorch. An increase to the damage of the initial hit would make Scorch draw more aggro, defeating the purpose â this damage addition burns over the next four seconds, spreading out aggro. If youâre planning a lot of instance runs, this is a great addition to Scorch, which youâll find yourself using a lot. Then again, 25% of Scorch damage isnât really that big of an increase, because Scorchâs base damage is low. There might be better places to put 5 points, especially considering that most fights start with only two or three Scorches before you move on to the heavy stuff.
Improved Fire Ward
1 point â Your Fire Ward reflects 20% of the absorbed damage back to the caster.
2 points â Your Fire Ward reflects 35% of the absorbed damage back to the caster.
Fire Ward isnât exactly a stellar skill, and the Improved version doesnât make it better at all. Even a level 60 Fire Ward, reflecting up to 204 points of damage, isnât a big deal. Fireball at that level is averaging 650 or so damage per cast, and youâll need a few of those. 204 is a drop in the bucket. Not to mention, it only works against things that use fire, and some of those are fire elementals, which wonât overly care what you bother reflecting. This oneâs a filler talent. Donât touch it.
Critical Mass
1 point â Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire spells by 2%.
2 point â Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire spells by 4%.
3 point â Increases the critical strike chance of your Fire spells by 6%.
This is a powerful passive. For three points, 6% is quite a good critical strike chance increase. Its synergistic effects with Ignite arenât to be ignored, either. Beyond thisâ¦well, more criticals, and you donât need to do anything special to get them. Obvious benefits.
Blast Wave
1 point â Gain Blast Wave, rank 1.
Blast Wave is basically a Fire Nova. Unlike Frost Nova, this spell has teeth, and does significant AoE damage. But it doesnât immobilize its targets, just dazing them instead, which reduces their move speed by 50% but isnât as nice as freezing. It has the normal problems associated with AoE spells. It casts instantly but has a 45-second cooldown, and makes a decent additional finisher.
Fire Power
1 point â Fire spell damage increased by 2%.
2 points â Fire spell damage increased by 4%.
3 points â Fire spell damage increased by 6%.
4 points â Fire spell damage increased by 8%.
5 points â Fire spell damage increased by 10%.
Flat damage increase across the board for all Fire spells. Most talents donât work all the time, and so each one that does deserves a good long look. Aside from thatâ¦I donât really need to explain the benefits of more damage, do I?
Combustion
1 point â Gain Combustion.
When you cast Combustion, it guarantees your next Fire spell a critical strike. A five minute cooldown means you can only do it once every so often, but this plus Pyroblast can be quite the opener, even more powerful if you have Ignite. Alternatively, this plus Flamestrike or Blast Wave can really wreck groups, again, even more severe with Ignite.
2) Frost Talents
Improved Frostbolt
1 point â Frostbolt cast reduced by 0.1 second.
2 points â Frostbolt cast reduced by 0.2 seconds.
3 points â Frostbolt cast reduced by 0.3 seconds.
4 points â Frostbolt cast reduced by 0.4 seconds.
5 points â Frostbolt cast reduced by 0.5 seconds.
If youâre going Frost, Frostbolt is going to be your main damage-dealer, much as Fireball is for fire mages. Decreasing its cast time pushes its DPS up over an untalented Fireballâs, and noses it out ahead of Arcane Missiles for some levels (AM will still be higher during four out of every eight levels, at least until you get Piercing Ice). Any kind of frost specialization starts here.
Permafrost
1 point â Your chill effects last 1 second longer.
2 points â Your chill effects last 1.5 seconds longer.
3 points â Your chill effects last 2 seconds longer.
4 points â Your chill effects last 2.5 seconds longer.
5 points â Your chill effects last 3 seconds longer.
On the bright side, a longer chill canât hurt. If you open with Frostbolt, it gives you more time to cast other things as theyâre charging you. But then again, if youâre opening with Frostbolt and are Frost specialized, chances are your next cast will also be Frostbolt. In that case, the duration could be 3 seconds, half what it is without talents, and theyâd still be chilled all the way, so Permafrost adds nothing. And if youâre not Frost specialized, why are you thinking about putting points into Frost talents?
Ice Shards
1 point â Your Frost spell critical strikes deal 20% more damage.
2 points â Your Frost spell critical strikes deal 40% more damage.
3 points â Your Frost spell critical strikes deal 60% more damage.
4 points â Your Frost spell critical strikes deal 80% more damage.
5 points â Your Frost spell critical strikes deal 100% more damage.
Like Ignite, this is just more damage, with the precondition that you have to critical first. Just like the Fire tree, there are ways to make this more frequent, and double damage when you do can end things in rapid fashion. Also like Ignite, but even more, Ice Shards has synergistic effects with the rest of the Frost tree.
Winterâs Chill
1 point â Your chilling effects slow the targetâs movement by an extra 4%.
2 points â Your chilling effects slow the targetâs movement by an extra 7%.
3 points â Your chilling effects slow the targetâs movement by an extra 10%.
Slowing their movement even more translates directly to more shots and more casts as they approach. Especially useful for Blizzard, which really needs the reduction. The bonus, however, isnât all that big for three points.
Improved Frost Nova
1 point â Decreases Frost Nova cooldown by 2 seconds.
2 points â Decreases Frost Nova cooldown by 4 seconds.
Two points buys the cooldown of Nova down from 25 seconds to 21 seconds. The impact will be assuredly minimal. Still, youâll have to take this if your frost build includes Shatter. By itself, itâs a junk talent.
Piercing Ice
1 point â Your Frost spells do 2% more damage.
2 points â Your Frost spells do 4% more damage.
3 points â Your Frost spells do 6% more damage.
More damage, all the time, for all your Frost spells. Good for the same reasons Fire Power is good.
Cold Snap
1 point â Gain Cold Snap.
Cold Snap is a no mana cost, instant cast spell with a 10 minute cooldown. When you cast it, it finishes the cooldowns on all your Frost spells. This does what Improved Nova doesnât: lets you cast another emergency nova if you need it right away, or just another Nova to trigger Shatter. The cooldown is prohibitive, but new abilities are always good deals for one talent point.
Improved Blizzard
1 point â Adds a chilling effect to Blizzard, slowing the targetâs movement to 70% for 6 seconds.
2 points â Improves the chill, slowing the targetâs movement to 40% for 9 seconds.
3 points â Improves the chill, slowing the targetâs movement to 25% for 9 seconds.
This talent is clearly a way to make mobs stay in the Blizzard for the whole eight seconds. When maxed, it cuts 75% off the targetâs movement speed, which is a lot. Add Winterâs Chill on top of it and theyâll be crawling out at 15% of their movement speed, which gives you a really good chance to get the entire Blizzard off. That said, reference âWhy would you want to?â in the section about Blizzard. Blizzardâs damage is pathetic, and even getting off the whole eight seconds is nothing special. Still, if youâre going Frost, you may be using Blizzard as your main AoE â in which case, get this. It also synergizes with Frostbite.
Arctic Reach
1 point â Increases the range of your Frostbolt and radii of Frost Nova and Cone of Cold by 10%.
2 points â Increases the range by 20%.
With two points here, Frostbolt gets a 36 yard range, outranging untalented Fireball. Extra yardage is even better with a slowing effect, and turning your primary weapon into your best opener is an easy decision.
Frost Channeling
1 point â Decreases the mana cost of your Frost spells by 5%.
2 points â Decreases the mana cost of your Frost spells by 10%.
3 points â Decreases the mana cost of your Frost spells by 15%.
Takes the sting out of those costly spells, like Blizzard, but not by that much. Repeat with me: efficiency doesnât matter. At least, not the kind of efficiency which is bought with 3 talent points for a mere 15%.
Shatter
1 point â Increases the critical strike chance of your spells against frozen targets by 10%.
2 points â Increases the critical strike chance of your spells against frozen targets by 20%.
3 points â Increases the critical strike chance of your spells against frozen targets by 30%.
4 points â Increases the critical strike chance of your spells against frozen targets by 40%.
5 points â Increases the critical strike chance of your spells against frozen targets by 50%.
Shatter is one half of the Dynamic Duo thatâs going to characterize heavy Frost specialization. Fifty percent is a LOT, and you can guarantee frozen at least once with Nova. The other half of the Duo is going to make sure more than Nova can do it. The result is guaranteed critical strikes, and with Shards that means big damage quickly. Shatter can still be somewhat interesting with just Nova for frozen, but much less so.
Improved Frost Ward
1 point â 50% of the damage absorbed by your Frost Ward is added to your mana.
Itâs better than the Fire Ward talent, and 50% is a fairly large effect for one point, but Frost Ward absorbs even less damage than Fire Ward, and we already went over the fact that Fire Ward doesnât absorb damage in useful amounts at high levels.
Ice Block
1 point â Gain Ice Block.
When you cast Ice Block, you are instantly surrounded by a block of ice that lasts for 10 seconds. Ice Block has a 5 minute cooldown. While youâre iced, youâre immune to all attacks and damage, but canât do anything more than rearrange your inventory, making this essentially a group talent. This is a quick and useful solution to the problem of a breakout: it gives the tank 10 precious seconds to take aggro back from you. Its drawback is minimal - it stops you from attacking during a time you shouldnât be attacking anyway, and it stops you from moving at a time when you shouldnât really be moving. I like Block just because of Rule One.
Improved Cone of Cold
1 point â Your Cone of Cold damage is increased by 15%.
2 points â Your Cone of Cold damage is increased by 25%.
3 points â Your Cone of Cold damage is increased by 35%.
This is a large unconditional damage increase, and you donât get many of those. Improved Scorch is the closest comparison and you only get 25% for 5 points. Here, you get 35% for 3, which is much better. If youâre going to be using Cone a lot, get this. That said, since you canât really use Cone more than once every ten seconds, you may find it difficult to use Cone a lot even if you want to.
Frostbite
1 point â Your chilling effects have a 3% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds.
2 points â Your chilling effects have a 6% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds.
3 points â Your chilling effects have a 9% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds.
4 points â Your chilling effects have a 12% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds.
5 points â Your chilling effects have a 15% chance to freeze the target for 5 seconds.
This is the other half of the Duo, allowing all your spells including Blizzard and Frostbolt to freeze up targets, priming them for a Shatter-powered critical strike. Frostbite links the entire Frost treeâs offensive talents together into a large critical-strike making machine, at least in theory. An Improved Blizzard can freeze things with this, but youâll need something else to crit them with â Blizzard doesnât do that, to my experience.
Ice Barrier
1 point â Gain Ice Barrier, rank 1
This variant of Ice Block doesnât last a guaranteed ten seconds, since it can be broken by sufficient damage. On the upside, you can attack out of it, and it holds for a whole minute. Very nice for mobs in melee range. This can be used if your Block is cooling down in groups, but this is basically a solo talent. Barrier, as a matter of fact, functions much like a long-cooldown, more efficient mana shield, since it only costs 1 mana for each 2 damage prevented. You can use it in much the same way, but this is even better since you can prebuff, drink, and go into battle without having it suck away your offensive power during the fight.
3) Arcane Talents
Arcane Subtlety
1 point â Reduces threat generated by your offensive Arcane spells by 20%.
2 points â Reduces threat generated by your offensive Arcane spells by 30%.
3 points â Reduces threat generated by your offensive Arcane spells by 40%.
This is a group-play only talent, but a fairly useful one. Missiles, as Iâve said before, will always be very near your highest-DPS spell, which also means that you wonât be using it until late in any fight to avoid drawing aggro. This talent lets you use it earlier and raises your overall damage output in a group. That said, it doesnât let you use things that much earlier, and with this talent or not, an early bomb is still going to take too much aggro from the tank.
Arcane Focus
1 point â Reduces the chance for an opponent to resist your Arcane spells by 2%.
2 points â Reduces the chance for an opponent to resist your Arcane spells by 4%.
3 points â Reduces the chance for an opponent to resist your Arcane spells by 6%.
4 points â Reduces the chance for an opponent to resist your Arcane spells by 8%.
5 points â Reduces the chance for an opponent to resist your Arcane spells by 10%.
When youâre at low levels, and âresistâ pops up a lot, you might think this is very tempting. And itâs not a bad talent, but it isnât spectacular. Mobs up to two levels higher than you wonât resist all that much of your spells â maybe fifteen percent. Mobs up to three levels higher will resist a clear 70% of whatever you throw, and beyond that, count yourself lucky to land even 5% of your spells. Itâs nice to virtually ensure that youâll never see a resist on a close-leveled enemy, and if you have extra Arcane points you need for prerequisites then hereâs not a bad place to put them.
Improved Arcane Missiles
1 point â Your Arcane Missiles have a 20% chance to avoid interruption due to damage.
2 points â Your Arcane Missiles have a 40% chance to avoid interruption due to damage.
3 points â Your Arcane Missiles have a 60% chance to avoid interruption due to damage.
4 points â Your Arcane Missiles have a 80% chance to avoid interruption due to damage.
5 points â Your Arcane Missiles have a 100% chance to avoid interruption due to damage.
This talent is huge. Itâs one of the completely transformative talents in the game, changing Arcane Missiles from a spell you want to cast just as mobs are incoming to a backbone offensive powerhouse. The mageâs biggest bane, as I said, is casting time interruption, and only a few instant, long-cooldown spells get around that. Five points in this, however, and one of your biggest guns suddenly is immune to interruption as well. Arcane Missiles isnât just artillery, after this â itâs a melee attack, too, with pretty good DPS. Use missiles against anything that survives to melee with more life than Fireblast damage; use it against casters and ranged attackers who can interrupt your spells from further away; use it against something that spawned on your head. There are so many uses for Missiles after you max this talent, and many of those uses cover previous vulnerabilities. Most importantly, this talent makes Arcane Missiles a safety valve for all those occasions when things go wrong. Invaluable.
Wand Specialization
1 point â Increases your wand damage by 5%.
2 points â Increases your wand damage by 10%.
3 points â Increases your wand damage by 15%.
4 points â Increases your wand damage by 20%.
5 points â Increases your wand damage by 25%.
At first glance, this talent doesnât look very good. And, well, it really isnât. Most of the time youâll be casting spells â wands are just going to be finishers, if you bother training them to the point where you can hit something with them. However, itâs not all bad. A cursory examination of the wands in the game shows that most tend to have somewhere around 1.5x to double the damage of similar-level bows and guns, for the reason that castersâ agility (and therefore, ranged attack power), wonât be very high, and because you canât enhance wandsâ damage with ammo. It could be made to work, but Iâd advise putting points elsewhere.
Arcane Concentration
1 point â You have a 2% chance of gaining Clearcasting (next damage spell is free) every time a damage spell hits its target.
2 points â You have a 4% chance of gaining Clearcasting every time a damage spell hits its target.
3 points â You have a 6% chance of gaining Clearcasting every time a damage spell hits its target.
4 points â You have a 8% chance of gaining Clearcasting every time a damage spell hits its target.
5 points â You have a 10% chance of gaining Clearcasting every time a damage spell hits its target.
At first glance, this talent doesnât look very good. However, it definitely is. Ten percent happens decently often (though it only counts the first hit of each spell, so Missiles and Blizzard donât have a chance to activate this multiple times). The real point, however, is that this mathematically works out to about ten percent more mana. Consider that Arcane Mind offers 2% more mana for one talent point. Thatâs worth it, and Concentration does virtually the same thing, so thereâs little reason not to take it. Itâs even better than Mind in some respects, as Mind offers small mana bonuses which arenât a whole spellâs cost, whereas Concentration makes sure its bonus is useful by refunding a whole spellâs cost at once.
Improved Dampen Magic
1 point â Increases the effect of your Dampen Magic spell by 25%.
2 points â Increases the effect of your Dampen Magic spell by 50%.
Dampen Magicâs effect is tiny, and so a percentage-based increase isnât really impressive. Even at the highest Dampen level, this raises prevention up to only a possible 75 points, and spells are doing four times that much at level 40. Total filler talent.
Improved Arcane Explosion
1 point â Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 0.3 second.
2 points â Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 0.6 second.
3 points â Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 0.9 second.
4 points â Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 1.2 seconds.
5 points â Reduces the casting time of your Arcane Explosion by 1.5 seconds.
This is another transformative talent in line with IAM. At five points, the reduction of 1.5 seconds is equal to Arcane Explosionâs entire casting time, making itâ¦instant. And it still has no cooldown. In solo play, AE becomes the finisher of last resort â after youâve used Fireblast and Cone, if itâs still alive, just hit AE until done. In group play, AE becomes the best AoE spell available in terms of DPS â though it will eat mana at a ferocious rate, youâll be able to jam the AE button once a second, resulting in truly insane damage. That isnât to say you should use it in every group situation with multiple targets â there are still many cases where using AoE spells is unwise â but when theyâre the right call, Improved Arcane Explosion is the best answer.
Evocation
1 point â Gain Evocation.
Evocation is an activated ability. When you do, you begin to channel a spell, except that instead of using mana, you gain mana. During the eight seconds you channel Evocation, your mana regeneration is active and increased by a whopping 1500%. With medium spirit gear, this is a full recharge in eight seconds â and can be done in combat. Its ten-minute cooldown means that this isnât something youâll do a lot, but especially in long boss fights at the end of instances, a full recharge, essentially for free, is a good thing to have in the back pocket. With less spirit gear this may be less than a full recharge, but it will still be far better than any item. It can be worth wearing a spirit item or two just to make sure this fills you up.
Improved Mana Shield
1 point â Increases the damage absorbed by your Mana Shield by 50%.
2 points â Increases the damage absorbed by your Mana Shield by 75%.
As I said in the Mana Shield discussion, Mana Shield isnât of great use except when running away. Improved Mana Shield definitely makes it better for that purpose. However, unless youâre running a lot of intellect gear, you wonât be seeing mana shield that much. Narrowly useful talents arenât generally good picks. If youâve found lots more straight +int gear than +int/sta gear, you might want this, but when your drops eventually get around to more stamina you may regret it.
Improved Counterspell
1 point â Your Counterspell has a 50% chance to silence the target for 4 seconds.
2 points â Your Counterspell has a 100% chance to silence the target for 4 seconds.
Any talent with 100% in the name is worth taking a look at, and Improved Counterspell is one of those. It isnât very useful pre-level 30 or so, because during that time, caster mobs generally cast from only one school. Therefore, Counterspellâs lockout effect is essentially a silence for 10 seconds. As you get into the mid to high 30s, however, youâll begin to encounter casters with multiple schools, and a basic counter will just get them to start casting something else. You want them to run up to you and start attacking you weakly, and Improved Counterspell strongly encourages that.
Arcane Meditation
1 point â 3% of your mana regeneration is active even when youâre casting.
2 points â 6% of your mana regeneration is active even when youâre casting.
3 points â 9% of your mana regeneration is active even when youâre casting.
4 points â 12% of your mana regeneration is active even when youâre casting.
5 points â 15% of your mana regeneration is active even when youâre casting.
On the one hand, mana regeneration at all times â good. On the other, five points for fifteen percent? 3 spirit gives you 1 mana every two seconds. My mage has about 160 odd spirit at level 44. That works out to about 53 mana every two seconds. With five points in Meditation, thatâs something like eight mana every two seconds, or something like thirty seconds just to pull back enough mana for a Scorch. Compounding this problem is that itâs not really useful in long fights, since what youâll do there is stop casting for five seconds and get 100% of your mana regeneration for a little while. Short fights, tiny percentage of regenerated mana? Not altogether worth it.
Presence of Mind
1 point â Gain Presence of Mind.
An ability like Evocation, Presence of Mind is free to cast, casts instantly and has a 3 minute cooldown. When you cast it, your next spell with a casting time of less than 10 seconds casts instantly. A new ability for one point is always a good deal and Presence has a number of applications. The least of them is shooting a Fireball or Frostbolt instantly, making one of your massive impact spells into an instant finisher. What Presence brings to the table is flexibility, which helps when things go wrong. Rule One.
Arcane Mind
1 point â Increases maximum mana by 2%.
2 points â Increases maximum mana by 4%.
3 points â Increases maximum mana by 6%.
4 points â Increases maximum mana by 8%.
Arcane Mind is a passive ability that gives a small, but significant mana boost. Itâs a talent that works at all times and in all circumstances, fairly uncommon so far as talents go. At level 44 Iâm getting about 70 or so mana for each point; if I pushed intellect harder at the expense of stamina I would have even more. I would classify this as mainly a group ability, as itâs rare to run dry solo. This isnât an astounding ability, however, and if other abilities in Arcane attract you, thereâs no compelling reason to take this. Still, more mana is the foundation for a lot of other things, and you wonât go wrong with points in Mind.
Arcane Instability
1 point â Spell damage and critical strike chance increased by 1%.
2 points â Spell damage and critical strike chance increased by 2%.
3 points â Spell damage and critical strike chance increased by 3%.
The damage bonus is not very large, and the critical strike increase, while nice, isnât as big as other bonuses. Three percent doesnât look big compared to Critical Massâ 6% or Shatterâs 50%. But the great thing about Arcane Instability is that it works on all your spells, not just your Arcane spells, and it works all the time. A talent that does that is hard to find. AI is an excellent pickup.
Arcane Power
1 point â Gain Arcane Power.
Arcane Power is the third ability in the Arcane talents tree, requiring 31 points to take. Like Presence of Mind, it costs nothing to cast, casts instantly and has a 3 minute cooldown. When you cast it, your spells are supercharged for the next 15 seconds â they cost 35% more to cast, but get a 35% boost in damage. Thirty-five percent is a massive damage boost: only Improved Cone of Cold offers a comparable increase and it does so only for one spell and for three talent points. AP only happens once every three minutes, but the option to kick your spells into high gear is extremely useful.