09-03-2005, 04:43 PM
I never really got the Arcane Explosion suicide run thing. Sure, I could do a bit of damage. But unless I've got a couple of friends AoEing right beside me then it just doesn't seem to accomplish much.
I always found it more effective to get close enough that I could target a ranged AoE on a pretty good collection of the enemy zerg-mass, but still far enough away that I can only be targetted by fire mages or hunters. Then drop flamestrikes on the enemy until either I run out of mana or get low enough to make a quick turn and blink back. With PoM and Burning Soul I could usually get three or four flamestrikes off before either dropping or retreating. And when hitting for as much as six, seven, eight hundred damage upfront (with crits--pretty common with Improved Flamestrike), more for ignite, and more the added DoT, it really tends to scatter the enemy.
It becomes less effective if I use it a lot, though. People tend to shrug off a bit of AoE, but when you're persistent about it, and far enough away that shutting you down is a problem, then dropping 2,000+ damage on the enemy front lines tends to make 'em take notice. It was the funniest moment of my last week-long AV stint, when, after maybe two hours of pounding on the enemies, every time I stepped out of the zerg and started casting I'd take two aimed shots, a fireball, a shadow bolt, an ambush, and an intercept/mortal strike combo. It was awesome.
(Note that this is the experience of pickup AV against pickup AV. With coordinated support the AE-kamikaze can be EXTREMELY effective. And my ranged bombardment would either get silenced whether I was far away or not, or just outmaneuvered, leaving me bombarding an empty spot while the enemy raid charged in my face.)
I always found it more effective to get close enough that I could target a ranged AoE on a pretty good collection of the enemy zerg-mass, but still far enough away that I can only be targetted by fire mages or hunters. Then drop flamestrikes on the enemy until either I run out of mana or get low enough to make a quick turn and blink back. With PoM and Burning Soul I could usually get three or four flamestrikes off before either dropping or retreating. And when hitting for as much as six, seven, eight hundred damage upfront (with crits--pretty common with Improved Flamestrike), more for ignite, and more the added DoT, it really tends to scatter the enemy.
It becomes less effective if I use it a lot, though. People tend to shrug off a bit of AoE, but when you're persistent about it, and far enough away that shutting you down is a problem, then dropping 2,000+ damage on the enemy front lines tends to make 'em take notice. It was the funniest moment of my last week-long AV stint, when, after maybe two hours of pounding on the enemies, every time I stepped out of the zerg and started casting I'd take two aimed shots, a fireball, a shadow bolt, an ambush, and an intercept/mortal strike combo. It was awesome.
(Note that this is the experience of pickup AV against pickup AV. With coordinated support the AE-kamikaze can be EXTREMELY effective. And my ranged bombardment would either get silenced whether I was far away or not, or just outmaneuvered, leaving me bombarding an empty spot while the enemy raid charged in my face.)