Hi all,

We're heading for Al'ar shortly, and he is immune to fire damage. Most of us mages, aside from Tilly I think, are the standard fire raiding spec of 10/48/3, so I had a little hunt around the wow mage forum to see whether this is going to be a problem.

As usual, lots of disagreement about best spec, but the general feeling seems to be that once a guild has got the fight sorted you can raid as 10/48/3, using arcane and frost spell rotations. Prior to that, respec's are recommended, though apparently its still possible to do sufficient dps with arcane/frost rotations using a fire spec.

I've pasted a couple of links below to threads discussing this - they do include some suggested specs. From the sound of it Tilly will be ok with her spec, if she uses arcane spells only... for the rest of us, well we can try on current spec and see what happens. If our dps is proving too low we're going to have to consider respeccing to one of the recommended builds below - Mich has suggested that the guild might fund this for us, given its really only an issue on this one boss. There is considerable disagreement on the forums as to whether arcane specs are best for TK/SSC in general, so I'm planning to stick to fire for the other bosses unless its really not working.

Threads:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.htm ... 1&pageNo=1 - specific Al'ar specs and debate

http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.htm ... 3&sid=1#12 - yet more Al'ar debate and frost spec

http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.htm ... 61&sid=1#0 - deep arcane build discussion


And finally - while hunting through the forums, I found the following discussion on an amended fire build using icy veins instead of arcane. Sounded interesting and I might try it. Link below, if you want to have a look - start from post 229.

http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.htm ... &pageNo=12

Hope the above helps and any thoughts from anyone has experience of the Al'ar fight would be welcome

i pulled him once and ran, thats about all the experience i can give u of this fight. lol.

also as a side note about these specs, i know a mage from entropy who uses an arcane spec and uses and arcaneblast/arcane missile rotation, and he usually tops damage, so id say arcane spec is a good thing in general.

i also know a frostmage who frequently tops damage too.

so no matter what spec u are, it doesnt really matter, u will still top damage, u over powered so and so's.

(and if ur a spellfire set wearer, i suggest going arcane so u dont have to do a full gear change )

Hey guys,
well about spec for this fight.Me,if i come online soon:P and Flame,Majick and Hugo use spellfire set,so pretty much we will suck as frost.So if the set is not replaced,arcane spec is pretty good for this fight.I advise 46/0/11+4,or 46,11+4.THe spell rotation will be 3 AB,AM,scorch,3 AB and repeat.It might be problem manawise tho. IF you still wish to fight as frost i advise one mage to spec 17/0/44 for the winter chill and all others can go for 40/0/21.Thats what i think:P
Hope to see you soon guys

About arcane mage in Entropy,most of theyr mage are arcane/fire i think.Montanahr i think has always used arcane,tho the stats you need for full arcane mage and fire are much more different.For deep arcane the stats are:Spell dmg>spell crit>mana>spell hit.For fire mage is:spell hit>spell crit>spell dmg>int.But most of Entropy's mages have 2 parts of T5,any way i think arcane with AB could be the most crushing dmg in game:P

his name was domascus, im not sure if hes still in it tbh, havent seen him for a while so i assume that hes server transferred.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=o_wf075Z5WU that is a good video showing a mage.He use spell rotation frostbolt+arcane missles

thing is if u go frost u cant really do alot on hydross in frost phase. altho all mages tend to do is AE the adds and have a little nuking session on frost.

blizzard tends to help more in poison phase. but neway do what u want :p

We talked about Al'ar right?,he only needs respec since his immunity to fire dmg,on Hydross doesent need to respec:).

Have seen videos on Hydross,very good for adds is to use frost nova right after they spawn and then flame strike.

im just talking about general fights now, cos u dont wanna keep respeccing.

basically im saying go arcane :p, as i cant remember any bosses (other than curator) that are immune to arcane damage