WotLK [Guide] Ultimate Mage Theorycraft

**Kunightly** · April 7, 2016

Sources: WoW Wiki, Elitist Jerks, Open WoW, World of Warcraft Retail

Contributors: Vignis (Ignite), PuzzleManiak (Ignite), Devon(Hit Rating), and Qhorin(Typo on Hit Rating), & mrburns (Critical)

NOTE: I will try to fix any calculations that are off, if you spot any feel free to post it here and I will update as soon as possible. Also if you are a real hardcore theorycrafter you are probably laughing at my post right now, so if it isn't helpful visit Elitist Jerks for Theta level 100th millionth decimal mathematical equations and all that complex stuff about game mechanics.

I will be writing another Ultimage Mage Theorycraft for Cataclysm, for Mages only. People should contribute by writing one for other classes!

Stats | Quick Facts;

45.91 Critical Rating = 1% Critical Chance
32.79 Haste Rating = 1% Spell Haste
26.232 Hit Rating = 1% Hit Chance

Soft PvP Hit Cap = 105 Rating, 4% Chance
Hard PvP Hit Cap = 262 Rating, 10% Chance
PvE Hit Cap = 446 Rating, 17% Chance

1 Spell Penetration = 1 Spell Penetration

130 Spell Penetration recommended for PvP

166.6667 Intellect = 1% Crit Chance
1 Intellect = 15 Mana

First 20 points of Intellect only give 1 Mana Each, with a Base Mana of 3,268 at Lv.80, and with the Gnome racial Expansive Mind it is 3,431
Intellect does not give Spell Power, unless you have the Mind Mastery talent in the Arcane tree

* Please do not confuse "rating" with "chance", in order for you to have a chance in anything you require rating. Which is primarily obtainable through gear. Rating is depicted in decimal numbers, and Chance in percentages.

Variables that directly affect your Rating;

Gear, gems, and buffs

Variables that directly affect you Chance;

Talents, and Rating

**Kunightly** · April 7, 2016

Critical Rating is the amount of points you accumulate to achieve Critical Chance. The more Critical Rating you have, the higher your Critical Chance will be to land a Critical hit. A Critical hit is what happens when you get a lucky roll on a spell, and thus becoming;

Code:

+150%(Base modifier)

Talents and meta gems increase your base modifier multiplicative, and they are able to stack for increased Critical damage.

Note: Critical Damage is multiplicative and not additive, the Modifier IS your Critical Damage, and it's never increased by the Modifier.

Damage over time spells (DoTs) cannot crit, unless you are specced 51 points in Fire and have the Glyph of Living Bomb and spell.

True Intellect per 1% Critical Chance;

Code:

166.6666709

True Critical Rating per 1% Critical Chance;

Code:

45.90598679

Here is a list of all Critical damage base modifiers (they can all stack);

This unique meta gem increases your Critical damage of all spells to 154.5%, an increase of +3%

Works only for Frost spells, and increases your Critical damage to 200%, an increase of +100%

Works for all spells, increases your Critical damage to 175%, an increase of +50%

Works only for Fire spells, and is the only active ability that increases your Critical damage. It is increased to 175%, an increase of +50%

Works only for Fire spells, and increases your Critical damage to 175%, that is an increase of +50%

Works only with Fire spells, and it potentially increases your Critical damage to 210%, that is an increase of +160% = (+40% * 4(For each tick)); However, this is assuming your spell ticks it's full duration WITHOUT any Ignite "Munching/Clipping" interfering

How much your Critical Chance will be according to Intellect and Critical Rating;

Code:

Critical Chance = (Intellect / 166.6667) + 0.91 + (Critical Rating / 45.91)

How much Critical Rating you need for desired Critical Chance;

Code:

Rating = Chance * (45.91 * 100)

Here is an example;

Code:

1,377 = 30% * (45.91 * 100)

I would need 1,377 Critical Rating to have 30% Critical Chance (Not including Intellect). To include the Critical Chance you gain from Intellect;

Code:

Chance = 0.91 + (Intellect / 166.6667)

**Kunightly** · April 7, 2016

Haste Rating is the amount of points you accumulate to achieve Spell Haste. Spell Haste determines the speed at which you cast your spells and NOT a reduction to the base cast time of your spells. It pretty much means how fast you can cast your spells. Latency affects your casting speed.

Being hit while casting a spell will increase the time to cast the spell by 0.5sec per hit, to a maximum of 1.0sec per attack.

True Haste Rating per 1% Spell Haste;

Code:

32.78998947

Casting time calculation, Haste Rating as a variable;

Code:

% Spell Haste = (Haste Rating / 32.79)
New Casting Time = Base Casting Time / (1 + (% Spell Haste / 100))

Here is an example, using my Mage who has 1,050 Haste Rating
(Empower Frostbolt & Improved Frostbolt reduces Base Casting Speed of Frostbolt by 0.7sec to 2.3sec;

Code:

32.02% Spell Haste = (1050 / 32.79)
1.74sec = 2.3sec / (1 + (32.02% / 100))

That means that with 1,050 Haste Rating I cast 32.02% faster, and my Frostbolt takes 1.74sec to cast. Now let's figure out how much Haste Rating we need to make me cast my Frostbolt at 1.73sec.

Desired casting speed, and how much Haste Rating is needed for it;

Code:

Haste Rating needed = ((Base Cast Time / Desired Cast Time) - 1) * 32.79 * 100

My example using the same previous variables;

Code:

1,080 = ((2.3sec / 1.73sec) - 1) * 32.79 * 100

So I will need 30 more Haste Rating to be able to cast my Frostbolt at 1.73sec

Haste Rating also lowers your Global Cooldown (GCD) to a minimum of 1.0sec(50% casting speed) from the base GCD of 1.5sec (if you have no Haste). Your GCD is the time between your next spells, when you begin casting your spells they go into a cooldown which prevents you from casting anything with a GCD until it is over. It is also important to know that your latency affects your GCD and spell casting speed.

Amount of Haste Chance required to obtain desired GCD, and the Haste Rating required;

Code:

HasteChance = ((1.5 / DesiredGCD) - 1) * 100
Rating = (32.79 * 100) * HasteChance

Here's an example, if I wanted my GCD to be 1.0sec;

Code:

50% = ((1.5 / 1.0) - 1) * 100
1,639.5 = (32.79 * 100) * 50%

I would need 1,640 Haste Rating to have 50% Haste Chance, which will lower my GCD to the minimum of 1.0sec

Active spells & abilities that do not have a GCD that affect your spell casting;

Arcane Power
Presence of Mind
Counterspell
Cold Snap
Icy Veins
Combustion
Mirror Image attacks
Elemental abilities and attacks
Trinkets
Bloodelf racial Arcane Torrent
Troll racial Berserking

**Kunightly** · April 7, 2016

It determines whether your spells will be mitigated by your opponent's spell resistance, in other words it reduces the spell resistance of your opponent by nulling it that way your opponent cannot resist your spells. There are six elements in WoW, Holy is the only element that cannot be resisted. Spell Penetration does not increase your damage, and a resisted spell will have no effect or damage. NPCs do not have spell resistance, so Spell Penetration is not required for PvE.

Resistances will reduce a certain amount of damage from an element, or nullify the entire damage and it's effect based on Hit Chance.

You cannot "over penentrate", means you cannot reduce the resistance of someone below 0 with Spell Penetration.

Who can resist spells?

Shamans

Frost Resistance Totem +130 Frost Resistance
Fire Resistance Totem +130 Fire Resistance

Paladins

Fire Resistance Aura +130 Fire Resistance
Frost Resistance Aura +130 Frost Resistance

Druids

Mark of the Wild +54 Resistance to all spells (+76 with Improved Mark of the Wild)

These resistances do not stack, only one can be active at a time, so the maximum amount of resistance they can have vs a Mage is 130. However, only Arcane Mages can stack the resistances of others to theirs.

Mages

Arcane Shielding +80 (Stacks)
Mage Armor + 40 (+60 with Arcane Shielding) (Stacks)

Arcane Mages alone can have 140 spell resistance, and with stacked resistance up to 270. The recommended amount of Spell Penetration is 130, that is enough to penetrate anyone not stacking resistances.

Warlock Curse of Elements will reduce the resistances of all elements to a target by 165.

NOTE: Here in Molten you only gain 79 resistance from Arcane Shielding, instead of getting 80 to all elements.

**Kunightly** · April 7, 2016

The Frostfire Bolt is the most powerful spell Mages have and one of the most miss understood spells in the game. It's the only spell that benefits off Fire and Frost talents for it's Critical Chance, Critical Damage, Base Damage, and debuffs. When an opponent is hit by it they will receive damage as well as a debuff that reduces their movement by 40%(Modified by Chilled to the Bone, +10% totaling to -50% movement reduction) and receive 90 Fire damage(check Spell Power Coefficient below for accurate damage) over 9 seconds.

Frostfire Bolt has less Base damage than Fireball but more Critical damage, that means Fireball hits harder but Frostfire Bolt crits makes your eyes water. This depends on both Frost and Fire talents.

List of Fire talents that affect or are affected by Frostfire Bolt;

List of Frost talents that affect or are affected by Frostfire Bolt;

Ice Shards
Precision
Piercing Ice
Frost Channeling
Winter's Chill
Artic Winds
Fingers of Frost
Chilled to the Bone
Shatter
Brain Freeze (FFB can proc a Brain Freeze)

List of Arcane talents that affect or affected by Frostfire Bolt;

I could keep going on, almost every talent in every tree affects Frostfire Bolt, if a talent mentions a "frost" or a "fire" spell then it applies to Frostfire Bolt. Unless it clearly states other specifics or "arcane".

Being specced into a Frostfire Bolt build allows you to attain 330.75% Critical damage, by stacking Ignite + Burnout + Ice Shards & a Chaotic Skyflare Diamond. As Frost you cap at 209% Critical damage, as Fire the cap is 254.45%, and for Arcane it's 181.75%.

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