Hi All,
I wanted to share a Regen Mage build that I have been enjoying raiding with. For reference please see the talent and rune build that I’m using here: Wowhead Talent Calculator - Arcane and Frost Weaving
The recent buffs to Spellfrost Bolt and Chronostatic Preservation gave me the idea to try out Spellfrost Bolt for healing. I first tried a full frost talent setup focusing on getting crits with Spellfrost bolt and discovered in my experimentation something that isn’t immediately obvious with Temporal Beacon healing:
Critical damage does not result in more Temporal Beacon healing. Only the base damage is used to calculate how much it will heal. This healing instance appears to have it’s own critical strike chance and is independent from the source damage spell.
This made me switch tack. Instead of trying to squeeze crits out of Spellfrost bolt, I took talents that increase Frost’s utility (Frostbite, Permafrost, Improved Blizzard), increases to base damage of Frost spells (Piercing Ice), and mana cost and threat reduction of Frost spells (Frost Channeling). In Arcane I took Arcane Focus and Arcane Subtlety to improve my hit chance and Arcane Concentration for Clearcasting procs.
The end result allows me to change up my damage-to-heal rotation. With pure Arcane, you cast Arcane Blast repeatedly, hoping to get a Missile Barrage proc to then cast Arcane Missiles. This is great fun when in the DPS role, but the variability isn’t great when you’re trying to keep people alive, and an unlucky streak could result in huge consumption of mana and a stuttering rotation if you have to wait for Arcane Blast to fall off. Instead I simply alternate back and forth between Arcane Blast and Spellfrost bolt. This is extremely mana efficient. Arcane Blast costs 59 mana and Spellfrost Bolt costs 71 and does comparable damage to Arcane Blast when consuming the Arcane Blast stack. Additionally, Chronostatic Preservation counts as all three schools of magic, so it receives the mana cost and threat reduction from Frost Channeling, elevating an already stellar healing spell to bonkers.
Need to raid as DPS? Swap in Burnout, Spell Power, and Living Flame. Go to four stacks of Arcane Blast and cast Living Flame as an opener and every time Living Flame comes off cooldown and then continue with the standard ration of two Arcane Blasts and a Spellfrost Bolt.
I know this wont be everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s fine. I just wanted to share something that I’m enjoying in the event someone else might want to try it out.