One Spell You Probably Never Use – But Should

We’ve posted the video below before, just because it’s a little funny (in a “OMG that guy is a psycho” kind of way).  And the reason we are doing so again has to do with AoE. That’s right, AoE. And yes, we are well aware of the fact that AoE DPS doesn’t count for anything. But, even though it won’t help you with ICC hard mode bosses, it’s still kind of fun to see something like 20,000 DPS on that big pull at the front of the plague wing.

We show the video again because it turns out that all mages should be running around screaming “I’M CASTING FLAME STRIKE!  AHHHRRRRRR!” Yes, root it out of the bowels of your spell book and stick it on your actions bars somewhere again. Way back in the day Flame Strike was pretty common, but now about the only time you see the animation is from the mages in HoR. Turns out it hurts, and it’s also a great way to boost your AoE Damage.

The best way to use Flame Strike is to wind one up as the tank is pulling the group. It will work best, of course, if you are familiar with your tank and know where he likes to set up. But just put a flame strike on the area where the mobs are forming and then Blizzard on top of them; death from above, death from below. (Doesn’t really fit with “one if by land” – oh whatever).

Another interesting thing about Flame Strike you may not know is that the AoE effect stacks. Two flame strikes will tick for 5 or 6 seconds together. You aren’t putting the AoE on a particular mob, you’re putting it on the ground. You’ll have to get a little creative to figure out how to use this effectively since a FS cast will eat up two seconds of Blizzard (which can crit, and FS doesn’t), but it’s something to keep filed away in your WoW memory bank. Also keep in mind that you want to try to catch as many mobs as possible in the burst when FS goes off, that’s where the meat of the damage comes in, the AoE is just gravy.

Whether or not you want to go double FS and then Blizz will be something you have to fiddle with. But if you did, you would get burst, burst, AoE, AoE, AoE. Sounds like fun. Your DPS for the next four seconds with double FS and Blizz hammering away is just ridiculous.

I sometimes find myself waiting around for a tank to get everything within the boundaries of Blizzard, although you don’t have to do so. But either way, a few quick heroics revealed that using a Flame Strike right before you channel a Blizzard certainly does buff your AoE DPS quite a bit. You’re getting two ticks of DPS almost the whole time Blizz is going on.

You’ll need to test for yourself whether it is worth putting up another FS after each Blizzard cast. A lot of it is going to be determined by how much health the mobs have left (as well as how many there are). At least this will give you something to do with your brain time – a bit of a change for Arcane mages who have worn a groove in three buttons. Here are a few pointers:

In groups of more than three

  • Flame Strike and Blizzard once at the start of the pull
  • If three or more mobs are left after the first Blizz, repeat FS/Blizz  if most have more than 50% health left.
  • If there are three mobs or more with less than 50% health, Blizz until death – OR -

If less than three mobs are left or a pull of just one or two mobs:

  • Flame Strike and then single target

Yeah, it’s not a bad idea to get a little AoE on even two mobs. Since it’s ticking away while you blast something to bits, it’s just more DPS you can put on the mob. You’ll want to cast your FS while the mobs are out of range of arcane blast, of course, so that you don’t burn up your casting time on FS for your heavy hitters. That’s what we mean about using up some brain time on this one instead of just hammering three buttons.

Timing your FS to get it out before you can cast an AB may not even be possible most of the time, and you certainly don’t want to trade even a single AB just to make sure you get a FS off all the time. Besides that, if your tank ends up sitting the mob down outside of the FS area, it was just a waste of mana. The trick is to catch the mob in the FS burst and be halfway through an AB before he even takes his first swing at the tank. And then pray the tank can hold aggro.

As mentioned by Graceygirl below, another neat trick to really max out your AoE is to use Presence of Mind just before your first Flame Strike. PoM triggers the Arcane Potency buff which will increase the crit chance of your next two spells by 30%. PoM will also make the Flame Strike an instant cast, it just doesn’t get much better than that. However, you won’t be able to do it on every pull, as PoM has a 1.4 min cooldown. But every minute and a half is quite often, and you should not overlook it.

But, if you are good at anticipating mob position and can mash four buttons instead of just three you can find some really good spots to squeeze out an extra 4000-500 DPS on single and two mob pulls, and several thousand on big pulls by using Flame Strike. Just be sure to yell a lot while you Dominate.