Shang's Arcane Guide (updated for 6.1)

[Chev]

I think you have got some wires crossed.

Opinion 1 (TLTeo & Wilderness): Burnphase is a CD and must be synced up with other CDs. We don't care about mana percentage, 70% is just an indicator to help, so u can use Evocate even at 80% for sync.

70% is not the end of your burn phase, it is where you want to stop using AM procs as they happen during the burn phase and only use them when you hit 3 stacks of AM between 70% and ~50% mana to stop you loosing a proc. The reason for this to to help your burn phase sync with PC but also make sure you get a good number of burns into a single fight. (Every time Evo is off CD and you are not burning is possible wasted DPS).

I suppose it lasts 22-30 sec depending on AM procs during burn phase

Opinion 2 (Dutchmagoz): We are burning endlessly, but not when mana is below 60-70%.

I really don't think this is what Dutch was trying to say when he responded to the question.

Is there a length that is too long for the burn to last?

. What I read from Dutch's comment is there is no hard and fast number. E.g. Stop burning after 45 seconds. If you kept going because you never dropped below a certain point, you would miss out on the mini hero that is the 2 set bonus which apart from the DPS increase from doing a burn is the reason you want to get as many burns in as possible.

So could you please help me to clear this question? I would like to play like TLTeo suggests, but what should I do in a situation, when I am between 50 and 70% mana, I have 2 AM procs and it is too early to finish burning. May I use AMs in this interval? I will try to hold the burn phase for 25-30 secs for sync.

If you are between 50% and 70% mana with 2 AM procs, keep casting AB until around 50% mana when you then use Evo. If your AM proc is about to drop off off, then use AM to make sure you don't loose that damage but you should be able to get to 50% without that happening and if you get a 3rd proc (which you will use no matter where you are in your rotation phases) it will reset the AM timer for you allowing you to save the last 2 procs for when you have reset and got back to 4 x AC again.

[Lammer]

Thanks for your answers, got it conecerning AM on burn phase

The "watching the evo timer" part is key. You still want to sync that with PC/AP (specifically have it read about 15-20 seconds after), and depending on things like fight length, fight mechanics (i'm looking at you Blackhand bombs), you may need to change your burn phases accordingly. Obviously burning as long as you can is nice, but not if that comes at the cost of lower AP uptime, or losing one PC cast.

The idea of skipping AM is just one tool of being absolutely sure your cooldowns don't get de-sync'd.

Could you give a couple of examples, where extended burn phase (let it be 1 minute lenght) is ok? Seems it will be good with an "Overpowered" talent taken, because AMs extend active time of AP buff, and there is no need for syncing with crystal.

[TLTeo]

Thanks for your answers, got it conecerning AM on burn phase

The "watching the evo timer" part is key. You still want to sync that with PC/AP (specifically have it read about 15-20 seconds after), and depending on things like fight length, fight mechanics (i'm looking at you Blackhand bombs), you may need to change your burn phases accordingly. Obviously burning as long as you can is nice, but not if that comes at the cost of lower AP uptime, or losing one PC cast.

The idea of skipping AM is just one tool of being absolutely sure your cooldowns don't get de-sync'd.

Could you give a couple of examples, where extended burn phase (let it be 1 minute lenght) is ok? Seems it will be good with an "Overpowered" talent taken, because AMs extend active time of AP buff, and there is no need for syncing with crystal.

You misunderstood my post. My point is simply that if we could choose between, say, burning for 15 or 30 seconds, we'd rather burn for 30. Going very very long (like one minute) is very likely to consistently be a dps loss because you run the risk of having to wait longer to go into your next burn phase, potentially losing one AP use for example. That said, if you start burning one minute before the boss dies and you can keep your mana levels high that's probably pretty nice; 2set would change that i guess, but i don't know how dramatically.

[Lammer]

ok, I got it. Thanks a lot

[Hachibi]

Very good guide i like

But i have a question about trinket. I have Darmac's Unstable Talisman (685 with prismatic Socket) And Blackiron Micro Crucible (700) and i wonder if Goren Soul Repository (685 with prismatic Socket) is not better than Blackiron Micro Crucible (700) someone can tell me

[Komma]

Seems like a rather straight forward comparison, since Mythic BMC is best in slot, and the 15 itemlevel gap in trinkets more than makes up for the socket.

[Eryxus]

6.2.1 Special situation when facing more than 3 targets stacked together!

Do not go into a mana burn phase. As easy as that. You want more Barrages and you want to be closer to full mana as much as possible for the maximum damage of Nether Tempest. With 2 targets, do a burn phase as described above, with 3 targets it's kind of a gray zone, but it might be better to avoid burning.

How does this work on Iron Maidens? Should I burn only in the bomb phase?
If I Evocation at the start for the set bonus, then every 1.30, it should link the burn to the bomb phase, but I then lose the set bonus when 3 targets are up.

And do I burn without Arcane Power, since that should be during my max dps phase (ie 3 targets)?

[Imnick]

Burning during the bomb phase is quite hard and I often find it means I go a long time without evocating because of having to move and regenerating mana. I definitely would not use Arcane Power during that phase because you are not going to be efficiently using the whole duration of the buff (as you may not be casting at all times).

[Killget]

6.2.1 Special situation when facing more than 3 targets stacked together!

Do not go into a mana burn phase. As easy as that. You want more Barrages and you want to be closer to full mana as much as possible for the maximum damage of Nether Tempest. With 2 targets, do a burn phase as described above, with 3 targets it's kind of a gray zone, but it might be better to avoid burning.

How does this work on Iron Maidens? Should I burn only in the bomb phase?
If I Evocation at the start for the set bonus, then every 1.30, it should link the burn to the bomb phase, but I then lose the set bonus when 3 targets are up.

And do I burn without Arcane Power, since that should be during my max dps phase (ie 3 targets)?

Which strategy are you using? 2 or 3 boat strat? Mythic or hc?

[Eryxus]

Mythic. 3 boat.

[Killget]

Fortunately its fresh in my mind as it was the last boss we killed tonight on a wednesday clear tonight.

If you are going 3 boat strat, you have time for 2 x arcane power and delay the 3rd arcane power until 3rd boat goes.
Burn between each.

Just play standard NT/IF/AO playstyle.

Why evocation at the start? just prepot- burn- evo , as normal. burn every 1.5 mins as usual.

Heres my mana log from tonight
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/wj ... 0&source=5" target="_blank couple of mistakes i know but it should show you that you can get off mana evos and burn phases no matter what the bosses are doing, just delay the 3rd one for the <20%

Chances are if you are doing 3 boat strat you have to stop dps while waiting for the 3rd boat. and that is the point, if you are havign to wait, dont risk anything in bomb phase, oin main platfrom (presuming your not on boat here where you would save cooldowns for the boat instead of the start),

To summarise. STandard NT/IF/AO rotation,

2 x APs and delay the 3rd for the 3rd boat. hope that this helps

Edit : Glyphed Arcane power by the way

[Eryxus]

Thanks for the help, but doesn't that disagree with the guides' advice (ie don't burn 3 targets?)

[Frosted]

The guide is wrong. You burn in nearly every target scenario, you just end your burn at a higher mana% with more targets.

[Embers]

What percentage would that be?

I was wondering this myself when testing that fel/void boss in HFC last night on just how far to burn while using Nether Tempest on all of the adds.

[Caimion]

One tick of evocation, so I aim for ~72% mana.

[Chev]

Here is a link to the SimC discussion http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic ... 011#p12980" target="_blank which details the formula used in SimC to decide when to stop burning based on the number of targets.