Priest Survival Series – Mages
Posted On Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 By Jay
Short survival post. Mages aren’t the biggest challenge if you are consistent. Surviving against a mage is dependent on your ability to survive through their burst. Having renew and shield up as often as possible is your saving grace. As always, against a caster, you will win by casting mana burn. Here are the main points to beating a mage.
Everything on a mage can be dispelled
Icy Veins, PoM, Combustion all come to mind as buffs I’ve dispelled in the past. Does the mage go all lightning? Dispel. Does the mage Ice Block? Mass Dispel. Does the mage have a buff other than an armor buff? Dispel.
Mages have trouble regaining mana
Mages have two sources of mana: Evocation and Mana Gems. Once their out, you can wand away.
Mana burn like your life depended on it
Do it!
Summary List
- Dispel everything
- Keep shield and renew casted at all times
- Mana burn
- Fear the elemental if you can
- Dispel fire and ice debuffs on yourself
A final note on mages. ! on 1, as discipline you will live. I’ve lived through PoM Pyros, ice elementals, counterspells, you name it! Where mages gain their strength is as a line backer offensive caster. In a group situation, if you leave the mage alone, you WILL die. Period. Mages stack very well with every other DPS in the game. Keep your wits, control their mana and have fun! Mage fights will be challenging, and they usually end with you wanding them to death.
What do you think?
I play a mage and this seems like great advice. Priests are a tough 1 on 1 for us because they just don’t DIE like they’re supposed to. Priests require a real play style change for us.
More advice:
1) Stay in range. A talented Frostbolt/Ice Lance has 36 yard range. A talented Fireball has 41. I *think* Mana Burn range is <= 30.
2) Keep your health topped off. Don’t worry, you’ll win the mana game, but < 50% health = you’re dead now (unless you’re Discipline invincible).
Sonny,
I totally agree with your advice. As a mage, my suggestion would be to stay out of the 30 yard range. One more small piece of advice:
As a mage, any good priest will drain your mana first then attack your life. A consistent defense for mages is to activate Mana Shield. This is not the best way to do it! I’m unsure of the mechanic, but I noticed if I hit a mage with Mana Burn and they have mana shield up, they lose a little more mana. I can’t verify this, but it’s my theory!
Also, as a mage, spells to try and steal would be, Power Infusion, PW:S and Pain Suppression.
Thanks for the comment!