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Leveling with Druid has never been better. In Diablo 4 Season 3, we managed to combine poison with lightning to create one of the best hybrid builds that lets you level with ease. This build has insane AOE damage, raining lightning from the sky continuously, all the while spreading poison, which infects the entire screen.
Unlike other early-level Druid builds, this one has absolutely no issue with Spirit, as we have 2 skills that instantly give us large chunks of spirit, again and again. There are absolutely no items or RNG aspects that are required for the build. Everything is obtained from the Codex or very early in the seasonal quest line.
If you have zero or low amounts of spirit, the first 2 skills you want to use are Blood Howl and Trample. Blood Howl provides you with 20% Health instantly, and then, thanks to Innate Blood Howl, you also gain a chunk of spirit. Trample is a great movement tool and good for burst damage, but thanks to Savage Trample, it now also provides a large amount of spirit on the cast.
The first attack you want to use in a pack of enemies is Rabies, which spreads poisoning damage to them. This season, we also have the Virulent Aspect, which is unlocked from the very first chapter of the season and will cause your Rabies cooldown to significantly lessen, which means you can use Rabies more often, and that is absolutely huge for that damage boost.
With Envenom, you’ll deal much larger crits against enemies that are poisoned, and thanks to Neurotoxin, any poisoned enemies are slow, which is important because Nature’s Reach, another passive, causes you to deal double the damage bonus against slowed enemies.
Poison Creeper is another ability you want to pop early on, as it immobilizes enemies, meaning Nature’s Reach is active, and thanks to Brutal Poison Creeper, your Critical Strike Chance goes up by a whopping 20%. Now, you can use your Lightning Storm ability, which can cause massive crits.
With the combination of abilities and passive stacking, clearing out large enemy packs will be a breeze. Thanks to Enhanced Blood Howl, once you start killing enormous packs of enemies, Blood Howl’s cooldown will be significantly reduced, and then you should use Blood Howl to constantly get your spirit and health back whenever it’s off cooldown.
If Trample and Blood Howl are on cooldown and you need Spirit, then we can use our Wind Shear basic attack, which is the best basic attack for Druid because it causes enemies to become vulnerable and increases your movement speed, which makes Druid much more efficient at speed leveling.
To summarize, use your spirit generators, then pop Rabies and Poison Creeper whenever off cooldown, then spam Lightning Storm. Then, pop your spirit generators again whenever they’re off cooldown. And if they’re on cooldown, you need to chuck in a few Wind Shears for that spirit.
The same rotation applies to bosses. This build may not have the best single-target boss damage, but because of the constant healing, you’re not going to struggle at all. It’ll just take slightly longer than some of the other classes out there.
So, let’s go over the skill tree in more detail. The priority when you’re leveling is to unlock a new skill on the toolbar rather than upgrading an already existing ability, and some of the earlier passive packs we actually get later on as we’re leveling. So, put one point into Wind Shear, which is our main spirit generator, and then one point into Enhanced Wind Shear and Fierce Wind Shear.
1 point into Lightning Storm, 1 point into Enhanced Lightning Storm, and then 1 point into Primal Lightning Storm, so we can immobilize enemies and take advantage of the several damage boosts. This build provides. You’ll want to max out Lightning Storm to 5 out of 5 ranks pretty quickly, as it’s your main DPS option. Along with unlocking new skills, side by side, unlock Blood Howl, along with Enhanced and Innate Blood Howl as soon as possible, so you can get healing and spirit more efficiently.
Then go for Poison Creeper, alongside Enhanced and Brutal Poison Creeper. Once Lightning Storm is 5 out of 5, put 1 point into Rabies, then go and put 1 point into Trample, which will help with mobility and burst damage. 1 point into Enhanced Trample and Savage Trample so you can then have another ability which generates spirits.
Then go back and get Enhanced and Natural Rabies, which will make the skill much more efficient. Eventually, you’ll want to get Rabies to 5 out of 5. Now, the rest of the skill tree focuses on passives. Put 1 point into Neurotoxin, so you can put 3 points into Envenom, 3 points into Nature’s Reach for more damage against crowd-controlled enemies, 3 points into Defiance for more damage against elites, 3 points into Circle of Life for constant healing whenever you cast Lightning Storm or Wind Shear.
Thanks to Circle of Life, whenever we cast Lightning Storm, we gain back even more healing. So just combined with Blood Howl, you’ll never need to pop a potion. All this healing is great because it means we can use our key passive, Ursine Strength, and deal 25% increased damage whenever we have more than 80% Health, which seems to be nearly all the time, thanks to the constant healing.
Put 3 points into Natural Disaster, one point into Heart of the Wild, so you can put 3 points into Wild Impulses, and 3 points into Abundance. 3 points into Predatory Instinct for more Critical Strike chance, and finally, 1 point into Elemental Exposure and 1 point into Charged Atmosphere, so you can put 3 points into Electric Shock, which can further increase damage against immobilized enemies.
Let’s go over the aspects I recommend while leveling. Every single aspect comes from the codex or seasonal quest line early on, so you aren’t at the mercy of RNG. For offensive aspects, Edgemaster's Aspect is good at increasing damage based on how much spirit you have when you cast Lightning Storm. Aspect of Inner Calm boosts damage for each second you standstill, which is because you’re channeling Lightning Storm and getting constant healing, is very much possible.
Shepherd’s Aspect increases your damage by 6% for each companion. Poison Creeper is a companion, so that does count for that little boost. Nighthowler's Aspect boosts Critical Strike chance whenever you use Blood Howl. For Utility or resource aspects, the Virulent Aspect, as I mentioned before, is very good as it reduces Rabies cooldown as it spreads.
And then, Aspect of the Umbal is another one I’d recommend to maybe put on one of your rings, as it will boost spirit generation quite a bit, as we constantly slow or immobilize enemies with this build, which all counts as crowd control. There are no defensive aspects that are a requirement, but Aspect of Disobedience to boost armor and Aspect of Might for easy damage reduction are beneficial aspects. But trust me, you won’t need these because of the constant healing the build provides.
There’s not much to say for gear. You’re going to be constantly out leveling gear, so keep on replacing it. This especially applies to your weapon, which you want the highest GPS weapon for.
If you’re playing on the seasonal realm, you’ll have the Seneshcal Construct. There are obviously some very strong legendary and unique stones, but these are dropped much later on in the game, so you won’t encounter a lot of them early on while leveling.
Early on, for leveling, I found the Utility Aspects more useful. Reconstruct helps even more with healing and survivability, while Protect gives you a barrier on top to help with survivability. If you don’t have these, then an attacking skill with Poison support can help to poison more enemies and apply slow to them through Neurotoxin. You’ll deal more damage efficiently. Support boosts Critical Strike Chance even more, and Slowing support adds even more slow to the mix.
If you do have Arcing support alongside an attack, you can use Resource support. You can gain back massive amounts of spirit. Unfortunately, I don’t have this combo unlocked, but if you do, by chance, get these stones, do use them, as that will help your spirit generation a lot. Have a play around with the combinations. There are some useful ones, but don’t get caught up too much on this while leveling. Most of the power from this comes from the endgame.
So there you have it, my Poison Lightning Hybrid build for Level 1 to 50. It’s faster, stronger, and just better than all previous Druid leveling builds, and you’ll be level 50 in no time.
Are you ready for Diablo 4 Season 3? This guide provides a comprehensive overview of everything you need to know before diving into the new Diablo 4 season, Season of the Construct, including insights into leveling characters, completing the season quest, and understanding the mechanics of this season.
Let's first explore the new Diablo 4 Seasonal content, featuring the Companion, Arcane Tremors, and Nightmare Vaults, before delving into some leveling tips for returning players or those aiming to reach World Tier 4 swiftly.
The Season of the Construct centers around The Loom, an ancient technology crafted by the founder of the Horadrim and his companion Ayuzhan.
Stolen by the demon Malphas, this loom becomes the focal point of your battle against his minions, the Constructs. The town center under Kehjistan, known as Gatehall, acts as the new seasonal hub area, providing access to the fresh seasonal dungeons, Vaults.
To aid you in the fight against Malphas, you'll have a new seasonal Seneschal Companion, also known as the robot spider pet. Acquired during the Seasonal Quest, the Seneschal is a Construct that you repair to become your own companion.
It's crucial to acquire the Seneschal quickly, as it's a permanent pet capable of dealing damage, crowd control, and even healing you – overall, a valuable ally. The companion levels up with your progression in the game and comes with its own customizable skills.
These skills are equipped through Tuning and Governing Stones, obtained from Arcane Tremors, Vaults, and crafting from Shattered Stones dropped by Constructs at the Jeweler in Gatehall. You have 2 slots for Governing Stones, dictating your Seneschal's abilities, and 6 slots for Tuning Stones to enhance those abilities.
Once you have the Seneschal, your focus shifts to obtaining these stones.
Begin by clearing Arcane Tremors found across Sanctuary. In these events, you must locate Cores from Constructs or Towers, place them in a brazier to summon Malphus’ Heralds. Defeating these constructs has a chance to yield stones and shattered stones. Importantly, when you defeat the Heralds, you earn the seasonal Rare Currency, Pearls of Warding. These function as a form of currency for "gambling" in the new vaults, offering more Governing and Tuning Stones.
After acquiring Pearls of Warding, head to one of the 3 Vaults in Gatehall. Inside the vault, you'll find the "Statue of Zoltun Kulle," allowing you to exchange Pearls of Warding for stacks of Zoltun's Warding. These stacks act as a counter for the numerous traps throughout the vault. Every time you're hit by a trap, you lose one stack, and if you reach 0 stacks by the end of the dungeon, you won't unlock the special Wardwoven chest containing valuable loot and additional Tuning/Governing Stones.
Additionally, you can turn the Vaults into Nightmare Vaults to expedite the process. These vaults feature more traps, tougher enemies, and additional Wardwoven Chests to unlock. Vault Sigils to start Nightmare Vaults drop similarly to normal Nightmare Sigils in World Tier 3 and 4.
So, the basic cycle for the season involves participating in Arcane Tremors, obtaining Pearls, entering a Vault, clearing it without getting hit by traps, enhancing the companion's skills, and repeating.
Upon completing the questline, you gain access to a fourth vault – the Uber Vault. Here, you'll face traps, enemies, and eventually, fight against Uber Malphus, a stationary boss capable of dropping two powerful Unique stones. It's recommended to tackle this challenge at some point during the season.
Now, let's discuss strategies for fast leveling in the new season.
Upon creating a new character for the season, you'll be presented with the option to skip the campaign and choose the World Tier you want to play on. If you've already completed the campaign, skipping it with a new character is the faster method for leveling. Contrary to expectations, opting for World Tier 1 is the best choice for quick leveling.
Choosing World Tier 2 offers a 20% experience and gold boost, but the enemies become more challenging, requiring more time to defeat. This makes it less efficient than selecting World Tier 1, where enemies are easier, and you can clear dungeons more swiftly.
As you progress to the mid and end game, you'll transition to World Tier 3 and World Tier 4 for increased XP.
To help you level up fater in Diablo 4 Season 3, here are some useful tips.
With no updates to experience at the Season of the Construct launch, the quickest way to level your character remains half-repeating the Domhainne Tunnels dungeon in Scosglen. However, alternative methods, including new seasonal activities, are available for leveling.
Upon spawning in, ensure you claim your renown rewards. If you've played in earlier seasons and completed renown for all regions by discovering waypoints, clearing strongholds, finding altars of Lilith, etc., you can claim the bottom rewards for all regions. These include 2 skill points, +1 Potion Capacity, +80 Maximum Obol Capacity, and most importantly, +4 Paragon Points. If you haven't unlocked these, there's no rush to obtain them immediately, but you'll want to secure these rewards later.
Firstly, progress the Seasonal Quest as much as you can until it becomes challenging or you lose interest. This allows you to obtain the Seneschal Construct Companion as soon as possible. Afterward, you can start grinding the Domhainne Tunnels. The strategy involves clearing the first section without releasing any prisoners, teleporting out to Cerrigar, sorting your inventory, resetting the dungeons via your map, and then returning. Repeat this process until around level 50, occasionally incorporating Helltide for essential resources like Forgotten Souls and Fiend Roses to upgrade your gear.
For those who prefer alternatives, Legion Events are an excellent option, spawning frequently and providing substantial XP upon completion. You'll receive an alert on the map before they spawn, and kindling the campfire at the location five minutes before it starts increases your XP gain for the event up to 15%. Engaging with other players in the world to clear the event enhances your XP gain.
Other activities include World Bosses, Whispers, and the new seasonal activities. While World Bosses spawn every 6-8 hours and offer great XP, it's advisable to avoid them in the first week of the new season when players are generally too weak to tackle them effectively.
Grim Favors present diverse quests on the map, including harvesting a zone, clearing a cellar, or the XP-rich option of clearing a Whisper Dungeon. Grim Favors can overlap with World Bosses and new seasonal activities. The new seasonal activities consist of Arcane Tremors found throughout Sanctuary and the Vault dungeons. Grinding Arcane Tremors is recommended for leveling as they provide XP and the new Rare Currency.
Mixing up these activities while clearing Domhainne Tunnels or choosing one based on personal preference is up to you. Remember to clear Helltides occasionally, stock up on elixirs to boost XP gain during activities, and engage in seasonal content. At level 15 (or 25 for necros), complete your Class Quest to unlock a special feature of your class. Later, around the level 50-60 range, attempt the WT3 Capstone Dungeon in Kyovashad to increase your World Tier, leading to leveling beyond 60.
Upon reaching WT3, the most efficient use of your time will come from Nightmare Dungeons or Nightmare Vaults, offering substantial rewards and XP. Nightmare Sigils, required to activate these, can be obtained as random drops from enemies in the game and through crafting at the occultist. To maximize XP gains from Nightmare Dungeons, it's advisable to engage enemies that are 10 levels higher than you, although tackling lower-level ones is acceptable if the higher-level ones prove too challenging initially.
While you can continue participating in the previously mentioned activities, their impact on character progression is likely to be less significant compared to Nightmare Dungeons, which become a crucial element in advancing your character. As you approach level 70, consider attempting the WT4 capstone. Following that, you can continue tackling Nightmare Dungeons and mix in other activities like completing the Seasonal Quest, addressing your renown, or exploring various in-game tasks.
Thus far, we've covered what we believe beginners should focus on at the beginning of this new season.
Looking ahead, an upcoming Gauntlet dungeon is on the horizon—a weekly rotating fixed dungeon where players compete on leaderboards, with top weekly scores earning a permanent spot in the Hall of the Ancients. While specific details about these dungeons are yet to be revealed, if you're up for the challenge, keep an eye out for this dungeon in the weeks or months to come.
What are your thoughts on the season so far? Does it pique your interest?
Welcome to another POE 3.23 builds guide. Each week I’ll choose a theme and show you my three favorite builds.
Today’s topic is for those players who like to stay and call the shots. I’m talking about Minion Builds. if you want to try any of them, then don’t miss this guide. Without further ado, let’s get started!
Let’s start with this classic minion build, like there are fireworks on the screen, Mage Skeletons Guardian with Templar class.
I’m sure you’ll remember that to turn regular skeletons into Mage Skeletons, you once needed a unique Jewel called Dead Reckoning. This all changes thanks to the introduction of the new Transfigured Gems.
Now we have Summon Skeletons of Mage Gem, which naturally summons Mage Skeletons without any mandatory unique items, and for a much lower price. This means Mage Skeletons become a better starter than before.
To list the pros of this build, I’ll start with its survivability. With Guardian Ascendancy, you have nearly a 75% chance of blocking attacks and spells, and massive life regeneration and the new Sentinel of Radiance can take 20% of damage for you.
Best of all, this is a very safe minion build to play. Because you stay behind your minions, they can kill enemies from a long distance. With the new Elemental Relic, you and your minions can gain 3 damage auras completely for free, allowing for massive boss damage.
Now to list the cons, the first thing I’d say is that Mage Skeletons don’t move. They feel more like totems in the build. Therefore, you need to keep re-summoning them as you clear the map.
Guardian Ascendancy also doesn’t get the speed boost from Flesh Offering like Necromancer does. So it’s a little slow.
On top of that, this build also doesn’t give you and your minions an exceptional 30% resistance to all elements compared to Necromancer. If you don’t look for minion resistance on your rare gear, this could result in your Zombies and Specters dying from elemental damage.
This build was fairly low budget. You only need about 50 Chaos Orbs to destroy the early EndGame map. To easily advance to Yellow Map, I recommend investing around 120 Chaos Orbs. If you want to complete your atlas easily, I recommend investing in 4 Divine Orbs.
For clear speed, I would give it an 8 out of 10. You have many skeletons firing many projectiles at a high cast rate. The two points I deducted are because Mage Skeletons don’t move and you need to keep re-summoning them, and also because Guardian doesn’t get Flesh Offering speed buff like Necromancer does.
Its boss damage is also amazing and deserves a score of 9 out of 10. With the new Returning Projectiles Support Gem, 100% of projectiles will hit the enemy twice. But since it’s not as powerful as the nerfed Anomalous Faster Projectiles, I removed a bit.
For this survivability, I would give it a 10 out of 10. This version has tons of defensive layers, like high armor, a 75% chance to block attacks and spells, and a minion that can take 20% off the damage for you. And since it’s a minion build, you’re always out of danger.
Now let’s take the previous build to another level and use Archer Skeletons Guardian with Templar class.
I’m pretty sure by now you all know that the very popular Mage Skeletons build nicely with the new Transfigured Gems. We also have Summon Skeletons of Archers now, so I spent the weekend trying it out and got this super fun build. So I hope you all enjoy it.
To list the pros of this build, I’d start with its balance. Unlike Mage Skeletons, this build has a smoother clearing speed and can deal more damage to bosses.
And this one isn’t complicated to build either, we just need a very cheap mandatory unique item. On top of that, as a Guardian, we still have three damage auras for free and a minion that takes 20% of the damage for us.
Now to list the cons, I’ll start by saying that while this build is still very tanky and safe, it’s not quite as tanky as Mage Skeletons staff build because it has less chance to block. But don’t worry, if you keep an eye on your position in time, you’ll have a hard time dying.
As for budget, this build is pretty cheap. You only need about 80 Chaos Orbs to destroy early endgame maps. To easily advance to Yellow Map, I recommend investing around 150 Chaos Orbs. To easily complete your atlas, I recommend investing in 4 Divine Orbs. But you can definitely do it for less money.
For this build, you only need one mandatory unique item, which is Lioneye’s Vision Armor, which already provides Pierce Support and allows us to give our skeleton one more Support Gem.
For clear speed, it deserves 9 points. We have a lot of Archer Skeletons, which fire a lot of arrows and have a high attack speed. Unlike Mage Skeletons version that uses Spell Echo Support, we can easily cast 4 skeletons at once in different locations and greatly increase their damage angle.
Its boss damage is amazing and deserves a full 10 points. It can even destroy those endgame bosses in seconds, and that’s just using Determination Aura. But if you’re playing in Affliction League, you can use Specter of the Guardian Turtle to get free Determination Aura, and Pride to deal more damage.
I would give it a 9 out of 10 for this survivability. As a minion build, you can stay out of harm’s way while they tank for you and kill everything. This is a very safe style of play.
And this build also has over 90,000 effective HP because of its high armor, block chance, and minions that take 20% of the damage for you. I’ll just point out that because we don’t use this staff like Mage Skeletons version, we end up with less chance of blocking in terms of effective HP.
Finally, we have a surprising endgame build, Poison Raging Spirits Guardian with Templar class.
This build takes advantage of the large number of Raging Spirits we can summon to stack massive amounts of poison on our enemies. Initially, I tried to make it a Necromancer. But with Guardian, we only lose a little of damage, but nearly triple the survivability.
To list the pros of this build, I’ll start with its boss damage. Once the build is complete, we’ll kill the biggest boss in just a few seconds. Survivability is also amazing, as we can have all of Guardian’s layers of defense on top of an already very safe minion build.
Now to list the cons, I’ll start by saying that this version isn’t for everyone. You’ll need plenty of POE Currency to assemble this build. Another problem is that Raging Spirits have a short duration and you have to stop frequently to re-summon them.
As for budget, this build will require at least 10 Divine Orbs to put together. Like I said, this is an expensive build.
Also, this build requires four required unique items.
The first is United in Dream Sword, which gives us Envy Aura, which deals with massive chaos damage to our minions. It also gives them a 60% chance of being poisoned on hit.
We also need a Darkness Enthroned Belt with two Abyssal Jewel Sockets so that we have a 100% chance of poisoning our minions.
Next we need a piece of Covenant Armor to provide level 29 Added Chaos Damage Support to our Raging Spirits. This means we have more chaos damage.
Finally, we need Ancient Skull, which gives our minions a massive damage and attack on speed boost.
For clear speed, I would give this a 9 out of 10. Even though we have a lot of fast minions that can destroy everything in seconds, their duration is short and they need to be re-summoned all the time, which is why I removed one point.
Its boss damage is totally worth a 10 out of 10. You can easily get over 30 million DPS, which is enough to take out every boss in the game.
This is definitely a 10 out of 10 in terms of survivability. As a minion build, you’re already out of danger. On top of that, you have a number of layers of defense from Guardian Ascendancy, which gives this build a staggering 250,000 effective HP.
That’s it for today, guys, what do you think of these minion builds? Please take a moment to tell me what you think. Have a great day and don’t forget to keep building.
In Phase 2 of WoW Season of Discovery, every Warrior will be wanting to get their Whirlwind Axe as fast as they can. Warriors will really struggle to farm this axe, but Level 25 Hunters will have no problem killing the Elementals by kiting and farming these charms. Here’s how you can farm them to stockpile the charms for Phase 2 for the Whirlwind Axe Quest.
Warriors need to collect 3 different types of charms, and they need 8 of each of them, giving these charms a lot of value. These charms are farmed exclusively in Arathi Highlands, and they’re at 3 different locations:
Each of these Elementals has about a 33% chance to drop each charm, providing a really consistent farm.
For talents, you will want to dump all of your points into Marksmanship, picking up Aim Shot, 3 points into Hawk Eye, and 2 points into Improved Hunter’s Mark. I find that Improved Aspect of the Hawk doesn’t get a lot of value in this farm, and Hawk Eye is particularly important for the Wind Elemental farm, which we’ll get to a bit later.
For runes, you should always use Heart of the Lion and Kill Command for this farm, but you’ll need to flex your hand rune depending on which Elemental you’re fighting.
Let’s start with the Fire Elemental, where you’ll want to be using Chimera Shot. For your opener, cast Aim Shot and Multi-Shot to start the kite. Send your pet in, cast Kill Command, and kite the Elemental down the road, casting Chimera Shot and Multi-Shot on cooldown. Do your best to get off as many autos as you can and utilize Concussive Shot to help slow down the Elemental to get off additional auto attacks.
While this path is definitely the most convenient, there are a few things you need to keep in mind when you’re running down the road. Raptors can wander close to the road and aggro you. There is a Horde patrol of undead that will just mess you up. If you’re on a PvP server, you need to be careful because you could absolutely run into a player of the opposing faction who may or may not mess you up as well.
If you find that you need an alternate route for the kite due to PvP being troublesome or maybe the patrol is in your way, you can opt to kite along Thoradin's Wall. Simply pull the mob to the west and head north, hugging the wall, as no mobs will spawn anywhere near the wall, and your path should have plenty of room for the kite. This is just textbook kiting, running using your cooldowns as you go and making sure you don’t let the Elemental ever hit you as you have Aspect of the Cheetah up the whole time.
For Alliance players, the Wind Elemental Farm is extremely simple, as they spawn just outside of Refuge Pointe. Make your way just out of town and head over this hill where you’ll find a cluster of Elementals at another point. For these pulls, the one major difference is your opener is the same, but when you’re kiting, you basically want to shoot Multi-Shot or Explosive Shot and then run away immediately. You’ll see the cast bar at the top of the Elemental.
Where you want to walk away, back up, shoot, immediately walk away when you start casting, back up, use your ability, rinse and repeat. You want to continue to kite the Wind Elemental down into town and slowly just whittle them down, getting your kill. If you get hit by a few of the Elemental attacks, it’s not a big deal. You can definitely survive.
Honestly, if you had better gear, you could probably face half the fight if you wanted to. The additional 6 yards of range that you get from Hawk Eye talents with 3 points in it makes this just trivial, and I can’t recommend it enough if you’re going to do this farm.
Last but not least, we have the Water Elemental, and these are going to be going back to Chimera Shot, same opener with the Aim Shot, Multi-Shot, and we just want to basically kite them from this location down the hill, kind of staying close to the ledge where that rock is, and bring them down to this open area where there're no mobs that spawn, and it’s perfectly safe to just kite around, and you can do circles or do whatever you want, as it’s a big open area with really nothing to worry about.
The only thing to know with the Water Elementals is they do have a close-range Frost Nova spell, so your pets will be more or less useless as it will consistently be getting rooted to the ground. Serpents suffer from the same problem. Their ranged attack won’t quite reach these Elementals, so your pet won’t be doing too much here.
That’s pretty much it for the stockpile your charms! You can stockpile these charms in the weeks leading up to the launch of Season of Discovery Phase 2, as it should make for a really strong payout. Hope this guide helps you.
In this guide, I wanted to give you a list of Alchemy consumables I think will have some worth in WoW Classic Season of Discovery Phase 2. These are all items I think will be in high demand after Phase 2 release, as these are pretty much just the next set of consumables likely used for the raid and other content within the game.
These are unobtainable as of now. However, the recipes that aren’t trainer-bound are already up in the auction house, so you can stay ahead by buying them now.
Starting us off is the Elixir of Agility. This is the upgrade from our current agility Elixir, and it’s bound to be used heavily by all melee classes. You’ll acquire the recipe for this craft simply through your Alchemy trainer.
It becomes available at rank 185, about halfway to the next phase’s max profession rank of 225. You’ll need Stranglekelp and Goldthorn to craft this item. You can farm Stranglekelp very easily if you’re a Tauren and get the herbs. You can also farm Goldthorn as of right now.
Our next item is the Elixir of Greater Defense. This defensive Elixir is widely used by both PvP and PvE players, so this item is guaranteed to have high value, just like the Elixir of Defense does now. The recipe is acquired naturally by leveling your Alchemy. It becomes available at rank 195. For this craft, you need Icethorn and Goldthorn, items you can start stockpiling right away.
Next, we have Elixir of Fortitude. This item is arguably one of the more controversial items on this list, as there are other Elixirs more likely to be used. Not as much as the other items on the list, but it’ll almost certainly have some value like the others.
This is just obtained from your Alchemy trainer. You can start crafting this as early as rank 175. You will need the same materials as the Elixir of Greater Defense, which is Icethorn and Goldthorn.
Up next is an item I think will arguably have the highest sell rate out of any item on this list, and that is the Greater Mana Potion. The lesser variant, the one used in Phase 1, sells out simply because Mana is always in high demand for casters and healers. So it makes sense that the upgrade of that item will have high value and demand.
You’ll get this recipe from your trainer. You will need an Alchemy rank of 225 to craft this. However, that should be pretty easily attainable if you gather the materials now in your free time. You’ll need Goldthorn and currently ungatherable Khadgar's Whiskers. There are some on the auction house, but grinding it yourself when Phase 2 hits shouldn’t be too difficult.
Our next item is a bit different, as it’s a potion. Lesser Stone Shield Potion is a solid unused armor potion. It’s bound to be used by tanks and PvP players in Phase 2. You can acquire the recipe for this item through a quest in the Badlands. It’s a pretty easy quest, so you shouldn’t have to worry. You will need an Alchemy rank of 215 to craft this, and it’s pretty expensive to make as it needs both Goldthorn and Mithril Ore.
Continuing on, we have Mighty Troll’s Blood Potion. The current variant of this item is still selling decently fast and for a decent price on the auction house, so this is bound to be a worthwhile farm. The recipe for this item is a rare world drop.
However, it is currently available at the auction house, but at a hefty price on my server. It’s going for a little over 15 SOD Gold, so I think it’s better to wait until Phase 2 to acquire this recipe, as it will plummet in value within just a few days. You need a rank of 180 in order to craft this item, and you’ll need Life Fruit and Bruiseweed, both of which are easily farmable now in Phase 1.
Up next is an item that is almost guaranteed to have value next phase, and that is Nature Protection Potion. The raid of the next phase is Naxxramas, and with the theme of the instance, there is guaranteed to be a lightning damage, and Nature Protection Potion negates that, just like Shadow Protection Potion does for Twilight Lord Kelris in BFD. This recipe is sold by Aventur in Torris, Feralas and Stranglethorn Vale.
However, it is also available on the auction house for a reasonable price, currently at around 90 silver. For this craft, you’ll need an Alchemy rank of 190 and Stranglekelp and Liferooth, both of which are easily farmed in Phase 1.
Now, this is the second controversial item on this list, as I’m not sure how valuable it truly will be, but I’m sure it’ll see some use, and that is Oil of Immolation. This item is just AOE in a bottle, so I’m almost certain it will see some value in the new raid and even, for instance, farming. This recipe is taught by your Alchemy trainer. You’ll need a rank of 205 to craft this, as well as Goldthorn and Firebloom, which are currently unobtainable.
Now, I decided to include one last bonus item, which will 100% have some value, but I’m unsure precisely how high of a value that is: Frost Oil. This item is used for quests, so I’m sure speed levelers will want to grab this quickly on a trip to the auction house, so when they stumble upon this quest in the Badlands, they’ll have it ready to hand in.
You can get this recipe from an Alchemy vendor named Bro'kin, and he’s located in a dangerous area in the Arathi Highlands. However, this recipe is also on the auction house, going for about 30 silver on my server. For this item, you need a rank of 200 Alchemy, Khadgar's Whiskers, and Wintersbite, which is currently unobtainable since you need 195 Herbalism to gather the nodes.
I hope you all enjoyed this list of ultimate consumables. I’m sure we’ll see some value in the next phase. You can start grinding a lot of these materials right now in Phase 1.
Did you know that Magic Find is arguably the most popular attribute in Diablo game? Did you know that Magic Find is still present in Diablo 4 even after it’s fully released? Are you interested in learning how this innovative and interesting property became completely useless in Diablo 3 and was eventually removed entirely in Diablo 4?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then hang on. This guide outlines the rise and fall of Magic Find during the evolution of Diablo game.
Magic Find was first introduced in 2000 with the release of Diablo 2, and it remains one of the most important statistics for players, especially after the launch of Diablo 2: Resurrected.
Magic Find is the stat that everyone wants: it increases the drop rate of Magic, Rare, Unique and Set items by a percentage of the original drop rate. So if your character has 50% Magic Find, and a mob or boss has a 1% chance of dropping a Magic item, you actually have a 1.5% chance of getting that item.
In Diablo 2, Magic Find can be obtained not only through equipment but also through runes. It can be used to enhance your gear, gems, can be embedded into items, as well as charms of different sizes, and can be added to your inventory to add stats to your character.
In an interesting twist, you need to give up Magic Find for different character powers: inventory space for Charms, and actual combat stats for Runes, Gems and Items.
Part of Diablo 2’s endgame is balancing the amount of Magic Find you have while maintaining a strong enough character to kill monsters and bosses effectively. Best of all, Magic Find has no upper limit. The roll limits the amount of Magic Find you have only on the item, with a theoretical maximum of just over 1,100%.
As you might imagine, finding more and more Magic Find was, and still is, a big part of Diablo 2. Because it’s really fun to have a stat that actually changes the drop rate in your favor.
The developers have further improved this system by adding new Magic Find sources in the expansion Lord of Destruction.
It’s clear that Magic Find, combined with Rune and Runeword systems, has contributed greatly to Diablo 2’s playability and success so far. As a result, there are still many players playing Diablo 2: Resurrected, especially with the game being updated semi-regularly.
With Diablo 3, the developers took a more conservative approach. But they seem to view balancing the game around Magic Find as more of a hurdle.
Their reasoning is that if players can increase the drop rate so much, then the base drop rate without any Magic Find will be very low, similar to Diablo 2.
We all know where these decisions lead: each Rift Guardian drops a ton of Legendary and Set items, but 99.9% of the loot is worthless and players have a full set of gear after half a day of playing.
Overall, Diablo is becoming a game for casual players.
When looking through several pieces of loot I’ve picked up on exits in D2 in the past, I found that the game gives you so many Legendary and Set items that checking them all one by one feels cumbersome and a waste of time.
This has even forced developers to introduce new rare items, such as Ancient and Primal Ancient Legendaries, that have better or higher rolling stats than the original items.
While I believe Reaper of Souls expansion and subsequent released seasons did improve the overall quality of the base game, it certainly pushed the series further toward casual players and away from the original two games.
The changes to Magic Find are just part of the bigger picture. Magic Find in the original Diablo 3 is very similar to the effect in Diablo 2. However, after many changes, its importance slowly but steadily waned.
Originally, Magic Find percentage was a stat that could be rolled randomly on items, with a hard cap of 300% on Magic Find coming from gear. This hard cap immediately eliminates the exciting balance between Magic Find and character abilities we discussed in Diablo 2.
With the introduction of the original Paragon system, you’ll gain 3% of Magic Find per Paragon level. Unfortunately, this and the vast majority of Magic Find you could get from gear were removed with Reaper of Souls expansion, save for a few special perks on legendary items that are considered largely useless today.
Also, the expansion also imposes a heavy penalty on your existing Magic Find for increasing the drop chance of Rare and Legendary items: only 20% of Magic Find is added to the drop chance of Rare items. For Legendary and Set items, this number is even only 5%.
This means that a hard cap of 300% Magic Find will increase your Rare item drop rate by 60%, while Legendary item drop rates will only increase by 15%. These numbers are obviously a far cry from Diablo 2’s numbers. This makes the incentive to equip the few remaining items with this property essentially non-existent.
In fact, players don’t need to balance their character’s power with the amount of Magic Find they carry. This resulted in Diablo 3 having to introduce several difficulty levels: 16 Torment levels and several Greater Rift levels.
But all levels have increasing chances of dropping more and better loot. This gives players access to hundreds of different game modes with varying difficulties, rather than just a few difficulty levels, and makes it harder for those who choose to carry more Magic Find by making them give up character powers.
As for Diablo 4, not many players know that Magic Find did exist in the game for a short period. Because its impact is even smaller than Diablo 3.
You can’t even get it by installing Magic Find on your gear or through Paragon Board.
The only appearance of Magic Find in Diablo 4 is as an affix on Nightmare Dungeon Sigils.
Nightmare Dungeon is an endgame activity in which players open dungeons using Sigils, who determine the dungeon’s difficulty and certain attributes. These attributes are called affixes, one of which is Magic Find.
No one knows exactly what this affix does, other than a brief description of “You find more items from enemies.” The exact percentage of this bonus and the items it affects were never actually revealed. But some players have reported significant increases in loot, especially when running Nightmare Dungeon with this affix.
Despite this, players have found a way to abuse Magic Find affix by using a trick to keep resetting the same Nightmare Dungeon repeatedly, thus keeping the bonus permanently active.
You may have noticed that I used the past tense when talking about Magic Find in Diablo 4. Because the developer’s response to this abuse was to remove Magic Find affix from any newly dropped Nightmare Sigils. They also later fixed a bug that allowed players to endlessly reset Nightmare Dungeon with the same affix.
So today, despite probably spamming the same Nightmare Dungeon endlessly, Magic Find simply doesn’t exist in the game. All we can do is wonder if it will be added again.
This is the story of the rise and fall of Magic Find in Diablo: from the core game mechanics to the barely noticeable affixes that were removed from the game to prevent misuse. Which implementation of Magic Find is your favorite? See you next time!
There are many different things we can prepare for Season of Discovery Phase 2, for example, a full Quest Log, materials, and so on.
Today, I've put together a guide with many different things you can farm that will begin a quest. This allows you to get even more experience so you can also get ahead of the competition and reach level 40 even quicker.
When you slay the final boss in the dungeon Wailing Caverns, located in Barrens, you can also loot the Glowing Shard. This can be looted by both factions.
At the Phase 2 launch day, you then want to head to Ratchet and begin the quest. Next, you need to speak to the Goblin located close to the Flight Master and ask for more information about the Glowing Shard. After that, you will have to head back to Wailing Caverns.
On top of the dungeon, there will be a small building. In here, you will find a Tauren. Both factions can speak to the Tauren. When you hand in the quest, you will also get a follow-up that will either tell you to head to the Nexus as an Alliance player or Thunder Bluff as an Horde player.
You should also head to Ashenvale and do the world PVP event. When you kill the different guards, you can also obtain the Warsong Outrider Mark, an item that will also begin a quest. This quest item you hand in at Ashenvale, and it will reward you with experience and also an item that will increase your damage and healing by 5% for 2 hours. This is pretty nice when you're also going to level up to 40.
When you slay the final encounter in BFD, you also have a chance to obtain this item. It begins a quest and will most likely not reward you with any experience. However, you will get a world buff that will last for 2 hours. So having this item in your inventory allows you to go to the Nexus or Thunder Bluff. Activate the item, and get a new world buff. But remember, you can only do it once, but it will provide a buff to anyone in those main cities.
In the southern part of Stranglethorn Vale, there are 3 pirate ships. On these ships, you can obtain a Cortello's Riddle, an item that begins a quest at level 35. But you can obtain this item no matter what level you are.
You can solo this if you play a class with a pet; else, it's way more efficient to find someone else and do it together. Then, one player could, for example, be standing on top of objects and prevent the monsters from hitting them. At the same time, you can then loot the riddle.
The reason why you want to focus on doing this is that it starts a big quest chain that will reward a lot of experience. At the end, you can also get yourself a 14-slot bag.
Another way to loot the riddle is simply to use defensive cooldowns. As a Rogue, I, for example, use Evasion. As a paladin, you could use a Bubble. Meanwhile, the other player in your party is going to loot the riddle.
Next, I'll show you Alliance and Horde-specific quests you can also prepare.
As an Alliance, you should head into Deadmines and slay the final boss. Here you can obtain a letter (called "An Unsent Letter") that will begin a quest. You hand in this quest in Stormwind City. There's also going to be a follow-up for the dungeon stargates.
In the southern part of Darkshore, there’s an area where you can loot a book (Book: The Powers Below). The drop chance is awful, and I would highly recommend you to do this with someone else. It took me more than 50 kills to obtain this. The good thing, however, is that it’s shared. So if it drops for someone in your party, then all of you will be able to loot it. Even though you loot this in Darkshore, then you hand it in in Ironforge. So the next time you go to Ironforge, you just hand it in.
An Old History Book is an item you can obtain from pretty much every single creature in Duskwood. It’s a low drop chance, but still something you should be farming and prioritize getting now.
As a Horde, you should head to Thousand Needles and look for the messenger. You will be able to obtain the Assassination Note that you also hand in in the very same zone.
It seems like Horde players have way more quests that can prepare like this, at least higher-level quests compared to the Alliance. An example could be in Ashenvale, where you accept The Ashenvale Hunt and complete this instantly. This allows you to pick up 3 items that begin the quest. One of these where you need to slay a bear. If you find it difficult to find the specific target, then you type “/tar” and the name of this NPC to make it even easier.
Then you could also add a mark to the target so you can see it even though it’s behind an object. Some of them can be a bit difficult to solo, so I would highly recommend you to form a party and look for other people who are also doing this quest. This is mainly because the final target you will also have to slay is level 31.
These quests are so important to do also because all three you hand in at the exact same location. So you’re going to end up with a lot of additional experience. Then you could find more experience in dungeons or maybe even do yet another thing.
This is to head to Desolace and kill these higher-level creatures. They’re going to be above level 30, so you should definitely form a party. It’s a low drop chance, but you can get this item that begins a quest, and it requires you to be level 25.
Hello fellow adventurers! Today, we’ll be taking a thorough analysis into Gnomeregan lore, history, mysteries, unanswered questions, and how they’ll finally be resolved in Season of Discovery.
As we approach February 8 launch, it’s crucial to understand the background, not just for curiosity’s sake but for strategy. After all, knowledge is power in WOW Classic.
Therefore, in this first part, I will discuss the controversial legend surrounding Gnomeregan.
The story of Gnomeregan is one of innovation, tragedy and unsolved mysteries. We need to explore the key events that shaped this iconic place.
It all started in the mountains, where Dwarves and Gnomes lived together in Dun Morogh. They were both smart and resourceful. Thus, after Dwarves and Gnomes worked together to create a magnificent city called Gnomeregan, the two races quickly developed a friendship.
It’s a fantastic and very tech-focused city, so for a while, everything was fine. Gnomes invented amazing machines and gadgets that more than made up for their small stature.
A high Council of Gnomes led them, eventually electing Mekkatorque as their leader. Also in this Council of Gnomes is Sicco Thermaplugg, one of the most genius Gnome inventors and the most ambitious of all Gnomes. He dreams of one day expanding Gnomeregan further into the lands of Dwarf.
Regardless, Gnomes lived here for many years until a Dwarven Expedition entered Azeroth.
After easily slaughtering Dwarven Expedition, all Troggs were awakened from their slumber, and Troggs tracked Dwarves back to Ironforge. Thus began a long and terrible war between Troggs and Gnomes. Their city is under siege. Troggs are slowly advancing, and Gnomes are desperate.
But Troggs are mainly at the bottom, which seems to be a blessing. So all they need is to move all Gnomes to the upper levels, and then Gnomes can release all the toxic radiation from the machines in the city to the lower levels. This will kill Troggs instantly. After the cleanup, Gnomes could move back, but that was how Gnomes’ downfall began.
In fact, Troggs didn’t die when the radiation was released into the ground floor. They just get stronger. Meanwhile, a filtering system that was supposed to keep the upper Gnomes safe failed completely. A shocking 80% of the entire Gnome population either died or became irradiated Evil Gnomes.
At this point, the irradiated Gnomes and Troggs have completely disappeared, with their new leader, Thermaplugg.
But Thermaplugg has also been affected by the radiation, and is more crazy and ambitious than ever. Meanwhile, their city was completely destroyed, and the remaining healthy Gnomes had to flee to Ironforge, where they remain to this day.
Despite its rich history, Gnomeregan leaves many unanswered questions: why has it not been reclaimed, and what secrets does it hold? Let’s delve deeper into these mysteries.
The first question is why the city had not been recaptured during the initial attack.
At the time, the rest of Azeroth was busy dealing with Scourge, fighting Lich King, and messing with Defile mechanics. But after Third War, powerful forces combined with the remaining Gnome population could easily reclaim the city. In fact, the only attempts to retake the city occurred far away from Little Fanfare.
Another question surrounding Gnomeregan is why Troggs attacked in the first place.
The common answer is that factories are really noisy and Troggs is attracted to the noise. Although Troggs are barbaric in nature, they are also known for hoarding Titan Artifacts.
What do you think it is about Gnomeregan that is so attractive to Troggs that it warrants a multi-year siege? This is the beauty of Season of Discovery. Because we finally have a chance to get answers to these unanswered questions in Phase 2, we no longer have to think about how to change the story and what new chapters might be added.
We’ll hear back by February 8th. Because we knew we’d be revisiting Gnomeregan with a raid group and facing a new, more challenging Thermaplugg.
If we can defeat Thermaplugg once and for all, this could be the beginning of urban reclamation.
We expect Phase 2 will feature new quest chains with raid rewards. These quest chains may open up new lore and insights.
One possibility is to create a new staging center near Gnomeregan, which has vendors and NPCs and is the perfect place to organize attacks on new raids.
There is another key legend. We found that there is also a lot of speculation about Shadowy Figure helping you get epic craft in Phase 1. Many speculate that this is Xal’atath.
If that’s the case, she’ll likely be back to help us get more epic gear and new artifacts, with new raids coming soon. This is truly the perfect time to explore the engineering marvels and rare artifacts Gnomes have preserved in the city’s underbelly.
This means that countless machines and gadgets lost during the war will eventually be recovered in engineering-themed raids. There is a good chance that there will be unique and exciting items that have never been seen before.
So you might be wondering why Gnomeregan is such a perfect raid environment. Let’s look at the different aspects that make it ideal for raiding.
The first aspect that makes it so perfect is the verticality. As you enter from the top and take the elevator down, you descend into the dungeon, where it becomes more challenging. After all, this is the most vertical dungeon in Vanilla, located next to Sunken Temple.
So we could potentially see any mechanic, and we could even get some crazy stuff like launching players into the air to assist us.
As we get deeper into Gnomeregan, the elevators kill a lot of raiders. While Gnomeregan’s elevators don’t have buttons, we’ll probably find them all in one place.
There’s another marvel of engineering in the raid, and that’s the unique vendor system. Where you can exchange specific drops for rewards.
Imagine you don’t need the typical low value rewards from Vendor-Tron. You have a chance to earn epic crafting materials and loot in new raids.
There’s also Punch Card system, which is part of Data Rescue Quest for Alliance. You can have random cards that drop and unlock doors to new rewards and maybe even some secret boss encounters. This is probably my favorite part of Gnomeregan raid.
It’s a city full of secrets, locked bolts and mysterious buttons that may well lead to rare treasures and unseen artifacts. I really hope the developers incorporate the original spirit of invention, mystery, and curiosity that built this city so long ago in Gnome.
Understanding the legend of Gnomeregan is more than just a matter of satisfying our curiosity. It is also about adding depth and experience to the challenges we will face in the future. I’d really like to hear your thoughts on Gnomeregan lore and potential solutions to unanswered questions.
I know there are still some players who are concerned about their Mage leveling and farming. So in this guide, I want to bring you my 10 tips and tricks that will help your Mage become better at AOE farming in WoW Classic Season of Discovery. So if you are ready, let's get straight to these tips without wasting any time!
For those that don’t know, AOE that comes from player models can have their range increased by jumping when they cast the spell. We used to jump to maximize the distance so that sappers would go. This works well with all AOE that come from the player. I will use Arcane Explosion, and it does not hit the mob. Neither of us moves, but when I jump in the air, my Arcane Explosion gets a little extra distance. A lot of the time when I am Arcane Explosion spamming, I will be jumping to make sure I am hitting every mob in my range.
Daze is a pretty annoying mechanic. It reduces your move speed by 50%, and if you are unlucky, you can get chain dazed and die. You have 2 options to bypass this mechanic, both of them pretty cool. When a mob strikes your back, there's a possibility of experiencing Daze. You can avoid daze easily by making sure you turn and face the mobs as they are hitting you. Another way to avoid daze is by shield effects. You are unable to be dazed when you have a shield buff applied. This includes Power Word: Shield, Mana Shield, and Ice Barrier.
Quick note: You can only be dazed by melee attacks, not ranged attacks. Using Mana Shield and Ice Barrier, as well as facing mobs, will be key to future farms in avoiding daze.
Leeway is in the game for lag and melee attacking. It’s a latency system that buffers melee combat to allow people to hit targets a little further than you normally would in case there is weird lag going on. Melee swings can cover a much larger distance with leeway attacks.
When someone in combat is strafing or jumping, melee range is increased by a lot. This happens for enemy mobs too. If you are strafing or jumping, they will benefit from leeway. This is a trick we see used a lot currently in Wailing Caverns. You can avoid a lot of melee damage taken when abusing leeway correctly, such as backpedaling while kiting.
Ice Block is used for more than just saving your life. It is very important for getting a lot of mobs stacked in one spot. When you Ice Block, all ranged mobs will stop using their ranged attacks. When you’re in an Ice Block, all ranged mobs will run to your position and start auto-attacking your Ice Block. There are a lot of farms where you can not line of sight and get ranged mobs closer to you.
You will see Mages constantly using Ice Block to get numerous units stacked for an easy kill. When you leave an Ice Block, never jump, as this will cause you to take a lot more damage from melee attacks. If you just hold forward out of the Ice Block and spam Nova, you’ll be able to avoid a lot of instant damage coming out of the Ice Block.
The World Buff from BFD is pretty massive, and the main reason for this is 20% move speed. In WoW Classic, the only way to get this kind of buff was from The Zanza elixir. This buff was massive for basically every dungeon farm in the game. The 20% move speed allows you to easily outpace mobs with Blink and avoid huge amounts of damage. While the other buffs from Boon of Blackfathom are also incredible. But it is not a good idea if you are farming without 20% move speed.
Engineers get access to a lot of cool toys and effects that can assist in farming, but the main reason you want it is for Grenades, Sappers, and Dynamite. Even for just Phase 1. Let’s talk about the the Heavy Dynamite. Heavy Dynamite does 128 to 172 damage. Arcane Explosion Rank 2 does 58 to 65 and costs 120 Mana. So, on average, one Dynamite is worth 2 to 3 explosions of damage and Mana.
Being able to kill all the mobs before they can run away very smoothly. As we get further into Season of Discovery, our pulls will become much longer and more intense on our Mana. Dynamite, having a 60-second cooldown, will allow you to get multiple casts off in the longer pulls. It’s very important. I couldn't recommend Engineering more.
This may seem like an obvious one, but I want to emphasize the scaling of spell power with Living Bomb. The kill phase is way cleaner, and I have plenty of Mana left over for Arcane Explosion. Living Bomb scaling with spell damage is amazing. I recommend prioritizing it wherever you can. Phoenix Bindings, Phoenix Gloves, Invoker's Mantle, and Invoker's Cord are all really cheap and easy spell damage options you can pick up off the auction house by your SOD Gold.
The first playstyle I want to go over is face tanking, which I use a lot in open-world farms or versus mobs that are lower level than me, such as Deadmines. The key interaction here for face tank farming is Living Flame and Regeneration. Living Flame does spell fire damage, which counts as Arcane damage for the healing from Regeneration. The amount of healing you receive will keep you alive versus some pretty insane damage.
Before casting Living Flame, make sure you have Temporal Beacon on yourself. I like to get 4 to 5 Living Bombs out, then Living Flame. Then you just spam Arcane Explosion until all the mobs die. Add on the extra healing you receive from the Arcane Explosion spam, and it’s pretty incredible what you can live through.
This is the playstyle I expect to be dominant, from now on into Season of Discovery, so I recommend learning it now. Blizzard will be amazing for massive pulls where you can’t handle the incoming damage from Elites slapping you. You can play this style with or without Regeneration. If you aren't running Regeneration, I recommend Fingers of Frost.
In Phase 2, we will have 5 points in Shatter for 50% increased crit chance. It will be pretty amazing. What you want to do for this style is grab as many mobs as you can and then get to your kite spot. You will then start throwing out 6 to 8 Living Bombs, Living Flame, and then begin to Blizzard kite. By using Living Flame after the Living Bombs are out. Make sure the Blizzard keeps all the mobs tightly stacked in the Living Flame for maximum damage. Add on the Living Bomb crits from Fingers of Frost, and you speed up the kill so much. Come Phase 2 with all the extra mana and talents we will have. This style will be king for a lot of the content.
There are a few addons I couldn’t recommend more for Mage farming, and the most important one is called WeakAuras. This addon lets you create custom code that will track certain things for you in-game. I highly recommend Plater. It makes it way easier to see what HP the mobs are at and who is missing Living Bomb. I also use Nova Instant Tracker to track my dungeon lockouts, how many mobs I’ve killed, as well as the XP and gold gained during those runs. There are a lot of WeakAuras out there that can track your uptime on buffs and other things. Make sure to customize this to your liking.
That’s my list. I hope you found these tips and tricks helpful. There’s a lot going on with Mage farming, and it can be pretty overwhelming if you dive straight into it with big massive pulls. Start small, learn small pulls first, and then work your way up to the big challenges. We Mages are kings of farming, and you can become one too.
