Winner gets 1000gFollow

I run the risk of being bad mouthed on this one but here it goes.

ok, i have a grudge match with a MAGE friend of mine and the looser of the match will pay 1000g to the winner. He is a frost spec Mage and quite experienced. He has mostly epics and some blues. We are at different levels ATM im 66, and he is 70. The aggreement is as soon as i hit 70 we are going to duel. By the time i hit 70 i will probably have the majority of my gear as blues and some greens. I really need your 2 cents on how to beat your class :).

DRUID VS FROST MAGE

1. Do i stand a chance?
2. What druid spec can give a mage the most trouble?
3. what tricks does a mage have that i have to watch out for
4. Treants, what does this mean for a mage in a duel? Nuisance or "Dammit"

The winner will be decided by a ONE round DUEL.

Thanks in advance :)

there are 2 ways to look at this:
1. outlast, by healing yourself and have mage oom. spec Resto
2. moonfire spam with heals in between. spec Balance

either way be prepared for poly's and FN with shapeshifting.

just like a pally, if you can outlast their mana, you win.

however, it may come down to experience. if you lack the PvP experience you will get pwned no matter the class or spec you are. g/l vs frost mage

Well, if you are betting that much, I would have every buff, and every additional item at your disposal. I am not sure if the frost reflecting trinket is practical, but you get the idea, prepare for the fight.

Just so you know, 1000g = $40, so its kind of a big deal, well it would be for me anyway :p I recommend searching your friends name in the WoW armoury and then posting his build on this forum, so we can see specifically what talents he has. I think that resto would be the best option, but I guess that balance would be O.K. too, just not feral IMO. Good luck anyway and be sure to get most (if not all the buffs) you can get and stock up on potions and nice enchants.

THis is his' build

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/mage/talents.html?2000000000000000000000001000000000000000000000535323313235013251251

Resto? im a bit surprised by that answer and to be honest i dont think i would know waht to do with that build :)

Just additional info... only racial buffs are allowed and no POTs can be used.

Also.... thank you guys for your response

Edited, Mar 18th 2007 2:04am by belangbelang

i recommend balance. use the trees -- they aren't a serious threat (damage) to an ice mage, but they are something he has to keep in mind if he doesn't want to loose. abuse cyclone, shift out of freeze effects, don't let your health drop so low that he can shatter you. hearthstone fake him: begin your hearthstone and tempt him to waste his counter spell then you can heal in safety. this requires more time than a real heal, so remember to heal early. if he polymorphs you, shift to something else [quickly].

don't spam moonfire. it'll kill your mana and won't kill him.

double root. root once, he'll blink, then root him again -- blink is on a cooldown, roots aren't. cyclone is a faster cast than frostbolt: if you're low, cyclone first, then heal. save this till later when you need it.

don't use moonkin form: the armor bonus doesn't do you any good and it takes a too much mana to make it worth the 5% crit bonus during such a short fight when you'll be shifting in and out of forms (hopefully travel form because it's cheapest) to avoid snares and freezes. bearform can use feral charge (seriously consider putting spare points into feral for that ability for this duel...) and will drastically increases your health as well as allowing you to use frenzied regeneration if you accumulate a reasonable amount of rage (unlikely, but it will depend on how fast your health drops).

keep in mind: maim. it can't be blinked out of. start the duel in cat (if you don't let him know your talent spec before hand, he may think you're feral) and stay AWAY from his AoEs at the beginning. if you're good, you can run in and get off a ravage before he can stop you, possibly also a claw or shred, but you need to at least rake in order to get combo points. he'll blink, but you shift out of cat (especially if he was stupid and wasted nova right now) and moonfire + swarm while moving towards him and casting lifebloom + rejuv. if he uses ice block at this point to purge your dots, he will very likely first summon his elemental. if he uses the elemental's freeze on you, shift into cat and run towards the mage in order to rake + maim. as soon as he's maimed, try to cast regrowth and then summon your trees on him. now is when you reapply moonfire, swarm, rejuv + lifebloom again and shift into bear in order to charge him -- he will have nova'd your trees into place and blinked away after dropping block. it's important that you quickly build the rage to bash him, possible after a white hit or two (hopefully a crit). this will buy you the time to starfire first and hearth-fake a regrowth second. keep moonfire and swarm applied.

this is all meaningless: everyone has a plan until the shooting starts. i personally don't think you can outlast him -- one of you will get a strong crit and that will be the end. besides, a lot of your time will be taken up shifting trying to keep him from shattering you and healing yourself (do not underestimate the elemental's damage!). he has the gear, you have the instants. i don't think you should have bet so much money on a single duel, coldsnap is likely to just ruin you.

for all the bastards that buy their gold: i hope your genitals rot off.

edit:

consider a build like this:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/druid/talents.html?50032201253310523005150023010000000000000005002000000000000000


Edited, Mar 18th 2007 3:59pm by FractalSynapse

Umm, feral + nades could work.

Simply put...cold snap + 2 water elementals + ice block can be deadly. Try to do whatever you can to prevent it.

resistant to snares? resistant to polymorph? ... how so? your staff ain't gonna kill anyone, and if you're moonkin your nukes will be what you spend all your time doing anyway.

it's not a great idea to start a fight in bad feral gear: it's extremely likely you'll be hit by an AoE and put in combat -- trapping you in half a suit of feral gear = sucky moonkin.

Thanks for the great input guys! Well, the time is almost there, 3 more levels to go! And now it will come down to pratice and excution of practice. With that said are there any mages here from AKAMA that i can duel/practice with? My friend, is bragging that he has been dueling one of the best druids in our server and never lost a single match!!! Now, I'm not asking you this for free. In the event that I win, I will glady give my trainer 10% of the winnings. So any takers?

I'd say at level 70 a 30/0/31 build or 40/0/21, try to outlast him I wouldn't reccomend moonkin though, the 5% crit chance isn't worth all the shifting, good advice from the Pally: Frost Resistance will help alot

Don't let him ever freeze you though, if he does shift to Travel form (cheapest) to break it, because the crits will hurt, if he uses evocation it's moonfire time to run the channeling down, remember to use innervate

Don't bother with the treants they have low health and simple to AoE

If you take the first build abuse regrowth, swiftmend also Nature's Swiftness healing touch is godly as a life saver

Rejuv = Swiftmend is a good heal in a pinch once Nature's Swiftness is on cooldown, or if you have the feeling he's gonna hurl a counterspell at you

Water Elemental is a major annoyance (This is theory, I haven't tried it out) root it and move out of it's range, I don't know if CCs on pets get cut down to 8 seconds max but if they don't that could really help, Water elemental does alot of damage, otherwise it might be a worthy investment trying to kill it, but don't burn too much mana

Just roll a lock and beat him at lvl 60 lol. honestly i don't think ur friend is that good judging by his talent tree he has way to much in frost and losing lots of other very good talents.Your gonna have to beat him with casts of some sort since he is full frost he will keep u from melee range through chill, frost nova and blink, and u attempting to catch him will only lead to death, maybe start it off with melee maybe stealth. wait it out remember its 1k gold, just stealth and DO not let him get near u before the match begins thats when he'll get u, if he is smart and u are stealhed he will probably use the lowest rank of arcane explosion to try to find u, keep at bay til he stops he won't run out of mana, get him in stealth, stun him as much as possible if cat form can do that not to farmiliar with druids. he will blink immediately then cast away. lol this is gonna be real tough for u. i've never played a druid but im more than sure there is a way to beat him fairly easy, i think getting those 3 lil trents will significantly help AFTER he novas. those trees will interrupt much of his casting time giving u the upper hand. Use the tree guys probably ur only hope til he sees fit to pull out his little buddies.

Edited, Mar 20th 2007 8:53am by igknot

Just give him 100g and call it off or pay a warlock 100g but a lvl 60 with greens to beat him and take ur prize. lol. There is always a way to win