Slightly Unconventional - 5/12/44 - Any other ideas?

[Cigma]

While trying to come up with a build that might add a little flavor to my playstyle without losing the arena strength of 17/0/44, this is what I came up with.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=o0xZVx00bZVVGIobxsmot

I see this spec as having the possibility of being a little more "baller" as Raddy would put it. I rarely use CS for the silence affect alone (except when facing 4 dps teams), and I know you pro mages don't miss your counterspell anyways. The thought of being able to scorch(ignite)+lance in situations where the window may not be open for a full frostbolt+lance combo excites me... just a little bit. However, I did not want to lose the ability to use the devestating focus proc+arcane missle combo. If mana became an issue I would probably take points out of burning soul and drop them in frost channeling.

Anyone else have any ideas for adding some spark to their builds for season 3?

[buena]

5 points in arcane can't be doing much for you, the reason to put anything in arcane is to get down to imp CS. If you want to scorch with a water elemental you ought to go full out 0/17/44 or 0/20/41.

I did give a try to 0/20/41, taking all the control talents in frost and the damage talents in fire with an eye towards scorching as my main nuke. I didn't like it. The biggest problem is that scorch simply does less DPS than my full-frost frostbolts were doing, and doesn't slow anyone down or proc frostbite. It's easier to get off but it's weak. Also, scorch + lance shatter combos don't work because scorch is an instant hit while lance has a fly time. The scorch breaks freeze before you get the lance off. The reason the traditional combo works is the fly time of frostbolt.

[Mattyo]

I may be playing on a slightly different 5s makeup, and think a fire build 0/40/21 would definitely be interesting, especially with a higher damage fireball in 2.3. I wish they would move damn dragon's breath as a 31 pt talent so a elemental spec would have a much smaller downside.

A fire build such as this (not so mana efficient) may be doable with the new evocate returning more mana.

[Cigma]

5 points in arcane can't be doing much for you, the reason to put anything in arcane is to get down to imp CS. If you want to scorch with a water elemental you ought to go full out 0/17/44 or 0/20/41.

I did give a try to 0/20/41, taking all the control talents in frost and the damage talents in fire with an eye towards scorching as my main nuke. I didn't like it. The biggest problem is that scorch simply does less DPS than my full-frost frostbolts were doing, and doesn't slow anyone down or proc frostbite. It's easier to get off but it's weak. Also, scorch + lance shatter combos don't work because scorch is an instant hit while lance has a fly time. The scorch breaks freeze before you get the lance off. The reason the traditional combo works is the fly time of frostbolt.

I was leaning towards 0/17/44, but I did not want to lose my uninterruptable MSD focus + AM combination. I would never consider using scorch as my main nuke, but was considering using it to pick at my warriors target here and there in between my CC rotation. I run the "2345" setup so typically I am on CC duty while adding dps in moderation until the opportunity arises to nuke where I add my shatter combo to the shamans EM+CL to gib the target.

I love Mattyo's suggestion of moving DB to the 31 pt talent spot. I feel as though an elemental mage would have to adapt a very interesting play style for 5v5. Even with DB, we would lack the burst power of a WE Shatter combo, or Arcane/Fire - Arcane/Frost nuke. However, I can see elemental mages with DB being pretty flashy in 2v2 and 3v3.

[buena]

If you aren't going to use scorch as a main nuke then I don't see how you can justify more than 10 points in fire - more likely 6 or 7. Throw the rest of the points into frost to pick up whatever you missed (imp coc, emp frostbolt, channeling, full wc, whatever) and improve the spells you WILL use as main nukes. You'll be left with the impact frost build that is the second most common arena spec and the one I prefer to anything else.

[sX]

i would rather use 2xicelance than 1xscorch which still can be los'ed, scorch doesnt do much dmg without all those talents down the fire tree, but not 100% sure of this

edit: yes, my scorch is 700dmg and icelance 350dmg normal

[Reeve]

FWIW, I decided to go 0/38/23 last week and have been loving it. Ya, I know I'm not on any 2k teams ATM, but we went 9-1 in 5v with me as this spec. One great thing about it is you take FF fairly quickly, but you can still do some pretty nice dmg with burning soul and BW. The S3 gloves will make this spec even more efficient. Mana doesn't seem to be an issue either since scorch is so cheap.

I love Mattyo's suggestion of moving DB to the 31 pt talent spot. I feel as though an elemental mage would have to adapt a very interesting play style for 5v5. Even with DB, we would lack the burst power of a WE Shatter combo, or Arcane/Fire - Arcane/Frost nuke. However, I can see elemental mages with DB being pretty flashy in 2v2 and 3v3.
Same, this would be quite a fun and effective build methinks.