Mages

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Textual configuration interface

This section is a part of the TCI reference.

Regular spells are not mentioned here, you just have to follow the standard names formatting rules.

Actions

Burn phase

Burn phase can be started by start_burn_phase and stopped by stop_burn_phase. These actions set and reset the burn_phase flag, which can then be used in conditions of other actions.

actions=start_burn_phase,if=!burn_phase&cooldown.evocation.remains<20
actions+=/stop_burn_phase,if=prev_gcd.1.evocation
actions+=/arcane_blast,if=burn_phase
...

Water Elemental

Water Elemental's Freeze can be controlled manually via the freeze action.

...
actions+=/freeze,if=ground_aoe.comet_storm.remains>0.6
...

Expressions

Burn phase

burn_phase expression evaluates to 1 if the burn phase is currently active. burn_phase_duration gives the duration (in seconds) of the current burn phase. Outside of the burn phase, it returns 0.

Mana Gem

The remaining charges of a Mana Gem can be obtained by using the mana_gem_charges expression.

Incanter's Flow

incanters_flow_dir can be used to determine if Incanter's Flow is currently gaining or losing stacks.

Time                   | 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 ...
-----------------------+---------------------------------------
Incanter's Flow stacks | 1  2  3  4  5  5  4  3  2  1  1  2 ...
incanters_flow_dir     | 1  1  1  1  0 -1 -1 -1 -1  0  1  1 ...

incanters_flow_time_to.<stack number>.<stack type> evaluates to the remaining time (in seconds) until the next occurrence of the specified stack. When the buff is in the desired state, this expression evaluates to 0.

stack_number is a whole number between 1 and 5, stack_type can be up, down or any. up checks only stacks on the raising part of the cycle, down checks stacks on the falling part of the cycle and any checks both types.

Ground AoE

Ground AoE can be tracked by ground_aoe.X.Y.

X can be any of:

• blizzard
• comet_storm
• flame_patch
• frozen_orb
• meteor_burn

Y can be any of:

• remains

If the specified ground AoE is currently not active, this expression evaluates to 0.

For example:

...
actions+=/flurry,if=buff.brain_freeze.react&prev_gcd.1.frostbolt&ground_aoe.frozen_orb.remains=0
...

Firestarter and Searing Touch

The expression firestarter.active can be used to check if Firestarter is active. Time until Firestarter becomes inactive is represented by firestarter.remains. See below.

actions=fireball,target_if=firestarter.active
# Cast Fireball on any target that will make it crit.

The expression searing_touch.active functions in the same way. Time until Searing Touch becomes active is represented by searing_touch.remains.

Winter's Chill

The expression remaining_winters_chill provides an approximation of the number of remaining Winter's Chill stacks, accounting for spells that are currently in flight.

Hot Streak

The expression hot_streak_spells_in_flight provides the number of spells that are currently in flight (to any target) and are capable of triggering Hot Streak.

Mage options

Firestarter and Searing Touch

By default, the health of enemies decreases uniformly from 100% to 0%. However, in a raid setting, the raid DPS is not constant and the health doesn't decrease uniformly. This has an effect on the duration of the Firestarter and Searing Touch phases.

mage.firestarter_duration_multiplier and mage.searing_touch_duration_multiplier (1.0 default) can be used to change the duration of those phases to better match the given fight.

For example, mage.firestarter_duration_multiplier=0.3 reduces the duration of the Firestarter phase by 70%.

Freeze effects

Since all freeze effects available in simc break on damage and thus almost never last their full duration, we opted to use one shared duration for all of them. In Battle for Azeroth, all freeze effects are guaranteed to last at least 1 s, which is why simc uses 1 s as the default freeze duration.

frozen_duration=<time in seconds> overrides this default duration with a user-specified value. When frozen_duration is set to 0 or lower, freeze effects are assumed to be permanent.

Focus Magic

If the Mage has the Focus Magic talent selected, focus_magic_interval=<time in seconds> and focus_magic_relstddev=<fraction of interval> can be used to control the average time between hits that would trigger Focus Magic from the player you buff. The focus_magic_crit_chance option controls the chance that these hits are crits and will actually trigger Focus Magic. Setting focus_magic_interval=0 will prevent the effect from ever triggering. The standard deviation of the distribution used for the interval is equal to focus_magic_interval * focus_magic_relstddev.

Arcane Missiles

Sometimes, there can be a benefit from chaining Arcane Missiles quickly. arcane_missiles_chain_delay=<time in seconds> and arcane_missiles_chain_relstddev=<fraction of interval> control the average time after a tick when Arcane Missiles will be chained.

Mirrors of Torment

mirrors_of_torment_interval=<time in seconds> can be used to control how often triggers of Mirrors of Torment will attempt to trigger relative to the time when the debuff is applied.

Overriding APL variables

The default Mage APLs include several variables, which can be configured through the apl_variable option.

Disabling Combustion

Combustion and any cooldowns such as Essences or Trinkets that are only ever used with Combustion can be disabled with apl_variable.disable_combustion=1. This is mainly useful for exploring scenarios where Combustion will not be used, such as some trash pulls in dungeons.

Delaying Combustion for Essence cooldowns

Sometimes, it can be better to delay Combustion for Memory of Lucid Dreams or Worldvein Resonance. By default, if Combustion is ready and one of those essences will be ready within 20 seconds, then Combustion will be delayed. The threshold where this occurs can be configured with apl_variable.hold_combustion_threshold=<time in seconds>.

Channeling Azshara's Font of Power before combat begins

It is common for Mages to channel Azshara's Font of Power long before combat begins so that another trinket can be used with their cooldowns. By default when two on-use trinkets that are used with Combustion or Arcane Power are equipped, the Fire APL will channel Azshara's Font of Power 18 seconds before combat and the Arcane APL will channel it 12 seconds before combat. This timing can be configured with apl_variable.font_of_power_precombat_channel=<time in seconds>. This can also be configured globally for all players by using bfa.font_of_power_precombat_channel=<time in seconds>. If both options are specified, then the value given by bfa.font_of_power_precombat_channel will be used.

Configuring Flamestrike usage

The number of targets at which Flamestrike should be used can vary significantly with gear and talents. Due to this, the thresholds used by the default APL may not be optimal for all gearsets. The target thresholds for using Flamestrike can be configured with apl_variable.hot_streak_flamestrike=<number of targets> and apl_variable.hard_cast_flamestrike=<number of targets>. These will configure the number of targets at which Flamestrike will be used outside of Combustion with Hot Streaks or as hard cast filler, respectively.

After Combustion, a large Ignite will usually be present on the primary target. Due to Ignite spreading mechanics, using Flamestrike is often a significant DPS loss after Combustion while this Ignite has a lot of damage stored in it. By default, Flamestrike usage will not resume until 25 seconds after Combustion ends. This delay can be adjusted with apl_variable.delay_flamestrike=<time in seconds>.

Crowd control

Some abilities have a different effect depending on whether the target is susceptible to crowd control. For example, against targets that are immune to crowd control, Freeze will not apply the root effect.

Target is susceptible to crowd control in these situations:

• Target's level is strictly smaller than player level + 3
• Target is an add spawned by the adds raid event