How to get Proven Assailant on a mage: Warlords of Draenor edition

Von Etuliela Letztes Update: 10.03.2017 Patch: 6.1.0

What's all this Proving Grounds stuff about, anyway?Why should I do the Proving Grounds?the Proven AssailantWoWProgress

Proving Grounds achievements:

That's a total of shiny achievement points! Om nom nom...

How do I get into the Proving Grounds?

Please note that due to WoD changes the Proving Grounds now scale with *your* ilvl instead of the other way around. This means that it is possible that different specs will be more viable than others at different levels of gear. With gear around ilvl 645 I struggled to get past the first few waves of endless as frost- I found it far easier as arcane. This guide only deals with how to play arcane in the Proving Grounds, as that is what I used.

If you are unfamiliar with playing arcane in WoD, I would suggest reading the MMO Champion mage forum sticky to get a basic idea on how it works.

This guide assumes that you know at least some of the basics of playing arcane.

This is me when I first switched to arcane in WoD.

Tier 1 - Ice Floes
Your next Mage spell can be cast while moving. Castable while another spell is in progress and unaffected by global cooldown. Max 3 charges.

Tier 5 - Supernova
Causes a pulse of arcane energy around the target enemy or ally, dealing (190% of Spell power) Arcane damage to all enemies within 8 yards, and knocking them upward. A primary enemy target will take 100% increased damage. Max 2 charges. Replaces Frost Nova.

Tier 6 - Incanter's Flow
Magical energy flows through you while in combat, building up to 20% increased damage and then diminishing down to 4% increased damage, cycling every 10 sec.

Tier 7 - Prismatic Crystal
Conjures a prismatic crystal at the target location, which is attackable by only the Mage, and takes 30% additional damage. When the crystal takes damage, it instantly releases a burst of energy dealing that damage, split evenly between all enemies within 8 yards.

Major glyphs:These glyphs were chosen to maximise AoE and mobility.

Glyph of Cone of Cold
Increases the damage done by Cone of Cold by 200%.

Glyph of Arcane Explosion
Increases the radius of your Arcane Explosion by 5 yards.

Glyph of Rapid Displacement
Blink now has 2 charges, gaining a charge every 15 sec, but no longer frees the caster from stuns and bonds.

I strongly recommend getting some sort of addon to track your stacks of Incanter's flow, as to maximise dps you should use Supernova at 5 stacks.
If you have WeakAuras, you can use this simple tracker:

dCZccaGEQG2Ls02OsAUufZwu3ur1Tvs7KI2lA3QA)eWpPcnmj63sAOev1GvKgovGdsipwHJPsNJGwivILsuXIvHLlYdjQYtHwgH65ahMstvWKjktN0fvc)vPCzPUUkAJcLptKntHTtG6Jev60GMgv13Pk9mj8jHkJwrmEcKtkKBrf11uQopvQXrf5BkkVwOQ5LbIqIrV2jd7O9enQpWJOdygQU3MBL6TOFyFTtarhGA6qH1NiGO4LLlfUuiXvIYikJbIg1xrOdBAk2NyQLG1p42bnr4O(eZvRmgiEc6Tr2ca0fIj7OzG46zwHmqLkr1M7xzGia(s5MMxNiUEMviduPsCKTaadebWxk3eNlsUlOsmvZndexpZkKbQujEc6n1M7xPlujQjOKuNyG4BxBad08sm6h2x7uCabMglx9sLkrVqz6eAwusuqoAyaALX2VI3lfx4Flk9lUcV0Wz)DI)5AibLK6eGMxIqzenBVcm9EjoPHstuAwus0TJggGwzSz(7cNDle67u5(mxl2PHZ(UseO2r8a5xHVsuElmdlKdvIwgig9d7RDkoGatJLREjg9ANmSJ2t0O(apIoGzO6EBUvQ3I(H91obeDaQPdfwFQefmnV(IlPsc

I also strongly recommend getting something to clearly display your current mana percentage, as this is so vital for optimising your play as arcane. I personally use Player Mana Percent.

Aim to get at least 630 gear in every slot. Get as much mastery as you can, followed by haste.

Ideally you should get at least one trinket with an on-use proc- it's important to have the extra burst when you need it. I've written this guide assuming you have at least one of these.

The following DO NOT work in proving grounds: socketed gems, tier bonuses, legendary ring procs.

If anyone is curious, the gear set I used for endless 30 was ilvl 647 with 1853 mastery (not including gems) and 556 haste unbuffed.

Slot

Enchant

Stats

Mats

Neck

Enchant Neck - Gift of Mastery

75 mastery

Temporal Crystal x 4, Sorcerous Earth x 3

Back

Enchant Cloak - Gift of Mastery

100 mastery and 10% movement speed increase

Temporal Crystal x 4, Sorcerous Water x 3

Finger

Enchant Ring - Gift of Mastery

50 mastery

Temporal Crystal x 4, Sorcerous Air x 3

Weapon

Enchant Weapon - Mark of Bleeding Hollow

Permanently enchants a melee weapon to sometimes increase mastery by 500 for 12 sec.

Temporal Crystal x 15, Sorcerous Air x 10

CANNOT

125 mastery food

Sleeper Sushi
Mats: Fat Sleeper Flesh x 12, Crescent Saberfish Flesh

100 mastery food

Savage feast
Obtained from Level 2+ Barn meat work orders - probably the cheapest option out there due to oversupply.
Sleeper Surprise
Mats: Braised Riverbeast x5, Fat Sleeper Cakes x5, Starflower x1 (makes at least 4 depending on cooking skill)
Legion Chili
Obtained from the rare garrison mission The Burning Crusade.

250 intellect flask

Greater Draenic Intellect Flask
Mats: Alchemical Catalyst x5, Draenic Intellect Flask x5, Sorcerous Fire x 1 (makes 5)

Hogging a feast all to myself. They're cheap, ok?!?!

For every ten waves there will be two Berserking buffs on the ground for you to use. The first spawns at the start of wave 4 and the second at the start of wave 6. Don't forget you also have Time Warp, which means that you can essentially lust during 3 out of every 10 waves. Note that the Berserking buffs only last for 30s whereas Time Warp lasts for 40s.

I would recommend using Time Warp during wave 9 and the Berserking buffs in waves 7 and 10. There's no point using Time Warp during wave 10 because you only get 20s of solid dps time on the Large Illusionary Sha due to its Protection Shield.

Although I have heard players could save up more than two Berserking buffs at a time in MoP, I have tested this in the WoD Proving Grounds and this is no longer possible.

When kiting Amber Globules into mobs, focus your dps on other mobs as much as possible before the Amber Globule hits its target. There's no point wasting dps on a mob that's going to die quickly once it's trapped.
Try to enter each new wave with 4 Arcane Charges. On later waves this will be quite easy, however on earlier waves you may want to keep one mob alive just so you can use it to refresh your charges before they expire.
If you cast Slow on a banana-tosser then use Ice Floes to get right on top of it, it should be moving slowly enough that you won't need to use ice floes for your next 1-2 casts.
Timing Supernova: if you hit supernova just before Incanter's Flow ticks from 4 to 5 stacks, it should be at 5 stacks by the time supernova actually hits the mob. If you hit Supernova again immediately after the first, you should be able to *just* squeeze it in at 5 stacks, too.
You may notice that there is a delay between your Arcane Missiles cast finishing and the missiles actually hitting your target. Don't wait to see how much they hit for- once your cast finishes, keep on dpsing!
You really shouldn't be getting hit by any of the Amber Globules. However, if you do make a mistake and end up trapped, you can Ice block to remove it, then cancel your Ice block and keep going.

Err... please don't do this.

perculiaProving Grounds guideBeastiaryCooldowns:

None

This wave is easy. Done right, you should easily have 20-30s to spare. Sometimes I feel that my strat for this wave is a bit clumsy, so feel free to experiment and see what works for you.

Start off in the centre of the room.

DPS one of the Large Illusionary Amber-Weavers. You should be able to get off around 4 casts before the Amber Globules start getting close to you.

Blink away and run behind another Large Illusionary Amber-Weaver whilst using Ice Floes to dps it.

You may need to use Ice Floes again to avoid the new Amber Globule it casts.

When the second Large Illusionary Amber-Weaver is dead, Blink back to the middle.

Finish off the first Large Illusionary Amber-Weaver if it is not already dead.

Use the Small Illusionary Varmints as a shield to soak any Amber Globules that are coming for you.

Kill the final Large Illusionary Amber-Weaver, making sure that the Small Illusionary Varmints soak the last Amber Globule that it casts.

You should have plenty of time left before the next wave- you can leave a few Small Illusionary Varmints on low health to refresh your Arcane Charges if necessary. (You may not need to do this during wave 1, but on later repetitions of this wave it is strongly advised.)

Cooldowns:

Arcane Power + trinket

The dps requirement on this wave is a little tighter, but there's still room for variation in strat. Sometimes when I accidentally killed the Small Illusionary Amber-Weaver early I found that ignoring the Amber Globule mechanic was actually faster than trying to kite them into the mobs.

You should start off this wave standing behind one of the Large Illusionary Guardians so that the Small Illusionary Amber-Weaver's Amber Globule will hit it.

Pop your trinket and Arcane Power.

Kill the Small Illusionary Mystic first (this should be quick if you have 4 Arcane Charges up from the previous wave). Don't forget to interrupt Heal Illusion!

Start running toward the centre when the Amber Globule hits the first Large Illusionary Guardian, using Ice Floes to dps it.

When the first Large Illusionary Guardian is dead, Blink over to the other guardian. (Note: If you travel in a straight line from one guardian to the next, the amber weaver will most likely get trapped when its second globule reverses direction. This is not helpful if you want more globules to help dps the other mobs down faster. Also, by moving into the centre you can kite a globule into the banshee if it spawns whilst you are still there.)

Kill the Small Illusionary Banshee when it spawns.

Wait for the Small Illusionary Amber-Weaver to cast another Amber Globule, then kill it.

Let the Amber Globule hit the last Large Illusionary Guardian and then kill it.

If dps is tight you can treat this wave as a burn phase. If you do this you'll probably end up with enough time to use Evocation just before the end of the wave. You shouldn't need it again until wave 5. Also, wave 3 is pretty chilled out so you don't need to worry about losing your Arcane Charges.Cooldowns:

None

This is by far the most relaxing wave- it honestly doesn't matter what order you kill stuff in.

Begin by standing slightly off-centre whilst facing the centre, as this is where all the mobs will spawn.

Cone of Cold as soon as the mobs spawn.

If Supernova is off cooldown, use it on one of the Large Illusionary Banana-Tossers whilst they are still in the centre.

Run around whilst spamming Arcane Explosion. (This prevents you from getting the Bananastorm debuff from the Large Illusionary Banana-Tossers)

Run around using Ice Floes to kill one of the Large Illusionary Banana-Tossers. (You can't stand still for this, even if you are in one of the banana-tosser's circles, because the other banana-tosser's Bananastorm debuff will still affect you.)

Continue running around and spamming Arcane Explosion/Cone of Cold on the centre adds until Ice Floes comes off cooldown.

Use Ice Floes to kill the other Large Illusionary Banana-Tosser.

Keep a few Large Illusionary Varmints at low health to refresh your 4 Arcane Charges- you'll need them for the next wave.

You may not need this, but if you are having trouble with the Large Illusionary Banana-Tossers you can Slow or Cone of Cold them to reduce their movement speed.Cooldowns:

Arcane Power + trinket

How quickly you clear this wave depends on RNG with the direction the Large Illusionary Guardians face when they are buffed with Defend.

Start off standing on the outer circle. You should be standing near or behind one of the Large Illusionary Guardians when they spawn.

Pop Arcane Power and your trinket.

Quickly target the second-closest Large Illusionary Guardian and cast one Arcane Blast before it finishes its cast of Defend.

Make sure you are positioned so that the Large Illusionary Amber-Weaver's Amber Globule will hit the Large Illusionary Guardian you are next to. Use Ice Floes if you need to move for this- you don't have time to stop dpsing.

After your first two casts, you should have had enough time to identify if one of the Large Illusionary Guardians to your left or right is facing away from you in a position that allows you to dps it whilst still kiting the orb into the guardian you are next to.

If you are in a position to dps one of the left or right Large Illusionary Guardians, do so. Otherwise, dps the guardian you are next to if you can hit it from your current position. If RNG is against you and you cannot do any of these things, try to pre-cast an Arcane Blast so that it hits your guardian as soon as it becomes trapped.

As soon as your Large Illusionary Guardian is trapped, run to the next guardian whilst using Ice Floes to dps the trapped guardian.

Rinse and repeat the above strategy.

Don't forget to switch to the Small Illusionary Banshee that spawns at 30s.

When there is one Large Illusionary Guardian left, wait for the Large Illusionary Amber-Weaver to cast another Amber Globule.

Kill the Large Illusionary Amber-Weaver, then the last Large Illusionary Guardian. (Position yourself so the Amber Globule hits it.)

Cooldowns:

Arcane Power + Prismatic Crystal

Try to conserve mana throughout the early stages of this wave- you have plenty of time to kill the mobs. Aim to enter the burn phase (when the Small Illusionary Sha's Protection Shield drops in the last 20s) with 4 Arcane Charges, full mana and at least one charge of Supernova. Use Evocation if you need to.

Polymorph the Small Illusionary Banana-Tosser.

Kill the Small Illusionary Mystic (interrupt Heal Illusion).

Kill the Small Illusionary Banana-Tosser, using Ice Floes if necessary.

Kill the Small Illusionary Banshee that spawns at 30s.

If you don't have 4 Arcane Charges, dps the Small Illusionary Sha until you do. Until its Protection Shield drops at 20s, only dps it to refresh your Arcane Charges.

Pop Arcane Power at 22s and Prismatic Crystal at 21s. Immediately pre-cast Arcane Blast, aiming for it to hit the Small Illusionary Sha as soon as its Protection Shield drops.

Spam Arcane Blast on the Small Illusionary Sha, and use any charges of Supernova when Incanter's Flow reaches 5 stacks. (It should die with about 10s to spare, which will give you some time to regain mana even without Evocation.)

Cooldowns:

Trinket

I don't consider this wave to be quite as tight as wave 4, but the difficulty begins to ramp up from here.

Start this wave in the centre of the room.

Immediately cast Arcane Explosion to refresh the duration on your Arcane Charges.

Polymorph one of the Large Illusionary Mystics (it doesn't matter which).

Pop your trinket and spam Arcane Blast on the other Large Illusionary Mystic (don't forget to interrupt Heal Illusion).

Spam Arcane Explosion/Cone of Cold on the Large Illusionary Varmints in the middle whilst waiting for Counterspell to come off cooldown. (Be careful that your Arcane Explosion does not break the remaining Large Illusionary Mystic's Polymorph- stand on the far side of the varmints to make sure.)

Use Evocation at some point whilst waiting for Counterspell to come off cooldown. Try to build up 4 Arcane Charges on the Large Illusionary Varmints after this.

1s before Counterspell's cooldown is up, start casting Arcane Blast on the remaining Large Illusionary Mystic.

Kill the Large Illusionary Mystic, interrupting Heal Illusion as necessary.

Finish off any remaining Large Illusionary Varmints.

Note that if you do not Polymorph one of the Large Illusionary Mystics it will start to heal before your Counterspell comes off cooldown.Cooldowns:

Berserking

Kill the Large Illusionary Banana-Tosser as quickly as you can. You could also Polymorph it, but you run the risk of the poly breaking later on- if that happens, you're probably stuffed.

You should run over one of the Berserking buffs on the ground 1s before this wave starts.

Immediately Polymorph the closest Large Illusionary Amber-Weaver.

Use Ice Floes to quickly kill the Large Illusionary Banana-Tosser.

Position yourself so that the other Large Illusionary Amber-Weaver's Amber Globules hit the Large Illusionary Guardians. Similar to wave 4, try to dps other guardians whilst waiting for the globule to hit the guardian you are standing next to. If this is not possible, dps the Large Illusionary Amber-Weaver. If you have no other guardians to dps, it's ok to kill the amber-weaver as you can then break the other amber-weaver's Polymorph to spawn more Amber Globules.

Kill all the guardians in this manner, then kill any remaining amber-weavers.

Cooldowns:

Arcane Power + Prismatic Crystal + trinket

I recommend killing the Large Illusionary Mystic first. If you Polymorph it and go for the Large Illusionary Slayers first (which was my original strat) you will run into problems trying to kill the mystic when you get the two Large Illusionary Banshee spawns near the end of the wave. You will likely be somewhat low on mana entering this wave- use Evocation when you can.

Ideally you should enter this wave with 4 Arcane Charges- if you don't, build up 4 charges on the Large Illusionary Mystic (interrupt Heal Illusion when necessary).

As soon as you have 4 Arcane Charges, pop Arcane Power, your trinket and put your Prismatic Crystal down next to the mystic.

Burn the Prismatic Crystal until the mystic is dead (use Supernova at 5 stacks of Incanter's Flow if possible). If you entered the wave with 4 Arcane Charges you'll have to be ready to quickly switch to the mystic to interrupt its Heal Illusion.

Try to conserve mana when dpsing both Large Illusionary Slayers, but be ready to switch to the Large Illusionary Banshees ASAP when they spawn at 45s, 30s and 25s.

Cooldowns:

Time Warp

I consider this to be the toughest wave out of all of them. You can't pop *everything* here though, because you still need to save something for the next wave. Similar to wave 7, I recommend killing the Large Illusionary Banana-Tosser first to be safe.

If you have time, pop Time Warp 1s before this wave starts, otherwise pop it as soon as you start dpsing.

Polymorph the Large Illusionary Banana-Tosser (it will start off in the centre of the room).

Use Ice Floes to dps one of the Large Illusionary Slayers whilst positioning the Amber Globule to hit the Large Illusionary Banana-Tosser.

Kill the Large Illusionary Banana-Tosser once it is trapped.

Position yourself near the Large Illusionary Guardian so that the next Amber Globule will hit it.

Whilst waiting for the Amber Globule to hit the guardian, kill both Large Illusionary Slayers.

Kill the Large Illusionary Banshee when it spawns at 30s.

Kill the Large Illusionary Guardian once it is trapped.

Kill the Large Illusionary Amber-Weaver (if it casts another Amber Globule, blink to the other side of it so it gets trapped instead).

Cooldowns:

Berserking + Arcane Power + Prismatic Crystal + trinket

Compared to the previous waves, this wave is pretty relaxing. Until the Large Illusionary Sha's Protection Shield drops at 20s there's not much to do. Use Evocation if you need to. Dps the Large Illusionary Sha only to build up 4 Arcane Charges or to prevent them from falling off. Make sure you enter the final 20s with full mana, 4 Arcane Charges, 2 Supernovas and all of your cooldowns.

Pick up the Berserking buff at around 25s.

Pop Arcane Power and your trinket at 22s.

Put down your Prismatic Crystal at 21s.

Start casting Arcane Blast if the Large Illusionary Sha's Protection Shield is not yet down (by the time you finish the cast the shield should be down).

Spam Arcane Blast on your Prismatic Crystal.

Use both Supernovas when Incanter's Flow is at 5 stacks.

During higher waves the Prismatic Crystal will fade before the Large Illusionary Sha is dead, so be ready to quickly switch target to the sha when the crystal disappears.

After this wave you will be given a short reprieve before the next cycle begins.

perculia for writing the Proving Grounds guide which I referenced here. Also for writing the guide Proven Assailant for Rogues: Strategy and Gear which inspired me to make one for mages, too!

SquireKel, whose Guide Writing for Dummies helped this dummy make this guide look spiffy.

asakawa and all other contributors to the thread Undisplayed BBCode available to regular users which I also heavily referenced for the formatting of this guide.

Filipe Romin who designed the free font I used for the section headers, High Tide.

And finally... thanks to you, the reader, for taking the time to look at this guide. If you have any questions, comments or corrections please feel free to post.

All the best in your Proving Grounds adventures!

Edits21/3/15Whilst editing this guide I noticed that perculia's guide Proven Assailant for Rogues: Strategy and Gear mentions that one does NOT, in fact, have to use up both Berserking buffs every 10 waves, and in fact one can save them for much later, even having up to 3-4 buffs saved up at one time. I haven't tried this myself, but I reckon it's definitely worth a shot!

Kommentare

Kommentar von mrneko

thanks, excellent guide!

Kommentar von heixia

Thank you SOOOO much! I did this as a frost mage with the food buffs and it worked! If i hadn't read this I would still be doing it! Thanks again!

Kommentar von 1525723

Thank you so much for this article. I have not even moved onto this stage, but your description of flasks, food, and enchants gave me just the boost in Silver Proving Grounds as an Arcane Mage that I finally got through it on the second try with time to spare (I've been working on it for months.) I was so happy I was shaking. I am truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Kommentar von Necromanic

Just knowing that it's the same 10 waves repeating over and over again has given me hope I may end up with this one day!

How to get Proven Assailant on a mage: Warlords of Draenor edition

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