World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

Utgarde Keep is one of the easier heroics for a Mage to attend. Even normal mode is a breeze for any Mage and is full of excellent loot ready to be picked up. The majority of the enemies are humanoid making a Mage’s polymorph a highly desirable thing to have and many packs come in 3’s or 4’s making AoE abilities like Blizzard a real winner.

In total there are three bosses that give an Emblem of Heroism on Heroic (so a total of 3), four pieces of Mage loot can drop, and a run time of less than an hour. All together you should be in and out in no time. The daily heroic quest also visits this instance (with its target being the endboss). There isn’t a lot of reputation in the instance (for those of you championing you may find the amount of rep disappointing) but it makes up for it in its relative ease and short length. A well geared group may find itself running through the instance in less than half an hour.

Trash Pulls

The first thing we’re going to really dig into is the trash. Even a poorly geared group shouldn’t have too much trouble with the trash since they’re fairly easy to take on and can be crowd controlled in many ways. There are a few enemies whom Mages should take note.

The biggest concern are the Runecasters. When you see these guys, be ready to take them down. Do you remember that skill you seldom used called Spellsteal? Well your group will be thankful if you use it whenever the Runecaster puts up their immunity shield. It’s not going to last a long time on you but it’ll make taking them down a lot easier. They also have a flame aura that can be stolen, but it’s not nearly as high of a priority.

Another thing that is of interest is Counterspell. Interrupting some of the enemy spells can help mitigate some of the damage that’d go to your group. Just remember to focus on DPS and don’t let your DPS fall because you’re trying to get off a perfect Counterspell.

In pulls of four you will want to utilize Blizzard if you’re spec’d into it and your tank is capable of holding AoE aggro. This way you’ll be doing way more DPS (although less focused) and will help bring all of the enemies down as fast as possible.

If any of the trash mobs outside of a proto-drake get loose then your Frost Nova will work against them. Casting Frost Nova will hold off their advance until your tank can pick it up again. Cone of Cold can work as a quick instant snare as well if you need some more time for your tank to respond.

Prince Keleseth

Prince Keleseth is a tricky fight for the Mage. His most annoying ability, Frost Tomb, is immune to Frost damage and you’ll be required most of the time to AoE the spawned skeletons. If your group is collapsed on the tank then it’ll make your job a lot easier, but if they aren’t then be sure to use Frost Nova to stop the dastardly skeleton’s advance while Blizzard or Arcane Explosion gets rid of them swifty.

As mentioned earlier his Frost Tomb ability (for those of you unfamiliar, it’s the ability to encase someone in ice doing 2,000 damage a tick and freezing them) is immune to Frost. So any Frost Mages will want Fireblast and things like Arcane Explosion, Arcane Blast, Scorch, or whatever would work for you bound so they can be used to help break your ally free.

If you’re unfamiliar with boss fights then be sure to open every battle with Mirror Images unless the encounter says otherwise. It’s a massive DPS boost (that’s affected by your spell damage). If you have the Ice Elemental ability, be sure to use it too (and Icy Veins).

Skarvald and Dalronn

This fight is easy, at least for the Mage. Just DPS down both targets the best you can. There aren’t a lot of tricks or neat things to do in this battle. It’s a good battle to train your ability to switch targets quickly while keeping your DPS up. Use tab or assist macros to smoothly transition from one target to the next as they need it.

Ingvar the Plunderer

The last boss fight was a reprieve from work but this one isn’t. You’ll need to be sharp and on your toes if you’re going to stay alive and do DPS. Ingvar comes in two stages. His first stage is a simple tanking encounter while you stand back and fling your magic at him.

The second phase is after he dies. He’ll come back as an undead version of his original self with a few nifty abilities (nifty for him and not you!). These will interrupt your abilities, knock you down, or instantly kill you (with low enough health).

For this battle you’ll want to save your cooldowns for the second phase. He’ll have the Dreadful Roar ability that’ll interrupt any of your spells you’re currently casting. U.I. mods will tell you when he’s about to cast it so you can stop and he’ll be casting it so you can see it if you have some kind of enemy cast bar up. If you don’t you’ll be locked out of a school for eight seconds! Not good. If this happens switch to your backup rotation (or spam Fireballs if you don’t have one).

The second ability is Dark Smash. You can avoid the shadow damage by running behind a pillar and your DPS is a lot better if you’re alive. If you’re well enough geared to eat the AoE Dark Smash then just laugh it off and keep casting. Be careful of the knockdown.

He does apply a curse called “Woe Strike”. If your healer doesn’t have a decurse ability then be sure to get it off of your tank ASAP. If this fight is causing trouble then it’s always a good idea to set up a macro for targeting the tank.

On a final note never ever get within melee range of him. His Dark Smash is enough to take down a squishy caster (and a beefed up tank) so keep your distance from him and any spears he throws.

Mage Loot

The Mage Loot from this dungeon comes with one normal and three heroic pieces. The prince drops a nice Mage dagger and hat for lower levels in normal. In heroic the prince drops a nifty Mage wand (Wand of the San’layn) that provides 14 Hit, 34 Haste, and 21 Spell Power. The hat and dagger aren’t very good items for a level 80, so don’t even worry about running normal to farm them. The wand has hit which is one of the biggest stats a PvE Mage needs.

Skarvald may be an easy fight for Mages but he doesn’t give out any good cloth pieces. There is nothing in his pockets for a Mage to pilfer.

Ingvar on heroic drops two pieces of Mage loot: Annhylde’s Ring which gives 50 Stamina, 33 Intellect, 49 Haste, and 59 Spell Power which isn’t bad, and Breeches of the Caller which is 58 Stamina, 74 Intellect, 52 Spirit, and 73 Spell Power. The ring is a lot better than the pants which are mostly for healers but would work nicely for a Mage if the pants slot was lacking.

Should you run UK for loot? Well, outside of the ring and the wand there isn’t a lot there. If you can get a good group and down it quickly then the reputation, speed, and emblems are worth more than the loot the bosses drop themselves. Not to mention if it’s the daily for that day. So don’t put it on your highest priority as a Mage if you’re gearing up but don’t neglect to visit either for an easy 3 badges.