style="color: rgb(29, 66, 136); font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold;">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.

style="color: rgb(29, 66, 136); font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold;">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.

style="color: rgb(29, 66, 136); font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold;">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).

style="color: rgb(29, 66, 136); font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold;">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.

style="color: rgb(29, 66, 136); font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold;">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.

style="color: rgb(29, 66, 136); font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold;">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.