Reviewing the Phoenixfire Hero Talents: Explosive Solutions for Troubles

Mid-March, Blizzard gave players a sneak peek at the new Hero Talent Trees that will be coming with The War Within expansion. These Talent Trees are an extension of the existing Talent system and provide players with a third Talent tree that is separate from their class and specialization. In this blog post, we will be taking a detailed look at the Flameshaper Evoker Hero Talents.

Flameshaper Evoker Hero Talents Overview

Flameshaper is the shared Hero Talent for Devastation and Preservation Evokers. The Flameshaper specialization focuses on breath magic and makes Fire Breath explosive. As Blizzard describes it, Flameshapers specialize in Red Dragonflight spells related to life-energy, flame, and breath magic. They have the ability to engulf enemies or allies in dragonflame, causing Fire Breath or Dream Breath to detonate, dealing massive damage or healing.

The Flameshaper Talent is much easier to understand compared to the Scalecommander Talent. Instead of Mass Disintegrate and Bombardments, Flameshapers use a new ability called Engulf that uses Fire Breath as fuel for massive explosions. This makes Flameshaper a burst damage spec that brings a new flavor to the Devastation Evoker playstyle.

Core Components of Flameshaper Evoker Hero Talents

• Engulf

Engulf is a key ability in the Flameshaper Talent tree. It has a 20-second cooldown with 2 charges and its effectiveness increases based on the number of periodic effects (damage over time debuffs) on your target. The following are the core components that interact with Engulf:

• Fire Breath: This is the most crucial damage over time debuff and is necessary for Engulf to be effective.
• Ruby Embers: This talent adds damage over time to the target when using Engulfing Blaze.
• Enkindle: This is a new passive damage over time debuff that is triggered by spending Essence on Pyre and Disintegrate.

Engulf is a powerful single-target ability that deals significant damage. It is important to understand the other talents in the tree to fully utilize Engulf's potential.

• Consume Flame

Consume Flame is the capstone talent at the bottom of the Flameshaper Talent tree. It causes Engulf to use the duration of Fire Breath as fuel for a massive explosion, damaging all nearby targets. The damage of the explosion is equal to 300% of the amount of Fire Breath consumed. Fire Breath is a key ability in the Devastation Evoker kit and is a major source of damage, so it is essential to keep it active as much as possible.

To understand the damage of Consume Flame's explosion, it is important to understand how Fire Breath works. Fire Breath deals a set total damage regardless of its empowerment level. It has both upfront initial damage and damage over time components. The duration of Fire Breath can be reduced by empowering it, which increases the upfront damage. However, the damage over time remains the same. It is generally recommended to empower Fire Breath to rank 1 to maintain the damage over time, but there are exceptions. The damage over time of Fire Breath can be extended by refreshing it before it expires, known as the Pandemic effect.

The Engulf explosion from Consume Flame is equivalent to a Tip the Scales Fire Breath cast, which makes it a massive AoE damage ability. Engulf has two charges on a short cooldown and Traveling Flame, another talent in the tree, allows Fire Breath duration to be refreshed during Engulf if there are no valid targets without Fire Breath. This ensures that players can maintain Fire Breath uptime and maximize the damage of Engulf's explosion.

• Burning Adrenaline

Each cast of Engulf grants a buff called Burning Adrenaline, which makes the next spell cast 30% faster. This buff stacks twice with charges, but it is unlikely to stack in effectiveness to 60%. Burning Adrenaline allows for faster casting of spells like Eternity Surge, Fire Breath, Disintegrate, and Living Flame, increasing overall damage output. It provides additional synergy within the Flameshaper Talent tree.

Other Components and Choices

In addition to the core components discussed above, Flameshaper Evoker offers other components and choices that further enhance the playstyle and utility of the spec.

Enkindle triggers additional damage over time with Essence abilities, similar to the Mastery: Ignite mechanic for Fire Mages. This damage over time effect can be further amplified and extended by Engulf with the Fan the Flames choice node.

Conduit of Flame provides a critical strike chance increase against targets above 50% health. This synergizes well with Mastery: Giantkiller and incentivizes frontloading damage.

Titanic Precision increases the chance to trigger Essence Burst with spells like Living Flame and Azure Strike. The exact mechanics of this talent are not fully clear yet, but it aims to increase Essence Burst generation for Flameshapers.

The Flameshaper Talent tree also offers choices between two damage nodes, two utility or defensive nodes, and two more damage nodes. These choices allow players to customize their playstyle and adapt to different scenarios.

Conclusion

Flameshaper Evoker is a strong contender to Scalecommander and brings exciting new options for Devastation Evokers in The War Within expansion. The burst damage potential of Flameshaper, combined with the existing Devastation playstyle, makes it an appealing choice. However, it is important to note that the threat and utility issues plaguing Devastation Evokers still need to be addressed by Blizzard. With proper adjustments and improvements, Flameshaper has the potential to be a top choice for players.

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