Fel Mana Potions

As a responsible raider, you should carry with you a bag of consumables. Alongside an assortment of Elixirs and foodstuffs, you should have a few stacks of Mana Potions. Mana Potions come in all shapes and sizes (but Alchemist Regulation apparently requires the addition of FD&C Blue 1) and from a variety of sources. To give you an idea, I regularly carry 15 Super Mana Potions, 10 Combat Mana Potions, and 5 or more Unstable Mana Potions. However, I’ve recently added a new type of Mana Potion to my arsenal — the Fel Mana Potion:

The Good: The Fel Mana Potion grants its imbiber 3200 Mana over 24 seconds. Compare that to the values for it’s closest equivalent, the Super Mana Potion, which ranges from 1800 to 3000 Mana (average 2400) and delivers instantly. That represents an average percent increase of 33% (with a maximum increase of 78% if you were really unlucky)!

The Bad: Because many people are turned off by the reduction of spell damage and healing, these are less commonly created by alchemists. Hunters, however, love them since they aren’t affected by the potion’s drawbacks. Consequently, it may be harder to find them on the Auction House. I recommend buying the materials and having them crafted in batches, preferably by a Potion Master you’ve schmoozed into giving you the extras.

The Ugly: Ugly because it involves math, not because it’s a serious drawback. I hope to demonstrate that, while the 15-minute reduction of +Healing by 50 might sound horrible, the extra mana gained more than offsets it, at least when used later in the fight. After all, most would agree that losing +50 Healing over 60 seconds is worth gaining an average of an additional 800 Mana (and a maximum of 1800) over that same time period:

((3200 - 1800) + (3200 - 3000))/2 = 800

To determine when it’s appropriate to use a Fel Mana Potion instead of a Super Mana Potion, we need to compare the relative values placed upon MP5 and +Healing. This will vary based upon your method of healing, and I demonstrate how to perform this calculation for yourself in the earlier MP5 vs. Healing article. The MP5 of these potions is determined by the amount of time remaining in the encounter. The shorter the amount of time remaining in an encounter, the greater the MP5 afforded by a Fel Mana Potion:

MP5_FMP = 3200 Mana/t

Because the value of +Healing vs. MP5 varies by fight and the method by which you heal, we will evaluate the comparative value of FMPs vs. SMPs for different ratios and based on different amounts of time remaining until the encounter concludes (at which point, the +Healing debuff will no longer matter). In performing this calculation, we have to subtract the equivalent value of MP5 from any +Healing that’s lost due to the Fel Weakness debuff (which lasts 15 minutes or until death). Here’s the formula used:

Mana Gain_FMP = Mana return from FMP - Mana equivalent lost due to Fel Weakness over remaining fight duration OR

Mana Gain_FMP = 3200 - ((50/Value of +Healing equal to 1 MP5) * 12 * (Minutes Remaining))

I used the 11 +Healing = 1 MP5 value derived in my previous article. I also graphed 6 +Healing = 1 MP5 and 18 +Healing = 1 MP5 for the sake of contrast (and because this value does vary by encounter). I measured the return when used with 1 minute remaining to 15 minutes remaining (at which point the debuff expires). I also graphed the average mana return of a Super Mana Potion (2400):

From the figure above, we can see that, at the value of +Healing vs. MP5 calculated previously (11 +Healing = 1 MP5), the total mana return from a Fel Mana Potion exceeds that of an average Super Mana Potion even when the fight lasts almost the entire duration of the Fel Weakness buff! At a more conservative estimate (6 +Healing = 1 MP5), it’s still advantageous to use a Fel Mana Potion rather than a Super Mana Potion as long as there are 8 or fewer minutes remaining in the fight. Keep in mind that the Fel Weakness buff stacks up to 7 times, but if the tradeoff is a wise one to make the first time, it should subsequently be a wise one to make for additional debuff applications (since essentially nothing about the tradeoff changes). (However, studies indicate that repeated consumption of Fel Mana Potions may cause liver damage in rats. But those rats were from Gnomergan and had a liver to spare.)

Additional Considerations

To properly leverage a Fel Mana Potion, you must anticipate needing the mana well in advance since, unlike the Super Mana Potion, the restoration is not immediate and takes place over 24 seconds. Druids are experienced at anticipating the use of Innervate, however, and should find this caveat no great hardship.

Finally, as pointed out by commentor, Mike, while the threat associated with the consumption of a Super Mana Potion is an immediate 900-1500, the threat that would be garnered from the consumption of a Fel Mana potion would be a gradual 67 threat per second for 24 seconds. This figure is more manageable for tanks than a 900-1500 Threat spike.

Download the Spreadsheet
used to calculate these values.

Related Posts

• Mana Management
• 2.4 Mana Regen: Valuing +Healing
• Arrrghhh!!! Trinkets!!!