Mage damage shield question
 

I know you need to do 51%+ of a mobs HP to get full XP. I am curious, does damage that ticks from the flame shield line (when cast on pet) count towards your damage, pets damage, or is it negated?

Thanks!

DS does not count towards damage, no matter how much damage it actually does.

So in theory, if a mob had 1000 HP - The DS somehow did 800 DMG you would only need to do 101 damage while you pet did the remaining 99 to get full XP? Even though in this scenario you didn't actually do half the mobs HP? Or Do you need to do 51% of the damage regardless of whatever makes up the remaining 49%?

Correct. The Damage shield is a Neutral source of damage for keeping score of what you need to beat out your pet for getting full experience.

Is this also true for the fire pets innate damage shield?

Yes

Okay, awesome that makes it a lot better. I am new to mage and previously played necro. What are the go to mage solo mechanics? I’ve heard fire pet / reclaim energy and a nuke to finish them off is pretty solid. Are the other methods just the obvious ones? ie nuke it while your pet tanks etc? I’m just having a hard time out damaging the pet without having lots of downtime.

Yeah just let the mob kill itself on fire pet DS, when it gets low/starts to flee reclaim pet and nuke for all the exp. Try and get the mob down to around 10% life so you can kill it with a single nuke. At higher levels you will have to do the chain summon pet tactic to kill stuff efficiently.

Is firepet a better option than the other 3 and maintaining the DS?

Yeah the fire pet DS is stronger than the DS you can cast.