Of all the Mage specializations on offer, Arcane is the one that feels the most rich and immersed in the lore of World of Warcraft. Happily, it’s also proving to be highly effective in The War Within, so here’s everything you need to know about playing it.
Arcane is one of the talent specializations that received the most attention during the development of the latest expansion, with the whole tree receiving a rework. That has resulted in the dawning of an impressive new era for the spec, and it’s poised to continue growing in prowess throughout The War Within.
Though the general gameplay loop still revolves around queueing up spells for maximum output, there are some nifty new avenues to pursue when it comes to getting the most out of the spec. With the additional emphasis on Magic and spellcasting in this expansion, there is plenty to like about the potential of Arcane.
With that in mind, this is our full guide to playing the spec in The War Within.
Arcane Mage Class changes in The War Within
The headline change for Arcane Mage in The War Within is that Arcane Missiles is now only castable when Clearcasting procs. In addition, the chance for this proc to happen is now a flat rate tied to each ability cast, rather than the total amount of mana spent.
The overall rotation for the spec has been streamlined and simplified when compared to what we’ve been playing over the last couple of expansion cycles. The removal of Nether Spark and Radiant Tempest is a big reason for this, also allowing a shorter runway into big damage bursts. The talent tree rework has also been extensive, with some new weapons in the spec’s arsenal to enjoy.
Arcane Mage talents, Hero Talents, and build
The Mage talent tree still contains several dead-end nodes that should be avoided, despite the positive larger changes to the spec.
To start with, our Mage tree contains much of the utility that the class needs to remain competitive. Ice Block, Prismatic Barrier, Remove Curse, Spellsteal and Ring of Frost all feature, providing extra defensive options and much-needed CC to reduce the burden on Polymorph.
Alter Time provides the Mage with an interesting “mulligan” option, and clever use of the ability really is one of the most rewarding that any class has access to. There are also solid direct damage options in the class tree, including Shifting Power, Blast Wave, and Supernova, all of which are nice to have, despite not being staples.
The tree culminates in true standout abilities like Mass Barrier and Greater Invisibility, the former of which is highly useful for group content. There are also highly important passive notes throughout, most notably Time Anomaly, which gives us more access to the Clearcasting proc we need for Arcane Barrage.
The Arcane specialization tree is designed to give us as many options as possible, while increasing our overall spellcasting efficacy where possible. With the way the current version of the tree is put together, much of it is passive, with only a few nodes that actually add to our rotation in any way.
The tree starts with Arcane Missiles, before we build into other central column active abilities, including Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi. The big talent to take in this build is Evocation, which gives us another route into Clearcasting that isn’t reliant on procs, while also giving huge, albeit brief, mana regeneration to counter our high Haste stat.
Much of the rest of the tree is built to lean heavily into giving us more chance at proccing Clearcasting and increasing its effectiveness when we do. There are also several nodes that directly buff the damage of other abilities while Clearcasting is active (like Nether Precision, Concentrated Power and Eureka).
We’ve built into Improved Touch of the Magi and Arcane Echo, to improve damage and add an AoE burst. Additionally, there are several talents at the end of the tree that markedly improve Arcane Barrage, including Arcane Bombardment, Arcane Harmony and Orb Barrage.
With all of those locked in, you should find playing Arcane Mage to be relatively simple, rotationally speaking, allowing you to focus on positioning, resource management and the broader mechanics of the game during engagements.
Hero Talents
Regardless of whether you’re heading into a Mythic+ dungeon, the new raid or wider PvE content, Sunfury is the better option for Arcane Mages at this time. This isn’t through any major fault in the design of Spellslinger, which itself is performing well in the wider array of Hero Talent options, but is instead purely due to the marginal overtuning of Sunfury.
As is the case with many of the other Hero Talent trees in WoW, Sunfury has three choice nodes for players to take advantage of. The first of those is situational, and you should pick based on expected threat. We’ve gone with Gravity Lapse for the extra CC, though Lessons in Debilitation also works well if you’re looking for additional Spellsteal.
Our next node is best used with a point in Sunfury Execution. This provides an additional 30% damage to Arcane Bombardment, the execution version of Arcane Barrage against enemies who sit on less than 35% health.
The best overall choice for the final choice node is Rondurmancy, which allows us to stack Spellfire Spheres up to five times, instead of the usual three. Ignite the Future could be a practical choice if you’re savvy about keeping your Phoenix up as much as possible, but it adds needless complication for little potential benefit.
If you do decide to go with Spellslinger, or it receives tuning in the future that improves its efficacy, all three choice nodes unusually appear in the same tier of the tree. The first option to go with is Slippery Slinging, which provides 40% extra movement speed during Alter Time and Evocation.
In our second slot, we have gone with Reactive Barrier for its excellent survivability. In group content, Phantasmal Image may be the better choice, considering how often you are likely to be casting Mirror Image to open up engagements.
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The last choice node is also viable regardless of which option you pick. We have gone for Unerring Proficiency (as we have built into Supernova anyway), though Volatile Magic is a great AoE option that requires little to no intervention on the player’s part.
Stat priority
As has been the case in previous expansions, Intellect remains the primary Cloth gear stat for Mages and other spellcasters. Maxing this stat out will do everything from boosting outgoing damage to increase the efficacy of individual abilities and spells. Interestingly, Arcane Mage is one of the few specs where the Secondary stat priority actually changes depending on which Hero Talent tree you elect to use. Sticking to the use of Sunfury, as recommended earlier, the best weighting is as follows:
1. Intellect2. Haste3. Mastery4. Critical Strike5. Versatility
This changes to the following if you do decide to pursue Spellslinger:
1. Intellect2. Haste3. Critical Strike4. Mastery5. Versatility
Haste is always the play for Mages thanks to the massively increased spellcasting speed if you stack the stat correctly. This gives us the best chance to maximize our damage with little downtime between bursts, but careful resource management is key (Arcane Barrage aside) if you don’t want to find yourself out of Mana quickly.
The big benefit to Mastery is that it increases the effectiveness of Mastery: Savant. This increases maximum mana by almost 10% and increases mana regeneration significantly as well. As stats go, it acts as the perfect tonic for the issues that our increased Haste stat may cause. The Prodigious Savant talent ups the potency of Mastery further when using Arcane Barrage or Arcane Blast.
Critical Strike is a good generalist stat because it has the potential to double our individual damage procs. Versatility does a similar job, though it improves outgoing damage and healing across the board and reduces incoming damage taken. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make enough of a difference to make it worth prioritizing over the other options.
Rotation
Regardless of exactly how you choose to play the spec, it’s easy to get lost in Arcane Mage’s intricacies and be fooled into thinking that it’s much more complex than it actually is. With good use of the core mechanics and an attentiveness toward the game’s visual cues, you should find yourself putting out excellent damage in no time.
The Arcane Mage rotation is divided into two distinct sections. The first is the initial bursty damage phase after the pull before we move into a cycle of high-damage sections and more passive, cooldown reduction periods. With that in mind, we recommend opening engagements as follows:
- Mirror Image
- Evocation
- Arcane Missiles
- Arcane Orb
- Time Warp
- Arcane Surge
- Arcane Barrage
- Touch of the Magi
From there, you’ll want to cycle into a regular rotation that can be maintained without running out of Mana or hitting a cooldown wall. The best way to do this is to pop Evocation, Touch of the Magi and Arcane Surge for huge damage in a short window.
From there, use Shifting Power for a major cooldown reduction of 12 seconds (over 4 seconds). Then, use Touch of the Magi once more before once again returning to Arcane Surge and Barrage where possible.
Arcane Mage Tier Set breakdown
Tier Sets are unique armor collections that provide additional benefits to specific classes. These bonuses apply when players equip 2 or 4 pieces of armor from the set, with the effects also being cumulative. In the first season of The War Within, Mages can pick up the Sparks of Violet Rebirth set, with the total bonuses it offers as follows:
- 2-Piece Set – Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage damage increased by 6%.
- 4-piece Set – Casting Arcane Blast or Arcane Barrage has a 5% chance of making your next Arcane Barrage deal 20% increased damage and generate 4 Arcane Charges.
The set bonuses lead further into the overall idea of using Arcane Barrage to refund casting resources when you run low. The straight damage buff to Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage will undoubtedly prove helpful, even if it doesn’t do anything particularly exciting.
The Intuition proc from the 4-piece bonus is the real boost here, offering the chance to generate 4 Arcane Charges. Though the proc chance is only 5%, you’ll be using the associated abilities enough that this should feel pretty regular. When it does proc, you’ll have much more control over your rotation and overall resource management.
Gems and Enchants
As is seemingly always the case in WoW, the Enchantment system provides us with some direct and almost compulsory choices if you want to squeeze every last ounce out of your spec. With the choices currently on offer in The War Within, we recommend going with the following in each slot:
| Slot | Best Enchant |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon – Authority of the Depths |
| Cloak | Enchant Cloak – Chant of Winged Grace |
| Chest | Enchant Chest – Crystalline Radiance |
| Bracers | Formula: Enchant Bracers – Chant of Armored Avoidance |
| Legs | Daybreak Spellthread |
| Boots | Enchant Boots – Defender’s March |
| Ring – Regular | Enchant Ring – Radiant Haste |
| Ring – Cursed | Enchant Ring – Cursed Haste |
Authority of the Depths is a hugely potent Enchant that has a chance to proc Suffocating Darkness whenever you damage an enemy. This does significant additional damage and can stack up to three times, making a massive difference over the course of a high-health boss encounter.
Elsewhere, we have invested in essential boosts to our Primary stat and some extra help with lesser-used stats like Avoidance, all of which make our squishy Mage more well-rounded. Daybreak Spellthread also increases our maximum mana by 5%.
That’s all there is to know about playing Arcane Mage in WoW: The War Within. If you want to keep up with exactly how it is doing in the broader landscape of PvE content, we have prepared a complete tier list for every DPS spec. Thinking of changing role? We’ve also done the same for Tanks and Healers.