Arcane Mage PvE Guide

[Wiids]

Your spell power is really low for your ilvl, which weapon are you using atm?

Yes I know it is just awful, I have had dire luck trying to get anything decent from HC's or RF.

http://www.wowhead.com/item=81140 Is the weapon I am using currently.

[JohnnyQuest]

Only using Barrage before rings, since the stacks are going to fall off anyway

I still don't ABarr unless I'm running and stacks are in danger of dropping

Is there any reason for not using AE to keep your stacks up? It's not gonna be huge damage, especially on a single target fight, but if 6 stack camping is looking that much better, surely it'd be worth it? Especially with a chance to proc missiles if it hits anyone.

[Ryoushi]

Hello, I am puzzled by a few things at the moment. I could create a new thread, but there's millions of others already.
First of all, I only recently specced arcane for the first time, as did many others I suppose, so I'm still learning the spec.

The first issue I come across is when I'm attempting the Blatty way of arcane (keeping 6 stacks indefinitely) and can't seem to keep enough mana to do AB, filler, AB, filler. Could that be caused by too few AM procs? Since its cast is longer than scorch, it stands to reason you lose mana quicker due to more AB casts. Currently I have to weave in an extra scorch after some dot refresh, rune replacement, or before missiles to get to the appropriate mana for casting my new AB. How does everyone else tackle this?

Second, I really can't decide on haste vs mastery. I saw the information in the first post, but that's dummy data and sims which most likely don't account for double mana gem with alter time and 6 stack camping. I know it's all still fresh, but is there any indication one is more than marginally better than the other? For gearplanning and current progress this would be nice (I raid with 2 locks in a 10 man, so yeahhh)

Thanks a bunch in advance, hope some of you have the information I can't seem to find!

[azzgunther]

Can anybody help me whit arcane??

I am usually mage fire raiding, have 120k average in boss dummy. My raid leader say me that i need change to arcane, and...lost all my dps, i cant get more that 80k.

Can you give any advise of como can get more?

...

For this moment, my best rotation are six charge and use AM when have proc, and when i have 80% or low the mana, use barrage

We're starting to come to a realization that you shouldn't use Arcane Barrage unless you're coming to a part of the fight where your stacks will fall off. Instead:

Arcane Blast-->Arcane Missiles/Scorch if no Missiles up-->Arcane Blast-->Arcane Missiles/Scorch-->etc. You won't drop under 80% mana.

[Deleted]

We're starting to come to a realization that you shouldn't use Arcane Barrage unless you're coming to a part of the fight where your stacks will fall off. Instead:

Arcane Blast-->Arcane Missiles/Scorch if no Missiles up-->Arcane Blast-->Arcane Missiles/Scorch-->etc. You won't drop under 80% mana.

So, you say me that never use AB until i lost charges...

Rotation is :

6 charge

If have misiles, use, if no scorch and other charge?

Is correct?

And burn phase?

[voltaa]

I think it's pretty safe to say at this point that scorch weaving is viable, if not the best strategy, for single target. After watching Blatty's stream lately and playing in my own raid tonight I can tell you it's definitely worth giving a shot. His strategy is to never cast two arcane blast's in a row and stay at 88%+ mana. Basically keep up NT, cast one arcane blast, if you have a missles proc you AM and if not you scorch, then another arcane blast etc. If you use NT you treat that as regen and cast another AB.

Blatty's #1 Gara'jal parse (he didn't go down at all so it's not skewed with nt spam downstairs, but the person logging did it seems.): http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/r...=13578&e=13832 He got pretty lucky with AM procs it seems, but his only 3 barrages were during alter time and 1 at the very end of the fight when the boss was about to die.

He isn't positive if this is the best rotation, but it's what he's been trying along with mastery reforge/gemming and it seems to be working out great for him.

Now the real thing we need is for blatty, or a similarly geared mage to try not scorching to see if this is indeed the best result due to rotation or simply because blatty is geared out the ass compared to us scrubs

[DeathDefier]

Now the real thing we need is for blatty, or a similarly geared mage to try not scorching to see if this is indeed the best result due to rotation or simply because blatty is geared out the ass compared to us scrubs

He was using it prior to scorching.

[Jimm3]

He was using it prior to scorching.

And the result was?

[Bondey]

Is there any reason for not using AE to keep your stacks up? It's not gonna be huge damage, especially on a single target fight, but if 6 stack camping is looking that much better, surely it'd be worth it? Especially with a chance to proc missiles if it hits anyone.

I hadn't considered this at all, thanks for the tip.

[Aquamonkey]

Is there any reason for not using AE to keep your stacks up? It's not gonna be huge damage, especially on a single target fight, but if 6 stack camping is looking that much better, surely it'd be worth it? Especially with a chance to proc missiles if it hits anyone.

Not every fight will you be close enough to hit something with AE, but when you are, it is better than losing the stacks unless the ABarr cleave is worth it.

[JohnnyQuest]

Not every fight will you be close enough to hit something with AE, but when you are, it is better than losing the stacks unless the ABarr cleave is worth it.

The comma on the tooltip for AE is confusing me. I was reading it as it has a 100% chance to refresh stacks, regardless of contact (meaning you can always us AE to prevent stacks dropping), and a 30% chance to proc Missiles on hit. Is that totally wrong and it's a 30% for a refresh and a proc on hit?

[Sloth11]

can somebody help me with tracking the duration of rune of power? i have omni cc and tellmewhen, but i cant seem to find the option for it to track the timer. there is no timer on the actual debuff, but there is that small timer that shows up under your player picture in the default UI.

[Bondey]

The comma on the tooltip for AE is confusing me. I was reading it as it has a 100% chance to refresh stacks, regardless of contact (meaning you can always us AE to prevent stacks dropping), and a 30% chance to proc Missiles on hit. Is that totally wrong and it's a 30% for a refresh and a proc on hit?

It will always refresh stacks, but a 30% chance to generate an additional charge.
The catch is, with aoe however its only a 30% chance if at least 1 is hit, so using it on 1 target will yield the same charge generation as x amount.

[supermage]

I dissagree with useing intell/mastery gems in yellow slots. Go full mastery gems in yellow slots or full haste gems if your stacking haste. And never ever drop your stacks on single targets. You should always have 6 stacks. If you happen to go low for whatever reason, mana gem or mana pot. Always blow your stacks after 6 when there is atleast 4 mobs. It vastly improves arcanes aoe. I recomend useing living bomb or frost bomb. Nethertempest is fine for single targets, but is horrible for multi target fights. Living bomb and frost bomb have compareable single target damage and helps with your aoe so you don't feel like a weakling when you have to aoe. If you happen to get unlucky for whatever reason with missile procs and you can't use mana gems, or mana pots; scorch weave. But if you are useing rune of power with frost bomb, scorch weaving is almost never needed.

[Alcapown]

And the result was?

Obviously that scorch weaving comes out on top.

Highly geared progression raiders aren't going to stick to 1 method without confirming it works best.

[DeathDefier]

Remember guys that if you really need to get your 6 stack refreshed you can arcane explosion and it's guaranteed to refresh it if hits the target (try it if you don't believe me). It isn't guaranteed to give you an extra stack if you have 0-5 (it's around 30% I believe), but it always refreshes the current stack. This was especially helpful today during Blade Lord progression. Every time he would suck us in I would arcane explosion to keep my stacks up, and also when he did unseen strike I would AE right when i got knocked back and the boss would reappear.

And the result was?

Like I said originally, he isn't 100% sure yet which is better and he doesn't want to say something and have thousands of nerds flame him if he's wrong in the long run. All signs point to scorch weaving being superior though.

[mrgreenthump]

Even if scorch weaving was the exact same dps, it would be better due added benefit of being able to move while casting scorch, now that doesnt sound like much, but if you plan your actions right.. Its actually pretty nice if everything goes to plan. And it sure as hell is better than having to stay put and cast away AB's

Though at the same time nobody says you cant do both, it just takes time to adjust to everything.. and basicly most mages here are in a spot like they were when the expansion was new and they had to adjust for fire or frost. You still got to remember that we have had more than 2 months time to perfect our rotations as fire or frost, and for someone who raids actively thats more than 100 hours in raids vs a spec that you have raided 5-25 hours by now..

[Deleted]

Obviously that scorch weaving comes out on top.

Highly geared progression raiders aren't going to stick to 1 method without confirming it works best.

Just note that even when using scorch weaving also barrage is used still now and then. For example in that Garajal log Blatty is not purely scorch weaving, he is also using barrage some times to drop stacks, probably because going too low mana during Arcane Power. And that is natural way of doing it by my experience, using scorch weaving feels like its not enough regeneration if one happens to be bit unlucky with missile procs or using AP. Then its prolly better use barrage (or mana gem when its ready) than start to spam low damage scorches for long time.

[DeathDefier]

Just note that even when using scorch weaving also barrage is used still now and then. For example in that Garajal log Blatty is not purely scorch weaving, he is also using barrage some times to drop stacks, probably because going too low mana during Arcane Power. And that is natural way of doing it by my experience, using scorch weaving feels like its not enough regeneration if one happens to be bit unlucky with missile procs or using AP. Then its prolly better use barrage (or mana gem when its ready) than start to spam low damage scorches for long time.

No, he used Barrage twice during Alter Time (like you're supposed to before it fades), and once at the end of the fight when the boss was at 0.1% health or so. He got extremely lucky procs during that kill and didn't have to scorch much at all. I can assure you after watching his stream a good amount that he does the AB, AM/scorch, AB, AM/Scorch rotation, and never uses barrage to drop stacks, only during Alter Time.

[Deleted]

He used Barrage 3 times, one at the end of the fight and the other two at the end of his alter time. This way, he was always with full stacks of arcane charge.