Arcane Mage PvE Guide

[Shangalar]

Arcane Mage



PvE Guide

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
1.0.1 Summary of the keypoints
1.1 Notes for pre-MoP Arcane players
1.2 5.1 Note
1.3 5.2 Note
2. Core Abilities
3. Basic Gameplay without level 90 talents
3.1 AoE Gameplay
3.1.1 Clustered Targets
3.1.2 Spread targets
3.2 How to start a raid encounter
4. Talents
5. Cooldown usage and special abilities
6. Glyphs
7. Stats
7.1 Reforging and gemming strategy
8. Gear
8.1 Trinket rankings
9. Useful addons
10. Guide for Arcane in Throne of Thunder
11. Closing remarks
11.1 5.1 Remarks

1. Introduction

Greetings Arcane Mages and those who wish to be. This is my first guide and even though I’ve trained many Mages over the last few years of being a Class Leader/Officer in my guild, I still had reservations over writing a community guide. The guide is based on patch 5.0.4, my experiences with Arcane, research done for MoP and last but certainly not least, the endless community discussions we’ve had here for the last several months. I hope you learn something new or find the information you were looking for.

1.0.1 Summary of the keypoints

This part is intended for players who already know everything about Arcane and are just looking for a quick general suggestion for building their character:

Talents: Blazing Speed, Ice Barrier, Ring of Frost, Greater Invisibility, Nether Tempest, Rune of Power
Glyphs: Evocation, Mana Gem, Arcane Explosion // Mirror Images, free choice, free choice
Gems: Red sockets: Intellect/Mastery, Blue sockets: Hit/Mastery, Yellow sockets: Mastery
Stat priority: Hit to 15% -> Intellect -> Haste to the first available breakpoint (minimum 3056) -> Mastery -> Haste -> Crit
idea: have Mastery on every item either through base stats or through reforging.

1.1 Notes for pre-MoP Arcane players

New Arcane Mages, skip this short part, it will only confuse you.

The Arcane playstyle has significantly changed from our classic Burn + Evocation + Conserve gameplay. Burning mana using Arcane Blast effectively doesn’t exist anymore except in a limited version which will be explained later. The new Arcane is a far less bursty specialization, but more complex in mana management and ability usage.

1.2 5.1 Note

In Patch 5.1, Arcane go some significant number changes in terms of Arcane Charge mana cost reductions and damage modifier increases per stack. We liked it a lot as it bumped Arcane to a perfectly competitive level and it also introduced several new gameplay innovations, some as unwanted side-effects. Also note, some of the tooltips in the game might still be wrong (Arcane Charge, Blast, etc.).

1.3 5.2 Note

In Patch 5.2 Arcane was again significantly changed. The amount of changes wasn't really significant, but the gameplay changes which resulted were. There is no more 6-Charge camping, primarily because now you can get only to 4 Charges. Additionally, the mana cost per Charge for Blast is now a lot higher so there is no more camping at max Charges and Scorch is now Fire exclusive so it can't be used anyway.

2. Core Abilities

Arcane Charge – formerly known as stacks of Arcane Blast
- built by Blast, Missiles and Explosion, spent by Barrage and Evocation
- stacks up to 4
- Arcane Explosion refreshes the duration of existing Charges with a 30% chance to generate a Charge, but is not affected by it in any other way

Arcane Blast – generates 1 Charge
- damage increased by 50% and mana cost by 150% per Charge

Arcane Missiles – cannot be used without procs, every damaging spell cast has a chance to proc Missiles
- stacks up to 2
- generates 1 Charge
- channelled
- damage increased by 50% per Charge

Arcane Barrage – damage increased by 50% per Charge
- hits 1 additional target per Charge for 50% damage
- spends all Charges

Arcane Power – increases the damage of all damaging spells by 20% and their mana cost by 10%

Mastery: Mana Adept – increases damage done based on the percentage of available mana
- this is the base and core of doing good damage as an Arcane Mage

Mage Bomb – discussed later in the section on level 75 talents, but belongs in the basic priority list

Mage Armor – increases Mastery by 3000, thus making it the only viable Armor option for Arcane

3. Basic Gameplay without level 90 talents

0. Pre-combat buffs – Arcane Brilliance and Mage Armor (Mastery)
1. Mage Bomb – refresh Nether Tempest or Living Bomb when there is only one tick remaining or cast Frost Bomb if it’s off cooldown
2. Arcane Power – cast when off cooldown
3. Arcane Blast – generate charges
- if you are under 3 charges and have 2 Missiles procs, cast Missiles *once* and then continue to build up to 4 Charges with Blast, after which you use any remaining Missiles
4. Arcane Barrage – use when you reach 4 Charges and have no more Missiles procs
- use at 3 Charges if there are no Missiles procs and you are under 80% mana

3.1 AoE Gameplay

3.1.1 Clustered Targets

1. Apply Bomb (or several Bombs - NT by multidotting, LB by Glyph of Fire Blast)
2. Flamestrike
3. Arcane Explosion
4. Arcane Barrage when number of targets = Charges + 1

Extra – if targets are CC-able, try to freeze them before Barrage

3.1.2 Spread Targets

1. Apply Bombs
2. Single target
3. Barrage if possible to hit multiple targets

3.2 How to start a raid encounter

0. Pre-combat buffs
0. Countdown:
5 seconds - cast Evocation if using Invocation
3 seconds - cast Rune of Power if using Rune of Power
Mirror Image
Potion
1. Mage Bomb
2. Blast to 4 Charges
2.1 Cast Incanter's Ward at 4-5 Charges if damage is incoming
3. Refresh Mage Bomb
4. Fish for Missiles procs until you have 2
5. Use Macro - Arcane Power, professions use abilities, Trinkets with use abilities, Mana Gem (optional), Alter Time, Arcane Missiles (everything listed except Missiles is off the global cooldown so everything activates and Missiles get cast)
6. Missiles, Missiles, Blast, Barrage (if under the effects of Time Warp: Missiles, Missiles, Blast, Blast, Barrage)
7. Alter Time reactivates
8. Missiles, Blast, Missiles
9. Continue with usual rotation

4. Talents

Level 15 – Mobility Tier

Presence of Mind – great for occasional periods of short movement, otherwise a useful DPS cooldown

Blazing Speed – a very nice mobility spell even if it's only a very short burst of speed

Ice Floes – a neat spell for periods of predictable movement

Beginner tip – Presence of Mind is your safest bet, Ice Floes can be wasted if not used properly, and we are not really used to move and cast

Pro tip – mastering Ice Floes can be quite beneficial depending on the encounter, but will require practice even for the experienced Arcane Mages. I personally found Blazing Speed to be optimal for me this raid tier and I use only that.

Level 30 – Defense Tier

Temporal Shield– usable while disabled and doesn’t trigger a global cooldown. Heals after 4 seconds instead of preventively absorbing damage.

Blazing Speed – not really that useful in PvE

Flameglow - a passive defensive spells which reduces a small amount of damage taken from each hit

Ice Barrier – a powerful absorb, but triggers a global cooldown

Beginner tip – Ice Barrier is a sure thing when your raid leader calls for defensive cooldowns or when you find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Pro tip – Temporal Shield is the best for maximizing your damage because it's off the global cooldown, but be careful because it’s not an absorb in the classic sense and there are loads of fights in Throne of Thunder which make you frequently take high hits. If you know how and when to use Teamporal Sield, go ahead.

Level 45 – Crowd Control Tier

Ring of Frost – only useful for a larger pack of adds and also has a cast time

Ice Ward – a great spell to put on an off-tank kiting adds or any dedicated kiter

Frostjaw – great for silencing adds which need to be interrupted

Tip – if the raid encounter demands it, you take it and use it, doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Level 60 – Survival Tier

Greater Invisibility – a powerful utility spell, can be used as a defensive cooldown or to cheat death mechanics

Cauterize – its greatest advantage is that it works on its own, its only weakness the easily healable damage which can be compensated by a shield spell or Evocation heal and of course, your group’s healers

Cold Snap – not that useful for raiding, but enables extra Ice Blocks and has a heal. The other two abilities are just far more versatile in PvE

Beginner Tip – Cauterize is a no worries talent because it doesn’t require you to actively plan and use it

Pro Tip – not taking unnecessary damage is (or should be) one of the goals of every DPS in the raid and Greater Invisibility allows just that. If timed properly with boss mechanics, you lose damage only for 1 global cooldown. Additionally, with the 5.3 cooldown reduction to Greater Invisibility, it's become one of my favorite Mage spells.

Level 75 – Bomb Tier

Nether Tempest – works best against 1-3 targets, currently the best damage choice on single target except for Frost Bomb critical hits

Living Bomb – works best against 3-4 targets because of the target limitation, but functions best when playing Fire as its basic gameplay implements spreading it to other targets

Frost Bomb– works best against 4+ targets, but also works best in Frost’s gameplay as it has a 100% chance to proc Brain Freeze

Tip – Since we don't have Glyph of Fire Blast available anymore, the best option is Nether Tempest and Frost Bomb can be used only if you have a non-periodic promoting trinket which you should have already.

Level 90 – Superpowers Tier

Invocation – allows something resembling a burn phase
- changes the gameplay to:
1. Evocation
2. Standard rotation with being extra careful not to cast any more Blasts when reaching 4 Charges
3. When the buff is about to expire, burn mana to 30-35% with Blast, then back to step 1

Rune of Power – increases mana regen which we really like as Arcane

Incanter's Ward – changes the gameplay to allow mini burn phases on fights with regular predictable damage – burn mana to 75-80% in preparation, pop shield to absorb damage and regain mana to full in time to use Missiles and Barrage
- best damage is gained by having 5-6 Charges and Missiles ready when you gain the damage buff
- works best on fights with lots of movement and predictable damage

Tip - Rune of Power is currently the only competitive option for Arcane with Incanter's Ward being possible on some fights, but not really needed.

5. Cooldown usage and special abilities

Fire Blast - only if you're walking around like an idiot (like on Durumu's Maze, but more on this later)

Blink – learn to maximize your damage with well timed and placed Blinks, running is not an option if this spell is ready

Counterspell – if your raid leader requires you to interrupt something important, you should do it. However, melee dps and tanks are still a better option for this so argue if needed

Ice Block – your ultimate survival cooldown, best used in emergencies or to cheat death mechanics

Remove Curse – help your healers, dispel curses if needed, as rare as it may be

Evocation – used as a powerful heal and a core ability of the Invocation gameplay. Essentially not required anymore otherwise unless you forget yourself and cast too many Blasts

Mirror Image – use on cooldown, it’s a decent DPS ability

Invisibility – a nice spell to remove threat or at the end of a wipe to stay alive and use Mass Resurrection

Spellsteal – there have been mechanics which required a Purge, Dispel or Spellsteal (Maloriak, Arcanotron). Sometimes it’s better for us to have the effect

Mana Gem – allows you to cast an extra Blast ot two and then instantly gets you to full mana to maximize the Mastery bonus on Missiles and Barrage

Time Warp – While I’ve always preferred Restoration Shamans to use it, if it’s needed, you cast it

Alter Time – Our amazing new level 87 spell allows us some fun things every 3 minutes. When you activate the spell, it memorizes your HP, mana, buffs, debuffs, procs and position (but not cooldown availability). It practically extends the duration of everything on you by 6 seconds.
- ultimate usage – check 3.2
- note – this spell can be used defensively in PvE, but it really shouldn’t

Tip – maximizing your damage will require you to master the usage of Alter Time, Mana Gem, Blink and Level 90 talents.

6. Glyphs

I will review only the relevant or potentially relevant glyphs for Arcane:

Glyph of Arcane Explosion – useful to keep up Charges while moving around an encounter area

Glyph of Blink – confuses you at first if you were used to Blinking to a mailbox from a certain point, but can be useful

Glyph of Evocation – mandatory for all Mages I’ve been training since it appeared – helps your healers by being one of the most powerful heals in the game, but is also very useful with the level 90 talents

Glyph of Ice Block – can be useful, but is very situational in PvE

Glyph of Invisibility – great for solo farming and dungeons, not that great in raids (remotely situational for very long movements)

Glyph of Mana Gem – very useful for Arcane on longer fights, but honestly we take it just because we're lazy

Glyph of Spellsteal – situational for fights which require spellstealing

Glyph of Remove Curse – situational for fights which require decursing

Glyph of Arcane Power – very useful on fights which have periods of limited freecasting without movement and useful when you can predict the duration of a fight

Glyph of Slow – doesn’t have a chance to proc Missiles anymore and the Torment the Weak talent has been removed so this is basically useless for PvE

Glyph of Counterspell – can be useful on fights which require counterspelling so you never have to stop dps.

Glyph of Armors – would be good if you ever had to switch armors, but as Arcane you really don’t

Minor Glyphs:

Glyph of Loose Mana – in my personal game style, this isn’t a DPS increase (see Mana Gem in the previous section), but if you use it at 95% mana and then continue with Blast, the effect might be the same in terms of DPS. Additionally, Nathyiel has pointed out that the Loose Mana Gem buff is subject to Alter Time so it can be used for double the effect.

Glyph of Momentum – can be combined with Ice Floes to Blink while casting and strafing (I think, my testing was a bit inconclusive)

Glyph of Illusion – best used to confuse your Moonkin Guild Master during a fight

Glyph of Mirror Image – this is a DPS increase for Arcane

7. Stats

Essentially: Intellect -> Spell Power -> Hit+Expertise to 15% -> Haste to 3056 (suggested 3300-3400) -> Mastery -> Haste -> Crit

Stat weight analysis using Simulationcraft is just a bit under these descriptions:

Intellect – a no brainer, provides Spell Power which makes the numbers higher.

Hit – if you don’t hit, you don’t do any damage and reaching the hit cap is your primary gearing goal

Expertise – since 5.0.4 provides Spell Hit chance, useful for early expansion reforging

Hit chance formula:
Hit Rating + Expertise Rating = 5100 (-340 if Human wielding a sword) (-340 if Gnome wielding a sword or dagger) (-340 if Draenei)

Mastery – our gameplay revolves around our Mastery (Mana Adept), which requires us to stay as close to 100% mana as possible. Mastery provides a flat damage increase

Haste – since patch 5.0.4, Arcane Blast’s cast time is no longer reduced by Charges and we got a new ability called Nether Attunement which makes Haste increase the mana regained from all sources (base regen, Evocation, Mana Gem, level 90 talents). You should have enough haste to reach specific DoT breakpoints while maintaining Mastery on every item.

Crit – our gameplay doesn’t depend on Crit (like Fire and Frost do) and since the all-mighty damage of Blast has been redistributed to other spells, Crit became even less powerful than before

7.1 Reforging and gemming strategy

Reforging:

Hit/Mastery – nothing
Hit/Crit – Crit to Mastery
Hit/Haste – Haste to Mastery
Mastery/Crit – Crit to Haste or Hit
Mastery/Haste – nothing or Haste to Hit
Haste/Crit – Crit to Mastery

Note - reforge Crit or Haste to Hit/Expertise if missing Hit chance while focusing that every item has Mastery on it.

Gems:

Intellect/Mastery gems in red sockets.
Mastery/Hit gems in blue sockets.
Mastery gems in yellow sockets.

8. Gear

Credit, along with my eternal gratitude, goes to Igloo for compiling a comprehensive list of all non-raid Intellect gear that used to be posted here.

8.1 Trinket ranking

Credit to Blueobelisk for making 5.1 trinket simulations which have been removed.

Here's a list of 5.2 trinkets based on the list available on Ask Mr. Robot. I agree with the list, however, I've removed Unerring Vision of Lei Shen as it's generally crappy for Arcane and other specs will need it so much more. Mr. Robot places it high on the list because of the passive Intellect. Other trinkets are just better and in the following order:

Wushoolay's Final Choice Thunderforged Heroic
Breath of the Hydra Thunderforged Heroic
Wushoolay's Final Choice Heroic
Breath of the Hydra Heroic
Wushoolay's Final Choice Thunderforged Normal
Breath of the Hydra Thunderforged Normal
Wushoolay's Final Choice Normal
Cha-Ye's Essence of Brilliance Heroic
Breath of the Hydra Normal
Cha-Ye's Essence of Brilliance Thunderforged Normal
Cha-Ye's Essence of Brilliance Normal
Wushoolay's Final Choice LFR
Volatile Talisman of the Shado-Pan Assault
Breath of the Hydra LFR
(Light of the Cosmos Heroic)
(Essence of Terror Heroic)
Cha-Ye's Essence of Brilliance LFR
(Relic of Yu'lon)

Note - Don't bother with Breath of the Hydra LFR if you Have Light of The Cosmos Heroic twice upgraded.

9. Useful addons

Deadly Boss Mods – raid encounter notifications and timers.

Decursive – quickly and efficiently remove curses from your friends.

Any addon of your preference which will allow you to track Bomb debuffs or cooldowns (Needtoknow, Tellmewhen, ...)

Arcanometer – very simplistic in design, tracks mana, bombs and Charges and that’s basically everything it needs to track.

Tip: organize your user interface in a way that you are most comfortable with, not in a way someone suggests is best.

10. Guide for Arcane in Throne of Thunder

This section will cover tips and tricks for Arcane on every boss fight in Throne of Thunder that I've experienced. This is some general stuff and some stuff that I do, but other players might not. All fights are done with Rune of Power, no exceptions and I assume you know about the fights, it's not meant to be a boss strategy guide. Some of the things I write might be doable only in 25-man so be careful if you play 10-man.

1. Jin'Rokh the Breaker
- normal - nothing special, your DPS depends primarily on not getting targeted by Focused Lightning
- heroic - dealing with Ionization - Ion 1 - Ice Block and instantly Cold Snap; Ion 2 - Ice Block; Ion 3 - Cold Snap and Ice Block (*credit for this goes to Windry)

2. Horridon
- cast Nether Tempest on everything while maintaining a single target rotation on the boss and switching to Barrage-cleave the adds
- use Glyph of Remove Curse for the Amani tribe, it will give you a nice dps boost when you decurse
- help with interrupts between casts
- learn how your tank positions the boss so you can position yourself with Rune properly

3. Council of Elders
- cast Nether Tempest on all 4 bosses except at start when you're burning (or should be) Sul
- stand somewhere around the middle so Kazra'Jin is also in your range most of the time
- don't move just because Kazra'Jin occasionally bumps into you
- 4-Charge Barrage the sand adds

4. Tortos
- stand in the Rune somewhere and attack, don't move for silly reasons - the little turtles will catch you everywhere
- use Nether Tempest on all three little turtles, nuke one of the turtles who is a primary target, nuke the boss
- use Greater Invisibility and Ice Block to soak Rockfall so you don't have to move
- cheat: Barrage-cleave the Bats

5. Megaera
- another fight in which our dps primarily depends on not being targeted by random stuff
- use Blazing speed to quickly kite the fire away or the frost through the fire or whatever

6. Ji-Kun
- try not to be on the first 'going down' platform so you can blow your cooldowns on the boss with Time Warp and trinkets - I'm always on the first one here so meh
- use Greater Invisibility, Healthstones, Ice Barrier or Temporal Shield and Ice Block so you don't have to stack on Quills
- don't fly for the buff unless you're sure you'll get it

7. Durumu
- if your raid leader doesn't put you in the blue beam, go find a new raid leader
- Maze - Glyph of Arcane Explosion - use Nether Tempest, Arcane Explosion, Barrage and Fire Blast while running around, cast Missiles when you have procs and when you can spend two seconds standing, clear with Barrage if it's about to fall off or you're at 4 Charges
- immunity spells don't work against the main eye during the maze

8. Primordius
- start in your Rune, but don't really bother with camping in it until you get transformed
- spam Nether Tempest on some adds at start, single target the ones you'll use for buffs
- find a remote spot with Rune so you don't get debuffs during burn phases and don't bother with AoE damage - other classes can do that far more efficiently

9. Dark Animus
- after your add is taken by the tank, find a spot in the middle so you don't get teleport around (and out of your Rune)
- put Nether Tempest on the tank priority targets
- cheat: put Nether Tempest on the Massive Anima Golems and laugh at damage meters. Keep it up even during the boss burn

10. Iron Qon
- fire phase - beg for your group to stack on your Rune
- lightning phase - Blink + Blazing Speed to safety in only two seconds
- frost phase - don't ever bother with repositioning during his half-immunity phases

11. Twin Consorts
- stand on the forward edge of your Rune when facing Lu'lin so when you get hit by her Barrage it knocks you back, but you stay in the Rune
- use Nether Tempest and Barrage cleave if possible when Suen briefly appears during the Lunar phase
- use Greater Invisibility to soak Tidal Waves

12. Lei Shen
- Greater Invisibility and Blazing speed are mandatory
- use Greater Invisibility to soak Thunderstruck and Static Shock
- don't bother stacking for Ball Lightning - dump a Flamestrike on the group and Barrage cleave from your Rune while maintaining single target damage on the boss
- SPECIAL CARE - using Alter Time while the boss isn't connected to a pillar makes you keep the debuff if he reconnects before it expires which results in you being very dead after several seconds because the debuff will keep ticking on you even though it should have gone away
- if you suffer from insane FPS spikes when the fight is starting, reboot your PC before you pull for the first time, do a /reload before every pull and zoom in deep into your character for the first 20 seconds of the fight (until the first Thunderstruck because you have to know where it is) - since MoP launch I've had issues with MoP zones and raids overloading my working memory, I usually can't spend more than a few hours in Pandaria without the game crashing. So, if you have this problem on Lei Shen (and from what I've been reading many people have it), the above solution is working for me.


11. Closing Remarks

Thank you for reading and/or using this guide, any feedback and dicussion is greatly appreciated. The main idea of this guide is to sum up what we’ve been talking about since the Beta started and to provide reference material for all of the people who want to play an Arcane Mage in Mists of Pandaria. The guide will of course be expanded, starting first with the best in slot gear and later with whatever changes come during the expansion.

11.1 5.1 Remarks

I apologize for being a month late with all the necessary guide updates, it's been a busy month with Uni obligations and then suddenly holidays. Happy holidays to those who celebrate and thank you again for using this guide and especially to the people who continuously help me improve it.

[I-Swizzle-I]

I'm on it.

---------- Post added 2012-09-24 at 08:28 PM ----------

Congratz!!!!! Welcome to the world of having your own guide to maintain!!! Let the hate flow through you.

[Soulstrike]

nice guide Shangalar

something bugged me today while playing around my rotation..... rune of power has 1.5s cast time T.T and only lasts 1 miniute :/ would be nice if it was instant and 1min :P

edit: sorry Shangalar

[Shangalar]

nice guide swizzle

/cries

Rune of Power is designed that way on purpose to further ruin mobility, or it would just be too simple to maintain runes on the floor. This way you have to think about dropping the rune and plan to be able to stand in it at that location.

[Heartfrost]

Why did you put this in your guide "Expertise – since 5.0.4 provides Spell Hit chance, useful for early expansion reforging"
The only reason bliz implemented this would be fore enhance shamans(and maby Monk don't know how they work) cloth doesn't have expertise on it and any weapon or trinket with it would have a worthless proc or main stat for mages.

[Shangalar]

You quoted it yourself - "useful for early expansion reforging" - if you're in a really bad place with hit rating, you can reforge other stats into Expertise to get to the 15% hit cap

[Heartfrost]

ahh i see what your getting at i thought you where implying mages go find melee gear for expertise lol. you should maybe provide the fallowing example then: you have a piece of gear with hit and crit on it you cant reforge the crit to more hit but you can forge it to expertise

[Shangalar]

ahh i see what your getting at i thought you where implying mages go find melee gear for expertise lol. you should maybe provide the fallowing example then: you have a piece of gear with hit and crit on it you cant reforge the crit to more hit but you can forge it to expertise

I have. In the Reforging section.

[Soulstrike]

so i havent gotten a proper answer from my previous post so ill just post it on the arcane thread :P

im not sure if this is a bug or not but arcane have 30% to generate a charge per target or per cast?? its very annoying when it comes to arcane aoe flamestrike+arcane explosion :/

wish i could weave in some arcane barrages with 30% chance to generate AC per target :P

[Shangalar]

I know what you mean, I'm sure they're lying so far I've seen it more like 10-15% (btw it's per cast and it needs to hit at least 1 target, so you can't spam it outside of combat to prepare for AoE). Honestly for leveling the best AoE for Arcane is single target to build charges, Presence of Mind + Ring of Frost and then Barrage to hit all targets. After that repeat the same with Frost Nova instead of RoF.

However, this doesn't work in dungeons really because the CC breaks faster than our global cooldown resets, so in dungeons I use Flamestrike + Arcane Explosion and then Barrage when appropriate. And just hope for the best.

[Soulstrike]

have anyone tried invocation talent??? it just feels bit wonky and weird compared to sustain damage rune of power :/

[Imnick]

No Soulstrike, literally nobody but you ever thought to try using the Invocation talent.

[Shangalar]

I finally have to agree that I'm not happy with Invocation. However, my gear still sucks and I have (I kid you not) 3.3% haste. Even doing quests is tragically annoying considering all the knockbacks, knockups, silences, stuns, knockdowns, interrupts that the mobs around the continent have. I'm using Ward for the daily grinds and wrapping up zone quests... we'll see when I start doing Heroics how it will work out.

[Slahaldin]

thanks for the great guide! but i wanted to ask is both Expertise/Hit get capped on 15%?

[Shangalar]

You need a total of 15%, for instance 14% Hit + 1% Expertise = Cap.

But honestly I wouldn't worry about it - as I said already in several posts - you'll need this only if you are in a really bad place when you start doing Mogu'Shan Vaults.

[-Silenus-]

Currently, from my testing arcane is doing terrible dps unfortunately. I geared up for it but fire is doing so much more damage, it's not even an option

[Didactic]

Invocation is theoretically usable by Arcane, but using it would change the stat weight so Haste comes before Mastery.

I personally think it synergises very poorly with Arcane; our spec is contingent upon effective mana management and the loss of passive regeneration with Invocation isn't made up for by the decreased cooldown on Evocation.

[-Silenus-]

Invocation is theoretically usable by Arcane, but using it would change the stat weight so Haste comes before Mastery.

I personally think it synergises very poorly with Arcane; our spec is contingent upon effective mana management and the loss of passive regeneration with Invocation isn't made up for by the decreased cooldown on Evocation.

This was exactly what is going through my mind as well. I tried Invocation and reforging/geming to haste and it didn't work out well at all, at least in current gear (was 463 ilvl at time), I found mastery was still better, at least with the gear I had available.
Rune of Power provides much better dps exactly because we don't burn through mana so fast, ie we can stay near full all the time. Problem is, we're basically static and it's a big hinderance. I'm still getting used to it, even tested PoM+Rune for fast repositioning. Still not sure about the whole thing though.
Incanter's Ward... so much wrong with it. Passive is too low, and when you do pop it you NEED to make sure you get the shield broken or you're screwed, encouraging bad gameplay.

The talents are so counter-intuitive to me, really hoping they make some quality of life changes on them.
Rune of Power - instant cast, no cd would be ideal, though it could make it a too obvious choice for pve.
IW - losing the bonus if not recieving the damage is too painful. make it so you don't lose it if it's on CD but lower the bonus to 24% to compensate.

[Shangalar]

That change to Rune of Power will never happen as it would go completely against the design of the spell in the first place.

The change for Incanter's Ward would make sense, but it's a skill talent - you benefit from the passive and you use the active when you are sure you'll be able to take the damage. That doesn't require luck, it requires knowing the encounter mechanics.

[Didactic]

That change to Rune of Power will never happen as it would go completely against the design of the spell in the first place.

The change for Incanter's Ward would make sense, but it's a skill talent - you benefit from the passive and you use the active when you are sure you'll be able to take the damage. That doesn't require luck, it requires knowing the encounter mechanics.

Why would making it instant cast go against the design of the spell? It's a movement restricter by virtue of the fact the buff is contingent on you being static. The removal of the cast time is simply a quality of life change to make placement on the go easier.