6. Gameplay
6.0.1 - Talentless basics
Arcane cycles between a mana burn phase and a conserve phase every 90-ish seconds or so.
a) Burn phase
- get to 4 Charges
- pop available cooldowns
- spam Missiles when available + Blast
- don't bother using the Missiles procs you get by the end of your burn (50%-65% mana) so you don't extend your burn unnecessarily long
- Blast to 50% and then use Evocation back to 100% mana
b) Conserve phase
- get to 4 Charges
- use available Missiles
- cast Blast if your current mana is over 93% (repeat Missiles - Blast as long as it is)
- when it isn't, clear Charges with Barrage and start over
6.0.2. Help! My Use trinkets have a 2 minute cooldown and all my spells are at 1.5 minutes (or 3 minutes)
That sucks, right? But we don't really care about it. In the beginning of the fight you'll use everything you have and after that you will use your personal damage cooldowns and spells when they're available and you'll use trinkets when they're available. Timeline:
0 - Everything
1.5 minutes - offensive cds / burn + evocation
2 minutes - trinket
3 minutes - offensive cds / burn + evocation
4 minutes - trinket
4.5 minutes - offensive cds / burn + evocation
6 minutes - everything
This changes only in very specific conditions, that is, when you know for sure that your next burn phase will be the last one before the boss dies, it's a good idea to save the Use trinket for that moment. Currently, one such example is Butcher Mythic which has a 4 minute enrage, meaning that you can save your second trinket use for the 3-minute burn phase.
Now, Arcane gameplay changes based on talent choices. It has been determined that the following are our primary choices:
6.1. Single Target
Supernova + Rune of Power + Prismatic Crystal
1. Get to 4 Charges
2. Prismatic Crystal
3. Arcane Power
4. Supernova x2
5. Blast + Missiles (prioritizing Missiles when at 4 stacks) on the Crystal until it expires
6. Continue bursting the boss after the Crystal expires until 50% mana and then Evocate back to full mana.
The conserve phase is harder on mana because you don't have NT available so you will be cycling through Charges and clearing them more. Be sure to use Supernova on cooldown, but also make sure that 1-2 (preferably 2) Supernovas are available for the next Crystal burst phase. Also remember that Supernova benefits from Arcane's Mastery, so try to cast it when at max possible mana.
6.1.1 Help! There's too much movement!
Don't worry, Incanter's Flow is a decent replacement for Rune of Power. The only thing you should pay attention to is to use Supernova at the peak of Incanter's Flow cycle, meaning at 4-5 stacks.
6.2. Multitarget / Cleave
a) Nether Tempest + Rune of Power + Arcane Orb
It is very hard to describe a proper AoE damage rotation, with the talents listed above you will have the highest damage while also maintaining more of a single target rotation than anything else. Using our AoE spells (Explosion and glyphed Cone of Cold) is not really worth it for damage unless there are more than 5 targets close enough to hit.
Make sure that you always and exclusively cast Nether Tempest at 4 Charges. That might even mean refreshing it too early if you can't stay at 4 Charges any longer because of mana.
Arcane Orb is a fun and cool looking spell. It gives you 1 Arcane Charge when cast, 1 Arcane Charge per enemy hit and it has a chance to proc Missiles on cast and for every enemy hit. That means ho ho ho and a bottle of Missiles if aimed properly through a group of enemies.
But how to use it properly? Arcane Orb allows us to skip a few Blast casts and the ones we want to skip are the lowest damage ones. So use Arcane Orb exclusively after resetting Charges with Barrage if it's ready. Only then. Even if it becomes available when you're at 1-2 Charges, don't use it, save it for the next cycle.
As above, if there is too much movement to comfortably stay in your Rune, use Incanter's Flow.
6.2.1 Special situation when facing more than 3 targets stacked together!
Do not go into a mana burn phase. As easy as that. You want more Barrages and you want to be closer to full mana as much as possible for the maximum damage of Nether Tempest. With 2 targets, do a burn phase as described above, with 3 targets it's kind of a gray zone, but it might be better to avoid burning.
6.3 Leveling up in Draenor
Suggested talents: Evanesce/Blazing Speed, Ice Barrier, Rune of Frost/Ice Ward, Greater Invisibility, Supernova, Mirror Image/Incanter’s Flow
Suggested glyphs: Slow, Rapid Displacement, Cone of Cold
The goal while leveling is to have minimum downtime and maximum efficiency, preferably at the same time. The setup with Evanesce, Barrier, RoF, G.I. and Supernova gives a lot of damage reduction, crowd control and escape mechanisms. The glyphs help even more. For dungeons it would be better to use Rune of Power for the stable damage buff, but if you want to put your mind on passive while leveling up, Incanter’s Flow is a perfectly acceptable choice.
7. Gear
Based on our stat weights, Arcane Mages prefer gear with Mastery with the second stat being Haste if possible. Through Highmaul and Blackrock Foundry there's a ton of gear just waiting to be looted. I'll focus exclusively on Blackrock Foundry gear though, as it's already out at the time of my finally writing this part of the guide.
7.1 Arcane T17 set bonuses
The Arcane set bonuses found on the Arcanoshatter Regalia say the following:
2: After using Evocation, the cast time and mana cost of Arcane Blast is reduced by 25% for 15 seconds.
4: When you generate an Arcane Charge, you have a chance to increase the number of missiles your next Arcane Missiles will fire by 5.
What does that mean for our rotation? Nothing. It changes exactly nothing in the priority list, rotation or cooldown usage.
What it does do is make our conserve phase after Evocating slightly more fun and involved because it will allows casting a bit more Blasts for more damage and it increases our overall dps on single target. It has absolutely no effect on multitarget fights.
7.2 Switching to the set items
One of the most often asked questions is when you should switch to the set bonuses and which gear you should sacrifice for it? Considering the value of Arcane's set bonuses, it is highly recommended to switch to the items as fast as possible.
This means that you should replace Highmaul Mythic gear with *normal* set items. The damage increase is significant. If you have a full set of Highmaul Mythic gear, this is the order in which you should take the set bonuses based on simulations:
- Helmet and Chest for the 2-set bonus
- Shoulders and Legs to complete the 4-set bonus
Obviously, if you don't have a full set of Highmaul Mythic gear, obtaining the set bonuses will yield better results as it will replace your non-optimal items anyway.
7.3 T17 BiS list
The list will contain our BiS items along with suggested replacements in brackets. The replacements can be used until you acquire the better item.
Helmet: Arcanoshatter Hood - C/Ma - Kromog (replacements: H/Ma helm from Blackhand, Ma/Mu helm from Kargath)
Neck: Gruul's Lip Ring - H/Ma - Gruul (replacements: Mythic C/Mu necklace from Twin Ogron)
Shoulders: Arcanoshatter Mantle - H/Ma - Thogar (replacements: C/H shoulder from Kromog, Ma/Mu shoulder from Butcher)
Cloak: Runefrenzy Greatcloak - H/Ma - Kromog(replacements: H/Mu cloak from Gruul)
Robe: Arcanoshatter Robes - Ma/Mu - Ka'graz (replacements: C/H robe from Hans'gar and Franzok, H/Mu robe from Brackenspore)
Bracers: Bracers of Darkened Skies - Ma/Mu - trash drop (replacement: C/H Bracers of Enkindled Power from Thogar)
Gloves: Toothbreaker Grips - H/Ma - Oregorger (replacements: Ma/V gloves from Kromog, set gloves if all else fails)
Belt: Seeking Ember Girdle - H/Ma - Beastlord Darmac (replacements: C/Mu bracers from the Iron Maidens
Pants: Arcanoshatter Leggings - C/Mu - Blast Furnace (replacements: C/Ma pants from the Iron Maidens, H/Mu pants from Twin Ogron)
Boots: Cavedweller's Climbers - C/Ma - Gruul (replacements: H/Ma boots from Ko'ragh, C/Mu boots from Beastlord Darmac)
Ring 1: Spellbound Runic Band of the All-seeing Eye - legendary quest
Ring 2: Uk'urogg's Corrupted Seal - H/Ma - the Iron Maidens (replacement: C/Ma ring from Kargath)
Trinket 1: Blackiron Micro Crucible - Int + StackProcMulti - Blackhand
Trinket 2: Darmac's Unstable Talisman - Int + ProcHaste - Beastlord Darmac
(see trinket comment below)
Weapon: Inferno-Flame Staff - H/Ma - Gruul (replacement: C/Ma staff from Blackhand, H/Ma dagger from Ka'graz + H/Mu offhand from Thogar)
7.4 A special comment on trinkets
Now, trinkets are rather confusing to talk about. It's important to understand that trinkets play together, not as separate items. Therefore, depending on our talent choices and encounter type, certain trinket combinations might be better than others.
That being said, the combination of Mythic Crucible + Mythic Talisman is king and rules over any other combination. But since most of us won't see these trinkets anytime soon, we have to contend with other combinations.
Without going into too much details, the data I've stolen from someone who actually did the math suggests the following ranking of trinkets based on using SN+PC vs NT+AO. The trinkets ranked will be Mythic Highmaul (which is my starting point because I got lucky with the follower mission) combined with Heroic Blackrock Foundry trinkets:
7.4.1. Supernova + Prismatic Crystal
HC Crucible + HC Talisman
HC Repository + HC Talisman
HC Crucible + M Shards
M Runestone + HC Talisman
HC Crucible + M Runestone
HC Talisman + M Shards
HC Repository + M Shards
M Runestone + M Shards
7.4.2. Nether Tempest + Arcane Orb
M Runestone + HC Talisman
HC Crucible + HC Talisman
HC Repository + HC Talisman
M Runestone + HC Talisman
HC Talisman + M Shards
HC Crucible + M Shards
HC Repository + M Shards
HC Crucible + HC Repository
HC Crucible + M Runestone
M Runestone + M Shards
7.4.3. Trinkets conclusion
In case you have Highmaul Heroic trinkets, any Heroic Blackrock Foundry trinket will be better than it.
For Normal trinket rankings I suggest you run simulations for yourself or AskMrRobot for answers, I took a slightly more selfish approach and used my own character as a starting point.
I don't really condone what I'm about to write and this isn't proven in any way, but if we wanted to dumb it down a bit and make a simple list of trinket rankings, it would go something like this according to me and only me:
M Crucible > M Talisman > M Repository > HC Crucible > HC Talisman > M Shards > HC Repository > M Runestone > HC Shards > N Crucible > N Talisman > HC Runestone > N Repository
And as I said, that's just how I would put it without thinking about it too much, it is a list you can use for very simple reference, but not a definitive list of anything. It's probably not even accurate and I probably shouldn't have even written it, but people typically ask for simplicity.