WoD Arcane Guide *not updated for 6.2*

[Deleted]

This is very cool WA shizzle "All in one". It work with fire, frost and arcane spec and with all talents

This is the best thing you can find about arcane spec in Highmaul raid environment

[Thelxi]

Out of curiosity, how much of a dps loss would it be for an arcane mage to mostly stay in conserve mode?

[Deleted]

Is it just me or is this not correct anymore?

Evocation – the mana regeneration cooldown
- restores 40% + flat 10% per Charge mana over a 6 second channel (ticks at 0, 2, 4, 6)

Seems to be 20% (at 4 charges) and another 15% per charge over 6 seconds

[Deleted]

Out of curiosity, how much of a dps loss would it be for an arcane mage to mostly stay in conserve mode?

To satisfy your curiosity - it will be "mostly" a dps gain. You just burn when you use AP, but given the short duration (assuming no glyph) you cant really burn much, unless u are unlucky with AM procs. However thats the purpose of Evocation. Use it to cap mana -> conserve till next AP.

Is it just me or is this not correct anymore?

Evocation – the mana regeneration cooldown
- restores 40% + flat 10% per Charge mana over a 6 second channel (ticks at 0, 2, 4, 6)

Seems to be 20% (at 4 charges) and another 15% per charge over 6 seconds

You are not correct because that mean at the end of Evocation it will restore total of 65% mana according your calculation. Its 20, 20, 20, 20, end.
Just a tip - when you are 50% just get 2 ticks. It should get you to around 90ish% mana. Do not wait for the 3rd tick to cap mana. With the way arcane work u should get to 100% with the first AB cast after evo

[Deleted]

To satisfy your curiosity - it will be "mostly" a dps gain. You just burn when you use AP, but given the short duration (assuming no glyph) you cant really burn much, unless u are unlucky with AM procs. However thats the purpose of Evocation. Use it to cap mana -> conserve till next AP.



You are not correct because that mean at the end of Evocation it will restore total of 65% mana according your calculation. Its 20, 20, 20, 20, end.
Just a tip - when you are 50% just get 2 ticks. It should get you to around 90ish% mana. Do not wait for the 3rd tick to cap mana. With the way arcane work u should get to 100% with the first AB cast after evo

This does make more sense.
I was half right then, because it isn't 40% instantly either.

[Deleted]

I have a few questions regarding arcane;

1. Do I want to use Supernova only when below 93% mana to avoid wasting mana, or use it at as high mana % as possible, for maximum damage?

2. Do I cast Arcane Missiles when above 93% mana during burn phase? If no, what about during Prismatic Crystal?

3. If I accidentally cast an extra Arcane Blast and then Barrage, resulting in the next Blast being cast at a low mana %, do I wanna barrage at 1 stack (when the 3sec CD is off) and regen up mana, or should I always go all the way up to 4 charges before barrage? What about on multiple targets?

[Deleted]

I have a few questions regarding arcane;

1. Do I want to use Supernova only when below 93% mana to avoid wasting mana, or use it at as high mana % as possible, for maximum damage?

2. Do I cast Arcane Missiles when above 93% mana during burn phase? If no, what about during Prismatic Crystal?

3. If I accidentally cast an extra Arcane Blast and then Barrage, resulting in the next Blast being cast at a low mana %, do I wanna barrage at 1 stack (when the 3sec CD is off) and regen up mana, or should I always go all the way up to 4 charges before barrage? What about on multiple targets?

1. If you play with Supernova i also assume you play with Incanter Flow - cast SN at max stack and with highest mana possible. I think its more important to use it on max stack, than caring about mana %.
2. It doesn't matter. AM is our strongest spell, so it should be your prio. My knowledge goes that AM should be prio to cast during burn phase and to use all charges before Evocating, but lately there is some discussion i think that you should stop use them once you drop below 70%, but i don't know. IF PC is up - AM is prio, unless on 9 energy, because you will waste the full cast - none of the missiles will hit the crystal before it disappear.
3. I cannot give an answer to that. If you don't trust in RNGesus you can risk it to get to 4 stacks and get some AM charges, but if you don't wanna risk it, i guess you can do what you described. On multiple target you should be discharging Barrage at 4 stacks, because that spell hit like wet noodle anyway, so you wanna make it worth casting.

My cents

[Deleted]

Howdy folks. So today i broke out my training wheels to learn Arcane, and while i'm starting to feel confidant in my Burn phase, i'm having a little trouble with the conserve phase. I always seem to dip under 93% mana with no procs to use, and when i drop my charge stacks, my Mana suddenly reaches a point where it struggles to get past 93% again from natural mana regen should i continue casting to build charges.

What do i do here? Do i just let my mana regen and stop casting? I don't seem to get any Arcane Missile procs, and on the training dummy i only use super nova once since then i'll have two lined up for the next burn phase. I'd appreciate the help.

[Shangalar]

If you're in a huge emergency to regen mana, you can just cast 3 x AB and then Barrage. That will give you enough time to regen properly for the next cycle. The best choice is to just end the previous cycle earlier if you have no procs at all. I can't explain it properly lol sorry.

Over the course of a fight you'll statistically have an average amount of Missiles procs and there's always going to be a little bit of downtime because of movement that will just give you free regen time. Not getting procs is horrible, I'm ready to just go kill myself in a void zone when I have 2 cycles in a row without Missiles, but that's how it happens sometimes. You should practice a spec in LFR, not on dummies, to give you a better picture of the spec dynamics.

[BreaKerNZ]

Are the stat priority's in this guide still correct?

[Shangalar]

I've updated it recently through a post, not sure if I updated it in the guide itself.

Since the Haste buff, our stat priorities for all situations and talent combinations (except a few that we don't use in raids) are:

Mastery > Haste > Multistrike > Crit > Versatility

[Deleted]

Advice - from WoD onwards never trust a guide for stats weights. The stats prio on this guides is somewhat accurate, but it's... how to say it... it's "general" stats prio sort of speaking. Yes each spec has a main stat that should be prio and you can find it in your spell book and see which one of the stats u get bonus and that's it.
Other stats depends weight vary depending on your current gear, talent choice and even boss fight type - single target patchwerk, single target fight with light/medium/heavy movement, cleave fight with light/medium/heavy movement, multitarget fight with light/medium/heavy movement and maybe even on your skill (you can put specify that when you Sim your char)

If you want adequate stats weights download sim your char in SimC and you will see what should be your current stat prio, you can even use that data for AskMrRobot

If you want adequate stats weights download from here http://www.simulationcraft.org/download.html

[Komman]

I've updated it recently through a post, not sure if I updated it in the guide itself.

Since the Haste buff, our stat priorities for all situations and talent combinations (except a few that we don't use in raids) are:

Mastery > Haste > Multistrike > Crit > Versatility

Paging Commander Shangalar for a guide update! This hasn't been included in the first post.

[Shangalar]

I managed to finally update the guide. Nearly completely rewrote the gameplay part and finally added the gear chapter. Also fixed some outdated information from the previous sections. These are the 2 rewritten / added parts, happy reading!

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.

[chuckado]

I have been using tellmewhen for my frost spec and I was wondering if anyone has a good TMW config for arcane?

[roflwaffle]

so is it good to have an unglyphed arcane power so it matches up with every prismatic?
cause i can macro them together to cast at the same time every time, and theyd be used together anyway right?


some posts saying it doesnt matter, some say it does, anything changed to affect this?

[Invrlose]

What is proper evocation usage? Usually I open, get to 4 stacks, use Crystal + Arcane Power, burn to 50% and then evocate. But my second crystal comes up like 30 seconds before my second evocate, so I use my crystal and then evocate is back up like 40 seconds before my arcane power and third crystal.

[Alroxas]

so is it good to have an unglyphed arcane power so it matches up with every prismatic?
cause i can macro them together to cast at the same time every time, and theyd be used together anyway right?

IMO I think it depends on the fight and how long the fight might last.

For instance, if you can get an extra unglyphed AP in, it might be worth it over the glyphed.

Additionally since PC does AoE, it would seem logical that unglyphed AP with PC would be good for add fights assuming they stay up long enough and are tanked at the PC.

[Deleted]

so is it good to have an unglyphed arcane power so it matches up with every prismatic?
cause i can macro them together to cast at the same time every time, and theyd be used together anyway right?


some posts saying it doesnt matter, some say it does, anything changed to affect this?

You will have more fun with unglyphed AP and the way it align with PC and PoM. If you use the glyph every second PC will feel wasted.
Advice - dont put PC in the macro. Use it separetly, because you have to place it. When you place it and the system auto target it, then use your AP macro. Prio SN>AM>AB and when the remaining energy of PC reach 17 prio only AB.

Additionally since PC does AoE, it would seem logical that unglyphed AP with PC would be good for add fights assuming they stay up long enough and are tanked at the PC.

This is wrong in a certain way - "When the crystal takes damage, it instantly releases a burst of energy dealing that damage, split evenly between all enemies within 8 yards."
In reality it is not really an AoE spell, in my opinion - not even a cleave spell. The only way to do AoE with PC (as arcane mage) is with SN/NT and maybe discharging Barrage on it, but that is wasted dps if u ask me. For example i delay my PC on Flamebender until the extra mob leap on the ranged so i can get the full damage of it unleashed on the boss, because the boss damage is more important (from arcane mage PoV) than cleaving a little add that will die after few seconds. On Kromog, last night, it was dps loss for me to use it for the grasping hands to AoE them, because i reallized what i said in the begging about this - it is not really AoE, maybe not even a cleave. I was more efficient single targeting hand to release people than trying to aoe.

[saviah]

Well written guide, thanks for sharing!