Arcane Mage PvE Guide

[Grubjuice]

Arcane - use three buttons and you'll top every fight.

I just picked up my mage, an alt, now that i am more or less maxed out and bored of grinding dailies on my main, and arcane uses 6 buttons at least:

Blast, Barrage, Missiles, Bomb, Explosion, and Fire Blast (glyphed)


but then, i am still still leveling so i am playing mostly dungeons; and multi-target encounters are the name of the game in Dungeons.

I like this new more complicated version of Arcane but I am having a hard time figuring out the priority because i am not used to using Mage Bomb, let alone choosing which mage bomb choice to use. I have generally settled on living bomb for dungeons because although Frost Bomb does great massive AoE, Living Bomb can be used as a spammable execute for multiple targets (cast it on mobs that are just about to die, and when they do, they detonate, damaging their neighbors, which is great for Dungeon type AoE where the mobs don't live very long and come in groups of 3~6).

I might add that my main is a Destruction Lock and my reflexes are tuned to sniping executes because of that.

[vaajtswv]

Anyone know if SimCraft is broken for Arcane Mages? When I SimCraft, I'm getting that Haste is our best secondary stats, even better than hit. I thought it may just be a fluke for my character, so I simmed random Arcane mages I've come across in LFR, and haste is still listed as better.

Here are my numbers if anyone is interested in seeing them.
Int 3.34
SP 2.79
Hit/Exp 1.81
Crit 0.98
Haste 2.07
Mastery 1.08

[SirReal]

While I will gladly admit that I'm behind good Fire and Frost Mages, I am also always among the top in LFR and my guild's normal 25-man raids. High ranked WoL parses are also there, even though I spend most of the raids sitting on my push to talk button and directing the raid. A good Arcane mage will beat any average player of any class/spec.

I'd consider going Fire only if me being Arcane was in some way hindering my raid. However, until everyone in my raid can keep up with this: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/r...e/?s=447&e=960 , I'll just stick to what I want to play.

ur 17k dps behind ur fire mage......i think its you who should try and keep up

[Soulstrike]

Anyone know if SimCraft is broken for Arcane Mages? When I SimCraft, I'm getting that Haste is our best secondary stats, even better than hit. I thought it may just be a fluke for my character, so I simmed random Arcane mages I've come across in LFR, and haste is still listed as better.

Here are my numbers if anyone is interested in seeing them.
Int 3.34
SP 2.79
Hit/Exp 1.81
Crit 0.98
Haste 2.07
Mastery 1.08

how much haste do you have?? maybe its trying to get you on next mage bomb tick (12.5% haste)

ive been trying to balance my haste and mastery and i think it is indeed a dps increase to have overall balance in haste and mastery

---------- Post added 2012-11-03 at 10:32 PM ----------

The damage buff from Arcane Charge has been increased from 22% to 24%.

sweet deals this is pretty huge buff

[Shangalar]

The damage buff from Arcane Charge has been increased from 22% to 24%.

sweet deals this is pretty huge buff

Took them long enough to figure out that there are no Patchwerk fights in MoP

[voltaa]

For those having issues tracking your RoPs I have a weakaura that I use that tracks two seperate runes with timers and tells you when you aren't standing in your rune, I am at work posting from my phone but when I get home I can post the string if you would like

[Soulstrike]

For those having issues tracking your RoPs I have a weakaura that I use that tracks two seperate runes with timers and tells you when you aren't standing in your rune, I am at work posting from my phone but when I get home I can post the string if you would like

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...age-Weak-Auras

theres heaps of helpful WA addon u can add

[voltaa]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...age-Weak-Auras

theres heaps of helpful WA addon u can add

Ah the tracker I use is in that thread, I was teying to remember who made the original. Freddy's rune aura is a must have for all mages imo

[vaajtswv]

how much haste do you have?? maybe its trying to get you on next mage bomb tick (12.5% haste)

ive been trying to balance my haste and mastery and i think it is indeed a dps increase to have overall balance in haste and mastery.

I figured out that having Invocation talent and Nether Tempest gave priority to haste. I swapped out those talents for Rune and LB. Now haste and mastery are about equal in value, at least for now. As for getting the extra tick, my haste was never high enough to see the last tick. I also was never able to get haste to 12.5%.

[mrgreenthump]

So, they are buffing arcane on ptr.. and not making any chances to the problem are has with level 90 talents..

So.. here is my question, who else thinks blizzard has no clue when it comes to arcane atm.

[Soulstrike]

So, they are buffing arcane on ptr.. and not making any chances to the problem are has with level 90 talents..

So.. here is my question, who else thinks blizzard has no clue when it comes to arcane atm.

they are fine atm not sure what you are on about "not making any chances to the problem are has with level 90 talents"

yes our movement sucks but you just gotta really know what fight you are doing then its all good, and besides theres not many fights that requires heaps of movement in this tier so far (go IW if there is heavy movement and none-some ROP)

they nerfed arcane jsut before mop hit and they are reverting the nerf, since fire and frost is on good dps atm

here is a question for you, have you raided as arcane yet?? personally arcane is fine just needed them nerf reverted

[Shangalar]

Why does everyone have so many issues with Arcane + lvl90 talents? They're all usable, Invocation just feel weird because of the mana loss, devaluing Mastery slightly. Rune of Power is by far the best when you can use it and Incanter's Ward is a skill check.

I can argue that the talents themselves could use a few quality of life tweeks, but their damage part benefits Arcane just as much as the other two specs.

[Elegiac]

Why does everyone have so many issues with Arcane + lvl90 talents? They're all usable, Invocation just feel weird because of the mana loss, devaluing Mastery slightly. Rune of Power is by far the best when you can use it and Incanter's Ward is a skill check.

I can argue that the talents themselves could use a few quality of life tweeks, but their damage part benefits Arcane just as much as the other two specs.

Because they are not fun. And you are wrong; their damage part is not as beneficial, or should I say not as balanced, because of the way they interact with Mana Adept.

[Soulstrike]

Because they are not fun. And you are wrong; their damage part is not as beneficial, or should I say not as balanced, because of the way they interact with Mana Adept.

but.... thats the whole idea behind the mastery :C

to maximise your dps with your knowledge of contorling your mana i find that very enjoyable than watching my procs

but i do have to say your 50% mana suggestion is rather more so interesting than 100% in previous thread

besides people have different taste when it comes to rotation of that spec, maybe arcane is not for you right now :/

im having a blast!! either you hate it or not :P

[Imnick]

Fun is subjective, I have very few issues with the rotation or talents myself.
I do still think that 2 additional damage per stack is a bandaid fix at best though. All mage specs are limited in movement by the level 90 talents but Arcane is also penalised by its rotation and is then hit harder by individual encounter mechanics. They need to be working on that rather than giving flat damage boosts to every ability.

[mrgreenthump]

they are fine atm not sure what you are on about "not making any chances to the problem are has with level 90 talents"

yes our movement sucks but you just gotta really know what fight you are doing then its all good, and besides theres not many fights that requires heaps of movement in this tier so far (go IW if there is heavy movement and none-some ROP)

they nerfed arcane jsut before mop hit and they are reverting the nerf, since fire and frost is on good dps atm

here is a question for you, have you raided as arcane yet?? personally arcane is fine just needed them nerf reverted

Yes, I have raided as arcane, and while the damage is competitive, the punishment for moving(which you do a lot in heroic raid atm) is just too damn high, not only does movement decrease your current damage as arcane its gonna affect the damage after it cause you have no mana regen during that movement, unless you spec incanters, and well incanter's is just not usable allways.

So here is my question back to you, Have you even thought abt how bad arcane really is atm. On some fights the spec doesnt work at all, And while I think its viable for some fights like elegon, I still wont go and reforge and regem everything for 1 fight, when I know I need to go fire(or frost) for the next.. So as a hc raider atm, you simply cannot run as arcane. Sure you can run as arcane for some fights, but then you need to switch fire or frost for others that arcane is just not usable on. And that is the core problem with arcane atm..

Just go ahead and look at WoL, Arcane for most fights is just behind, and sure you can prolly move top 20 of fire just cause of rng, but still its behind by a lot, only real fight that its not behind is elegon, and as I said.. I think arcane is completely viable for elegon

And sure you can now say that there arent any good arcane mages on WoL, and well why is that? Is that because arcane is fine? I think not..

[Soulstrike]

yes i agree with you mrgreenthump that arcane is behind but i do not agree that arcane is wayyyyyy behind i think arcane just needed that nerf (AC22% nerf) back to 24% and i think it should be competitive with fire again (and personally i wanted to try new arcane rotation than fire)

anyways there hasn't been a fight with massive movement except for stoneguard garalon and on garalon IW just wins, and every other fight i can manage about 95% uptime on ROP. lvl90 talent actually made arcane more appealing this way movement or no movement you choose kind of thing

[voltaa]

I have to disagree with your "high movement fights" that you are saying this tier has, stone guards hc, while yes it has high movement 90% of that movement is done while not in range of the bosses so you aren't dpsing regardless, and I don't know how your guild does garalon, but I don't move that entire fight.

Now to the point of what I am saying, too many mages talk about being penalized for movement, but this movement that "gimps arcane" simply doesn't exist, those who can't make arcane viable due to moving too much are simply doing the fights wrong

[mrgreenthump]

I have to disagree with your "high movement fights" that you are saying this tier has, stone guards hc, while yes it has high movement 90% of that movement is done while not in range of the bosses so you aren't dpsing regardless, and I don't know how your guild does garalon, but I don't move that entire fight.

Good for you, but ye look at garalon tactics and you see why most mages around here are kiting the pheromones, not that its a huge deal as its only a short time and you need to do it only 2-3 times

But if you wanna really compare the fights from heroic point of view(10 man)

Stone guard.. doable as arcane as long as it aint both amethyst and cobalt, still a lot behind of fire due to fire having superior 2-3 person cleave
Feng.. Doable as arcane again, though placement is key. Still tad bit behind fire cause invoc is a bit better than the rest here
Gara'jal.. Doable as arcane, But fire is ahead even on theoretical dps, and as this is a dps race.. going anything but fire is a wrong thing to do(if you can play both specs to max)
Spirit kings.. Too much movement for reliably predict placements for RoP thats on a cd, after the patch though RoP here can work given its, still quite a bit of movement on some phases
Elegon.. As I said before perfectly viable.. Though again fire does more damage, and at least on 10 man fire mage can solo sparks up to 6 stacks, so even that advantage is gone
Emperor.. I think Arcane and fire are neck and neck here, fire maybe a bit better due it just doing better damage on general, but As my guild needs the control, I need to be frost on our kills pretty much allways so havent tried either yet..

And as for HoF hc.. I havent gotten past the first boss, but hey who has xD, But the fight is not really suitable for arcane again, I mean sure it can work, but fire has a lot more mobility and you need to dodge a lot in p2 while still burning down a tight timer.

So in short. Out of 7 bosses so far in this tier.. Fire is just performing better on all but 1, and even then would rather go frost cause of utility..


And what comes to my comment of penalized movement it aint that I think there are fight with too much movement, I think arcane suffers too much from movement.. But that is a part cause of RoP being meh.

[Imnick]

I feel like Feng is actually one of the easiest fights to use Rune of Power on, every single phase only requires two stack points and you should already know where those are.

Arcane phase: One on the boss, one at range 8 yards from other players.
Shield phase: One stacked in your group and one where you move in case the shield lands on you for some reason.
Fire phase: One stacked in your group, one where you dump fire.
Epicentre phase: One spread from other players, one where you stack for epicentre.


I wouldn't go Arcane on Emperor's Will purely because it's a pain to use RoP while moving behind the shield adds and because people really love placing the Strength add on top of your rune.