With the new expansion comes lots of changes for WoW The War Within Arcane Mages. In our WoW Arcane Mage guide, we want to tell you all we know about this spec: rotation, hero talents, builds, and leveling tips. No time to waste, let’s get started. And if you want even more TWW news, check our The War Within Expansion Overview.
4.9Arcane Mage Overview
WoW Arcane Mages are the masters of time and space. They are able to rewind the flow of time itself faster and more frequently than any other Mage spec, using this for healing or mobility. They are typically unmatched when it comes to burst damage.
Speaking about the gameplay, Arcane Mage is a ranged Cloth DPS specialization with a huge burst and a focus on direct damage. When you play Arcane Mage, the first thing you should do is plan out your CDs offensively and defensively. Arcane Mages have good defensive potential but lack self-healing capabilities. The Mage Class can carry daggers, one-handed swords, staves, and wands.
A distinctive feature of Arcane Mages is that they can summon portals to capital cities, so they are highly appreciated in any type of content. Arcane Mages can learn many versions of the Polymorph spell, including Tome of Polymorph: Bumblebee! They can change their Polymorph spell to turn enemies into many cute animals besides sheep. Examples include pigs, monkeys, turtles, and bees.
This spec can deal heavy damage every 70-90 seconds the variation here in timers is dependent on how you utilize Shifting Power, this flexibility allows us to leverage fight mechanics with fewer drawbacks than many other specs. WoW Arcane Mage can be considered a mobile class, as they have some spells that allow them to blink or jump from a height to decrease the distance.
Arcane Mage Strengths and Weaknesses
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| ✅High burst damage output. | ⛔️AoE DPS requires melee range. |
| ✅Great utility for your party. | ⛔️Almost zero self-heal options. |
| ✅Lots of saving abilities. | ⛔️Cooldown dependant DPS windows. |
| ✅Decent mobility. | ⛔️Requires good mana management. |
Arcane Mage Season 3 Changes
Arcane specialization has spent 2 seasons without any significant changes, so now it’s time for many major WoW The War Within Arcane Mage Season 3 updates. First of all, Spellfrost Teachings were reworked:
- No longer spawns random Arcane Orbs.
- Now grants cooldown reduction to manually cast Arcane Orb.
- Loss of random procs reduces the unique feel of Spellslinger.
Other Arcane Mage spells have also received their share of changes and updates:
- Prodigious Savant was reworked to be universally useful.
- Arcane Orb travel speed was increased for faster Arcane Charge refunds.
- Intuition duration was increased; now it works correctly with Arcane Barrage queued after the proc.
- Arcane Splinter tuning was improved, now it’s stronger overall.
- Arcane Rebound and Static Cloud talent positions swapped.
One notable change for us is that Time Anomaly was removed. It’s a bit of a controversal change in Arcane arsenal, though not deadly — the spec remains quite powerful with new playstyle possibilities. Additionally, Mastery was buffed significantly, making us even stronger in this season.
Arcane Mage Season 2 Changes
In WoW TWW Season 2, Arcane Mage has received changes to the talent tree layout but no significant changes to its abilities. Patch 11.1 introduces the new tier set, Jewels of the Aspectral Emissary, which comes with new bonuses.
Arcane Specialization Ability Changes
In Patch 11.1, Arcane Mage did not receive any changes to its abilities. However, there have been significant adjustments to its talents.
Arcane Mage Talent Changes
Arcane Mage has undergone significant changes in TWW Patch 11.1 to the placement of talents in the talent tree. Below are details about the talent changes and those that have shifted positions within the skill tree.
- Aethervision — Consuming Nether Precision with Arcane Blast increases the damage of your next Arcane Barrage by 10% and causes it to generate 2 Arcane Charges. Stacks up to 2 times. Talent position has changed.
- Amplification — Arcane Missiles fires 3 additional missile. Talent position has changed.
- Arcane Tempo — Consuming Arcane Charges increases your Haste by 2% for 12 sec, stacks up to 5 times. Talent position has changed.
- Charged Orb — Arcane Orb gains 1 additional charge. Arcane Orb damage increased by 15%. Talent position has changed.
- Concentrated Power — Arcane Missiles channels 20% faster. Clearcasting makes Arcane Explosion echo for 40% damage. Talent position has changed.
- Consortium’s Bauble — Reduces Arcane Blast‘s mana cost by 5% and increases its damage by 8%. Talent position has changed.
- Enlightened — Arcane damage dealt is increased based on your current mana, up to 6% at full mana. Mana Regen is increased based on your current mana, up to 20% when out of mana.
- Improved Clearcasting — Clearcasting can stack up to 2 additional times.
Talent position has changed. - Prismatic Barrier — Shields you with an arcane force, absorbing damage and reducing magic damage taken by 15% for 1 min. The duration of harmful Magic effects against you is reduced by 25%.
- Reverberate — If Arcane Explosion hits at least 3 targets, it has a 50% chance to generate an extra Arcane Charge. Talent position has changed.
- Static Cloud — Each time you cast Arcane Explosion, its damage increases by 25%. Bonus resets after reaching 100% damage. Talent position has changed.
Arcan Mage Hero Talent Changes
In TWW Season 2, Arcane Mage also received changes to its hero talents. While the changes are minor, here’s the full list:
Sunfury:
- Burden of Power — Conjuring a Spellfire Sphere increases the damage of your next Arcane Blast by 20% or Arcane Barrage by 20%.
- Glorious Incandescence — Burden of Power now additionally summons a storm of 4 Meteorites at your target. Each Meteorite’s impact grants 1 Arcane Charge.
Arcane Mage Changes in The War Within
Arcane Mage in The War Within received a complete spec talent tree rework and some changes to the base WoW Arcane Mage talent tree. Below we outline the changes in the Mage talent tree, and then we dive deeper into the changes in the Arcane tree.
- Conjure Mana Gem and its related Cascading Power have been removed;
- Foresight was removed;
- Radiant Spark and its related Harmonic Echo have been removed;
- Arcane Surge now also provides you with a stack of Clearcasting;
- Arcane Missiles are now castable only during Clearcasting;
- Surging Urge allows us to deal more damage based on Arcane Charges.
Additionally, like all other classes, Arcane Mage in WoW received access to the Warband Bank, which allows you to transfer resources between your characters and share some gear. If you have a hard time figuring out how to unlock this Bank, our team is here to help.
Arcane Mage Hero Talents
A new feature — Hero Talent Trees — is available for all classes. For Arcane Mage it is Spellslinger and Sunfury. Here is the list of all new Hero Talents:
Basics of Arcane Mage Gameplay
If you plan to play Arcane Mage, remember that your objective is to maximize the damage you can do per point of Mana. Most of your damage will be done in a phase we will refer to as the “Burn Phase”, during which you will quickly burn through all your Mana, doing very high damage. Outside of the burn phase, you will be in your “Conserve Phase”, which means doing lower damage before your CDs become available again.
Most of your time will be spent casting Arcane Blast as this is your main Mana expenditure spell. Arcane Spec uses various cooldowns, like Arcane Surge to increase the damage you do while burning through your Mana. Mana is regenerated passively and from an array of abilities. The best way for Arcane to restore Mana faster is by using Evocation. Arcane Charge, these are used to pump up Blast and Barrage damage.
Arcane Mage Rotation
Arcane has a relatively unique playstyle, where managing your Mana is key. However, proper mana management is only a small part of the WoW Arcane Mage rotation.
Single-Target Arcane Mage Rotation
- Arcane Missiles if you have 3 Clearcasting.
- Arcane Barrage if you have Arcane Soul.
- Shifting Power after
Arcane Soul ends. - Arcane Orb whenever you have less than 3 Arcane Charges.
- Arcane Blast with
Leydrinker. - Arcane Explosion if you have <2 charges and no
Clearcasting. - Arcane Barrage if you no mana for
Arcane Blast.
AoE Arcane Mage Rotation
- Arcane Missiles if you have 3 Clearcasting.
- Arcane Barrage if you have Arcane Soul.
- Shifting Power after Arcane Soul ends.
- Arcane Orb whenever <3
Arcane Charges. - Arcane Blast with Leydrinker.
- Arcane Explosion if you have <2 charges and no Clearcasting, yep.
- Arcane Barrage if no mana.
Specialization Skills
This is a list of important abilities you should know. Depending on your talent choices you will prioritize different abilities. Iconic Arcane Mage abilities: Arcane Blast, Arcane Barrage, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Explosion, Arcane Orb.
| Skill | Description |
|---|---|
| Arcane Blast | Your main damage ability. Generates 1 Arcane Charge. |
| Arcane Barrage | An instant-cast spell that clears your Arcane Charges and makes your Arcane Blast cheaper to cast again. |
| Clearcasting | Procs from any Arcane Spell. Increasing damage by 8%. |
| Arcane Missiles | A channeling spell which spends your Clearcasting proc |
| Arcane Explosion | Instant AoE damage spell required to have Clearcasting and to be in melee range. |
| Arcane Orb | Shoots an orb which generates 1 Arcane Charge and 1 more Charge for each target hit. |
| Time Warp | Damage cooldown. Don’t stack with Bloodlust like spells. |
| Invisibility | Reduces threat, removes the Mage from combat, and hides the Mage from enemies. |
| Polymorph | Your main long Crowd Control spell. Breaks with damage. |
| Frost Nova | Instant root in small AoE. |
| Slow Fall | Allows the Mage to avoid damage from falling. |
| Arcane Intellect | Intellect buff for you and your party. |
| Blink | Your mobility spell. |
| Counterspell | Interrupt target spell casting. |
| Conjure Refreshment | Creates food for you and your party to restore your mana and health. |
Arcane Mage Talents
There are plenty of notable WoW Arcane Mage talents. Here we mention the most important ones. You should know that different encounters demand different talent priorities. Changing talents in different encounters will increase your performance.
| Talent | Description |
|---|---|
| Evocation | Active ability that restores 100% mana, gives you Clearcasting and Intellect for 20 sec. |
| High Voltage | Each tick of Arcane Missiles generates Arcane Charge. |
| Arcane Harmony | Arcane Missiles’ hits generate a stack which empower damage of next Arcane Barrage. |
| Nether Precision | Empower your next 2 Arcane Blast after consuming Clearcasting. |
| Dematerialize | Applies a DoT, when Arcane Blast or Arcane Barrage deals damage under Nether Precision effect. |
| Slipstream | Allows Arcane Missiles and Evocation be castable while moving. |
| Arcane Debilitation | Arcane Missiles increases target damage taken from your Arcane Missiles, Arcane Barrage, and Arcane Blast. |
Arcane Mage Build
WoW Arcane Mage build is what impacts your DPS most. With a proper build, you can be on top of DPS meter, whereas with just a random pack of talents, you may use only 10% of your capabilities. Here we have gathered some of the most optimal builds for WoW Arcane Mage.
Just copy these Arcane Mage WoW talents from below and paste into the game.
Solo Target Sunfury Build
C4DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYGMbzCmhxsYYMzwYaegZZGAAAAAAGAwMz0yssMDAEbAAAAAAsBwyMGmZMzwYmZMmZGzMzMDjB
AoE Spellslinger Build
C4DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYGMbzCmhZmFDjZGGTjZZGAAAAAAGAAEwMzsssMzELAAAAAAsBwyMGzMjxwYMzMmZGzMzMDjB
Arcane Mage Stats
Generally, you need to focus on getting as much Intellect as possible. However, secondary stats scale multiplicatively with other secondaries, meaning that as you get more their value increases.
When it comes to secondaries, Arcane Mage is going to tend towards a balance of all stats, but there are factors that you’ll want to be aware of, AOE tends to favor Haste the most, the talent Prodigious Savant drastically affects Mastery scaling, and will generally make it perform much better than it does normally.
| Single Target | Prodigious Savant | AoE |
|---|---|---|
| Intellect; | Intellect; | Intellect; |
| Versatility; | Versatility; | Haste; |
| Haste; | Mastery; | Versatility; |
| Critical Strike; | Haste; | Critical Strike; |
| Mastery. | Critical Strike. | Mastery. |
📌 Note: this is only a general list of WoW Arcane Mage stat priority. You should use the Simcraft tool to find out your own stat priorities based on your character’s items, talents, etc.
Arcane Mage Leveling
Leveling as Arcane Mage in The War Within is extremely simple, in the earlier levels you can simply spam Arcane Blast non-stop, never clearing Arcane Charge to stay at maximum damage. When you reach higher levels, add Clearcasting procs on Arcane Missiles to your toolkit and use your CDs on big AOE groups.
While leveling, you should familiarize yourself with the default rotations for Arcane, how our procs and resources work, take note of each talent’s interactions and really try to understand the spec, this will help you at max level. Also, you can ask for Power Leveling service and our pro players will take care of your Arcane mage.
Arcane Mage Leveling Tips for The War Within
- Chrono Shift is a huge mobility increase and helps a lot with kiting enemies in the open world.
- Temporal Shield is one of the best defensive tools for Arcane Mage, it is off the GCD, and has a fairly short cooldown.
- Master of Escape and Mass Invisibility are both spells that you can pick to help you skip more mobs when going through crowded areas.
How to Gear Up Arcane Mage
Properly gearing requires using the gear with the highest item level. Then, look for the highest secondary stats according to your priority. The more Intellect you have, the more damage you deal, but secondary stats can amplify the amount of damage even further.
Best Gear for Arcane Mage
This is a list of Overall WoW Arcane Mage BiS Gear for you, but you can always simulate your character with Simcraft for better options. Some of the variants can be worth hunting for even if they are not included in this list. And if you want to get the raid gear set, which is highly beneficial for Arcane Mages, you can ask our team for assistance via Heroic Battle Pass, which increases your chances of looting all set pieces.
| Slot | Item | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Head |  Augur’s Ephemeral Wide-Brim | Catalyst / |
| Neck |  Chrysalis of Sundered Souls | Manaforge Omega |
| Shoulders |  Augur’s Ephemeral Orbs of Power | Catalyst / |
| Cloak |  Reshii Wraps | Patch 11.2 Questline |
| Chest |  Augur’s Ephemeral Habiliments | Catalyst / |
| Wrist |  Consecrated Cuffs | Crafting |
| Gloves |  Bloodwrath’s Gnarled Claws | Manaforge Omega |
| Belt |  Singularity Cincture | Manaforge Omega |
| Belt |  Durable Information Securing Container | Overcharged Delves |
| Legs |  Augur’s Ephemeral Trousers | Catalyst / |
| Boots |  Interloper’s Silken Striders | Manaforge Omega |
| Ring |  Radiant Necromancer’s Band | Priory of the Sacred Flame |
| Ring |  High Nerubian Signet | Dawnbreaker |
| Trinket |  Astral Antenna | Manaforge Omega |
| Trinket |  Azhiccaran Parapodia | Eco-Dome Al’dani |
| Trinket |  Araz’s Ritual Forge | Manaforge Omega |
| Weapon |  Voidglass Sovereign’s Blade | Manaforge Omega |
| Off-hand |  Vagabond’s Torch | Crafting |
Best Arcane Mage Trinkets
When it comes to Trinkets, you can often choose whatever you like most or something that fits more to your character stats. But first of all, we advise you to Simcraft the trinkets to find out what suits you better. But here’s the Tier List of trinkets for your character.
- Diamantine Voidcore;
- Lily of the Eternal Weave;
- So’leah’s Secret Technique;
- Empowering Crystal of Anub’ikkaj;
The majority of these items can be obtained from various dungeons. There are a lot of them and it often takes too much time to get what you need, so you can ask our team for a Dungeon Trinket that you need, and we’ll help you to obtain it.
Tier Set Bonuses for Arcane Mage
Arcane Mage Season 3 Tier Set Elite
Arcane Mage Season 3 Tier Set Gladiator
Arcane Mage Season 3 Tier Set Heroic
Arcane Mage Season 3 Tier Set Mythic
Arcane Mage Season 3 Tier Set Normal
Arcane Mage Season 3 Tier Set Raid Finder
Augur’s Ephemeral Plumage is a new WoW The War Within Arcane Mage tier set for Season 3. This set provides tier set bonuses based on your Hero Talents specialization.
Spellslinger Arcane Mage Tier Set Bonuses:
| 2-piece | Arcane Blast damage increased by 12% and Arcane Blast grants 1 stack of Arcane Harmony. Direct Splinter damage has a 25% chance to grant a stack of Arcane Harmony. |
|---|---|
| 4-piece | Splinter damage increased by 8%. Arcane Orb has a 100% chance to grant a stack of Arcane Harmony, up to 8 times. Upon reaching 20 stacks of Arcane Harmony, gain Intuition at 100% effectiveness. |
Sunfury Arcane Mage Tier Set Bonuses:
| 2-piece | Spellfire Sphere spell damage bonus increased by 1.0%. Mana Cascade now grants an additional 0.5% Haste per stack. |
|---|---|
| 4-piece | Exceptional spells cast by your Phoenix adds an additional 0.5 sec to the duration of your next Arcane Soul. When your Phoenix expires, it empowers you even further beyond, granting Lesser Time Warp and 20% increased spell damage for 10 sec. |
Arcane Mage Season 2 Tier Set Bonuses
Mage Tier Set PvP 2
Mage Tier Set PvP 1
Mythic Tier Set
Heroic Tier Set
Normal Tier Set
LFG Tier Set
In WoW TWW Season 2 Patch 11.1 Arcane Mage has received a new tier set, Jewels of the Aspectral Emissary. You can obtain it from the raid, the Catalyst, or the Great Vault.
| 2-piece | Your spells and abilities have a small chance to hit a Jackpot! granting you Clearcasting and 8% increased spell damage for 12 sec. Casting Touch of the Magi always hits a Jackpot! |
|---|---|
| 4-piece | When you hit a Jackpot!, you also gain Aether Attunement at 100% effectiveness. |
This or any other Tier Set for your Warband can be obtained with the help of our professional players, who know how to do their job.
Arcane Mage Season 1 Tier Set Bonuses
Arcane Mage Normal Set
Arcane Mage Heroic Set
Arcane Mage Mythic Set
Arcane Mage PvP 1 Set
Arcane Mage PvP 2 Set
Arcane Mage Raid Finder Set
Sparks of Violet Rebirth is the Arcane Mage Tier Set for Season 1 in the War Within.
| 2-piece | Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage damage increased by 6%. |
|---|---|
| 4-piece | Casting Arcane Blast or Arcane Barrage has a 5% chance to make your next Arcane Barrage deal 20% increased damage and generate 4 Arcane Charges. |
Best Items to Upgrade with Harbinger Crests for Arcane Mage
Here are some options you may be interested in:
- Slippers of the Wovent Dusk — pleasing tailoring option;
- Gloves of the Woven Dusk — another acceptable tailoring option;
- Cool Sunset Bracers — craft this exclusively with additional set parts;
- Ring of Earthen Craftsmanship — with valid stats, it can be one of the most suitable rings;
- Charged Hexsword — Main Hand weapon, straightforward and trustworthy with decent stats.
Best Crafted Gear for Arcane Mage
Crafted Gear for Arcane Mage is a source of extra power and better stats. Also, this type of gear offers variability and you can customize it with optional crafting reagents. So the best options of crafted gear for Arcane Mage are:
- Two-Hand Weapon + Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension;
- Consecrated Cuffs +Writhing Armor Banding;
- Low Item Level Piece + Spark of Omens.
Best Consumables for Arcane Mage
Consumables are the one-time use items that give you certain effects for a limited time. Most of them are handy in different situations, but still, there are some consumables that will be completely useless for you. You should choose the right consumables regarding your stat priority and equipment.
| Type | Raid | Dungeons/ |
|---|---|---|
| Flask |  Flask of Alchemical Chaos  |  Flask of Tempered Versatility |
| Combat Potion |  Tempered Potion | Tempered Potion |
| Health Potion |  Invigorating Healing Potion | Invigorating Healing Potion |
| Weapon Buff |  Algari Mana Oil | Algari Mana Oil |
| Augment Rune |  Ethereal Augment Rune/ Soulgorged Augment Rune/ Crystallized Augment Rune | Ethereal Augment Rune/ Soulgorged Augment Rune/ Crystallized Augment Rune |
| Food |  The Sushi Special | The Sushi Special |
| Diamond |  Culminating Blasphemite | Culminating Blasphemite |
| Other Gems |  Versatile Emerald |  Quick Sapphire |
Best Arcane Mage Enchants
Arcane Mage End-Game
Arcane has very potent AoE damage and very potent priority damage. Arcane only has 2 downsides in Mythic+, which are that it has to give up some single target damage for its best AoE build and that, for its AoE damage, it has to be in melee range, which as a caster can be quite dangerous. In Raids you face not so many AoE encounters which gives us lots of opportunities to shine.
Best Race for Arcane Mage
Race choice can be tough for some players. But considering Arcane Mage there are lots of useful options. Generally speaking, there is no actual difference at any faction in what race to choose. All of them have a useful asset for Arcane Mage making this decision rely only on visual preferences.
Alliance
A nice choice for Alliance is Night Elf because of Touch of Elune. This is not only the best race for Arcane Mage WoW The War Within for the Alliance players, but also a very powerful race with other cool racials that you should try out.
Horde
A nice choice for Horde is Blood Elf because of Arcane Acuity. Just like Night Elves for the Alliance, Blood Elves are WoW best race for Arcane Mage due to their abilities, which you’ll appreciate in any situation.
Best Arcane Mage Profession
WoW Arcane Mage professions help you on your way through the game. Luckily almost all professions are useful for our class specialization. The most common choice is the Tailoring + Enchanting pair. Also, Alchemy + Herbalism and Engineering + Mining are useful. You can try whatever you like. Since nowadays respecting professions isn’t that hard you can find out for yourself what is better for you. And if you need any amount of Profession Knowledge to benefit from your chosen profession, our team is ready to assist you.
Improving as Arcane Mage
If you find yourself facing performance issues, analyzing your Mage gameplay will help you to resolve most problems. The game experience is the strongest weapon in your arsenal, that’s why you should practice with your character anytime you can.
Low Downtime Performance
As an Arcane Mage, you want to maintain a consistent casting rhythm. The amount of downtime severely affects your overall damage. The only problem arises when you need to move because, by default, the only thing you can cast while moving is Arcane Barrage. However, sometimes using Arcane Barrage is a mistake, especially if it would cause you to drop your Arcane Charges. Counteract this by using your mobility spells judiciously, so you have the least amount of downtime in moving.
Burn Phase
Burn is a major portion of your damage. You will end up losing a great deal of damage if you use Touch of the Magi and Arcane Surge at the wrong time. For example, just before you are going to have to move or the boss is going to become temporarily invulnerable. Be really aware of raid mechanics and Boss Mod timers so that you Burn Phase when you have a large amount of good damage uptime.
Mana Management
As an Arcane Mage, your mana directly relates to your damage. You’ve lost potential damage if you leave a fight having too much mana. Once the boss is low, you should stop using Arcane Barrage and burn off all of your mana. If the fight ends up taking longer than expected, you can go back into Arcane Barrage, but the number one priority is always to spend as much mana as possible when the boss is low.
Arcane Mage Macros
Using macros can significantly increase your efficiency, as it allows you to perform actions faster and more precisely. By binding multiple commands to a single key, you can save time and focus more on the fight instead of juggling multiple abilities.
Arcane Mage Macros
- Stopcast Blink.
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast Blink
- 1-Button Block.
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cancelaura Ice Block
/cast Ice Block
- Block Cancel.
/cancelaura Ice Block
- Alter Time Cancel.
/cancelaura Alter Time
- Mouseover Decurse.
#showtooltip
/use [@cursor]Remove Curse
- 1-Button Touch of the Magi + Follow up spell.
/castsequence reset=5 Arcane Barrage, Touch of the Magi
Is Arcane Mage Viable in The War Within?
Considering all of the above we can surely tell that Arcane Mage is a viable class spec in The War Within. Time Warp is our huge asset to be demanded in Mythic+ and Raid content. Alongside decent DPS and variability Arcane is looking to be very strong in both raiding and Mythic+ content. Of course, the loss of Temporal Warp is huge to our burst DPS output, but also we have lots of strong talents and options inside our talent tree. Overall, we think Arcane will be fun and easy to perform on in all content, however at the highest levels we will go into pre-patch and The War Within with tempered expectations about Mythic+.
4.9In this WoW Arcane Mage DPS guide, we shared all the essential information about TWW Arcane Mages. We tried to mention the most valuable information about The War Within changes and improvements for Arcane Mage, their rotation, abilities, hero talents, builds, and BiS gear. This guide will help you improve your gameplay and performance as an Arcane Mage in World of Warcraft.
