Arcane Mage Guide
903 viewsAbout the Class
Arcane Mage is a ranged fighter who can wield either two one-handed weapons (wands, daggers, off-hand weapons) or a two-handed weapon (staves). The class has enormous burst damage both on single target and in AoE.
Strengths
- Excellent damage both on single target and in AoE.
- Simple rotation that lets you quickly grasp the class and deliver strong results.
- Raid buff that grants 30% Haste for 30 seconds (Bloodlust, Heroism), plus an Intellect buff for the whole raid or party.
Weaknesses
- Heavily reliant on burst cooldowns. Without them the class's damage is mediocre.
- Requires careful mana management and timely restoration - running out of mana significantly hurts your damage.
- Limited group crowd-control options.
Stat Priority
Intellect
Mastery
Haste
Critical Strike
VersatilityTalents
Rotation
- Arcane Surge
- Touch of the Magi
- Arcane Barrage when you have at least 20 stacks of
Arcane Harmony - Arcane Barrage when you have 25 stacks of Arcane Harmony
- Arcane Barrage if you have a
Clearcasting proc 
Arcane Missiles if you have a Clearcasting proc
Arcane Orb if you have fewer than 2 stacks of 
Arcane Charge- Arcane Orb
Arcane Pulse if you need to gain a stack of Arcane Charge- Arcane Blast
- Arcane Barrage when you run out of mana
Best in Slot (BiS)
Don't forget to explore our class pages, where not only the best items in the slot are available, but also other alternatives for any class, spec or situation:
Enchants, Gems, Consumables
Leveling
From the very first level you already have damaging abilities. On the early levels your main spells will be Arcane Barrage and Arcane Missiles. As you level up you will gain new abilities and gradually reach the full rotation. We recommend following the ability priority from the rotation section.
Mythic+ Tips
1
The ability 
Alter Time lets you quickly recover after taking large but non-lethal damage. If you know you are about to take damage, press this ability once before the hit and once after.
2
You can cast 
Shimmer during other spell casts if you urgently need to leave the area you are standing in.
3
Always keep 
Prismatic Barrier active. The ability greatly boosts your survivability by shortening the duration of harmful magic effects applied to you.
Macros
#showtooltip Spellsteal /cast [@focus,exists] Spellsteal
#showtooltip Alter Time /cancelaura Alter Time
#showtooltip Remove Curse /cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Remove Curse
Author
Fouren
Fouren has been playing World of Warcraft for over 15 years. He is an active player with 12 Cutting Edge achievements under his belt, and has reached the top 1% and 0.1% multiple times on various classes. His main classes are healers, particularly Holy Paladin.
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