TBC Classic Arcane Mage Guide (Phase 3)
About the Class
Arcane Mage is a ranged cloth-wearing caster and one of the strongest specializations in TBC. It delivers the highest and most controllable burst damage among mages, the best sustained damage of the three trees, and one of the best area-of-effect outputs. The main challenge is mana consumption. It is very high, so the mage spends other players' mana-restoring cooldowns, including 
Innervate, and converts them into damage. The core spell is 
Arcane Blast, while 
Frostbolt works as an economical filler.
Strengths
- The best and most controllable burst damage among mages.
- The highest damage ceiling of the three mage specializations.
- Very low threat.
- Converts raid mana cooldowns into damage.
- Very easy to gear up: almost all available equipment has intellect.
- Uses intellect and spirit, which other specializations barely need.
Weaknesses
- Heavily dependent on mana support; best played in a group with a Shadow Priest.
- The longer the fight, the lower your efficiency.
- Harder to manage due to constant mana control.
- The hardest to calculate: many factors affect the result.
Stat Priority
- 1Hit (spell)
- 2Intellect
- 3Spell Power
- 4Spell Haste Rating
- 5Critical Strike (spell)
- 6Spirit
- 7Stamina
- 8Mana per 5 sec.
Talents
Ability Priority
- Arcane Blast — main single-target damage and used the whole time under cooldowns
- Frostbolt — economical filler: at 1500–3000 mana switch to a cycle of 3× Arcane Blast + 3× Frostbolt; with high haste — 3 and 4
Molten Armor — if mana lasts until the end of the fight, otherwise 
Mage Armor
Fire Blast — while moving and for finishing off, it has no travel time
Blink — instead of running when changing position, so you don't lose casts
Area-of-Effect Priority
Arcane Explosion — the foundation of AoE damage; threat is so low you can start almost right behind the tank
Cone of Cold — on cooldown, if all targets are in front of you
Flamestrike — can be placed in advance, but generates a lot of threat
Blizzard — the safe option from range and a slow
Important Abilities
Icy Veins; make sure it doesn't fall out of sync with Arcane Power. It also resets 
Ice Block and 
Ring of Frost
Arcane Blast
Innervate and 
Mana Tide Totem as often as possible
Spell Ranks
The point of the cycle with Frostbolt is that the cost of Arcane Blast is calculated at the moment the cast finishes. If you start a new blast on the last second of the debuff, it will cast in 1.5 seconds but charge the base cost — 195 mana instead of 634 (or 39 mana on top with two pieces of the T5 set).
Best-in-Slot Gear (BiS)
Best-in-Slot Gear (BiS)Tier 6 Set — Tempest Regalia
Tier 6 Set — Tempest RegaliaEnchants, Gems, Consumables
Enchants
Gems
ConsumablesRaces
Best Professions
Provides 
Enchant Ring - Minor Intellect — a very strong enchant that can only be applied to your own rings and stops working if you drop the profession. Plus 
Disenchant for breaking down surplus equipment.
Explosives like 
Dense Dynamite and 
Super Sapper Charge are not subject to the AoE damage cap and weave into the rotation. It also provides 
Destruction Holo-Gogs, 
Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite, 
Zapthrottle Mote Extractor and 
Dimensional Ripper - Area 52.
In the first phase it provides strong sets — Spellfire (
Spellfire Robe, 
Spellfire Gloves, 
Spellfire Belt) and Spellstrike (
Spellstrike Hood, 
Spellstrike Pants) — but they are quickly displaced by raid gear. At 375 skill it unlocks the best leg enchants: 
Runic Spellthread and 
Golden Spellthread.
Provides drums with 30-second buffs. Because of the 
Tinnitus debuff they can only be received once every 2 minutes, so the profession's value has dropped noticeably.
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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