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Arcane Mage DPS Starter Guide - Shadowlands 9.0.5
By Malon
Last updated
2021/03/09 at 1:06 AM
View Changelog
Table of Contents
Quick Facts
Table of Contents
Guide Navigation
Welcome to our Arcane Mage starter guide, which covers everything you need to start playing a new character in Shadowlands. While our other guide pages go into more individual detail, this simple starter guide covers all the basics in one place, whether you're a new Arcane Mage, a returning player to Shadowlands, hardcore, or casual alike, it's the best place to get a beginners overview on the class. Included are basic talent builds, simplified rotations, stats, legendary recommendations, and more to get you started as quickly as possible.
Please keep in mind that this page is meant to get players started quickly as an introduction, and does not contain much in the way of detailed explanations, mechanics, competitive options, gearing, simulation comparisons, or nuance. For more in-depth information, including all those optimizations and more, check out the complete Arcane Mage Guide pages linked in the navigation on the left-hand side of the page, and if you're leveling up in Shadowlands, you can take a look at our
leveling tips
.
Overview
NEW
NEW Best Covenant
Gear
Talent Builds
NEW Legendaries
NEW Twisting Corridors
NEW Conduits
NEW Kyrian
NEW Necrolord
NEW Night Fae
NEW Venthyr
Pre-Patch
Starter Guide
Rotation, Priority, and Abilities
Advanced Concepts
Stats
Consumables
Macros & Addons
WeakAuras
Common Terms
NEW Castle Nathria Tips
NEW Mythic+
Common Questions
NEW Simulations
About the Author
Malon has been throwing spells at bad guys since 2005. He raids with <Emerald Omen> on Stormscale-EU, and dreams of having a Mage trainer named after him. He would also like to get the Warlock class renamed to 'Fuzzy Cuddlebears'. He's not sure which is more realistic.
Malon is a moderator on the Mage Discord server,
Altered Time
.
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ArcaneTactics
Website:
www.altered-time.com
Best Arcane Mage Covenant
The Night Fae are the best Covenant for Arcane Mages. Arcane damage revolves around cooldowns like
Arcane Power
and
Touch of the Magi
, so the Night Fae class ability,
Shifting Power
, is a big boost for all types of content.
The Night Fae Signature ability,
Soulshape
, also helps to counter Arcane's weakness of short-range mobility/repositioning.
For Mages who want to multi-spec, the Night Fae are also a great choice for Fire and Frost: the only spec/situation they don't do well in is single-target Frost. If you really don't like the idea of being Night Fae, the Venthyr are competitive for all specs on a single target, but are weaker for Arcane than either of the elemental specs. The Kyrian can also compete, but again mostly on a single target and in some cleave situations.
Best Raid Covenants
Covenants
Rating
Best Soulbind
Night Fae
Excellent
Niya
Venthyr
Good
Theotar
Kyrian
Good
Pelagos
Necrolord
Mediocre
Emeni
Best Mythic+ Covenants
Covenants
Rating
Best Soulbind
Night Fae
Low Keys
: Excellent
High Keys
: Excellent
Korayn
Korayn
Venthyr
Low Keys
: Poor
High Keys
: Good
Draven
*
Nadjia
Kyrian
Low Keys
: Decent
High Keys
: Poor
Kleia
**
Pelagos
Necrolord
Low Keys
: Decent
High Keys
: Decent
Emeni
Emeni
* Only when you can unlock
Built for War
. Otherwise, use Nadjia or Theotar - both are equal.
** Only when you can unlock
Pointed Courage
. Otherwise, use Pelagos.
In terms of gameplay, you should use the Night Fae's
Shifting Power
when both
Arcane Power
and
Touch of the Magi
(and, preferably,
Evocation
and
Rune of Power
) are on cooldown. As Venthyr or Necrolord, use
Mirrors of Torment
/
Deathborne
before activating any other cooldown, and always line it up with
Arcane Power
.
As Kyrian, simply use
Radiant Spark
on cooldown and consume the stacks with
Arcane Blast
(don't use
Arcane Missiles
, as each projectile consumes a stack).
Best Arcane Mage Covenant
Kyrian Arcane Mage GuideNecrolord Arcane Mage GuideNight Fae Arcane Mage GuideVenthyr Arcane Mage Guide
Best Arcane Mage Legendaries
Arcane Mages have two legendary options, depending on the type of content you're doing.
Temporal Warp
is the best raiding choice, while
Arcane Bombardment
excels in cleave and AoE encounters like Mythic+ dungeons (even on Tyrannical weeks). Sadly, they don't cross over well between types of content: Temporal Warp relies heavily on group composition (i.e. having another caster of the haste buff) to be useful, and won't always line up with difficult pulls in Mythic+; and Arcane Bombardment has a use in raids, but is a much smaller gain than Temporal Warp.
Temporal Warp
for Raiding.
Arcane Bombardment
for Mythic+.
If you plan to make both, remember that you don't have to upgrade them at the same rate. If you primarily raid and only casually do Mythic+, you can max out Temporal Warp while leaving Signet at rank 1. Take a look at our
legendary guide
to learn more about the legendaries available to Arcane Mages, or our
crafting guide
to find all the materials you need to craft them.
Arcane Mage Legendaries Guide
Best Arcane Mage Talents
Arcane very rarely changes its talents, only really switching
Resonance
for
Arcane Echo
on single-target fights. The below build gives you excellent single-target and AoE burst as well as good mobility, though while levelling you may want to switch
Amplification
for
Rule of Threes
and
Chrono Shift
for
Ice Ward
.
This is a well rounded and commonly-used Arcane Mage talent build. The setup can handle almost anything, but you can find a more in-depth look at individual talent swaps and situational recommendations in the
Arcane Mage Talent Guide
.
Arcane Mage Talents Guide
Arcane Mage Stat Priority
Primary stats Intellect are much more important in Shadowlands compared to past expansions, and secondary stats are close enough together that item level is usually a more important factor when it comes to choosing gear. You can find out more about how stats work in the
Stats Guide
, or get an overview of the best-in-slot gear to look out for in dungeons and raids in the
Arcane Mage Gear Guide
.
Intellect > Mastery >= Crit > Versatility >= Haste
Intellect
: Increases all damage done by native class spells and abilities.
Mastery
: Increases your mana and mana regen rate, as well as all Arcane damage you deal (scaling with Arcane Charges for
Arcane Blast
and
Arcane Barrage
, and by a flat amount for everything else).
Critical Strike
: Has a chance to make any spell deal double damage. A strong stat for Arcane due to the hard-hitting nature of our spells.
Versatility
: Increases damage done and reduces damage taken by half the amount. Unlike Mastery, it affects
all
damage done - including trinkets, potions, and enchantments.
Haste
: Compresses the rotation by reducing cast times, the GCD and the cooldown of certain rotational abilities, like
Arcane Barrage
. However, by casting more spells we're also spending a lot more mana.
Arcane Mage Stats Guide
Arcane Mage Enchants and Consumables
Many more slots can be enchanted in Shadowlands than the two that were available to all players in Battle for Azeroth. In addition to rings and weapons, Enchanters can improve cloaks, chests, bracers, gloves and boots.
Recommended Arcane Mage enchants:
Weapon:
Celestial Guidance
Cloak:
Fortified Avoidance
is probably best, but none of these have an effect on DPS. The other choices are
Fortified Leech
,
Fortified Speed
and
Soul Vitality
.
Chest:
Eternal Insight
or
Sacred Stats
(cheaper)
Bracer:
Eternal Intellect
or
Illuminated Soul
(cheaper)
Gloves: The only glove enchant not focused on Strength is
Shadowlands Gathering
Boots: The only boot enchant not focused on Agility is
Soul Treads
, which is useless for Mages thanks to
Slow Fall
Rings:
Tenet of Mastery
or
Bargain of Mastery
(cheaper)
Arcane Mages should use the
Spectral Flask of Power
flask,
Shadowcore Oil
Weapon Oil and
Potion of Spectral Intellect
in group content. Use
Iridescent Ravioli with Apple Sauce
/
Meaty Apple Dumplings
as food and
Masterful Jewel Cluster
/
Masterful Jewel Doublet
gems as a general rule, but ideally you should sim your character - your best secondary stat might not be Mastery.
Arcane Mage Enchants Guide
Arcane Mage Rotation
The Arcane Mage rotation flows between two phases; the Burn Phase, used during
Arcane Power
and/or
Touch of the Magi
, and the Conserve Phase outside of cooldowns. More information about abilities, cooldowns, and other advanced tips can be found in the
Arcane Mage Rotation Guide
.
Burn Phase
Cast
Touch of the Magi
and
Arcane Power
Use
Arcane Blast
until
Clearcasting
procs
Consume
Clearcasting
with
Arcane Missiles
Use
Presence of Mind
for an instant
Arcane Blast
s at the end of Touch of the Magi
Continue to cast Arcane Blast until out of mana
Evocation
to return to full mana
Conserve Phase
Cast
Arcane Blast
until
Clearcasting
procs
Consume Clearcasting with
Arcane Missiles
Continue to cast
Arcane Blast
and
Arcane Missiles
(with
Clearcasting
) until you reach four stacks of
Arcane Charge
. Clear your stacks with
Arcane Barrage
Repeat this, staying above 60% mana, until
Arcane Power
or
Touch of the Magi
are available again
Although it's a big DPS loss to do so, you can drop Arcane Charges at three or even two stacks if you're likely to run out of mana before the next burn phase.
Mini-burn - used with
Touch of the Magi
when
Arcane Power
is on cooldown
Cast
Rune of Power
and
Touch of the Magi
Use
Arcane Blast
and
Arcane Missiles
(with
Clearcasting
) until Touch of the Magi fades*
Use
Presence of Mind
for three instant
Arcane Blast
s at the end of Touch of the Magi
Return to Conserve Phase
You should always combine cooldowns when possible, without delaying Arcane Power. Because you want to line it up with
Rune of Power
, that means it's possible to use Touch of the Magi once or twice between Arcane Power casts. For more on this, see the
Rotation Guide
.
* With
Arcane Echo
you can drop Arcane Blast from your rotation entirely during Touch of the Magi, to focus on casting Arcane Missiles.
Our Arcane Mage guides are always updated with the latest information from in-game experience, simulations, and logs; make sure to check our changelog to this page, by clicking on
View Changelog
at the top of the page. If you are interested in more in-depth Arcane Mage guides for , make sure to browse the
Navigation Bar
below, and our list of
Related Guides
just beneath the
Table of Contents
.
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