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Arcane Mage DPS Starter Guide - Shadowlands 9.2.5
By Porom
Last Updated:
2022/11/28
Changelog
Patch: 10.1.7
Table of Contents
Rating: 4.6/5
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Guide Navigation
Rating: 4.6/5
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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
.
10.1.7 Season 2
10.1.7 Cheat Sheet
10.1.7 Primordial Stones
10.1.7 Mythic+
10.1.7 Raid Tips
10.1.7 Talent Builds
10.1.7 Rotation
10.1.7 Support Buffs
10.1.7 Gear
10.1.7 Tier Set Bonus
Overview
Abilities & Talents
Advanced Concepts
Stats
Consumables
Macros & Addons
WeakAuras
Common Terms
Mythic+
Common Questions
Leveling
Simulations
Hotfixes
PvP Overview
PvP Builds
Mage Tower
About the Author
Hello, I'm
Porom
a Mage player in <Divergence>. I have been playing WoW on and off since release and am an active staff member in the
Altered-Time
discord. I have played at the top end in the earlier expansions of WoW but now I prefer to keep my raiding time short and efficient. I stream my guild's raids and some dungeons every now and again over at
twitch
. You can also find me in the
Arcane Dream
discord.
Best Arcane Mage Covenant
The Kyrian are the best Covenant for Arcane Mages. Arcane damage revolves around cooldowns like
Arcane Power
and
Touch of the Magi
, and adding the interaction between
Radiant Spark
and
Arcane Harmony
to that results in heavy, heavy burst and is a big boost for all types of content. In 9.2 the tier set and covenant legendary baseline will only accentuate this strength.
The Kyrian signature ability
Summon Steward
provides an added buffer of health in a way mages can use well.
Best Arcane Mage Covenants and Soulbinds for Raid
Single Legendary
Double Legendary
Kyrian
Pelagos
Kyrian
Pelagos
Venthyr
Theotar
Venthyr
Theotar
Necrolord
Heirmir
Necrolord
Heirmir
Night Fae
Niya
Night Fae
Niya
Best Arcane Mage Covenants and Soulbinds for Mythic+
Single Legendary
Double Legendary
Kyrian
Pelagos
Kyrian
Pelagos
Venthyr
Draven
Venthyr
Draven
Necrolord
Heirmir
Necrolord
Heirmir
Night Fae
Korayn
Night Fae
Korayn
In terms of gameplay, you should use the Kyrian's
Radiant Spark
before
Touch of the Magi
and
Arcane Power
, cast
Arcane Blast
5 times (4 with covenant legendary unlock) then follow-up with a
Arcane Barrage
(for more information see the Kyrian detailed guide). As Venthyr or Necrolord, use
Mirrors of Torment
/
Deathborne
before activating any other cooldown, and always line it up with
Arcane Power
.
As Night Fae, simply use
Shifting Power
on cooldown after other cooldowns have been spent.
Best Arcane Mage Covenant
Kyrian Arcane Mage GuideNecrolord Arcane Mage GuideNight Fae Arcane Mage GuideVenthyr Arcane Mage Guide
Best Legendaries for Arcane Mage in Patch 9.2
Best Single Legendary for Arcane Mage in Patch 9.2
Nothing is changing in this regard for Arcane Mages and we will continue to use
Arcane Harmony
as Kyrian, using
Radiant Spark
to amplify
Arcane Barrage
for big hits during our cooldown windows.
Best Single Legendaries
Raid Legendary
:
Arcane Harmony
Mythic+ Legendary
:
Arcane Harmony
Best Double Legendaries for Arcane Mage in Patch 9.2
Eternity's End allows players to wear two legendary items, instead of one, with a restriction. One of the two legendaries must be your covenant legendary, making covenant choice now also impacted directly by the strength of Covenant Legendaries. Double Legendaries become available during week 5, after completing its story chapter. This makes Kyrian an even stronger option as the other covenant legendaries either do not add much or add virtually nothing.
Best Double Legendaries
Raid Legendaries
:
Arcane Harmony
and
Harmonic Echo
Mythic+ Legendaries
:
Arcane Harmony
and
Harmonic Echo
Arcane Mages have multiple legendary options depending on covenant and the type of content you're doing.
Arcane Harmony
is the best for KyrianArcane Mages in all content.
Siphon Storm
is the best for Venthyr in raiding and high keys, however for lower health targets like what's found in low keys,
Arcane Bombardment
will fair better.
Temporal Warp
excels for Necrolord and Night Fae in raiding, 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.
Given that Kyrian is the best covenant currently, it is recommended you make
Arcane Harmony
as soon as possible.
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 for non-Kyrian. 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. I cannot stress enough that this is a default rotation that is agnostic of covenant selection - you should look to individual covenant sections for more information or use the sample output from simming to see the most optimal rotation for your setup.
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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