[Outdated] Arcane Mage PvE Guide 5.4

By Elfeaterdk Updated: 2016/09/02

INTRODUCTION/DISCLAIMER

Welcome to my guide for playing Arcane Mage throughout the Mists of Pandaria expansion. Since you have found your way to this page it can mean the following:

You have gotten your Mage to 90, and want to know how to play Arcane
Read on. This guide is for you.
You have enjoyed playing Fire Mage, but want to try out Arcane
Read on. This guide is also for you.
You have enjoyed playing Arcane in earlier expansions
Skim through this. You may learn something.
You already excel at playing Arcane, and eagerly read through ElitistJerks and other theorycrafter's sites to optimize your dps.
Leave this guide immediately. This is written for non-hardcore players.

This is intended to be a comprehensive guide that will teach you how to gear, spec, and play your Arcane Mage at a succesful non-hardcore level. I personally am in a (great) 10-man casual PvE guild, where we raid 3 x 3 hours a week.

Let me warn you: You WILL be ridiculed for playing what many people view to be the easiest class/spec in the game. The thing about the easy to play issue: Well - let's face it - it really is. Anyone can stand still and press Arcane Blast and 1-2 other spells and get pretty good numbers. If they know how to use all their cooldowns on the dungeon bosses, then due to the relative short nature of the fights, they will appear to punch out BIG numbers. As such it is really easy. Then someone even learns the rotations of the Arcane Mage and they will be even better. But what really seperates the Arcane Mage from almost every other class: We need to hoard knowledge. What sets us above many others on dps meters is knowledge of the fights we do. Planning our cooldowns are the bread and butter of succesfully pushing our dps to the max. So - in the words of many others before me on qq-forum-posts, counter-qq-forum-posts, and earlier versions of guides. "Arcane really is easy to play - but it is difficult to master" (too many sources to even begin linking).

Consider this: While other classes/specs may have a more intricant rotation than you button-wise, you will never ever get through the same fight twice using your exact same rotation as so many factors play into how you cast your spells!

There are many things hidden in fine print when playing an Arcane Mage. The less important stuff you will suss out by yourself as you become more accustomed to playing Arcane, but the really important stuff is "simply" this:

----------> <----------

It is PARAMOUNT that you understand this. This is the hub of the class. The CORE. In the simplest terms, the foundation to your dps lies in very few important steps

Stack Mastery.
Keep Mana at maximum (>95%) at all times.

That's the simple and clear version. Comply with the above 2 statements and you will do solid dps. Like I hinted at in the intro, the real key to pushing your dps even further comes from 2 other steps:

Know your cooldowns.
Know your fights.

Let's illustrate this with a very simple example from a heroic dungeon:
You have engaged General Pa'valak in Siege of Niuzao Temple. The tank has good aggro and you pop the biggest cooldown of all: Time Warp - after which General Pa'valak shields himself from all damage for 45 seconds, meaning you just got nothing out of the effect!

This guide will teach you the spells, and there will be many extra goodies with macros and stuff - but learning the fights are going to be all up to you.

This section focuses on what gear you should go for, what enchants and gems to use on it, how to reforge it correctly and so on. I highly recommend using the website AskMrRobot since it can take care of it all, but if you want to understand the subtleties of your stats, you can read about it in this section.

A note on items with Use-abilities

Generally items with static bonuses give higher dps than anything with Use-abilities. The big difference are items that have 90 second cooldowns. This aligns perfectly with our best cooldown, and can as such provide very excellent boosts to our dps.

Head
People who have already done all quests from Wrathion will in this patch be able to follow a new Legendary questline that will lead to Sinister Primal Diamond.

Hands
Enchant Gloves - Superior Mastery
Extra for Blacksmithing:
Extra for Engineering:

Neck
No enchant.

Waist
Living Steel Belt Buckle

Shoulder
Greater Crane Wing Inscription
Inscription: Secret Crane Wing Inscription

Leggings
Greater Cerulean Spellthread
Tailoring: Master's Spellthread

Cloak
Enchant Cloak - Superior Intellect
Tailoring:

Boots
Enchant Boots - Pandaren's Step

Chest
Enchant Chest - Glorious Stats

Ring 1

Enchanting:

Shirt
No enchant.

Ring 2

Enchanting:

Tabard
No enchant.

Trinket 1
No enchant.

Wrist
Enchant Bracer - Super Intellect
Cheap version: Enchant Bracer - Mastery
Leatherworking:
Extra for :

Trinket 2
No enchant.

Weapon

Enchant Weapon - Jade Spirit
Cheap version: Enchant Weapon - Windsong

Extra: Eye of the Black Prince.

Offhand
Enchant Off-Hand - Major Intellect

Meta-gem = Burning Primal Diamond
When you have completed the legendary questline from Wrathion you should use Sinister Primal Diamond instead.
Red = Artful Vermilion Onyx OR Perfect Artful Tiger Opal.
2 x Brilliant Serpent's Eye for Jewelcrafting.
Yellow = Fractured Sun's Radiance OR Perfect Fractured Sunstone.
Blue = Sensei's Wild Jade OR Perfect Sensei's Alexandrite.

AskMrRobot

Hit/Crit items
Crit -> Expertise (if you lack Hit, as Expertise is also spell Hit now) OR
Crit -> Mastery
Hit/Haste item
Haste -> Expertise (if you lack Hit) OR
Haste -> Mastery
Hit/Mastery item
Hit -> Haste (if above Hit cap)
Crit/Haste item
Crit -> Mastery
Crit/Mastery item
Crit -> Hit (if you lack Hit) OR
Crit -> Haste
Haste/Mastery item
Haste -> Hit (if you lack Hit)

Siege of Orgrimmar

Purified Bindings of Immerseus drops of Immerseus.
This is the absolutely best trinket for you. Even LFR version will beat any of the other on Heroic Warforged quality! Spend bonus roll coins on Normal AND Flex AND LFR until you get this. Normal mode version will give you approximately 5% dps upgrade. The beauty of the x% Mastery/Haste bonus it gives, is that it scales with your other gear, which is why this is your BiS (Best in Slot) trinket no matter its itemlevel.

Kardris' Toxic Totem drops of Korkron Dark Shaman AND Black Blood of Y'Shaarj drops of Garrosh Hellscream.
The strenght of these trinkets depends greatly on your set bonus. This is due to the Multistrike; as you get 2set and 4set you will be casting more and more Arcane Missiles, which means most of your damage will start to come from many small hits instead of few big hits.
Thus your BiS-list will look like this:
0-1 Tier pieces: Kardris' Toxic Totem.

2-3 Tier pieces: Kardris' Toxic Totem = Black Blood of Y'Shaarj - use whichever you get first or feel best for.

4-5 Tier pieces: Black Blood of Y'Shaarj.

Frenzied Crystal of RageMalkorokGalakrasSpoils of Pandaria

The thing to remember with Talents is that they now are very quickly interchangable as long as you have some Fel-Charred Tome on you.

Recommended
- an extra instantcast spell (two if played correctly - see Rotation).
Ice Floes - good for movement-heavy fights. The new and improved version with 3 spells and the reduced cooldown, make this the default talent now. Note that you have to press this talent for each spell that you want to cast on the move. As soon as you have used the first of the 3 charges, it will immediatly start to recharge. (Screenshot will be updated later to reflect correct tooltip).
Situational
Not recommended
Blazing Speed - PvP talent.

Recommended
- since it is a passive ability it will always be a good talent.
Situational
- use this just as you are about to take loads of damage, and your healers will be grateful.
Not recommended
Ice Barrier - for fights where you need to absorb a hit larger than your health pool. For those events I'd always suggest using Ice Block or let your Cauterize save you instead.

Recommended
Situational
Ring of Frost - used to root up to 10 enemies.
- an extra non-damaging Frost Nova that you can do "remotely" by casting it on another player.
- an extra interrupt and/or crowd control of a single mob.
Not recommended

Recommended
Cauterize - one of our strongest talents. Basically saves you from dying every 2 minutes. Make sure to advise your healers that you will take extra damage for a while, or remove it via Ice Block.
Situational
Greater Invisibility - the damage reduction along with the reduced cooldown basically translates this spell into 3 extra Ice Block as well as it increases the odds of you being able to survive an encounter and cast .
- it is an extra Ice Block as well as a heal. As such it is not bad - the other two are just generally much more powerful.
Not recommended

This is what the guide refers to when I use the expression .

Recommended
Nether Tempest - the second-strongest single-target DoT, but highly adaptable to other situations, as it has no maximum number of targets. The damage it does to nearby targets is also pretty strong. Used for 2-3 targets.
Situational
Living Bomb - used for fights where you have 1-2 targets. Strongest singletarget DoT.
- used for fights with 4+ targets. Has a strong AoE, but it is not instantcast meaning you lose mobility as well.
Not recommended

Recommended
Rune of Power - the extra Mana is what makes this the mandatory talent for Arcane Mages. Always stand in one of these. Make sure to put them up ahead of the pull. The new thing in patch 5.4 is that you can actaully stand 5 yards away and still get the effect.
Situational
- the reduced Mana regeneration makes this bad to take as Arcane. Also we don't want to spend our on Mana. We want to spend them on damage. The heal is nice though and can be used as such in solo-content.
Not recommended
Incanter's Flow - there is really no increased Mana regeneration from this, as the effect should be used on cooldown to gain extra damage. Could perhaps be useful but the other 2 will always be more powerful.

Fel-Charred Tome

MAJOR

- mandatory due to healing.
- recommended on long fights.
- the Frost effect can be pesky but it is generally recommended.
- generally recommended on any fight with adds.
- situational but not recommended.
- not recommended for most fights as it is hard enough to be able to stand still for 15 seconds.
- very great addition to movement. Make sure to remove it for fights with stuns/roots though.
- extends AoE, very situational usage.

MINOR

- generally recommended. The slow Mana infusion makes it less likely that Mana will be "spilled".
- widely debated whether this is a dps increase or not. At least it looks more fitting.

Any other Minor Glyph is purely cosmetic, and you can choose freely amongst them.

Arcane Blast
This is your main damage spell. Builds up stacks of Arcane Charge.
Arcane Missiles
Channeled spell. Best used at max stacks of Arcane Charge.
Arcane Barrage
Big hit, used to reset stacks of Arcane Charge. Also does AoE on targets near your target.
Arcane Explosion
Your best AoE spell. If you cannot go to melee range, then you are generally better off doing single-target damage and only using the AoE component from Arcane Barrage.
Nether Tempest/Living Bomb/
You should use these against 2-3, 1-2, 4+ targets respectively.
Spellsteal
This spell has thankfully found its way back on the hotbar. Steals a Magic effect from a target. Note that spellstealable buffs are brighter than the others.
Counterspell
Our only interrupt and it has a long cooldown.
Polymorph
Our famous crowd control spell. Can be learned in many variants.

Blink
The most overpowered spell we have. Movement really isn't the forte of Arcane, but this one makes up for it. Used defensively to move away from what otherwise would hit you or break stuns. Can also be used to getting from the air to the ground.
Invisibility
Really helpful to survive a wipe and make a quick recovery with . Can also be used to avoid some debuffs. In most cases you will never need to take Greater Invisibility.
Ice Block
Very powerful. Can help you survive a massive hit, remove debuffs, and makes you ideal to tank otherwise "deadly" abilities.
//Ice Barrier
Very strong defensive. If the fight has predictable huge hits, then generally is the best talent for the fight. If the fight on the other hand has lots of smaller hits coming in all the time, then you will get much more survivability by going with . Ice Barrier should never be used unless you are put in a role where you need to take a hit bigger than your health pool.
Slow Fall
Not really used in current content, and most of the times Blink can do the job for you, but it can save you a good deal of grief to put it there just for safety
Remove Curse
Not used very often, and you should really get the Decursive Add-On instead of hotbaring it.
Frost Nova
Roots all enemies within range. Be careful though. If an add cant reach the tank because of your root and it is within melee range of you, it WILL hit you!

Arcane Power
Our best cooldown. Good damage increase and the extra Mana cost is negliable.
Rune of Power
The double Mana regen from this is what makes it THE talent to have. The increased damage is of course also nice.
Alter Time
Strong and interesting cooldown, which used incorrectly can prove fatal. Copies everything including your position, and revert you to exactly that 6 seconds later (or if you press it again).
Mana Gem
This replenishes our mana which we like for our Mastery.
Mirror Image
Nice extra damage, not to mention that they mask your threat, and can as such sometimes even be used to tank (at least on Bethtilac in Firelands)
(if talented)
This will make your next spell instantcast, and depending on the fight it can be used for extra damage during a Nuke-phase, or saved to deal with a mechanic.
Evocation (if Rune of Power is not talented for some odd reason)
Restores mana and heals you via . Most importantly it gives you a damage buff, which you must keep active at all times.
Time Warp
Although it doesn't have the same cool sound as Bloodlust, the benefit of you casting it will be, that you can align your other cooldowns perfectly for it.
Note: During raids you should of course only use this if your Raidleader calls for it!
Racials/Profession buffs, like Berserking, Arcane Torrent, and .
Any Use-ability items.
Potion of the Jade Serpent
Extra Intellect is never bad these days.

Arcane Intellect
Extra Spellpower as well as 5% Crit.
This is 3000 extra Mastery. Doesn't get much better than that.
Conjure Mana Gem
You will always want to start a fight with full charges.
Flask of the Warm Sun
Passive Intellect bonus. Lasts 1-2 hours depending on whether you are an Alchemist.
Conjure Refreshment Table
Provides your entire raid with food, which is nice. Should of course only be used at raid-start.
Potion of the Jade Serpent
If you cast this just a second before the tank pulls, you are able to use another 1 minute later

Cauterize (if talented)
Very strong defense against instant death. Unless you know that your healers are ready to heal off the debuff, you should pop another defensive cooldown like Ice Block to clear it right off or to help mitigate it.
(if talented)
This seems to be your new default talent of that tier. This effect actually makes stacking mainstat reduce your damage taken. In raids this should not be an issue, but on solo content it could probably add a wee amount of survivability.
One of the basic mechanics of Arcane. You will always want to stack this to maximum charges, while attempting to keep Mana at maximum. Explained in the Rotation section.
Haste makes our Mana regen go faster. Who wasn't pining for this during Cataclysm?
Shatter
This can actually be quite useful against groups of adds. Using a Frost Nova before you start your AoE will pretty much ensure Crits all around.

Flamestrike
If you really need to do ranged AoE damage, you should use this on cooldown.
If you really need to do ranged AoE damage, you should use this while waiting for the cooldown of Flamestrike.
Slow
Even if you have it glyphed, it may be required to cast it on another target on some fights.
Cone of Cold
If you need to AoE slow adds in front of you, you could have a use for this spell.
Bosses are generally immune, but you may be able to use it against an add.
Ice Floes (if talented)
On fights with lots of movement, or where you are required to dps hard while moving, this talent could be the way to go.
Ring of Frost//
If a fight calls for AoE rooting, or you need to do an extra interrupt/cc, you may be called on to use one of these.
(if talented)
This should only be used if, for some reason, you need to cast Ice Block twice fast after each other.
You should never use this.
Flurry
You should never use this.
Ice Lance
You should never use this.

This is the "phase" you will be in for the greatest part of the fight. To put it in mathematical terms: Your Arcane Power lasts 15 seconds and is available every 90 seconds. As such the normal phase is 75/90 seconds or roughly 83% of the time.

The really important thing in this phase is keeping the goal in mind: To get the best possible Nuke phase.

Here are the steps of the normal phase. Dont treat the list as a linear thing. It is a priority-based list meaning that after every cast you look the list through and do the first thing available.

Put down your Rune of Power.
Keep your up.
Cast Arcane Blast to get to maximum stack of .
Cast Arcane Blast a couple of times more to get a bit below max Mana.
Remember to repeat this step if the next step makes you reach full Mana.
Cast all charges of Arcane Missiles.
Reset your stacks by casting Arcane Barrage.

You want your normal phase to end with maximum stacks of , 2 stacks of your Arcane Missiles, your just refreshed, and more than 21 seconds left on your Rune of Power.

Executing a good Nuke is almost as important as the 2 Prime Directives (stack Mastery, Mana>95%). You should aim to fulfill all the conditions set at the end of the "normal" rotation, repeated here for easy reading:

You want your normal phase to end with maximum stacks of , 2 stacks of your Arcane Missiles, your just refreshed, and more than 21 seconds left on your Rune of Power.

All the conditions should of course be wrapped nicely around your current fight. Make sure that no pesky boss mechanic is gonna interrupt your Nuke phase. Some times it cannot be helped when you deal with random mechanics (like getting turned into a construct on Ambershaper), and on other fights there may be so many mechanics that you will be unable to stand still for the complete duration. The PvE section will be updated along the way with tips and tricks on the specific fights.

Pop Arcane Power
Pop a Mana Gem to get to max mana if needed.
Pop any Use-ability from trinkets
Pop any Racial or Profession abilities
Pop Potion of the Jade Serpent if this is the time where your raid has decided to use Time Warp.
Pop .
Pop Alter Time (only available for every other Nuke phase).
Use both stacks of Arcane Missiles.
Cast Arcane Blast to use up your instantcast.
Cast Arcane Barrage. (if this is done during a Time Warp you may have time for an extra Blast before the reset).
Refresh your if you have time before the reset of Alter Time.
Use the remaining time of your Arcane Power for:
Casting Arcane Blast until Arcane Missiles proc.
Spending your Arcane Missiles.
Keeping up.

As Arcane Power is about to fade you finish your nuke by casting Arcane Barrage.

Make sure to visit the Macro section to make this substantially easier to do.

That concludes your Nuke and you return to Normal phase.

Melee range is where we do our best AoE dps.

Put down your Rune of Power.
Spam Arcane Explosion.
When you reach maximum stacks on , you throw Arcane Barrage on the most important target.

Your ranged AoE dps is really bad compared to melee range. In general you should consider whether or not you'd be better off just single-target damaging your highest priority target and then AoE via Arcane Barrage.

Put down your Rune of Power.
Cast Flamestrike.
Cast .
Rinse and repeat.

Rune of PowerRune of Power

Ice Floes (if talented) + 3 x Arcane Blast and/or Arcane Missiles.

Refresh your Nether Tempest on all available targets.

Arcane Barrage.

Arcane Explosion.

Arcane Explosion

Item - Mage T16 2P Bonus

Item - Mage T16 4P Bonus

Arcane MissilesArcane BlastProfound MagicArcane MissilesProfound MagicArcane Missiles

1. First priority is always to keep your up.

2. 290k-300k: Cast Arcane Blast.

2. 275k + 1 stack of Profound Magic: Cast Arcane Blast.

2. 250k + 2-3 stacks of Profound Magic: Cast Arcane Blast.

3. Cast Arcane Missiles. Even if your 4set allow you to cast many of these, you should never get more than 3 stacks of Profound Magic.

4. It is alright to "fish" for more Arcane Missiles procs by prematurely refreshing your .

5. Finish off with Arcane Barrage.

Note 1:Profound MagicArcane BlastNote 2:Arcane MissilesArcane BarrageNote: Nether TempestLiving Bomb

#showtooltip
/cast Arcane Power
/use Mana Gem
/use 13
/use 14
/cast (racial/profession abilities)
/cast Arcane Blast
This macro will pop your cooldowns including any Use-ability trinkets (use 13+14 are trinket 1+2). Remember that if you have 2 trinkets that both have Use-abilities, you cannot pop both at the same time. Using one will cause a short cooldown on the other. As well as popping it all, it also casts your next Arcane Blast.

#showtooltip Alter Time
/cast Presence of Mind
/cast Alter Time
/cast Arcane Missiles

This macro casts your which counts as a buff, then casts your Alter Time which "copies" your buffs, finishing of with casting your Arcane Missiles.

The reason I separate them, is that you may not always want to use as a part of your nuke (based on the fight), but you will always want to have it doubled by your Alter Time.

#showtooltip Polymorph
/focus
/stopmacro
/castrandom Polymorph, Polymorph(Turtle), Polymorph(Rabbit)
/castrandom Polymorph, Polymorph(Turtle), Polymorph(Rabbit)

This is what happens:

It selects your current target as your Focus.
IF target is Hostile it will attempt to cast a random Polymorph spell (modify according to which spells you know yourself)
WHEN you notice your cc is about to expire (due to having it as focus), you rightclick the macro, which then will re-Polymorph the mob, without de-selecting your current target

I happen to have the macro as click only. If you have this as key-press (like your dps-spells should be), then replace the btn:1 statements with nomod and the btn:2 with mod:shift.

/cast Evocation
/dbm timer 45 Evocation

This macro requires the Deadly Boss Mod Add-On (see Add-On section). It makes a timer that will let you know when the damage buff from your is about to run out.

#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast Counterspell
/cast Arcane Blast

Note: If the fight requires you to interrupt often, you should instead switch to and just use the spell directly.

#Showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast Spellsteal

Generally if a boss fight requires you to steal a buff, you need to do so instantly, so this macro stops any current casts.

/cancelaura Invisibility
/cancelaura Ice Block

This is a handy little macro for getting out of your Ice Block or Invisibility. You can easily have them combined into one multipurpose macro, as you never will be able to use both those spells at the same time.

/console cameradistancemaxfactor 5

Using this allows you to zoom your camera out further than normal, which can be useful on some fights.

On herioc mode I recommend using a macro to handle the removing of your Ice Block while resetting the cooldown of it with .
/cancelaura Ice Block
/cast Cold Snap

No specific macros needed.

I recommend a targeting macro for the add from High Priestess Mar'li:

/tar Blessed Loa Spirit
/tar Shadowed Loa Spirit
/cast Arcane Blast

If your raid lacks burst dps and you sometimes have problems getting it down before it reaches the boss, you can replace the Arcane Blast statement with Slow.

#showtooltip
/cast Slow
/run SetRaidTarget("target", 6)
/s SLOW on {square}

I find this handy for cc'ing the turtles. Note: This requires you to have assist or lead, or your add won't get marked.

No specific macros needed.

No specific macros needed.

No specific macros needed.

No specific macros needed.

No specific macros needed.

No specific macros needed.

For Heroic mode:

#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast Blink

No specific macros needed.

Deadly Boss Mod
Will show you timers for the most important boss abilities. It is as such not really needed, since the fights in Dragon Soul are very very simple, and most important boss abilities will have either a cast bar and/or the new in-game version of DBM will tell you the important stuff and/or what to do.

While every fight can be done without this addon, the timers from DBM will help you increase your dps by making it easier for you to time your cooldowns.

It also enables you to make your own timers as exemplified in the Macro section.

Decursive
Small and simple addon, that allows you to cast Remove Curse with one click on any in your raid, or Polymorph on any mindcontrolled raidmember.

It also contains some advanced features, where you can key any spell/macro into a single mouse-click. For instance you could make a Presence of Mind + Polymorph macro, which you could then choose to have cast on the target of the player you click, which could potentially help a healer out on trash.

Recount
Very useful tool to help you analyze fights. Most useful is the "damage taken" tab which can help you greatly by finding out how you could handle an encounter better.

This is going to be very basic guidelines, which you will need to adapt to each different fight. Most fights are designed in such a way that if you employ correct tactics and know your class well enough, then you should be able to come out as a winner.

Time Warp is your friend.
Use this to help burn down your foe(s).
After you pull with Arcane Blast, make sure to use Mirror Image.
After the images have cast their first spell they will steal your aggro. They don't have that much health. On rare mobs they can last against it for the full duration, but at least most Bosses in Brawler's guild will oneshot each of them. It is still 3 hits you don't take yourself though, meaning it is well worth it.
Blink/Move
Many of the abilities that will oneshot you (or take away a significant portion of your health) can be avoided by movement. It is not always an advantage to stay far away. Many abilities are easier to avoid by walking through the mob.
Counterspell
Make sure to use your interrupt on the right spell (you must learn this by trial and error - or guides). Many mobs cast lesser spells that will hit you for very little. Make sure to spend the interrupt on either a high-damage ability or a heal. When going up against Pandaran Rare Mobs you will need to spec into since they generally seem to have both a high-damage ability AND a heal.
This is also a very nice defense against a high-damage ability. All damage taken in the next 4 seconds will be regenerated.
Alter Time
While normally used to gain an extra 6 seconds on your buffs, this can now instead be used as a defensive. You see the mob doing stuff, you hit this, do damage meanwhile, and all the damage the mob is going to do to you will be reset nicely.
Evocation
This might be worth it over Rune of Power as you can use it ahead of the pull for increased damage, and can be used as a minor heal.
Frost Nova
Use this to root while you cast Evocation or to get away. Remember to use to disable the mob further.

I will update this section as I progress through the bosses myself. Meanwhile feel free to leave your own tips and I will incorporate them into this guide.

These are the bosses of the Throne of Thunder raid.

Use Nether Tempest.
Do not go to Nuke phase until you stand in Conductive Water.
It is acceptable to talent Ice Floes to counter the Focused Lightning mechanic:
Blink to the side/back when you are targeted (out of the Conductive Water of course).
Use Ice Floes to cast Arcane Blast or Arcane Missiles while you run back to your Rune of Power.

I recommend for this fight, but could be used for Lightning Storm.

Heroic mode

Switch to .
Make sure to use .
When Jin'rokh the Breaker is about to cast (or casting) Ionization, you:
Cast Ice Block.
Remove Ice Block
You will be immune for 3 seconds so you can dps while he casts.
Cast immediatly.
This ensures that your Ice Block will be available for every Ionization

I recommend using a macro for the last 2 steps.

With all the interrupts on this fight you should:
Use .
Talent for .

Although there are a good deal of adds I recommend Nether Tempest:

Generally you burn down adds one at a time.
Unlike it allows a lot more mobility.
You could go Living Bomb, but with all the movement and the many targets I just prefer Nether Tempest.

You could talent to gain another Ice Block to save your healers some dispels.
You use Ice Block if you gain 5+ stacks of any of the debuffs from the adds.
Since there aren't any special hard hits, it should be alright for you to be without Cauterize.
Get ready for a shock in phase 4:
You will get to use Remove Curse!
As always I recommend using Decursive (see Add-On section).

Heroic mode

Nether Tempest is a great and cheap way of instantly knocking your Direhorn Spirit away.
If you need it knocked far back, you can use 1-2 charges of your Arcane Missiles as each Missile knocks it back :)
Save Alter Time for 2nd and 4th gate, as these spawns the most dangerous adds.
Your Arcane Power will be up for every gate.
I recommend popping cooldowns just as the special adds spawn (Farraki Wastewalker, Gurubashi Venom Priest, Drakkari Frozen Warlord, Amani'shi Beast Shaman).
Cauterize will save your behind if you stray too close to your Direhorn Spirit!

I generally recommend Nether Tempest.
I recommend using a targeting macro for the adds. See macro section.
I recommend starting out with Nuke phase and Time Warp.
If you struggle with getting Kazra'jin out of his empowerment, you should save your Nuke phases for him.
If your tank has problems surviving the Living Sand during Sul the Sandcrawler empowerment, you could talent Ring of Frost.
is clearly the strongest talent for this.
However, if your healers struggle with keeping you alive during Sandstorm, you could go for instead.

Heroic mode

Make sure to have Ice Block ready if you are targeted by Frostbite.
Be aware that you will get a small blue arrow on top of you for 1-2 seconds before the effect is applied, and Ice Block cast during that time will remove it totally, instead of just shielding you from damage for a while :)
I highly recommend Cauterize in case you miss are late on dispelling. Also it can save your behind a lot of times from random deaths.
Your Slow makes you the go-to-raider to instant-slow the Blessed Loa Spirit.
Use your Blink to gain a lot of distance to your melee dps before Twisted Fate is cast. This ensures that you are targeted after which you can Slow your add.
I strongly recommend to ensure better survivability on Discharge.

You should use to absorb the Quake Stomp.
Use a macro to mark and Slow a Whirl Turtle. (see macro section)
Keep Blink handy for Rockfall.
I feel like a traitor saying it: If you have an offspec you are comfortable playing, you should probably do so. Arcane is hell on this boss with this many interrupts and movement.

Heroic mode

(aka "May the gods of RNG have mercy on your soul"-fight.)

Talent Ice Barrier.
This is by proces of elimination. You don't need as there are basically only big hits, and since you use the shield from Crystal Shell to take the brunt of all the damage in this fight your is rendered useless.
Use Ice Barrier before every Quake Stomp.
If you have a full Crystal Shell-shield you can actually keep the shield intact.
Talent .
Your shield(s) should prevent all one-shots, so you can actually use this spell as a selfheal to make sure you are on full health before getting a new Crystal Shell.

My personal testing shows that gives more survivability than the other talents.
Even though the Rampage falls in the predictable large hit category it is still stronger than the others, since the boss ability lasts 20 seconds and are comprised of many small hits, meaning you will absorb huge amounts.
Concerning Nuke phases:
Pop your first nuke when you kill the first Flaming Head.
Use Alter Time with that one.
Pop second Nuke on next Flaming Head.
Pop third Nuke on last Flaming Head.
You should probably use Time Warp and Potion of the Jade Serpent at this point. Use Alter Time.
Depending on the dps of your group, you may be able to sneak in a final Nuke at the end of the last head.

Keep Blink handy for getting distance on any Acid Rain close to you.

Use for Quills and Down Draft.
Make sure to get close to the boss for Down Draft and then use Blink to save you from falling off the platform.
Make sure your Nuke phase isn't interrupted by Down Draft.
You should never be put in charge of the nests. We are ill suited for that task.

Heroic mode

No new tips from me. Feel free to input.

Not many tips for this boss.
Use as there is a lot of random damage going on.

Use .
Use Nether Tempest to dot up all the Living Fluid when you aren't Fully Mutated.
When you get Fully Mutated you should go to Nuke phase.
You will have time for another Nuke just before Fully Mutated falls off again.

I recommend as there are no big hits.
The small adds have so little health, that you might as well save your Nuke for when you activate Dark Animus.
Be careful about using your Nether Tempest as you may accidently kill one of the damaged adds (on 10man only).

I recommend as there is a lot of damage during all the phases.
Make sure your Nuke phase doesn't coincide with when you are assigned to stack up for Unleashed Flame.

Heroic mode

No new tips from me. Feel free to input.

I recommend .
Use Nether Tempest.
Make sure to multi-dot in phase 3 (Dusk).

Heroic mode

Be sure to talent and use this at the end of the cast of Cosmic Barrage as she seems to have a fondness for Mages.
NOTE: If you are the recipient of this spell the first time on that pull, you will be every time.
Talent Ring of Frost
We find that casting this in the center of the room during first transition (where we suggest your healers stack as well) can actually prevent an accidental healer death.
You should use a /stopcasting macro in conjunction with Blink to escape the damage from Ice Comet. See macro section for this.
Make sure to use your to help healers during Nuclear Inferno.

I recommend Ice Floes simply because of all the movement in phase 3.
While some guides recommend , I actually recommend Cauterize. You need to use your Ice Block in intermissions to bypass Static Shock, and while resets your cooldown, you can actually be unlucky and get another while you have the debuff. Also during the confusion of the last phase this can save your life while your healer is running.
Note of caution:
Be careful about using your Alter Time - if you use this while Lei Shen is away from a pillar, then Discharged Energy on you will be reapplied if the boss has been dragged to the pillar meanwhile. Use Ice Block to remove the debuff or die spectacularly :) Hotfixed

Siege of Orgrimmar

Cooldowns & Spells

Offensive Cooldowns:
Arcane Power
Use this on the pull and on every Emerge, when it is off cooldown.
Alter Time
Use this on the pull and every other time you use Arcane Power.
Potion of the Jade Serpent
Pre-pot (use it just before the pull), and use your 2nd one for the next Emerge.

Defensive Cooldowns:

Ice Block
Can be used near the end of the fight to absorb the high damage from Erupting Sha.
On Heroic it can also be used as an extra means to clear the Swelling Corruption when you get to 5-6 stacks.
Greater Invisibility
Use this to clear the Swelling Corruption when you get to 5-6 stacks
Use this to soak Erupting Sha.

Special Spells used:

Frost Nova
Use to root Sha Puddle if needed.
Slow
Use this to slow Sha Puddle if needed.

Other tips/tricks

While is normally used for Nuke phase, I'd recommend saving it to help clear Sha Puddle.
You could alternately talent Ice Floes for movement when you are targeted by Swirl.
If you want a bit extra dps on adds (costing a little on boss), you could go for Nether Tempest instead.

Talents

Tier 1:
Tier 2:
Tier 3: Not applicable
Tier 4: Greater Invisibility
Tier 5: Living Bomb
Tier 6: Rune of Power

Glyphs

Cooldowns & Spells

Offensive Cooldowns:
Arcane Power
This will depend a lot on how good your raid's dps is on the bosses, as well as the order in which you proc their interrim phases.
As a general rule I'd suggest using it on Mark of Anguish as a priority and on Embodied Sorrow if possible.
Alter Time
Use every other time you use Arcane Power.
Potion of the Jade Serpent
Use on the pull and when you are in need of extra burst - I'd suggest using it for Mark of Anguish.

Defensive Cooldowns:

Ice Block
Use this to tank Mark of Anguish for an extended time, while your raid kills it.
Invisibility
Not used.

Special Spells used:

Counterspell
Use to interrupt Embodied Gloom when it casts Corruption Shock during Rook Stonetoe intermission.

Other tips/tricks

Make sure to set up your Rune of Power with you standing in its outskirts, so you can move from Corrupted Brew.

Talents

Tier 1:
Tier 2:
Tier 3: Not applicable
Tier 4: Cauterize
Tier 5: Nether Tempest
Tier 6: Rune of Power

Glyphs

Cooldowns & Spells

Offensive Cooldowns:
Arcane Power
Use when you come out from Test of Serenity, and again when your raid use Time Warp near the end.
Alter Time
Use when you use Arcane Power.
Potion of the Jade Serpent
Use with Time Warp.

Defensive Cooldowns:

Ice Block
If your Blink fails during a critical time, this can potentially save you a death.
Invisibility
Not used.

Special Spells used:

Counterspell
Use this to interrupt any Essence of Corruption on cooldown.

Other tips/tricks

During the Test of Serenity you should run behind the adds to kill them while you only use your to kill the Manifestation of Corruption.

Talents

Tier 1:
Tier 2:
Tier 3: Not applicable
Tier 4: Cauterize
Tier 5: Living Bomb
Tier 6: Rune of Power

Glyphs

Cooldowns & Spells

Offensive Cooldowns:
Arcane Power
Use on the pull and again when you use Time Warp which should be when the boss transitions at 30%.
Alter Time
Use with Arcane Power.
Potion of the Jade Serpent
Pre-pot and use the pot again when you pop Arcane Power again.

Defensive Cooldowns:

Ice Block
Use if you are low on health just up to Swelling Pride - especially on heroic.
Invisibility
I have not been randomed to do Pac-Man style for very long, so have not been able to test yet whether this will bring you out of that for free.
Use for every Swelling Pride.

Special Spells used:

Counterspell
Use to prevent Manifestation of Pride from casting Mocking Blast.

Other tips/tricks

If you are lucky enough to get Gift of the Titans on the pull, you can with practice use Blink to stack up to get Power of the Titans after which Alter Time will return you to your Rune of Power (on heroic only, as you will probably be stacked for normal/Flex).

Talents

Tier 1:
Tier 2:
Tier 3: Not applicable
Tier 4: Cauterize
Tier 5: Living Bomb
Tier 6: Rune of Power

Glyphs

Cooldowns & Spells

Offensive Cooldowns:
Arcane Power
Use it for the first miniboss, and for when the boss lands.
Alter Time
Use with every Arcane Power.
Potion of the Jade Serpent
Use for when the boss lands.

Defensive Cooldowns:

Ice Block
Use to clear the stacks of Flames of Galakrond when you reach 4-5 stacks.
Invisibility
No use.

Special Spells used:

Counterspell
Use to prevent Dragonmaw Tidal Shaman from casting heals, or use the silence effect to help your tank position the add in the Flamestrike.
Slow Fall
If you are on tower duty (your raidleader will probably find a class/spec better suited for this), you can use this to get safely down if your Blink is on cooldown.

Other tips/tricks

Talents

Tier 1:
Tier 2:
Tier 3: Not applicable
Tier 4: Cauterize
Tier 5: Nether Tempest
Tier 6: Rune of Power

Glyphs

Cooldowns & Spells

Offensive Cooldowns:
Arcane Power
At the pull, as well as everytime the boss goes back to phase 1.
Alter Time
With Arcane Power.
Potion of the Jade Serpent
Pre-pot at the pull and use your 2nd Potion of the Jade Serpent next time you use Arcane Power.

Defensive Cooldowns:

Ice Block
Save it for emergencies or use it at the 2nd Shock Pulse to save your healers.
Invisibility
Use this before the pull if you want to reset the boss, so he is better positioned. Not needed during the fight.
Use this at the 1st and 3rd Shock Pulse of phase 2s.

Special Spells used:

Blink
If your tactics require you to stay within range of the boss during entire phase 2, you can cast this spell as soon as you register the knockback from Shock Pulse. This will more or less position you back where you came from.

Other tips/tricks

If you need added survivability to either survive Shock Pulse better or to be able to help out stomping Mines, you can opt to talent for Greater Invisibility. Please be aware that you will lose the comfort of Cauterize!

Talents

Tier 1:
Tier 2:
Tier 3: Not applicable
Tier 4: Cauterize
Tier 5: Living Bomb
Tier 6: Rune of Power

Glyphs

Cooldowns & Spells

Offensive Cooldowns:
Arcane Power
On the pull and again when the bosses (and you) cast Bloodlust.
Alter Time
When you use Arcane Power.
Potion of the Jade Serpent
When you use Arcane Power.

Defensive Cooldowns:

Ice Block
Save this in case you are low on health for a Falling Ash.
Invisibility
Not used.
Use to absorb Iron Prison (heroic only) or Falling Ash.

Special Spells used:

Arcane Explosion
When moving make sure to use this if you pass along the adds or are within range of a boss.

Other tips/tricks

If your setup makes you struggle killing Foul Slime, you can use to help out with that.

Talents

Tier 1:
Tier 2:
Tier 3: Not applicable
Tier 4: Cauterize
Tier 5: Nether Tempest (normal), Living Bomb (heroic).
Tier 6: Rune of Power

Glyphs

Cooldowns & Spells

Offensive Cooldowns:
Arcane Power
Use after you clear the set of adds that come just after the boss has entered Berserker Stance.
Alter Time Alter Time
Use with Arcane Power.
Potion of the Jade Serpent
Pre-pot and use your 2nd Potion of the Jade Serpent along with your 2nd Arcane Power.

Defensive Cooldowns:

Ice Block
Not used.
Invisibility
Not used.

Special Spells used:

Counterspell
Use this to interrupt the caster adds.
Frost Nova
Use to root the Kor'kron Assassin allowing you to kill higher priority targets.

Other tips/tricks

Be careful that you dont root the Kor'kron Assassin within melee range of any player as it will hit them instead.

Talents

Tier 1:
Tier 2:
Tier 3: Not applicable
Tier 4: Cauterize
Tier 5: Living Bomb
Tier 6: Rune of Power

Glyphs

Cooldowns & Spells

Offensive Cooldowns:
Arcane Power
Use on the pull, and after that use it after the first set of Imploding Energy in the following phase 1s.
Alter Time
Use with Arcane Power
Potion of the Jade Serpent
Pre-pot and use again with the next Arcane Power.

Defensive Cooldowns:

Ice Block
Use to absorb an Imploding Energy if no other defensive cooldown is available to you.
Greater Invisibility
Use to absorb an Imploding Energy if Ice Barrier is on cooldown.
Ice Barrier
Use to absorb an Imploding Energy as your first choice.

Special Spells used:

Slow Fall
Use this to get out of the falling damage. Especially on heroic you don't want to use Blink as you may end up in a Essence of Y'Shaarj.

Other tips/tricks

For clarity: When you need to go absorb an Imploding Energy, you use 1 defensive cooldown only. The priority of defensives to use are:

Heroic only: If you have Greater Invisibility available in phase 2, you can opt to use this to help clear some Essence of Y'Shaarj.

Talents

Tier 1:
Tier 2: Ice Barrier
Tier 3: Not applicable
Tier 4: Greater Invisibility
Tier 5: Living Bomb
Tier 6: Rune of Power

Glyphs

Cooldowns & Spells

Offensive Cooldowns:
Arcane Power
Use for the mini-bosses inside the "Massive Crate of Goods"
Alter Time Alter Time
Use for every other Arcane Power.
Potion of the Jade Serpent
Use with the Arcane Power where you have Time Warp.

Defensive Cooldowns:

Ice Block
Use to absorb the damage from Set to Blow.
Invisibility
Not used.

Special Spells used:

Spellsteal
Use to clear the heal effect from Residue for high-health mobs only, but more importantly to gain a whopping 50% damage increase by stealing Rage of the Empress!

Other tips/tricks

Make sure to use Ice Block as the Set to Blow effect is about to fade, as it isn't removed, but it will protect you from the damage.

Talents

Tier 1:
Tier 2:
Tier 3: Not applicable
Tier 4: Cauterize
Tier 5: Nether Tempest
Tier 6: Rune of Power

Glyphs

Cooldowns & Spells

Offensive Cooldowns:
Arcane Power
Use on the pull and everytime it comes of cooldown during phase 1s.
Alter Time
Use on the pull and every other time you use Arcane Power.
Potion of the Jade Serpent Pot
Pre-pot on the pull and use your 2nd pot when your Alter Time comes up again.

Defensive Cooldowns:

Ice Block
Save this to clear your Corrosive Blood if you get too many stacks or are running out of range of healers during phase 2.
Invisibility
Reserve this if you realise that the boss will be able to catch you during a phase 2. Remember to call it out as it will cause the boss to stop, face the raid (eating any melee behind him) and aquire a new target.

Special Spells used:

Arcane Explosion
You will be using this for bats on the Saurok gate on heroic, but it will also be a part of your rotation. See tips and tricks.

Other tips/tricks

Your rotation changes somewhat on this boss, as he constantly will interrupt you. Your goal will be to maintain 4 stacks of during all entire phase 1s. Only when the boss is about to move out of range during phase 2s, should you clear your stacks with Arcane Barrage.

Until the boss reaches 5 stacks of Acceleration you should be able to get 2 spells off between interrupts, but when you reach 6 stacks your rotation changes as follows:

Cast an Arcane Blast or Arcane Missiles immediatly after each Deafening Screech.
Use the slight delay during the interrupt to either:
Make sure your Nether Tempest is refreshed.
or
Use an Arcane Explosion to proc a charge of Arcane Missiles.

NOTE: If you see your mana dropping beneath 225-250k, and you have no Arcane Missiles available, you keep spamming Arcane Explosion to proc them.

Talents

Tier 1:
Tier 2:
Tier 3: Not applicable
Tier 4: Cauterize
Tier 5: Living Bomb
Tier 6: Rune of Power

Glyphs

Frost NovaSlowRing of FrostCrawler MineCreditsBBC-guideasakawaBluerazorBanana Revolution @Thunderhorn-EUApocalypse Later @Stormreaver-EUDaFonthttps://bnetcmseu-a.akamaihd.net/cms/gallery/QTXXS0O9BAI41361875626642.jpghttp://media.blizzard.com/wow/media/artwork/wow-classes/mage03-full.jpg

Comments

Comment by Elfeaterdk

Hey guys.

A work of this magnitude is sure to have some errors. Please point them out to me (even misspells) so I can get it right.

Feel free to leave your own tips and tricks as well, and I will be sure to incoorporate them into the guide.

Bear in mind that this is all written at the end of 5.1, so the nerf-hammer they have just thrown us may have made Fire superior again (or with luck just made them equal and/or fight-based).

Happy hunting on bosses in 5.2 :-)

Comment by Stok3d

Great guide and the organization is top notch. Thanks for putting together! I'm impressed you got stickied before your 5 votes came through--that says a lot :)

Comment by Vesuvius79

This guide has been so helpful to me, thanks so much!

Comment by 1109722

This guide is amazing, you are a scholar and a gentleman.

Comment by lisakaps

Nice guide. Just a note for

Gear Correctly > Enchants
and
Gear Correctly > Gems

Isn't the Sinister Primal Diamond the proper legendary meta?

Comment by 1199811

Likely a silly question, but how do you define your "Nuke" phase? Is this specifically when all your cd's are popped and/or just for use during a particular portion of a fight when maximum damage can be achieved for a few short moments? (e.g. When a bosses' armor is decreased by X% for Y seconds?)

Comment by 1052819

The only issue with the Alter Time macro is that you should cast arcane missiles prior to arcane blast if any charges are available. I have a macro that is universal for all mage classes that looks something like this:

/cast Berserking(Racial)
/cast Presence of Mind
/cast Icy Veins
/cast Arcane Power
/use Brilliant Mana Gem
/use Mana Gem
/use 14
/cast Alter Time
/cast Pyroblast
/cast Arcane Missiles
/cast Arcane Blast
/cast Frostbolt

The reason that I don't have /use 13 in there is that I usually have a pvp trinket equipped in this slot and don't bother to change out AT macros.

Also, it may be worth noting the way that dots snapshot and at which points it may be worth re-applying prior to the end of their duration.

Otherwise great guide for starting players.

Comment by xlthawkeye

Two questions.
Is it worth going as Arcane as a fresh 90 with no gear for LFR and such, or should I go for Frost since I won't have that much haste which Arcane needs.
Also, I rolled a Goblin. Are they a good mage race, or is race changing to a troll worth it?

Comment by 3xploit

As much as I'd love to polymorph people into monkeys, I would recommend Momentum as a minor glyph over any of the cosmetic ones. A backstep can be better than those few seconds of turning after all when your life is on the line. What are your thoughts on that?

Comment by Noritam

I am very new to WoW, and computer gaming in general. I've been reading through a lot of the class guides for a couple of reasons. Trying to get a bit of knowledge on what everyone else can do and trying to learn about other classes that may be of interest to me.

Your guide caught my attention for a few reasons. I need an "easy" class to play, because I'm so green to the game. No one that I've met in the guild or chatted with out and about in the world talks about this class, and not least, your writing style is very easy for me to comprehend and your organization of the information is really easy to navigate through.

When I get to the point of rolling an alt just for fun, Arcane Mage will be on the top of the list.

Thank you for your time and effort in putting together this guide.

[Outdated] Arcane Mage PvE Guide 5.4

Contribute