A spec which focuses on mobility and reduced raid damage. There are a number of optional talents dependant on your specific raid or role requirements and these are covered in the table above.
Arcane was the best DPS spec in 4.0.6 but the current Dragon Soul recounts clearly show that Fire Mages are dominating the DPS charts. Anyway Arcane mages are less mobile than fire mages but have slightly bigger single target dps but its not always the case. Also arcane mages have higher burst dmg than fire mages.
Stat priority for Arcane Mages
- Intellect is by far the strongest stat. This stat should always be your priority.
- Hit Cap - As I said its harder to achieve in Cataclysm but try doing so without sacrificing much of the other stats.
- Haste - Arcane Mages without haste is like a warrior without weapon.
- Crit – Not that valuable as arcane mage but still required.
- Mastery - Also a good stat for arcane mage as it increases dmg done depending on your mana unspent.
Arcane Cycles
The basic premise behind Arcane DPS is divided into two main phases, the Burn Phase and the Conservation Phase.
Burn Phase
As the name suggests, this is the primary DPS phase of the Arcane spec and is initiated when Evocation will be off CD when the burn phase is completed and ideally, when at full mana with a 4 stack AB present. A typical scenario would be to AB spam until your mana level is such that a Mana Gem will take you to 100% mana, then pop all CDs and continue to spam AB until you reach 35% mana. This phase ends with an Evocation.
Dependant on encounter mechanics, the burn phase need not necessarily be initiated at the start of the encounter as was somewhat traditional with Arcane. If periods exist were a specific high RDPS is needed, or the boss enters a phase were they take vastly increased damage, then the burn phase can be aligned to that. Flame Orb can also be used to regenerate mana as in some cases it can initiate a high number of AM procs. This could allow for a secondary limited burn phase after Evocation using every available AM proc to regenerate mana. PoM can also be introduced into the burn phase once AP fades as with the Arcane Potency proc being active, a 4 stack AB is preferable. PoM can also be used at a suitable point prior to the pull, such as conjuring a mana gem and the two Arcane Potency buff charges will be present for the pull itself.
Conservation Phase
This is a mana-neutral rotation designed to keep your mana near 100% until such time as Evocation will soon be off CD. The exact rotation is heavily dependant on gear and raid buffs and is probably the phase affected the most by the coming Arcane changes. The primary focus of this phase is maintaining as close to 100% mana as possible whilst ensuring that no mana is wasted. There will be some variation in your chosen mana neutral cycle as you take advantage of procs such as Clearcasting and Arcane Potency.
Enchants
- Head – Arcanum of Hyjal
- Shoulders – Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone OR Felfire Inscription (only for Scribes)
- Back – 50 Intellect OR Lightweave Embrodiery rank 2 (Tailors)
- Chest – 20 to all stats
- Wrists – 50 Intellect OR Draconic Embossment ( Leatherworkers)
- Gloves – 50 haste, 65 mastery OR Synapse Springs (Engineers)
- Waist – 1 bonus socket
- Legs – Powerfull Enchanted Spellthread (made by tailors)
- Feet – 50 mastery/hit/haste
- Rings – Intellect (enchanters only)
- Weapon – Power Torrent
- Off Hand - Supperior Intellect
Gemming
- Brilliant inferno Ruby – 40 intellect
- Reckless Ember Topaz – 20 haste, 20 intellect
- Veiled Demonseye – 20 intellect, 20 Hit
- Burning Shadowspirit Diamond – Meta gem
Glyphs
Prime Glyphs :
- Mage Armor
- Arcane Blast
- Arcane Missiles
- Glyph of Arcane Barrage can become viable dependant on further mana changes.
Major Glyphs:
Minor Glyphs:
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