Warlords of Draenor Arcane guide
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NOTE - Updated for 6.1. This guide is based on theorycrafting done by a lot of people and players' experience. The guide will not present the "why" of the spec in too much detail, I won't talk about the math and simulations, the goal is only to provide the answers and tips. Still, I give my eternal gratitude to all the people who made it possible for us to know all these things, most of them here on Altered Time.
Table of contents
1. Introduction
1.1 First time Arcane
1.2 Arcane coming from Mists of Pandaria
2. Spells and abilities
2.1 Core abilities
2.2 Other base abilities
2.3 Arcane Draenor Perks
2.4 Other spells
3. Talents
4. Glyphs
5. Stats and Item Enhancements
6. Gameplay
6.1 Single Target
6.2 Multitarget
6.3 Leveling up in Draenor
7. Gear
7.1 T17 set bonuses
7.2 Switching to set items
7.3 T17 BiS list
7.4 Trinkets
8. Raiding Summary
1. Introduction
Welcome to the Arcane guide for Warlords of Draenor. It is our goal to provide Arcane mages and those who wish to become Arcane with all the information they might need going into the expansion and later into dungeons and raiding. We hope you enjoy reading it and find what you are looking for. The guide is penned by Shangalar with input and corrections from Cycobi, Voltaa and Komma, but the content presented is inspired by everyone who tested, analyzed and discussed Arcane during testing and of course will be updated as updates are necessary. 1.1 First time Arcane
Those of you who have decided to pick up your mage after some time or just boosted it to level 90 with the token, you’ll find all the information for a fresh start as Arcane and can come back later to the more complex stuff or max level information. 1.2 Arcane coming from Mists of Pandaria
While there was a large number of spell changes, the mana management essence of Arcane and the core rotation were not changed. However, it is worth listing the important changes:
- Level 90 talents are no longer tied to mana regeneration and instead our natural mana regen has been significantly increased
- There are no more mana gems for a quick mana fix
- Alter Time is now a talent and a pure defensive ability
- A mana burn phase is once again possible (and viable and competitive)
- Arcane no longer has access to the following spells and abilities: Frostfire Bolt (when choosing Arcane at level 10), Fire Blast (replaced by Barrage at level 12), Deep Freeze, Molten Armor, Frost Armor, Flamestrike, Blizzard, Ice Lance, Shatter 2. Spells and abilities
This section, broken into hopefully logical chunks, will present all the spells and abilities at the disposal of Arcane mages. 2.1 Core abilities
Arcane Charge – the primary Arcane resource (next to Mana)
- generated by Blast, Missiles, Explosion and Orb, spent by Barrage and Evocation
- stacks up to 4
- affects spells in various ways
Arcane Blast – the primary spell
- generates 1 Charge
- damage increased by 50% per Charge and mana cost by 100% per Charge
- best used to generate Charges
Arcane Missiles – Arcane’s proc
- generates 1 Charge
- has a 30% chance to proc from other damaging spells
- damage increased by 50% per Charge
- no mana cost
- stacks up to 3
- best used at max Charges
Arcane Barrage – the rotational finisher
- spends all charges
- damage increased by 50% per Charge
- cleaves for 50% damage on 1 extra target per Charge
- best used at max Charges after spending Missiles
Evocation – the mana regeneration cooldown
- restores 40% + flat 10% per Charge mana over a 6 second channel (ticks at 0, 2, 4, 6)
Mastery: Mana Adept – plays a key role in Arcane’s gameplay and rotation
- increases damage done based on the mage’s current mana percentage 2.2 Other base Arcane abilities
Arcane Explosion – Arcane’s area of effect damage spell
- refreshes the duration of Charges and has a chance to generate 1 Charge if it hits anything
Arcane Power – the damage cooldown
- increases the damage of all spells by 20% and the mana cost of all spells by 10%
Presence of Mind – makes the next cast time spell instant
- cannot be used with Polymorph, Teleport or Portal
Arcane Mind – passive buff
- you gain 5% more Mastery rating from all sources
Mage Armor – passive buff
- increases Mastery by a flat 5% (550 rating at level 100)
Slow– Arcane’s crowd control
- slows the target’s movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds
- unlimited targets 2.3 Arcane Draenor Perks
These perks are obtained in a random order at levels 92, 94, 96 and 98.
Enhanced Arcane Blast – the cast time of Blast is reduced by 5% per Charge
Improved Evocation – reduces the cooldown of Evocation by 30 seconds (to 1.5 minutes)
Improved Arcane Power – Power now reduces the cost of spells by 10% instead of increasing it
Improved Blink – increases movement speed by 60% after blinking 2.4 Other spells and abilities (in order of acquiring)
Frost Nova – root all enemies around you
Blink – teleport a short distance away
Counterspell – counter a spell and lock out the target from that spell school
Polymorph – transform an enemy into a sheep and disable them for a time
Ice Block – a 10-second immunity
Cone of Cold – deals damage and slows enemies in a frontal cone
Remove Curse – dispel all curses from a friendly target
Slow Fall – slows falling speed
Conjure Refreshment– conjures food which restores health and mana
Invisibility – makes you invisible after 3 seconds, dropping threat
Arcane Brilliance – buffs all party and raid members with 10% spell power and 5% crit chance
Spellsteal – steals a useful buff from an enemy
Nether Attunement – passive – haste increases our mana regeneration from all sources
Time Warp – increases the haste of all party and raid members by 30% for 40 seconds
Amplify Magic – increases healing received by 10% by all party and raid members for 6 seconds 3. Talents
Level 15 – Mobility tier
Evanesce – makes you avoid all attacks for 3 seconds, allowing you to not move from bad stuff
- replaces Ice Block
- can be used while casting something else
- works kind of like Deterrence, so you don't get immunity to whatever is already on you
Blazing Speed – suppresses slows while Blazing Speed is active and gives a short burst of speed
Ice Floes – allows the casting on the move of one spell per charge used
Tip – Evanesce is getting fixed in patch 6.1 so it might see some more use, but until then use Blazing Speed when you have to reposition quickly or rush to a priority target and Ice Floes for mobile dps. For higher tier raiders, Ice Floes remains the best option because it allows you to rarely stop casting.
Level 30 – Defense tier
Alter Time – memorizes your location and health and returns you to them after 10 seconds or when reactivated
Flameglow – passively shields from a small chunk of all damage received
Ice Barrier – shield yourself to absorb some damage
Tip – Ice Barrier is the go-to talent and practically the only choice at the moment. Alter Time might possibly find its way into the build in very specific cases, but is generally too situational.
Level 45 – Crowd Control tier
Ring of Frost – stuns enemies in a circle
Ice Ward– wards a target and freezes enemies around the target when they next take damage
Frostjaw – silences and freezes a target
Tip – for raiding there might come a need to use one of these and for solo play all 3 are a good choice depending on what you're doing.
Level 60 – Survival tier
Greater Invisibility – buffs Invisibility to make it instant, on a shorter cooldown and gives you 90% damage reduction while invisible and 4 seconds after
Cauterize – prevents a deathblow up to twice your health and restores you to 50% health, but leaves a DoT effect which requires attention
Cold Snap – heals you and resets the cooldown of several useful spells – Ice Block, Presence of Mind and Frost Nova
Tip – Cold Snap is still typically the best for PvP and can be used in special situations for PvE. The Cauterize vs. Greater Invisibility will be here forever, but I still think that G.I. gives more utility and is a better choice for more situations than Cauterize.
Level 75 – AoE damage tier
[url)http://www.wowhead.com/spell=114923/nether-tempest]Nether Tempest[/url] – a DoT effect that deals extra damage to all nearby enemies and looks amazing while doing it. Damage increased by 50% per Arcane Charge at the moment of casting
Unstable Magic – passive – gives Blast a chance to deal extra damage to the target and all nearby enemies
Supernova – deals damage to all targets close to the primary target, knocks them up and deals double damage to the primary target. Has 2 charges and can proc Missiles
Tip – Nether Tempest and Supernova are our main choices in combination with other talents which will be discussed in the gameplay section.
Level 90 – Damage buff tier (kind of)
Mirror Image – buffs your damage by summoning 3 Mirror Images who attack enemies
Rune of Power – creates a rune for 3 minutes that increases damage done by 15% while standing in it
Incanter’s Flow – grants a dynamically changing damage buff, cycling from 4% to 20% and back over 10 seconds
Tip – Rune of Power is our primary choice in this tier and should be used on all fights that allow it. Incanter's Flow is the replacement for Arcane mages on movement heavy encounters.
Level 100 – kind of cool powers with aoe but not really and it’s quite confusing tier
Overpowered – extends the duration of Arcane Power by 2 seconds when you cast Missiles
Prismatic Crystal – creates and automatically targets a crystal which takes 30% increased damage and releases all damage evenly on nearby targets
Arcane Orb – release an orb which deals damage to enemies it passes through. Grants 1 Charge when cast and 1 Charge per enemy hit + has a chance to proc Missiles
Tip – All three talents have their place in raiding, depending on other talent choices and the setup of the encounter. They will be described and discussed a bit lower in the gamplay section. 4. Glyphs
This is a breakdown of all glyphs available to Arcane Mages, presented in order of appearance on the Glyphs panel.
Major:
Arcane Explosion – extra range for Explosion – useful for aoe
Arcane Power– doubles the duration and cooldown, currently recommended except in specific situations when you know that you'll be able to get more uptime unglyphed based on the duration of the encounter
Blink – extra distance – useful in rare situations
Cone of Cold – 3x damage – very good for aoe
Counterspell – longer cd, but castable during other casts, good for some pvp and for certain interrupt mechanics in raids
Frost Nova – lower cd, not totally bad for solo play or pvp
Ice Block – great for pvp, useful for solo or specific cases
Polymorph – good for pvp or dungeons to make sure the cc doesn’t break
Rapid Displacement – very good for raiding and solo play
Regenerative Ice – a decent heal for solo play or pvp
Remove Curse – great when there are curses to remove
Slow– great for solo play and pvp, could be situational in a raid
Spellsteal – good for pvp, situational anywhere else
All Minor Glyphs are now purely and fully cosmetic and a matter of personal choice and enjoyment. 5. Stats
- there are no more hit chance requirements, hit and expertise no longer exist
- reforging is gone so optimal gearing will take longer
Mastery – still Arcane’s main stat, further helped by our two passive buffs
Haste – reduces cast time and increses mana regen (which kind of cancels each other out), but the stat is always good to boost gameplay dynamics plus it has really good synergy with Evocation
Crit chance – Arcane typically hits hard and hitting twice as hard is cool, but crit chance often fades in comparison to other stats
Multistrike – gives a chance to deal 30% extra damage after any damaging spell
Versatility – increases damage, healing and absorbs, and reduces damage taken
Minor stats can appear randomly on gear and don’t directly affect damage output:
- movement speed
- avoidance – reduces damage taken from aoe
- indestructible – item takes no durability damage
- leech – heals for a percentage of damage done
Our precise stat weights depend on the talents you have. However since the game-wide Haste buff (making 90 rating give 1% instead of 100), our stat weights in all except a few limited cases are:
Mastery > Haste > Multistrike > Crit > Versatility
The specific cases in which Multistrike is better than Haste are a few talent combinations which are not used in raids so we won't talk about them.
As for item enhancements, it's as simple as always using Mastery gems and enchantments. There are no breakpoints for Arcane to catch so pumping more of our best secondary stat is the only logical way to go. Also us the Mastery weapon enchantment (Bleeding Hollow). 6. Gameplay
6.0.1 - Talentless basics
Arcane cycles between a mana burn phase and a conserve phase every 90-ish seconds or so.
a) Burn phase
- get to 4 Charges
- pop available cooldowns
- spam Missiles when available + Blast
- don't bother using the Missiles procs you get by the end of your burn (50%-65% mana) so you don't extend your burn unnecessarily long
- Blast to 50% and then use Evocation back to 100% mana
b) Conserve phase
- get to 4 Charges
- use available Missiles
- cast Blast if your current mana is over 93% (repeat Missiles - Blast as long as it is)
- when it isn't, clear Charges with Barrage and start over
6.0.2. Help! My Use trinkets have a 2 minute cooldown and all my spells are at 1.5 minutes (or 3 minutes)
That sucks, right? But we don't really care about it. In the beginning of the fight you'll use everything you have and after that you will use your personal damage cooldowns and spells when they're available and you'll use trinkets when they're available. Timeline:
0 - Everything
1.5 minutes - offensive cds / burn + evocation
2 minutes - trinket
3 minutes - offensive cds / burn + evocation
4 minutes - trinket
4.5 minutes - offensive cds / burn + evocation
6 minutes - everything
This changes only in very specific conditions, that is, when you know for sure that your next burn phase will be the last one before the boss dies, it's a good idea to save the Use trinket for that moment. Currently, one such example is Butcher Mythic which has a 4 minute enrage, meaning that you can save your second trinket use for the 3-minute burn phase.
Now, Arcane gameplay changes based on talent choices. It has been determined that the following are our primary choices: 6.1. Single Target
Supernova + Rune of Power + Prismatic Crystal
1. Get to 4 Charges
2. Prismatic Crystal
3. Arcane Power
4. Supernova x2
5. Blast + Missiles (prioritizing Missiles when at 4 stacks) on the Crystal until it expires
6. Continue bursting the boss after the Crystal expires until 50% mana and then Evocate back to full mana.
The conserve phase is harder on mana because you don't have NT available so you will be cycling through Charges and clearing them more. Be sure to use Supernova on cooldown, but also make sure that 1-2 (preferably 2) Supernovas are available for the next Crystal burst phase. Also remember that Supernova benefits from Arcane's Mastery, so try to cast it when at max possible mana.
6.1.1 Help! There's too much movement!
Don't worry, Incanter's Flow is a decent replacement for Rune of Power. The only thing you should pay attention to is to use Supernova at the peak of Incanter's Flow cycle, meaning at 4-5 stacks. 6.2. Multitarget / Cleave
a) Nether Tempest + Rune of Power + Arcane Orb
It is very hard to describe a proper AoE damage rotation, with the talents listed above you will have the highest damage while also maintaining more of a single target rotation than anything else. Using our AoE spells (Explosion and glyphed Cone of Cold) is not really worth it for damage unless there are more than 5 targets close enough to hit.
Make sure that you always and exclusively cast Nether Tempest at 4 Charges. That might even mean refreshing it too early if you can't stay at 4 Charges any longer because of mana.
Arcane Orb is a fun and cool looking spell. It gives you 1 Arcane Charge when cast, 1 Arcane Charge per enemy hit and it has a chance to proc Missiles on cast and for every enemy hit. That means ho ho ho and a bottle of Missiles if aimed properly through a group of enemies.
But how to use it properly? Arcane Orb allows us to skip a few Blast casts and the ones we want to skip are the lowest damage ones. So use Arcane Orb exclusively after resetting Charges with Barrage if it's ready. Only then. Even if it becomes available when you're at 1-2 Charges, don't use it, save it for the next cycle.
As above, if there is too much movement to comfortably stay in your Rune, use Incanter's Flow.
6.2.1 Special situation when facing more than 3 targets stacked together!
Do not go into a mana burn phase. As easy as that. You want more Barrages and you want to be closer to full mana as much as possible for the maximum damage of Nether Tempest. With 2 targets, do a burn phase as described above, with 3 targets it's kind of a gray zone, but it might be better to avoid burning. 6.3 Leveling up in Draenor
Suggested talents: Evanesce/Blazing Speed, Ice Barrier, Rune of Frost/Ice Ward, Greater Invisibility, Supernova, Mirror Image/Incanter’s Flow
Suggested glyphs: Slow, Rapid Displacement, Cone of Cold
The goal while leveling is to have minimum downtime and maximum efficiency, preferably at the same time. The setup with Evanesce, Barrier, RoF, G.I. and Supernova gives a lot of damage reduction, crowd control and escape mechanisms. The glyphs help even more. For dungeons it would be better to use Rune of Power for the stable damage buff, but if you want to put your mind on passive while leveling up, Incanter’s Flow is a perfectly acceptable choice. 7. Gear
Based on our stat weights, Arcane Mages prefer gear with Mastery with the second stat being Haste if possible. Through Highmaul and Blackrock Foundry there's a ton of gear just waiting to be looted. I'll focus exclusively on Blackrock Foundry gear though, as it's already out at the time of my finally writing this part of the guide. 7.1 Arcane T17 set bonuses
The Arcane set bonuses found on the Arcanoshatter Regalia say the following:
2: After using Evocation, the cast time and mana cost of Arcane Blast is reduced by 25% for 15 seconds.
4: When you generate an Arcane Charge, you have a chance to increase the number of missiles your next Arcane Missiles will fire by 5.
What does that mean for our rotation? Nothing. It changes exactly nothing in the priority list, rotation or cooldown usage.
What it does do is make our conserve phase after Evocating slightly more fun and involved because it will allows casting a bit more Blasts for more damage and it increases our overall dps on single target. It has absolutely no effect on multitarget fights. 7.2 Switching to the set items
One of the most often asked questions is when you should switch to the set bonuses and which gear you should sacrifice for it? Considering the value of Arcane's set bonuses, it is highly recommended to switch to the items as fast as possible.
This means that you should replace Highmaul Mythic gear with *normal* set items. The damage increase is significant. If you have a full set of Highmaul Mythic gear, this is the order in which you should take the set bonuses based on simulations:
- Helmet and Chest for the 2-set bonus
- Shoulders and Legs to complete the 4-set bonus
Obviously, if you don't have a full set of Highmaul Mythic gear, obtaining the set bonuses will yield better results as it will replace your non-optimal items anyway. 7.3 T17 BiS list
The list will contain our BiS items along with suggested replacements in brackets. The replacements can be used until you acquire the better item.
Helmet: Arcanoshatter Hood- C/Ma - Kromog (replacements: H/Ma helm from Blackhand, Ma/Mu helm from Kargath)
Neck: Gruul's Lip Ring- H/Ma - Gruul (replacements: Mythic C/Mu necklace from Twin Ogron)
Shoulders: Arcanoshatter Mantle - H/Ma - Thogar (replacements: C/H shoulder from Kromog, Ma/Mu shoulder from Butcher)
Cloak: Runefrenzy Greatcloak - H/Ma - Kromog(replacements: H/Mu cloak from Gruul)
Robe: Arcanoshatter Robes - Ma/Mu - Ka'graz (replacements: C/H robe from Hans'gar and Franzok, H/Mu robe from Brackenspore)
Bracers: Bracers of Darkened Skies - Ma/Mu - trash drop (replacement: C/H Bracers of Enkindled Power from Thogar)
Gloves: Toothbreaker Grips - H/Ma - Oregorger (replacements: Ma/V gloves from Kromog, set gloves if all else fails)
Belt: Seeking Ember Girdle - H/Ma - Beastlord Darmac (replacements: C/Mu bracers from the Iron Maidens
Pants: Arcanoshatter Leggings - C/Mu - Blast Furnace (replacements: C/Ma pants from the Iron Maidens, H/Mu pants from Twin Ogron)
Boots: Cavedweller's Climbers - C/Ma - Gruul (replacements: H/Ma boots from Ko'ragh, C/Mu boots from Beastlord Darmac)
Ring 1: Spellbound Runic Band of the All-seeing Eye - legendary quest
Ring 2: Uk'urogg's Corrupted Seal - H/Ma - the Iron Maidens (replacement: C/Ma ring from Kargath)
Trinket 1: Blackiron Micro Crucible - Int + StackProcMulti - Blackhand
Trinket 2: Darmac's Unstable Talisman - Int + ProcHaste - Beastlord Darmac
(see trinket comment below)
Weapon: Inferno-Flame Staff- H/Ma - Gruul (replacement: C/Ma staff from Blackhand, H/Ma dagger from Ka'graz + H/Mu offhand from Thogar) 7.4 A special comment on trinkets
Now, trinkets are rather confusing to talk about. It's important to understand that trinkets play together, not as separate items. Therefore, depending on our talent choices and encounter type, certain trinket combinations might be better than others.
That being said, the combination of Mythic Crucible + Mythic Talisman is king and rules over any other combination. But since most of us won't see these trinkets anytime soon, we have to contend with other combinations.
Without going into too much details, the data I've stolen from someone who actually did the math suggests the following ranking of trinkets based on using SN+PC vs NT+AO. The trinkets ranked will be Mythic Highmaul (which is my starting point because I got lucky with the follower mission) combined with Heroic Blackrock Foundry trinkets and I'll update this with Mythic BRF stuff when needed:
7.4.1. Supernova + Prismatic Crystal
HC Crucible + HC Talisman
HC Repository + HC Talisman
HC Crucible + M Shards
M Runestone + HC Talisman
HC Crucible + M Runestone
HC Talisman + M Shards
HC Repository + M Shards
M Runestone + M Shards
7.4.2. Nether Tempest + Arcane Orb
M Runestone + HC Talisman
HC Crucible + HC Talisman
HC Repository + HC Talisman
M Runestone + HC Talisman
HC Talisman + M Shards
HC Crucible + M Shards
HC Repository + M Shards
HC Crucible + HC Repository
HC Crucible + M Runestone
M Runestone + M Shards
7.4.3. Trinkets conclusion
In case you have Highmaul Heroic trinkets, any Heroic Blackrock Foundry trinket will be better than it.
For Normal trinket rankings I suggest you run simulations for yourself or AskMrRobot for answers, I took a slightly more selfish approach and used my own character as a starting point.
I don't really condone what I'm about to write and this isn't proven in any way, but if we wanted to dumb it down a bit and make a simple list of trinket rankings, it would go something like this according to me and only me:
M Crucible > M Talisman > M Repository > HC Crucible > HC Talisman > M Shards > HC Repository > M Runestone > HC Shards > N Crucible > N Talisman > HC Runestone > N Repository
And as I said, that's just how I would put it without thinking about it too much, it is a list you can use for very simple reference, but not a definitive list of anything. It's probably not even accurate and I probably shouldn't have even written it, but people typically ask for simplicity. 8. Raiding summary
This part is just as a reminder for raiding stuff. I assume that the reader is familiar with the details of the spec and uses it just to refresh their memory.
Stats: Mastery > Haste > Multistrike > Crit > Versatility
Gems and enchantments: Mastery all the way
Glyphs: Arcane Power, Rapid Displacement, Explosion/Cone of Cold/Slow/Counterspell
Talents:
- single target: Supernova, Rune of Power, Prismatic Crystal
- multi target: Nether Tempest, Rune of Power, Arcane Orb
- use Incanter's Flow instead of Rune of Power if movement makes it too difficult to use the Rune
Gameplay reminders:
- burn mana to 50% before charging it back with Evocation
- after the initial burn, don't bother delaying trinkets for offensive cooldowns, use them separately
- always use Glyph of Arcane Power except when you're completely sure that you'll have a higher uptime without it
- it's better to spend a global cooldown to refresh NT early than to not have it up on a target at all
- during conserve, clear charges with Barrage if you are under 93% mana
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Thank you for reading and I hope you found the answers you were looking for!
