Arcane mage guide for raiding by Dutchmagoz! [6.2 updated]

[Food]

1) Is there any change to my opening rotation? I'm not sure if I should delay PC so that it is hit by the explosion from the ring.

On the assumption that you are using PC and the ring is used on pull (and you are playing Arcane), then the only change is you want to put the Crystal down as soon as possible to get as much up time as possible while the crystal is up. For the explosion to hit the Crystal, you have to be the one that uses the ring but in all the raid groups I have been in, it is an MDPS that is popping the ring as they are always in range of the boss for the explosion to hit.

2) Should I delay my cooldowns to sync with the ring? Last discussion I saw on this topic within this thread was that there's no point in syncing the cooldowns if I'm using the base ring. This still holds true?

Yes. As you said there is not a lot of point doing it with the base ring but the more you upgrade it, the better it is. You are better getting into the habit now rather than later when it actually matters.

Okay. And just to clarify (clearly I'm a noob here), to sync the cooldowns would mean that I should hold back AP until the ring is used right? Should I hold back my burn phase too?

[Chev]

Yes.

[Atomsk]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the guide, it was really helpful in understanding the Burn/Conserve phases.

I am new to Arcane Mage and only been playing for the last 2 weeks, I have a question on the Haste rating with t18-4pc. Getting your haste rating to 2100, is that without any buffs or inclusive of raid buffs. I am currently on 1700 unbuffed(Gemming/Enchanting for haste).

I am using Mr.Robot by editing my stat weights(28% Haste soft Cap) to see what gear would be potential upgrades, as I am only viable for the first 6 bosses with my guild until I get better gear.

My stat priority : Int > SP > Haste (2100) > Mastery

My damage at this time isn't to great and on some fights I drop below 40k DPS, which is hugely contributed to moving and learning.

Thanks again for the great guide!

[Rinoa]

Getting your haste rating to 2100, is that without any buffs or inclusive of raid buffs.

That is after raid buffs have been applied.

[Dutchmagoz]

Getting your haste rating to 2100, is that without any buffs or inclusive of raid buffs.

That is after raid buffs have been applied.

Which is the same, by the way!

Raid buffs don't increase haste rating, it increases haste percentage. Your rating will never change.

[Rinoa]

That is absolutely true. I was thinking more along the lines of ratings being relevant after buffs, as the mastery buff for example is flat rating instead of a percentage whereas all others don't really change anything in that regard. Should have been more specific.

[Murki]

If we have ~2100 haste rating, should we change the enchant on our weapon // change food buff?

I'm sitting at 2108 I believe, and I think I could benefit more from another food stat // weapon enchant.

What would you all recommend?

[Mantis]

You should definitely sim yourself to solve that question.

[Interimo]

I simmed higher with haste weapon enchant over mastery and swapping between the food is too little difference that it is just accounted for in the error percentage. Something like 31dps difference favoring the haste food. (im 2109 haste from gear btw).

[Curnivore]

The haste enchant tends to be good in several specs because of the way it works. They are not flat increases on the same mechanic. They proc differently.

[Poly]

As a Night elf i get 1% haste because of my passive so do i want to aim for 2010 haste ( which is 2100 - 90 ( 1%) ) or do i still go for 2100 ?

[Dutchmagoz]

As a Night elf i get 1% haste because of my passive so do i want to aim for 2010 haste ( which is 2100 - 90 ( 1%) ) or do i still go for 2100 ?

2100 is not a hard amount. It's a very rough guideline, at which point haste generally starts to lose a bit of value compared to the gains of mastery. It doesn't mean that after 2100 haste is suddenly bad or mastery is godlike, it's just the start to a very slow trend of haste/mastery changing priority. Your gear, and especially talents change what is better a lot.

For an actual reply to your question: It doesn't really make a difference, but when in doubt, haste for single target and mastery for multiple targets.

[Causese]

Why is speccing into Evanesce almost no dps loss/dps gain?

causese : 99613 dps with Evanesce
causese : 99604 dps Icy Floes

not sure where to post this question.

used simcraft 622-01

[Methusula]

What was the fight? If it is patchwork, there is no movement, so the talent row is irrelevant.

[Causese]

What was the fight? If it is patchwork, there is no movement, so the talent row is irrelevant.

them alzheimers

thanks dude

[mysticalz]

Got some questions concerning the burn and conserve phase's.

So I got 4pc + tome and the way I burn is get to 4AC , drop PC , AP and spam AB's and AM when proc's.I usually get to like 35-40% mana, get to 100 and start the conserve, now my question.

Is it best to just 4 AB and reset with barrage, whilst stacking 3 AM's for the next reset of Arcane Charges and then just spam all 3, or just use them as they come while floating ~90-95% mana and just reset again if no proc's below 90% ?

I'm still a rookie for Arcane, but I've started to enjoy it and I re-enchanted my gear to Haste, SIM's show that Frost ( which is my main still ) doesn't lose too much dps at all.

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/tD ... 1&fight=19" target="_blank here is a log for Zakuun Mythic, my nick is Failetz. This is our 2nd night on the boss and we made good progress, but it's a learning experience and combining that with my inexperience yet with Arcane my performance isn't amazing, would appreciate some tips. I see other Arcane mages getting way more dps from ring and I don't understand how, probably PoF trinket.

[Laodi]

Dont wait for 3 AMs. If u have 4 ACs and AM available then get it out.
Conserve is simple:
Over 93% Mana->Cast AB
Under 93%-> Cast SN or NT or AM in this order whichever is possible. If nothing cast ABarr.
PoF is like roulette. Sometimes you win, often times you loose. Dont look to much into top logs because they often times are very lucky with PoF and PC.
I will try to check your log later on.

[Curnivore]

Isn't there a number of targets threshold that x4 Stacked Arcane Barrage becomes worse than Arcane Explosion? Is there some kind of limit to AE damage that prevents that logic? I'm reading the guide mentioning on 5+ targets to always ABar but I'm interested in optimizing it for a large number of adds (6-7+) while Nether Tempest is used.


And now that I think about it, wouldn't building up the Arcane Charge stack in the meantime be a DPS loss in itself?

AOE damage is so voodoo man (because nobody researches it much ).

[Causese]

do i want to spam ab if i have a certain amount of temporal power buffs?
(during burn phase)

[Food]

- When below 65% mana, stop using arcane missiles and only cast arcane blast until 50% or lower mana, then cast evocation and let it tick twice to go back to 90% mana, and start the conserverotation

Sometimes I just get extremely unlucky and do not proc any AMs during the burn phase while Arcane Power is up. In such scenarios I usually continue burning without Evo, until AP runs out even if I have to go as low as 20% mana. Is that the right thing to do?

Also, is the 65% mana threshold for stopping AM a guideline or a rule? I currently have 4-pc so I'm not sure if it's a DPS gain if I just keep casting AM whenever it procs and only stop when I have to Evo.