Berlinia's Arcane Mage Guide for T17 (Highmaul Update)

[Mavic]

Does anyone know why simulationcraft is showing incorrect trinket values in the buff section of simulation results? It claims my 660 PvP trinket gives 456 intellect for 20 seconds instead of the actual 734 and my mythic Shards of Nothing as 870 haste for 20 seconds instead of 1767. Is there something about how simcraft models trinkets that I'm ignorant of, or is this a real problem and we aren't getting accurate simulations?

[Komma]

Does anyone know why simulationcraft is showing incorrect trinket values in the buff section of simulation results? It claims my 660 PvP trinket gives 456 intellect for 20 seconds instead of the actual 734 and my mythic Shards of Nothing as 870 haste for 20 seconds instead of 1767. Is there something about how simcraft models trinkets that I'm ignorant of, or is this a real problem and we aren't getting accurate simulations?

It's just a tooltip error due to their trinket hotfixing.

[Mavic]

Mythic Shards of Nothing used to give 870 Haste? That seems off.

The comparison that started this is that the 660 PvP trinket is simming lower than the 640 Sandman's, which doesn't seem right given that crit isn't particularly high and the PvP trinket has a ridiculous up time on the 734 intellect. You're sure this is correct though? I just want to be 100% certain before I spend 15 savage bloods upgrading Sandman's for an even bigger upgrade.

Also, I could of sworn there was some earlier Arcane specific trinket sims that indicated the 660 PvP trinket was really really good for Arcane.

[Traumprinz]

Mavic: http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=787" target="_blank

[Mavic]

That post only confuses me even more, as it indicates what I said (660 PvP is super strong for Arcane) however even the 640 Sandman's sims higher for me, 20 ilvls below with a "meh" crit proc. This information is contradicting.

[sundaewoop]

Question about burn phase priority:

If you are at full mana with 4 charges and AM procs available, do you cast arcane blast or missiles? This only really applies during crystal usage but yeah, I'm assuming letting your mana cap out is always bad.

[Trollmorph]

I have got a question about the burn phase:
I am using SN+PC and Arcane Power Glyphed

With Arcane Power buff still up, Should I still keep burning under 50% mana? Or Should I Evocate after 50% mana although Arcane Power buff remains 8-10 Sec

NOTE: Arcane Power unglyphed feels strange to me, dont know its like I can't nuke harder with it

[Berlinia]

You shouldn't find yourself in a situation with AP still up and you being under 50% mana!

[BasicBetch]

You shouldn't find yourself in a situation with AP still up and you being under 50% mana!

I find this happening on half the pulls if it's a Heroism. i.e...Butcher. The last 5-10seconds may dip you under 50% mana if your AMs didn't want to proc. (This is going Supernova/RoP/PC). -Glyphed AP obviously

[Berlinia]

ah, i don't glyph AP thats why

[Festen]

Hello, what glyphs do you use?

[BigRedJedi]

Hello, all, and a hearty 'Thank you!' to Berlinia and the powers behind Altered Time for this guide and amazing site,

So, is there a threshold where running NT surpasses running SN, as in a certain number of adds and/or a certain length of time that they would be up? (Just brainstorming fights like Tectus or Brackenspore, or the more obvious sustained duration of the Twins fight...)

Additionally, how close are the level 100 talents in terms of output, I understand that under ideal circumstances, PC will push the most damage (from what I'm reading here), but is it a large enough gap that it clearly outshines the other two talents (or are there certain situations wherein the other two are equally, if not moreso, viable)?

I raid with two different groups, one which is a little more serious about pushing Heroic and, hopefully, Mythic progression (though we are, by no means, cutting edge), and the other is much more casual, happy to be able to tackle things on Normal and eventually do Heroic progression. As the leader for one group, I just don't want to be a weak link by not using the right talents (especially with everything else that I need to focus on in the various fights).

Thanks for your time, and for all the hard work on this guide!

[Chev]

When I did the testing, NT was always better than SN with the same tallent combination and there was no breakpoint, e.g. number of targets or type of fight.

Where it will matter is player skill. E.g. 100% NT up time > SN usage on CD > 90% NT up time.

If you are struggling to refresh NT at the correct time (4 stacks of AC and ~3.6 seconds remaining) so NT either drops off or you refresh at a lower number of stacks meaning less damage is done, then you may be better off using SN as this gives a bit more leeway. E.g. You have around 18 seconds to use a charge before the 2nd charge is available again. You only really want to have 2 charges on pull or if you are trying to line up with PC so that you can dump them both on the crystal, holding on to them too long will be a DPS loss.

[Mevlin]

Hi all. This is my first post and I just want to say hi and thanks for the great post OP. I have a question for my rotation. I use Nether Tempest and I am not sure what is optimal in the following situation:

1.) Arcane Charge is at 4 stacks

2.) no Arcane Missiles proc

3.) mana is at 90%

4.) Nether Tempest is at around 5 (basically 1 Arcane Blast away)

I have 3 reasonable options:

1.) Arcane Blast then charge back to 4 Arcane Charge then refresh Nether Tempest (losing 1-5 seconds of

Nether Tempest uptime depending on haste and Arcane Orb)

2.) Refresh Nether Tempest with 5 seconds left and lose 2 seconds of Nether Tempest damage

3.) Cast Arcane Blast and refresh Nether Tempest at <= 3.6 seconds and pay the mana debt later somehow

I do the third, always having 100% uptime for Nether Tempest with no overlap. But now that I think about it is it better to clip ~2 seconds of Nether Tempest to ensure optimum mana. What if it was 2 Arcane Blasts away. Paying the mana debt requires getting Arcane Missile procs which is not guaranteed. Getting no procs would lead to more mana debt which is a considerable dps loss at higher levels of mastery. I guess my question is how do people generally play with Nether Tempest when it potentially contradicts our main rotation.

[Traumprinz]

When I did the testing, NT was always better than SN with the same tallent combination and there was no breakpoint, e.g. number of targets or type of fight.

Where it will matter is player skill. E.g. 100% NT up time > SN usage on CD > 90% NT up time.

If you are struggling to refresh NT at the correct time (4 stacks of AC and ~3.6 seconds remaining) so NT either drops off or you refresh at a lower number of stacks meaning less damage is done, then you may be better off using SN as this gives a bit more leeway. E.g. You have around 18 seconds to use a charge before the 2nd charge is available again. You only really want to have 2 charges on pull or if you are trying to line up with PC so that you can dump them both on the crystal, holding on to them too long will be a DPS loss.

Have you simmed this? Kommas results (see his new post where he mentions the AM-fix, I'm guessing this might have been a relevant factor) seem to be saying otherwise (although NT/PC and NT/AO are still very close).

[yookstah]

Hey there.

I'm fairly new to arcane so I have a question (or two). Since evocation is up quicker than arcane power, and is up with your 2nd crystal, how do I best use my cooldowns? Do I just go ham with 2nd crystal asap and hope everything syncs up for my 3rd crystal/2nd arcane power? This is something I'm somewhat struggling to grasp right now; any help is appreciated!

[Graven]

So I'm having a debate with my Ele Shaman in raid. Does Supernova affect his Earthquake damage or is the hop in the air only visual?

[Verlynne]

Hey! Currently progressing on Mythic Brackenspore and figured I'd try arcane. My armory is here: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/f ... e/advanced" target="_blank

What I wonder is if arcane power glyph really is a good use? I mean, not using it lines it up with evocation for every burn phase, however I've noticed many top mages in the world seem to be using the arcane power glyph! What's the advantages of using it?

Also wondering about the talents, it seems like the top ranking mages on brackenspore are using supernova and PC, and I'm guessing that IF would be the talent of choice there aswell.

Then a trinket question - Copeland's Clarity VS Mythic Shards?

[Chev]

There is a post here (http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1027" target="_blank) where people are talking about how they tackled Brackenspore as Arcane.

With regards to trinkets, here is a comparison of the trinkets and how they interact with each other (http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=787" target="_blank).

[oomy]

ah, i don't glyph AP thats why

How come?