Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (2024)

1.

Arcane Mage: The War Within Expansion Preview

Welcome to our War Within expansion guide for ArcaneMage.Ahead of launch, this page will contain everything you need to know about theArcane Mage spec in the forthcoming The War Withinexpansion,including changes, Hero Talent Trees, and some light predictions on the stateof the spec going into the expansion.

This page is a constantly evolving work in progress, with regularchanges expected as updates hit the War Within beta. This is not meant to bea launch guide for Arcane Mage, but instead serves as aresource for you to keep up to date with how the spec is evolving on Beta, andwhat you can expect from its playstyle and feel on launch.

2.

The War Within Changes for Arcane Mage

2.1.

Core Changes

Arcane Mage has received a pretty large amount of changes,with various talent removals and changes that significantly change therotation. Below we will first go into the changes in the Mage talent tree,before diving deeper into the changes in the Arcane tree.

Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (1) Ring of Frost and Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (2) Ice Nova have been turned into a choice node,reducing the total amount of crowd-control available by a little bit, althoughneither were picked very often in PvE. Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (3) Dragon's Breathhas been moved to a higher location in the tree, making it easier to pick up.Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (4) Temporal Warp has been removed,which was a highly devise node, with some players loving it and some hating it.It was replaced for a passive 3% Intellect choice node against Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (5) Time Anomaly.

On the Arcane side of the tree, there are a lot of changes.The entire tree has received a bit of an overhaul, with the position of the talentsin the tree being significantly different, various new talents, some removedtalents, and some effects being split into multiple talents, or multiple talentshaving their effects merged into other talents. Additionally, there are somemore impactful changes that do significantly alter various parts of the kit.

Overall, Arcane has been reduced in complexity, which in recentyears has arguably become very complex and very scripted. At the highest levelof play, people were using macros and WeakAuras that would interact with thegame's core underlying systems like spellqueueing and server ticks in veryunintuitive ways, or even intentionally causing the game client to freeze,to squeeze out the most amount of damage.A large factor for this was Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (6) Radiant Spark, which is being completelyremoved. However, various other talents are also being removed or changedto reduce some complexity.

See below a list of the most important changes:

  • The entire talent tree has been reworked, with almost all talentsbeing in a different position.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (7) Radiant Spark and its related Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (8) Harmonic Echo have been removed.Due to how core this was to the rotation, this significantly alters the playstyle,making the rotation less scripted and generally considered less complex.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (9) Conjure Mana Gem and its related Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (10) Cascading Power have been removed.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (11) Foresight was removed.
  • A new choice node, with Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (12) Magi's Spark andArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (13) Improved Touch of the Magi has been added:
    • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (14) Magi's Spark at first glance is a node similar toArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (15) Radiant Spark, but in practice is quite different.Unlike Radiant Spark, it is less strict in the order of spells you needto cast, just that you need to cast specific spells in theArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (16) Touch of the Magi window, for an additional explosion at the end.
    • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (17) Improved Touch of the Magi is simply a direct buff to Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (18) Touch of the Magi.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (19) Nether Munitions is a new talent which causes all enemies hit byArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (20) Magi's Spark or Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (21) Improved Touch of the Magi to take moredamage from you.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (22) Arcane Familiar has been changed to no longer be a separate spell,but instead it will be summoned upon casting Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (23) Arcane Intellect.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (24) Energized Familiar buffs your Arcane Familiar to fire more boltsduring Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (25) Arcane Surge, and also sometimes gives you a smallamount of mana.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (26) Arcane Surge now also provides you with a stack of Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (27) Clearcasting.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (28) Surging Urge is a new talent that makes your Arcane Surge domore damage based on the amount of Arcane Charges you have.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (29) Eureka is a new talent that makes Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (30) Arcane Missiles orArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (31) Arcane Explosion do more damage when they consume Clearcasting.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (32) Aether Attunement is a new talent that significantly increasesArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (33) Arcane Missiles and turns it into an AoE ability, after consumingClearcasting 3 times.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (34) Arcane Debilitation is a new talent, which applies a stackingdebuff on your target that increases the damage you do withArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (35) Arcane Blast, Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (36) Arcane Missiles and Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (37) Arcane Barragefor each time you have hit the target with Arcane Missiles.This lasts a couple of seconds and each stack expires independently,meaning you cannot indefinitely keep increasing the stacks.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (38) Time Loop gives Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (39) Arcane Debilitation a 10% chance to applyanother stack. This effect, in turn, can proc itself, meaning that theoretically,a single application could cause a chain of procs.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (40) Leysight is a new talent that increases Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (41) Nether Precision'sdamage increase.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (42) Leydrinker is a new talent that causes Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (43) Nether Precisiona small chance to cause your next Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (44) Arcane Blast or Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (45) Arcane Barrageto echo for a portion of its damage.

2.2.

Systems Changes

On top of the relatively large changes in the Arcane tree,the Hero Talent Tree system also has a significant impact on the spec.

Arcane Mage gets to choose between the Spellslingerand Sunfury Hero Talent Trees. In sections below, we will talk moredeeply about the implications of these Hero Talent Trees for the spec.

3.

Hero Talent Trees for Arcane Mage in The War Within

3.1.

Spellslinger Hero Talents for Arcane Mage

Spellslingers are all about conjuring up a barrage of Arcane Splinters,dealing damage and providing various buffs to the rest of your spells.When you overwhelm your enemies with large amount of Arcane Splinters,you will further unleash Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (46) Splinterstorm, doing significant damageand providing an additional source of Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (47) Clearcasting procs.

Playstyle-wise, the tree is relatively passive. Most of the effects happenautomatically when you cast other parts of your rotation that you alreadynormally cast. Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (48) Spellfrost Teachings will automatically launchArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (49) Arcane Orbs for you, and then buffing the damage of additionalArcane Orbs, potentially making you play around the proc.Combined with Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (50) Orb Barrage and Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (51) Splintering Orbs, this can giveyou an immense amount of Arcane Orbs. Better be careful where you face at alltimes to avoid accidentally pulling unwanted enemies!

There are multiple ways in which you can build Arcane Splinters:

  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (52) Splintering Sorcery causes Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (53) Nether Precision to conjure2 of them.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (54) Augury Abounds causes Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (55) Arcane Surge to generate 8 ofthem, and double your Splinter generation while it is active.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (56) Splintering Orbs causes Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (57) Arcane Orb to generate 4 ofthem as long as you hit at least one target. The Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (58) Orb Barrageand Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (59) Spellfrost Teachings procs both count for this effect as well.

Defensively, the tree offers Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (60) Reactive Barrier, increasing the shieldingof Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (61) Prismatic Barrier or Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (62) Phantasmal Image giving Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (63) Mirror Imagean additional clone, and more importantly, decreasing damage taken by 5%.The tree also provides some utility in the form of more movement speed duringArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (64) Alter Time or a longer range and duration Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (65) Displacement.

3.2.

Sunfury Hero Talents for Arcane Mage

Sunfury provides Arcane with a lot different ways to significantly increase theeffectiveness of our spells, but it also gives us an Arcane Phoenix that shootsboth Arcane and Fire spells at your enemies. You will build upArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (66) Spellfire Spheres, increasing your damage and providing other benefits, and spawninga powerful Phoenix which does significant damage, while also able to use yourSpellfire Spheres to destroy your enemies.

Playstyle-wise, the Sunfury tree goes through two different phases, a builder phase,into a unique burst phase via Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (67) Arcane Soul and Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (68) Memory of Al'ar, allowing a short phaseduring which Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (69) Arcane Barrage immediately returns Arcane Charges and provides Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (70) Clearcasting.It also provides both a significant amount of passive Haste via Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (71) Mana Addiction,and granting you a way to reliably get 4 Arcane Charges after using Arcane Barrage, via Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (72) Glorious Incandescence,both speeding up your rotation further.

You will build up Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (73) Spellfire Spheres by casting multiple Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (74) Arcane Blastsor Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (75) Arcane Barrages. The spheres will both increase your damage andproc Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (76) Burden of Power providing a powerful boost to your Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (77) Arcane Blastor Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (78) Arcane Barrage. Combined with Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (79) Glorious Incandescence,Arcane Barrage will immediately return you 4 Arcane Charges, allowing youto fire off a hard-hitting Arcane Barrage without the need to build back Arcane Charges,while recovering mana via Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (80) Mana Adept if talented.

Additionally, the tree can either give you more executedamage by improving the effectiveness of Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (81) Arcane Bombardment viaArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (82) Sunfury Execution, or have longer Arcane Surgesbased on the amount of Spheres you have when you cast it via Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (83) Savor the Moment.

Finally, when you cast Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (84) Arcane Surge you spawn a strongPhoenix, which will passively attack your enemies with both Arcane and Fire spells.The Phoenix will consume your Spheres, doing significant extra damage and granting you Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (85) Lingering Embers, buffing your damage.Then, when your Arcane Surge ends, you will get Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (86) Arcane Soul based uponthe amount of Spheres your Phoenix consumed, giving you an additional very uniqueburst phase that makes Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (87) Arcane Barrage return 4 Arcane Charges and provide Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (88) Clearcasting.

Defensively, the Sunfury tree offers minimal benefits. It proves some avoidanceand leech around your Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (89) Prismatic Barrier. It does offer some additionalcrowd-control and utility via your Phoenix castingArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (90) Spellsteal / Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (91) Supernova / Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (92) Gravity Lapse, or replacingyour own Supernova for Gravity Lapse.

4.

Arcane Mage Tier Set in The War Within

Below are the Tier Set Bonuses for Arcane Mage in The WarWithin. After their description, some opinions on their pros and cons.

  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (93) Mage Arcane 11.0 Class Set 2pcArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (94) Arcane Blast and Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (95) Arcane Explosion damage increased by 6%.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (96) Mage Arcane 11.0 Class Set 4pc — Casting Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (97) Arcane Blast or Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (98) Arcane Barrage has a chance to make your next Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (99) Arcane Barrage deal increased damage and generate 4 Arcane Charges.

The 2-set bonus is a simple damage increase to your filler spells, but the4-set is an interesting effect, which allows Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (100) Arcane Barrage to sometimesimmediately return you 4 Arcane Charges, allowing you to immediately continuebursting like normal after it without having to worry about having a method ofgaining 4 Arcane Charges back. This effect is very similar toArcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (101) Glorious Incandescence as both return 4 Arcane Charges, potentiallywasting one of the effects if both proc on the same Arcane Blast.Spellslingers do not really interact with the effects in any specific way.

How Good is the Arcane Mage Tier Bonus in The WarWithin?

Both the 2 and 4-set are looking to be strong single-target bonuses,especially for Sunfury Arcane Mages. However, in AoE, this set is lookingrelatively weak. Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (102) Arcane Explosion is not cast as muchin AoE, especially compared to how much Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (103) Arcane Blast is caston single-target, causing the 2-set to be relatively weak. The4-set, at first glance, seems quite good for AoE, but it does have the riskof munching the Arcane Charges, as both the 4-set and Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (104) Orb Barragecan proc at the same time, causing the Arcane Charges gained from one of theprocs to effectively go to waste. Overall, it probably ends up not being veryrelevant for AoE, but a great quality of life and dps increase for single-target.

5.

Arcane Mage Strengths and Weaknesses

Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (105)Strengths

  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (106)Gains bonus single target damage from additional targets (funnel)
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (107)No longer eating a huge DPS loss if a fight does not want Time Warp on pull.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (108)High burst damage.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (109)Able to do a lot of its damage while on the move (if talented)

Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (110)Weaknesses

  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (111)No spread AoE/Cleave capabilities, can only hit closely lumped together enemies.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (112)Largely reliant on being in melee for AoE damage.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (113)A lot of utility, like Slipstream and Chrono Shift, can only be taken by giving up DPS.
  • Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (114)Talents that provide a form of quality of life and minor damage, can only be taken by giving up DPS.

6.

Changelog

  • 17 Jun. 2024: Page added.

Show more

Show less

Arcane Mage Guide for The War Within - Dragonflight 10.2.7 (2024)

FAQs

Is Arcane Mage viable in Dragonflight? ›

Arcane Mage Viability in the Current Patch

In a Raiding setting, Arcane is a capable Mage specialization, although not the very best. It is only slightly behind Frost, but the differences are very small, and you can easily play Arcane on all bosses and perform well.

What professions should I play as an arcane mage Dragonflight? ›

Dragonflight Mage Best Professions

However, if you want to make money, then Jewelcrafting, Alchemy, and Enchanting are your best bet. Each of these professions produces items that remain relevant throughout the expansion.

How do I get better at Arcane Mage Dragonflight? ›

How To Improve As Arcane Mage — Dragonflight 10.2. 7
  1. Having Low Downtime.
  2. Going into the Burn Phase at the Correct Time.
  3. Ending the Fight on Low Mana.
  4. Knowing How To Sim Yourself.

What is the strongest mage spec in Dragonflight? ›

Best Leveling Spec for Mage in Dragonflight

We recommend Frost for most of your Mage Leveling needs. This is because almost all spells of Frost will slow or root your targets, allowing you to kite very easily. It also has a lot of burst damage for low health enemies which allow you to quickly kill most quest mobs.

What is the best race for Arcane Mage Dragonflight? ›

For Alliance, I recommend Human or Night Elf or Dwarf or Void Elf. They are all reasonably close, so choose whichever you prefer. For Horde, I recommend Troll or Orc or Tauren.

How to burst as Arcane Mage? ›

Burst Damage
  1. Cast. Arcane Surge on your primary target.
  2. Use. Touch of the Magi.
  3. Use. Mana Gem to restore Mana after using Arcane Surge if talented.
  4. Use. Blood Fury (if you are an Orc).
  5. Use Arcane Missiles if you get a Clearcasting proc to utilize. Nether Precision.
  6. Use. Presence of Mind.
  7. Use. Arcane Blast.
  8. Use. Arcane Blast.

Is frost or arcane better Dragonflight? ›

Best boss DPS (in realistic settings)

Frost Mage achieved 24.67% more maximum boss DPS than Arcane Mage when dealing with occasional movement, lag and crowd-control.

What is the best mage for leveling Dragonflight? ›

Frost Mage is generally the most straightforward Mage spec to level with due to its lack of reliance on cooldowns to deal damage and exceptionally strong area of effect damage.

Is Arcane Mage good to level? ›

Arcane, while it can be a bit boring since you tend to use one spell, is very strong for leveling. You can delete single mobs before they reach you in most cases and you have a lot of tools for blowing up rares/elites as well as getting out of combat when overwhelmed. I would generally recommend mages level as arcane.

Is leveling easier in Dragonflight? ›

In World of Warcraft's Dragonflight, players can unlock the ability to ride dragons to make leveling up their characters faster and easier. This feature can be unlocked by completing approximately 30 minutes of questing in The Waking Shores, making it a quick and accessible addition to the game.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Tuan Roob DDS

Last Updated:

Views: 5709

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (42 voted)

Reviews: 81% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Tuan Roob DDS

Birthday: 1999-11-20

Address: Suite 592 642 Pfannerstill Island, South Keila, LA 74970-3076

Phone: +9617721773649

Job: Marketing Producer

Hobby: Skydiving, Flag Football, Knitting, Running, Lego building, Hunting, Juggling

Introduction: My name is Tuan Roob DDS, I am a friendly, good, energetic, faithful, fantastic, gentle, enchanting person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.