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Arcane Mage Guide — Class Guides · WoW Forever

Mana, crit and burst: Arcane Concentration, Arcane Power and the arcane spells.

A cloth-wearing caster who deals Arcane, Fire and Frost damage from range, controls enemies with Polymorph and frost spells, and conjures food, water and portals. More about the mage

Class
Mage
Roles
Damage
Used for
Raids and dungeons
Top talent
Arcane Power
Popular builds
1
Version
WoW Forever

How to play

Arcane in WoW Forever is built on Arcane Blast: each cast gives you spell damage equal to part of your Intellect and makes the next one cost much more, stacking up to four times. Arcane Wrath gains spell damage from your maximum mana, Missile Barrage makes Arcane Missiles faster and cheaper, and Arcane Power and Presence of Mind add burst.

Stack Arcane Blast while your mana allows, take Missile Barrage's fast Arcane Missiles, and let the stacks fall off with Arcane Wrath or other spells when mana runs low. Improved Channeling keeps damage from interrupting your casts.

Arcane is a big-mana-pool spec: Intellect is its best friend.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Forever.

Rotation and priorities

  1. 1Mage Armor or Ice Armor; Arcane Intellect up.
  2. 2Arcane Blast up to four stacks while mana allows.
  3. 3Arcane Missiles when Missile Barrage procs.
  4. 4Arcane Wrath as a strong spell that doesn't stack the cost.
  5. 5Arcane Power and Presence of Mind for burst.
  6. 6Evocation and mana gems to refill.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • Big burst from Arcane Blast stacks and Arcane Power.
  • Intellect turns directly into damage.
  • Improved Channeling resists interruptions.

Weaknesses

  • Mana runs out fast at high stacks.
  • Needs careful mana planning.
  • Less area damage than Frost.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

  1. 1

    IntellectArcane Blast and Arcane Wrath scale with it

  2. 2

    Spell damage

  3. 3

    Hitto the cap against bosses

  4. 4

    Critical strikeArcane Impact

  5. 5

    Spirit

  6. 6

    Stamina

What to look for

  • Intellect and spell damage first.
  • Spell hit up to the cap against bosses.
  • A trinket with an on-use effect to line up with Arcane Power.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

  • Arcane
  • Fire
  • Frost

  • Arcane Blast Battery

    DamagePvE
    39/12/0

    Stacking Arcane: each Arcane Blast powers up your other spells, Missile Barrage speeds up Arcane Missiles, and Arcane Power with Presence of Mind adds burst.

    • Arcane Blast 1/1
    • Presence of Mind 1/1
    • Arcane Mind 5/5
    • Arcane Instability 3/3
    • Arcane Power 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycrafting

Key talents

  • Arcane Power · top talent, up to 1

    For the next 15 sec, your spells deal 30% more damage while costing 30% more mana to cast.

  • Arcane Subtlety · tier 2, up to 2

    Reduces your target's resistance to all your spells by 15 and reduces the threat caused by your Arcane spells by 30%.

  • Arcane Concentration · tier 2, up to 5

    Gives you a 10% chance of entering a Clearcasting state after any damage spell hits a target. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next damage spell by 100%.

  • Arcane Geometry · tier 3, up to 2

    Increases the range of your Arcane spells by 6 yards.

  • Arcane Impact · tier 3, up to 3

    Increases the critical strike chance of your Arcane spells by 6%.

  • Arcane Blast · tier 3, up to 1

    Blasts the target with energy, dealing 34 to 38 Arcane damage. Each time you cast Arcane Blast, you gain 15% of your Intellect as Spell Damage and the mana cost of Arcane Blast is increased by 175%. Effect stacks up to 4 times and lasts 15 sec from time of initial application.

  • Arcane Meditation · tier 4, up to 3

    Allows 50% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting.

  • Presence of Mind · tier 5, up to 1

    When activated, your next Mage spell with a casting time less than 10 sec becomes an instant cast spell.

  • Arcane Mind · tier 5, up to 5

    Increases your Intellect by 10% and increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Arcane spells by 100%.

  • Arcane Instability · tier 6, up to 3

    Increases the damage done by your spells by 3% and your critical strike chance by 3%.

Arcane abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.

What WoW Forever changed

New talents in this tree

  • Improved ChannelingGives you a 100% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while channeling Arcane Missiles and a 70% chance while casting Arcane Blast or Arcane Wrath.
  • Missile BarrageGives your Arcane Blast spell a 40% chance, your Arcane Missile hits a 10% chance, and your Arcane Wrath, Fireball, Frostbolt, and Frostfire Bolt spells a 20% chance to reduce the channeled duration of your next Arcane Missiles spell by 50%, reduce the Mana cost by 100%, and missiles fire every 0.5 sec.
  • Arcane GeometryIncreases the range of your Arcane spells by 6 yards.
  • Arcane ImpactIncreases the critical strike chance of your Arcane spells by 6%.
  • Arcane BlastBlasts the target with energy, dealing 34 to 38 Arcane damage. Each time you cast Arcane Blast, you gain 15% of your Intellect as Spell Damage and the mana cost of Arcane Blast is increased by 175%. Effect stacks up to 4 times and lasts 15 sec from time of initial application.
  • Arcane ShieldingDecreases the Mana lost per point of damage taken when your Mana Shield spell is active by 33% and increases the resistances granted by your Mage Armor spell by 50%.
  • Arcane WrathLaunches a projectile of pure Arcane energy at the enemy target, causing 121 to 145 Arcane damage. This spell gains additional Spell Damage equal to 5% of your maximum Mana.

Classic Era talents the class no longer has

  • Improved Arcane Missiles
  • Magic Attunement
  • Improved Arcane Explosion
  • Improved Mana Shield

Spells

New: Arcane Blast, Arcane Wrath, Teleport: Dalaran. Changed: Arcane Intellect, Conjure Food, Arcane Missiles, Dampen Magic, Arcane Explosion, Amplify Magic, Mage Armor, Arcane Power.

Related

Other mage specs: Fire, Frost