Arcane Mage Guide — Class Guides · WoW Wrath of the Lich King

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 Barrage
Popular builds: 1
Version: WoW Wrath of the Lich King

How to play

Arcane in Wrath stacks Arcane Blast: each cast raises the next one's damage and mana cost, up to four stacks. Missile Barrage makes Arcane Missiles faster and free, and Arcane Power, Presence of Mind and Icy Veins stack for burst. Arcane Empowerment raises your group's damage, and Focus Magic shares crit with another caster.

Cast Arcane Blast up to four stacks, then Arcane Missiles when Missile Barrage procs; when mana gets low, use Arcane Missiles or Arcane Barrage to clear the stacks. Arcane is one of the top casters for much of Wrath.

It is mana-intensive: Evocation, Mana Gems and a priest's Hymn of Hope all matter.

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 Wrath of the Lich King.

Rotation and priorities

1Molten Armor or Mage Armor; Arcane Brilliance, and Focus Magic on another caster.
2Arcane Blast up to four stacks.
3Arcane Missiles when Missile Barrage procs.
4Arcane Barrage or Arcane Missiles to clear the stacks when mana gets low.
5Arcane Power, Presence of Mind, Icy Veins and Mirror Image with trinkets and Heroism.
6Evocation and Mana Gem to refill.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Top damage when mana is managed well.
Arcane Empowerment and Focus Magic help the raid.
A simple core loop.

Weaknesses

Mana-hungry.
Needs careful mana planning.
Little area damage besides Arcane Explosion.

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
Spell power
2
Hitto 446 rating, less Arcane Focus
3
Haste
4
Critical strike
5
Intellect
6
Spirit

What to look for

Spell power, hit and haste.
Intellect and Spirit help Arcane more than the other specs.
On-use trinkets to line up with Arcane Power.

Items worth chasing

Phylactery of the Nameless LichA trinket with a big spell power proc.
Muradin's SpyglassA trinket that stacks spell power.
Dislodged Foreign ObjectA trinket that stacks spell power.

Builds

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

Arcane
Fire
Frost

Arcane Raider
DamagePvE
5612
56/3/12
Raid damage with 56 points in Arcane, down to Netherwind Presence, and 3 in Fire and 12 in Frost.
- Arcane Power 1/1
- Arcane Flows 2/2
- Missile Barrage 5/5
- Netherwind Presence 3/3
- Spell Power 2/2
Glyphs: Glyph of Arcane Blast (major), Glyph of Arcane Missiles (major), Glyph of Molten Armor (major), Glyph of Slow Fall (minor), Glyph of Frost Ward (minor), Glyph of Blast Wave (minor)
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting

Key talents

Arcane Barrage · top talent, up to 1
Launches several missiles at the enemy target, causing 401 to 485 Arcane damage.
Arcane Instability · tier 6, up to 3
Increases the damage done by your spells and your critical strike chance by 3%.
Arcane Potency · tier 6, up to 2
Increases the critical strike chance of your next damaging spell by 30% after gaining Clearcasting or Presence of Mind.
Arcane Empowerment · tier 7, up to 3
Increases the damage of your Arcane Missiles spell by an amount equal to 45% of your spell power and the damage of your Arcane Blast by 9% of your spell power. In addition, increases the damage of all party and raid members within 100 yds by 3%.
Arcane Power · tier 7, up to 1
When activated, your spells deal 20% more damage while costing 20% more mana to cast. This effect lasts 15 sec.
Arcane Flows · tier 8, up to 2
Reduces the cooldown of your Presence of Mind, Arcane Power and Invisibility spells by 30% and the cooldown of your Evocation spell by 2 min.
Mind Mastery · tier 8, up to 5
Increases spell power by 15% of your total Intellect.
Missile Barrage · tier 9, up to 5
Gives your Arcane Blast a 40% chance, and your Arcane Barrage, Fireball, Frostbolt and Frostfire Bolt spells a 20% chance to reduce the channeled duration of the next Arcane Missiles spell by 2.5 secs, reduce the mana cost by 100%, and missiles will fire every .5 secs.
Netherwind Presence · tier 10, up to 3
Increases your spell haste by 6%.
Spell Power · tier 10, up to 2
Increases critical strike damage bonus of all spells by 50%.

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.