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Arcane Mage Guide for WoW Forever

How to play Arcane Mage in WoW Forever, with leveling, raid and PvP builds and how to stack Arcane Blast without running out of mana.

MageArcaneLevelingPvEPvPRaidsDungeonsDPS

By stillsixty staffUpdated

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Variants

Overview

Arcane in WoW Forever is a real damage spec, not a mana battery for Frost and Fire. It is built on two new tools. Arcane Blast is a tier 3 talent that raises the damage of your other spells by 10% per cast, stacking four times. Missile Barrage gives every Arcane Blast a 40% chance to make your next Arcane Missiles free, twice as fast, with a missile every half second. Blast, Blast, Missiles is the heartbeat of the spec.

The catch is mana. Every Arcane Blast raises the cost of the next one by 175% of its base cost, so a fourth Blast in a row costs 6.25 times the first. Playing Arcane well means choosing when to push the stacks and when to spend them cheaply. The rest of the tree helps: Arcane Mind now makes your Arcane crits deal double damage, Arcane Concentration hands you free spells, and Arcane Meditation with Mage Armor keeps all of your regeneration running while you cast.

At 60 Arcane brings a burst window built from Arcane Power and Presence of Mind on a four-stack Arcane Blast and a Missile Barrage. In PvP, the same stacks turn a Frost Nova into a Shatter kill.

Strengths

  • A huge burst window: Arcane Power, Presence of Mind and four Arcane Blast stacks on one Missile Barrage.
  • Arcane crits deal double damage with Arcane Mind, and Arcane Impact, Arcane Instability and Incineration stack crit on top.
  • Range: Arcane Geometry puts Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles at 36 yards.
  • Improved Counterspell silences for 4 seconds every time, on top of the 10-second school lockout.
  • Improved Channeling keeps Arcane Missiles going through damage and gives Arcane Blast a 70% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage.

Weaknesses

  • Mana. Stacking Arcane Blast drains you fast, and a careless Arcane Mage runs dry halfway through a boss.
  • No slows or freezes in the Arcane tree. While leveling you lean on baseline Frostbolt and Frost Nova.
  • A decision-heavy rotation: when to stack, when to spend, when to hold a proc.
  • The key talents sit deep in the tree. Arcane Power needs 31 points, so the spec peaks late.

What's new in Forever

New in Forever
  • Arcane Blast is a tier 3 talent (available at 20), with new ranks trained at 30, 40, 50 and 60. It costs 15% of your base mana and is a 2.5-second cast. Each cast adds 10% damage to your other spells and 175% to its own cost, up to four stacks, for 8 seconds or until you cast another damage spell.
  • Missile Barrage (tier 4): Arcane Blast has a 40% chance, and Fireball, Frostbolt and Frostfire Bolt a 20% chance, to make your next Arcane Missiles free, half as long and firing every 0.5 seconds.
  • Arcane Mind now gives 10% Intellect and +100% critical strike damage bonus to Arcane spells.
  • Arcane Impact adds 6% crit to all Arcane spells, not only Arcane Explosion.
  • Arcane Instability gives 3% damage and 3% crit at 3/3.
  • Arcane Focus is +5% hit with Arcane spells. Improved Channeling also protects Arcane Blast.
  • Arcane Geometry is new: +6 yards of range for Arcane spells.
  • Improved Counterspell silences for 2 or 4 seconds every time, with no proc chance.
  • Arcane Meditation reaches 50% at 3/3, and Mage Armor lets another 50% of your regeneration continue while casting.
  • Incineration in the Fire tree adds 6% crit to Arcane Blast.

Talents

The build for players who want to be Arcane from day one. Improved Channeling keeps your spells going while mobs hit you, Arcane Concentration pays for them, and from 25 Missile Barrage turns your Arcane Blasts into free, fast Arcane Missiles. Frost levels faster and safer; this build trades some of that for a head start on the endgame spec.

Split 21/0/0 · 21 points at level 30 · Open in calculator

Arcane

21 points

Fire

0 points

Frost

0 points

Talent order

  1. Levels 10–11: 2/2 Wand Specialization. +25% wand damage. Your wand finishes every mob from 10 to 30, and in Forever it's your cheapest damage.
  2. Levels 12–14: 3/5 Improved Channeling. Arcane Missiles keeps channeling through 60% of the hits that would stop it.
  3. Levels 15–19: 5/5 Arcane Concentration. A 10% chance after every damage spell to make the next one free.
  4. Level 20: 1/1 Arcane Blast. Your new main spell. Two Blasts make your next Arcane Missiles hit 20% harder.
  5. Levels 21–23: 3/3 Arcane Impact. +6% crit on Arcane Blast, Arcane Missiles and Arcane Explosion.
  6. Level 24: 4/5 Improved Channeling. Unlocks tier 4.
  7. Level 25: 1/1 Missile Barrage. Every Arcane Blast now has a 40% chance to make your next Arcane Missiles free and twice as fast.
  8. Level 26: 5/5 Improved Channeling. Arcane Missiles is never interrupted by damage, and Arcane Blast has a 70% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage.
  9. Levels 27–29: 3/3 Arcane Meditation. Half of your mana regeneration continues while casting. From 34, Mage Armor adds the other half.
  10. Level 30: 1/1 Presence of Mind. An instant Arcane Blast or Polymorph when a pull goes wrong, every 3 minutes.

Flexible points

  • Fighting mobs above your level and seeing resists? Swap Wand Specialization for 2/5 Arcane Focus.

Races

Best races

Alliance: Gnome. Expansive Mind gives 5% more maximum mana, the stat Arcane runs out of first. Eureka! makes your next three damaging spells cost 10% less mana and deal 10% more damage (2-minute cooldown). Spend it on three stacked Arcane Blasts and it saves more mana than on any other spec. Escape Artist breaks every root and snare.

Alliance raiding: Human. Sword Specialization gives +2% critical strike chance with every spell while you hold a sword. The Human Spirit adds 5% Spirit, which Arcane Meditation and Mage Armor turn into mana while you cast. Will to Survive breaks a stun every 3 minutes.

Horde: Troll. Berserking gives 10% casting speed for 10 seconds every 3 minutes. Use it inside Arcane Power so the faster Blasts land while every spell deals 30% more damage. Rapid Regeneration heals 50% of your health over 6 seconds between pulls.

Horde PvP: Orc. Blood Fury gives 10% Spell Power for 15 seconds every 2 minutes, and Shatter Curse removes and blocks Curses and Banes and cuts Magic damage taken by 15% for 8 seconds. Hardiness shortens stuns by 20%.

All playable races

  • Human: Sword Specialization, The Human Spirit, Will to Survive, Perception.
  • Gnome: Expansive Mind, Eureka!, Escape Artist, Engineering Specialization.
  • High Order Skyborne (Alliance, new): Wind Blessed for 1% Haste, Elemental Insight for 5% damage against Elementals, Read Ley Line to double your health and mana regeneration, and Walk on Air to glide for 10 seconds.
  • Troll: Berserking, Beast Slaying, Regeneration, Rapid Regeneration.
  • Orc (new): Blood Fury, Shatter Curse, Hardiness.
  • Undead: Will of the Forsaken removes Charm, Fear and Sleep, a direct answer to Warlock and Priest Fears in PvP. Touch of the Grave gives your spells a 10% chance to drain health, and Cannibalize restores health and mana from corpses.

Rotation

Single-target pull

  1. Open with Frostbolt from 30 yards. The slow buys you time, and from 25 it has a 20% chance to set up Missile Barrage.
  2. Cast Arcane Blast twice while the mob walks in. Train Arcane Blast at 30.
  3. Spend the two stacks on Arcane Missiles. With Missile Barrage it's free and done in half the time, and it hits 20% harder.
  4. When the mob reaches you, Frost Nova, then walk fully out of melee range before you cast. Arcane Blast damage can break Frost Nova, so the mob can break free after the first Blast.
  5. Finish low mobs with Fire Blast or your wand. Fire Blast spends stacks too, so use it last.

Mana and downtime

  • Two Blasts in a row cost 3.75 times one Blast. Don't go to three stacks while leveling unless you have Clearcasting.
  • Clearcasting from Arcane Concentration makes your next damage spell free. Spend it on the second Arcane Blast, your most expensive spell.
  • Keep Arcane Intellect and Frost Armor up.
  • From 20, Evocation runs your mana regeneration at 16 times its normal rate for 8 seconds, on an 8-minute cooldown. Bank it for the pull that runs long, not as a free drink.

Two or more mobs

Polymorph one mob and kill the other. When three or more mobs reach you, cast Arcane Explosion while they stand on you: it hits everything within 10 yards, with +6% crit from Arcane Impact. Once they're low, Frost Nova, step out and finish them one at a time. Don't explode a frozen group: the damage breaks Frost Nova.

Stat priority

Leveling

  1. Spell Power
  2. Intellect
  3. Spirit
  4. Stamina

Spell Power adds damage to every Blast and Missile. Intellect matters more for Arcane than for Frost: a bigger mana pool means more Blasts before you drink. Spirit pays off from 27, when Arcane Meditation keeps half your regeneration running while you cast.

Gear

Wands

Wand Specialization makes your wand 25% stronger, so it's worth upgrading on time. Wands don't scale with Spell Power in Forever, so buy on damage per second. Enchanters craft the four you want:

If you're not an Enchanter, buy these from one. Every wand on the list is a big step up from the last, so upgrade the moment you reach each level.

Armor

Cloth with Spell Power first, then Intellect and Spirit. Replace a piece as soon as a quest offers Spell Power. Lesser Arcane Elixir from level 25 adds Spell Power for dungeon runs.

Professions

Tailoring and Enchanting is the Mage pair. Tailoring makes your cloth gear and bags from 1 to 60, plus the Robe of the Archmage at the end. Enchanting disenchants the cloth you outgrow and makes every leveling wand you want. With Wand Specialization, those wands hit even harder.

For gold, level with Herbalism and Skinning or Herbalism and Mining, then switch at 60. PvP Mages who want every tool can swap Enchanting for Engineering; Gnomes get fewer device failures from Engineering Specialization.

Group play and dungeons

Your job in a group is damage, crowd control and interrupts.

  • Counterspell is your best tool. With Improved Counterspell, Counterspell silences for 4 seconds on top of the school lockout. Call the healer or caster you're taking.
  • Polymorph one Beast or Humanoid on every pull that has more than the tank can hold. Polymorph breaks on damage, so keep AoE off it.
  • Threat: Arcane Subtlety cuts your Arcane threat by 30%, but a four-stack Arcane Missiles is a big number. Save the burn phase for the boss, not the first trash pull.
  • Buffs: Arcane Brilliance at 56 buffs your whole raid for an hour. Amplify Magic on a tank who takes only physical damage increases the healing they receive; Dampen Magic on a player who takes spell damage.
  • Remove Lesser Curse clears one Curse or Bane from any party member.
  • Food, water and portals. Conjure water for your healer before you enter, and make portals at 40.

PvP

The PvP build pairs Arcane's burst with Frost's control: Frostbite and Frost Nova freeze the target, Shatter adds 50% crit chance to every spell against it, and Arcane Mind makes your Arcane crits deal double damage. A Presence of Mind Arcane Blast into a frozen target lands before the target can react.

  • Open on healers and casters with Counterspell. Four seconds of silence is long enough for a full burst on their teammate.
  • Keep Polymorph on the player you're not killing. Damage breaks it, so don't Arcane Explosion near a sheep.
  • Ice Block is your reset. Use it before you're in execute range, not after.
  • Against another Mage, Counterspell their Polymorph or their Blast, not their Frostbolt.

Tips

Blast twice, then decide

After two Arcane Blasts you have a 64% chance of a Missile Barrage proc. Spend it on Arcane Missiles. No proc? Cast a Fireball instead of a third Blast, unless you're in a burn phase.

Stacks fall off

Arcane Blast stacks last 8 seconds and vanish when you cast any other damage spell, including Fire Blast. Plan your finisher so it spends the stacks, not wastes them.

Clearcasting goes on the expensive spell. Each stack makes the next Blast dearer: the second costs 2.75 times the first, the fourth 6.25 times, and every Blast at four stacks 8 times. The higher your stacks when Clearcasting procs, the more mana a free Blast saves.

Line up your burst. Arcane Power and Presence of Mind each have a 3-minute cooldown, so start them together at the pull and they come back together. Berserking also has a 3-minute cooldown and fits the same window. Blood Fury and Eureka! come back every 2 minutes: use them on cooldown rather than holding them for Arcane Power.

Mage Armor from 34. Arcane Blast burns mana on every pull, so an Arcane leveler switches from Frost or Ice Armor to Mage Armor as soon as it's trained, and keeps it for raids.

Range is a talent. Arcane Geometry gives Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles 36 yards. Stand at the edge of the fight and let melee mechanics happen to someone else.

Macros

Wand macro: starts wanding and never cancels it by accident when you press it twice.

Wand
#showtooltip Shoot
/cast !Shoot

Counterspell that stops your current cast first, so you can interrupt out of an Arcane Blast.

Stop and Counterspell
#showtooltip Counterspell
/stopcasting
/cast Counterspell

Polymorph your focus target, or your current target if you have no focus.

Focus Polymorph
#showtooltip Polymorph
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] Polymorph

Presence of Mind into an instant Arcane Blast on one button.

Instant Blast
#showtooltip Arcane Blast
/cast Presence of Mind
/cast Arcane Blast

Burn phase opener for Trolls: Berserking and Arcane Power together. Orcs swap in Blood Fury, Gnomes swap in Eureka!.

Arcane Power burst
#showtooltip Arcane Power
/cast Berserking
/cast Arcane Power

Changelog

  • Guide published with Level 30, Level 60 Raid and Level 60 PvP builds.
  • Corrected the Darkspear Island battleground name; refreshed the page summary.

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