Arcane MageryFollow

I'm a 41/18/2 mage and the spell order i seem to find works well with me is to ABx2 cause i don't like it's damage per mana after the second stack and then i fireball twice and just as I'm coming out of the second fireball i hit arcane blast again. The debuff will tick out during the cast time so i get the reduced cast time while taking the original 195 mana. I choose fireball over an AM/scorch spell order cause I'm still not impressed with AM's damage per mana and I believe two fireballs will just produce more damage overall.

I have explored a number of heavy arcane builds, and I can say with confidence that it offers the highest dps of all specs if properly splashed with fire to get the pompyro combo. Though the damage seems to be very high end, you will not be able to sustain that damage due to the high mana costs. Also, using arcane missiles forces you to stay in one place, which is never a good thing with a mage. In my opinion this build truly shines in Arathi Basin, Alterac Valley, and Eye of the Storm since you can safely stand at distance behind raid members, but fails to give the needed survivability elsewhere. It is also a good leveling build, but I would not recommend it for arena due to the low survivability or raids due to the lack of mana consistency. So if you're into battlegrounds, use it. If not...don't. I have posted a link to a heavy arcane build that I have found effective (top 5 damage and kills in every bg using these).

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/mage/talents.html?2050052300230150333125105513001000000000000000000000000000000000000



Edited, Aug 28th 2007 3:05pm by IllusiaStratus

Ive had a build all the way down to slow and almost all points in arcane and i have to say it is indeed fun! Even in pve it has it's options because sometimes you can kill 3 mobs with a full mana bar but sometimes 6. In a instance however it is mana consuming. Mostly after a fight with 3 mobs i had half of my mana bar left. But i was nr 2 or 3 on the damage list and my gear sucks. In boss fights it is pretty hard but it is possible. I have a example: I throw frostbolts until clearcasting procs, then i go in arcane power, trinket, then start casting arcane missiles. If clearcasting procs again i went AM again, otherwise Presence of mind and then arcane blast, till arcane power faded and back to frost damage. At level 64 i made crits with Am that resultet in 5k crit's! At 70 now even my frost shatter crits (respecced) even do less damage then my arcane missiles crit at 64. A other thing however, arcane doesnt give you survivabily but against a normal pve mob you can still keep casting if you have improved AM. That means no spell interruption so still a good dmg output even while you are hitted. Your bandages will go fast though :>
Well Gl with the build.

Agreed.

I've tried it all. Fire was my love for a long time. Didn't go frost until 60, and stuck with it 4 levels, it too was wonderful. I went deep in arcane and so far life is even better.

I don't see the mana problem it's said to have. My clearstate seems to kick in once or twice a fight. Besides frost, I'd say I havn't really noticed a dip into downtime.

poured 11 into fire for Pyro, and love the 3 minute instant cast pyro as well, first time using it.

I dunno, people say more downtime, I say bring it on. Ima mage, I'm sitting on the ground, drinking all teh waterz. It's what I've been use to.

Realisticlly, I go 4 or 5 mobs before it's time to drink.

http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-talents.xml?r=Moonglade&n=Magil

Notice I got improved wands, well.. that's my dirty little secret. I put it in there because of all the talk of mana drain with arcane, I thought it wise to have just a bit of extra damage from it. But I haven'y touched the wand much, only to finish of the mob if it's not worth the mp to finish them off.

Only thing I haven't a need for is Slow at the moment. I am not on a PvP server, and don't BG much anymore.. don't like it not being at top level.

This is a fun post to read.

I started playin about 4 months after release. I played for 6 months, getting a 60 Mage and 40 Hunter and then quit, gave my account away to friends (who gave it to friends who got it banned for scamming -- irrelivent.)

My Mage only respecced 4 times. Started Fire, went Arcane, went Ice, and then back to Arcane throughout his leveling and never once did I determine that I needed to switch out of Arcane. Granted, back then alot of the Mage Talent Tree was drastically different; the Arcane tree was by far my favorite for both DPS and DPM.

I rerolled again, this time trying a Warlock and I loved it, but I miss my Mage so much that on a different server I just rolled out a Mage. He's 30 right now.

I see alot is different -- ALOT. One of the main reasons I rolled Arcane is because I recognized the power of Evocation (now a generic mage spell.) I also appreciated the fact that it did not rely on crit%, whereas now a good mage can get above 30% static crit, and with spells such as Combustion can achieve a crit% that is worth counting on. Arcane Power (the old mastery spell) also used to have a unique effect, where as with the introduction of Burning Crusades you can get relatively the same effect with no mana drain.

Still I look for some redemption in my old love, as many high end PVP cling to Ice, and many high end raiders cling to Fire.

I've fought this battle once -- disproving ice's efficiency and survivability and fire's DPS with math, but I'm sort of afraid I cannot do it again.

Too many variables are now entering the equation, too many stats dramatically effect the outcome. Gear escalation puts my old end-all-beat-all-strategy of Arcane Explosion at a place of uselessness (you run out of mana before killing anyone.) Instead they replaced it with a spell that does not belong in my old Tree -- Arcane Blast??? Non-instant?? Sub-par DPS and DPM with a relative effect? What have they done with my Arcane Tree?!?

I cling to my old habbits. My 30 Mage is 21/0/0 as we speak... I antipicate the PVP effectiveness of my Slow and Mind Mastery... but I also sit in wait... knowing that I'm going to have to try out the effectiveness of the new Fire and especially the new Ice builds.

I've been out of this game too long, it seems - I hope my old love has some respectability left it in...

If you wanna see some of my old posts go to page 60-63 in Mage forums -- Haha... So old school!

Peace!

P.S. - As I advance through here and start to deal with my new Talents and abilities, I'll try my best to bring math back into the equation. Honestly I wish I could again prove that the underdog (Arcane) is the best route. But with my 70 Lock I am noticing that everything has become so much more complex than when I first played!

What I will say - since the base spells are somewhat the same - is that Arcane is a very VERY effective non-invasive DPSer in raids/5rs. With a simple macro or well-timed hands you can make a constant DPS that is higher and will STILL last longer than a fire or ice, draws less agro, and spreadsn enough single shots to even out your crit% into pure extra DPS. Combined with a Malediction Warlock's Curse of Shadow, a MissleMage can still put out max DPS on a raid while minimizing agro and reducing resist%-- I've seen it and through this I've convinced an entire Top-End guild to switch from Ice to Arcane (recently.)

While all this stands true, I would like to point out that

I do not believe that AM will proc Clearcasting x5 (if it is the way it was before CC simply has a chance to activate after a forgiveness period when mana is spent on AM), however your point about it's effect on Arcane Potency is absolutely true. This leads to a debate about the fact that since each shot is lower damage, the damage after being crit per hit would be lower than competing spells, but begs that question that since AM still reigns as the highest total non-crit-relying spell in the Mage's spellbook, would this not equate to a higher% comaritively equating to MORE and MORE STABLE damage?

Like I said... I'll be checking stuff out -- I'm still only 30 here so shoot me down and make me look like a ****** if you want, last time though I proved my Arcane build so hard that apparently Blizzard had to revamp it =P

Cool. So now there is a question past your main Tech Tree. Are you going to go Cane/Ice or Cane/Fire?

I learned the first time that staying totally dedicated to one tree is as foolish as thinking that you can only use spells from that tree. Arcane tree has some great techs but it maxes out somewhere between 40-45, you're left with enough Talent points for some interesting combos.

I think the main question with that is whether you're PVPing or Raiding, and from that point whether you'd prefer the extra little boost PoM Pyro and Improved Scorch can give (yes, there are still enough points to go Cane/Fire and PoM Pyro a nice shot) or take some of Ice's great utility, such as Improved Blizzard, Frostbite, and Arctic Reach.

Tough call, why this could be almost as fun as chosing Fire or Ice as a main tree!

My Quick Raider
My Quick PVP Build
My Quick 5r

Any Tips on em are cool, I didn't put much time into em but certain Techs called to me. I left slow on Raider for multiplier on Casting time, but figured for most 5rs your mana would be better spent elsewhere. Also, traded out Attunement on Raider and PVP for Wand in 5r. Whatever take a look over it and tell me what ya'll think!

Interesting concept... 1 Point into Fortitude vs 1 Point into Cloak.

Really situational but never even considered looking at that before. Anyone have any insight? I'm guessing for against pure melee or lower levels the Fort would pull ahead some, but then against casters and higher levels the Cloak would prove much more effective.

If you don't mind drinking a lot of water, a pure arcane build go be fun.

I was grinding rep for Timbermaw Hold last night, and just for the helluva it, I decided to give Arcane Missles a whirl....and damn, was that fun. I was just sitting back laughing as I see the damage. Yeah, it wasn't much, but it all adds up. Mind you, my only points in arcane at this point is in Arcane Subtelty, but it made quick work of the mobs. I don't want to think what kind of damage it would do with Empowered Missles, Arcane Power and Vengeance of the Illdari turned on.

I may toy around with deep Arcane when I hit 70.

Costs me a lot more than that. Up to about 15g or so per full repair.

Hm well the 70 Epiced mage I play costs about 7 to repair. Mostly Raid and 5r drops... not sure what ya'll are wearing.

70 Epiced warrior on the other hand costs about 40g+... Funny that he's the one thats supposed to be taking hits.

Anyways ya'll are going on a tangent that I never even meant to go on. My point was that the fact that you are taking hits and losing durability is relatively negligable in the end of things, especially since I was saying that this is the top-end stuff you can. When grinding up through 20-50 its going to cost a LOT less to repair.

Not completely sure, but I think they(bliz) had fixed that awhile ago.
Or did they make it that way afterwards intentionally?
Can't remember, but I've been playing a mage since 2 months after game release, and I don't ever recall having anything proc on AM during the channel, only at the beginning of the channel.

trinkets and meta gems proc

MSD proc means next AM is turboed up and 10 seconds duration is enough to use it after getting one proc.

anyone has the Ashtongue trinket + Lightning capacitor and the meta gem? heard its turbo am and lots of LC procs =)

I really love deep Arcane for 5-manning - the threat reduction is clutch, and the mana efficiency isn't a big deal. Not uncommon for me to do 40% of the group's damage, and that's rolling with well-geared guildies. For raiding though... I tried it once, the first time we attempted A'lar, and it wasn't pretty. Would probably be better wearing T4 stuff, since it's int and spirit heavy, but I use Spellfire/Spellstrike, which as we all know provides jack for stats but is far superior to T4 in every other way, and even chain pot chugging/mana gemming/evocating I couldn't keep from wanding.

Edited, Oct 3rd 2007 12:53pm by Theophastus