arcane spec questionFollow

i'll get straight to the point all i ever see is frost mages and some fire mages my question is, would it really be that bad to spec arcane they got some good talents and i enjoy my 39 mage yes its probly not as effective but really someone tell me why there is next to no arcane mages out there they get slow better mana regen and if ye use mage armour and the talents with prismatic spheres in your gear ye get great resistances so why plz?

Actually, that's a very good description when you're talking about damage. There's more to it, but since damage is the aspect most focused on by the majority of players, it's an excellent place to start.



There are multiple problems with Arcane, friend. But let's start with damage. The first problem with arcane is that its two main damage spells are fairly mediocre. Don't get me wrong. They have fairly decent damage output, but the real problem is the mana cost of the spells. For what they cost, they should do 50% more damage. Additionally, even though their damage output is decent, it really doesn't compare with frost and fire.

The second issue is utility. Each tree adds its own utility. Frost is the biggest for added utility to its individual damage spells. Fire adds some utility to its spells, but more of the utility of this tree comes from the fact that damage is shoveled upon spells in heaps and gobs. Arcane has a lot of utility, but its utility isn't focused. Which means that you can use most of its utility with any spell school.

Don't believe me? Consider three major utility talents, one from each tree. Master of Elements(Fire) only helps the spells of the fire and frost schools, which leaves arcane spells without. Frostbite(frost) only helps frost spells, which means Arcane and Fire are left out in the cold. Arcane Concentration, on the other hand, works with any damage spells a mage can cast, which makes it perfect for buffing the already more mana efficient spells of the fire and frost trees.

So what most arcane mages do is run an arcane build with a focus on another tree, as Loooopie suggested. 40-41 points in arcane for things that buff all spells while putting the remaining 20-21 points in either fire or frost for added damage, efficiency, and utility.

But it's not all bad for arcane. Its greatest strong point is that arcane spells, properly talented, do a much smaller amount of threat than fire and frost spells, which is awesome if you're in a threat limited situation or your tank sucks.



There are three things I have to say to this:

1)Any school can use mage armor and prismatic spheres to boost resistances.

2)However, resistances only matter in a few fights in the game. And even of those, about half you can do without.

3)Furthermore, no one, and I mean NO ONE, should be using Prismatic Spheres. Ever.

thx alot for all the feedback i appreciate it very much and it definetly helps awnserin some questions so thx fer takin the time to help out :)

Arcane Missiles (Rank 6) Mana cost: 500
Damage: 151 per second for 5 seconds (755 base damage)
Frost Nova (Rank 1, if not rank 1... well...) Mana cost: 55
Damage: 20

Total of 3 AM + 1 FN: 1520 Mana, 2285 Damage

If you used:

Pyroblast -> Fireball -> Frost Nova -> Fireball -> Fireball (not unreasonable):
Pyroblast (Rank 6) Mana cost: 335
Damage: 567 + 188 over 12 seconds
Fireball (Rank 9) Mana cost: 305
Damage: 449 + 52 over 12 seconds
Frost Nova (Rank 1, if not rank 1... well...) Mana cost: 55
Damage: 20

Total of 1 pyro, 2 fireballs + 1 FN: 1305 Mana, 2200 damage (you don't geta ll the ticks from fireball due to supposed death of mob).

Now, that's all base damage, but when we talk about crits, the fire damage gets a *lot* better because of ignite damage + extra crit % + extra crit base damage.

So, you *can* level as arcane, and if you do, you wouldn't notice how mana inefficient it is (as you have nothing to compare it to), but if you went fire, you'd see that you would have to drink less often than arcane. You also take less damage and spend less mana because you don't have to stand still for as long while casting and if you get interrupted casting a fireball (for example, you need to frost nova and move away), you don't lose any mana from casting the fireball (or beginning to), but you do see an immediate loss of mana for an interrupted arcane missiles (because you had to move, not because you don't have the talent to make AM uninterruptible).

My mage is 70 and is arcane. I'd say the earliest arcane is viable is in your 60s to be able to get both Pyroblast and Arcane Power (POM is kind of useless without AP, because of the opportunity cost... in fire talents). That given, arcane is very nice for entry into kara before you have enough spell damage to do lots of damage, the 40/21/0 build will serve nicely, but you will be outdpsed after around 800 spell damage (which isn't that hard to attain).