Arcane Mage Quick-Start Guide for WoW Patch 5.2- Stats, talents and spec, glyphs, rotation, reforging and gems, and ability priorities

It is That Time, the time when the Gods – or GMs, at least – mess with our minds – and our ability rotations. Yep, the latest patch for Mists of Pandaria is here, and with WoW Patch 5.2, Arcane Mages have changed – again. But don’t stress – if you want to get up and running fast, this quick start guide will help you choose talents, get your reforging, gems and stat priorities right for this new world, pick the best glyphs, and figure out just what you should be casting when… Let’s get cracking!

Updated 5th March 2013 to World of Warcraft Patch 5.2

Arcane Mage Changes in WoW Patch 5.2

• Arcane has seen HUGE changes, and there’s very little theorycraft out there yet. This guide represents my best guess at how to play Arcane now, but check back in a couple of weeks for more solid info. Our rotation has changed – see below.
• Evocation has changed dramatically. It appears that it may be optimal to use it in 5.2, but until we know more it’s hard to say how.
• Our damage has been nerfed. Bummer.
• Various other minor changes have taken place, which don’t affect how we play.

There have been a few other minor changes too – Mage armour is worse, Ring of Frost is worse.

Arcane “Rotation” and Priorities

The Arcane rotation has been much simplified. We don’t have two phases any longer. Instead, we just concentrate on keeping our Bomb used as often as possible while maintaining our mana just below 100%.

Single-target DPS

• Top Priority: If it’s available, cast Frost Bomb.
• Second Priority: Cast Arcane Missiles if it procs.
• Third Priority: If you have between two and four stacks of Arcane Charge, cast Arcane Barrage. If not, cast Arcane Blast.

You’re trying to maintain your mana as close as possible to 100% without hitting 100%. If your mana is dipping, cast Arcane Barrage at less stacks of Arcane Charge. If it’s capping, cast at more stacks of Arcane Charge.

Very Important – Make sure you’re using your Tier 6 talent properly. If you’re using Rune of Power, make sure to stand in it at all times. If you’re using Incanter’s Ward, use it on cooldown.

AOE DPS

For 2-4 enemies:

• Top Priority: If it’s available, cast Frost Bomb. If it’s available, cast Flamestrike.
• Second Priority: Cast Arcane Missiles if it procs.
• Third Priority: If you have two or three stacks of Arcane Charge, cast Arcane Barrage. If not, cast Arcane Blast.

For 5 or more enemies, get close to them, and:

• Top Priority: If it’s available, cast Frost Bomb. If it’s available, cast Flamestrike.
• Second Priority: Cast Arcane Explosion.

Cooldowns

Your big cooldown is Arcane Power, which you should use as often as you can – use any damage-increasing trinkets and potions at the same time.

Whilst Arcane Power is active, just cast Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles. If your mana gets to 80%, use a Mana Gem. Once it’s over, cast Arcane Barrage whenever it’s available, until you’re back to nearly full mana.

Other CDs:

• Use Alter Time during Arcane Power if possible – it’ll give you another 6 seconds of Arcane Power.
• Use Mirror Images on cooldown, unless there’s about to be a pause in the fight.
• Cast Time Warp when your raid leader tells you to, or in a dungeon on boss fights.
• Use Invisibility as a threat dropping ability.

Buffs

Use Mage Armor, cast Arcane Brilliance, and remember to create a Mana Gem.

Arcane Mage Talent Choices

Mage 5.x talent choices are particularly flexible, and we heartily encourage you to experiment with them. However, for a quick-start setup of talents that’s simple to use, we recommend:

• Tier 1: Presence of Mind.
• Tier 2: Ice Barrier – a solid cooldown to reduce damage to you.
• Tier 3: Frostjaw
• Tier 4: Cauterise
• Tier 5: Frost Bomb
• Tier 6: Rune of Power.

If you’re in an almost continuous movement fight, choose Incanter’s Ward for Tier 6 instead, but Rune of Power is much better for movement fights in Patch 5.2 than it was before.

In Tier 5, all three abilities are nearly perfectly balanced. They also all alter your rotation. If you chose a different Bomb ability:

• Living Bomb: Re-cast it whenever it explodes.
• Nether Tempest: Refresh it before its last tick. (NOTE – this is more complex and so is our least favourite choice here.)

Stats, reforging and gemming for Arcane Mage

Stat priorities for Arcane Mages are pretty simple in 5.2. Intellect is your most important stat, followed by Hit to the 15% Spell Hit Cap, then Mastery.

Reforging: Reforge to Hit until you hit 15% hit (5100 rating), then reforge to Mastery. Reforge from Hit above the cap, then Crit first.
Gems: Use Brilliant (Intellect) gems in all slots, unless the socket bonus is +20 Int or more, in which case use Artful (Int/Mastery) gems in yellow sockets and Veiled (Int/Hit) gems in blue sockets.
Meta Gem: Burning meta gem of whatever type.
Note on Expertise: Expertise counts toward the Spell Hit Cap, so if you can’t reforge to Hit on an item, reforge to Expertise to hit the cap.

Arcane Mage Glyphs

5.0 Glyphs are very situational – you’ll probably end up using different ones for different fights – but here’s a good no-downside selection to start with:

Major: Glyph of Arcane Explosion, Glyph of Mana Gem, Glyph of Fire Blast
Minor: Glyph of Momentum, Glyph of Loose Mana, one other of your choice.

Arcane Mage enchants and item enhancements

You should almost always use a profession enhancement item if it provides appropriate stats instead of a general enchant.

• Shoulders – Greater Crane Wing Inscription
• Back – Enchant Cloak – Superior Intellect
• Chest – Enchant Chest – Glorious Stats
• Wrist – Enchant Bracer – Super Intellect
• Hands – Enchant Gloves – Superior Mastery or Superior Expertise
• Belt – Living Steel Belt Buckle
• Legs – Greater Cerulean Spellthread
• Feet – Enchant Boots – Pandaren’s Step
• Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Jade Spirit
• Off-Hand Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Major Intellect

Links

If you want more details on your mana control or talent choices, here are a couple of solid links to check out:

• Icy Veins started as a Mage guide, and their Arcane Mage guidance is top-notch.
• Finally, as a WoW player, you should really check out the latest and greatest from the blogosphere on World of Warcraft, here at the Melting Pot.

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