How to stop sucking at Arcane

[Wookieebush 0]

Hello all.  I'm a level 90 Arcane Mage.  

http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow/gear/usa/lightbringer/wookieebush

 

I'm following what I believe to be is the proper build/rotation according to this site.

 

Current iLevel is 480.

 

According to WOWProgress, I should be hitting around 90k DPS.  During Raids, I am currently averaging 45ks and if I'm really on top of my rotation and cooldowns I can spike up to 60k.

 

I must be missing something spectacular or I have unreasonable expectations.

 

Thoughts?

[Wookieebush 0]

I'll try to pull a combat log tonight.

 

I'm doing the exact Single Target Rotation from the guide here including Rune of Power, using Alter time and Mirror Image.  According to Skada, 

 

I'm not great at managing Mana all the time. But I don't think that my increased mana usage % should result in the low DPS I see consistently.  If I pay extra close attention to my bombs and never let them fall off is when I get into the 50k range.  

 

I'm not taking any potions at this time.

[slap 5]

I'll try to pull a combat log tonight.

 

I'm doing the exact Single Target Rotation from the guide here including Rune of Power, using Alter time and Mirror Image.  According to Skada, 

 

I'm not great at managing Mana all the time. But I don't think that my increased mana usage % should result in the low DPS I see consistently.  If I pay extra close attention to my bombs and never let them fall off is when I get into the 50k range.  

 

I'm not taking any potions at this time.

It would be really helpful to see some logs, you won't get much help here without logs to show your exact rotation and bomb uptime. Make sure you use weakauras to manage your mage bombs, it helps a ton! Also what tier 6 ability are you using? invocation? or rune of power? The uptime on this will be one of your biggest contributors to low dps. 

 

I know this isn't an answer but you may want to consider going frost until you are up over ilvl 520-530. With your current gear you are going to struggle in raid as arc (in my opinion). The nerf to arcane in the last big patch really hurt arcane at lower levels. 

[Vladamyr 169]

^^Everything slap said.  

 

I'll try to take a look at your log tomorrow morning if you get it posted.

At your current ilvl Arcane is still pretty good on multidotting fights like Council but I think you'll struggle a little with single target dps.  We will post more after the log.

[Tarazet 144]

The thing about Arcane is having near-perfect bomb uptime is super important. Your bombs benefit from your Mastery, so they do far more damage than they do in any other spec as long as you are near full mana. Not that it isn't important to Frost, since you want Brain Freeze procs, but it's much more punishing to sloppy playing in Arcane, especially in multi-target fights.

Edited August 7, 2013 by Tarazet

[Belicosa 11]

Just took a quick look at your robot link; honestly, at this point a lot of your issues are gear related. I know dailies suck and are boring, etc., but serious raiders should be exalted with every available faction to take advantage of purchasable epics that fit into the build nicely until you can get those rare lfr drops that will get you ready for normal tier raiding.

 

Specifically, Isle of Thunder every day and valor cap every week to replace neck, back, blue ring and wrists from Shado-Pan Assault. Also, do the Battlefield Barrens weekly every week to upgrade one piece a week as needed to 496. These sometimes have skewed stats, so keep your reforges current. And since you have achieved ilvl 480 (grats) run ToT LFR every week for rep, valor and the slim possibility of gear (I know...). Oh, and practice. Running LFRs isn't ideal, but for me it's much better than training dummies since you have to learn the dynamics of moving fights (pretty much all of ToT).

 

Rotation-wise, you have to be careful to note any patch changes that could affect your rotation. 5.3 dropped arcane stacks from 6 to 4 and made Arcane Missles add a stack so you have to clear every 4th stack with Arcane Barrage. This was really hard to get used to at first, and if I'm running late raids or heroic scenarios I have to be careful not to slip back into 6 stack mode. Like Tarazet said above, sloppy Arcane is a lot more punishing than it was when you could stand in one place and spam Arcane Blast (not really, old Wrath mage joke).

[Tarazet 144]

The Barrens pieces are 489 and have no sockets in them, plus they take a long time to grind out unless you have a commander zerg going. There are not many situations where I can recommend going through it, especially with random rolls which can include Spirit. (I managed to get shoulders with an Int and Crit only roll, which was awfully nice as Fire, but they were replaced with T14 LFR for the socket and 4p.)

[Belicosa 11]

Thanks for the number correct, and yes, these are not really all that great except that they are still better than 450/456 blues. And that is probably the worst grind unless you have a zerg team or a team that can blow through the larger groups of mobs in the four drop areas, of which stone is the absolute worst to solo (my opinion of course). If you are gearing up for a specific team or at least have a guildie or two who can give you a hand it is much easier and quicker. And it is 20% of the weekly valor cap. At this point I don't need the gear and I am close to the 3000/3000 cap every week unless I get something new to upgrade, but at ilvl 525 I can blow through the entire area (including being able to solo the caravans, which helps a lot) in less than 2 hours, which is a lot less time to get 200 valor than dailies. Plus I disenchant the converted gear every week for a crystal.

[CheshireMau5 0]

Hi everyone. I have some questions about my mage, my primary spec is frost and I'm getting bored with it, so I switched to my secondary which is Arcane and saw some rather low numbers. I'm not quite sure why, maybe you guys can suggest something. Gear is 505, Armory link: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/arygos/Calicomsus/advanced

 

Askmrrobot.com link:

http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow/gear/usa/arygos/calicomsus

 

My rotation is NT always on, Arcane missiles when 2 have popped, Arcane blast, and followed up with Arcane barrage. Also using alter time with Arcane power and standing in rune of power. Major glyphs are glyph of slow, Arcane explosion, and Arcane power. 

 

All of that and I'm only pulling roughly 70k give or take about 2k. This is the first time I've actually USED Arcane spec and I love it. Are my numbers where they should be or no? And yes I am aware that some gear is still low and that askmrrrobot says to remove reforges, last time I did that it was just ugly >_< so I'm a tad apprehensive to follow the reforge it has suggested. Again thanks for any and all suggestions and advice I do appreciate it    

[Belicosa 11]

If you must stay Alliance, you definitely need to switch to draenai for the boosts...

 

Seriously though, check the Arcane guide for rotation suggestions. For one thing, NT is not as effective as LB on 1-3 targets. Always have a stack of Tome of the Clear Mind in your bags so you can swap between encounters. Other than that you have the evil RNG to contend with as to whether you can cast missiles, which always increases your overall damage.

 

I would place Glyph of Evocation in place of Arcane Explosion; it takes a bit of pressure off of your healers, and, in my experience, Arcane explosion radius increase is not that big a deal because most of what you will be aoe'ing will be stacked.

 

As for Mr. Robot, I use it along side Wowreforge, but both have shown significant errors of late pertaining to hit cap, so be prepared to do a (slight) bit of math/experimentation.

 

Last suggestion, reroll horde troll mage for the awesome racial.

Edited September 4, 2013 by Belicosa

[Vladamyr 169]

If you must stay Alliance, you definitely need to switch to draenai for the boosts...

 

Seriously though, check the Arcane guide for rotation suggestions. For one thing, NT is not as effective as LB on 1-3 targets. Always have a stack of Tome of the Clear Mind in your bags so you can swap between encounters. Other than that you have the evil RNG to contend with as to whether you can cast missiles, which always increases your overall damage.

 

I would place Glyph of Evocation in place of Arcane Explosion; it takes a bit of pressure off of your healers, and, in my experience, Arcane explosion radius increase is not that big a deal because most of what you will be aoe'ing will be stacked.

 

As for Mr. Robot, I use it along side Wowreforge, but both have shown significant errors of late pertaining to hit cap, so be prepared to do a (slight) bit of math/experimentation.

 

Last suggestion, reroll horde troll mage for the awesome racial.

 

For Calico's ilvl and gear NT on cleave situations is the winner.  Just make sure to switch to LB for single target or non-cleave 1-3 target situations.

Also unless you are a heroic progression raider, racials are really inconsequential.  Though I support rerolling horde

 

Calico, I just ran the optimize on AMR and it came out correct.  You gain 6.46% Mastery.  Arcane will shine on multi-target fights but be prepared for less than stellar numbers on single target.  Don't expect to keep up with your frost spec.  You won't surpass it's capability till you get some gear (though that may change with patch).  I fully understand getting bored with a spec though and all the spec's are completely capable of raiding at normal group levels.