Mists of Pandaria Classic Arcane Mage Rotation and Cooldowns

Before delving deeper into a rotation, make sure you always have Mage Armor ( Frost Armor for pure single-target encounters) up. There are weakauras to help you remind you, if any of your self-buffs is missing.

The Arcane Mage single-target rotation is more of a priority list.

1. Apply Living Bomb or Nether Tempest.
   • If you gain a strong damage-increasing proc (from trinkets, weapon enchants, etc.), feel free to refresh the DoT early, even if a few seconds remain.
   • Otherwise, refresh it just before it expires.
2. Cast Arcane Missiles only when you have 4 stacks of Arcane Charge.
3. Cast Arcane Barrage only when all the following are true:
   • You have 4 stacks of Arcane Charge.
   • You do not have a proc of Arcane Missiles.
   • You have less than 2 stacks of Profound Magic (applies only with the Tier 16 2-piece bonus).
4. Cast Arcane Blast. This is your filler and primary damage spell outside of the conditions above.

As a pre-pull strategy, to utilize Invoker's Energy from Invocation, it is recommended to use the following pre-pull strategy (the numbers in brackets is the time left on the pull timer).

1. (5 seconds prepull) Put down two Rune of Power.
2. (3 seconds prepull) Cast Mirror Image.
   • Under certain conditions, this can pull the boss, so you can also skip this step.
3. (1.5 seconds prepull) Use Potion of the Jade Serpent and on-use trinkets and begin casting Arcane Blast.
4. Apply the Mage Bomb from your Tier 5 talent.

When movement is required, the first step is to place a Rune of Power at your destination. This takes a bit of foresight and planning. Ice Floes is extremely helpful in this situation, as it allows you to continue casting while repositioning.

Once your new Rune of Power is placed, you can use Ice Floes again to cast Arcane Blast or Arcane Missiles while moving. Avoid casting Arcane Barrage unless you meet the single-target conditions outlined in the rotation section.

If you must move a long distance and are about to lose your Arcane Charge stacks, you can cast Arcane Explosion to refresh them, provided there is a target within range.

Refreshing your bomb spell ( Living Bomb, or Nether Tempest) can be tricky as an Arcane Mage. These spells benefit from Mastery: Mana Adept, meaning their damage scales with your current mana. However, your Mana Bomb also snapshots your Intellect and damage buffs the moment you cast it. So it is always wise, to refresh the Mage Bomb, just before a strong buff is about to run out. Proper timing and usage of your bomb can significantly boost your DPS.

1. Heavy AoE damage on low-health enemies: Cast glyphed Cone of Cold on cooldown and spam Arcane Explosion as a filler.
2. Heavy AoE damage on high-health enemies: Spam Arcane Explosion to build Arcane Charges and cast Arcane Barrage when you reach four Arcane Charges. Maintain Nether Tempest on as many enemies as possible, but only apply it to targets that will survive long enough for the DoT to run its full duration.
3. Other situations: Use your single-target rotation on one priority target and keep Nether Tempest active on multiple enemies (again only using it on those that will live long enough to benefit from the full DoT).

Whenever mobs are about to be stacked or spawning in a specific location, you can also pre-cast Flamestrike at the location in question. Otherwise, avoid this spell.

Alter Time is the Arcane Mage's most impactful DPS cooldown. When activated, it creates a 6-second window during which, once the effect ends (or is manually reactivated), your buffs are restored to the exact values and durations they had at the time of casting. This effectively extends all active buffs by 6 seconds.

Proper use of Alter Time requires some planning. It shares a 3-minute cooldown with Arcane Power (when using Glyph of Arcane Power), so these two abilities should always be used together, with Arcane Power cast just before Alter Time for maximum benefit (you can macro the abilities in order).

Using Alter Time at the start of a fight is slightly different from using it later during the encounter, so we'll break down both scenarios separately.

When using Alter Time at the start of a fight, begin by casting Arcane Blast to build up 4 stacks of Arcane Charge and to trigger your trinket procs. If your trinket(s) do not proc, avoid spamming Arcane Blast, as it will unnecessarily drain your mana. Instead fish for procs by casting Fire Blast to try to trigger a proc. If that does not work, use Arcane Missiles (if you have charges available). As a last option, use Arcane Barrage to avoid excessive mana consumption of Arcane Blast. If Arcane Barrage procs your trinket, use your Alter Time macro immediately, otherwise start over with rebuilding Arcane Charge stacks.

Once your trinkets activate, you should use Arcane Power and Alter Time quickly-ideally while their effects still have at least 6 seconds remaining. This ensures that the full duration of those powerful buffs is effectively extended. If you're using a trinket with a ramp-up effect it is best to wait until there are exactly 6 seconds remaining on the buff before activating Alter Time to capture the peak of it's power.

For subsequent uses of Alter Time, the only strict requirement is having 4 stacks of Arcane Charge. Having charges of Arcane Missiles is optional - you should never delay Alter Time just because you do not have them. That said, it is beneficial to enter Alter Time with Missiles charges ready, so try to plan ahead by saving them 10 to 15 seconds before Alter Time comes off cooldown.

There are situations where it is better to delay Alter Time rather than using it immediately. For example, you might want to hold it for upcoming boss vulnerability phases, high AoE damage, or any moment requiring heavy burst damage.

You can also choose to delay Alter Time slightly to fish for trinket procs, especially if your trinkets have internal cooldowns, as they tend to trigger reliably once that cooldown expires. To make this easier and more consistent, it is highly recommended to use a WeakAura that tracks your trinkets' internal cooldowns.

During Alter Time, your priority is to use all available charges of Arcane Missiles. If you do not have any charges of Arcane Missiles, simply spam Arcane Blast. Mana consumption is not a concern during Alter Time, because your mana will be restored to its previous level once Alter Time ends.

Just before Alter Time expires, be sure to cast Arcane Barrage with four stacks of Arcane Charge. This will reset your charges, but this does not matter because your Arcane Charges will be restored when Alter Time ends.

After Alter Time fades, your buffs will reset to their previous state, which means you will still benefit from the full duration of Arcane Power. While Arcane Power is active, your rotation remains largely the same. However, since spells cost 10% more mana during Arcane Power, you need to adjust your rotation to avoid excessive mana consumption. Our recommendation is to cast Arcane Barrage more frequently in order to reset your Arcane Charges and better manage your mana usage.

Mirror Image is a minor DPS cooldown. Use it when the summoned images can fully attack the boss for their entire 30-second duration.