Mists of Pandaria Classic Arcane Mage Talent Builds

The Arcane talent tree emphasizes high single-target damage potential, while movement is the Achilles heel of Arcane Mages in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. On this page, we outline the viable talent and glyph options for Arcane Mages in. We explain the effects of each talent and glyph, along with guidance on when and why to choose them based on different situations.

There is no longer a single 'default' talent build, as most talents are now viable choices. They can be easily swapped using Dust of Disappearance, or Tome of the Clear Mind for characters between levels 86 and 90. You will often need to adjust your talents and glyphs between encounters to better suit specific mechanics. As a result, it is essential to understand the effects of each talent and how they influence your play style.

• Presence of Mind — allows you to instantly cast any spell of your choice once every 90 seconds.
• Blazing Speed — removes slowing effects and boosts your movement speed by 150 percent for 1.5 seconds, with a 25-second cooldown.
• Ice Floes — lets you cast spells while moving, with three charges that recharge every 20 seconds.

Ice Floes is the clear and only viable choice in this tier. You should train yourself to use it any time you need to move—even for minor repositioning. When you need to relocate over a greater distance, Ice Floes becomes even more valuable. You can use its charges to cast while moving toward your new position and simultaneously set up Rune of Power at that location. This ensures minimal DPS loss during movement phases.

• Temporal Shield — reduces damage taken by 15 percent for 4 seconds and has a 25-second cooldown. While active, any damage you take is gradually healed over the next 6 seconds.
• Flameglow — provides a passive shield that absorbs a small amount of incoming damage.
• Ice Barrier — absorbs a set amount of damage, scaling with your Spell Power, and also prevents your spellcasting from being interrupted while active.

Temporal Shield is generally the preferred choice, as it is not on the global cooldown and can be used without affecting your damage output. It is especially effective when used just before taking heavy damage. Ice Barrier is valuable when you need the extra protection to survive potentially lethal attacks. Flameglow, while less effective overall compared to the other two options, may appeal to more casual players due to its always-active, passive nature.

• Ring of Frost — creates a 10-yard radius ring that lasts for 10 seconds. Any enemies that enter the ring are frozen for 10 seconds, up to a maximum of 10 targets.
• Ice Ward — causes all enemies within 10 yards of a friendly target to become frozen for 5 seconds when that target is hit.
• Frostjaw — both silences and freezes a single target in place for 8 seconds.

The talents available at level 45 are focused on crowd control. Your choice will depend on the specific encounter, though these talents are primarily designed for PVP content and are often not particularly useful in PVE situations.

• Greater Invisibility — is an enhanced version of Invisibility. It activates instantly and reduces incoming damage by 90 percent while Invisibility is active, as well as for 3 seconds after it ends.
• Cauterize — allows you to survive a fatal blow by restoring you to 50 percent of your maximum health. However, you will then take 40 percent of your maximum health as fire damage over the next 6 seconds.
• Cold Snap — immediately resets the cooldowns of Ice Block, Frost Nova, and Cone of Cold, and also heals you for 30 percent of your maximum health.

Greater Invisibility and Cauterize are the two most viable choices in this tier, and the decision largely depends on personal preference. Greater Invisibility serves as an excellent damage reduction tool and can also be used to remove harmful damage-over-time effects, such as Mark of Arrogance from the Sha of Pride encounter.

Cauterize, on the other hand, allows you to maximize your damage output by staying in place during dangerous mechanics rather than moving out. It also acts as a form of self-resurrection, offering a second chance if you make a mistake. Be aware, however, that the burning effect it applies is quite strong — consider using Ice Block immediately afterward if you suspect your healers may struggle to keep you alive.

• Nether Tempest — applies a damage-over-time effect to a single target. With each tick, it also deals half that damage to a random enemy within 10 yards.
• Living Bomb — also deals damage over time to a target. When the effect ends, either by expiring or if the target dies, it explodes, damaging up to three nearby enemies within 10 yards. It can only be active on a maximum of three targets at once.
• Frost Bomb — inflicts delayed damage on a target, while also dealing half that damage to all nearby enemies within 10 yards. Additionally, affected enemies are slowed by 70 percent for 2 seconds.

Living Bomb is the preferred talent in most situations. Nether Tempest can be a viable alternative for adds that do not live through the whole encounter and are close enough to benefit from its cleave effect, allowing it to damage two targets. Frost Bomb is only effective in niche scenarios—specifically, when there are at least five enemies stacked together for the vast majority (90% or more) of the fight.

• Invocation — removes the cooldown of Evocation. After completing an Evocation, you gain Invoker's Energy, which lasts for one minute and increases your spell damage by 15 percent. While Invoker's Energy is active, your passive mana regeneration is reduced by 50 percent.
• Rune of Power summons a rune that, when you stand within it, increases your mana regeneration by 75 percent and your spell damage by 15 percent. Additionally, if you have the Glyph of Evocation, you regenerate 1 percent of your health every second. This ability replaces Evocation, and the rune disappears after one minute.
• Incanter's Ward passively increases your damage done by 6 percent. When triggered, it places an absorption shield on you for 8 seconds. Once the shield expires, you gain up to 15 percent increased spell damage for 25 seconds and restore up to 18 percent of your mana. The potency of this effect depends on the amount of damage absorbed. For maximum benefit, the shield should expire by being fully consumed; if it fades naturally after 8 seconds, the effect will be reduced.

Rune of Power is the only viable Tier 6 talent for Arcane Mages.

• The Glyph of Arcane Power doubles both the cooldown and duration of Arcane Power. It is a must-have when used to enhance your burst phases.
• The Glyph of Rapid Displacement gives Blink two charges, with a 15-second recharge between charges. This is a highly valuable glyph, as it effectively allows you to use Blink twice in quick succession, greatly increasing Arcane's movement capabilities. However, Blink no longer removes stuns and bonds while this glyph is active.
• The Glyph of Arcane Explosion increases the radius of Arcane Explosion by 5 yards. It can be useful in AoE scenarios where enemies are spread out and not tightly stacked.

There is not much to say about Arcane Glpyhs, as they are pretty much straight-forward. The only exception is: The Glyph of Cone of Cold increases the damage of Cone of Cold by 200 percent. This can be especially effective for quickly eliminating short-lived adds.

• The Glyph of Blink increases the distance you travel when using Blink by 8 yards.
• The Glyph of Counterspell allows you to cast Counterspell even while channeling or casting another spell, but increases its cooldown by 4 seconds. This glyph is especially useful if you are responsible for interrupting enemy spells.
• The Glyph of Evocation adds a self-healing effect to both Evocation and Rune of Power. This is generally your default major glyph when no other glyph provides specific benefits for the encounter you are facing.
• Glyph of Mana Gem increases the number of charges on your Mana Gem, allowing you to restore more mana over the course of a long encounter. This makes it a valuable glyph for extended fights (over 9 minutes), helping to sustain your DPS through better mana management.
• The Glyph of Ice Block automatically casts Frost Nova at no mana cost when Ice Block ends, granting you 3 seconds of immunity from all spells afterward.
• Glyph of Slow causes Arcane Blast to apply Slow to your target, but only if no other target is currently affected by your Slow. This can be useful for controlling single enemies, particularly in solo content or specific encounter mechanics.
• The Glyph of Remove Curse is useful in fights where you need to frequently use Remove Curse. However, the temporary damage increase it grants usually does not outweigh the global cooldown spent casting the spell.

Glyph of Loose Mana causes your Mana Gem to restore mana over 6 seconds instead of instantly. It's a must-have because it synergizes exceptionally well with Alter Time. Since the mana regeneration comes from a buff, Alter Time resets its duration, effectively increasing the total mana returned—making it especially valuable in extended fights or during intense burst windows.

The Glyph of Momentum can be useful if you need to face your enemy, but are strafing sideways. The other minor glyphs mostly serve cosmetic purpose, which is why they are not mentioned in this PVE guide.