Mists of Pandaria Classic Arcane Mage Stat Priority

The stat priority for Arcane Mage is as follows:

1. Intellect
2. Hit Rating = Expertise Rating (15% Hit Cap!)
3. Mastery Rating
4. Haste Rating
5. Critical Strike Rating

Intellect is your best stat by far, you can never have enough of it, the more the better. It provides Spell Power, Crit and a Mana pool increase.

Hit is our second best stat until you reach the cap of 15% Hit (5,100 Hit rating for non-Draenei, for Draenei 4,760). Once you reach 15% hit chance, any further Hit Rating becomes redundant. You can gain Hit rating from enchants, gear, reforging and gems. Expertise also gives Hit in Mists of Pandaria.

Mastery Rating boosts the damage of your spells through Mastery: Mana Adept, scaling with the amount of unspent mana.

Haste Rating affects how quickly you can cast your spells and increases your Mana regeneration.

Critical Strike Rating increases your chance to land critical hits.