TBC Classic Arcane Mage Enchants and Consumables

In The Burning Crusade, consumable and enchant requirements for Arcane Mages have been greatly eased, so every Mage will be expected to bring them. Below you will find a list of required consumables and enchants for playing an Arcane Mage in PvE.

Enchantments are essential for maximizing a Arcane Mage’s performance. The best options include:

Slot	Enchantment
Head	Glyph of Power (The Sha'tar Revered)
Shoulders	Greater Inscription of Discipline (Aldor Exalted) Greater Inscription of the Orb (Scryers Exalted)
Back	Enchant Cloak - Subtlety
Chest	Enchant Chest - Exceptional Stats
Wrists	Enchant Bracer - Spellpower Enchant Bracer - Major Intellect
Gloves	Enchant Gloves - Major Spellpower
Legs	Runic Spellthread
Feet	Enchant Boots - Boar's Speed
Weapon	Enchant Weapon - Sunfire Enchant Weapon - Major Spellpower (cheaper)

As an Arcane Mage, most of your gems will come from Jewelcrafters. Chaotic Skyfire Diamond is, by far, the best Meta gem for Mages, but needs two Blue gems to be activated.

Generally you should always use the Osthyvel's TBC Mage Sim to confirm which gems are best for you, as stat values are depending on a lot of different factors. Configure the simulation properly one time, based on your raid environment, save the configuration and from there start to exchange your gear and gems as needed to see what is truly best for your situation. The sim is also important to judge the value of a gem socket bonus, which sometimes is good to take, and sometimes can be ignored.

The simulation talked above assumes that you are standing still for a whole fight and have no down-time. That is, of course, an unrealistic assumption for allmost all boss fights in The Burning Crusade. Therefore, even if the simulation suggests that another gem is 1 or 2 DPS better (that is usually the range), overall it might just be better to go with a spirit gem for the additional mana regeneration that you get during down-times, which the sim does not factor in. The buffs Innervate and Improved Divine Spirit can also increase the value of spirit gems. If you never ever face mana problems, because your mana support is so good that you barely go oom (out of mana), purple spell damage gems (if the socket bonus is worth it) or just straight yellow intellect/red spell damage gems can be the better choice for you.

Sockets	Gems
	Chaotic Skyfire Diamond (2 blue/purple/green gems required for activation)
	Runed Crimson Spinel (Tier 6) Don Julio's Heart (Jewelcrafting) Runed Ornate Ruby (PvP) Runed Living Ruby (before Tier 6)
	Brilliant Lionseye (Tier 6) Infused Fire Opal (Steamvault HC) Brilliant Dawnstone (before Tier 6) Veiled Pyrestone (Tier 6) / Veiled Noble Topaz (before Tier 6) (Hit)
	Fluorescent Tanzanite (Blood Furnace HC) Seer's Chrysoprase (Auchenai Crypts HC) Sparkling Empyrean Sapphire/ Glowing Shadowsong Amethyst (Tier 6) Sparkling Star of Elune/ Glowing Nightseye (before Tier 6)

There are a few more niche gems from heroic dungeons, which can be slightly better in a vacuum, but usually are not. Therefore mentioning them here is not worth it.

Consumables provide temporary, but impactful bonuses to a Arcane Mage's performance.

You should always be eating the food that provides the best stats. Options are:

• 23 Spell Power, 20 Spirit: Blackened Basilisk, Poached Bluefish and Crunchy Serpent
• 23 Spell Power: Midsummer Sausage (seasonal, stacks with normal buff food)

Your best flask/elixirs options include:

• Adept's Elixir and Elixir of Draenic Wisdom: Overall the most powerful consumable combination available, unless you never go oom.
• Flask of Blinding Light: Best if you never go oom, also good on AoE.
• Flask of Supreme Power: Slightly behind Flask of Blinding Light, has the same upsides and downsides.
• Flask of Distilled Wisdom: Slightly behind the elixirs combo, generally used if you enjoy playing with a 20k mana pool.

Flasks can be cheaper to use than Elixirs if you die a lot (e.g. on progression), but as a Mage you should never not have enough gold to afford Elixirs. The recommended potions are:

• Super Mana Potion: Overall the better and cheaper potion, unless you never go oom.
• Destruction Potion: Best if you never go oom, also good on AoE. Usually more expensive than Super Mana Potions

The sim sheds light on which flasks and potions are best for your particular situation.

Brilliant Wizard Oil is going to be your best weapon oil, as Arcane benefits a lot from the Critical Strike chance and the added Spell Damage. Superior Wizard Oil is the budget alternative, but avoid using it, if you have the better alternative.

• Kreeg's Stout Beatdown: Increases your Spirit by 25 and reduces your Intellect by 5 for 15 minutes. If you buy it, make sure to buy many, as you need a Dire Maul North Tribute Run buff to access the vendor. This consumable stacks with everything.
• Crystal of Insight: Increases Intellect by 5 and lasts 30 minutes. Alliance only, comes from the quest Irradiated Crystal Shards.
• Scourgebane Infusion: Increases spell damage versus undead by 15 and lasts 30 minutes. Horde only, comes from the quest Spinal Dust.