TBC Classic Arcane Mage Guide

Welcome to our Arcane Mage DPS guide for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. In this guide, you'll find everything you need to know about playing a Arcane Mage in a raid setting. Much of the information also applies to both normal and heroic dungeons.

The Arcane arts are likely the most difficult, but also the most rewarding to master. Unlike the other two specs Fire and Frost, Arcane is extremely Mana hungry, but even more fun to play. Turning a Druid's Innervate into damage when it is not needed by healers or generally managing your Mana is the main challenge of this spec and can be much more challenging than the rotations of the other two Mage specs.

The Arcane talent tree underwent significant changes. From unplayable in Classic, it transformed into a very competitive and fun to play PvE spec. The new main nuke Arcane Blast (also referred to as "AB") and extremely Mana friendly and hard Frostbolts, paired with the option to use Icy Veins and Arcane Power at the same time give this spec the highest burst damage potential. This burst damage potential can enhance the already very strong AoE capabilities from Arcane Explosion. Stats like Intellect and Spirit, usually regarded as secondary, can be utilized by the Arcane talent tree and playstyle You will learn more about all these abilities in much greater detail in the Arcane Mage PvE Spells and Arcane Mage PvE Talents sections.

If you are interested in playing this spec, you need to know that it is very important (though not needed) to be in a group with a Shadow Priest. This spec really uses a lot of Mana very fast and will be less viable without a Shadow Priest.

Arcane Mage is considered an S-Tier class. It has one the strongest burst damage of all caster classes, strongest sustained damage of all three Mage specs, and has very strong, if not the strongest AoE damage. Early on, it will be extremely easy to gear an Arcane Mage to a level where it can perform very well, as nearly every easily collectable piece of gear comes with a lot of Intellect (which is a very strong stat for Arcane Mages).

If you would like to see where Arcane Mage falls in the overall rankings among DPS specs for both PvE and PvP in TBC Classic, we have created pages dedicated to explaining what classes and specializations are the best of the best through multiple factors. However, ultimately, you should not let these lists dissuade you from playing what you enjoy.

Strengths

• Best and most controllable burst damage of all Mage specs.
• Highest DPS ceiling of all three Mage specs.
• Very low threat.
• Can turn Mana cooldowns of the raid into damage.
• Extremely easy to gear.
• Makes use of Intellect and Spirit.
• Most challenging of all Mage specs to play.

Weaknesses

• Reliant on Mana support.
• Gets weaker the longer a fight goes on.
• Slightly more complicated to play than other specs, because of Mana management.
• Hardest spec to theorycraft, because it is influenced by so many factors.

Just as they were in Classic, Gnomes are considered overall to be the best race for Alliance. Their 5% Intellect boost from Expansive Mind is good for all three Mage specs. However, since Intellect is such a strong stat for Arcane Mages (more in the stats and talents section of this guide), this racial is especially good for the Arcane spec. Escape Artist is the best Mage racial trait for PvP, as it is instant in TBC on a low 1.75-minute cooldown and sometimes even useful in PvE. The extra Arcane Resistance has little to no use for PvP and PvE content. The bonus to Engineering from Engineering Specialization is handy for leveling Engineering but serves no further purpose.

It is worth mentioning that Humans are only very slightly behind Gnomes in PvE and PvP. Their The Human Spirit increases Spirit by 10% (scaling with Innervates and Improved Divine Spirit). The extra Mana regeneration from this racial trait is noticable and makes a considerable difference for speedrunning, where it makes Humans probably equal to or better than Gnomes. The Perception racial is useful for PvP, helping to uncover stealthed enemies like Rogues or Druids. Diplomacy increases your reputation gains by 10%, which is just a quality of life feature. Draenei is not considered a worthwile race for Mages, as the Inspiring Presence talent is the only relevant racial ability, but you usually get it from a Shaman in your group.

Trolls are the best PvE Horde race for Mages. The passive damage increase to beasts from Beast Slaying is nice to have while leveling and for fighting beasts, but the real deal is the increased cast speed from Berserking. The more Health you have lost, the more Haste you will gain from this ability for 10 seconds. Further, with Regeneration, Troll Mages are able to generate small amounts of Health during combat, an ability no other race has.

Blood Elves and Undead are not considered especially strong in PvE, but they can be strong in PvP. Blood Elves can silence with Arcane Torrent, and Undead can make themselves immune to Fear, Charm and Sleep effects for 5 seconds with Will of the Forsaken. Cannibalize is the other relevant PvP ability for Undead Mages, restoring 35% of your total health over 10 seconds, eating from a nearby undead or humanoid corpse. The 10 Shadow Resistance for Undead and 5 Magic Resistance also helps slightly versus other casters in PvP.

The best professions for Arcane Mages are Enchanting and Engineering.

Enchanting offers Enchant Ring - Spellpower enchants for your rings, which are considered to be very strong. These enchants stop working if you drop Enchanting and can only be applied to your own rings. Another benefit from Enchanting is, that you can Disenchant most green, blue and epic quality gear items, which can be used for other enchants or can be sold. This, however, requires your Enchanting skill to be leveled. Follow our TBC Enchanting guide if you want to learn more about the Enchanting profession. In the original TBC expansion, it was possible to enchant your rings with Enchant Ring - Spellpower and then respec into another profession. However, this was nerfed by Blizzard, making the ring enchant require Enchanting to be active.

Engineering is a very potent profession. Explosives, such as Dense Dynamite and Super Sapper Charge, are not subject to the AoE cap and can be woven into your rotation. Engineering also offers access to various versions of the Destruction Holo-gogs throughout the expansion, Rocket Boots Xtreme Lite for movement speed bursts, and the Zapthrottle Mote Extractor, used for farming motes. One of the biggest gains of Engineering are the Teleporters in TBC, such as Dimensional Ripper - Area 52. These can give you a character model and size-increasing effect, effectively increasing the range of your Arcane Explosion.

Leatherworking needs to be mentioned, as Leatherworkers can make different Drums with beneficial effects for 30 seconds. However, since TBC Classic, players receive a Tinnitus debuff whenever they benefit from a drum effect. This is a 2-minute duration effect, that prevents you from getting another drum effect. This debuff was not in the game originally, and was added by Blizzard. Without this debuff, Leatherworking is better than Enchanting.

Tailoring is a controversal profession. While it gives access to very strong Tailoring gear, such as the Spellfire set ( Spellfire Robe, Spellfire Gloves and Spellfire Belt), or the Spellstrike set ( Spellstrike Hood and Spellstrike Pants), it's only strength is in the first content phase, where the items from Tailoring are slightly stronger than other available gear. However, Tailoring items quickly get replaced by Tier 5 gear. If you are rich, farm a lot, do not want to rely on raid drops, or want to sell some of the items on the Auction House, Tailoring is for you. Otherwise, go with Enchanting/Engineering.

At Tailoring level 375, players with Exalted reputation with Aldor, can create the best leg enchant for healers, Golden Spellthread. Players Exalted with Scryers can make the best caster leg enchant Runic Spellthread. Three, very sought-after Tailoring crafts early on are Girdle of Ruination, Cloak of the Black Void, and Bracers of Havok, later on Belt of Blasting/ Belt of the Long Road (healers) and Bracers of Nimble Thought/ Swiftheal Wraps (healers). However, those are all just gold makers and give you no added benefit in PvE, since all of those items can be crafted by other Tailors

If you would like to learn more about how your profession of choice can be used to supplement your goldmaking, along with a variety of other means to bolster your income, see our full goldmaking guide linked below:

If you are looking to level your Mage, you will find our leveling guides below. Leveling can be done for either Arcane and Fire Mage, or you can simply go with one of the two Frost leveling specs.

Addons and macros are beneficial to Mages in The Burning Crusade, because they enhance gameplay efficiency by automating complex sequences of actions and providing crucial real-time information, such as cooldown timers and enemy debuffs. This allows Mages to maximize their damage output and responsiveness in both PvE and PvP scenarios.