Arcane Mage DPS Easy Mode — 12.1

This build is the go-to Raid build, as it does great single-target DPS, while also being able to do very high AoE and Cleave DPS for encounters that need it, while giving up almost no single-target DPS for doing so.

You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by using the "copy export string" button below.

This build is very similar to the Raid build, only swapping utility around to provide you critical utility for Mythic+, like Supernova and Spellsteal.

You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by using the "copy export string" button below.

Arcane is largely focused around a couple of key concepts.

• Use cooldowns quickly. This is important for almost all specs in the game, but Arcane really suffers when you sit on your cooldowns for a long time. Not only are you losing damage from not gaining the damage benefits from your cooldowns like Arcane Surge, but your mana generation is directly tied to your cooldowns, further lowering your damage and making it much harder to remain at 4 Arcane Charges.
• Not wasting Arcane Salvo stacks. Arcane Salvo provides a massive damage increase to Arcane Barrage, so we want to make sure we do not overcap Arcane Salvo stacks while also making sure we have 4 Arcane Charges ready when we cap Arcane Salvo so we can immediately use Arcane Barrage.
• Minimizing casts while on low Arcane Charges. Since our primary abilities both scale their damage with Arcane Charges, it is important we try to avoid casting these ( Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage) while on low charges as much as possible. The main methods we avoid this is by using Arcane Orb. Since Arcane is very mana hungry, this is not always avoidable, but it is still important to keep in mind.

This leads us to the following basic priority list.

• Cast Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi when both are ready. Also activate any on-use trinkets or racials that provide damage bonuses or stat increases.
• If only Touch of the Magi is ready, but not Arcane Surge, cast Touch of the Magi. You can do this once in-between each Arcane Surge usage.
• Cast Arcane Missiles when you have Clearcasting and have fewer than 12 Arcane Salvo stacks.
• Cast Prismatic Bolt when it is up.
• During Arcane Soul, cast Arcane Barrage.
• Cast Arcane Barrage when you have 25 Arcane Salvo stacks and 4 Arcane Charges.
• Cast Arcane Orb when you have fewer than 4 Arcane Charges.
• Cast Arcane Blast as your filler. Even in AoE! (so no Arcane Explosion)
• Cast Arcane Barrage when unable to cast Arcane Blast due to being out of mana.

Note: this is a simplified rotation. For the fully optimized rotation, check out the Rotation page.

Arcane has the following Apex Talent.

• Prismatic Bolt: Arcane Barrage gains a 1% chance per Arcane Salvo stack consumed to replace your next Arcane Blast with a Prismatic Bolt. It damages your target and nearby enemies, with reduced damage beyond 5 targets, and generates 4 Arcane Charges. It does not scale its damage or mana cost with Arcane Charges, and is not affected by anything that modifies Arcane Blast. You can hold the proc for up to a minute.
• Prismatic Bolt: Prismatic Bolt has a 50%/100% chance to grant Clearcasting, and Arcane Missiles damage is increased by 15%/30%.
• Prismatic Bolt: Adds another 1% chance per Arcane Salvo stack consumed, bringing it to 2% per stack in total, and increases Arcane Barrage damage by 15%.

The Apex Talent is very strong for both Hero specs, and is virtually always taken. Prismatic Bolt itself is a very hard-hitting spell, which you play around specifically. Additionally, the 4 Arcane Charges being refunded greatly improves the ability to get back to 4 Arcane Charges after dumping to 0, allowing you to save on other methods of charge generation.

Our Tier Sets for Season 2 are:

• Mage Arcane 12.1 Class Set 2pc: Arcane Missiles fires one additional wave and deals 20% increased damage.
• Mage Arcane 12.1 Class Set 4pc: Each Arcane Missiles wave increases the damage of your next Arcane Blast, Arcane Pulse or Prismatic Bolt by 5%, stacking up to 40%.

The set bonuses are both very strong, as they not only make Arcane Missiles more powerful, which makes Clearcasting even more valuable, they also have knock-on effects for the rest of the spec, like providing more Arcane Salvo stacks and increasing the damage of other spells. This makes it a very strong tier set and something you will want to obtain quickly, at any item level.

You will want to prioritize secondary stats as follows. For more information on what's presented on this page, check out our main Stat Priority page.

We recommend you prioritize item levels over specific stats, as they are all very close in value, and they fluctuate greatly based on the gear you currently have.

Patch 11.1.7 introduced two new combat related functionalities, the Assisted Highlight, and the Single-Button Assistant. For a full overview on how to enable these features and all of their details, check out our Combat Assistant page.

The Assisted Highlight rotation is a relatively decent rotation, so following it can be a good way to learn the rotation, however, you are giving up around 20-25% damage to do so depending on your talents and hero talents.

The Single-Button assistant is more punishing, giving up an additional 5% damage compared to the Assisted Highlight, for a total of around 25-30%. However, it allows you to focus entirely on the dungeon / boss mechanics, which is very valuable.

Note that neither the Single-Button rotation nor the Assisted Highlight rotation will cast/highlight Arcane Surge, racial cooldowns, or items, like trinkets, so you will have to use these manually.

• Make sure to use Arcane Surge as close to on-cooldown as possible, while making sure Touch of the Magi is ready or nearly ready when you use it.
• Use your trinkets, potions, racial cooldowns (like Berserking) or other on-use cooldowns during Arcane Surge.
• The Single-Button rotation will cast Arcane Explosion when you are fighting 3 or more targets, so make sure you are positioning yourself correctly to hit all targets with it.
• It will also cast Arcane Orb as part of its rotation, so make sure that you are facing in a way that will hit all targets, and not accidentally pull other targets with it.