Arcane Mage Frequently Asked Questions — Dragonflight 10.2.5
On this page, we go over several of the most frequently asked questions regarding Arcane Mage in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2.5. This will be updated as more common repeated questions surface over the course of the expansion.
How much Haste should Arcane Mage use?
There are no haste caps for Arcane Mages.
However, depending on your chosen talents, and your other stats, Haste will lose some value at higher levels. To make sure you run with optimal stats, it is advised to use Raidbots Stat Weights to actively keep your stats up to date (see our Raidbots guide).
How good is Arcane Mage in the current patch?
All three Mage specs are very close to each other in the current patch, which allows people to largely play what they are most comfortable with. There are , of course exceptions, which we go into below.
In a Raiding setting, Arcane is a arguably the best Mage specialization. If you want to be fully optimal, there are some small benefits you can get from playing a different spec on some bosses, but overall, Arcane is the go-to Mage spec most bosses, especially the later bosses. As time goes on and gear improves, Arcane is likely to become more dominant as boss kill timers become faster and faster. Compared to other classes, Arcane is somewhere in the middle of the pack, closer to the top half than the bottom half. It is very viable, and every raid brings at the very least one Mage, often an Arcane Mage, but multiple Mages are common as well.
In a Mythic+ setting, Arcane is quite strong, however, it "suffers" from the fact that Fire is even better, generally making it less sought after as Fire is arguably the best pure ranged DPS in the game. However, Arcane can still complete practically any key level, and, on lower keys, is actually better than the other Mage specs due to its extremely high burst lasting the entirety of encounters.
Which race is best for Arcane Mage?
Troll is the best race for Arcane Mage. However, all races are very close in DPS, and it generally does not matter which race you pick.
For a full overview of the DPS of every race, check the simulations page.
When Should I Enter the Burn Phase?
You can enter the Burn Phase whenever you have Arcane Surge, Touch of the Magi, Radiant Spark and Evocation ready.
Changelog
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 16 Dec. 2023: Updated viability section based on December 19th buffs.
- 24 Nov. 2023: Updated viability section based on live data.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated viability section in preperation for season 3.
- 07 Sep. 2023: Updated viability section with more details.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 15 Jul. 2023: Updated viabiliity question for the balance patch.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated viability for 10.1.5 after the Arcane rework, and removed RoP vs IF question due to RoP removal
- 01 May 2023: Updated viability section for 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 10 Jan. 2023: Updated the burn phase conditions to account for Siphon storm talents.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Mage Guides
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This guide has been written by Dutchmagoz. Dutchmagoz is a Mythic raider in one of the top raiding guilds, Turtles and the owner of the Mage Discord server, Altered Time, where he is involved in all things Mage, and you can reach out to him directly for feedback or questions about the guide.
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