Arcane Mage Frequently Asked Questions — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1

1. 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.

2. How good is Arcane Mage in Battle for Azeroth (Patch 8.1)?

Arcane Mage is not the best Mage spec overall, however, due to its very strong single-target burst DPS, it is a key spec for specific bosses. For a more thorough answer, see the spec viability section on the intro page.

3. Which race is best for Arcane Mage?

Troll is the best race for Arcane Mage. However, all races are very close in DPS. For a full overview of the DPS of every race, check the simulations page.

4. Should I Use Rune of Power or Incanter's Flow?

Rune of Power and Incanter's Flow are very close in overall DPS. Because of this, it is quite hard to figure out when to use which talent. In general, on a fight with very little movement and other fight mechanics, Rune of Power is usually the best choice. Below we have listed the reasons to not run Rune of Power:

• There are raid mechanics which you can not plan for in advance that may cause you to have to move out of your Rune of Power.
• There is a lot of movement required on the fight in general.
• It is also worth noting that Rune of Power is a lot harder to play with than Incanter's Flow, so it should not be used when you are not very comfortable with the spec and fight.

5. When Should I Enter the Burn Phase?

As described in the rotation section of the guide, there are a couple of requirements before you can enter your Burn Phase:

• Arcane Power is ready;
• you have 4 charges of Arcane Charges;
• at least one charge of Rune of Power is available, if running the talent;
• you have at least 50% Mana (30% if Overpowered is talented).

What is important to note here, is that there are no requirements in regards to Evocation. A lot of players think Evocation needs to be (almost) ready before you can enter the Burn Phase, but this is not true. If Evocation is not ready, you simply start your Burn phase, and when you run out of Mana, you start your Conserve Phase. Then when Evocation is ready, you use it to generate back to full Mana and continue your Conserve Phase. This also works the other way around; when Evocation is (about to be) ready, you should make sure you are low on Mana, so you can use it right as it becomes available. You do not have to save it for your Burn Phase. It is important to keep both Arcane Power and Evocation on cooldown as much as possible.

6. Do I Use Reverberate or Nether Tempest for Dungeons?

Reverberate is the higher DPS talent for AoE, as long as you can be in melee range, so if the dungeon requires constant AoE damage it is the best talent. However, most dungeons require a good mix of AoE and single-target, and even during AoE situations, it is often the case that one target is more important than the others. In these situations, Nether Tempest is the best choice, because it allows you to focus on a primary target while still doing some additional AoE damage.

7. Changelog