Arcane Mage Frequently Asked Questions — The War Within (11.2)
On this page, we go over several of the most frequently asked questions regarding Arcane Mage in World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.2). 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?
In Raiding content, Arcane is currently the best performing Mage spec. It has great single-target damage with great survivability, making it generally very desirable for most raid groups.
In Mythic+, it is the same story. Arcane is the best performing Mage spec, with great single-target and AoE damage, as well as good survivability. Throw in the great utility that Mages provide, and you will find it easy to get into groups.
Which race is best for Arcane Mage?
All races are very close in DPS, and it generally does not matter what race you play. Usually, Mechagnome, Human, or Troll is going to be the highest DPS, but it depends on your gear and the content you are doing, and generally, all races are within half a percentage of each other. 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 and Evocation ready.
Changelog
- 04 Aug. 2025: Updated viability for 11.2 based on PTR testing.
- 15 Jun. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1.7.
- 21 Apr. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1.5.
- 24 Feb. 2025: Updated for Patch 11.1.0.
- 15 Dec. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.7.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Updated best race to include more races that are all within 0.1% of each other.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within.
- 29 Jul. 2024: Updated best race.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
- 01 May 2024: Updated viability section.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Updated viability section for Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 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
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Dutchmagoz. Dutchmagoz has been playing Mage since 2009 and writing guides and theorycrafting since 2012, with many top 20-100 world kills and rank 1 parses under his belt. He is the owner of the official Mage Discord server Altered Time, where he is involved in Mage Theorycrafting and everything else Mage. You can reach out to him directly for questions or feedback about the guide there.
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