Arcane Mage DPS Gear and Best in Slot — 12.1

Welcome to our Gearing Page for Arcane Mage. This section will cover everything you need to know about equipping your character correctly.

Upgrading gear in Midnight continues to use the Crest system which lets you increase the item level of gear along tracks that relate to where you obtained the item, which harder content dropping gear that can be upgraded to higher Item Levels. For more information, read up on our dedicated page on how the gearing system works and what has changed in the Midnight expansion.

OverallMythic+Raid

This list contains the highest DPS setup from all sources for Arcane Mage. There are often many items for a single slot that are very close or even identical DPS, especially if you simply shuffle secondary stats around between different slots. Due to this, you should only use the list below as a general guideline of what a set of end-game gear looks like, not to make immediate gearing choices.

This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available, your BiS gear might look different in some spots than the below list.

In a few slots, I list items from Mythic+, which can only be obtained at Mythic track from The Great Vault. Generally these items are only best-in-slot at Mythic track, not in their Heroic track variants. You are usually better off using a higher item level piece than the best-in-slot piece if you cannot obtain it at Mythic track.

FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?

In Season 2, Catalyst keeps the item level, stats and any special bonuses of an item, so it does not matter which 4 out of 5 slots you catalyze. Pick any 4 out of 5 you have available from the list below:

• Head — Venomkeeper's Horrific Cowl
• Shoulders — Ornaments of the Eternal Coil
• Chest — Primordial Robe of Rites
• Hands — Grasps of the Eternal Shadow
• Legs — Initiate's Sacrificial Tights

Note: getting 4-set in any capacity is much more important than getting them on the correct (catalyzed) pieces, so always prioritize getting 4-set over the right pieces.

FAQWhat Items From the Great Vault Should I Pick?

Generally, you will want to focus on picking items that are the biggest upgrade for you by simming Top Gear. However, there are also some items in general that are very valuable and almost always worth picking up if you see them:

• Jan'thrazet, the Soul Fang: Best-in-slot Weapon by a large margin and very rare and wanted by all casters, so always pick this up if it is in your vault in a Mythic slot (9/6 Myth track)
• Any of the other 9/6 Myth track items listed below: All of them are best-in-slot for both Arcane Mage and generally all other cloth wearers, so very difficult to obtain otherwise.
• Freightrunner's Flask: Best-in-slot Trinket which can only be obtained at Myth track from The Great Vault.

Arcane Mage

1.1.

Overall Best in Slot

Venomkeeper's Horrific Cowl Helm

Ula'tek Empowered Blessing of Speed

Primal Leywarden's Manashapers Hands

Coiled Altar + Catalyst

Aqirbane Reliquary Neck

Ula'tek

Arcanoweave Cord Waist

Crafted by Tailoring

Primal Leywarden's Manaflux Shoulders

Twin Fangs + Catalyst Akil'zon's Swiftness

Primal Leywarden's Tailored Legwraps Legs

Nek'zali + Catalyst Arcanoweave Spellthread

Silken Voodoo Drape Cloak

Coiled Altar

Cackling Soultreads Feet

Coiled Altar Farstrider's Hunt

Crest of the Primal Leywarden Chest

Altar of Fangs + Catalyst Mark of the Worldsoul

Alluring Bubbleband Ring

Nek'zali Eyes of the Eagle

Shirt

Pilfered Precious Band Ring

Den of Nalorakk Eyes of the Eagle

Tabard

Freightrunner's Flask Trinket

Murder Row

Martyr's Bindings Bracers

Crafted by Tailoring

Gebbo's Bottomless Bag Trinket

Lost Explorers

Jan'thrazet, the Soul Fang Main Hand

Ula'tek Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Vessel of Last Rites Off Hand

King's Rest

This list contains the highest DPS setup with farmable gear from Season 2 Mythic+ Dungeons. This includes Tier pieces and 2 Embellished items due to their importance, even though they are not technically from Mythic+ Dungeons, since they are obtainable via The Great Vault / Catalyst / Crafting.

This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available, your BiS gear might look different in some spots than the below list.

FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?

In Season 2, Catalyst keeps the item level, stats and any special bonuses of an item, so it does not matter which 4 out of 5 slots you catalyze. Pick any 4 out of 5 you have available from the list below:

• Head — Overseer's Diadem
• Shoulders — Mantle of Ceremonial Ascension
• Chest — Hoarded Harvest Wrap
• Hands — Counterfeit Clutches
• Legs — Wind Soarer's Breeches

Note: getting 4-set in any capacity is much more important than getting them on the correct (catalyzed) pieces, so always prioritize getting 4-set over the right pieces.

TipsWhich Dungeons Should I Farm?

There are a few outstanding dungeons due to specific items dropping in them making them very good dungeons to farm:

• Murder Row: Drops best-in-slot on-use trinket, while also dropping a strong Neck, Hands and Feet.
• Blinding Vale: Drops two very strong passive trinkets, including the best non-raid trinket, while also dropping a great Cloak and multiple other useful pieces.

Arcane Mage

1.2.

Best Mythic+ Gear

Crown of the Primal Leywarden Helm

Voidscar Arena + Catalyst Empowered Blessing of Speed

Primal Leywarden's Manashapers Hands

Murder Row + Catalyst

Pendant of Malefic Fury Neck

Murder Row

Martyr's Waistwrap Waist

Crafted by Tailoring

Primal Leywarden's Manaflux Shoulders

King's Rest + Catalyst Akil'zon's Swiftness

Primal Leywarden's Tailored Legwraps Legs

Ruby Life Pools + Catalyst Sunfire Silk Spellthread

Bloodthorn Burnous Cloak

Blinding Vale

Tempestuous Sandals Feet

Murder Row Farstrider's Hunt

Crest of the Primal Leywarden Chest

Den of Nalorakk + Catalyst Mark of the Worldsoul

Sickening Signet of Atroxus Ring

Voidscar Arena Eyes of the Eagle

Shirt

Pilfered Precious Band Ring

Den of Nalorakk Eyes of the Eagle

Tabard

Freightrunner's Flask Trinket

Murder Row

Martyr's Bindings Bracers

Crafted by Tailoring

Lightspire Core Trinket

Blinding Vale

Polished Lightwood Channeler Main Hand

Altar of Fangs Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Vessel of Last Rites Off Hand

King's Rest

This list contains the highest DPS setup, only using gear from the Venomous Abyss Raid. This includes 2 Embellished items as well due to their importance.

This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available to yourself, your BiS gear might look different than this list in some spots.

FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?

In Season 2, Catalyst keeps the item level, stats and any special bonuses of an item, so it does not matter which 4 out of 5 slots you catalyze. From Raid, the only chest piece available is Crest of the Primal Leywarden, which is a tier item, so you would always take that one. Then, pick any 3 out of 4 you have available from the list below to catalyze:

• Head — Venomkeeper's Horrific Cowl
• Shoulders — Ornaments of the Eternal Coil
• Hands — Grasps of the Eternal Shadow
• Legs — Initiate's Sacrificial Tights

Note: getting 4-set in any capacity is much more important than getting them on the correct (catalyzed) pieces, so always prioritize getting 4-set over the right pieces.

TipsWhat Raid Items Are Most Important?

If you need to submit a list of highly-important items to your raidleader, or simply want to focus on the most important bosses and items, we got you covered!

• Jan'thrazet, the Soul Fang: The best weapon by a large margin, due to its higher item level and secondary effect.
• Venomkeeper's Horrific Cowl: The best helm by a large margin, due to its higher item level and Venomcursed effect.
• Gebbo's Bottomless Bag: The best passive trinket.

Arcane Mage

1.3.

Best Raid Gear

Venomkeeper's Horrific Cowl Helm

Ula'tek Empowered Blessing of Speed

Primal Leywarden's Manashapers Hands

Coiled Altar + Catalyst

Aqirbane Reliquary Neck

Ula'tek

Arcanoweave Cord Waist

Crafted by Tailoring

Primal Leywarden's Manaflux Shoulders

Twin Fangs + Catalyst Akil'zon's Swiftness

Primal Leywarden's Tailored Legwraps Legs

Nek'zali + Catalyst Arcanoweave Spellthread

Silken Voodoo Drape Cloak

Coiled Altar

Cackling Soultreads Feet

Coiled Altar Farstrider's Hunt

Crest of the Primal Leywarden Chest

Vashnik Mark of the Worldsoul

Alluring Bubbleband Ring

Nek'zali Eyes of the Eagle

Shirt

Apex Brute's Claw Ring Ring

Sszorak Eyes of the Eagle

Tabard

Vexhul's Everflowing Gland Trinket

Twin Fangs

Martyr's Bindings Bracers

Crafted by Tailoring

Gebbo's Bottomless Bag Trinket

Lost Explorers

Jan'thrazet, the Soul Fang Main Hand

Ula'tek Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Frostscale's Mystic Frond Off Hand

Nek'zali

Itemization

Enchants and Stat Priority

Looking to optimize your character? Check out our Enchant and Stat Priority guides for more information!

EnchantsStats

There are a great number of Trinkets available for Arcane. Generally, you will want to use a strong on-use Trinket to pair it with Arcane Surge, and then a strong passive Trinket as your second Trinket.

Aim to pick up one trinket from each of these categories as a pair:

Arcane Mage Trinkets

On-Use - Freightrunner's Flask, or, alternatively Vile Vial of Volatile Venom (slightly weaker)
Passive - Gebbo's Bottomless Bag, or, alternatively Wavecaller's Seastone (slightly weaker)

There are quite a few other valuable trinkets out there, so make sure to click on our ranking chart to see if they are worth equipping.

Click for Arcane Mage Trinket Rankings

Ranking	Trinkets
S Tier	Freightrunner's Flask — Best on-use Trinket Gebbo's Bottomless Bag — Best passive Trinket
A Tier	Vexhul's Everflowing Gland — Tied as best on-use Trinket on single-target, but loses value on AoE. Vile Vial of Volatile Venom — Strong on-use Trinket Lightspire Core — Strong passive Trinket Wavecaller's Seastone — Strong passive Trinket
B Tier	Hex Lord's Dooming Idol — Numerically quite strong on-use Trinket, but requires tracking the buff Sapling of the Dawnroot — Strong passive Trinket on single-target, loses value on AoE Mindpiercer's Sigil — Decently strong passive Trinket
C Tier	Fang of Umbral Malignance Stormbound Emblem of Dazar Knot of Writhing Serpents
D Tier	Sethraliss' Defiled Relic Ruby Whelp Shell Font of Venomous Rage

Nebulous Voidcore can be used to guarantee items from a specific boss or dungeon. Each time you use it, you are guaranteed to obtain one item from that boss or dungeon, and that item is then removed from the pool of possible items. Then the next time you use it, you are guaranteed any of the remaining items, which means that you will obtain the item you are after from that boss or dungeon within a few uses.

The best items to chase after depend entirely on what items you have already obtained so far, and which content you are clearing. For example, if you have not yet cleared a specific boss on Mythic, but expect to do so soon, you should not use the Voidcore on the Heroic version of that boss. Below I list a generic priority list of Voidcore items, but for the best results tailored to your own character, you should use Raidbots Droptimizer.

Voidcore (Bonus Roll) Priority

1. Mythic Jan'thrazet, the Soul Fang — Best Weapon, by a large margin, due to its higher item level. Ula'tek also drops the next two items below, making it a very valuable bonus roll boss.
2. Mythic Venomkeeper's Horrific Cowl — Best helm due to its higher item level and Venomcursed bonus effect.
3. Mythic Aqirbane Reliquary — Best neck due to its higher item level and Venomcursed bonus effect.
4. Any Myth Track Weapon — None of them will beat Jan'thrazet, the Soul Fang from Ula'tek, but if you are not planning / expecting to kill Mythic Ulatek, getting a Myth track weapon from other sources is important, especially if you did not craft one.
5. Higher item level items from Coiled Altar, especially Grasps of the Eternal Shadow.
6. Remaining BiS List items

What to craft is highly dependent on your own personal goals, what content you are doing, and what items you have looted so far. We strongly suggest you run your own simulations on raidbots by using droptimizer to figure out your personal best crafting options.

Below we list the best crafted Embellished items, but make sure to check the crafting order below for more context, since the best Embellishments are not always the best to craft first!

• Arcanoweave Cord
• Martyr's Bindings with Arcanoweave Lining

As your ability to craft items will be time-gated in the initial stages of the season, we highly recommend getting a Weapon as soon as possible, unless you can reliably get one elsewhere. Once you have a good weapon, work on your other Embellished Item next, and then craft whichever pieces you do not have high-item-level versions of yet.

Eventually, you will re-craft (or fully replace) the Weapon so that it is not Embellished anymore to open up a slot for a different Embellished item, but only after upgrading low item level pieces.

Arcane Mage Crafted Gear Priority

1. Aln'hara Cane with Darkmoon Sigil: Blood: Getting a weapon craft early provides an immense amount of power. If you expect to get a Myth track weapon early, you can skip this.
2. Arcanoweave Cord: Another solid early craft for a lot of early power, and remains best-in-slot.
3. Any item you do not have on Myth track yet.
4. When possible, you will want to replace the crafted Aln'hara Cane with a Myth track weapon without an Embellishment. Then, you can craft Martyr's Bindings with Arcanoweave Lining as your second Embellishment. You can also craft any other slot with Arcanoweave Lining if those would be a bigger item level upgrade, but Wrists are best-in-slot eventually.

For more information on how you can craft your own gear, you can visit our Professions page.

You can add sockets to Helmets, Belts, and Bracers with the Miasmic Jewelbinder consumable that you can get if you do not select any of the choices in your Great Vault. Not picking a choice will grant you tokens, six of which can be traded in for the Miasmic Jewelbinder item that allows you to add a socket to the above piece of gear, if you acquired them in Season 2.

Early into the season, or if you have just started playing an alt, you will have limited access to upgrading-crests such as Myth Mistcrest. These can be used to upgrade gear to higher item levels. Since crests are limited each week and upgrading different items costs the same amount of crests regardless, you will want to prioritize your usage of them on items you plan on not replacing anytime soon, or that offer the biggest benefits.

Arcane Mage Crest Upgrade Priority

Weapon (Staff to save crests) ➜ Trinkets ➜ Helmet/Chest/Legs ➜ Shoulders/Gloves/Belt/Boots

This order is determined by the power you get from upgrading these slots. Of course, which is best to upgrade can be heavily influenced based on what you loot, as you can avoid using Crests altogether by looting higher item level items in those slots, so make sure that you do not blindly follow the provided upgrade order!

Throughout this page and elsewhere in our guide, we regularly refer to the importance of simming yourself on Raidbots. This is because every character is unique, and each gear piece you have access to can change what is best right now for you.

While we do offer recommendations for gear and trinkets, these are not complete replacements for simming yourself. The only way to truly optimize your character to that degree is by making use of the tools available!

Optimization

Simulations and Tools

For further reading on how to truly maximize your character's potential, check out our guide on Raidbots!

Go to Guide

Dutchmagoz

Guide Author

Follow Dutchmagoz

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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