Arcane Mage DPS Gear and Best in Slot — Dragonflight 10.2
On this page, you will find the best gear and best in slot items for your Arcane Mage in World of Warcraft Dragonflight 10.2.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Arcane Mage gear and best in slot.
Gearing an Arcane Mage
Welcome to our Gearing Page for Arcane Mage. This section will cover everything you need to know about equipping your character correctly.
If you have a new piece of gear for which you need gems and enchant advice, you can find everything on our dedicated page below.
Best in Slot Gear for Raiding
BiS Gear for Arcane Mage
BiS List for Arcane Mage
This list contains the highest DPS setup from most sources, for Arcane Mage
All Mythic Raid drops can be upgraded to 489 item level, so their assumed item level in the best-in-slot list will be 489, and all crafted pieces are also assumed at their highest (483) item level.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | ![]() |
Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle in Amirdrassil |
Helm | ![]() |
Tindral Sageswift in Amirdrassil |
Neck | ![]() |
Volcoross in Amirdrassil |
Shoulder | ![]() |
Smolderon in Amirdrassil |
Cloak | ![]() |
Crafted with Haste and Mastery and ![]() |
Chest | ![]() |
Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle in Amirdrassil |
Bracers | ![]() |
Crafted with Haste and Mastery and ![]() |
Gloves | ![]() |
Igira the Cruel in Amirdrassil |
Belt | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst on any Mythic track belt |
Legs | ![]() |
Larodar, Keeper of the Flame in Amirdrassil |
Boots | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst on any Mythic track pair of boots |
Ring #1 | ![]() |
Great Vault |
Ring #2 | ![]() |
Great Vault |
Trinket #1 | ![]() |
Great Vault |
Trinket #2 | ![]() |
Tindral Sageswift in Amirdrassil |
Mythic+ Gear BiS List for Arcane Mage
This list contains the highest DPS setup, with farmable gear from Mythic+ Dungeons. This is a great place to start on a relatively new character, as you can infinitely grind out these items from Mythic+.
A lot of Mythic+ items are going to perform very similar, and which item is better will depend primarily on the other items you have already. When gearing via Mythic+, your goal should be to aim for getting a 483 item in every slot before trying to minmax the exact right item in each slot.
Generally, crafting 486 items is going to be better than finding 383 Mythic+ items, so the items below are just a generic guide for when you are unable to craft better pieces.
When looking what items to farm from Mythic+, the best way is to use Raidbots droptimizer to find which items from Mythic+ are the biggest upgrades for your specific character. This will let you specifically find what dungeon has the biggest potential upgrades for you, allowing you to target farm upgrades much better than following a predetermined list of items.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | ![]() |
Dawn of the Infinite: Murozond's Rise Mythic+ |
Off-hand | ![]() |
Everbloom Mythic+ |
Helm | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst any 483 helm |
Neck | ![]() |
Darkheart Thicket Mythic+ |
Shoulder | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst any 483 pair of shoulders |
Cloak | ![]() |
Atal'Dazar Mythic+ |
Chest | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst any 483 chest |
Bracers | ![]() |
Dawn of the Infinite: Murozond's Rise Mythic+ |
Gloves | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst any 483 pair of gloves |
Belt | ![]() |
Darkheart Thicket Mythic+ |
Legs | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst any 483 pair of legs |
Boots | ![]() |
Atal'Dazar Mythic+ |
Ring #1 | ![]() |
Darkheart Thicket Mythic+ |
Ring #2 | ![]() |
Waycrest Manor Mythic+ |
Trinket #1 | ![]() |
Waycrest Manor Mythic+ |
Trinket #2 | ![]() |
Atal'Dazar Mythic+ |
Raid Gear BiS List for Arcane Mage
This list contains the highest DPS setup, only using gear from the Amirdrassil Raid.
This list is mostly useful for informing your organized guild of what loot is optimal for you, for loot distribution purposes.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | ![]() |
Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle in Amirdrassil |
Helm | ![]() |
Tindral Sageswift in Amirdrassil |
Neck | ![]() |
Volcoross in Amirdrassil |
Shoulder | ![]() |
Smolderon in Amirdrassil |
Cloak | ![]() |
Smolderon in Amirdrassil |
Chest | ![]() |
Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle in Amirdrassil |
Bracers | ![]() |
Smolderon in Amirdrassil |
Gloves | ![]() |
Igira the Cruel in Amirdrassil |
Belt | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst on any Mythic track belt |
Legs | ![]() |
Larodar, Keeper of the Flame in Amirdrassil |
Boots | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst on any Mythic track pair of boots |
Ring #1 | ![]() |
Igira the Cruel in Amirdrassil |
Ring #2 | ![]() |
Larodar, Keeper of the Flame in Amirdrassil |
Trinket #1 | ![]() |
Council of Dreams in Amirdrassil |
Trinket #2 | ![]() |
Tindral Sageswift in Amirdrassil |
The Importance of "Simming Yourself" as a Arcane Mage
At this stage in the game, and despite the stat priority, there are so many variables and so many layers of optimization that you can apply to your character that there is no way for a guide or anything else to tell you exactly what gear you should wear. This is why we always recommend simulating your own character using Raidbots. The website can help you choose set bonuses, Conduits, Legendaries, trinkets, and combinations thereof in a way tailored completely to your specific character. Learning to use this tool is essential to maximizing your potential, as there is simply no other way to consider all the variables.
General Simulations
While we heavily recommend simming yourself, you can find some of our general simulations on the dedicated page below.
Evaluating Upgrades
The easiest way, and also the method we suggest, to compare multiple items is to use Raidbots' Top Gear. Here, you can input an export from the Simcraft AddOn, select the items to compare, and it will find out which of the items are best. See below for a guide on how to sim yourself.
Arcane Mage Gear Upgrades in Dragonflight Season 3
Dragonflight Season 2 introduced the Flightstones and Crests upgrade system, both obtainable from practically all forms of content in the game. Season 3 changed how they function in some areas, primarily capping their item level for crafted gear to 486, whereas Mythic raid gear can go up to 489, making crafted gear after two embellished items less valuable than before.
For more information on the Gear Upgrades system, check out our dedicated page for it below.
Crafted Gear & Embellishments
Via crafting professions or using the work order system, you can craft
some powerful gear, on par or even better than Mythic raid items.
There are many options available for crafting, further
complicated by the different types of embellishments available.
You can at most have 2 embellishments on your gear, but you can have
an unlimited amount of crafted items equipped; however, this is gated
by Spark of Dreams.
The most important part to realize is that for all the best crafted
items, you need a Spark of Dreams. This means, early on in the season,
you should treat these as very valuable, but as the season goes on, you can
craft more easily.
What items are best to craft heavily depends on your current gear. However, below
we list some suggested items:
- Crafting a weapon. We generally suggest crafting a 1-handed weapon over 2-handed as it allows for more flexibility since you can always craft an off-hand later anyway. The reason this can be a good choice, is because weapons make up a significant portion of your DPS, so crafting a weapon early will boost your DPS early on significantly. it will be massive early DPS upgrade, but you will eventually replace the weapon with something better.
- Any item with
Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch Embellishment on it. Ideally, you would want to craft Wrists (
Vibrant Wildercloth Wristwraps) and Cloak (
Vibrant Wildercloth Shawl). However, any non tier slot item with Roilling Shadowflame on it is a good craft, and you will generally want to pick a slot you have a currently low item level piece in it.
- After applying 2 embellishments to your gear (the cap), you should focus on crafting whatever crafted item without an embellishment sims best for you. Usually, a Ring is a great choice as it is difficult to get two rings with the correct stats at a high item level and a socket, but any item that sims well for you is a great idea to craft.
Tier Set for Arcane Mage
With the release of season 3 of Dragonflight, Arcane Mage gets a new set bonus:
Mage Arcane 10.2 Class Set 2pc: Consuming
Clearcasting grants increased spell damage by 2% for 20 sec, stacking up to 10%.
Mage Arcane 10.2 Class Set 4pc: After consuming
Clearcasting 3 times, your next
Arcane Missiles consumes
Arcane Battery, dealing 150% increased damage to your primary target and fires at up to 4 nearby enemies dealing 100% increased damage.
Both the 2- and 4-set are very strong. The 4-set is weaker in AoE situations, but overall, this is a very good tier set.
Changelog
- 13 Nov. 2023: Updated BiS to account for different M+ loot and updated raid only bis.
- 07 Nov. 2023: Updated BiS and embellishments due to sporecloak nerf.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated BiS, embellishments and other relevant sections for 10.2.
- 26 Sep. 2023: Changed layout.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Added 3 different best-in-slot builds.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated BiS for new optimal gear due to rework, and updated Onyx Annulet section for nerfed version.
- 25 May 2023: Added Timwalking section.
- 10 May 2023: Updated trinket suggestions based on further improvements.
- 08 May 2023: Updated trinket suggestions based on improved sims and further theorycrafting.
- 01 May 2023: Updated best-in-slot items, crafting suggestions and other gearing advice for 10.1.
- 25 Mar. 2023: Updated Onyx ring suggestions based on hotfixes.
- 22 Mar. 2023: Updated bis to include Onyx Annulet due to new gem combinations being found.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Added Onyx Annulet information and reviewed for patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2022: Added Voidmenders Shadowgem to list of trinkets.
- 20 Jan. 2022: Fixed typo.
- 17 Dec. 2022: Updated crafted gear due to bronzed grip changes.
- 13 Dec. 2022: Further updated crafted gear info with latest theorycrafting knowledge.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Added more info for crafted gear.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated gear advice based on season 1 available gear and crafted gear.
- 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 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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