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HomepageWorld of WarcraftClassesArcane MageMythic+ Tips

Arcane Mage DPS Mythic+ Tips in Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.0.1

Last updated Today at 16:32 by Dutchmagoz 18 comments

Table of Contents

General Information

On this page, you will various tips and pieces of advice for clearing high Mythic+ content with your Arcane Mage.

The other pages of our Arcane Mage guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author

This guide has been written by Dutchmagoz. Dutchmagoz is a Mythic raider in UnknownError, owner of the Mage theorycrafting website Altered Time, and an admin of the Mage Discord server, Halls of the Guardian.

1. Arcane Mage in Mythic+

Arcane Mage, although not the best out of the Mage specs, can hold its own in Mythic+. It can focus down priority targets very quickly due to its burst potential, and it can also do quite strong AoE damage when needed.

1.1. Arcane Mage Mythic+ Rotation

Both the single target and multi-target rotations do not change in Mythic+ content. For more information about the Arcane Mage DPS rotation, refer back to the Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities page.

1.2. Arcane Mage Utility

The main reason to bring a Arcane Mage to a Mythic+ group is for its damage, but aside from that, it also has some very valuable utility which makes every Mythic+ group want at least one Mage:

  • Arcane Intellect Icon Arcane Intellect is a big boost for both the other caster DPS in the group, as well as additional healing for the healer.
  • Time Warp Icon Time Warp is a required cooldown for any Mythic+ group.
  • Remove Curse Icon Remove Curse can be useful to dispel Curses in some dungeons.
  • An Arcane Mage adds some crowd-control in the form of Polymorph Icon Polymorph.
  • Spellsteal Icon Spellsteal can be useful in some dungeons to remove dangerous buffs from enemy targets. Sometimes it can also be used as a big DPS boost for the Arcane Mage by Spellstealing beneficial buffs that increase your damage.

2. Mythic+ Talents for Arcane Mage

Below are the suggested talents for Mythic+. There are a couple of choices you can make with the talents, which are discussed below.

Level Choices
15 Amplification ✘ Amplification Rule of Threes ✔ Rule of Threes Arcane Familiar ? Arcane Familiar
30 Mana Shield ? Mana Shield Shimmer ✔ Shimmer Slipstream ✔ Slipstream
45 Incanter's Flow ? Incanter's Flow Mirror Image ✘ Mirror Image Rune of Power ✔ Rune of Power
60 Resonance ✔ Resonance Charged Up ✘ Charged Up Supernova ✘ Supernova
75 Chrono Shift ✔ Chrono Shift Ice Ward ✘ Ice Ward Ring of Frost ✘ Ring of Frost
90 Reverberate ✔ Reverberate Touch of the Magi ✘ Touch of the Magi Nether Tempest ✔ Nether Tempest
100 Overpowered ✘ Overpowered Time Anomaly ✘ Time Anomaly Arcane Orb ✔ Arcane Orb

There are only 2 real choices to make in the talent tree for Mythic+ content.

2.1. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Arcane Mage in Mythic+

Rune of Power Icon Rune of Power is in theory the better choice here. It is both more DPS on single-target and on AoE. However, in certain dungeons it may be hard to stay in your Rune of Power due to a variety of different reasons. If you notice you are forced to move out of your Rune of Power multiple times during a dungeon, you should consider Incanter's Flow Icon Incanter's Flow.

2.2. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Arcane Mage in Mythic+

Reverberate Icon Reverberate is the better AoE DPS option. However, during Tyrannical Icon Tyrannical weeks, Nether Tempest Icon Nether Tempest should be considered. This is because Nether Tempest is not far behind Reverberate on AoE, and can actually be used for single-target DPS.

3. Mythic+ Affixes

The way Mythic+ affixes are tiered in Battle for Azeroth has changed quite a bit since their launch in Legion.

There are now three weekly affixes and one seasonal affix. The first affix available instantly at level two and three, the second affix starts at level four, the third affix enabled at level seven, and finally the seasonal affix at level ten.

3.1. Tier One Affixes

  • Fortified Icon Fortified increases the Health pool of all non-boss enemies by 20% and damage dealt by 30%.
  • Tyrannical Icon Tyrannical increases the Health pool of boss enemies by 40% and their damage dealt by 15%.

Fortified Icon Fortified and Tyrannical Icon Tyrannical are the two affixes every player will see. These affixes shift the focus of dungeons from boss to trash depending on the week. Arcane Mages can perform quite well in both Tyrannical and Fortified weeks, but it does not excel at either. During Tyrannical weeks, players may want to take more single-target oriented trinkets, gear, or even talents but that will be both dungeon and key level dependent.

3.2. Tier Two Affixes

  • Raging Icon Raging increases the damage dealt by enemies below 30% by 100% until they die.
  • Teeming Icon Teeming adds additional trash mobs to certain packs throughout each dungeon.
  • Bolstering Icon Bolstering buffs remaining enemies Health pools and damage dealt by 20% when an enemy dies nearby. To counter this affix, DPS all mobs down evenly and focus your casts into high Health mobs if there are any.
  • Sanguine Icon Sanguine places a pool of blood on the ground when a mob is slain. This pool will heal remaining enemies who stay inside the zone and also damage players.
  • Bursting Icon Bursting forces enemy mobs to detonate when slain, afflicting the group with a stacking debuff that causes players to suffer 10% of their max Health in damage every four seconds. When handling the Bursting affix, ask how many stacks your healer can handle and try to not mindlessly DPS and exceed your healers stack limit. You can use Ice Block Icon Ice Block to remove these stacks for when there are too many stacks, or Greater Invisibility Icon Greater Invisibility to greatly reduce the damage you take from it.

3.3. Tier Three Affixes

  • Volcanic Icon Volcanic spawns volcanic plumes underneath and around players when in combat with any enemy. When damaged by Volcanic, players suffer 50% of their maximum Health pool in damage. The more enemies you are in combat with, the more Volcanic that will spawn.
  • Grievous Icon Grievous afflicts players with a stacking DoT when they fall below 90%. Use Prismatic Barrier Icon Prismatic Barrier liberally during Grievous weeks and bring consumables to assist your healer when out of combat.
  • Quaking Icon Quaking will periodically attempt to interrupt casters by creating a damaging zone around each player. About 3 seconds after the zone forms, it will deal 20% maximum Health in damage to each player caught in the zone as well as interrupting any hard casts being finished during the shockwave.
  • Explosive Icon Explosive will occasionally spawn Explosive Orbs that need to be targeted and burned down within a short period of time or they will deal significant damage to the party. Explosive Orbs are not cleaveable and the amount of orbs that spawn scales with the amount of enemies pulled. Arcane Explosion Icon Arcane Explosion will not hit the Explosive Orbs, so you have to actively target them to kill them.
  • Necrotic Icon Necrotic debuffs the target of enemy melee swings with stacking healing reduction and minor DoT.
  • Skittish Icon Skittish reduces the amount of threat generated by tanks throughout the dungeon. You should be careful of being in melee range during Skittish weeks for Arcane Explosion Icon Arcane Explosion because you get additional threat when in melee range.

3.4. Seasonal Affix

Infested Icon Infested is the seasonal affix for the launch of Battle for Azeroth. Enemies afflicted with the Infested debuff will be scattered throughout each dungeon once you reach key level ten. These mobs will heal enemies around them and when slain, will spawn two Spawn of G'huun that will attempt to infest remaining enemies.

There are several ways to handle Infested Icon Infested mobs depending on pack size, which mob is infested, and group composition. The first way to handle an Infested enemy is to burn down the infested target and the subsequently spawning Spawn of G'huun while either crowd controlling or ignoring the other mobs in the pack. The second way is to crowd control the Infested mob and burn down all the other enemies.

4. Mythic+ Azerite Traits

There are two Arcane Mage-specific traits should be used when possible in Mythic+

  • Explosive Echo Icon Explosive Echo will increase your AoE damage significantly in Mythic+.
  • Arcane Pressure Icon Arcane Pressure is extremely strong in Mythic+, especially combined with Resonance Icon Resonance. If you make sure to have 4 Arcane Charges when a group of enemies hits 35% Health, you can instantly Arcane Barrage Icon Arcane Barrage them, follow it up with an Arcane Orb Icon Arcane Orb which should give you 4 Arcane Charges again, and allow you to Arcane Barrage again. In a lot of Mythic+ levels this rotation of 3 spells will outright finish off an entire pack of enemies from 35%, especially if you managed to get the trait on multiple pieces of Azerite gear.
⋘Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
Common and Worst Mistakes⋙

5. ChangeLog

  • 20 Aug. 2018: Change talent suggestions based on more in-game experience and simulations.
  • 10 Aug. 2018: Added Arcane Mage Mythic+ page.
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