Arcane Mage DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Shadowlands 9.0.2
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Arcane Mage in both single-target and multiple-target situations. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Shadowlands 9.0.2.
If you were looking for WoW Classic content, please refer to our Classic DPS Mage rotation.
Arcane Mage Rotation
Welcome to our Rotation page for Arcane Mages. On this page you will find everything you need to know about actually playing the spec in Raiding scenarios.
Mythic+
The primary focus on this page is on raiding scenarios. Although the rotation is going to give pretty good results in Mythic+ as well, for a more Mythic+ oriented rotation, see our Mythic+ page.
Easy Mode
If the rotations below seem overwhelming to you, or you would simply like to read a more simplified version of the rotation, you might benefit from visiting our Easy Mode page which outlines a close-to-optimal rotation in simpler terms.
PvP
The content on this page is purely PvE-related. If you are looking for PvP Rotation Tips, please visit our PvP page below.
Single-Target Rotation for Arcane Mage
Use the switches below to tailor the rotation to the talents you are using or situations you expect to be facing, and it will populate the rotation priority list appropriately:
- Show
Enlightened
- Show
Arcane Echo
- Show
Rune of Power
- Show
Arcane Orb
- Show
Nether Tempest
-
Temporal Warp Legendary effect equipped
-
Siphon Storm Legendary effect equipped
The rotation of an Arcane Mage is outlined in the following priority list.
The concept is to maintain a high and stable Mana pool during your
Conserve Phase, biding time until your
cooldowns are available. As soon as your cooldowns are ready, you enter the
Burn Phase where you siphon all your Mana
into damage. After the Burn phase concludes, you recoup your entire Mana pool
using Evocation, and the cycle begins anew.
The Burn Phase
The Burn phase commences at the start of the encounter, and whenever
Arcane Power is off cooldown thereafter. It is important to
ensure you will not be interrupted during the Burn phase, so avoid entering
this part of the rotating during heavy movement or when volatile mechanics are
active.
You can enter the Burn Phase when the following is all true:
Arcane Power is ready;
Touch of the Magi is ready;
Below we have listed the order in which you should perform your spells during the Burn Phase.
- Use
Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges and
Touch of the Magi is ready.
- Cast
Touch of the Magi.
- Cast
Arcane Power.
- Cast
Presence of Mind if
Arcane Power would run out before you can finish your next
Arcane Blast.
- Use
Mana Gem when you are at 85% Mana or lower.
- Cast
Arcane Missiles when
Clearcasting is up.
- Cast
Arcane Blast.
- Cast
Evocation when out of Mana.
- If you run out of Mana before
Evocation is available, simply use
Arcane Barrage to reset your Arcane Charges, and continue like normal until Evocation is available.
See our Opening Sequence for
instructions on what to cast when the fight starts, especially if you have
Arcane Echo talented, as the opener is more advanced than a normal
burn phase with this talent.
Conserve Phase
The Conserve Phase is deceptively straightforward, but it mercilessly
punishes mistakes. Once Evocation is on cooldown, the only way
to regain your Mana is by waiting for it to slowly regenerate or by using
Arcane Barrage. Therefore, paying
close attention to your Mana and your available spells is of crucial importance.
During the Conserve Phase you should try to maximize the amount of time spent
casting
Arcane Blast with 4 Arcane Charges, while keeping your Mana
high enough during the Conserve Phase, so that when your
Arcane Power
comes off cooldown you are able to Burn as much Mana as possible within that
window for optimal output.
- Cast
Touch of the Magi if you have 0 Arcane Charges and
Arcane Power is not ready for at least 30 more seconds.
- Cast
Arcane Missiles when
Clearcasting procs, unless you plan to go into the burn phase within the next 10 seconds, or plan to use
Touch of the Magi within 10 seconds.
- Cast
Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges ,
Touch of the Magi is ready and
Arcane Power is not ready for at least 30 more seconds.
- Cast
Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges and you are below 90% Mana.
- Cast
Arcane Blast.
- Cast
Arcane Barrage if you do not have enough Mana for
Arcane Blast.
How to use Covenant Abilities in the Arcane Mage Rotation
Most Covenant abilities are simply used on cooldown, with some optimisations:
- Cast
Shifting Power as close to on cooldown as possible, but only during your conserve phase. Whenever you use Shifting Power, make sure you are in melee range so it hits your target.
- Cast
Mirrors of Torment around 10 seconds before you plan to use
Arcane Power. Make sure you are not above 95% Mana while Mirrors of Torment is on the target, to avoid having the free Mana go to waste.
- Cast
Radiant Spark on cooldown.
- Cast
Deathborne on cooldown, but try to sync it with
Arcane Power. Do not delay Deathborne for more than 30 seconds when trying to sync it with Arcane Power, unless you are certain you will only get 1 more Deathborne usage maximum on the fight.
Multi-Target Rotation for Arcane Mage
The way you switch between burn and conserve phases remains the same in Multi-Target scenarios, but there are some spell usage changes to the rotation depending on target counts.
On 3 targets or more, you cast Arcane Explosion
instead of
Arcane Blast. Additionally, whenever you reach 4 Arcane Charges,
cast
Arcane Barrage, even in the burn phase. This effectively means
that in 3+ target situations, you cast Arcane Explosion 4 times, followed by
Arcane Barrage.
High Burst AoE Combo
Below we have listed a very high burst damage AoE combo that can be used
to do extreme amounts of AoE damage very quickly to a group of enemies. If you
are talented into Resonance this combo will be one of the highest
AoE burst combos in the game from all classes and specs.
Before starting the combo, you can use Rune of Power or
Arcane Power
to further increase the damage of this combo.
- Make sure you are on 4 Arcane Charges before starting the combo (or skip to step 3)
- Cast
Arcane Barrage
- Cast
Arcane Orb
- Cast
Arcane Barrage
- Cast
Touch of the Magi
- Cast
Arcane Barrage
- Cast
Shifting Power (if Night Fae, otherwise the combo ends here)
- Cast
Arcane Orb (in some cases, especially with high haste, Arcane Orb will not be back up here, in which case, you should
Arcane Explosion 4x ->
Arcane Barrage, and then Arcane Orb)
- Cast
Arcane Barrage
Important Notes for Arcane Mage
Managing "Mini-Burns" with Touch of the Magi and Rune of Power
Since Touch of the Magi and
Rune of Power share a relatively
similar cooldown, it is important to combine these two cooldowns.
Especially with
Arcane Echo talented (which is suggested), the damage
you can do during one of these mini-burns is very high. To maximize these mini-burns,
ensure the following:
- 10 seconds before
Touch of the Magi and
Rune of Power are ready, do not cast any
Arcane Missiles when
Clearcasting procs, to save them for the mini burn.
- Wait for
Touch of the Magi and
Rune of Power to both be ready.
- Cast
Touch of the Magi first, and then
Rune of Power, unless you have a
Magi's Brand conduit.
- Cast
Arcane Missiles while
Touch of the Magi is up, if you have
Arcane Echo talented.
- Cast
Arcane Missiles when you have
Clearcasting.
- Cast
Arcane Blast until Rune of Power only has one second left.
- When Rune of Power is about to run out, cast
Arcane Barrage.
Arcane Charges: Understanding Your Mana Pool
If you are unfamiliar with Arcane, managing your Arcane Charges
can be a bit confusing at first. Arcane as a specialization is fundamentally
very straightforward, but also stands apart from many specializations in the
respect that you have full control over your damage output and resources at all
times. Ultimately, the only wild card in the Arcane rotation is
Clearcasting, and it alters the specialization in a unique
way. Since
Arcane Missiles does not cost any Mana to cast when used
during Clearcasting, it functions as a way to regenerate Mana without having to
cast
Arcane Barrage. Every time you do a new pull on a boss, you will
reorganize your abilities into a different sequence due to the randomness of
Clearcasting procs. Ultimately this results in a reactive playstyle
revolving around your Mana pool.
For each Arcane Charge you have, you deal more damage with Arcane Blast,
however, the Mana cost is also increased by 100% per charge. It is not possible
to maintain a stable Mana pool by only casting Arcane Blast at 4 Arcane Charges,
and therefore you will have to sometimes clear your charges with
Arcane Barrage.
In conclusion, your Mana pool and Arcane Charges have inverse synergy.
The longer you remain at higher stacks of Arcane Charges,
the faster your Mana bar will deplete, but the more burst damage you will deal.
The shorter you remain at higher stacks of Arcane Charges, the
easier it will be to maintain a stable Mana pool (or possibly regenerate Mana),
though you will deal less burst damage. Clearcasting serves as
a tool to allow you to remain at high stacks for an increased period without
penalty, but occurs randomly, keeping you on your toes. Finally, during the
Burn phase the intent is to permanently remain at maximum
Arcane Charges until your Mana pool is entirely depleted.
Spells That Benefit From Arcane Charges
Evocation is not affected by Arcane Charges, but it is still
preferable to ensure you do not clear your charges with
Arcane Barrage before casting Evocation. The reason for this is that
you will finish Evocation with 100% Mana and 4 Arcane Charges,
allowing you to immediately cast a 4 charge
Arcane Blast instead
of Mana capping for a few seconds.
Truncating Arcane Missiles
When chaining Arcane Missiles with another Arcane Missiles, you can
chain anywhere between the last 2 ticks without losing any ticks. However, in a
lot of cases, Arcane Missiles will be followed up by a non channeling spell,
which does not allow you to "transfer" the final tick to the next cast. Due to this,
you will want to make sure you fully finish the Arcane Missiles channel if you
are following it up with a non channelled spell. (
Arcane Blast for example)
Many players will accidentally clip the last tick of the channel, cancelling the
final missile and robbing them of a noticeable amount of damage.
This can be solved by using !nochannel macros, which prevents you from interrupting a channeled spell with another cast. This induces slight input lag, causing a slight delay between the end of your channel and the beginning of a new cast, so it is not recommended. For players that want maximum results, the best solution is AddOns. The easiest way to avoid missile clipping is by installing Quartz, a cast bar AddOn specifically designed to make channeled ticks easily identifiable. Unlike the in-game castbar or most other AddOns, it updates dynamically with latency so your true tick rate is always displayed.
Effectively Handling AoE
As a specialization that is typically known for single target damage, AoE is
a bit of a foreign concept to some Arcane Mages. It is possible, however, to
deal very effective AoE damage as Arcane. Arcane Power does
technically affect your AoE spells, however, it is often inefficient to
dedicate your Burn phase to AoE damage (generally speaking), however, there are
some exceptions to this rule. For example, in a dungeon environment where you
know your cooldowns will be up in time for the boss, it makes sense to use your
cooldowns to help clear the trash in a more timely fashion.
There are 2 main spells that are the reason Arcane Mages can do good AoE
damage, namely Arcane Explosion and
Arcane Barrage. The
idea is to cast Arcane Explosion from 0 to 4 Arcane Charges, doing significant
damage, and then following it up with a very hard hitting Arcane Barrage,
especially with
Resonance. It is important to realize, that this is
not Mana neutral, so you will eventually run out of Mana when keeping this
rotation up for prolonged periods of time. So make sure you keep an eye on your
Mana bar, to ensure you keep enough Mana for the rest of the fight.
If you need to continue doing AoE damage for prolonged periods of time,
there is a Mana neutral rotation that can be used via the use of
Rule of Threes. Instead of using
Arcane Explosion when on
3 Arcane Charges, you instead use
Arcane Blast to go from 3 Arcane
Charges to 4. Because of
Rule of Threes, the Arcane Blast going
from 3 to 4 Arcane Charges will not cost any Mana, saving a good portion of
your Mana by casting less Arcane Explosions, and regaining Mana during the cast
time of the free Arcane Blast. This is only suggested when it is very important
to be able to keep up AoE damage for a long period of time, as Rule of Threes
is otherwise not the best talent.
If you are playing with Arcane Orb,
you should drop your stacks with
Arcane Barrage and instantly
rebuild them via the above talent. Additionally, the same should be done with
Touch of the Magi.
Prismatic Barrier
Do not forget to cast this any time you have to slightly reposition and
Blink/
Shimmer is either unavailable or would move you
too far to be useful. It lasts for 60 seconds, and has a 25-second cooldown,
so be careful not to cast it, if it is still active.
You can and should cast it before the start of every engagement.
Core Concepts for Arcane Mage
Arcane Mage is an elementary enough specialization to perform on a target dummy, but there are a few key factors that will separate the good from the great. Learning to focus on what is important and master the core concepts of a specialization is what leads to strong overall performance on the damage charts. There are 3 major concepts that form the central trinity of optimizing for success:
- Mana management during the Conserve phase;
- flawless execution during the Burn phase;
- movement management.
Managing movement is a fundamental skill shared by all the caster classes in World of Warcraft. The highly mobile nature of the Mage class allows flexible and creative ways to move during combat, making it of supreme importance that you give this the proper respect.
Mana Management During Conserve Phase
It is highly recommended you develop an instinct for your Mana regeneration rate by practicing on a target dummy or in LFR. The more Mastery you have, the faster you will regenerate Mana in combat, whereas the more Haste you have, the faster you will spend your Mana, making this regeneration highly variable depending on your level of gear.
It is important to have a good sense of the interplay between your
Arcane Charges and your current Mana pool. On encounters with cleave
and AoE, pay close attention to your timers if you plan on capitalizing on the
extra targets. If you need to unleash a little extra burst in the Conserve
phase for an important add, AoE opportunities, or to push a damage check,
ensure you correctly budget Mana and Rune of Power +
Touch of the Magi
in advance.
Arcane Familiar does not increase base Mana regeneration. Evocation however,
does benefit from the extra 10% Mana from Arcane Familiar. This is further increased through
stacking Mastery, which will increase your maximum Mana and Mana regeneration
and thus lower the number of Arcane Barrage casts per fight, allowing
you to stay at 4 Arcane Charges longer.
If you have an AddOn that allows you detach your Mana bar, it is highly recommended you put it somewhere near the lower centre of your screen so you can easily keep track of your current resource level. Newer players tend to overburn during the Conserve phase and are unable to execute a complete Burn phase because of this.
Although the Burn Phase is often seen as the most important part of the Arcane
rotation, this does not mean that you should not try to maximize the amount
of Mana you use during the Conserve phase, especially since you spend a long
portion of the fight in this phase. You should absolutely never sit on 100% Mana,
because every second spent at a 100% Mana is Mana wasted. Especially with high
Mastery levels, you can cast a surprising amount of Arcane Blasts
during the Conserve phase before you need to start using
Arcane Barrage
actively.
Executing the Burn Phase Consistently
Although the Burn Phase is only a small portion in terms of time spent,
it is not a small portion of your total damage at all. During your Burn Phase,
you can do enormous amounts of damage in this short time window.
Therefore, it is very important to consistently perform your Burn Phase correctly.
Arcane Power should be used on cooldown wherever possible, though you
do want it to overlap with any other major damage buffs (such as
Rune of Power or raid mechanics that increase your damage). You should
cast
Evocation immediately upon hitting 0 Mana, so the cooldown
becomes available as quickly as possible.
Pay close attention to the Burn Phase priority list posted at the top of this page. This seems very straightforward on the surface, but a surprising number of players will stutter in the execution. Make sure you are prepared before entering the Burn phase!
Movement Management
While it is difficult to describe the best ways to position and move during a dungeon or raid encounter, it is essential to your success as an Arcane Mage.
Try and use Blink for "urgent" movement — when you need to
travel from one place to another as quickly as possible.
Prismatic Barrier is a good choice when you only need to take
a few steps, as it only costs a single GCD.
Shimmer is a great talent
as it is off GCD and does not interrupt your current cast, allowing you to
continue casting when a damaging raid mechanic spawns under you, by shimmering
out of it.
Alter Time is underutilized by a lot of players,
but is an essential part of your mobility kit. This spell is fantastic for
mechanics that force you to run out of the raid and return moments later.
It is also great for dealing with dance mechanics — after the "dance" ends
you can return to your original location without delay. Do not underestimate
Alter Time and do not be afraid to get creative with how you use it!
Always try to position yourself in a location central to fight movement. For example, if the boss is being moved in a circle, try to stay on the inside of the kite path to ensure minimal movement.
Quiet Movement
Many players will unconsciously move during fights, despite it being unnecessary. For example, sometimes the boss or adds will be moved by the tank a couple yards, and though you are still in range to cast, you subconsciously mirror that movement, costing you global cooldowns. Consciously work to "quiet" your movement, and reduce unnecessary movement to a minimum. The best way to see this in action is to take a video of your raid, then watch yourself play. Most players will be surprised by the amount of wasted movement they commit. When you are forced to move, make use of the tips above, and make your path as direct and decisive as possible.
Arcane Mage: Opening Sequence
The below opening sequence assumes a standard talent setup that has
Arcane Echo,
Rune of Power and
Arcane Orb.
If you do not have Arcane Echo, start at the line called "Start here without Arcane Echo".
- Cast
Arcane Blast 2 seconds before the pull.
- If running
Temporal Warp, cast
Time Warp. (make sure the group used their Time Warp or similar effect before activating your own or you will not get the additional effect)
- Cast
Arcane Orb, if talented, or 2 times Arcane Blast instead.
- Cast Arcane Blast.
- Cast
Rune of Power, if talented.
- Cast
Arcane Missiles if you have 3 stacks of
Clearcasting.
- Cast Arcane Blast until there is 1 second left on Rune of Power.
- If you are running
Temporal Warp, and you have a
Time Warp (or similar) effect active and also your own Time Warp effect active, are are most likely out of Mana here. If so, cast
Evocation.
- Cast
Arcane Barrage.
- Start here without Arcane Echo.
- Cast
Touch of the Magi.
- Activate
Arcane Power and any racial cooldowns or on-use trinkets.
- Cast
Arcane Missiles with
Clearcasting.
- Cast
Arcane Missiles while
Touch of the Magi is up if you have
Arcane Echo talented.
- Place
Rune of Power when
Arcane Power ends, if you do not have Arcane Echo talented.
- Cast
Arcane Blast as a filler.
- Cast
Presence of Mind if
Rune of Power or
Arcane Power would run out before you can finish your next
Arcane Blast.
- Use
Mana Gem when you are at 85% Mana or lower.
- Cast
Evocation when your Mana is empty and commence Conserve phase.
The opener is mostly similar to a standard Burn Phase, but the main difference
comes when you have Arcane Echo talented. In this case, we delay
Touch of the Magi and
Arcane Power until after an initial
Rune of Power
usage. We do this to fish for
Clearcasting procs to greatly increase
the damage of the Burn Phase.
Changelog
- 18 Jan. 2021: Updated Prismatic Barrier description.
- 04 Dec. 2020: Simplified Shifting Power usage and expanded opener for Temporal Warp Legendary.
- 03 Dec. 2020: Added a section for a very strong AoE combo.
- 01 Dec. 2020: Added Siphon Storm section to rotation and fixed incorrect checkbox functionality.
- 23 Nov. 2020: Updated rotation to include Arcane Missiles during Touch of the Magi.
- 21 Nov. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands launch. Changed the single target rotation to the new optimal rotation for Shadowlands, added covenant and legendary usage to the rotation, removed Essence usage, updated opener for Arcane Echo.
- 11 Nov. 2020: Updated Arcane Missiles information to more clearly explain when to chain and when not to chain.
- 21 Oct. 2020: Added a section for the Arcane Missiles Spam rotation.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
More Mage Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Dutchmagoz. Dutchmagoz is the Guildleader & Raidleader of BadRNG, owner of the Mage theorycrafting website Altered Time, and the owner of the Mage Discord server, Altered Time.
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