Arcane Mage DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — The War Within Pre-Patch

Arcane has a relatively unique playstyle, where managing your Mana is key. However, proper mana management is only a small part of the rotation. Below, we go over some of the key concepts to playing Arcane well:

• Do not waste Mana. Generally, Mana = DPS for Arcane, so whenever you sit on maximum Mana for long periods of time, you are losing damage. There are, however, some notable exceptions to this rule:
  • Evocation on the pull. At the start of the fight, you will still cast Evocation, even though all of the Mana from it will be wasted. This is because of the large Intellect boost it gives, and it allows you to sync the cooldown with your other cooldowns.
• Maximize using spells on 4 Arcane Charges. There are many ways to gain Arcane Charges quickly, and we want to maximize these to avoid casting Arcane Blast on less than 4 Arcane Charges, as this does little damage,
• Use cooldowns quickly. This is important for almost all specs in the game, but Arcane really suffers when you sit on your cooldowns for a long time. Not only are you losing damage from not gaining the damage benefits from your cooldowns like Arcane Surge, but you also end up violating the previous rules because your mana generation is directly tied to your cooldowns, further lowering your damage.
• Maximizing Nether Precision procs. It is key that the procs from Nether Precision are maximized. There is a "trick" where you can get 3 spells out of the 2 stacks. When you have 1 stack left, you can cast Arcane Blast into Arcane Barrage, and both will benefit from the final stack. It is key to apply this method; however, be careful to only apply this method when you have a quick way to build back Arcane Charges, for example, via Arcane Missiles via High Voltage, or Arcane Orb.

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 do as much burst damage as possible, ignoring mana constraints.

You should go into the Burn Phase whenever Evocation, Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi are ready.

The opener consists of a very specific sequence of spells into a standard priority system. The same sequence below applies to any burn phase, not just the opener.

1. Cast Evocation, for Clearcasting and the Intellect buff.
2. Cast Arcane Orb, if you do not have 4 Arcane Charges;
3. Use any on-use trinkets or racials;
4. Cast Arcane Missiles, consuming the Clearcasting from Evocation and granting Nether Precision and any potentially missing Arcane Charges via High Voltage;
5. Cast Arcane Surge;
6. Cast Arcane Barrage;
7. Shortly after Arcane Barrage, while it is traveling toward the target, cast Touch of the Magi. Due to Touch of the Magi being off the global cooldown, it should apply before Arcane Barrage reaches the target;

This marks the end of the specific opener/burn sequence. After this, follow the priority list below:

1. When you have Nether Precision and at least 12 stacks of Arcane Harmony and either Clearcasting, Arcane Orb or Touch of the Magi: cast Arcane Blast 2 times into Arcane Barrage. This specific sequence allows you to fit 3 spells into 2 Nether Precision stacks. Make sure you only do this with Clearcasting or Arcane Orb ready, as you need a way to build Arcane Charges back quickly. Without a method to get Arcane Charges back quickly, simply consume both stacks via Arcane Blast and continue the rotation normally. For more information on when to use this trick, check our when to use Nether Precision Trick section below;
2. Cast Arcane Missiles when Clearcasting is up. Keep in mind the following notes for casting Arcane Missiles:
   • Interrupt the channel when the global cooldown is over if you have 4 Arcane Charges. The easiest way to do this is to simply spam press Arcane Blast while Missiles is channeling;
   • Only cast Arcane Missiles when Nether Precision is not up to avoid overcapping Nether Precision procs. There are 2 exceptions to this rule:
     • If you are on 3 stacks of Clearcasting, then you can use Arcane Missiles even if it would overcap Nether Precision;
     • If you have 1 Nether Precision stack, and are on less than 4 Arcane Charges, you can use Arcane Missiles.
3. Cast Arcane Barrage if Arcane Tempo has less than 2 seconds left.
4. Cast Presence of Mind when Touch of the Magi has less than one second left, immediately followed by Arcane Blast, to fit in this one extra Arcane Blast.
5. Cast Arcane Orb when available and you have 0 or 1 Arcane Charge;
6. Cast Arcane Blast as your filler, consuming Nether Precision procs;
7. When you drop below 70% mana and Arcane Surge has finished, throw out Arcane Barrage to dump your Arcane Charges immediately into Arcane Orb to regain them. Cast Shifting Power after Arcane Orb.
8. When Arcane Surge ends, it marks the end of the burn phase/opener.

Whenever Arcane Surge is not active, you are considered in the conserve phase.

The conserve phase priority list is very similar to the burn phase priority list. The main differences are as follows:

• Use Shifting Power when it is ready. Just like with Arcane Orb, you do not want to spend the time doing this while Arcane Surge is active, but outside of that, it is important to Shifting Power as often as you can.
• Try to stay above 70% mana (for Enlightened) unless Evocation is coming back up in less than 40 seconds. When Evocation is coming back up soon, you know you will be recovering all of your Mana, so you are free to spend it more aggressively.
• Use Touch of the Magi at the end of a Nether Precision combo as a way to get back 4 Arcane Charges. During Touch of the Magi, avoid dropping 4 Arcane Charges unless you can get all 4 of them back instantly.

1. Go into the burn phase when you have Evocation, Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi ready;
2. Cast Arcane Orb when available and you have 0 or 1 Arcane Charge;
3. Cast Shifting Power when available;
4. When you have Nether Precision and at least 12 stacks of Arcane Harmony and either Clearcasting, Arcane Orb or Touch of the Magi: cast Arcane Blast 2 times into Arcane Barrage. This specific sequence allows you to fit 3 spells into 2 Nether Precision stacks. Make sure you only do this with Clearcasting, Touch of the Magi, or Arcane Orb ready, as you need a way to build Arcane Charges back quickly. Without a method to get Arcane Charges back quickly, simply consume both stacks via Arcane Blast and continue the rotation normally. For more information on when to use this trick, check our when to use Nether Precision Trick section below;
5. Cast Arcane Missiles when Clearcasting is up. Keep in mind the following notes for casting Arcane Missiles:
   • Interrupt the channel when the global cooldown is over if you have 4 Arcane Charges. The easiest way to do this is to simply spam press Arcane Blast while Missiles is channeling;
   • Only cast Arcane Missiles when Nether Precision is not up to avoid overcapping Nether Precision procs. There are 2 exceptions to this rule:
     • If you are on 3 stacks of Clearcasting, then you can use Arcane Missiles even if it would overcap Nether Precision;
     • If you have 1 Nether Precision stack, and are on less than 4 Arcane Charges, you can use Arcane Missiles.
6. Use Touch of the Magi as one of your methods to get Arcane Charges. Make sure you do this shortly after Touch of the Magi is available to avoid wasting the cooldown. During Touch of the Magi, your rotation is virtually the same, however, do not drop your Arcane Charges unless you can get them back quickly via High Voltage or Arcane Orb.
7. If you are below 70% mana, cast Arcane Barrage when you have 4 Arcane Charges. Try to combine these Arcane Barrages with the second stack of Nether Precision where possible. For example, if you are close to 70% but not quite below, but you have Nether Precision, you should do the Double Arcane Blast -> Arcane Barrage sequence. If Evocation comes up within 40 seconds, you can go lower than 70% Mana as you will soon regain all of your Mana;
8. Cast Arcane Blast as your filler.

You have Arcing Cleave not selected as a talent. Without Arcing Cleave, the AoE rotation simply does not function. We strongly recommend you pick Arcing Cleave for any AoE content, as without it, the AoE rotation below would not function properly.

The Aoe rotation for Arcane Mage is a relatively straight forward rotation. The AoE rotation is Mana neutral, meaning you never run out of Mana following the AoE rotation, so there is no need to manage/conserve conserve your Mana. However, we still have an opening/burst rotation, followed by waiting for our cooldowns.

You should go into the Burn Phase sequence when Evocation, Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi are ready.

The opener consists of a very specific sequence of spells into a standard priority system. The same sequence below applies to any burn phase, not just the opener.

1. Cast Evocation, for Clearcasting and the Intellect buff.
2. Cast Arcane Orb when available and you have 0 or 1 Arcane Charge;
3. Use any on-use trinkets or racials;
4. Cast Arcane Missiles, consuming the Clearcasting from Evocation and granting Nether Precision and any potentially missing Arcane Charges via High Voltage;
5. Cast Arcane Surge;
6. Cast Arcane Barrage;
7. Shortly after Arcane Barrage, while it is traveling toward the target, cast Touch of the Magi. Due to Touch of the Magi being off the global cooldown, it should apply before Arcane Barrage reaches the target;
8. Cast a single Arcane Blast to trigger the Arcane Blast portion of Magi's Spark, immediately followed by Arcane Barrage, both benefitting from the second Nether Precision stack;

This marks the end of the specific opener/burn sequence. After this, follow the priority list below:

The AoE rotation outside of the specific cooldown sequence is very straightforward:

1. Go into the above burst sequence when Evocation, Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi are ready;
2. Cast Arcane Orb when you have no Arcane Charges;
3. Cast Shifting Power while Arcane Orb is on cooldown;
4. Cast Arcane Missiles when you have Clearcasting, and you have less than 4 Arcane Charges;
5. Cast Arcane Missiles when you have Clearcasting, and Aether Attunement is up;
6. Cast Arcane Barrage when you have 4 Arcane Charges;
7. Cast Arcane Missiles when you have Clearcasting;
8. Cast Arcane Explosion to generate Arcane charges.