Arcane Mage DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.1.5)

This build is focused primarily on doing Delve content. It is very similar to the Mythic+ tree, however, it focuses a bit more on defensives and kiting since you do not have a dedicated healer. Although Brann does provide some healing, the enemies can hit relatively hard, and additional defensives and kiting are very valuable in Delves.

The build below is great for pure (or almost pure) single-target content, like a large number of raid bosses. However, a lot of changes can be made, especially in the Mage tree, to tune for specific encounters or damage types, so we strongly suggest reading Talent Choices section for more information.

Both the Sunfury and Spellslinger trees do nearly identical single-target damage, so you can pick either based on your preference.

We list the Spellslinger variant as recommended purely because it does better cleave and AoE damage than Sunfury, so you only have to learn one Hero Talent for all situations, but you can play Sunfury at no damage loss on single-target.

You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by using the "Export Talents" button below.

The build below is great for pure (or almost pure) single-target content, like a large number of raid bosses. However, a lot of changes can be made, especially in the Mage tree, to tune for specific encounters or damage types, so we strongly suggest reading Talent Choices section for more information.

Both the Sunfury and Spellslinger trees do nearly identical single-target damage, so you can pick either based on your preference.

You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by using the "Export Talents" button below.

Both Sunfury and Spellslinger are good in Mythic+ content. However, the Spellslinger build does do more overall AoE DPS while doing the same single-target damage, making it generally the favoured spec for Mythic+.

You can easily import the talent trees below into the game by using the "Export Talents" button below.

For more information on Mythic+ talents, you can check out our dedicated Mythic+ page below.

Both Sunfury and Spellslinger are good in Mythic+ content. However, the Sunfury build a bit less AoE damage, without providing more boss damage, making it generally a slightly weaker Mythic+/AoE spec.

You can easily import the talent trees below into the game by using the "Export Talents" button below.

For more information on Mythic+ talents, you can check out our dedicated Mythic+ page below.

This tree is relatively close to the single-target build, making only some minor changes, allowing you to do cleave damage on primarily single-target fights, like raid bosses with adds.

The Spellslinger variant is better than the Sunfury variant when it comes to doing cleave DPS while gaining single-target damage at the same time, making it the preferred cleave spec.

You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by using the "Export Talents" button below.

This tree is relatively close to the single-target build, making only some minor changes, allowing you to do cleave damage on primarily single-target fights, like raid bosses with adds.

The Sunfury variant does less damage than the Spellslinger variant when it comes to doing cleave DPS.

You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by using the "Export Talents" button below.

This section is about picking the standard Arcane Mage Talents. For an overview of the Hero Talent Trees, and which one to play in what scenario, check out the page below.

The general Mage tree is extremely flexible. It is almost entirely personal preference, apart from a couple of key DPS nodes. You have many more points available than you need to get all of the DPS nodes, leaving you with many options in terms of survivability, crowd control, and utility. Below, we will highlight some of the key nodes that are important for DPS and suggest some of the best non-DPS nodes. However, even after that, you can assign a bunch of points as you see fit.

Talent	Reason for taking
Overflowing Energy	A large DPS boost.
Incanter's Flow	A large DPS boost.
Shifting Power	A large DPS boost.
Ice Block	One of the best defensives in the entire game.
Mirror Image	A great defensive tool useful in all content.
Alter Time	A very strong defensive and mobility tool in one, useful in all content.

Talent	Reason for taking
Spellsteal	A good pick if there are buffs you can steal that are either beneficial to you, or make the content easier by removing it from the target.
Remove Curse	A good pick if there are curses you can dispel.
Winter's Protection	Can be useful if you need the reduced cooldown to be able to solo soak a specific raid mechanic. If combined with Ice Cold and Cryo-Freeze it also becomes a very strong damage reduction tool.
Incantation of Swiftness	Can be useful for skipping content, like trash packs in dungeons, or open-world enemies
Tempest Barrier	A minor defensive tool useful in all content.
Arcane Warding	A minor defensive tool useful in almost all content.

The tier 2 talents contain almost entirely utility/mobility talents.

Talent	Reason for taking
Tome of Rhonin	A straight up DPS boost
Tome of Antonidas	A straight up DPS boost
Shimmer or Ice Floes	Both are extremely strong mobility tools. This choice is largely a personal preference. Ice Floes ultimately allows for more movement without losing DPS, but it comes at the cost of losing out on the burst movement (without having to give up a global cooldown like Blink does) that Shimmer provides. Generally, Shimmer is preferred because you can already cast multiple abilities while moving due to Slipstream.

Talent	Reason for taking
Supernova	Very good crowd-control ability, especially useful in Mythic+ to interrupt spell casts.
Diverted Energy	A decent survivability tool useful in all content.
Master of Time	A decent survivability and mobility tool useful in all content.
Quick Witted	A good pickup in content where you need the reduced interrupt cooldown, like Mythic+ in a low interrupt group.
Slow	A good pickup to assist in kiting, especially when solo. Generally not too much usage in group content, though.
Cryo-Freeze	A very good self-healing tool when playing solo or a very strong defensive in all content when combined with Ice Cold.
Reduplication	Can be useful if it would give you an additional usage of Mirror Image for a specific high-hitting ability, but usually hard to proc this.
Reabsorption	Adds a relatively useful self-heal onto Mirror Image, but it is usually hard to proc this.
Blast Wave	Great crowd control that can be extremely useful in Mythic+ and open-world content, for its ability to AoE interrupt enemy spellcasts
Volatile Detonation	Used to further increase the ability to kite with Blast Wave, but should be careful in grouped content to not knock enemies into additional enemies and pull more than planned.
Mass Slow	Can be used to kite packs of mobs in Mythic+, in some cases, or good for open-world content.
Ice Nova	For even more crowd control. Also, technically a minor DPS increase when moving as it can be used when on the move if you have no Ice Floes / Shimmer ready and no other instants.
Ring of Frost	For even more crowd control.

In this tier, we unlock some of the strong final nodes as a priority, whereas the rest is flexible.

Talent	Reason for taking
Time Anomaly / Inspired Intellect	The strongest of the final nodes. We usually suggest picking Time Anomaly. However, if you do not like the randomness of Time Anomaly, you can pick Inspired Intellect for a minor DPS loss.
Greater Invisibility	One of the best defensive tools in the game.
Mass Barrier / Mass Invisibility	Provides quite a lot of defensive power for your group if you take Mass Barrier. Since the cooldown is not shared with Prismatic Barrier, it is a useful defensive tool even when solo. Mass Invisibility can be a very strong tool for Mythic+ to skip packs.
Temporal Velocity	A decent mobility tool. It is not that great of a talent on its own, but it is on the path to some very strong other nodes, so it's pretty much always taken.

Talent	Reason for taking
Ice Cold	Turns Ice Block into a very strong defensive cooldown that does not come at the cost of any DPS but removes the immunity aspect from it. Generally, we suggest taking this if you do not need the immunity aspect of Ice Block, as it lasts 6 seconds, and you are unlikely to sit in Ice Block for that long. Additionally, when combined with Cryo-Freeze, it also becomes a very strong self heal that you do not need to sit in Ice Block for to get the benefit of.
Displacement	Provides mobility, but is usually pretty difficult to pick up without giving up one of the major nodes.
Barrier Diffusion	A minor boost to your survivability that works in all content.
Accumulative Shielding	A minor boost to your survivability that works in all content.
Displacement	A decent mobility and defensive tool. Difficult to take without giving up one of the capstone nodes, but if you are skipping a capstone node, it is a very useful mobility + defensive tool.
Frigid Winds + Ice Ward	These nodes give you even more kiting power. Not very useful in most group content, but strong when solo and on the way to Ice Cold. If you are not taking Ice Cold, these two talents should be skipped for most group play.
Time Manipulation	Can be useful if you are doing content where you really need the extra crowd control.

In this section, we will go over the Arcane Mage Talents. The focus of this section will be PvE content.

We pick up all talents in Tier 1, as every single node is either very strong, or required to be picked up to path to the rest of the tree.

Talent	Reason for taking
Improved Clearcasting	Decent DPS increase and required to properly path the rest of the tree.
Nether Precision	Very strong DPS boost and interacts with many other talents deeper in the tree.
Amplification / Reverberate	This choice node is always picked to be able to pick up Arcane Surge. Generally Amplification is picked for all situations, as Reverberate is simply not good enough.
Arcane Familiar	Decent talent on its own, but mostly picked to be able to path to other parts of the tree.
Arcing Cleave	Required to pick up Intuition, while being a strong node on its own.
Intuition	Large DPS boost in all situations.
Arcane Surge	Incredibly powerful offensive cooldown for all situations.

There are no optional talents as we pick up every single talent in Tier 1.

Talent	Reason for taking
Arcane Tempo	Required to pick up many of the other nodes and decent DPS increase.
Slipstream	Very strong mobility tool. It can be skipped for more DPS talents, but generally, we recommend picking it due to its incredible quality of life.
Evocation	Large DPS boost.
Touch of the Magi	Very strong DPS boost.
Dematerialize	Strong DPS boost on both single-target and AoE. Also required to unlock various other important nodes.
Impetus	Decent boost for single-target, and smaller for AoE. On its own, it is a relatively good node, but generally always taken because it is required to pick Illuminated Thoughts.
Illuminated Thoughts	Strong DPS boost on both single-target and AoE.
Improved Touch of the Magi	Strong DPS boost on both single-target and AoE.
Eureka	Decent DPS boost in all situations.

Talent	Reason for taking
Energized Familiar	Taken on single target but skipped in AoE scenarios.
Consortium's Bauble	Taken on single target but skipped in AoE scenarios.
Resonance	Taken for AoE situations but skipped on single target.
Charged Orb	Taken for AoE situations but skipped on single target.
Presence of Mind	Does not really provide any DPS at all, and if used incorrectly, can even be a DPS loss. However, it is good for mobility. If you feel like you are moving too much with nothing good to cast, you can take Presence of Mind to help with this.

Below, we list the talents you should always take, regardless of build.

Talent	Reason for taking
Arcane Debilitation (2x)	Strong DPS increase on single-target, while also taken in AoE due to being required for Aether Attunement.
Arcane Echo	Strong DPS boost in all situations.
Aether Attunement	Srong DPS boost in all situations.
Enlightened	Very strong DPS boost.
Arcane Bombardment	Very strong DPS boost.
Arcane Harmony	Strong DPS boost.
Magi's Spark	Strong DPS boost.

Talent	Reason for taking
Orb Barrage	As Spellslinger it is always picked. For Sunfury it is only picked in AoE scenarios.
Time Loop	Picked as Spellslinger on single target, but skipped as Sunfury.