Arcane Mage DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Dragonflight 10.1

While optimizing talents on a contextual basis is the highly recommended method of setting up your build, the talent builds listed below work great for specific purposes. Keep in mind, you can freely change your talents as long as you are out of combat, without requiring any consumables, so it is highly suggested to pick talents specifically for the content you are doing.

Generally, there are two main "builds" for Arcane Mages. The Mana Gem build and the Arcane Harmony build. Read our Mana Gem VS Arcane Harmony section for more information on which build to play when and why.

You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by using the "copy export string" button below.

You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by using the "copy export string" button below.

Mythic+ require a mix of certain AoE and single-target talents, depending on affixes and other variables. If you want advice that is specific to Mythic+, you should check out our page below.

Multiple talents require a change to your rotation to use them optimally. You can find more information on how your rotation will look after selecting your talents on our rotation page below.

If you are looking for in-depth explanations of what each talent does, we suggest reading through the spell summary page.

There are two main Arcane Mage builds at the moment. You can switch between them by swapping between Mana Gem, Enlightened and Prodigious Savant to/from Illuminated Thoughts, Concentration and Arcane Harmony.

Generally speaking, both builds are nearly identical DPS on pure single target. The difference at most is somewhere around 1%. Which one is better depends on your gear, so simming it is the only way to find out which one is better for pure single target. However, the main differences are at multiple target counts:

• 1 Target: (Nearly)Equal DPS with both builds.
• 2 Targets: Arcane Harmony build significantly better, between 5% - 10%.
• 3 Targets: Mana Gem build slightly better, around 2%-5%.
• 4 Targets+: Mana Gem build significantly better, between 5% - 15% depending on the target count.

However, on top of the purely numeric differences above, there are a couple of other reasons you might want to pick each build:

• Mana Gem build has better AoE, but Arcane Harmony build has better priority damage.
• Mana Gem build is generally considered a bit easier to play, as Mana management is significantly easier than the Arcane Harmony build.
• Arcane Harmony build has more variance, as a lot of its damage comes from a very few very hard-hitting Arcane Barrages, so whether or not these critically strike has a significant impact on your overall DPS. This means you can get lucky and overperform or unlucky and underperform more than the Mana Gem build.

As a final note, both builds have practically the same gearing priority, so you do not have to commit to either build and can swap based on the content you are doing.

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 straight up DPS boost
Rune of Power or Incanter's Flow	Rune of Power is the best theoretical DPS choice for any amount of targets. However, Incanter's Flow can be close, and Rune of Power is quite restrictive, so it may not be practical for all encounters.
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.
Tempest Barrier	A great defensive tool 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
Incantation of Swiftness	Can be useful for skipping content, like trash packs in dungeons, or open-world enemies

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. Generally Ice Floes will be better if you expect to have to move during your Rune of Power window, as Ice Floes will allow you to move around in your Rune without losing the buff, whereas Shimmer would force you to Shimmer out of the Rune. However, Shimmer would be better if you expect to have to move longer distance at a short notice, without giving up DPS.
Diverted Energy	A great survivability tool useful in all content.

Talent	Reason for taking
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, limited use in group content as you are unlikely to sit in Ice Block for long
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 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
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 / Temporal Warp	The strongest of the final nodes. Keep in mind, Temporal Warp is good even if you are the only Time Warp (or similar effects) provider in the group, as Time Warp will not go on cooldown the first time you cast it, so you can cast it twice. Due to this, any content you would use Time Warp relatively close to on cooldown, we suggest going Temporal Warp. If you use Time Warp late into a fight, you should take Time Anomaly instead.
Shifting Power	A straight-up DPS boost, stronger than Meteor.
Greater Invisibility	One of the best defensive tools in the game.
Flow of Time	Mandatory to get to the final nodes, but also a pretty strong mobility tool in its own right.

Talent	Reason for taking
Dragon's Breath	A very good crowd-control ability, especially useful in Mythic+ to interrupt spell casts.
Accumulative Shielding	A minor boost to your survivability that works in all content.
Displacement	A decent mobility tool. Worth picking up if you already took Accumulative Shielding.
Temporal Velocity	A decent mobility tool. Not that great of a talent on its own, but it is on the path to Dragon's Breath so nice to pick up as a benefit of going for Dragon's Breath.
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 Shifting Power anyway.
Time Manipulation	Can be useful if you are doing content where you need the extra crowd control. Not worth taking instead of Dragon's Breath, so usually only worth taking if you are skipping one of the final talents in the tree.

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

This section sets up a lot of the core components of the spec. You will take almost every single talent in this section of the tree, with very little flexibility.

You always take all talents in this section, apart from Improved Arcane Missiles.

Put one point in Improved Arcane Missiles for more single-target DPS. For AoE & cleave scenarios, like Mythic+, you should skip it.

Talent	Reason for taking
Arcane Power	Very large DPS boost.
Presence of Mind	Reasonable DPS boost, but also good for mobility. However, the primary reason is to unlock Evocation in the next tier.
Amplification	Very large single-target DPS boost. Technically can be skipped on pure AoE, but this does not exist, and as long as there is any priority damage needed at any point, this talent is mandatory.
Resonance	Strong DPS boost in all situations.
Touch of the Magi	Very strong DPS boost.
Nether Tempest	Strong DPS boost. Primarily taken because every hit procs 2 ticks of Arcane Echo.
Improved Clearcasting	Strong DPS boost, but also allows you to save Clearcasting for priority targets, or movement. (together with Slipstream)
Arcane Familiar	Decently strong DPS boost for both single target and AoE.

Talent	Reason for taking
Slipstream	Very strong mobility tool. Can be skipped for more DPS talents, but generally, we recommend picking it due to its incredible quality of life.
Impetus	Good for single target / cleave.
Charged Orb	Good for cleave/AoE.
Arcing Cleave	Good for cleave/AoE.
Foresight	Very strong mobility tool, but kind of awkward position in the tree, making it hard to pick up without giving up too much DPS. Not as useful in AoE content as you will mostly be using instants in AoE, but the only path to get it is via the AoE talent Charged Orb.
Supernova	Decent crowd control, especially when used as an AoE interrupt. However, very difficult to reach talent because it requires picking up multiple very low-value talents.

The final section of the tree has two possible paths you can go, either the Arcane Harmony build or the Mana Gem build. For a more in-depth description on why to go each build, read our Mana Gem VS Arcane Harmony section.

Below we list the talents you should always take, regardless of whether you go Arcane Harmony or Mana Gem build.

Talent	Reason for taking
Evocation	Very strong DPS boost.
Siphon Storm	Very strong DPS boost.
Arcane Bombardment	Very strong DPS boost.
Arcane Echo	Very strong DPS boost.
Radiant Spark	Very strong DPS boost.
Harmonic Echo	Very strong DPS boost.

Talent	Reason for taking
Mana Gem, Enlightened and Prodigious Savant	Get this when going the Mana Gem build.
Arcane Harmony and the nodes to learn it ( Illuminated Thoughts, Concentration and Arcane Harmony)	Get this if going the Arcane Harmony build.

Since Battle for Azeroth, there is the option to enable "War Mode". Enabling War Mode grants the following benefits:

• PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
• 10% increase in World Quest rewards at max level.
• 10% more experience gained while leveling.
• Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended enabling the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at max level. However, doing so will enable PvP combat and the possibility of being attacked by members of the opposite faction while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

In this section we will rank the War Mode talents for leveling and outdoor content.

1. Temporal Shield is off the Global Cooldown, so it can be used without sacrificing any damage, and is very strong for when you know damage is incoming. You can simply tank the damage and heal back to full Health when the shield ends.
2. Master of Escape allows you to use Greater Invisibility very often. This can be very useful for quests that require you to pick up certain items, as Greater Invisibility allows you to drop combat and quickly mount up after looting the required item, without having to kill off any enemies you have aggroed while getting to the item.
3. Mass Invisibility is good for the same reasons as Master of Escape is.