Arcane Mage DPS Spell Summary — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.2.5

If you are new to Arcane, it is recommended you read this before proceeding! In this section we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, and how they interact with important cooldowns. If you have played this spec before or have already achieved a level of comfort playing this spec in a practical environment, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

Mana and Arcane Charges are your primary resources, and interact with each other in a fashion unique to Arcane.

Arcane Charges are generated by Arcane Blast and Arcane Explosion, and by some talented spells. They go to a maximum of 4, and increase the Mana cost of Arcane Blast by 100% per stack. They also increase the damage of Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage by a percentage dictated by your current Mastery value.

Mana is the main resource of Arcane Mages. With the above information in mind, managing your Mana can be a challenging task. On one hand, casting spells while at 4 Arcane Charges allows you to do maximum damage. The consequence of this is that you will quickly chew through your Mana bar, leaving you with no option but to stand there and wait for your Mana to slowly regenerate. This relationship between Mana and Arcane Charges forms the central theme of the Arcane specialization and will be discussed at length later in the guide.

These abilities are available no matter what talents you chose, and form the bread and butter of this specialization.

Arcane Blast is your main filler and nuke, and generates 1 Arcane Charge when cast. This spell has a low Mana cost when you have no Arcane Charges, but can make your Mana bar disappear in only a handful of casts at 4 Arcane Charges. It has no travel time, which makes it great for instantly applying damage, or finishing off an important add.

Arcane Missiles is a channeled spell that deals slightly more damage than Arcane Blast does at 3 Arcane Charges. It can be cast at any time, but in practice is only used in combination with the Clearcasting proc, which makes it cost no Mana and channel 20% faster. Any Mana you spend on damaging abilities (and Spellsteal) has a chance to proc Clearcasting. Arcane Missiles has a relatively slow travel which means you should avoid casting it on any target that is about to die, as it may not reach in time.

Arcane Barrage is an instant cast spell that clears your Arcane Charges, making your Arcane Blast cheaper to cast again. This ability is used as a reset button to help you maintain a stable Mana pool. You can generate charges with Arcane Blast and Arcane Explosion. Arcane Barrage itself hits relatively hard when used at 4 Arcane Charges, especially on multiple targets.

Clearcasting is the only rotational proc Arcane has. This proc allows you to cast Arcane Missiles and Arcane Explosion for free, and makes Arcane Missiles channel 20% faster as well. It can proc from anything that costs Mana. Importantly, Clearcasting cannot stack, which means you should use either Arcane Missiles (single target) or Arcane Explosion (multiple targets) as quickly as possible when you get it. However, if you already started casting a new spell after the proc occurs, you should not interrupt the Arcane Blast cast, but instead queue the Arcane Missiles or Arcane Explosion to be used right after Arcane Blast. This is because if you use a Clearcasting proc the moment you gain another Clearcasting proc, the new one will not be wasted.

Arcane Power is your main damaging cooldown. It increases your spell damage by 30%, and reduces all Mana costs by 30%. While it only lasts 10 seconds, it allows for a potent burst window. It is best to combine this with 4 Arcane Charges and a healthy Mana bar so you can maximize damage while this spell is active.

Evocation is not a direct damage cooldown, strictly speaking, but does restore 100% of your Mana bar. As noted, Mana is damage for Arcane Mages, so this ability ends up having an extremely high DPS value. This is typically used sometime after Arcane Power is over, as you will be out of Mana from casting so many spells at 4 Arcane Charges.

Time Warp increases Haste by 30% for 40 seconds for all party and raid members within 100 yards. This ability debuffs everyone with a debuff that prevents the possibility of benefiting from Time Warp, Heroism, and Bloodlust for the next 10 minutes.

Below are listed some of the most impactful defensive and utility abilities an Arcane Mage has to offer to a raid or dungeon group.

Ice Block is one of the best defensive tools in the game. It causes you to be completely immune to any form of damage, debuffs, or otherwise negative effects. It can be used to save yourself from dying to incoming damage, but in many cases, it can also solo raid mechanics that otherwise need multiple people.

Greater Invisibility is another very strong defensive ability. This can help your healers out in a lot of situations when high damage is incoming. It also removes some debuffs, and often stops any type of targeted ability from hitting you.

Arcane Intellect buffs the entire raid, giving them more Intellect. Mages are the only class that give this buff, so most raids will want at least 1 Mage, to ensure the raid has this buff.

Remove Curse can be used to remove Curses from your raid or party.