Arcane Mage DPS Stat Priority — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.2.5

The following is a good guideline for stats for Arcane Mages:

1. Critical Strike;
2. Haste;
3. Mastery;
4. Versatility;
5. Intellect.

All of the secondary (non-Intellect) stats are very close in value, despite the way they are ordered on our list. Intellect is almost always the worst stat, when compared point for point to secondary stats. However, items generally have a lot of Intellect, which makes higher level items still very important. We encourage players to sim themselves, if possible, to determine what stats you should aim for according to your current distribution, as this may change depending on your current values. This is because a deficiency of one stat will often cause it to become high in value, relative to the others, until you reach a "normalized" value. A sim can be very easily run by almost anyone using the Raidbots Stat Weights tool.

These statistics have been obtained by combining common sense, in-game testing, and simulations using SimulationCraft.

Intellect is your primary stat. It provides you with Spell Power, which increases the damage of your spells.

Mastery, thanks to Mastery: Savant, increases your Mana pool and Mana regeneration, allowing you to cast more spells at maximum Arcane Charges between Evocations. Savant also increases the damage gain per Arcane Charge.

Haste increases the cast speed of your spells. It also reduces the cooldown of Arcane Barrage.

Critical Strike increases your chance to critically hit with all spells and abilities.

Versatility is a flat-out damage done increase and damage taken reduction.