Arcane Mage DPS Stat Priority — Shadowlands 9.2.5
On this page, you will find out the optimal stat priority for your Arcane Mage. We first present the stat priority, before delving into more complex explanations. Our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Shadowlands 9.2.5.
If you were looking for TBC Classic content, please refer to our TBC Classic Arcane Mage stat priority.
The Basics of Stats for Arcane Mage
The following is a good guideline for stats for Arcane Mages:
- Intellect;
- Critical Strike;
- Mastery;
- Versatility;
- Haste.
All of the secondary (non-Intellect) stats are very close in value, despite the way they are ordered on our list. 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 (see our Raidbots guide).
However, using purely stat weights is almost never the best way to go about gearing your character. On the gear page, we go in-depth in how to best gear your character for varying types of content.
Diminishing returns on secondary stats
Since Shadowlands, secondary stats have diminishing returns. This means, as you get more points into one stat, it will take increasingly more rating to get 1% more stats. This reduction goes as follows:
- From 0 to 30%, there is no penalty.
- From 30% to 39%, there is a 10% penalty.
- From 39% to 47%, there is a 20% penalty.
- From 47% to 54%, there is a 30% penalty.
- From 54% to 66%, there is a 40% penalty.
- From 66% to 126%, there is a 50% penalty.
- You can't get more than 126% from gear rating.
Generally, you can ignore most of this, but it does again put emphasis on using simulations to determine what stats to use. We strongly advice you to use Raidbots Top Gear to determine what gear to equip, as it automatically handles all of these complexities for you.
Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
The gems, enchants, and consumables you will use are directly derived from your stat priority and you can find our advice on this topic in our dedicated page.
These statistics have been obtained by combining common sense, in-game testing, and simulations using SimulationCraft.
Arcane Mage: Getting a Better Understanding
Statistics Explanations
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 buff of Arcane Charges, and additionally increases the damage
of all other spells as well.
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.
Changelog
- 31 May 2022: Page reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 22 Jan. 2022: Updated for Patch 9.2.
- 01 Nov. 2021: Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.1.5.
- 28 Jun. 2021: Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.1.
- 09 Mar. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 23 Nov. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands launch. Added Covenant Abilities.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
More Mage Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Dutchmagoz. Dutchmagoz is a Mythic raider in one of the top raiding guilds, Angered, owner of the Mage theorycrafting website Altered Time, and the owner of the Mage Discord server, Altered Time.
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