Arcane Mage PvP Rotation and Playstyle — Midnight (12.0.1)

Set a table for your team with Conjure Refreshment. Mage food actually restores health and Mana faster than normal food and water from vendors. Make sure to use Arcane Intellect on your teammates.

Be prepared to be the focus of many teams. This can be frustrating and make people shy away from Arcane. That said, Arcane Mages have a lot of utility to get away from enemy teams, so make sure to use this to your advantage. With the use of Greater Invisibility and Mass Invisibility, you often have ways to avoid crowd control or taking damage. Combined with Blink and Alter Time, the mobility as an Arcane Mage is unmatched by any other specialization. Talents like Chrono Shift also give high base movement, making you a hard target to connect to. Make sure to use Arcane Intellect on your teammates. It can be dispelled by abilities like Purge or Spellsteal, so be prepared to apply it often.

This is where Mage has always shined in PvP. There is no other class/spec that can crowd-control a team as well as a Mage can, not to mention the large amount of utility at their disposal.

If you want to guarantee crowd control in the opener, you can use Greater Invisibility and open with a Polymorph on the enemy healer. If they manage to get behind a pillar, you can Shimmer to their location and still get your Polymorph off.

Arcane Charges are a secondary resources that Arcane Mages that are consumed after using Arcane Barrage. Understanding how to generate Arcane Charges is crucial to maximizing your damage. Here are the abilities that you can use to generate them:

• Arcane Blast generates two Arcane Charges and is your primary damage-dealing ability. Each time you use this, the damage and Mana cost increases, so you cannot use this ability too often. It will primarily be used when the enemy team is letting you cast spells.
• Arcane Explosion generates one Arcane Charge for each enemy that it hits. You should use this if the enemy team has pets or if they are stacked.
• Arcane Pulse replaces Arcane Explosion. This deals AoE damage to everyone around your target and generates two Arcane charges.
• Arcane Orb generates one Arcane Charge when it is used and an additional Arcane Charge for each enemy that it hits. Similar to Arcane Explosion, use this if the enemy team has pets or if they are stacked.
• Touch of the Magi generates four Arcane Charges and puts a DoT on the enemy that will explode for 25% of the damage you dealt to them after 12 seconds. This will primarily be used in combination with Arcane Surge in your burst rotation.

When you finally have four Arcane Charges, use them on Arcane Barrage. You want to use it at 4 because it deals more damage based on each one used. It will also deal some of the damage to a nearby enemy.

The opener refers to your team's opening crowd control chain and damage done as soon as you get out of the gates. The main goal in the opener is to force your enemies to use their cooldowns. If the enemy healer uses their trinket in the opener, they are in trouble. With the amount of crowd control and damage that Mages have, you can force cooldowns (trinkets and defensives) without having to use any cooldowns.

1. Start the arena by using Greater Invisibility.
2. Use Mass Invisibility, this is important for multiple reasons:
   • You can use Shimmer while Mass Invisibility is active.
   • This will guarantee a Polymorph or Ring of Frost on the enemy healer (if you are focusing the enemy healer, Polymorph a DPS that can heal/peel for the healer).
3. Use Spellsteal to steal any important buffs the enemy player has.
4. If the enemy team is focusing you, use Arcane Explosion and Arcane Orb to generate Arcane Charges.
5. Use Arcane Barrage at four Arcane Charges.
6. Use Arcane Missiles when you get Clearcasting.
7. Use Frost Nova and Ice Nova to get away from melee enemies. These spells can also be used if you get interrupted on any Arcane spells.
8. When the healer is in crowd control, use your burst rotation.

When you have the enemy healer in crowd control, and you are trying to kill an enemy, you should use your burst damage.

• If you are low on Mana from Spellstealing or dealing damage, make sure to use Evocation.
• Use Blood Fury (if you are an Orc).
• Use Arcane Orb/ Arcane Explosion if you do not have four Arcane Charges. If you do, save it for later in your rotation for when you run out of Arcane Charges.
• Use Arcane Missiles when you get Clearcasting.
• Cast Arcane Surge on your primary target.
• Use Touch of the Magi.
• Use Arcane Barrage.
• Use Presence of Mind.
• Use Arcane Blast.
• Use Arcane Blast.
• Use Arcane Barrage.
• Use Arcane Orb/ Arcane Explosion to get Arcane Charges.
• Use Arcane Missiles when you get a Clearcasting proc.

After using your burst cooldowns, your job as an Arcane Mage is to help keep your team alive. Use abilities like Polymorph, Slow, and Frost Nova to stop the enemy team's momentum.

• Keep your enemies slowed! If you are using the PvP talent Chrono Shift, you can also use Arcane Missiles to slow enemies.
• Touch of the Magi has a much shorter than Arcane Surge, so you can use it in between your full burst rotation. Use this when your team's kill target is stunned and the enemy healer is in a Polymorph or other crowd control.
• If you can cast, use Arcane Blast to generate Arcane Charges.
• If you cannot cast or the team is stacked, use Arcane Explosion and Arcane Orb to generate Arcane Charges.
• Use Arcane Missiles if you get a Clearcasting proc.
• Use Arcane Barrage when you have 4 Arcane Charges.
• Use Frost Nova and Ice Nova if you need to root or slow enemies and help your teammates get away. These spells can also be used if you get interrupted on any Arcane spells.
• Use Polymorph to peel for your teammates and help keep your team alive.

Ice Block is your main defensive ability. If you have run out of Shimmers and have no other ways to kite or survive, use this spell. This will protect you from all incoming damage.

A Mage's crowd control is effectively a defensive technique for them. If the enemy team is using their offensive cooldowns, you can kite them by using Ice Nova/ Frost Nova or by casting Polymorph and Shimmering away. Moreover, you can use Frost Nova to root the target, which is very effective when playing against melee. Do not forget to use Shimmer as well to kite away from enemies and LoS.

Alter Time may seem like a confusing ability at first, but it is really straightforward. The first time you press this ability, it remembers how much health you have and your location. The second time you press it, it will return to the same location with the exact health you had when you first pressed it. This should be used when you feel like you are about to take damage or about to be stunned.

Prismatic Barrier has also been given to Arcane Mages. This is very strong against caster teams, reducing all harmful magic damage dealt to you and reducing the duration of harmful magic effects by 35%. It gets even stronger with the Overpowered Barrier PvP talent.

Remove Curse removes all curses from a friendly target. This can remove important debuffs like Hex or Agony.