Arcane Mage Gearing Guide

In 11.2, Blizzard have gone a different direction and implemented separate tier sets for each hero class, allowing for a much more nuanced interaction that impacts each hero talents rotation.

Season 3 Arcane Mage Tier Set:

Spellslinger

• (2) Set Bonus: Arcane Blast damage increased by 12%.Arcane Blast grants 1 stack of Arcane Harmony. Direct Splinter damage has a 25% chance to grant a stack of Arcane Harmony.
• (4) Set Bonus: Splinter damage increased by 8%.Arcane Orb has a 100% chance to grant a stack of Arcane Harmony, up to 8 times. Upon reaching 20 stacks of Arcane Harmony, gain Intuition.

Sunfury

• (2)Set Bonus:Spellfire Sphere spell damage bonus increased by 1%. Mana Cascade now grants an additional 0.5% Haste per stack.
• (4)Set Bonus:Exceptional Spells cast by your phoenix adds an additional 0.5 seconds to the duration of your next Arcane Soul.When your Phoenix expires, it empowers you even further beyond, granting Lesser Time Warp and 20% increased spell damage for 10 seconds.

Tier set Thoughts and Conclusions:

Starting with spellslinger, your arcane harmony generation is now off the charts, especially in aoe you are just constantly sending out barrages from the free intuitions you get from hitting 20 stacks.You feel a lot more consistent in aoe compared to before with a lot of funnel. As a warning it is a very reactionary and fast paced playstyle with all the free barrages you are now getting. Its great in AOE but feels quite clunky in single targetSunfury is a lot more of a predictable gameplay loop and plays very similar to 11.0 and 11.1, nothing really changes rotationally compared to before but you have a lot more power in your burst windows, gaining a mini timewarp in what is now a massive arcane soul window where you are spamming barrage for 10 seconds makes you a monster in execute scenarios but can make the playstyle seem a bit repetitive at times.

This is the absolute best in slot setup for Arcane Mage that you could have combined from both M+ and raid items.

With that being said, we consider that not everyone enjoys raiding so I will make a list for alternative items you can get from M+ to be as geared as possible. Keep in mind that this is not a replacement for siming your character, as you will likely not have all these items at once, so to determine what is your next upgrade, always sim yourself.

• Overall
• Raiding
• Mythic+

Recommended Trinkets for Arcane Mage:

• Azhiccaran Parapodia - Strong Passive Trinket that gives us a lot of Intellect as a proc
• Ara-Kara Sacbrood - Another strong passive trinket that also gives us intellect as a proc
• Empowering Crystal of Anub’ikkaj - A passive trinket that gives us a random secondary stat
• Araz’s Ritual Forge - A 2 minute trinket that gives us a massive amount of intellect on a 2 minute cd that we can use on every other surge
• Astral Antenna - Passive trinket that will spawn orbs that float towards you that grant crit, you can control when you pick up these orbs to try and align with your cd’s, they last for 20 seconds until they despawn
• Diamantine Voidcore - Passive trinket that gets buffed by the new raid weapons, giving us a passive intellect proc
• Any other trinket with a hero or mythic track would be ok for the most part!

These current bis lists are gathered from sunfury arcane which is currently our strongest simming single target build, while they will still be very strong for aoe and mythic plus scenarios, it is recommended to sim yourself for the most accurate results for the content you are playing!

As far as embellishment goes, I'd recommend Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension x2 for raid.

For M+ I would recommend double Versatility embellishment (Duskthread Lining).

Reshii Wraps

Reshii Wraps is a new Cloak released in Patch 11.2 and will be the only cloak you use (and the only one that can drop from any content in Season 3). You gain access to it via a quest chain and completing chapter 3 of the main patch storyline.

The Reshii Wraps are upgradable via Ethereal Strands and can have secondary stats of your choice added to it.

To add a secondary stat to the Reshii Wraps you use a Fiber in the Fiber Socket of the Cloak. The highest quality version of the Fibers requires a work-order to a Tailor.

When picking a Fiber, I strongly recommend simming your character for the best stat for your current gear and intended content. If you just want a quick recommendation for which Reshii Fiber to use, then use Pure Chronomatic Fiber (Haste).

To find out more about the Reshii Wraps, you can read the Method Reshii Wraps Overview Guide.

Best D.I.S.C Belt & Miniature Titan Disc Effects

With Patch 11.1.7 there is a new belt that can be acquired from overcharged delves that is going to be bis for everyone. This belt can be socketed with gems that give it different powerful effects.

Recommended Titan Discs for Arcane Mage: Our best option is Critical Chain in both Raid and Mythic+ content. However, it is recommended to sim your character for the most accurate results as there is no stand out option anymore.

In 11.2 the D.I.S.C Belt will still be relevant until you have a high hero track or myth track time, from this point it would be a case by case basis and simming your character is the best option.

For more information about unlocking the DISC belt and the different Miniature Titan Disc effects available, check out Method's D.I.S.C Belt Guide.