Arcane Mage Playstyle and Rotation Guide

General Rotation

Sunfury Opener

1. Use Tempered Potion / Trinkets
2. Arcane Surge
3. Arcane Missiles to build Arcane Salvo stacks
4. Arcane Blast spam
5. Touch of the Magi when Arcane Surge has 5 seconds remaining
6. Arcane Barrage spam during Arcane Soul

Sunfury Single Target priority:

1. Arcane Barrage if Arcane Soul is up
2. Arcane Barrage if you have Clearcasting and Overpowered Missiles and more than 10 Arcane Salvo stacks and 4 Arcane Charges
3. Arcane Barrage if you have 25 Arcane Salvo stacks and 4 Arcane Charges
4. Arcane Missiles if you have Clearcasting
5. Arcane Orb if you have less than 2 Arcane Charges
6. Arcane Blast
7. Arcane Barrage if you are out of mana

Sunfury AoE priority:

1. Arcane Barrage if Arcane Soul is up
2. Arcane Barrage if you have 25 Arcane Salvo stacks and 4 Arcane Charges
3. Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges and Arcane Missiles or Arcane Orb ready
4. Arcane Missiles if you have Clearcasting
5. Arcane Orb if you have less than 2 Arcane Charges
6. Arcane Blast
7. Arcane Barrage if you are out of mana

Spellslinger Opener

• Use Tempered Potion / Trinkets
• Arcane Surge

• Arcane Barrage

• Touch of the Magi

Spellslinger Single Target priority:

1. Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges, 6 or more Arcane Salvo stacks AND have Clearcasting and Overpowered Missiles ready
2. Arcane Barrage if you have 20 Arcane Salvo stacks and 4 Arcane Charges
3. Arcane Missiles if you have Clearcasting
4. Arcane Orb if you have less than 2 Arcane Charges
5. Arcane Blast
6. Arcane Barrage if you are out of mana

Spellslinger AoE priority:

1. Arcane Barrage if you have 20 Arcane Salvo stacks and 4 Arcane Charges
2. Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges and Arcane Missiles or Arcane Orb ready
3. Arcane Missiles if you have Clearcasting
4. Arcane Orb if you have less than 2 Arcane Charges
5. Arcane Blast

Arcane Barrage if you are out of mana

Playstyle

Arcane Mage is all about building a massive Arcane Barrage through proc stacking and unloading as much damage as possible during your burst windows: Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi. Arcane Barrage is by far your highest-damaging ability, but that does not mean you can cast it freely.

What primarily scales your Arcane Barrage damage is Arcane Missiles, which can only be cast when you have a Clearcasting proc. Each wave of Arcane Missiles grants 1 stack of Arcane Salvo, making Missiles extremely important. Clearcasting procs are mostly random and can occur after any Arcane spell cast, with a few exceptions. Arcane Surge, Touch of the Magi, and Arcane Barrage during Arcane Soul each guarantee a Clearcasting proc. Outside of that, there is no way to force or game them. Arcane Missiles also serve as Arcane Charges generator, where all of the builds are casting Arcane Barrage if you have Clearcasting available, because it allows you to get your Arcane Charges back due to the talent High Voltage. Arcane Blast functions mainly as a Clearcasting fishing tool and a filler spell. You should be casting it whenever Arcane Missiles are unavailable and you are not sitting at a high number of Arcane Salvo stacks.

Cooldown Usage

It’s extremely important to use Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi on cooldown and always together. Arcane Surge has a 1.5-minute cooldown, while Touch of the Magi has a 45-second cooldown. This timing allows for an extra use of Touch of the Magi in between each Arcane Surge. The only time you would wait with pressing Touch of the Magi is if you are playing Sunfury - you need to wait for Arcane Surge buff to have 5 seconds remaining so that Touch of the Magi carries over to the Arcane Soul window as well.

Mages typically refer to this as the “Big Burn” (when Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi are up together) and “Miniburn” (a standalone Touch of the Magi). It is essential that you never delay the Miniburn Touch of the Magi, as doing so will desync your cooldowns.

Defensives

Mage is by default the squishiest class in the game without using any defensives, but they also have access to some of the best defensives if used properly.

Prismatic BarrierThe most spammable Mage defensive. It places an absorb shield on you and has a 30-second cooldown by default, which can be reduced by 5 seconds with talent Barrier Diffusion. As of Midnight, all Mage barriers are on a shorter GCD than your other abilities.

Ice Cold / Ice Block

The biggest Mage defensive cooldown. Ice Block makes you immune but also prevents you from casting anything, whereas Ice Cold grants 70% damage reduction, is off the GCD, and allows you to cast spells while active. Most Mage players prefer Ice Cold for this reason. It is on a 3-minute cooldown by default, which can be reduced to 2.5 minutes if talented into Permafrost Bauble.

Alter Time

One of the best Mage defensive cooldowns but extremely difficult to use. The first time you press it, it snapshots both your location and current health. Pressing it a second time teleports you back to the snapshotted location and health. Use this defensive when you are about to take a big hit, then press it again to restore your health and position.