General Information
On this page, we list your Arcane Mage coreabilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of WarcraftMoP 5.4. We also explain whento use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtletiesthat you will need to know if you want to excel at playing an ArcaneMage.
The other pages of our Arcane Mage guide can be accessedfrom the table of contents on the right.
1. Single Target Rotation↑top
The rotation of an Arcane Mage consists in the following priority list.
- Apply
Living Bomb or 
Nether Tempest.
- When you have a large damage-increasing proc (trinkets, weapon enchants, etc.), you can refresh it even if it has a few seconds left. Otherwise, refresh it right before it expires.
- Cast
Arcane Missiles when you have 4 (and only 4!) stacks of 
Arcane Charge.
- Cast
Arcane Barrage when all the following conditions are met:
- Cast
Arcane Blast.
When moving, you need to first place a 
Rune of Power at your destination(it requires a bit of planning ahead), and 
Ice Floes can greatlyhelp for that. When the next Rune of Power is in place, you can use Ice Floes againto cast Arcane Blast or Arcane Missiles (do not cast Arcane Barrage unless you meet the single-target rotation criteria that we listed above). If you have to movefor a long distance and that your stacks of Arcane Charge are about to drop, you canuse 
Arcane Explosion to refresh them, if there is a target in range.
Refreshing your Tier 5 talent (also called your bomb) is a trickybusiness as an Arcane Mage because these spells benefit from your
Mastery: Mana Adept, meaning that properly using your bomb can greatlyincrease your DPS. For more details about optimising yourbomb usage, please refer to our dedicated section.
See our Opening Sequence for instructions onwhat to cast when the fight starts.
1.1. Rune of Power
Rune of Power is your only viable Tier 6 talent choice. Always recast itbefore it fades. Before the fight starts, think of where you would go if you had to move, and place a secondrune there. Always use Ice Floes when you need to move to a new location and placea Rune of Power there (and make that location close to your current rune, in case you needto move back shortly after).
1.2. Cooldown Usage
1.2.1. Arcane Power and Alter Time
Since we recommend that you use 
Glyph of Arcane Power, you should always use
Arcane Power together with 
Alter Time. Since using Arcane Power and Alter Timeproperly is quite complex,we dedicated a whole section to the matter,later on in the page. We strongly advise you to read it.
1.2.2. Mirror Image
Mirror Image is a very small DPS cooldown, which you should usewhen the images can attack the boss for their entire duration (30 seconds).
Alternatively, you can use this spell to avoid getting aggro during very heavyAoE damage situations.
2. Multiple Target Rotation↑top
| Situation |
Rotation |
| Heavy AoE damage on low-health enemies |
Cast glyphed  Cone of Cold on cooldown and spam Arcane Explosion. |
| Heavy AoE damage on high-health enemies |
Spam Arcane Explosion to build up Arcane Charges and cast Arcane Barrage at 4 charges. Keep Nether Tempest up on as many enemies as possible, but only use it on enemies that will stay alive until it expires. |
| Any other situation |
Use your single-target rotation on one of the enemies and keep Nether Tempest up on as many of them as possible. As above, do not use Nether Tempest on enemies that will not live long enough. |
3. Armors↑top
Your best choice of armor is generally 
Mage Armor. However, onpure single-target encounters, like IronJuggernaut, you should use 
Frost Armor instead.
4. Optional Read: Mastering Your Arcane Mage↑top
While the rotations we gave in the previous sections will yield very goodresults, there are many things you should be aware of, in order to playyour Arcane Mage to its full potential. In particular, you will need to becomea master at managing your mana.
4.1. Arcane Charge System
Arcane Charge is a system of charges that increases the damage andmana cost of some of your spells.
Arcane Charge is basically a self-debuff that lasts for 10 seconds andstacks up to 4 times. Stacks are granted and consumed by the following spells:
Spells are modified by Arcane Charge in the following ways:
- Arcane Blast's damage is increased by 50% per charge and its mana costby 150% per charge;
- Arcane Missiles always costs no mana and its damage is increased by 50% percharge;
- Arcane Explosion's damage and mana cost are not affected by the charges;
- Arcane Barrage deals 50% more damage per charge and hits 1 additional targetper charge, for 50% damage;
Evocation's mana regeneration is increased by 25% per charge.
4.2. Mastery, Mana Costs, and Mana Regeneration
Understanding what your Mastery does, how much your spells cost and how yourmana regeneration works is an important part of playing an Arcane Mage.
4.2.1. Mastery: Mana Adept
Mastery: Mana Adept is a unique proficiency that you gain by choosing the Arcanetalent tree. It increases the damage you deal with Arcane spells according tothe percentage of mana you currently have. Initially, you start with a 16%increase, and you increase that value by increasing your Mastery Rating.
For example, the tooltip of your Mastery Rating can say:
- Increases all spell damage done by up to 20%, based on the amount of mana the Mage has unspent.
In this case, for a spell that would otherwise deal 10,000 damage, you will deal:
- at 10% mana, 10,200 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage value increased by 2% (10% of the 20% increase from Mana Adept).
- at 25% mana, 10,500 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage value increased by 5% (25% of the 20% increase from Mana Adept).
- at 50% mana, 11,000 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage value increased by 10% (50% of the 20% increase from Mana Adept).
- at 75% mana, 11,500 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage value increased by 15% (75% of the 20% increase from Mana Adept).
- at 100% mana, 12,000 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage value increased by 20% (100% of the 20% increase from Mana Adept).
As you can see, the penalty for casting spells at low mana is not thatextraordinary, especially if you compare it to the increased damage (+200%)that Arcane Blast does when you have 4 stacks of Arcane Charge.
4.2.2. Mana Costs and Regeneration
Arcane Blast, the spell that you will use the most, has a fixed cost:5,000 mana for every Mage at level 90. At 4 stacks of Arcane Charge, themana cost of this ability increases to 35,000 mana, which means that you need tobe careful with the number of stacks you allow yourself to build.
Your mana regeneration does not increase with yourgear. Technically it does increase with your spell haste, but thisdoes not compensate the fact that casting faster causes your mana to beconsumed faster. Also, mana regeneration is not tied to your maximum amountof mana (as it used to be), which will now remain fixed at 300,000 (regardless of gear).
In Mists of Pandaria, your mana regeneration is fixed at 15,000 mana every 5 seconds(30,000 is you stand in your Rune of Power). This is increasedby your haste. For example, if you have 10% haste, you regenerate 10%more mana.
The conclusion to all these facts is that gear will no longer influence theway you play as an Arcane Mage.
4.3. Arcane Missiles
Arcane Missiles has two charges, so if it procs and you do notuse it, it can proc again and you will be able to use it twice in a row.This is important to take into account because it means that you are notforced to cast Arcane Missiles as soon as it procs.
Arcane Missiles' damage is increased by your number of Arcane Charges (+25% per stack). This means that, while youare building up charges with Arcane Blast, you should delaycasting Arcane Missiles for as long as possible, so that it benefitsfrom the increased damage provided by the charges. Currently,the best strategy is to build up 4 Arcane Charges beforespending your charges of Arcane Missiles.
4.4. Proper Usage of Tier 5 Talents (DPS Optimisation)
As an Arcane Mage, your Tier 5 talents (or bombs) are tremendously morepowerful than in Fire or Frost specialisation, because their damage scaleswith your Mastery: Mana Adept. This means that your bomb is sometimes yourmain source of damage in raid encounters.
As a result, you have to pay close attention to refreshing your bombs atthe right time. Track buffs that increase your Intellect or your damage done andmake sure to refresh your bomb accordingly, as explained below.
- Always refresh your bomb before a buff fades. For example, refreshyour bomb with
Primal Nutriment on Ji-Kunor when leaving a pool on Jin'rokh.
- Clip your bomb right away (i.e., refresh it even if it still has a lot of timeleft on it) if you have important procs or buffs (trinket procs, boss mechanics, Arcane Power, etc.). The idea is that your bombs will snapshot your statsat the moment you cast them and they will deal increased damage for their wholeduration (even after your buffs have run out).
- When you are not under the effect of a buff or a damage-increasing bossmechanics, simply refresh your bomb before it runs out.
4.5. Arcane Power and Alter Time
Alter Time is the ultimate Arcane Mage DPS Cooldown.6 seconds after usingthis spell, your buffs are reset to the duration and value they had when you castAlter Time, effectively adding 6 seconds to any buff you had at the time of the cast.Using Alter Time requires a bit of preparation and, since it has the same 3-minute durationcooldown as Arcane Power (when using Glyph of Arcane Power),you should always use these 2 spells together andcast Arcane Power right before Alter Time (see ourmacro).
Using Alter Time on the pull is a bit different than using itlater on in the fight, so we will consider these two situations.
4.5.1. Alter Time on the pull
When using Alter Time at the beginning of a fight, you need to firstcast Arcane Blast to build up 4 stacks of Arcane Charge and to procyour trinkets. Then you must quickly use Alter Time, preferably before the durations ofyour trinkets' effects drop below 6 seconds (for maximum DPS). If you have a trinketthat has an effect with a build-up time (
Black Blood of Y'Shaarj), then you usuallywant to wait until there is exactly 6 seconds left on the effect.
While RPPM trinkets will proc in the first few seconds of a fight, trinkets withan internal-cooldown (ICD) effect may not. When an ICD trinket does not proc, you need to do what is best foryour DPS. For example, most Arcane Mages use 
Kardris' Toxic Totem (RPPM) and
Purified Bindings of Immerseus (ICD). Often, Kardris' Toxic Totem will procbefore Purified Bindings of Immerseus and, in this case, one should delay using Alter Time until Purified Bindings of Immerseus procs, because the effect isbetter (same stats, but the effect from Purified Bindings of Immerseus lasts longer,which means that it is best to have this effect up at the same time as Arcane Power).So, when both trinkets will not proc at the same time, use Alter Time in conjunctionwith the best trinket effect.
To delay Alter Time and fish for trinket procs, do not spam Arcane Blast, as this would just waste your mana. Instead, start with
Fire Blast. If that does not work, use Arcane Missiles (if you havecharges). If that still does not work, use Arcane Barrage.
If you manage to trigger the awaited trinket proc with Fire Blast orArcane Missiles, things are usually easy and you can use your Alter Time macroright away. That said, if this trinket effect has a build-up period, likethat of Black Blood of Y'Shaarj, you need to wait until the last momentbefore casting Alter Time. This happens when the trinket effect has 6seconds remaining and this will give you the best DPS increase.
If you trigger it with Arcane Barrage, things are a bit more complicated:
- if the proc from your other trinket is still up, use your Alter Timemacro immediately;
- otherwise, you can safely rebuild your stacks of Arcane Chargebefore using Alter Time.
4.5.2. Alter Time later on in the fight
For subsequent casts of Alter Time, the only rule is to have4 stacks of Arcane Charges. Having charges of Arcane Missiles is optionalfor Alter Time, meaning that you should never delay Alter Time because you do nothave charges of Arcane Missiles. That said, having charges of Arcane Missiles isa good thing, so you should try to make it so that you already have charges when AlterTime comes off cooldown, by starting to save charges ahead of time (10 to 15 seconds).
Sometimes, it may be preferable to not use Alter Time on cooldown, but to delayit until a period of increased damage on the boss or until a period where heavy AoE damageor heavy burst damage is required. You may also want to gamble and delay castingAlter Time in order to wait for a RPPM trinket proc if this is your last Alter Timecast of the fight (i.e., if the fight has less than 3 minutes remaining).
You should also know that ICD trinkets have relatively predictable proc times. For example, ifyou use Alter Time on cooldown, then the third time you will use it will usuallycoincide with your fourth proc of Purified Bindings of Immerseus. So, if you have thistrinket, you should definitely wait for it to proc before casting your third Alter Time ofthe fight.
4.5.3. During Alter Time
During Alter Time, the priority is to consume your charges of Arcane Missiles.When you have no charge of Arcane Missiles, simply spam Arcane Blast. Mana consumptiondoes not matter during Alter Time, because your mana will be reset to its previouslevel when Alter Time expires.
Right before Alter Time expires, make sure to cast a 4-charge Arcane Barrage.This will reset your charges, but it does not matter since your Arcane Chargeswill be restored Alter Time expires.
4.5.4. After Alter Time
After Alter Time fades, your buffs will be reset to what they previously were, meaningthat you will still enjoy a full duration of Arcane Power. While Arcane Power is up,your rotation does not change much. Since spells cost 10% more during Arcane Power,you need to adapt your rotation to not overuse your mana. What we advise you to do is tosimply cast Arcane Barrage more often to reset your Arcane Charges.
4.6. Opening Sequence
We advise you to use the following opening sequence (or opener).
5. Changelog↑top
- 04 Feb. 2014: Updated single-target, cooldown, armor, and opening rotation sections on Blatty's advice.
- 10 Sep. 2013: Patch 5.4: nothing to change.
- 01 Jul. 2013: Added Rune of Power to the opening sequence.
- 18 Jun. 2013: Update from Blatty. Improved Arcane Power advice. Added section to optimise bomb usage and deal increased damage.
- 15 Jun. 2013: Update from Blatty. Added advice for doing damage while moving. Re-added Cone of Cold in the multiple-target rotation. Improved advice for Alter Time.
- 07 Jun. 2013: Updated multiple-target section after 2 weeks of Patch 5.3 raiding.
- 25 May 2013: Mage Armor is once again the armor of choice for Arcane Mages. Living Bomb is now the best option for single-target situations.Multiple-target rotation still needs to be updated, but another lockout of testing is needed.
- 20 May 2013: Patch 5.3 update: nothing changed (may need to review AoE rotation after a few days of raiding).
- 19 May 2013: Arcane Missiles should now be cast only at 4 Arcane Charges (thanks to Blatty for the optimisation).
- 17 Apr. 2013: Update after Blatty's review of the guide.
- Slight improvements to the single-target rotation.
- Improved AoE rotation.
- Added opening sequence.
- Emphasised the importance of
Blazing Speed over the other two Tier 1 talentsin the talents cooldown section.
- 29 Mar. 2013: Frost Armor is now the advised armor for Arcane Mages (was Mage Armor previously).
- 13 Mar. 2013: Removed last mentions of Arcane Charge having 6 stacks.
- 07 Mar. 2013: Patch 5.2 update.
- Arcane Charge now only stacks up to 4.
Scorch is no longer available to Arcane Mage. The rotation was updated to reflect that.- Evocation now consumes all your Arcane Charges and returns 25% more mana per Arcane Charge consumed.
