Can't decide on spec; look todo m+

[grom358]

I been searching all over but most of the information I find assumes you raid and have tier set bonuses. I am looking to only do mythic plus and random battlegrounds so will not have access to raid gear in the foreseeable future. With that in mind what spec would suit mythic plus best?

Here some pros I have come up with my limited experience with the mage so far on each spec.

Fire Pros:
* Very mobile. Can time with heating up for movements. Failing that have scorch.
* Ignite can give auto cleave
* Great burst AoE. Artifact weapon + fireblast + flamestrike
* Dragonbreath
* Controllable burst with combustion

Fire Cons:
* Requires certain legendaries such as bracers and belt for ST
* Only flamestrike for slow but offset some by mobility and speed boost of scorch

Arcane Pros:
* Good burst with overpower talent
* Can trade mana for higher burst
* Greater invisibility
* Displacement
* ST slow and slow from barrage

Arcane Cons:
* Arcane blast is not as cool as fireball or frostbolt
* AoE requires getting within 15 yards

Frost Pros:
* Can hit some big numbers with shatter
* Glacial spike is really fun when doing WQ ( my understanding is you use TV for m+ ? )
* Slows useful in m+ for Necrotic affix ?
* Cleave via splitting ice talent
* Ice barrier
* Double ice blocks

Frost Cons:
* Weak AoE ?
* slows are bad for Sanguine affix ?

What are some pros/cons of each spec in relation to m+ ? I see all specs on leaderboards for high level keys, but just not sure how they fair without tier set bonus that I see when I look at gear on some of the high key mages.

[Syntek]

So first of all you shouldn't rule out raid gear in general. Because of the titanforged system you'll be able to easily get setbonus at an appropriate level even in raidfinder or normal raids which are easily pugable (antorus might take a while to be easily clearable but the old set will be a nice to have too.

You will hit a wall rather quick without certain trinkets and the set bonusses in M+ because the added damage is really big.

For your question I would always go for Fire as your main M+ spec. The added aoe with living bomb is ridiculous and Frost just can't compete on big pulls.
I never played arcane this xpac so I can't give you any insight on that.

You really need at least bracers though. Also head is pretty important to get the big aoe stun instead of just the normal dragons breath.

I for myself play mostly fire unless it is tyrannical and we need som ST damage.