Arcane mage guide for raiding by Dutchmagoz! [6.2 updated]

[Dutchmagoz]

Is there a length that is too long for the burn to last? What do I do if I get constant missle procs, and am high mana 40+ seconds into the burn? Do I just end the burn without evo?

There's no length where it's too long, as long as you're not burning at like 60-70% mana. If you stay at 85%+ mana constantly never dropping stacks, that's great! Just watch your evocation timer for the next burn and don't start it too early.

If evo removes all stacks, why don't we cast Barrage right before we evo? Is there a reason some of the top logs on Gruul cast barrage in the middle of their burn phase?

Because evocation mana regen scales with arcane charges.

The second part, I don't know why they would do that. Movement perhaps.

Also, I assume when the boss gets low health, or ~30 secs from enrage, we add an extra burn even with no evo up?

Yes, 30 seconds is really long though, I wouldn't until boss will die within like ~20 seconds. (I made that mistake sometimes, and being below 50% mana for the last 15 seconds of the fight really hurts your DPS)

[Eryxus]

Thanks. Didn't realize charges buffed Evocation.

[Xenra]

The way my guild currently pulls Blackhand, Crystal is hard to use. So I just use Overpowered. How do you suggest opening without PC but with Supernova?

Currently, I just pre-pot and cast AB, then AP and immediately blow the charges with procs. Basically what you would do with PC, just...without the PC part. Just curious as to if there'd be a more optimal way to open.

[Wilderness]

If you're not using PC, NT/AO is a better single-target option than SN/OP. And in P2 you will be able to get at least a couple of your AO's to hit both the boss and the seige, which is a nice bonus.

I'm not sure what you mean by doing an opener with SN without PC though - its basically the same concept either way. You want to get both charges of SN going as early as you can without capping your mana or wasting AM procs. So you'd rotate an AB, or AM depending on procs, in between each use of SN most likely.

[Lammer]

What is most proftable on the opening, when you put a crystal and you have 100% mana and 2 charges of SN: to cast a couple of ABs to start mana regeneration or to cast 2 SN to start SN cooldown?

(the situation happens when you put a crystal and you have 3 AM stacks, so you have to cast 1 AM, and mana returns to 100%)

or maybe it would be right to cast all 3 AMs before SN/AB to prevent wasting potential AM procs?

[Killget]

(the situation happens when you put a crystal and you have 3 AM stacks, so you have to cast 1 AM, and mana returns to 100%)

or maybe it would be right to cast all 3 AMs before SN/AB to prevent wasting potential AM procs?

To Quote the guide - [With Supernova talented]: Use supernova when you're below 93% mana but above 85% mana, and don't have 3 stacks of arcane missiles. Basically use it in place of arcane barrage, and pray it procs arcane missiles! If missiles didn't proc, your mana may've regenered to above 93% again, so you could cast another arcane blast.

I believe this applies while you have PC up aswell,

Personally, i do the same as the guide, Prepot, AB, AB, AB, AB, Place PC, use PoM AB ( look at mana, below 93% = SN, Above 93% = AB), then carry on as you would making sure to not cap on AM.

[Wilderness]

Exactly as Killget said. You definitely want to get both charges of SN into the PC, but you would weave them in with AM and AB depending on your mana. You want to avoid capping mana whenever its possible to do so. Personally I would prioritize using SN on PC and not over-writing an AM proc (assuming PC won't despawn during AM's flight time) over capping your mana a little bit, but that's not based on sims or math, it just seems to me like capping mana for a second is better than wasting an AM or not using SN on PC.

[Dutchmagoz]

Using both SN charges on PC is a lot more important than capping mana for a couple of seconds.

SN on PC benefits a lot more from PC than your normal abilities, since it allows you to basically the the same target twice with SN. (130% dmg on the crystal and 50% dmg on the boss for a total of 180% dmg of usual), whereas other abilities only get the flat 30% bonus damage.

[Lazypity]

Also don't forget that since it's hitting the PC and the boss, you have a higher chance of getting AM procs from SN

[Shinigami]

Thanks for the great topic! I hope I improve my DPS too.
Soon make a post relating a before and after!

[Extremet]

Apologies if this has been answered but I got a pair of newbie questions regarding some situations I run into and I'm conflicted in what to do. Thanks for the help guys!

Imagine I'm at 4 stacks of AC and I've got 94% / 95% mana and no AM procs, so I dump out 1 more AB and then Barrage. After the Barrage I'm sitting at 88-89% mana, no AM procs as well, do I wait the few secs to reach 93% mana to start casting AB again or what?

Do you guys weave your AM procs with AB or just dump them consecutively then AB before Barraging? (pretending there are no 4set AM procs)

[Komma]

Always be casting. Never wait for anything.

Whether you weave AM and AB or use AM consecutively depends on your mana. It's the same 93% rule all the time.

[Chev]

To clarify what Komma has said, the 93% rule only applies when you have 4 x AC. If you have just reset and currently below 93%, feel free to cast AB. The 1st AB is mana positive so you will regen more than it cost to cast and the 2nd AB will break even. By this time you should be getting close to 98% mana again ready for your expensive AB casts.

[Extremet]

The 1st being positive and 2nd cast breaking even is exactly what I needed to know. I had the whole rotation down like muscle memory, just this specific situation I was always unsure (but always still casting!). Thanks for the insight Chev!

[beatle]

A important tip about the mana management not present in any of the guides is to think about the mana at end of the cast. We must queue the next spell before the current end and the mana is consumed at end of the cast. So if you are at 95% mana waiting for AB cast to finish the beginers (the ones who use the guides right?) would be tempted to press AB again, because they are at over 90% mana, but at end of the cast the mana will be consumed by current AB and the "current mana" is actually 85% (+bit mana regen)

[Shinigami]

How to gear:
Gearing arcane is very simple:
Look for any item with mastery, and preferably haste. But mastery is by far the most important. Always take the highest ilvl item. (This includes trinkets)

Gem and enchant mastery on every slot.

Hello, I'm back.
As I started to play Arcane Mage some days I still have doubts about the equipment.
I have these two items:

Flare-Eyed Hood
Heroic Item - 685
279 - Int
418 - Stam
189 - Critical
181 - Versality
159 - Speed

and

Vilebreath Mask
Heroic Item - 670
242 - Int
364 - Stamina
138 - Mastery
176 - Multistrike

Total: 37 Intelect + 54 Stamina + Critical, Versality and Speed, but i'll lose 138 mastery and 176 Multistrike.
If I follow the hint you lose about 138 of Mastery, however, gain a greater ilvl. Which of the two items would be necessary?

Ty so much!

[Wilderness]

Take the ilvl. You'd have to sim yourself for your own stat weights, but using the stat weights listed for BiS gear (assuming RoP/PC/SN talents) Int is almost 2x as good as non-mastery secondary stats, and its still quite better than mastery, so the higher ilvl is almost always better. In the cases of warforged items (6 ilvls) it might not be, but anything beyond that is.

[Dutchmagoz]

15 ilvls > any secondary stats.

Take the higher ilvl one.

[ShaObito]

On that note, WF vs Socket. The generall consensus seems to be socket for gear, a you wont make up the stats of a gem, but what about weapons(for SP) or trinkets for procs(and generally higher int)? Is it worth it to take a WF Darmac over the socketed one? I got both this week, one from my cache after raid, and my gut tells me run with the WF.

[Methusula]

When it comes to weapons and trinkets, it's almost always better to go for item level. The chunk of spellpower from weapons, and the weight given to proc power on trinkets will outweigh 50 secondary stats almost every time.