[BfA] Arcane Mage Guide for Battle for Azeroth (8.0)

[Dutchmagoz]

Hi.
If i use raidbots to sim my dps, does it automatically change to the brainstorm rotation if i have 2 or more brainstorm traits equipped? If not, how can i tell it to use the brainstorm rotation?
Asking because i have a piece of 340 shoulders with brainstorm (to get 2 brainstorms), or 355 shoulders with galvanize (to get 2 galvanizes), and i'm hoping to sim so i can find out which piece is better until i get my 3rd brainstorm or galvanize.
Thanks

Yes, it will automatically use the Brainstorm rotation aslong as you have 2+ brainstorm traits!

[lloyd3486]

Thank you! I guess the 340 shoulders are still a downgrade even though they give me 2 brainstorms

[Mendax]

Brainstorm is going to be changed:

•(Arcane) Brain Storm: Duration increased to 30 seconds, Intellect bonus reduced by 75%

What's the impact in the brainstorm playstyle?

[HailValhalla]

I think the Brainstorm playstyle is gone now. Nerfing the Intellect by 75% seems like a dead talent now.

[Imaishi]

Brainstorm is going to be changed:

•(Arcane) Brain Storm: Duration increased to 30 seconds, Intellect bonus reduced by 75%

What's the impact in the brainstorm playstyle?

the impact is that it's now trash
as always blizzard's nerfs are over the top

[Mortim]

Yeah this is why I said galvanizing spark is gonna remain king... They literally designed brainstorm to last for an entire burn rotation... People changed their playstyle... It was competitive with King Galv. Now it's nerfed

[plzlemme]

Anyone know if the sim has been updated to reflect the brainstorm nerf?

[Dutchmagoz]

Anyone know if the sim has been updated to reflect the brainstorm nerf?

It has. Raidbots nightly version is uptodate with it as well.

[Frantik]

Anyone know if the sim has been updated to reflect the brainstorm nerf?

It has. Raidbots nightly version is uptodate with it as well.

The gear profile in simc still stacks Brain storm though.
So it is not worth it anymore to change rotation for Brain storm (prepull evo, etc ) but the trait is still worth stacking? It's better than Galv?

[HailValhalla]

https://bloodmallet.com/index.html#mage ... ing&tier=3

As u can see, Brain Storm is somewhere in the middle, nerfed to the ground, and not worth stacking anymore.

[Frantik]

yeah i figured as much after posting this.

The gear profile is just not updated yet

[Nyrilla]

Hi there, while siming myself, I figured that there seems to be a breakpoint around 6-7% of Haste. When I'm at 6% my haste weights at 3.02 and when I'm at 7%, it weights at 1.22. Can anyone explain me what is this breakpoint related to ?

Thanks !!

[TLTeo]

Hi there, while siming myself, I figured that there seems to be a breakpoint around 6-7% of Haste. When I'm at 6% my haste weights at 3.02 and when I'm at 7%, it weights at 1.22. Can anyone explain me what is this breakpoint related to ?

Thanks !!

Check viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6916&start=40#p43347 and the following 2 posts. Basically, at certain haste values the AB cast times and GCD line up enough that you can squeeze in an extra AB at the end of AP during your burn phase, provided you time PoM perfectly. Because Arcane's damage is so bursty (especially with RoP talented), one extra AB in the AP window makes a very large difference in overall damage which in turn causes Haste to drammatically shift in value.

[LaplaceNoMa]

Cast Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges and you have less than 60% Mana (80% Mana if you would cap on Rune of Power charges before Arcane Power is ready) or you have 4 Arcane Charges and there are 3 or more targets.

Can someone ELI5 this to me, please? I don't understand why does the RoP part force this rule to go from 60 to 80%.

[Dontblink]

Cast Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges and you have less than 60% Mana (80% Mana if you would cap on Rune of Power charges before Arcane Power is ready) or you have 4 Arcane Charges and there are 3 or more targets.

Can someone ELI5 this to me, please? I don't understand why does the RoP part force this rule to go from 60 to 80%.

Pretty sure it's because at 80% with RoP up you want to dump charges, cast RoP with charged up to get that 20 percent of mana used on 4 charge arcane blasts while Rune is up.

[Dutchmagoz]

Cast Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges and you have less than 60% Mana (80% Mana if you would cap on Rune of Power charges before Arcane Power is ready) or you have 4 Arcane Charges and there are 3 or more targets.

Can someone ELI5 this to me, please? I don't understand why does the RoP part force this rule to go from 60 to 80%.

Basically, you sustain around 80% Mana if you plan to use a Rune of Power before your next burn phase, so when you do use this Rune, you can don't have to drop arcane charges until the rune is over. If you sustained at 60% mana before Rune of Power, you would risk going too low on mana during the rune if you didn't drop charges.

[cortehz]

Hi Dutchmagoz!

Just wanted to start off by saying all your guides are great and have definitely helped me with my mage alt.

Our main mythic raid has been lacking mages recently (zero for the past two), and I was thinking if I should maybe gear my alt and just use it as my main. Was hoping to ask a couple of things before making any decisions:

1. Is it viable to stick with 1 spec for Mythic raids? Or will I need to prepare 2 sets of gear (Arcane and Frost) and change accordingly?

2. How are mages in Mythic raids? I noticed that all 3 specs parse lowest in some fights (Fetid and Mythrax) but I don't know if it's because of output or if they have to fulfill a certain role. I don't mind not being top dps but hoping the class is not outright useless in some fights.

3. Is it even necessary to have at least 1 mage for Mythic raids?

4. A petty question, and mostly for my ego. How are the skill caps of mage specs in comparison to other ranged classes? I know most rotations right now are pretty basic, but I'd love to play a "harder" or a class that gets punished for mistakes more than others. It incentivizes me to learn and practice more. I'm currently playing hunter and mistakes barely seem to punish my overall dps at all

Edit: 5. Is fire even viable for Mythic raids at the moment? I looooooove playing fire but I've heard that it isn't in a good spot right now

[Sosaria]

Fire sucks at the moment, but they're getting a 5% damage buff soon.

[cortehz]

Cast Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges and you have less than 60% Mana (80% Mana if you would cap on Rune of Power charges before Arcane Power is ready) or you have 4 Arcane Charges and there are 3 or more targets.

Can someone ELI5 this to me, please? I don't understand why does the RoP part force this rule to go from 60 to 80%.

Basically, you sustain around 80% Mana if you plan to use a Rune of Power before your next burn phase, so when you do use this Rune, you can don't have to drop arcane charges until the rune is over. If you sustained at 60% mana before Rune of Power, you would risk going too low on mana during the rune if you didn't drop charges.

Hi dutchmagoz!

Hoping to try if quoting you will send you a notification. Have a couple questions about mage above and hope i could get your opinion about them. Thanks!

[Dutchmagoz]

Hi Dutchmagoz!

Just wanted to start off by saying all your guides are great and have definitely helped me with my mage alt.

Our main mythic raid has been lacking mages recently (zero for the past two), and I was thinking if I should maybe gear my alt and just use it as my main. Was hoping to ask a couple of things before making any decisions:

1. Is it viable to stick with 1 spec for Mythic raids? Or will I need to prepare 2 sets of gear (Arcane and Frost) and change accordingly?

2. How are mages in Mythic raids? I noticed that all 3 specs parse lowest in some fights (Fetid and Mythrax) but I don't know if it's because of output or if they have to fulfill a certain role. I don't mind not being top dps but hoping the class is not outright useless in some fights.

3. Is it even necessary to have at least 1 mage for Mythic raids?

4. A petty question, and mostly for my ego. How are the skill caps of mage specs in comparison to other ranged classes? I know most rotations right now are pretty basic, but I'd love to play a "harder" or a class that gets punished for mistakes more than others. It incentivizes me to learn and practice more. I'm currently playing hunter and mistakes barely seem to punish my overall dps at all

Edit: 5. Is fire even viable for Mythic raids at the moment? I looooooove playing fire but I've heard that it isn't in a good spot right now

1. I would suggest picking up fire for mythic ghuun. You can be arcane for every other boss without problems.

2. Mages are quite important in mythic, on specific bosses. For example, on Fetid Arcane is one of, if not the, best spec for dealing with the small eggs out of all classes. Besides that, every raid needs at least one mage for Arcane Brilliance

3. See above

4. I think arcane is relatively punishing, and so is fire's combustion window, but outside of that, I don't think the skill cap is extremely high for mages. Compared to other classes, I'd say we're about middle of the pack

5. Definitely, mostly thanks to the 5% buff. I wouldn't run it on Fetid or Zul (because cleave can hurt the raid a lot there if running many rogues), but all other bosses fire is quite good. The last 2 bosses specifically I would say fire is the best mage spec.