[7.3+] Arcane Guide - Updated: December 3, 2017

[Dikembe]

In case it isn't perfectly clear from Norrinir's post, you can refer to this chart that shows how, point-for-point, Mastery is shit.

[Sie]

I agree mastery isn't scaling as well as it probably was intended to for arcane mages (don't forget they even buffed its efficacy for arcane mages in emerald nightmare, and somehow it still ended up at the bottom). But to be fair, you also have to take into account the mana regen and mana capacity increase mastery provides. It's probably not worth a ton, but it still helps to bridge the gap between the other stats and their relative throughput advantage. On fights with movement or downtime, mastery can actually scale up as it's the only stat that's helping you when you're not doing damage. Right now in my current gear, one point mastery is worth maybe 80% of a crit or a vers on a patchwork simulation. Far from ideal, but also far from useless. That's a lot better than mastery's relative value for frost mages, which is something like 40-60%.

[seoh]

I think the thing is mastery isn't bridging the gap. Top arcane logs are evoing randomly and only for 2 ticks. You simply do not need mana the same way you did with quickening when you have Overpowered, MoA returns and kilt (if you're using it). It's not devoid of value, for instance it has a larger priority with double ring lego, but its pretty shit otherwise. Considering there are specs with mastery being far an away valued above anything else, I'd say for arcane mastery is the opposite.

[Merlinuz]

Hi, great work and excellent guide as of Aug 2.

Sth about Rule of three/AM:
It should be dynamic "mechanics": It changes while your haste increased. For example, when you cast first AM and gain stack of Metronome, your next AM, which you re-cast your AM almost at the end of first AM channeling, will gain one more missiles(like 5+5 to 5+6, if proc rule of 3 then no additional missiles added in second AM,8+8). I think its kind of DoT extention thing like when you re-cast agony on last 6 sec will benefit one more tick or sth, not sure about that.

It only benefit two continously casting:
For example, when you cast first AM and re-cast your AM almost at the end of channeling then you can enjoy rule of 3/additional a missile (see above). But you recast your third AM almost at the end of second AM channeling, the third one would not enjoy any benefits from rule of 3 or one additional missile.

The "exploit mechanics" existence:
Yes it had been "nerfed" for few patches ago and return in 7.2 the double lance patch. I/It had no idea when the "nerf" come again or clue to point out its existence, so dont feel surprise when it disappears. If you could manage AM probably so it would be 5~7% dps gain, though still not competitive to currently frost, might be Fire..?

If you want some proof you can find it here, a total of 16 missiles: http://imgur.com/4frY4Cz

[Dikembe]

Yeah I was actually unaware that it only worked for two continuous casts until after I posted. I'll probably update that section to point that out.

I'm interested in that Haste bug too, that's also new to me. Is that log public?

[Naustis]

It is not really a bug, it is how channeling spells works. If you cast second AM like 0,5s before the first ends, the last AM that was not launched in process will be added to the next AM. It is some kind of protection that may help you casting channeling spells and not losing dps when you have a lot of haste.

[Sabrii]

Awesome guide. Thanks. I have a quick question. I dont have any other legendaries for arcane other than shard and Soul. During my conserve phase, do I Barrage at 3 charges to conserve more? Ive been playing frost this whole time and am so goddamn bored of it. Been practicing on a dummy and i have been barraging at 3 charges if i dont have 2 or more missle procs. If i do, i go to 4 and shoot them off then barrage. Also, as PoM comes off CD when AP has like 30+ sec left, if i have 2 or more missle procs, ill get to 4 charges, barrage, PoM, then shoot all missles back to a barrage. Does this sound right? Am i over complicating it? I have been trying to analyze Naustis' logs but I really dont know how to do it tbh. Im 930 equipped with same trinks and legendaries but dont come anywhere close to his numbers. Thanks for any help.

Also, here is my WL/Armory link:

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/character/ ... don/sabrii

Again thanks for any help.

P.S.: Are my stats okay? I noticed Naustis has 30% mastery and less haste (im the opposite)....should i shoot for that?

[Kalstrom]

@Sabrii
I checked your heroic Goroth log:
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/4j ... s&source=1
and it doesn't help that bloodlust was used for some reason 16 seconds into the fight instead of the start when all your cds are used, thats pretty big damage loss as the owl scales with haste from bloodlust. Also the kill time is pretty high so thats another big downside. also i prefer to use owl with arcane power only on shorter fights, it keeps your cds more manageable which leaves everything with less room for error. whether you hold arcane power for owl will mean the fight is sub 3 mins otherwise i hold owl for the next arcane power.

At the start of fights i like to fish for a couple of missile procs to use in my cd's as missiles is massive damage and best used in ur cds

my logs: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/rankings/c ... metric=dps

hope this helps

[Sabrii]

@Kalstrom
Thanks a lot. I didnt mean to leave you out of my post. I follow you and Naustis both. I've never really bothered with logs until recently since We just started gettig into mythic (4/9!). Ill have to look up a guide on how to analyze them so I can better understand what you guys do so that I can get better numbers.

Ill keep in mind what you said about the owl. Right now I just have it macroed to my AB cuz i was using it on CD, which ill change up and get used to.

I hate to be a bother, but did you happen to understand what I was saying in regards to my rotation? Am I on the right track or am I over thinking it.

Also, side note. I also have a 910 whispers. It doesnt sim as high as my shark. Is there a reason you are still using yours? Im sure you have to have a shark by now.

[Kalstrom]

@Sabrii
yeah dont macro your trinket to AB lol, i havnt tried double ring out as i only just received the Soul of the Archmage, but i know that you will need a lot more mastery to make life easier, it will be probably 70% of the time dropping your barrage on 3 stacks to conserve mana, if you get some missiles, probably worth getting it to 4 and dumping missiles. Im not too sure with it.. having legs will make life a lot easier and manageable to line your cd's etc
With the trinket, whispers works a lot better when you use one of the rings with legs, for me a 910 whisper sims around 13k dps ahead of a 915 shark for single target, introduce adds or any cleave at all and whisper will work better as arcane explosion spam is insane in whispers proc, the rng on whsipers can be frustrating but its a love hate trinket for most

[Sabrii]

My stat weights are like 26-24 on everything and then mastery at 16. Should i just ignore this and get around 30-33% mastery like you guys? Probably a dumb question but im trying to get better so w/e. Also, looking through logs, i notice you guys AB a few times after evocation and start conserve at around 50% mana. I tried this for like 2 hours on test dummy and really liked the numbers i was getting inside the first 40sec of fight (i.e lust opener). However, through my conserve, i ended up around 25-30% going into my next burn which really sucks cuz i would run out of mana about 8-10 sec too early. I assume this is where the extra mastery would help me out?

[Feroz]

Sorry I just need to make sure I am understanding this right, hopefully someone can confirm. According to this guide, if you do not have Arcane Power up and do NOT have T20. You should under no circumstances enter Burn or mini-burn phase? So even if my Evocate is up, I should not look to burn unless I got Arcane Power? Is this correct? :O

[magictricks]

Sorry I just need to make sure I am understanding this right, hopefully someone can confirm. According to this guide, if you do not have Arcane Power up and do NOT have T20. You should under no circumstances enter Burn or mini-burn phase? So even if my Evocate is up, I should not look to burn unless I got Arcane Power? Is this correct? :O

If you are running double ring that is correct.

If you have kilt you should burn every time MOA comes up and every AP.

[davesignal]

I'm feeling real hinky about using Soul and Shard/not using Kilt in Tier 21. Feels like a recipe for getting absolutely wrecked on mana.

[HailValhalla]

Hey davesignal !

You only use Double Ring Legy for patchwerk fights, for example the first boss. For example now in ToS people only use double Rings at Goroth.
So i think u only play it on Garothi, and from there on u go for Kilt/Soul as u do right now

[Abscond]

You go double ring for single target not patchwerk.
Gorothi
Hounds
Imonar
Varimathras
And arguably coven are all single target that you can and do use double ring for just seems a bit off since nobody has tier yet. I have no idea what you're talking about.

[bogguslife]

Notice that almost all of the top logs are actually running charged up now? It back to being better?

[Foolosophy]

Notice that almost all of the top logs are actually running charged up now? It back to being better?

I have no data or haven’t figured it out for myself yet (hello tier gear, where are thou?).

But I can imagine it works for mini burn phases with the t21 bonuses.

[Conatus78]

I have more testing and experimenting to do, and I'm still a novice in these things, but Simcraft is showing me that Charged Up does a bit more damage than Resonance on single-target fights (1.174 million dps vs. 1.162 million). This is with 2pt20 and 2pt21, kilt and archmage. I only got this a few days ago and still trying to get the hang of it, but since both PoM and CU refill my charges, and since they both cause a damage buff effect with the 2p21, I can get the buff going for all my burns and mini-burns.

With the 2pt21, it seems like we need at least one of the instant charge refreshers to make max use of the buff, otherwise we're building for most of the buff. I don't understand why Dikembe thinks it CU is trash.

[Abscond]

Because you waste quite a few gcds on your opening burst.
When you take cu you get no decent precast that doesn't feel completely wasted.
Open with a precast blast
Cast cu
Barrage
Then cast mark and go on about your opening rotation for a minor damage buff that won't even last the full opener.
Waste time on your pot and 10~ seconds since on most fights you have to move almost immediately after you pull the boss so it delays rune and CDs.
But on the plus side you could win the lotto and get the haste buff on the pull which I would imagine would feel wonderful. But with lust/troll/class ring that 20% will almost 100% put you over gcd cap.
Now I love charged up in downtime for mini burns but it just feels bad as an opener and for a .001% damage gain to roll the dice on an opener is awful.