Last updated on Sep 24, 2023 at 12:00by Wrdlbrmpft3 comments
On this page, you will find out the best PvE talent choices and builds for your Arcane Mage in WotLK Classic, as well as advised glyphs.
1.
Best Talent Build for Arcane Mages
Arcane Mage talents aim to maximize single-target and AoE damage,as well as burst damage.
1.1.
Leveling Builds
If you were looking for a leveling-oriented build please refer to our Mageleveling guide.
Mage Leveling Guide
1.2.
Talent Build
For raiding, we recommended Arcane Mages to use the standard 56/3/12"Arcane IV" spec. This spec focuses on dealing burst damage with
Arcane Blast and 
Arcane Missiles during
Arcane Power, 
Icy Veins, and 
Bloodlust/
Heroism. The spec can be modified to have the
Permafrost and 
Improved Blizzard talents for moresecurity, but is a slight DPS loss. Further, points can be shifted fromthe Arcane talents 
Magic Attunement and 
Arcane Barrage into
Student of the Mind or Arcane Stability. The points of
Incineration in the Fire tree can also be used forArcane Stability, which gives your Arcane Missiles pushbackprotection. However, since Arcane Missiles are not your main nuke andthis talent is only really useful if you take a lot of damage in shortintervals, this is a niche thing. Student of the Mind versusMagic Attunement is also a point where different opinions canarise. On the one hand, the benefit from Spirit (buffed by Student ofthe Mind) is rather low in most situations; on the other hand it is betterthan no passive DPS increase. However, Magic Attunement increases therange of your 
Polymorph, 
Counterspell, 
Spellsteal and
Remove Curse and all Arcane damage spells (except for
Arcane Explosion) by 6 yards. This allows you to DPS earlier aftermovement phases, makes your positioning easier, and gives your utility spellsa higher range (e.g. it decreases time spent running to decurse someone or tosheep a target). Taking Arcane Barrage over a very small spiritincrease from the Student of the Mind talent is a completelyreasonable move if you ever want to deal damage while moving (which youwant).
Another benefit of Arcane IV is the decreased cooldown on Icy Veinsand 
Ice Block and that your Blizzard does very highDPS through the Critical Strike damage modifiers of 
Spell Power and
Ice Shards.
2.
Important Arcane Mage Talents
2.1.
Arcane Tree
Arcane Subtlety decreases the threat you do with your Arcanespells by 40% and decreases the chance your helpful spells will be dispelledby 30%.This talent is key, as it will make it very hard for you to pull aggro, be itwith Arcane Blast, Arcane Missiles orArcane Explosion.
Arcane Focus increases your chance to hit with Arcane spells by3%. This allows Arcane Mages to gear for much more offensive stats than anyother Mage spec in the game, as you will need only 8% more Spell Hit from buffs,enchants, and gear.
Arcane Stability makes Arcane Missiles immuneto spell pushback.
Arcane Concentration gives you a 10% chance of entering aClearcasting state after any attack goes off. This gives you an average 10%reduced Mana cost on your damaging spells. In conjunction with
Arcane Potency, this also increases your chance to crit whileclearcasting by 30%.
Magic Attunement increases therange of your Polymorph, Counterspell, Spellsteal,Remove Curse, and all Arcane damage spells (except forArcane Explosion) by 6 yards. Further, it increases the effect of
Amplify Magic and Dampen Magic by 50%. Amplify Magic can bevery powerful in fights without much Magic damage.
Spell Impact gives your main DPS spells a 6% damage bonus.
Student of the Mind increases your total Spirit by 4%, which givesyou slightly more Critical Strike rating from 
Molten Armor.
Focus Magic is a powerful buff to be cast on a friendly target. Itincreases their Critical Strike chance with spells by 3%. If they score aCritical Strike, your Critical Strike chance is also increased by 3% for10 seconds.
Arcane Meditation allows 50% of your out of combat Manaregeneration to continue while casting.
Torment the Weak gives your main DPS spells a 12% damage bonus ifyour target is slowed in any way (physical/spell/movement slow), which theyusually are from a Death Knight's
Icy Touch or a Warrior's 
Thunder Clap.
Presence of Mind makes your next Mage spell with a cast timeof less than 10 seconds an instant spell. This can be used to instantlyPolymorph enemies, or to make a damage spell instant.Further, PoM also triggers Arcane Potency (see below!).Channeled spells do not consume the instant-cast effect of this spell, so youcan use the Critical Strike chance on, say,Blizzard and follow it up with an instant-cast 
Flamestrike.
Arcane Mind increases your total Intellect by 15%, makingIntellect a more useful stat together with the 
Mind Masterytalent, which turns 15% of your Intellect into Spell Power.
Arcane Instability will make all your spells hit 3% harderand gives you a 3% higher Critical Strike chance with all spells.
Arcane Potency increases the Critical Strike chance of yournext damaging spell by 30% after gaining Clearcasting or Presence of Mind.However, this talent is a little bit tricky, as only the firstmissile of Arcane Missiles benefits from the crit bonus, while a wholeBlizzard benefits from it.
Arcane Empowerment makes Arcane Missiles gain45% more damage from Spell Power effects and the damage of yourArcane Blast by 9% of your Spell Power. It also increases the damage ofeveryone in your raid and party by 3%.
Arcane Power is a damage cooldown that makes all your spellsdeal 20% more damage, but also increases their Mana cost by 20%. This abilitylasts for 15 seconds and has a 84-second cooldown with the 
Arcane Flowstalent.
Arcane Flows reduces the cooldown of Arcane Power (84s),Presence of Mind (84s), and 
Invisibility (126s) by 30% and the4-minute cooldown of 
Evocation by another 2 minutes. Another small tipis that the Tier 3 2-set bonus (Frostfire Regalia) reduces the cooldown ofEvocation by a minute. With this in mind, you can swap to the 2 pieces, waitfor a second (the bonus needs a bit to activate), Evocate, and swap back toyour normal gear. Be sure to only use this strategy out of combat, as youcan only switch back to your normal gear out of combat and Tier 3 is terribleto wear during an encounter.
Mind Mastery turns 15% of your Intellect into Spell Power.
Missile Barrage gives your Arcane Blast a 40% andArcane Barrage a 20% chance to halve the cast time (the tooltip ismisleading) of your next Arcane Missiles and make them cost no Mana.
Netherwind Presence Increases your Spell Haste by 6%.
Spell Power increases the Critical Strike damage bonus of allspells by 50%, making your Arcane spells crit for 175% damage, or 182% with
Chaotic Skyflare Diamond, instead of 150%.
Arcane Barrage hits the enemy with an instant-cast missile. Thisspell is very useful while moving and to reset your Arcane Blaststacks.
2.2.
Fire Tree
Incineration increases your chance to critically hit withArcane Blast by 6%.
2.3.
Frost Tree
Ice Floes reduces the cooldown of Ice Block (240s) andIcy Veins (144s) by 20%.
Improved Frostbolt makes your filler Frostbolt cast0.2 seconds faster. This is a rather unimportant filler talent.
Precision increases your chance to hit with all spells by3%. This allows Arcane Mages to gear for much more offensive stats than anyother Mage spec in the game, as you will need only 8% more Spell Hit frombuffs, enchants, and gear.
Ice Shards combined with Spell Power makes yourFrost spell Critical Strikes deal 225% damage, or 236% with Chaotic Skyflare Diamond, instead of 150%. This talent makesBlizzard your strongest AoE spell.
Icy Veins increases your casting speed by 20% and gives youa 100% spell pushback protection for 20 seconds. Does not protect frominterrupt effects or stuns.
3.
Best Glyphs for Arcane Mages
The best Arcane Mage Glyphs are 
Glyph of Arcane Blast, Glyph of Arcane Missiles, and Glyph of Molten Armor (Major), and
Glyph of Arcane Intellect and Glyph of Slow Fall (Minor). The thirdglyph is your personal choice. Further, one could argue that Glyph of Fire Ward and Glyph of Frost Ward are better minor glyphsthan any other, but the use of these is very, very niche, so thisguide will stick to the quality of life glyphs. Below you will find a completelist of glyphs, in case you would like to experiment with them, e.g. forfarming purposes.
Minor Glyphs:
Glyph of Arcane Intellect- Glyph of Blast Wave
- Glyph of Fire Ward
- Glyph of Frost Armor
- Glyph of Frost Ward
- Glyph of Slow Fall
- Glyph of the Penguin
4.
Changelog
- 18 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Phase 2 release ahead of Ulduar raid release.
- 14 Sep. 2022: Page added.
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