Mages 101 by Archmage Sinist

Good Evening Class.

During our session this evening we will be studying the powers of the Arcane. Arcane is as ancient as time itself...however many often neglect its vast capabilities. With the help of Arcane magic we can prevent a most terrifying death by slow falling ourselves or collegues. We can conjure up enough mana strudles to feed an army and yes...even blast our enemies to kingdom come in a few measly seconds. That my students is only the tip of the iceburg.

I'm sure most of you could care less of conjuration and the sort....so we will skip right to the juicy parts. How to defeat the Demons, Rouge Deities and Monsters that plague Azeroth using the Powers of Arcane.

Lets first begin by making sure you understand how to spec and which Glyphs are best to use...shall we?

Spec

When speccing for Arcane you will have a few extra talen points to spare. I personally chose placing mine in Magic Attunement and Incanters Absorbtion. You do not need to copy my spec talent for talent. The best thing about arcane speccing is how flexible it is. I chose a few talents and points based on personal preference. Magic Attunement simply allows my spells to gain distance....which in the long run...during an intensive boss fight I don't need to worry about my range much since I have an increased spell range. Incanters Absorbtion is also very nice. Any dmg absorbed by a shield....such as a Disc priest's shield, Frost Ward, Fire Ward and yes even the magic shields on certian boss fights such as Twin Valks will increase your Spell power by a certain percentage for 10 seconds. There is no perfect Arcane mage spec.... however it is agreed upon that your talent points spent add up to 57/3/11 in Arcane/Fire/Frost . Have fun, mess around with the spec...and see what you come up with.

Glyph wise is much simpler. Your major Glyphs need to be.
1.Arcane Missles
2.Arcane Blast
3.Molten Armor

No need for explanation there.

Now lets jump into our arsenal...


Arcane Blast (AB): Blasts the target with energy, dealing X Arcane damage. Each time you cast Arcane Blast, the damage of all Arcane spells is increased by 15% and mana cost of Arcane Blast is increased by 175%. Effect stacks up to 4 times and lasts 6 sec or until any Arcane damage spell except Arcane Blast is cast.

Arcane Missles (AM): Launches Arcane Missiles at the enemy, causing X Arcane damage each second for Y sec.

Arcane Barrage (ABr): Launches several missiles at the enemy target, causing X to Y Arcane damage.

Presence of Mind: When activated, your next Mage spell with a casting time less than 10 sec becomes an instant cast spell.

Arcane Power: When activated, your spells deal 20% more damage while costing 20% more mana to cast. This effect lasts 15 sec.

Icy Veins: Hastens your spellcasting, increasing spell casting speed by 20% and gives you 100% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting. Lasts 20 sec.

These 3 spells and 3 Cooldowns will be your best friends during battle.


The basic Arcane mage rotation is.... ABx's 4 AM on proc. You have a 40% chance to proc AM on each AB. IF for some reason the RnG or random number generator decides that you don't get to proc AM after 4 AB's then you either get rid of your AB buff with a Arcane Barrage (one of the only times you ill use this spell) or use AM even tho it didn't proc it will still do more DPM then using ABr. On movement fights it is better to use Abr if you fail to proc AM. You can also...IF mana is no issue Spam AB all you want. I generally spam a few AB's after 4 if it doesn't proc AM only if I have the mana capicity or the boss is low on HP. Don't be surprised to see big crits come from AB.

If i just fried your brain i appologize. just remember. Arcane Blast x's 4 then Arcane Missles. Repeat.

Playing Arcane is also all about managing your CD's well and knowing how to use them. I made Macros to manage them and help me get max DPS without having to click multiple hotkeys.

first macro(starter)
/cast Presence of mind
/cast Arcane Blast

CD's
/cast Arcane Power
/cast Icy Veins
/cast Mirror Image
/cast (trinkets)

Use them everytime they are up.

When gearing as an Arcane Mage your priorities should always be Spell Power>haste>Crit. NEVER EVER Gem for Intel....thats just silly. But ive seen some sad cases.

Just to break it down some more in DPS figures. 10SP=11DPS 10Haste=10DPS 10Crit=5DPS

Heres a good Video from StratFu to sum up and cover the bases I didn't.

VIDEO!

That concludes this nights lesson on the Arcane. Quiz on monday followed by Fire PvE. In order to be a good raiding mage...you must master all the elements including Fire.