WoW The War Within: Arcane Mage Build

Jonas Author

Created - 02.01.2025 Updated - 03.01.2025

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Building a WoW The War Within Arcane Mage isn’t easy and if you want to get this type of damage dealer in the game, you’ve come to the right place. Much like our WoW Hunter Beast Mastery build, this one can help you deal a ton of damage even in M+ raids.

Before you proceed with the build, make sure to drop by our WoW store. If you’re struggling to get decent items for your Arcane Mage, our WoW gold selection might help you stock up on solid upgrades fast.

Stat Priority & Set Bonus

Arcane Mages harness the power of their own mana, combined with the mystical art of Arcane magic, to unleash devastating explosions of power on their enemies.

This guide is designed to be beginner-friendly, but it will also cover everything you need to know if you’re a veteran player. Let’s dive right in, starting with the stat priorities.

Stat Priorities

First and foremost, Intellect is your primary stat. The way you’ll increase this stat is by acquiring higher item level (or eye level) gear. Intellect is your top priority when gearing up, so keep that in mind as you progress.

The stat priority we’re about to go over is the general guide you’ll want to follow for your secondary stats. However, unless you’re comparing two items with the same eye level, don’t stress too much about the exact numbers. Focus more on getting better gear overall, and these priorities will fall into place.

Now, moving on to secondary stats, we start with Haste. Haste is a crucial stat for Arcane Mages because it increases your attack speed—meaning you’ll cast your spells faster, which directly impacts your overall damage output.

Next up, we have Critical Strike, which gives you an extra chance to deal more damage with your abilities. It’s always nice to have that extra boost to your damage when you need it.

Versatility comes next, and this stat is valuable for increasing both your damage and healing done, as well as reducing the amount of damage you take. It’s a well-rounded stat that helps you survive while dealing damage.

Mastery is another important secondary stat for Arcane Mages. In The War Within, your Mastery—specifically Mana regeneration—increases both your mana regeneration rate and your maximum mana.

Lastly, we have Arcane Charges. These increase the damage of your Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage abilities. More Arcane Charges mean more damage from these core spells. Arcane Charges also increase the damage of all other Arcane abilities you use.

Set Bonus

Let’s take a quick look at the set bonus for Arcane Mages in The War Within. The two-set bonus for Arcane Mages is Sparks of the Violet Rebirth. With this bonus, both Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage get a damage increase, which is a nice boost to your core spells.

The four-set bonus adds even more power. When casting Arcane Blast or Arcane Barrage, you get a 5% chance to make your next Arcane Barrage deal more damage and generate the full four Arcane Charges. This synergy between your abilities makes your Arcane rotation even more potent.

This set bonus is pretty straightforward, but if you’re unfamiliar with the mechanics, don’t worry.

Utilities & Defensives

Now, let’s dive into the utilities and defensives available to you as an Arcane Mage. These abilities aren’t tied to your specific specialization—whether you’re Frost, Fire, or Arcane, these utilities are available to all Mages in The War Within.

So, if you ever feel like trying out a different specialization, you won’t need to relearn this part of the video. You can carry this knowledge with you across any Mage spec.

Crowd Control & Disruption

Starting off with Polymorph, this spell transforms your enemy into a sheep, incapacitating them for a full minute. While polymorphed, the enemy cannot take any actions, but they will regenerate health.

So, if an enemy is already low on health, it’s probably not the best time to Polymorph them. However, it’s a great way to take an enemy out of the fight for a while, allowing you to focus on other threats nearby.

Next, we have Frost, which freezes your enemies in place for 6 seconds. However, keep in mind that any damage dealt to the frozen target may interrupt the freeze effect. It’s great for locking down enemies temporarily and preventing them from acting while you deal with others.

Slow is another utility that you can apply to enemies. It reduces their movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds, making it harder for them to reach you or escape.

Then there’s Ring of Frost, which is placeable. You can summon a ring at a location, and any enemies that enter it will be incapacitated for 10 seconds. After that, they’ll be slowed by 65% for an additional 4 seconds.

This ability can be a game-changer in controlling the battlefield, preventing enemy movement, and setting up for combos with your other spells.

Counterspell is one of the most important abilities in your kit. It interrupts an enemy's spellcasting, making it crucial for situations like PvP or Mythic+ dungeons.

While it’s not as necessary in raid content, you might still use it on certain adds or during specific boss encounters. In general, though, it’s indispensable in PvP and other fast-paced content like Mythic+ or leveling.

Defensive & Utility Buffs

On the right side, we have several utilities that enhance you and your allies, starting with Ice Block. This is one of the signature Mage abilities. Ice Block encases you in a block of ice, making you immune to all damage for a short period of time. However, once used, you cannot use it again for 30 seconds, thanks to the Hypothermia debuff. This ability can be lifesaving in certain situations, allowing you to survive burst damage or reset a dangerous encounter.

Mass Barrier is another powerful ability. When cast, it grants Prismatic Barrier to you and your allies, absorbing damage for up to a minute. It also reduces magic damage taken by 25%, decreases the duration of harmful magic effects, and increases avoidance by 5%. Avoidance helps reduce damage from area-of-effect (AoE) attacks, which is useful in high-damage encounters.

Another great utility is Greater Invisibility, which makes you invisible and untargetable for 20 seconds. While invisible, you take 60% reduced damage, making this a great tool for avoiding heavy incoming damage. However, any action will cancel the invisibility effect, so timing is key.

We also have some abilities that benefit your allies. Arcane Intellect is one of my favorite utilities. When cast, it increases the intellect of you and your party or raid members by 5%. Since intellect is our primary stat, this is a huge benefit to everyone in your group.

Lastly, we have Time Warp, which is essentially the Mage version of Bloodlust or Heroism. Time Warp increases the haste of all party and raid members by 30% for 40 seconds, allowing everyone to cast their spells faster. This is one of the most important cooldowns in the game, and your raid or group leader will typically call when to use it. However, keep in mind that after using Time Warp, you can’t benefit from it again for 10 minutes, thanks to Temporal Displacement. This also applies if another Mage or Shaman uses Bloodlust, as the cooldown affects everyone in the group.

There are plenty more abilities in your spellbook that you can explore as you get more comfortable with your Mage, but these are the core utilities you’ll be using the most in The War Within. Now, with all that utility knowledge under your belt, it’s time to get into the fun part—learning how to play the Arcane Mage spec itself!

Raid Rotation

The Arcane Mage rotation in The War Within is very complex—arguably more so than ever before. The intricacies of managing your abilities, resources, and cooldowns might feel overwhelming at first.

We’ll break it down into clear phases, including burn phases, openers, and normal rotation phases. Whether you’re heading into Mythic+ or raiding, we’ll help you make sense of it all.

Key Spells and Cooldowns

Before diving into the rotation, let's go over some of the key abilities that you'll use regularly.

1. Arcane Surge: This ability has a 1.5-minute cooldown. It expends all your current mana to deal Arcane damage to your target and nearby enemies, based on the mana spent. Damage is reduced for enemies beyond five targets. Arcane Surge also generates Clearcasting, allowing you to use Arcane Missiles at no mana cost and boosts your mana regeneration and spell damage for the next 15 seconds.

2. Touch of the Magei: This off-global cooldown ability applies a debuff that accumulates 25% of the damage you deal over 12 seconds, then explodes for Arcane damage. It's crucial for both single-target and AoE rotations.

3. Arcane Charges: This core resource increases the damage of spells like Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage, but also increases their mana cost. Managing Arcane Charges is crucial for maximizing damage output without depleting mana too quickly.

4. Arcane Blast: Deals significant Arcane damage, with each Arcane Charge increasing its damage and mana cost, while reducing the cast time. Each cast generates an Arcane Charge.

5. Magi's Spark (Talent): Adds a passive effect to Touch of the Magei. When activated, it causes the next Arcane Barrage, Arcane Blast, or Arcane Missiles to echo their damage, and the spark explodes upon taking damage from any of these spells, dealing damage to nearby enemies.

6. Attunement (Talent): Every third Clearcasting consumed grants Attunement, enhancing your next Arcane Missiles to deal increased damage to the primary target and additional targets at half damage.

7. Mirror Image: Creates copies of you that cast spells and attack enemies, providing a defensive buffer by reducing the damage you take.

8. Shifting Power: A 1-minute cooldown ability that damages nearby enemies and reduces the cooldown of major abilities, allowing for faster spell resets.

9. Evocation: Essential for mana regeneration, it significantly restores mana and boosts Intellect while channeling, also granting Clearcasting at the end of the channel.

10. Arcane Orb: Projects an orb forward that deals damage and grants an Arcane Charge each time it hits an enemy, aiding in quick charge accumulation.

Opening Rotation

A few seconds before the pull, cast Evocation to gain a 20-second buff that boosts your Intellect. Afterward, immediately follow up with Arcane Missiles to start your damage rotation.

Next, use Arcane Surge to benefit from the huge Intellect buff gained from Evocation. This synergy allows you to maximize your damage output with Arcane Surge.

Then, cast Touch of the Magei to apply the debuff to your target. You’ll want to activate this just before using Arcane Barrage, so the debuff is already in place when the spell lands.

After these initial casts, you’ll want to follow up with Arcane Blast to generate Arcane Charges and Arcane Missiles once you have Clearcasting available. Arcane Blast is essential for building charges quickly, and Arcane Missiles takes advantage of Clearcasting, letting you deal damage without spending mana.

Your opener should look like this:

1. Evocation
2. Arcane Missiles
3. Arcane Surge
4. Touch of the Magei
5. Arcane Blast
6. Arcane Missiles
7. Arcane Blast
8. Arcane Missiles
9. Arcane Blast
10. Arcane Barrage

Normal Rotation

Once your opener is complete and you’ve burned through your mana, you’ll transition into your regular rotation. Here’s the priority order you should follow:

• If you have three stacks of Clearcasting, use Arcane Missiles.
• If you have fewer than two Arcane Charges, use Arcane Orb to generate more charges.
• Otherwise, use Arcane Blast to build Arcane Charges.
• Once you’ve used up your mana, you can use Shifting Power to reduce cooldowns and get back into the action.
• Continue using Arcane Missiles when you have Clearcasting.

Managing Important Buffs and Talents

1. Burden of Power: If you have the Burden of Power buff (granted by certain talents), you’ll want to use Arcane Blast followed by Arcane Barrage to take advantage of the 30% damage increase.
2. Never Precision: When you consume Clearcasting, you’ll gain the Never Precision buff, which increases the damage of your next Arcane Blast or Arcane Barrage by 20%. This is the perfect time to use Arcane Blast for maximum damage.
3. Clearcasting: If you ever have Clearcasting, use Arcane Missiles for free mana. This is one of the most efficient ways to deal with consistent damage while conserving mana.

The Arcane Mage rotation is incredibly complex, and managing your resources and cooldowns efficiently is key to maximizing your damage output. Once you’ve mastered the basic opener and normal rotation, you’ll be able to tackle even the toughest encounters with precision. Keep practicing, and don’t get discouraged by the complexity—it will start to feel like second nature in no time.

Mythic+ Rotation

When transitioning to the Mythic+ rotation, you’ll notice that only a few talents actually change. However, the rotation itself does adjust slightly. Spells like Arcane Orb become more important in Mythic+, as they do significantly more damage. Many of your spells already deal AoE damage, so there’s not much adjustment required there. Overall, your priority list remains fairly similar, with only a few tweaks.

Key Adjustments for Mythic+

After getting through the opener and burn phase, you’ll still use Shifting Power to reduce cooldowns, but there’s another key mechanic to consider in Mythic+ called Arcane Soul. It plays a big role in how you approach rotations in Mythic+.

When you’re under the effects of Arcane Surge, you gain double the stacks of Mana Cascade, which is linked to your Arcane Phoenix talent. The Arcane Phoenix lasts for a limited time, and once it expires, it empowers you and grants Arcane Soul. You’ll also gain an extra 0.5 seconds for each exceptional spell cast by your Phoenix.

Once Arcane Phoenix expires and Arcane Soul is active, you’ll need to adapt your rotation slightly. During this phase, you’ll gain additional Clearcasting and Arcane Charges, so managing these becomes essential for your rotation.

Mythic+ Priority List

1. Arcane Soul Activation: Once Arcane Soul is activated, your priority shifts slightly. Start by casting Arcane Barrage as your final spell in Arcane Soul, since this will trigger additional effects from your talents.
2. Arcane Missiles: If you have three stacks of Clearcasting, use Arcane Missiles. This should be your second priority after Arcane Barrage.
3. Arcane Barrage with Never Precision: If you have Never Precision active (which is gained from consuming Clearcasting), cast Arcane Barrage with this buff. If you have any remaining Clearcasting stacks, use Arcane Barrage to consume them.
4. Arcane Orb: If you have fewer than two Arcane Charges, Arcane Orb should be your go-to ability. Arcane Orb generates Arcane Charges, and you’ll want to use it if you’re running low.
5. Normal Rotation: If you have no other options, continue to cast Arcane Blast to generate more Arcane Charges, then follow it up with Arcane Barrage. If you’re out of mana, use Arcane Barrage to expend the last of your resources and deal damage.
6. End of Arcane Soul: As Arcane Soul winds down, you’ll want to ensure you have at least three stacks of Clearcasting before the phase ends. This allows you to immediately transition into your normal rotation of Arcane Missiles and other abilities.

Managing Burden of Power and Arcane Soul

While in Arcane Soul, you can ignore the Burden of Power buff that we mentioned earlier in the raid rotation. Instead, focus on maximizing your Arcane Missiles by finishing Arcane Soul with Clearcasting stacks. This helps you transition smoothly into your normal rotation.

When you finish Arcane Soul, it’s key to immediately use Arcane Missiles if you have three stacks of Clearcasting. This ensures that you continue applying pressure and maintain high damage output during this phase.

The Mythic+ rotation for Arcane Mage is a bit more dynamic, given the inclusion of Arcane Soul and the need to manage Clearcasting, Arcane Charges, and cooldowns. The core principles remain the same, but understanding how to adapt during Arcane Soul and maximize Arcane Missiles is key to keeping up high damage output.

Dominate With Arcane Magic

If you want to gear up with the best sets possible, make sure to check out our armor set tier list as well. With enough WoW gold, you can easily dominate more M+ dungeons in no time.