Cataclysm Classic Arcane Mage Pre-Raid Gear

Welcome to our guide on the Best-in-Slot (BiS) gear for Arcane Mage! Here, you will find recommendations to help you optimize your gear for maximum damage and performance in raids and dungeons.

This is the stat priority for Arcane Mage, which this guide follows:

1. Intellect
2. Hit Rating (17% Hit Cap!)
3. Haste Rating (until soft cap)
4. Mastery Rating
5. Haste Rating (after soft cap)
6. Critical Strike Rating

For more information on the best available gems and enchants, check out our Enchants and Gems Guide.

2.

Pre-raid Best in Slot

Phase Three Phase Two Phase One

Phase 3 Pre-Raid Best in Slot. Most of the items are bought with Valor Points and Fissure Stone Fragments, which can both be obtained through running Inferno Protocol Heroic Dungeons. This list is - as always - still subject to changes, due to changes in the sim/new findings in the Mage Discord.

Slot	Item	Reforging	Source
Head	Crown of the Twilight Queen	Crit → Hit	80 Fissure Stone Fragments
Neck	Amulet of Burning Brilliance	Crit → Haste	1250 Valor Points Sold by Jamus'Vaz/Faldren Tillsdale
Shoulder	Mantle of Nefarius	Spirit → Haste	60 Fissure Stone Fragments
Cloak	Shroud of Endless Grief	Haste → Hit	80 Fissure Stone Fragments
Chest	Firehawk Robes	Mastery → Haste	2200 Valor Points Sold by Jamus'Vaz/Faldren Tillsdale
Bracer	Emberflame Bracers	Mastery → Haste	1250 Valor Points Sold by Jamus'Vaz/Faldren Tillsdale
Gloves	Don Tayo's Inferno Mittens	Crit → Haste	Tailoring
Belt	Soul Breath Belt of the Feverflare	Mastery → Hit	12 Fissure Stone Fragments
Legs	Firehawk Leggings	Crit → Haste	2200 Valor Points Sold by Jamus'Vaz/Faldren Tillsdale
Boots	Boots of the Black Flame	Crit → Haste	Tailoring
Ring 1	Crystalline Brimstone Ring	Mastery → Haste	1200 Valor Points Sold by Jamus'Vaz/Faldren Tillsdale
Ring 2	Planetary Band of the Wildfire	Mastery → Hit	12 Fissure Stone Fragments
Trinket 1	Theralion's Mirror	–	50 Fissure Stone Fragments
Trinket 2	Darkmoon Card: Volcano	Mastery → Haste	Darkmoon Volcanic Deck
Weapon	Masterwork Elementium Spellblade	Crit → Haste	Blacksmithing
Off-Hand	Book of Binding Will	–	15 Fissure Stone Fragments
Ranged	Trail of Embers	–	700 Valor Points Sold by Jamus'Vaz/Faldren Tillsdale

Phase 2 Pre-Raid Best in Slot. This list uses Archaeology items. The ring is relatively easy to get. For the 2H-Weapon (low drop rate) Voodoo Hexblade from the timed run in Zul'Aman HC and Hermit's Lamp (950 Justice Points) make a solid alternative.

Slot	Item	Reforging	Source
Head	Lightweight Bio-Optic Killshades (Engineering) Collar of Bones (Non-Engineering)	–	Engineering Daakara Zul'Aman HC
Neck	Lightning Flash Pendant (A) Yellow Smoke Pendant (H)	Crit → Hit	Exalted Wildhammer Clan (A) Dragonmaw Clan (H)
Shoulder	Jan'alai's Spaulders	Crit → Mastery	Jan'alai Zul'Aman HC
Cloak	Haunt of Flies	Crit → Hit	1250 Valor Points
Chest	Firelord's Robes	Crit → Mastery	2200 Valor Points
Bracer	Wristwraps of Madness	Crit → Mastery	Timed run Reward Zul'Aman HC
Gloves	Firelord's Gloves	Crit → Hit	1650 Valor Points
Belt	Dreamless Belt Stratosphere Belt	–	Tailoring Grand Vizier Ertan The Vortex Pinnacle HC
Legs	Firelord's Leggings	Haste → Mastery	2200 Valor Points
Boots	Desert Walker Sandals	Haste → Mastery	Exalted Ramkahen
Ring 1	Signet of Venoxis	Haste → Hit	High Priest Venoxis Zul'Gurub HC
Ring 2	Ring of the Boy Emperor	Haste → Hit	Archaeology
Trinket 1	Stump of Time (A) Stump of Time (H)	–	Exalted Baradin's Wardens (A) Hellscream's Reach (H)
Trinket 2	Darkmoon Card: Volcano	Mastery → Hit	Darkmoon Volcanic Deck
Weapon	Staff of Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan	Crit → Hit	Archaeology
Ranged	Zulian Voodoo Stick	Haste → Hit	Edge of Madness bosses Zul'Gurub HC

For this pre-raid gear set make sure to use Reckless Ember Topaz in yellow gem slots and one Veiled Demonseye in your belt, rest red. This will result in slightly more dps than using reds in every gem slot.

Slot	Item	Reforging	Source
Head*	Lightweight Bio-Optic Killshades (Engineering) Helm of the Typhonic Beast (Non-Engineering)	–	Engineering Setesh Halls of Origination HC
Neck	Lightning Flash Pendant (A) Yellow Smoke Pendant (H)	–	Exalted Wildhammer Clan (A) Dragonmaw Clan (H)
Shoulder	Mantle of the Eastern Lords	–	Lord Godfrey Shadowfang Keep HC
Cloak*	Periwinkle Cloak	–	Lady Naz'jar Throne of the Tides HC
Chest*	Inquisition Robes	–	Rom'ogg Bonecrusher Blackrock Caverns HC
Bracer	Sand Silk Wristband	Crit → Haste	Augh and Lockmaw Lost City of the Tol'vir HC
Gloves*	Flamebloom Gloves	–	Exalted The Earthen Ring
Belt	Dreamless Belt Stratosphere Belt	–	Tailoring Grand Vizier Ertan The Vortex Pinnacle HC
Legs	Breeches of Mended Nightmares Pensive Legwraps	Crit → Haste	Tailoring 2200 Justice Points
Boots	Desert Walker Sandals	–	Exalted Ramkahen
Ring 1*	Lavishly Jeweled Ring	–	Admiral Ripsnarl Halls of Origination HC
Ring 2*	Band of Singing Grass (A) Band of Lamentation (H)	–	Revered Wildhammer Clan (A) Dragonmaw Clan (H)
Trinket 1	Stump of Time (A) Stump of Time (H)	–	Exalted Baradin's Wardens (A) Hellscream's Reach (H)
Trinket 2	Darkmoon Card: Volcano	–	Darkmoon Volcanic Deck
Weapon*	Staff of Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan Elementium Spellblade	–	Archaeology Blacksmithing
Off-Hand	Hermit's Lamp	–	950 Justice Points
Ranged	Corla's Baton	–	Corla, Herald of Twilight Blackrock Caverns HC

*We need to talk about some items in a little more detail:

• Head — Lightweight Bio-Optic Killshades is the recommended helmet if you have gone with Engineering. It can fit in Quick Cogwheels and Rigid Cogwheels.
• Cloak — Ritssyn's Ruminous Drape is a better alternative from World Bosses. However, its drop rate is limited by world boss spawns, making this item very hard to get.
• Chest — Dizze's Whirling Robe is a better alternative from World Bosses. However, its drop rate is limited by world boss spawns, making this item very hard to get.
• Gloves — Grips of the Failed Immortal is a better alternative from World Bosses. However, its drop rate is limited by world boss spawns, making this item very hard to get.
• Ring — Ring of the Boy Emperor is obtained via Archaeology, but will take a very long time to get, since it has a very low drop chance. Signet of High Arcanist Savor is a random world drop and is a very solid option, but it is very rare and will be expensive throughout the expansion.
• Weapon — The Staff of Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan from Archaeology is also very hard to get, because it also has a very low drop rate. If you can take the grind, definately get this weapon, it is by far the best pre raid BiS weapon you can get. Should you not get this Staff, all the other one-handed blue weapons from Heroic Dungeons are basically the same as Elementium Spellblade , take whatever weapon you get first.