TBC Classic Arcane Mage Phase 5 / Tier 6 Gear and Best in Slot

This page contains a list of gear which is considered to be the best in each slot from Sunwell Plateau.

The list below is following the stat priority of Spell Hit until cap > Spell Haste until >=25% passive haste >= Intellect >= Spell Damage > Spell Crit > Spirit. You can see an explanation for this priority on our stats page for Arcane Mage below. The BIS list was tested for 210s±30s and 270s±30s fights, so for fights which last 3 to 5 minutes. At the time you obtain the full best in slot gear, your raid team will have a lot of gear from The Sunwell Plateau or the raid will probably already be nerfed, so the time span is realistic. The main raid buffs used for simming this gear were 1x Innervate, 0-1x Bloodlust/Heroism, 1x Mana Tide Totem, a Shadow Priest with at least 1400 single target DPS and the two buffs from Chain of the Twilight Owl and Eye of the Night.

If you are starting out as a freshly-leveled Arcane Mage, our pre-raid best in slot list is meant to give you an idea of non-raid items you can chase as a solo / pug player in preparation for raids.

To check out our recommended Pre-Raid best in slot gear, head over to its list below. If your character is still progressing through the content of older tiers, then you may wish to consult their best in slot lists instead.

The items on the following list for Sunwell Plateau come from TBC raids and the Jewelcrafting profession. It also uses only crafted gems, as these are easier to come by.

Just as for previous phases, the following Best in Slot lists were simulated with the MageSim TBC by Osthyvel from the Mage Discord.

Please note, that for different raid support scenarios or fight lengths, these Best in Slot lists presented here might not be best in Slot any more (but still very good). Not all available fight/raid scenarios can be covered by a single Best in Slot list.

The list is built for maximum performance overall on trash and bosses and becomes even better if you have higher support, such as multiple Innervates, Improved Divine Spirit or Moonkin Aura. As T6.5 gear already brings a lot of haste on its own and there are less AOE-centered fights in The Sunwell Plateau, there will be no more specific AOE bis for Phase 5 gear. For pure short AOE trash fights, Ashtongue Talisman of Insight and Mind Quickening Gem still remain best in slot.

Some of the slots in the best in slot list are variable or depend on what faction you play. Before going to the bis list, this guide discusses what you should know about your Weapon, Necklace, Legs, Rings and Trinkets.

In Sunwell Sunflare paired with Heart of the Pit are without any doubt the best combination you can get. There are some gear setups in which Chronicle of Dark Secrets sims very close to Heart of the Pit, but as you want to reach 25% passive Haste to not break your filler rotation of 3x Arcane Blast and 4x Frostbolt, you need to equip Ring of Omnipotence and gem a few Reckless Pyrestones to reach the Haste cap. Utilizing the hit from Chronicle in order to reach the cap of 76 Spell Hit rating can be good for Horde Mages, as it allows you to wear Brooch of Nature's Mercy over Amulet of Unfettered Magics. The DPS lost by using Chronicle over Heart of the Pit is within 4-5 DPS.

The other weapon to talk about in Sunwell Plateau is the Grand Magister's Staff of Torrents, which has very high Intellect, but also wastes a lot of its item budget on Spell Hit Rating and offers no Spell Haste Rating. The loss of spell Haste Rating also requires you use Ring of Omnipotence, and to gem a few Reckless Pyrestones, in order to reach 25% passive Haste in full best in slot gear. The DPS lost by using this staff over the Sunflare combo is around 36-44 DPS for Alliance Mages and around 29-36 DPS for Horde Mages, as the latter can utilize the hit slightly better. One upside of the staff for Horde mages is that you can also use Brooch of Nature's Mercy over Amulet of Unfettered Magics.

The general conclusion for weapons is, that Sunflare paired with Heart of the Pit are best in slot for any Mage, and that you should only take the Grand Magister's Staff of Torrents if you are either ok with doing less DPS, or if you want to help your guild with gear distribution. For Horde Mages, Chronicle of Dark Secrets is an ok off hand, but it forces you to go with Ring of Omnipotence instead of Amulet of Unfettered Magics (and use Brooch of Nature's Mercy instead).

Alliance Mages use Brooch of Nature's Mercy, as they comfortably get hit capped by the Draenei Shaman aura Inspiring Presence. Horde Mages with The Skull of Gul'dan also gain enough hit to use that necklace. Horde Mages without Skull should be using Amulet of Unfettered Magics. However, they can also go with Brooch of Nature's Mercy together with two Veiled Pyrestones elsewhere in their gear to make up for the lost hit. This comes at the cost of around 5-6 DPS. Another, more complicated, alternative that allows Horde Mages to use the Brooch of Nature's Mercy is described in the Weapons section above.

The best legs for Mages in phase 5 are the Leggings of Calamity. However, they are highly contested by other casters as well. A rather uncontested and slightly worse option is to use Pantaloons of Growing Strife, which can be bought from Yrma on the Isle of Quel'Danas for 1x Pantaloons of Calming Strife and 1x Sunmote. Those legs perform 4-16 DPS (depending on your race) worse than Leggings of Calamity but are basically free as almost no other class wants them and Pantaloons of Calming Strife drops from the first boss in Sunwell Plateau.

The one ring every mage will use is the Loop of Forged Power, made by Jewelcrafters. The second ring will be Band of the Eternal Sage, unless you are using Grand Magister's Staff of Torrents or Chronicle of Dark Secrets and need to make up for some Spell Haste Rating. In this case Ring of Omnipotence from M'uru will be the better choice.

Shifting Naaru Sliver is going to be your best trinket, simply because it has a lot of passive haste, which is required to reach 25% passive haste for fixing your filler rotation (that is being talked about in the Weapons section above). Try to get this trinket, as it is really essential for your best in slot goals. If you do not get or take this trinket and go with The Skull of Gul'dan + Hex Shrunken Head, you will need to work with Ring of Omnipotence and Reckless Pyrestones, in order to get enough haste. This will result in a >20 DPS loss. Another reason why you should really try to get this trinket is, that it lines up perfectly with the cooldowns of Arcane Power and Icy Veins, so you can always stack them together if you want to.

In the second trinket slot you can use either The Skull of Gul'dan or Hex Shrunken Head. They are both within a few DPS of each other. Horde Mages can utilize the hit of Skull to use Brooch of Nature's Mercy over Amulet of Unfettered Magics, making the Amulet less contested for other casters in your raid.

Not being an Enchanter + Engineer is always a DPS loss, as the ring enchants and explosives outDPS any gear you can get from other professions. The Sorcerer's Alchemist Stone may be praised by some shady mage guides, but the MageSim simulations have shown that this trinket is really bad. The Jewelcrafting necklace Pendant of Sunfire is good on its own, but it is not worth dropping Enchanting or Engineering to pick up Jewelcrafting. Tailoring offers the Tailoring-only Sunfire Robe, but it is still worse when you need to drop Enchanting/Engineering for it.

The only valuable crafted items from Sunwell are the BOE (bind on equip) ones, Loop of Forged Power and Sunfire Handwraps, as well as the Engineering helmet Annihilator Holo-Gogs. However, the Handwraps and the Holo-Gogs should only be used early on until you have your best in slot items for those slots.

What really is Best in Slot for you depends on a few factors. Therefore you need to check the precise instructions given above in the Weapon, Necklace, Legs, Rings and Trinkets sections for items marked with a star *.

If you have further questions about gemming and enchanting these items, our Arcane Mage Enchants and Gems page below provides more information.