WotLK Classic Arcane Mage Gear and Best in Slot

The items in the list below are considered to be best in slot for Arcane Mages in Phase 5 / Tier 10. Thanks to the Mage Discord, especially Savari94, for gathering this information. All but one of the items in this list will drop from Hardmodes in Icecrown Citadel (ICC) 25-man and from Halion in The Ruby Sanctum 25-Man HM. The heroic version of Charred Twilight Scale is far better than the Phase 4 BIS Reign of the Dead from Heroic Trial of the Crusader

The power gap between these items and their alternatives is rather big, which is why they are extremely sought-after by other caster classes in your raid. This goes especially for the Heroic version (item level 277) of the T10 set, as we share our tokens for it with Rogues, Death Knights and Druids, which are all very popular classes. The basic 251ilevel version of the T10 set can be bought for Emblem of Frost (Head, Chest, Legs = 95 Emblems each; Hands, Shoulders = 60 Emblems each). After that, you need to upgrade each piece with the Vanquisher's Mark of Sanctification from 10-man heroic or 25-man normal Icecrown Citadel to item level 264 at Rueben Lauren in Dalaran. Rueben Lauren also offers the 277ilevel version of the set for each 264ilevel set piece and one heroic Vanquisher's Mark of Sanctification from 25-man heroic Icecrown Citadel. You can combine different item level versions of the set and still maintain the set bonus. The set is very strong and it makes sense to go for the 2-piece bonus and 4-piece bonus asap. Gather Emblem of Frost from the Daily Heroic Quests and ICC.

The BIS list is strictly for Best in Slot items. Crateria explains why there is no 'alternative' BIS lists. If you are looking for upgrades from any item in Icecrown Citadel, the easiest and most practical solution is to use Osthyvel's Mage Simulation. You need to set it up properly once. Plug in your current gear, professions, enchants, spec, fight length, as well as your raid buffs and consumables. From then working with the sim is very easy and not time-intensive.

The items on the following list for Tier 10 come from WotLK Icecrown Citadel. The abbreviation HM refers to the Hardmode of an encounter. Make sure to use two Purified Dreadstones in a Blue Socket or a Red Socket, in order to activate your Chaotic Skyflare Diamond Meta Gem. To learn more about Mage gems and enchants, visit the Arcane Mage PvE Enchants page.

***As an Alliance Mage you should socket Reckless Ametrine instead of Veiled.

The items in the list below are considered to be best in slot for Arcane Mages in Phase 4 / Tier 10. Thanks to the Mage Discord, especially Savari94, for gathering this information. All but one of the items in this list will drop from Hardmodes in Icecrown Citadel (ICC) 25-man, one from Trial of the Crusader 25-man Hardmodes (HM).

The power gap between these items and their alternatives is rather big, which is why they are extremely sought-after by other caster classes in your raid. This goes especially for the Heroic version (item level 277) of the T10 set, as we share our tokens for it with Rogues, Death Knights and Druids, which are all very popular classes. The basic 251ilevel version of the T10 set can be bought for Emblem of Frost (Head, Chest, Legs = 95 Emblems each; Hands, Shoulders = 60 Emblems each). After that, you need to upgrade each piece with the Vanquisher's Mark of Sanctification from 10-man heroic or 25-man normal Icecrown Citadel to item level 264 at Rueben Lauren in Dalaran. Rueben Lauren also offers the 277ilevel version of the set for each 264ilevel set piece and one heroic Vanquisher's Mark of Sanctification from 25-man heroic Icecrown Citadel. You can combine different item level versions of the set and still maintain the set bonus. The set is very strong and it makes sense to go for the 2-piece bonus and 4-piece bonus asap. Gather Emblem of Frost from the Daily Heroic Quests and ICC.

The BIS list is strictly for Best in Slot items. Crateria explains why there is no 'alternative' BIS lists. If you are looking for upgrades from any item in Icecrown Citadel, the easiest and most practical solution is to use Osthyvel's Mage Simulation. You need to set it up properly once. Plug in your current gear, professions, enchants, spec, fight length, as well as your raid buffs and consumables. From then working with the sim is very easy and not time-intensive.

The items on the following list for Tier 10 come from WotLK Icecrown Citadel. The abbreviation HM refers to the Hardmode of an encounter. Make sure to use two Purified Dreadstones in a Blue Socket or a Red Socket, in order to activate your Chaotic Skyflare Diamond Meta Gem. To learn more about Mage gems and enchants, visit the Arcane Mage PvE Enchants page.

The items in the list below are considered to be best in slot for Arcane Mages in Phase 3 / Tier 9. Thanks to the Mage Discord, especially Savari94, for gathering this information. This list is still preliminary and subject to change. Many of the items in this list will drop from Hardmodes in Trial of the Crusader 25-man, some from Ulduar 10/25-man Hardmodes (HM) and the Wand that previously dropped from Freya in Ulduar 10 can now be bought from the new currency Sidereal Essence from Titan Rune Hardmode Dungeons.

The power gap between these items and their alternatives is rather big, which is why they are extremely sought-after by other caster classes in your raid. This goes especially for the Heroic version (item level 258) of the T9 set, as we share our tokens for it with Rogues, Death Knights and Druids, which are all very popular classes. In addition to that, per lockout there can only be a maximum of 4 hardmode tokens, which are again randomly rolled between classes. The T9-set will have a 232, a 245 and a 258 item level version, it is recommended to stick with the 245 item level version of it until you get the tokens for 258 item level. For more information, check out the Tier 9 set guide here on Icy-Veins.

The BIS list is strictly for Best in Slot items. Crateria explains why there is no 'alternative' BIS lists. If you are looking for upgrades from any item in Trial of the Crusader, the easiest and most practical solution is to use Osthyvel's Mage Simulation. You need to set it up properly once. Plug in your current gear, professions, enchants, spec, fight length, as well as your raid buffs and consumables. From then working with the sim is very easy and not time-intensive.

The items on the following list for Tier 8 come from WotLK Ulduar. The Tier 8 armor is sold by Paldesse in Dalaran for tokens from Ulduar. The abbreviation HM refers to the Hardmode of an encounter. Make sure to use two Purified Dreadstones in a Blue Socket or a Red Socket, in order to activate your Chaotic Skyflare Diamond Meta Gem. To learn more about Mage gems and enchants, visit the Arcane Mage PvE Enchants page.

*The non-heroic 4-set t9 with item level 245 will reduce your DPS by about 360, the item level 232 version of the set is about a 690 DPS loss. Even though there will be a lot of competition for the heroic 4-set, is still BIS. Therefore, it is not recommended to build an alternative gear set that will be replaced by BIS later. When using the 245 or 232 versions of the set, you might need to make up for some hit rating, replacing Reckless Ametrines with Veiled Ametrines. Further, keep in mind that the DPS loss of the 245/232 set is split for all four pieces, so the DPS loss per item is only a quarter of the total loss.

The items in the list below are considered to be best in slot for Arcane Mages in Phase 3 / Tier 9. Thanks to the Mage Discord, especially Savari94, for gathering this information. Many of the items in this list will drop from Hardmodes in Trial of the Crusader 25-man, some from Ulduar 10/25-man Hardmodes (HM) and the Wand that previously dropped from Freya in Ulduar 10 can now be bought from the new currency Sidereal Essence from Titan Rune Hardmode Dungeons.

The power gap between these items and their alternatives is rather big, which is why they are extremely sought-after by other caster classes in your raid. This goes especially for the Heroic version (item level 258) of the T9 set, as we share our tokens for it with Rogues, Death Knights and Druids, which are all very popular classes. In addition to that, per lockout there can only be a maximum of 4 hardmode tokens, which are again randomly rolled between classes. The T9-set will have a 232, a 245 and a 258 item level version, it is recommended to stick with the 245 item level version of it until you get the tokens for 258 item level. For more information, check out the Tier 9 set guide here on Icy-Veins.

The BIS list is strictly for Best in Slot items. Crateria explains why there is no 'alternative' BIS lists. If you are looking for upgrades from any item in Trial of the Crusader, the easiest and most practical solution is to use Osthyvel's Mage Simulation. You need to set it up properly once. Plug in your current gear, professions, enchants, spec, fight length, as well as your raid buffs and consumables. From then working with the sim is very easy and not time-intensive.

The items on the following list for Tier 8 come from WotLK Ulduar. The Tier 8 armor is sold by Paldesse in Dalaran for tokens from Ulduar. The abbreviation HM refers to the Hardmode of an encounter. Make sure to use two Purified Dreadstones in a Blue Socket or a Red Socket, in order to activate your Chaotic Skyflare Diamond Meta Gem. To learn more about Mage gems and enchants, visit the Arcane Mage PvE Enchants page.

*The non-heroic 4-set t9 with item level 245 will reduce your DPS by about 360, the item level 232 version of the set is about a 690 DPS loss. Even though there will be a lot of competition for the heroic 4-set, is still BIS. Therefore, it is not recommended to build an alternative gear set that will be replaced by BIS later. When using the 245 or 232 versions of the set, you might need to make up for some hit rating, replacing Reckless Ametrines with Veiled Ametrines. Further, keep in mind that the DPS loss of the 245/232 set is split for all four pieces, so the DPS loss per item is only a quarter of the total loss.

The items in the list below are considered to be best in slot for Arcane Mages in Phase 2 / Tier 8. Thanks to the Mage Discord for gathering this information. Many of the items in this list will drop from rather difficult Hardmodes of Ulduar 25-man. The power gap between these items and their alternatives is rather big, which is why they are extremely sought-after by other caster classes in your raid. This combination of rather difficult Hardmodes and the popularity of these items, will make it unlikely for you to obtain the Best in Slot gear before the end of Phase 2. When gearing, make sure to utilize the T7 set bonuses before breaking them for a single item.

Another problem, when talking about bis lists, is that there are 17 equipment slots and about 1 to 5 "reasonable" items you could wear on each equipment slot. This very quickly leads to a astronomically high amount of possible gear combinations, which means presenting alternatives for the BiS is always prone to errors. In addition to that, almost every player is wearing different gear (different from Phase 1 BiS), so the best upgrade for player A could be not be the best upgrade for player B.

The easiest and most practical solution to this issue is to simply work towards the BiS from the gear you already have. We recommend to use Osthyvel's Mage Simulation, plug in your gear and enchants, as well as your raid buffs and consumables and to sim which item is the strongest next upgrade for you.

The items on the following list for Tier 8 come from WotLK Ulduar. The Tier 8 armor is sold by Paldesse in Dalaran for tokens from Ulduar. The abbreviation HM refers to the Hardmode of an encounter. Make sure to use two Purified Twilight Opals in a Blue Socket or a Red Socket in order to activate your Chaotic Skyflare Diamond Meta Gem. How to get the Runed Stormjewel is explained in more detail in the Gems section of the Arcane Mage PvE Enchants page. Please note that the value of Runed Scarlet Ruby and Reckless Monarch Topaz can be very close.

*Please note that using 4-set T8 is not an option for Arcane (unless you lack hit rating), because it has so much hit and the 4-set bonus is just not very strong for Arcane, because you drop Arcane Blast stacks. The best 4-set combo is to use Tier 8 Head ( Conqueror's Kirin Tor Hood from Thorim 25-Man) and Legs ( Conqueror's Kirin Tor Leggings from Freya 25-Man), however, "best" is exaggerated, as it is a loss of about 250 DPS in full BiS. It is advised to only use these two Tier 8 parts, if you severely lack hit rating. Using Staff of Endless Winter as a weapon is about a 100 DPS loss in full BiS and requires you to use more hit items, such as Drape of Mortal Downfall from 25-Man Steelbreaker HM and Pendant of Fiery Havoc from 25-Man Flame Leviathan HM. The 4-set T8 for hit rating and Staff of Endless Winter is a combined DPS loss of a bout 250-330 DPS in full BiS, depending on your faction.

The items on the following list for Tier 7 come from WotLK Raids and Emblem of Valor-Vendors Harold Winston, Arcanist Adurin (Alliance), and Magister Brasael (Horde) in Dalaran. Make sure to use two Purified Twilight Opals in a Blue Socket or a Red Socket in order to activate your Chaotic Skyflare Diamond Meta Gem.

* Note for the T7 set-pieces: It is most important that you reach the 4-set bonus, which can also be achieved by using the 10-Man pieces from Naxxramas, such as Heroes' Frostfire Circlet or from Emblem of Heroism, such as Heroes' Frostfire Robe. Further, the following items can replace one of the T7-pieces, as long as you keep the 4-set bonus:

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Hood of Rationality	Malygos — Eye of Eternity 25-Man
Shoulders	Mantle of Dissemination (if Hit-capped)	Malygos — Eye of Eternity 25-Man
	Mantle of the Corrupted (if not Hit-capped)	Multiple Bosses — Naxxramas 25-Man
Chest	The Sanctum's Flowing Vestments	Sartharion — Obsidian Sanctum 25-Man
Hands	Gloves of Token Respect	Grand Widow Faerlina — Naxxramas 25-Man
Legs	Leggings of Mortal Arrogance	Kel'Thuzad — Naxxramas 25-Man