Arcane Mage Patch 9.2 Changes Analysis and Tier Set Thoughts

This page will go over how the changes in Patch 9.2, Eternity's End, will affect Arcane Mages, specifically how the changes might impact its playstyle, best Legendary choices, Covenants, and the like. If you are simply interested in what the current changes are for Mages in Patch 9.2 in general, you can instead read our full list of changes to the entire Mages class on our dedicated page below. For an additional list of content coming with Patch 9.2, you can also check out our Patch 9.2 Overview page.

Currently, Arcane Mages have not received any changes to their base kit in 9.2. However, this lack of changes to the base kit does not mean there will not be changes in how you play the spec, what gear / Covenants you want to use, etc. In the rest of this page we will go over the different changes that impact how you play an Arcane Mage in 9.2.

Just like with the base kit, Arcane Mages have not received any changes to their talents in 9.2.

Within the new Sepulcher of the First Ones raid that will be coming in Patch 9.2, every class will once again earn pieces of a gear set that is uniquely class-themed with its own two- and four-piece bonuses for every specialization. For Arcane Magess, these set bonuses currently are:

• Arcane Mage 2-Piece — Increases your Arcane damage dealt to enemies affected by Touch of the Magi.
• Arcane Mage 4-Piece — Touch of the Magi's duration is increased by 4 seconds and grants 25% Mana regeneration for 12 seconds.

The 2-set bonus is a very straight forward damage increase during Touch of the Magi which further bolsters the strength of Arcane's burst damage.

The 4-set bonus even further emphasizes Arcane's burst damage, by now making it last longer as well. This is both good for single-target and AoE situations, as the longer duration means it will accumulate for more and thus explode for more damage. The extra Mana regeneration is just icing on the cake. This set bonus also gives some much-needed quality of life to Kyrian Arcane Mages that were struggling to fit their entire burst window into a Touch of the Magi and had to be in melee range or run high levels of Haste to pull it off properly. With this longer duration, this burst will now fit within all Haste levels even at max range.

The only real "downside" to these set bonuses is that they seem largely focused and the greatest impact to Kyrian Arcane Mages. Although the other Covenants will also benefit greatly from the set bonuses, Kyrian is getting the biggest quality of life update with it.

The 2-set bonus causes no change to our rotation, but the 4-set causes some minor changes to the rotation.

• Non-Kyrian Arcane Mages will synchronize their cooldowns with Touch of the Magi.
• The explosion damage of Touch of the Magi becoming bigger makes it even more important to time it very well around additional targets.

Although there have been no changes to Covenant abilities or Soulbinds for Arcane Mages at this time, it should be pointed out that as of Patch 9.1.5 players may freely switch between Covenants provided they have obtained the Renowned achievement on any character of their account. The only requirement for this achievement is that you must reach Renown level 80 with any Covenant. This allows Arcane to swap between Kyrian and Venthyr depending on the fight they are working on, allowing Arcane great flexibility, as before Arcane Mages had to pick one and choose what they wanted to excel at.

In addition, Conduits will be unlocking their final few ranks, though this will not alter gameplay in any substantial way.

There is one much-needed change to the Harmonic Echo Legendary, which causes it to also echo the damage to your primary target, instead of only secondary targets. This change is necessary since all Mages in the Kyrian Covenant will be using this Legendary as their second Legendary in 9.2. (see below) Considering Kyrian is currently likely to be the dominant choice of Covenant in 9.2, this is especially important for Arcane Mages.

9.2 allows everyone to equip both a Covenant-specific Legendary, and a non-Covenant Legendary at the same time.

Unfortunately for Arcane Mages, none of the Covenant Legendaries are particularly strong, nor appear to have any impactful interaction with our other Legendaries. This will most likely cause the second Legendary to just be a small to medium DPS increase, without really enabling any new playstyle or synergies. Since there only is one Covenant specific Legendary per Covenant, you will always be using that Legendary as your second Legendary.

For Kyrian Arcane Mages, which is currently looking to be the best Covenant, this means you will be using Harmonic Echo. This is a decent boost to both single target and AoE dps. It does not impact your rotation.