Arcane Mage DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — The War Within (11.2.5)

Arcane is largely focused around a couple of key concepts:

• Use cooldowns quickly. This is important for almost all specs in the game, but Arcane really suffers when you sit on your cooldowns for a long time. Not only are you losing damage from not gaining the damage benefits from your cooldowns like Arcane Surge, but your mana generation is directly tied to your cooldowns, further lowering your damage and making it much harder to remain at 4 Arcane Charges.
• Staying at 4 Arcane Charges as long as possible to cast hard hitting Arcane Blasts and Arcane Barrages, while ensuring you do not run out of mana until Evocation is back up. This moves us onto the next point:
• Using Arcane Barrage as much as possible when it does more damage or you can immediately gain Arcane Charges back, to avoid going out of mana while still keeping up high damage abilities, while avoiding low damage Arcane Barrages.

This leads us to the following basic rotation:

• Cast Evocation into Arcane Surge into Touch of the Magi when all 3 are ready.
• If only Touch of the Magi is ready, but not the other 2, cast Touch of the Magi. You can do this once in-between each Evocation + Arcane Surge usage.
• Cast Arcane Missiles when you have Clearcasting and you do not have Nether Precision.
• Cast Arcane Barrage in any of the following scenarios:
  • You have Intuition.
  • You have Glorious Incandescence (the proc after Burden of Power).
  • You have Arcane Orb ready.
  • You are out of mana.
• Cast Arcane Blast as your filler. On multiple targets, cast Arcane Explosion as your filler until 3 Arcane Charges, then Arcane Blast.

If you feel like you have a good understanding of the basics, we recommend checking out the other tabs for the full single-target and AoE rotations.

The rotation of an Arcane Mage is outlined in the following priority list. First, you go into a specific sequence of spells to activate your cooldowns, followed by a priority list.

You should go into the Cooldown Sequence whenever Evocation, Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi are ready.

The opener consists of a very specific sequence of spells into a standard priority system. The same sequence below applies any time you have your cooldowns ready, not just the opener.

1. Cast Evocation, for Clearcasting and the Intellect buff.
2. Cast Arcane Missiles, consuming the Clearcasting from Evocation and granting Nether Precision;
3. Cast Arcane Orb, if you have less than 2 Arcane Charges, like on the opener;
4. Cast Arcane Missiles, consuming the Clearcasting from Evocation and granting Nether Precision and Arcane Charges via High Voltage;
5. Activate any on-use items that provide stat increases, like Araz's Ritual Forge.
6. Activate any on-use Racials that provide stat boosts, like Berserking or Blood Fury.
7. Cast Arcane Surge;
8. If you have 4 Arcane Charges, cast Arcane Barrage. This will not be the case in the opener, but later in the fight, you will do this sequence while on 4 Arcane Charges;
9. Cast Touch of the Magi. If this is after Arcane Barrage, make sure you cast it while Arcane Barrage is traveling towards the target. Due to Touch of the Magi being off the global cooldown, it should apply before Arcane Barrage reaches the target.
10. Cast Arcane Barrage;
11. Shortly after Arcane Barrage, while it is traveling toward the target, cast Touch of the Magi. Due to Touch of the Magi being off the global cooldown, it should apply before Arcane Barrage reaches the target.

This marks the end of the specific opener/cooldown sequence. After this, follow the priority list below:

1. Go into the cooldown sequence above whenever Evocation, Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi are ready;
2. Cast Arcane Barrage if Arcane Tempo would expire before you can finish your next cast.
3. Cast Shifting Power whenever it is ready and none of your cooldowns are currently active: Arcane Surge, Arcane Soul, Siphon Storm (the buff from Evocation) or Touch of the Magi;
4. Cast Presence of Mind when Touch of the Magi has less than one second left, immediately followed by Arcane Blast, to fit in this one extra Arcane Blast.
5. During Arcane Soul (the buff you get after Arcane Surge ends), cast Arcane Barrage.
6. During Arcane Soul (the buff you get after Arcane Surge ends):
   1. Cast Arcane Barrage if you have less than 3 Clearcasting;
   2. Cast Arcane Missiles if at 3 Clearcasting;
   3. You should interrupt Arcane Missiles by casting Arcane Barrage as soon as your global cooldown is over.
   4. You should interrupt Arcane Missiles by casting Arcane Barrage as soon as your global cooldown is over unless it is impacted by Aether Attunement.
   5. Note: On the very final global cooldown of Arcane Soul, you can cast Arcane Barrage even if you have 3 Clearcasting.
7. Cast Arcane Missiles when you have less than 4 Arcane Charges to generate Arcane Charges via High Voltage;
8. Cast Arcane Missiles when you have Clearcasting, and you do not have Nether Precision, OR you have 3 Clearcasting stacks.
9. You should interrupt Arcane Missiles by casting Arcane Blast as soon as your global cooldown is over.
10. You should interrupt Arcane Missiles by casting Arcane Blast as soon as your global cooldown is over unless it is impacted by Aether Attunement.
11. Cast Arcane Orb when available and you have less than 3 Arcane Charges;
12. Cast Arcane Blast if you have Leydrinker.
13. Cast Arcane Barrage into Touch of the Magi if Touch of the Magi is ready, Arcane Surge is not ready in the next 45 seconds, and you have 4 Arcane Charges.
14. Cast Arcane Barrage in any of the following situations:
    • You have Intuition.
    • You have 4 Arcane Charges and your next cast will get you 20 stacks of Arcane Harmony and thus Intuition. Queue Arcane Barrage immediately after the spell that would give you the 20th stack, as it will give you a guaranteed Intuition from Mage Spellslinger 11.2 Class Set 2pc + Mage Spellslinger 11.2 Class Set 4pc. This can occur from Arcane Orb giving you 1 stack per target hit, or Arcane Blast when at 19 stacks. Note that in practice, this just means using Arcane Barrage on Intuition procs, but you can use your Arcane Harmony stacks to know when it will proc, so you can queue the Arcane Barrage before even seeing the Intuition proc, making sure you do not waste any Harmony stacks.
    • You have Arcane Orb ready and 4 Arcane Charges and no Clearcasting and 0 or 1 Nether Precision stacks.
    • You have 4 Arcane Charges and the target is below 35% health and you have Arcane Orb ready and no Clearcasting and 0 or 1 Nether Precision stacks.
15. Cast Arcane Barrage in any of the following situations:
    • You have Intuition.
    • You have 4 Arcane Charges and Arcane Orb ready.
    • You have 4 Arcane Charges and the target is below 35% health and you have Arcane Orb ready.
16. Cast Arcane Barrage in any of the following situations:
    • You have Intuition.
    • You have Glorious Incandescence (the proc after Burden of Power).
17. Cast Arcane Blast as your filler.
18. Cast Arcane Barrage if you are out of Mana.

The AoE rotation for Arcane Mage is relatively similar to the single-target rotation. You can be a bit more aggressive with Arcane Barrage usage, generally dumping your charges whenever you have any way to get back Arcane Charges, like High Voltage, Arcane Orb or Intuition. Arcane Explosion is used minimally, only on low Arcane Charges while Arcane Blast has a very slow cast time.

Most of the AoE rotation already applies as low as on 2 targets. This is because the rotation is mostly a cleave based rotation, while gaining single target damage out of it. This makes it so that even for priority DPS, doing your AoE rotation is already worth it on 2 targets.

You should go into the Burn Phase sequence when Evocation, Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi are ready.

The opener consists of a very specific sequence of spells into a standard priority system. The same sequence below applies to any burn phase, not just the opener.

1. Cast Evocation, for Clearcasting and the Intellect buff.
2. Cast Arcane Missiles, consuming the Clearcasting from Evocation and granting Nether Precision;
3. Cast Arcane Orb, if you have less than 2 Arcane Charges, like on the opener;
4. Cast Arcane Missiles, consuming the Clearcasting from Evocation and granting Nether Precision and Arcane Charges via High Voltage;
5. Activate any on-use items that provide stat increases, like trinkets or Araz's Ritual Forge.
6. Activate any on-use Racials that provide stat boosts, like Berserking or Blood Fury.
7. Cast Arcane Surge;
8. If you have 4 Arcane Charges, cast Arcane Barrage. This will not be the case in the opener, but later in the fight, you will do this sequence while on 4 Arcane Charges;
9. Cast Touch of the Magi. If this is after Arcane Barrage, make sure you cast it while Arcane Barrage is traveling towards the target. Due to Touch of the Magi being off the global cooldown, it should apply before Arcane Barrage reaches the target.
10. Cast Arcane Barrage;
11. Shortly after Arcane Barrage, while it is traveling toward the target, cast Touch of the Magi. Due to Touch of the Magi being off the global cooldown, it should apply before Arcane Barrage reaches the target.

This marks the end of the specific opener/burn sequence. After this, follow the priority list below:

1. Go into the cooldown sequence above whenever Evocation, Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi are ready;
2. Cast Arcane Barrage if Arcane Tempo would expire before you can finish your next cast.
3. Cast Shifting Power whenever it is ready and none of your cooldowns are currently active: Arcane Surge, Arcane Soul, Siphon Storm (the buff from Evocation) or Touch of the Magi;
4. Cast Presence of Mind when Touch of the Magi has less than one second left, immediately followed by Arcane Blast, to fit in this one extra Arcane Blast.
5. During Arcane Soul (the buff you get after Arcane Surge ends), cast Arcane Barrage.
6. During Arcane Soul (the buff you get after Arcane Surge ends):
   1. Cast Arcane Barrage if you have less than 3 Clearcasting;
   2. Cast Arcane Missiles if at 3 Clearcasting;
   3. You should interrupt Arcane Missiles by casting Arcane Barrage as soon as your global cooldown is over.
   4. You should interrupt Arcane Missiles by casting Arcane Barrage as soon as your global cooldown is over unless it is impacted by Aether Attunement.
   5. Note: On the very final global cooldown of Arcane Soul, you can cast Arcane Barrage even if you have 3 Clearcasting.
7. Cast Arcane Missiles when you have less than 4 Arcane Charges to generate Arcane Charges via High Voltage;
8. Cast Arcane Missiles when you have Clearcasting, and you do not have Nether Precision, OR you have 3 Clearcasting stacks.
9. You should interrupt Arcane Missiles by casting Arcane Blast as soon as your global cooldown is over.
10. You should interrupt Arcane Missiles by casting Arcane Blast as soon as your global cooldown is over unless it is impacted by Aether Attunement.
11. Cast Arcane Orb when available and you have less than 3 Arcane Charges;
12. Cast Arcane Blast if you have Leydrinker.
13. Cast Arcane Barrage into Touch of the Magi if Touch of the Magi is ready, Arcane Surge is not ready in the next 45 seconds, and you have 4 Arcane Charges.
14. Cast Arcane Barrage in any of the following situations:
    • You have Intuition.
    • You have 4 Arcane Charges and Clearcasting.
    • You have 4 Arcane Charges and Arcane Orb is ready and you have 2 stacks of Nether Precision.
    • You have Glorious Incandescence (the proc after Burden of Power).
    • You you have 4 Arcane Charges and Aether Attunement + Clearcasting are up.
    • You have 4 Arcane Charges and Arcane Orb is ready.
    • You have 4 Arcane Charges and Arcane Orb ready.
    • You have 4 Arcane Charges and the target is below 35% health and you have Arcane Orb ready.
    • You have 4 Arcane Charges and Arcane Orb is ready and you have fewer than 9 stacks of Arcane Harmony. If you have 9 or more stacks, you instead hold your Arcane Barrage until you get 20 stacks and thus Intuition from Mage Spellslinger 11.2 Class Set 2pc + Mage Spellslinger 11.2 Class Set 4pc.
    • You have 4 Arcane Charges and your next cast will get you 20 stacks of Arcane Harmony and thus Intuition via Mage Spellslinger 11.2 Class Set 2pc + Mage Spellslinger 11.2 Class Set 4pc. Queue Arcane Barrage immediately after the spell that would give you the 20th stack. This can occur from Arcane Orb giving you 1 stack per target hit, or Arcane Blast when at 19 stacks. Note that in practice, this just means using Arcane Barrage on Intuition procs, but you can use your Arcane Harmony stacks to know when it will proc, so you can queue the Arcane Barrage before even seeing the Intuition proc, making sure you do not waste any Harmony stacks.
15. You have more than 9 and less than 20 stacks of Arcane Harmony. This is to get you to 20 stacks as quick as possible to proc Intuition via the tier set bonuses so you can use a hard hitting Arcane Barrage with maximum Arcane Harmony Stacks and Intuition.
16. Cast Arcane Explosion whenever you have no Arcane Charges.
17. Cast Arcane Explosion whenever you have less than 3 Arcane Charges.
18. Cast Arcane Blast as your filler.
19. Cast Arcane Barrage if you are out of Mana.