Arcane Mage DPS Uldir Raid Guide — Dragonflight 10.2.5

This page will be a rough outline of the bosses and mechanics in Uldir. This page will focus primarily on how an Arcane Mage can optimize its performance on the raid bosses in Uldir, and not on an actual raid strategy for the bosses. Initially, this page will focus on Heroic mode and lower, however, as more bosses are being killed on Mythic, the guide will also include optimizations for Mythic bosses.

Arcane Mages are looking to be a very strong pick in Uldir, due to their strong burst DPS, which is amplified on multiple bosses. This is mainly due to the bonus damage phases or strict DPS checks on certain mechanics. Additionally, there are no fights which Arcane truly struggles with, since none of the fights contain Arcane's main weakness, 2-target cleave.

More Taloc Guides on Icy Veins

• Overview of the fight against Taloc with TL;DR for each role
• Complete list and explanations of Taloc's abilities
• Detailed strategy to beat Taloc with many tips
• Mythic-specific page for Taloc with abilities and strategy

Rune of Power should only be used when you are very comfortable on the encounter, as there are a lot of mechanics that can make good Rune of Power usage very difficult.

The fight is comprised of two main mechanics, Plasma Discharge and Sanguine Static. Sanguine Static targets a player in the raid and shoots 5 blood orbs towards the target. Be ready to sidestep the projectiles when he finishes the cast. If you are not running Slipstream, make sure you are not channeling Evocation when you are targeted with this spell, as it will knock you back and interrupt you.

A location to drop Plasma Discharge should be marked before the fight begins. You should use Blink (or Shimmer, if you chose the talent) to get out of the group and start dropping the blood. When you are done dropping the blood, you can use Displacement to get back into the group. This mechanic is the main reason for picking Slipstream, as it allows you to still do some damage while dropping these debuffs off, if you get any Clearcasting procs. If Taloc has cast Cudgel of Gore and his weapon remains on the ground, do not stand between the boss and his weapon at any time in Phase One or Phase Three.

In Phase 2, you begin your descent into the raid. Taloc goes immune to all damage and begins to spawn two sets of adds, so make sure that you do not use any big DPS cooldowns right before the boss enters Phase 2. Coalesced Blood is the Phase 2-exclusive add and must be prioritized over all other targets. Volatile Droplet will be soaked or burned down quickly as a secondary target.

More M.O.T.H.E.R. Guides on Icy Veins

• Overview of the fight against M.O.T.H.E.R. with TL;DR for each role
• Complete list and explanations of M.O.T.H.E.R.'s abilities
• Detailed strategy to beat M.O.T.H.E.R. with many tips
• Mythic-specific page for M.O.T.H.E.R. with abilities and strategy

Rune of Power is a lot better for DPS on this boss if you can pull it off effectively, so it is advised that you practice with Rune of Power, only changing to Incanter's Flow if you end up having a lot of issues with Rune of Power.

Effectively playing Arcane on M.O.T.H.E.R. is all about how effectively you can deal with the different abilities that force you to move a lot.

M.O.T.H.E.R is another 3-phase fight, split into three rectangular boss rooms. Each room is on a timer, based on when the boss enters. All players must pass through the barrier and reach the end to defeat M.O.T.H.E.R. before they are incinerated.

Each room has set mechanics. While the boss is in the first room, she will cast Wind Tunnel and Purifying Flame, and once she enters the second room, she can cast Uldir Defensive Beam. Once she reaches the final room, she begins to take additional damage and the fight ends quickly thereafter.

Wind Tunnel conjures a gust of wind in the room, which pushes you towards zones of fire. On beta, you could stand against the wall where the boss is tanked to avoid getting pushed into the fire. However, the assumption is that this will be changed to no longer work on live. If this indeed does not work on live, you can deal with this effectively by using Shimmer early on when the wind starts pushing you, and then waiting a couple of seconds and using Displacement to get back to where you Shimmered from. This should allow you to keep DPSing for the entire duration of the wind without ending up in the fire. Purifying Flame creates several void zones beneath players that must be moved from. You can use a stack of Shimmer on this, but make sure you check the timer of Wind Tunnel, and hold on to the Shimmer if Wind Tunnel is coming soon.

The main fight mechanic revolves around Defense Grid. Everytime players cross into the next room, the entire raid takes damage and adds spawn, based on how many players crossed the threshold. If many players are crossing over, make sure you preemptively cast Prismatic Barrier, or if a huge number of people are moving over at once, use Greater Invisibility.

These adds are the top priority in this encounter. They must be stunned, interrupted, and knocked back until they are dead. If their cast completes, the raid will wipe. Depending on how many people move over at once, you should either burn them down one after the other, or AoE them down if there are 3 or more close to each other.

When the boss enters the last room, she will gain a 100% damage taken debuff. Because of this, you have to make sure that your DPS cooldowns and second potion are ready before entering this final room.

More Fetid Devourer Guides on Icy Veins

• Overview of the fight against Fetid Devourer with TL;DR for each role
• Complete list and explanations of Fetid Devourer's abilities
• Detailed strategy to beat Fetid Devourer with many tips
• Mythic-specific page for Fetid Devourer with abilities and strategy

Fetid Devourer is a fight that Arcane Mages should excel on. This is due to the vulnerability phase, which Arcane Mage can exploit very well due to its high burst DPS. During the vulnerability phase, the boss will take increased damage from 50% onwards. If the boss is close to 50%, save your cooldowns to burn the boss.

The main boss casts very few abilities. Rotting Regurgitation is a cone ability targeted at a random player, which must be dodged or you will take a large amount of damage and have Malodorous Miasma applied to you. If you are afflicted with Malodorous Miasma, be it random or through the breath, it will evolve into Putrid Paroxysm, which is another debuff which does substantially more damage in a short duration. If you have this debuff, consider casting Greater Invisibility, especially if it lines up with Shockwave Stomp.

Shockwave Stomp (Heroic and up) is a raid-wide knockback, which pushes you backwards a considerable distance. Make sure you watch for this timer before using cooldowns, such as Rune of Power. You can use Shimmer while mid-air from this knockback to return back to your original position.

Two adds will spawn from six waste disposal units at random. You can save a stack of Rune of Power for these adds to quickly burn them down. Make sure you have enough Mana when these adds spawn, so you can focus on priority damage to them.

More Zek'voz, Herald of N'Zoth Guides on Icy Veins

• Overview of the fight against Zek'voz with TL;DR for each role
• Complete list and explanations of Zek'voz, Herald of N'Zoth's abilities
• Detailed strategy to beat Zek'voz with many tips
• Mythic-specific page for Zek'voz with abilities and strategy

There are a couple of choices that you can make in terms of talents. It mostly comes down to what your raid needs extra help with. If your group has trouble clearing the phase one Silithid Warriors, you can opt into Reverberate (or Nether Tempest, for a more hybrid approach).

This encounter is split into three phases, with a few basic mechanics that persist through the whole fight. The main mechanic is Surging Darkness. This creates three zones of darkness centering where the boss casted the ability. One zone will be safe for every pulse. Make sure you have Shimmer stacks available for this mechanic.

Phase 1 spawns many Silithid Warriors that fixate a target and can be stunned and burned down effortlessly. Simply use Arcane Explosion on them when they are clumped up until 4 Arcane Charges, and then use Arcane Barrage, repeating until they are dead. If you talented into Nether Tempest or Arcane Orb, you should use them as described on the Rotation page.

During Phase 1, players will be targeted with Eye Beam at random. Players fixated by C'Thun's gaze will have a small indicator below them that will show if they are standing close enough to cleave another player. Always avoid having other players in your circle while being fixated and use a personal coolwdown, such as Prismatic Barrier.

Phase 2 is a priority damage phase. Three adds will spawn and begin casting on players. These casters can be interrupted, stunned, CC'd, but not moved. Counterspell should be used to interrupt them. The boss mechanic during this phase casts Roiling Deceit on a handful of players. These players will take damage and then drop a cloud at their feet upon expiration. Get this cloud out of the raid by using Shimmer right before the debuff expires, and then using Displacement to get back to the group.

Phase 3 is the final phase of the fight. There will be no more adds or previous Old God mechanics during this phase. Instead, the boss will spawn Orb of Corruption around the boss room. These orbs must be soaked by players. Players who soak the orb get a temporary damage increase and once the buff times out, they will be mind controlled until killed. Mind controlled targets must be silenced, stunned, or interrupted while they live. You should soak one of these orbs while all your cooldowns are ready, so you can maximize the DPS bonus from the orbs.

More Vectis Guides on Icy Veins

• Overview of the fight against Vectis with TL;DR for each role
• Complete list and explanations of Vectis's abilities
• Detailed strategy to beat Vectis with many tips
• Mythic-specific page for Vectis with abilities and strategy

Vectis will begin the fight by casting Omega Vector on a few party members. This debuff does not expire and will bounce from target to target the entire fight. Everytime the debuff bounces, the player contracts one stack of Lingering Infection, which increases all nature damage taken. While Omega Vector deals shadow damage, other fight mechanics deal nature damage.

During the "up phase", the boss will cast two abilities. Contagion is a raid wide nature damage explosion and Gestate stuns the target dealing shadow damage to all players around the target and spawns and add. This add must be burned down immediately or the healing absorb debuff it casts on the raid will be too much for your healers. If you get this debuff, you should Shimmer out of the group, and Displacement back into the group after you have spawned the add.

Vectis submerges and spawns Plague Bombs, which must be soaked by players. During this phase, Vectis will also send out waves of blood that must be sidestepped or the player will take a stack of Lingering Infection. These waves of blood move quite quickly and are hard to dodge if you are close to the submerged boss, so you should remain relatively far away. If a Plague Bomb spawns close to the submerged boss, you can soak this by using Shimmer to get to it, and then casting Ice Block to avoid getting hit by the waves of blood.

More Zul, Reborn Guides on Icy Veins

• Overview of the fight against Zul with TL;DR for each role
• Complete list and explanations of Zul, Reborn's abilities
• Detailed strategy to beat Zul with many tips
• Mythic-specific page for Zul with abilities and strategy

If you are very comfortable with the fight, you can run Rune of Power to help burst down adds quicker. However, there are a lot of reasons that make Rune of Power hard to use, especially if you are one of the main soakers for Pool of Darkness, in which case Incanter's Flow is a better option. Additionally, you can run either Resonance or Charged Up, depending on if you need more priority DPS or more AoE DPS. The same choice goes for Touch of the Magi versus Nether Tempest.

The main mechanic that Arcane Mages can handle is Pool of Darkness (Heroic and up). Due to having both Shimmer and Displacement, we have a lot of mobility to get into the pools. You can then use Prismatic Barrier to reduce the damage taken from them, or Greater Invisibility / Ice Block if you are soaking these pools at the same time Dark Revelation or Deathwish is happening.

There are three sets of adds that spawn in Phase 1. Nazmani Bloodhexer spawn in packs of two and must remain separated. Focus these first and kill them quickly. If your group runs a strategy in which you crowd control these adds, you can use Polymorph on them when needed. The second Bloodhexer may possibly cast Congeal Blood; the add that spawns from this cast is the only target that takes priority over the two Bloodhexers. Bloodhexers can be hard CC'd, knocked back, stunned, and silenced, as well as the add that they spawn. These adds are the ones you will most likely want to use your DPS cooldowns on.

Nazmani Crusher is your second priority and Bloodthirsty Crawg are normally just burned down through passive cleave. The Crushers will spawn one at a time and the Crawgs will spawn four at a time. When there are no Nazmani Bloodhexers active, target the Crusher and cleave off of him.

More Mythrax the Unraveler Guides on Icy Veins

• Overview of the fight against Mythrax with TL;DR for each role
• Complete list and explanations of Mythrax the Unraveler's abilities
• Detailed strategy to beat Mythrax with many tips
• Mythic-specific page for Mythrax with abilities and strategy

The choice between Rune of Power and Incanter's Flow largely depends on how comfortable you are with the encounter. You will want to go the standard single-target DPS talents on this fight, however, Resonance and Reverberate can be considered if your group has trouble killing the groups of adds. Nether Tempest is a good hybrid option if you want to add a bit more DPS to the groups of adds, without giving up a lot of single-target DPS.

This fight consists of a boss phase and an intermission phase. During the boss phase, just be aware of any Annihilation stacks you have. Clear them if they get too high, or if you are called to clear them using Existence Fragments. You can limit the number of stacks you receive by avoiding casts of Obliteration Blast, which targets a random player and shoots a laser at them, and its intermission counterpart, Obliteration Beam. If you get Imminent Ruin, simply Shimmer when it is about to expire, and then use Displacement to get back.

At 75% Health, the boss moves into the middle of the room and takes 99% less damage, so make sure you do not activate your DPS cooldowns when the boss is close to 75% Health. During the intermission, two large N'raqi Destroyers spawn and must stay separated while being burned down. Additionally, several players will be targeted with Visions of Madness. Try to stay grouped so players can cleave them down easily. Counterspell any adds that are out of the main group.

Damage timings are very telegraphed during this fight. Raid-wide damage is dealt after every mind control break, at the beginning of every intermission, and also when Imminent Ruin expires. If any mechanics line up, or you are afflicted with Imminent Ruin, be sure to use your Greater Invisibility or Ice Block.

More G'huun Guides on Icy Veins

• Overview of the fight against G'huun with TL;DR for each role
• Complete list and explanations of G'huun's abilities
• Detailed strategy to beat G'huun with many tips

You can run Nether Tempest over Touch of the Magi if you need more add DPS during the first phase. Aside from that, a standard single-target talent setup is recommended.

G'huun is the final boss of the raid. The encounter consists of an upstairs minigame portion, as well as three downstairs phases.

Arcane Mages are a decent choice (but by no means the best choice) for the upstairs mini-game, as with the double Shimmer usage, they can get very far along the platform to deliver the Power Matrix. So, if your group is lacking Warriors, Monks and Demon Hunters, it is worth trying as an Arcane Mage.

Phase 1 is the add phase. Your focus in this phase is to cleave down all units, but have at least one target ready to be focused down. The priority is Blightspreader Tendril (Heroic and up), then Cyclopean Terror, and finally Dark Young. Make sure all casts during this phase are interrupted. The Dark Young add will cast an ability called Dark Bargain in a circle around itself. If you take one stack, you deal increased damage and healing but also take increased damage. If you get a second stack, you will be mind controlled. You can coordinate with your healers to get one stack of this for bonus DPS. You should make sure to line up your DPS cooldowns for this buff. During this phase, G'huun will also cast Explosive Corruption on one random player. This player should move to the edges of the room, so they do not infect any other members. This ability will persist through the fight. You can simply Shimmer out right before it expires and use Displacement to get back in.

When G'huun is forced from his lair, he stops stops spawning the adds from the previous phase and brings new mechanics to the fight. Be sure to spread to reduce stacks of Putrid Blood contracted from the Wave of Corruption. A player will be targeted with Blood Feast, rooting them to the ground. Stack up on that player to remove all stacks of Putrid Blood. He will spawn a Gibbering Horror, whose strength is increased by the amount of Putrid Blood stacks that were removed. Focus this down when it is active and avoid being interrupted by Mind-Numbing Chatter.

At 15%, the final phase begins. The upstairs mechanics end and the raid takes a large amount of damage. Only two new mechanics are added to the phase, but you are no longer able to remove Putrid Blood, so spreading is very important. Malignant Growth (Heroic and up) must be moved away from if they spawn nearby. G'huun will also be casting Gaze of G'huun, which will fear you if you face him, so make sure to turn away right before it. If you have a Clearcasting proc, you can start the Arcane Missiles channel before Gaze of G'huun finishes, and turn around already, as your channel will not be interrupted from facing away.