Arcane Mage DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — The War Within (11.0.5)

Arcane is largely focused around a couple of key concepts:

• Remain at 4 Arcane Charges as much as possible while casting as many empowered Arcane Barrages as possible. This is what most of our rotation tries to achieve. This means we generally only want to use Arcane Barrage when we have a way to build back 4 Charges immediately, via, for example, Glorious Incandescence, Intuition and Aethervision, along with some other niche methods. This is a heavy strain on your Mana, which moves us onto our next point:
• 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.
• Maximizing Aethervision bonus damage by combining it with Nether Precision. At an initial read, the instinct would be to immediately use Arcane Barrage after getting 2 stacks of Aethervision. However, we can hold on to Aethervision until the next Nether Precision (since it lasts 12 seconds) and then Arcane Barrage together with the Nether Precision damage, combining the damage bonus of Aethervision and Nether Precision into one hit.
• Combining all of the above points together leads to a (simplified) playstyle of the following:
  • Cast Arcane Blast, to generate Clearcasting so you can generate Nether Precision via Arcane Missiles.
  • Consume Nether Precision via Arcane Blast, providing Aethervision, holding it until we can combine it with the next Nether Precision for the additional damage.
  • When the next Clearcasting procs, we use Arcane Missiles to proc Nether Precision, then consuming the first stack with Arcane Barrage, combining Aethervision and Nether Precision damage.
  • There are various other reasons to Arcane Barrage early, for example Glorious Incandescence (as Sunfury), Intuition (4-set proc), execute phase ( Arcane Bombardment), and some others. Check the full rotation for the in-depth details.

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 trinkets that provide stat increases.
6. Activate any on-use Racials that provide stat boosts, like Berserking or Blood Fury.
7. Activate Treacherous Transmitter if Spymaster's Web has less than 40 stacks.
8. Activate Spymaster's Web if Spymaster's Web is at 40 stacks.
9. Cast Arcane Surge;
10. 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;
11. 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.
12. Cast Arcane Barrage;
13. 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 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;
3. 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.
4. During Arcane Soul (the buff you get after Arcane Surge ends), cast Arcane Barrage.
5. 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 unless the Arcane Missiles is impacted by Aether Attunement.
   4. Note: On the very final global cooldown of Arcane Soul, you can cast Arcane Barrage even if you have 3 Clearcasting.
6. Cast Arcane Missiles when you have Clearcasting, and you do not have Nether Precision, OR you have 3 Clearcasting stacks.
7. You should interrupt Arcane Missiles by casting your next spell as soon as your global cooldown is over unless the Arcane Missiles is impacted by Aether Attunement.
8. Cast Arcane Orb when available and you have 0 or 1 Arcane Charge;
9. Cast Arcane Barrage if Touch of the Magi is ready, Arcane Surge is not ready in the next 45 seconds, and you have 4 Arcane Charges. Immediately cast Touch of the Magi after Arcane Barrage.
10. Cast Arcane Barrage in any of the following situations:
    • You have either 2 stacks of Aethervision or Intuition, and either Nether Precision or no Clearcasting.
    • If Arcane Tempo is about to expire.
    • You have Arcane Orb ready, and no Nether Precision nor Clearcasting.
11. Cast Arcane Barrage in any of the following situations:
    • The enemy is below 35% health, or you have less than 70% mana, while you have either 2 stacks of Aethervision or Intuition, and either Nether Precision or no Clearcasting.
    • You have Glorious Incandescence.
12. Cast Arcane Barrage in any of the following situations:
    • You have Glorious Incandescence (the proc after Burden of Power).
    • You have 2 stacks of Aethervision.
    • You have Intuition (tier).
13. Cast Arcane Missiles when you have less than 4 Arcane Charges to generate Arcane Charges via High Voltage;
14. Cast Arcane Blast as your filler.
15. Cast Arcane Barrage if you are out of Mana.

Note that the AoE rotation below assumes you have Arcing Cleave selected. Without Arcing Cleave, Arcane does very limited AoE damage, so we strongly suggest you always pick Arcing Cleave for any AoE scenario.

The Aoe rotation for Spellslinger Arcane Mage is relatively similar to the single-target rotation, except you can be much more aggressive with Arcane Barrage, casting it pretty much any time you have 4 Arcane Charges, instead of only in specific instances.

The AoE rotation for Sunfury Arcane Mage is very similar to the single target rotation, with only minor changes, mostly being slightly more aggressive around Arcane Barrage.

You should follow the AoE rotation below on 3 or more targets, assuming all targets are equally important. If there is one key target that needs to die before the rest, we generally suggest using mostly the single target rotation until the target is dead, and then following the AoE rotation.

You should follow the aoe rotation below on 5 targets or more, or 3 targets or more if the targets are all below 35% health (due to Arcane Bombardment). On fewer targets, we suggest simply following the single-target rotation.

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 Orb when available and you have 0 or 1 Arcane Charge;
3. Cast Arcane Missiles, consuming the Clearcasting from Evocation and granting Nether Precision;
4. Activate any on-use trinkets that provide stat increases.
5. Activate any on-use Racials that provide stat boosts, like Berserking or Blood Fury.
6. Activate Treacherous Transmitter if Spymaster's Web has less than 40 stacks.
7. Activate Spymaster's Web if Spymaster's Web is at 40 stacks.
8. Cast Arcane Surge;
9. Cast Arcane Barrage;
10. 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 above burst sequence when Evocation, Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi are ready;
2. During Touch of the Magi, cast a single Arcane Blast to trigger the Arcane Blast portion of Magi's Spark;
3. Cast Shifting Power when none of your cooldowns are currently active.
4. Cast Arcane Orb when you have 2 or fewer Arcane Charges;
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 unless the Arcane Missiles is impacted by Aether Attunement.
   4. Note: On the very final global cooldown of Arcane Soul, you can cast Arcane Barrage even if you have 3 Clearcasting.
7. Cast Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges and:
   • You have one of the following ways to get Arcane Charges back:
   • Glorious Incandescence (the proc after Burden of Power).
   • Intuition (4-set proc).
   • 2 stacks of Aethervision.
   • Arcane Orb is ready.
   • Clearcasting (due to High Voltage)
   • And one of the following damage buffs or other conditions for Arcane Barrage:
   • Nether Precision.
   • You do not have Clearcasting and the target is below 35% health (due to Arcane Bombardment)
8. Cast Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges and one of the following:
   • Glorious Incandescence (the proc after Burden of Power).
   • Intuition (4-set proc).
   • 2 stacks of Aethervision.
   • Arcane Orb is ready.
9. Cast Arcane Barrage if Touch of the Magi is ready, Arcane Surge is not ready in the next 45 seconds, and you have 4 Arcane Charges. Immediately cast Touch of the Magi after Arcane Barrage.
10. Cast Arcane Barrage if Aether Attunement is up and you have Clearcasting and 2 or more Arcane Charges.
11. Cast Arcane Missiles when you have Clearcasting and you do not have Nether Precision;
12. You should interrupt Arcane Missiles by casting your next spell as soon as your global cooldown is over unless the Arcane Missiles is impacted by Aether Attunement.
13. Cast Arcane Barrage if you have 4 Arcane Charges.
14. Cast Arcane Explosion if you have 0 Arcane Charge to generate your first Arcane Charge.
15. Cast Arcane Blast as your filler to generate additional Arcane Charges.