PvE Arcane Mage DPS Talents, Builds, & Glyphs

Arcane Mages in Mists of Pandaria only use one standard build with slight variations based on the encounter since some of their talent choices outperform the others by a significant margin. As a result, their potential for versatility is far less than that of other classes.

Talent Build

The Arcane Mage specialization only has one viable min-maxed build, considering the 5.4.8 version of MoP Classic, due to talents such as Ice Floes, Temporal Shield, Greater Invisibility, Living Bomb, Nether Tempest, and Rune of Power completely dominating the other options in terms of performance. While the other options can also be viable, their use is much more niche, often resulting in less impactful performances or over complicated spell sequences.

Level 15 – Tier I

• Ice Floes ✅
  This spell is considered the best option for the first tier, allowing you to continue casting even while on the move! Ice Floes can also be used mid-cast, which is an excellent repositioning tool without breaking your rotation since it is not affected by GCD. The only downside is that it adds an extra button to your rotation.
• Blazing Speed ✅
  This option is also viable yet severely underpowered compared to how useful Ice Floes is for parsing. Blazing Speed is a quick repositioning tool on a low cooldown, effectively working as a second pair of Nitro Boosts. It can be excellent for fights where Blink is on cooldown, but losing Ice Floes impacts DPS Output too much.
• Presence of Mind ❌
  By far the worst option for Arcane Mage in the first tier, Presence of Mind has an absurdly long cooldown far better suited for One-Shot combos in PvP. Players should stay away from this talent in both dungeon and raid environments.

Level 30 – Tier II

• Temporal Shield ✅
  This spell is one of the two only viable options in the second tier, providing one of the strongest self-heal and damage mitigation tools. Temporal Shield acts as a percentage damage reduction buff that also heals all damage taken while the buff is active, effectively lessening the burden of healers. However, the ability performs relatively poorly in dungeon environments where an active shield is far more helpful.
• Flameglow ❌
  Flameglow should be avoided at all costs in dungeon and raid environments. By comparison, the ability provides the worst mitigation type, absorbing up to 30% of any attack targeted at you. While it has no effective cooldown, Temporal Shield and Ice Barrier outperform it.
• Ice Barrier ✅
  Former Frost Mages might be surprised that they can now access Ice Barrier, even with the Arcane Specialization. Ice Barrier has no changed mechanics, offering the same raw Damage barrier as it did in the previous expansions. This option is inferior to Temporal Shield since it lacks the healing part, yet it performs pretty well in dungeon environments or AoE farming.

Level 45 – Tier III

• Ring of Frost ✅
  This talent is the best choice for PvE for Arcane Mage, offering the best Crowd Control in dungeon and raid environments since it can trap any number of mobs without any other additional gimmick involved.
• Ice Ward ❌
  This talent has a weird gimmick, requiring the Tank to be aware of its existence to work efficiently. Using this talent is generally not advised since it can prevent tanks from correctly grouping mobs.
• Frostjaw ❌
  Frostjaw is only helpful for encounters where you must silence multiple mobs in a row. This ability is useless since most classes now have access to an interrupt/silence mechanic. The only occasion you might want to use Frostjaw is if you pair it up with Deep Frost for some hard Crowd Control on mobs that can be stunned.

Level 60 – Tier IV

• Greater Invisibility ✅
  This talent works as a Threat Drop tool and a major defensive cooldown, reducing all damage received by 90% while invisible and for 3 seconds after the invisibility fades. The Threat part of the spell is often niche. However, the 90% flat damage reduction is massive, especially since you don’t need to cancel the effect with a macro, as when using Cold Snap + Ice Block. Greater Invisibility is, by default, the best option of the fourth tier.
• Cauterize ✅
  This ability is also great for encounters where little to no reaction time is available. Since it triggers upon death, Cauterize is favored by many beginners, acting as a second-life mechanic that can allow Arcane Mages to escape from sticky situations. However, the effect can still lead to death if not instantly combined with a heal, as the debuff placed after activation can kill the mage.
• Cold Snap ✅
  This talent is also viable yet trickier than the other two options. It now provides a 30% max HP instant heal, but it functions differently than its previous version and no longer resets the Ice Barrier. This talent can be taken from fights where deadly debuffs are placed on players to remove two deadly debuffs in a row with Ice Block and provide damage immunity.

Level 75 – Tier V

• Nether Tempest ✅
  This is the best AoE option in your arsenal, especially since it’s not target-capped and has no cooldown. You’ll want to switch to this talent before any large AoE pack in both dungeon and raid environments; working best on tightly packed mobs.
• Living Bomb ✅
  This talent is the standard Single Target/Cleave option for dungeon & raid environments.
• Frost Bomb ❌
  Frost Bomb is the only non-viable option from this tier due to its cast time and cooldown, effectively messing up the rotation. Since the other options are instant cast and have no cooldown, this talent should be avoided in PvE altogether.

Level 90 – Tier VI

• Invocation ❌
  This talent removes the cooldown of Evocation, but it is not viable due to its high cast time and reduced mana regeneration resulting after Evocation ends. While the max Mana regeneration is valuable for low-end builds, Invocation falls off considerably compared to Rune of Power and its reduced overall downtime.
• Rune of Power ✅
  This talent is the best option for this tier, generating the best performance on all possible builds. Since Rune of Power doesn’t have any specific gimmick besides standing in the area and a very low 1.5-second cast time, it will always be the best option. While it doesn’t grant as much Mana as Evocation, the reduced downtime and very high Mana Regeneration it provides are simply amazing.
• Incanter’s Ward ❌
  This talent is mainly a PvP spell, used primarily as an additional barrier and mana regeneration tool. This option is non-viable since it requires you to take damage to receive the Spell Damage buff that either Invocation or Rune of Power would directly grant. You could argue that the passive effect is useful, yet Rune of Power is better from all points of view, especially since it has no cooldown.

Glyphs

Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Arcane Power
  This glyph is mandatory for a longer burst duration. However, it also increases the duration of Arcane Power‘s cooldown. Best used when paired with powerful trinkets that have a prolonged effect duration.
• Glyph of Evocation
  Mandatory Glyph that also provides max HP regeneration while standing in Rune of Power.
• Glyph of Mana Gem
  A viable third option that simplifies Mana Gems by adding more charges to them.
• Glyph of Rapid Displacement
  A viable glyph for fights where a lot of repositioning is required. Lets you Blink twice, effectively turning the ability into a charge-based ability.
• Glyph of Cone of Cold
  This glyph is great for increasing your AoE potential. Should be avoided for Single-Target encounters.
• Glyph of Arcane Explosion
  Yet another viable option for expanding your AoE potential. However, this is more niche than Glyph of Cone of Cold, depending on how the mobs will be stacked in the encounter.

Minor Glyphs

• Glyph of Loose Mana
  When combined with Alter Time, this glyph has a massive implication, effectively doubling your Mana Regeneration when used correctly. It turns your Mana Gems into a buff that occurs over time rather than an instant effect.
• Glyph of Arcane Language
  A fun glyph that allows you to understand other races’ native language.
• Glyph of Conjure Familiar
  This glyph allows you to summon a familiar! Has no gameplay implications other than companionship.