WoW Classic Arcane Mage Guide (SoM)

Arcane Mage DPS Guide

Stat Priority

Talents & Builds

Pre-BiS & Best In Slot (BiS)

Enchants, & Consumables

Rotation, Cooldowns, & Abilities

Welcome to our Arcane mage guide for WoW Classic! Frost mages are the most common variety you’ll find in Azeroth, with fire mages being quite potent after Molten Core and Blackwing Lair. However the Arcane specialization has more depth than frost and fire, requiring you to pay close attention to your mana throughout the duration of a raid encounter. This makes arcane mages an interesting specialization to play, but it does come with a higher skill requirement than frost.

To properly raid as a Arcane mage, there are several things you’ll want to know. Fortunately, this guide will cover all of them! We’ll start with race and talent options, then dig deep into every way you can optimize your Arcane mage. From enchants and consumables to professions and stat priorities, we’ve got the important details for you! To complete your learning, we’ll finish off with some gameplay tips and the rotation you should follow to pump out the damage!

Races

Mages have some flexibility when it comes to choosing a race. Both the alliance and horde have two races that are eligible to play as mage. Despite this, there is a superior choice for both factions thanks to racial passives and abilities. Gnomes and trolls will always be the best choice regardless of what specialization you can play. These races will provide you with the largest damage bonus, giving you an incentive to choose them over the other two options. If you’re curious what other races offer, check them out here!

Alliance

• Human – Solid race for any class, but doesn’t offer exceptionally helpful racial abilities. The Human Spirit will give +5% Spirit for some added out-of-combat mana regeneration.
• Gnome – Amazing option thanks to +5% Intellect from the racial passive ability, Expansive Mind, and added mobility with Escape Artist. In combination with the highest base intellect value in the game, gnomes are clearly the best choice for an alliance Mage.

Horde

• Undead – Decent choice due to having a higher base intellect value than trolls and the highest base spirit value of any race in the game. Will of the Forsaken may also situationally come in handy for immunity to charm, fear, and sleep.
• Troll – Despite having lower spirit and intellect base values than undead, trolls are a slightly better choice because of the racial ability Berserking. This grants between 10-30% spell casting speed based on missing health, so if you can consistently use it close to the maximum 30% bonus, it makes trolls the clear cut best choice for a horde mage.

Professions

You’re also going to want to pick up a few professions to make you more capable. Some professions definitely can boost your damage, but most are supplemental and indirectly help you deal damage. Professions can be used to help you craft gear to make you stronger, but they’re also great for generating gold. With enough gold, you can buy just about anything, meaning professions are power.

These are the best professions to have as a Arcane mage:

• Tailoring – Considering mages are no strangers to robes and cloth armor, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see tailoring at the top of this list. Tailoring allows you to craft useful armor to help with gearing, but it also allows you to benefit from tailoring-exclusive set bonuses from gear!
• Engineering – The best profession for all classes mainly due to Goblin Sapper Charges as another form of AOE, Grenades for small stuns, teleports to either Ratchet or Winterspring, as well as repair bots.