Arcane Mage guide

Caster DPS. Arcane in Forever is built around Arcane Blast, a tier 3 Arcane talent whose higher ranks come from the trainer: each cast stacks up to 4 times, giving you spell damage equal to 12% of your Intellect per stack for 18 sec while raising Arcane Blast's own mana cost. Build stacks, then cast Arcane Missiles while they last; Missile Barrage, a tier 2 talent, can make it free and twice as fast, and the new Arcane Wrath adds a heavy hit on a short cooldown. Arcane Power, Presence of Mind and Evocation drive burst and mana.

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Stat priority

1. Hit (to cap)
2. Spell Power
3. Intellect
4. Critical Strike
5. Arcane Damage
6. Spirit
7. Mana per 5 sec

Opener

1. Arcane Intellect: Buff before combat
2. Arcane Blast: Build stacks from range
3. Arcane Power: At 3-4 stacks
4. Arcane Missiles: Cast while the stacks last

Single target

1. Arcane Blast: Build to 3-4 stacks while mana allows
2. Arcane Missiles: Cast while the stacks last (18 sec from your first Blast), then restart
3. Presence of Mind: Instant Arcane Blast or Pyroblast
4. Frostbolt: Conserve phase filler when mana is low

Several targets

1. Arcane Explosion: Point-blank AoE, triggers Clearcasting
2. Blizzard: Ranged AoE
3. Frost Nova: Root packs before Arcane Explosion

Cooldowns

1. Arcane Power: 30% more damage, pair with a full Arcane Blast stack
2. Presence of Mind: Instant cast
3. Evocation: Refill mana after burn phases
4. Counterspell: Silences with Improved Counterspell

Key talents

• Arcane Blast
• Missile Barrage
• Arcane Wrath
• Arcane Power
• Presence of Mind
• Arcane Mind
• Arcane Instability
• Arcane Concentration
• Arcane Impact
• Arcane Meditation
• Improved Channeling

What Forever changed

Arcane Blast is the core new spell, and it's a talent: tier 3 of the Arcane section teaches rank 1 and trainers sell ranks 2 to 5. Each cast gives you spell damage equal to 12% of your Intellect, up to 4 stacks lasting 18 sec from the first cast, but each stack raises Arcane Blast's mana cost by 100%. Missile Barrage, now a 2-rank tier 2 talent, gives each Arcane Blast up to a 40% chance to make your next Arcane Missiles free and fire twice as fast, and Arcane Wrath (tier 4, needs Arcane Blast) is a new heavy Arcane bolt on a 6 sec cooldown that gains spell damage equal to 5% of your maximum mana. Arcane Impact adds up to 6% Arcane crit chance and Arcane Mind up to doubles the Arcane crit bonus, so Arcane crits matter far more than in Classic.

Tips

• Stacks last 18 sec from your first Arcane Blast and other spells no longer end them, so fit your Arcane Missiles into that window.
• Use burn (Arcane Blast) and conserve (Frostbolt, Missiles at low stacks) phases around Evocation and mana gems.
• Arcane Concentration gives up to a 10% chance of Clearcasting after each hit; spend it on Arcane Blast at high stacks or on Arcane Missiles.
• When Missile Barrage procs, cast the free, fast Arcane Missiles while your Blast stacks are up.

Other Mage specs: Fire, Frost

Data from the WoW Forever client, build 1.60.1.70938, extracted 2026-11-13.