Arcane Missiles: which rank to use

Mage · Arcane · 8 ranks, 3 learned by level 30.

At level 30 with 45 spell power, Arcane Missiles rank 1 gets the most damage per mana; rank 3 does the most damage per second.

Most mana-efficient rank by gear: rank 3 up to 22, rank 1 from 23 spell power.

Every rank at level 30 with 45 spell power

Rank	Damage per cast	Mana	Cast	Damage per mana	DPS	Mana lasts
Rank 1 (level 8)	114 (114–114)	85	3 s	1.34	38.1	53 s
Rank 2 (level 16)	182 (182–182)	140	4 s	1.30	45.5	43 s
Rank 3 (level 24)	294 (294–294)	235	5 s	1.25	58.9	32 s

DPS counts the global cooldown. Mana lasts: casting only that rank from 1,500 mana.

Rank 1: 114 damage for 85 mana in Forever instead of 93 for 85 in Classic Era (spell power share 0.858 instead of 0.396).
Rank 2: 182 damage for 140 mana in Forever instead of 187 for 140 in Classic Era (spell power share 1.144 instead of 0.816).
Rank 3: 294 damage for 235 mana in Forever instead of 344 for 235 in Classic Era (spell power share 1.430 instead of 1.200).

From the client, for each rank: base damage or healing and its range (SpellEffect base points and variance), the extra per level up to the rank's max level, the spell power share (coefficient), mana cost, cast time, duration, global cooldown and cooldown.
No downrank penalty in the Forever client. Classic Era's client puts a penalty for spells learned before level 20 inside the coefficient (Shadow Bolt rank 1: 0.14); Forever's client gives the full share (0.486), for 80 low-level ranks across the classes. Anything else would be on Blizzard's servers, so the calculator shows Classic's rules only as Speculation.
Speculation: crits count only on direct hits, at 150%, as in Classic; the example gear (1.5 spell power per level) is not client data.