Mage specializationDPS

Arcane Mage

Arcane is one of the three Mage talent trees in WoW Forever. Its tree has 18 talents: 2 new, 9 changed, 5 moved and 2 same as in Classic. Our best-in-slot (BiS) list treats it as a DPS spec.

Class: Mage
Talents: 18
New in Forever: 2
Abilities: 39

Arcane talents

The 18 talents of the Arcane tree in the beta, row by row. Each one opens its own page: what every rank does, its requirements and what changes from Classic.

Try Arcane in the calculator

What changes in Forever

What is new and changed for Arcane compared with Classic Era: our change list, its talent tree and its abilities.

In our change list

CHANGEDSpell

Arcane Missiles

· General

Classic

Each missile checks line of sight.

Forever

Line of sight is checked once at the start of the channel.

Build 1.60.1.70009

New talents

Arcane Blast
Blasts the target with energy, dealing 54 Arcane damage. Each time you cast Arcane Blast, the damage of all your other spells is increased by 10% and the mana cost of Arcane Blast is increased by 175%. Effect stacks up to 4 times and lasts 8 sec or until any other damage spell is cast.
Missile Barrage
Gives your Arcane Blast spell a 40% chance, and your Fireball, Frostbolt, and Frostfire Bolt spells a 20% chance to reduce the channeled duration of your next Arcane Missiles spell by 50%, reduce the Mana cost by 100%, and missiles fire every 0.5 sec.

Changed or moved talents

Wand SpecializationChanges: position.
Arcane FocusChanges: text, numbers.
Improved ChannelingChanges: text, name.
Arcane SubtletyChanges: position, text, numbers.
Magic AbsorptionChanges: ranks, text, numbers.
Arcane ResilienceChanges: position, ranks, text, numbers.
Arcane GeometryChanges: text, numbers, name, icon.
Arcane ImpactChanges: text, name.
Arcane ShieldingChanges: text, numbers, name.
Improved CounterspellChanges: text, numbers.
Arcane MeditationChanges: position, text, numbers.
Arcane MindChanges: text, numbers.
Arcane InstabilityChanges: position, text, numbers.
Arcane PowerChanges: text, numbers.

New abilities

Changed abilities

Arcane IntellectChanges: tooltip.
Arcane MissilesChanges: tooltip.
Dampen MagicChanges: tooltip.
Arcane ExplosionChanges: tooltip.
Amplify MagicChanges: tooltip.
Remove Lesser CurseChanges: tooltip.
BlinkChanges: tooltip.
Mage ArmorChanges: tooltip.
Arcane PowerChanges: tooltip.
Arcane BrillianceChanges: tooltip.

Removed abilities

Detect Magic

Arcane abilities

The 39 abilities the beta spellbook groups under Arcane, by the level they are learned at. Each one opens its own page with its ranks, cost and changes.

See Arcane in the spellbook →

Arcane best-in-slot (BiS) gear

The site’s suggestion, not an official list: we score the beta items with our stat weights for each level. The beta is capped at level 30.

Full list by levelLevel 20 Level 30beta Level 40 Level 50 Level 60

Top picks at level 60

Main hand
1. Wraith Bladeitem level 83 · Drops from Maexxna · Naxxramas (Classic data)
2. Brimstone Staffitem level 83 · Two-Hand · Drops from Loatheb · Naxxramas (Classic data)
Head
1. Frostfire Circletitem level 88 · Quest: Frostfire Circlet · Naxxramas (Classic data)
2. Enigma Circletitem level 81 · Quest: Enigma Circlet · Ahn'Qiraj (Classic data)
Chest
1. Frostfire Robeitem level 92 · Quest: Frostfire Robe · Naxxramas (Classic data)
2. Crystal Webbed Robeitem level 85 · Drops from Maexxna · Naxxramas (Classic data)

The two highest-scoring pieces in three slots. It is a forecast: until the beta reaches 60, items and their sources may change.

Full Arcane list at level 60 →

Why these weights

Arcane in Classic is mostly about mana: Arcane Power and Arcane Mind scale with intellect and total mana, so intellect and mana per 5 s weigh more than for Fire/Frost. Spell power and hit like any caster; crit a bit less because there is no Ignite or Shatter.