Arcane 5.1

Mage Archive Patch 5.0+
1

Using Frost for most of LFR so far has had me at poor to mediocre dps at best - could never find a powerful enough rotation for it. So specced to Arcane (Changed my fire spec, kept frost) and went from near middle/bottom dps to in the top 3.

There are a few misconceptions about arcane. If you look at Noxxic - WoW Guides & Rankings and www.icy-veins.com they say the same thing - ie to only ever use barrage if your 6 stack is about to drop (due to fight mechanics) or when it’s an aoe situation. The other thing is they say Rune of Power is a must. They also say to only cast Missiles when you got 2 procs to maximize the barrage stack damage bonus. Lastly they say to macro Time Warp with Arcane Power and use it when you got 2 AM charges and a 6 stack.

Well after a lot of testing, the time it takes to position and cast RoP negates any bonus damage so it’s a waste of time. Barrage can be used effectively in all fights and using Incanter’s Ward passive only you can use Barrage every 6 stack and never go below 90% mana. Any bonus from casting Missiles as they say and using Warp with AP is so small it’s also a waste of time. Plus AP is off CD for way too long waiting for that 6 stack/2 AM procs combo to use it, makes it a dps loss.

So having said all that here is my arcane macros. Just finished LFR HoF first part at 77k dps came in 3rd. Actual damage done I was way in the lead with 11.5%, next closest to me did 8.9% damage for the whole run. Note I have no 496 gear yet either.

Hotbar 1 main rotation

/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=5 Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,Mirror Image
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 Arcane Missiles
/cast [combat]Arcane Power
/use [nochanneling][combat]10
/targetenemy [noharm]
/swapactionbar 1 2

Hotbar 2

/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,Ice Barrier
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 Frost Bomb
/use [nochanneling][combat]10
/swapactionbar 2 1

And for those that don’t like using multi-hotbars here is a one button version. For me everything works but Ice Barrier. For you it may all work.

/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=5 Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,2,3,Mirror Image
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,2,Ice Barrier
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,Frost Bomb
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 Arcane Missiles
/cast [combat]Arcane Power
/use [nochanneling][combat]10
/targetenemy [noharm]

 

2

Hello Michael, is because there is a punctuation mark instead of a comma between 1 and 2. :stuck_out_tongue:

3

There is an issue with this though and that’s over the 6 stacks system.

If you have 6 Arcane Blasts and an Arcane Barrage without Arcane Missiles proc than it works. But if you go over the sixth stack you’ll lose a good 25% of your mana (15% if you have Rune).

Arcane is hard to macro because of the addition of Missiles.

Missiles act like Nightfall procs for Warlocks using Real PPM (~3-5 per minute). Look into maybe eliminating one of the Arcane Blasts in the macro or two if possible.

4

Thanks Luis I missed that mistake - edited it.

@ Michael I tested this thoroughly with from 3 Arcane Blasts up to 10 Arcane Blasts and this is the best rotation for me at least. If there are 6 stacks and an AM proc it will do Barrage first then AM so this is not an issue.

I rarely go below 90% mana and if I do it is for only 1 second. Have a good look at the Incanter’s Ward passive and this is why the macro works. I never activate it just use it as a passive.

If it works better for any of you to eliminate 1 or 2 Arcane Blasts then go for it, as long as it works. Missiles is a hard one - you cannot tell a macro to cast at a certain time (ie optimally at 6 stacks)

5

mike tyvm for the macro m8.

i had some problems with it so i changed it a bit to my needs and works for me like a charm.

here is what i did

 

/targetenemy [noharm]
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=5 Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,2,3,4,Arcane Missiles
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,2,3,Ice Barrier
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,2,Frost Bomb
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,Mirror Image
/cast [combat]Arcane Power
/CAST ICE WARD
/CAST Presence of Mind

 

i did 40k dps in 462 item lvl

6

Thanks Baboulas I wasn’t sure if my 1 button would work in that form - very hard to test these when I know they don’t work for me, although with only 4 reset=0.3 in it this may work for me. I will give it a go.

7

So right now SDM is out of date and the macros you posted here are not usable as WoW will not allow me to open SDM.

8

 

 

enable load out of date add ons to make it work

9

Thanks Baboulas7, Now off to see what damage I can reap :slight_smile:

 

 

10

hai… all…

@michaeljackson

the above macro you have given is awsome… but i have a request… for u…

can u add fireblast in the Hotbar 2 macro after frost bomb cos fireblast instantly bursts frostbomb which saves time and boosts dps.

as both frostbomb and fireblast are in cds i dont know how to add it in macro for continuous rotation…

11

Mahesh I did test that exact rotation on the dummies and it was a dps loss - the only situation it would be a boost is when mobs die before the Frost Bomb timer expires which in raiding is not very often. If you put it in hotbar 2 macro it wouldn’t go off straight after Frost Bomb is applied because the way these work. Having said that here is the main rotation you would put in hotbar 1. I am not in game right now so this may need Frost Bomb,Fire Blast added every 2 Arcane Blasts instead of every 3.

/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=5 Frost Bomb,Fire Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Frost Bomb,Fire Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 Arcane Missiles
/cast [combat]Arcane Power
/use [nochanneling][combat]10
/targetenemy [noharm]
/swapactionbar 1 2

Hotbar 2 would be

/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,Ice Barrier
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 Mirror Image
/use [nochanneling][combat]10
/swapactionbar 2 1

Remember Fire Blast uses a global and does low damage. Also a problem can occur when switching targets a lot that Fire Blast and Frost Bomb will be on CD, and lastly Fire Blast only has a 30 yard range which is a pain. But it’s up to you if you want to use this.

The other thing you could try for hotbar 2 is as follows but leave hotbar 1 as in my first post here.

/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,2,Ice Barrier
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,Fire Blast
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 Frost Bomb
/use [nochanneling][combat]10
/swapactionbar 2 1

12

Oh thanks for the info and ur beautiful time in working out the macro for me…

as of now i am using the fireblast in a seperate button… cos in dongens blasting frostbomb with fireblast is a massive dps burst as of aoe situations… thats where i needed ur help…

and ill definitely use ur macro… again thx for the great help…

13

Unsure what everyone is doing here but all in one other than rune of power and fireblast to spread Living bomb. Requires no SDM rinse repeat. for anyone that may run a hair low on mana simply cast an extra scortch on your own or mana gem. No one at my item level has ever beaten me.

 

Spec

 

/cast arcane power

/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=target/8 Living Bomb, Arcane Blast, Arcane Blast, Scorch, Arcane Blast

/cast [nochanneling] arcane missiles

/cast Mirror Image

/use 13

/use 14

 

 

14

I noticed most arcane mages are using Nether Tempest so decided to do some extensive testing. Living Bomb and Nether Tempest cannot be macroed accurately because they have no CD and due to Arcane Missiles procs the refresh time gets messed up. This is especially true with Living Bomb because if it is refreshed too early you don’t get the time out damage.

Living Bomb and Nether Tempest gave me at least 5-7 k min/max damage less than Frost Bomb.

My original macro in this thread does for me min/max - 77k/82k. I just did 4 full hours of testing and concluded Ice Barrier is a huge dps loss - taking it out gave me an extra 5-7k dps. The following macro utilizes Alter Time and prioritizes Frost Bomb, I tried Frost Bomb in the 0.3 format as priority and it never casts as priority so this does. It does min/max 87k/92k. All tested on 1 dummy (obviously Bomb and Barrage hit all 3) for no less than 15 minutes each macro combo. Tested about 8 different macro combinations.

Hotbar 1

/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=100/alt Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Alter Time,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,2,Mirror Image
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 1,Arcane Missiles
/castsequence [nochanneling] [combat]reset=0.3 Arcane Power
/use [nochanneling][combat]10
/swapactionbar 1 2
/targetenemy [noharm]

Hotbar 2

/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.3 Frost Bomb
/use [nochanneling][combat]10
/swapactionbar 2 1

If down time between mobs is too long just hit alt while using the macro to reset it. Not too sure if 100 seconds is a good reset timer, any help is appreciated.

 

15

Just did 93500k on Grand Empress Shek’zeer and 117300k on Amber Shaper Un’sok as a test using the macro above… This is by far better than what I have ever done. The tank was fast pulling so the reset seemed good. At ilvl 486 I can see with ilvl 501 will be easy doing 120-130k dps if not more.

First boss got beaten by the tanks Consecrate lol.

16

michael i messed a little with it and i came out with this one.

/targetenemy [noharm] /castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.5 0,1,2,3,4,Arcane Missiles /castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.5 0,1,2,3,Frost Bomb /castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.5 0,1,2,Mirror Image /castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.5 0,1,Presence of Mind /castsequence [nochanneling][combat]reset=0.5 0,Arcane Power /castsequence [nochanneling]reset=target/alt Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Alter Time,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage

as far as i know everything casts but at some point the main castsequesnce locks up.
i hope i helped

17

Hi baboulas7 I think I know why yours locks up. Because Alter Time has a 180 second CD and you have reset=target it will lock up if you are switching targets and Alter Time is on CD. Other than that it looks good.

18

give this a try michael

/targetenemy [noharm]
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.5 0,1,2,3,4,5,Arcane Missiles
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.5 0,1,2,3,4,Frost Bomb
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.5 0,1,2,3,Mirror Image
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.5 0,1,2,Presence of Mind
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.5 0,1,Arcane Power
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.5 0,Alter Time
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=target Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage

it should work as intended, try it and let me know

19

the above macro has problems so i modded it

/targetenemy [noharm]
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.6 0,1,2,3,4,5,Alter Time
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.6 0,1,2,3,4,Arcane Missiles
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.6 0,1,2,3,Mirror Image
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.6 0,1,2,Presence of Mind
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.6 0,1,Arcane Power
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=0.6 0,Frost Bomb
/castsequence [nochanneling]reset=target Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage

everything casts but when Alter Time is available u have to rapidly hit the key to be activated

did 40k damage with 467 gear on training dummies hope i helped

20

Baboulas7 I tested your macro and it works perfectly but the main issue is Alter Time activates when there is nothing to be gained from it. The main reason I did that long rotation was to do Alter Time>Barrage>2 Blasts>another Barrage - you get the 6 stack regained when it times out enabling you to do 2 Barrages - when there are a lot of mobs this is quite a dps increase.

With your above macro I tested it through 3 Alter Times and each time there was no beneficial buff to regain so was wasted. To get any real benefit we have to either have a 6 stack up or 2 AM procs ready, preferably both. I don’t see any other way other than the long sequence I initially made.