WoW Arcane Mage Guide: Midnight Season 2 Talents & Rotation

Arcane Mage in Midnight Season 2 is built around stacking Arcane Salvo, then dumping it into a huge Arcane Barrage while firing as many Prismatic Bolts as you can. Two hero talent paths define the spec: Spellslinger, which plays around Arcane Splinter generation and a fixed 20-stack Barrage, and Sunfury, which turns Arcane Soul into a Barrage-spam burst window. This WoW Arcane Mage guide covers the patch 12.1 talent builds, the rotation priority for both builds, and the gear you are chasing this season.

Talents

Both hero trees use separate builds for single target and for cleave, and the import strings are shared as full talent codes.

• Spellslinger Pure Single Target: the build for pure single-target encounters.
• Spellslinger Arcane Mythic+ / Raid Cleave: the Spellslinger build for Mythic+ and raid cleave.
• Sunfury Single Target: the Sunfury build for single-target fights.
• Sunfury Pure Raid Cleave / M+: the Sunfury build for raid cleave and Mythic+.

Class talents

With patch 12.1, Mirror Image is a defensive rather than a pure utility button, so you invest all available points into Mirror Image and Improved Conjuration to lower its cooldown, plus one point into the new passive Improved Warding.

Midnight adds two notable choice nodes. The first is Time Walk versus Temporal Realignment: Time Walk is a renamed version of Master of Time from The War Within, while Temporal Realignment is a budget cheat death that automatically triggers Alter Time if you drop below 25% health and heals you back to 50%. Time Walk is the recommended pick in almost every situation.

The second is Spatial Manipulation versus Reflection, where Spatial Manipulation gives the extra Shimmer charge and Reflection is a niche option. Arcane also gets Improved Prismatic Barrier, which reduces magic damage taken by an additional 10% and grants a second charge.

Apex talents

Prismatic Bolt replaces your next Arcane Blast after an Arcane Barrage, with a 1% chance per stack of Arcane Salvo consumed. It deals 3200% of Spell Power Arcane damage to the target and 2500% to nearby enemies, reduced beyond 5 targets, and it grants Clearcasting. Later ranks push the Clearcasting chance to 50% and 100%, increase Arcane Missiles damage by 15% and 30%, raise the proc chance by another 1% per Salvo stack, and add 15% Arcane Barrage damage.

Spellslinger hero talents

• Splintering Sorcery: casting Arcane Blast or Arcane Pulse conjures an Arcane Splinter.
• Splintering Orbs: Arcane Orb damage summons up to 2 Arcane Splinters and deals 50% more damage.
• Augury Abounds: conjuring one or more Arcane Splinter has a 10% chance to conjure a burst of 8.
• Infused Splinters: direct Arcane Splinter damage has a 25% chance to grant 1 Arcane Salvo stack.
• Polished Focus: Arcane Barrage at 20 or more Arcane Salvo stacks refunds 3 stacks and deals 15% more damage, which is why Spellslinger only Barrages at 20 stacks.
• Spellfrost Teachings: Arcane Splinter damage reduces Arcane Orb's cooldown by 0.30 seconds.
• Splinterstorm: Arcane Surge generates 8 Arcane Splinters, and during Surge your chance to conjure an extra Splinter is 100%.
• Reactive Barrier: Prismatic Barrier absorbs up to 25% more based on missing health, maxing below 25% health.

Sunfury hero talents

• Glorious Incandescence: Arcane Barrage summons 1 Meteorite per 5 Arcane Salvo stacks consumed.
• Pyrocosm: each Arcane Missiles wave has a 10% chance to summon a Meteorite, and a landing Meteorite has a 5% chance to grant Clearcasting.
• Spellfire Salvo: Arcane Salvo stacks 5 additional times, raising the cap from 20 to 25, and Meteorite damage is increased by 15%.
• Memory Of Al'ar: during Arcane Surge you gain twice as many Mana Cascade stacks, and when your Arcane Phoenix expires it grants Arcane Soul for 4 seconds.
• Arcane Soul: Arcane Barrage grants Clearcasting, generates 4 Arcane Charges, grants 5 Arcane Salvo stacks and no longer consumes Salvo, turning the window into Barrage spam.
• Sunfury Execution / Savor The Moment: Arcane Barrage deals 5% more damage to enemies affected by Touch of the Magi, and Arcane Surge is extended by 0.8 seconds per Spellfire Sphere, up to 2.4 seconds.

Rotation priority

Arcane Mage is about building a massive Arcane Barrage, casting as many Prismatic Bolts as possible, and unloading during Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi. Arcane Barrage and Prismatic Bolt are your hardest-hitting abilities, but you cannot cast them freely.

Spellslinger single target

1. Prismatic Bolt if you do not have Clearcasting or if you have 6 stacks of Cumulative Power.
2. Arcane Barrage at 20 Arcane Salvo stacks or right after Arcane Surge.
3. Arcane Missiles if you have fewer than 15 Arcane Salvo stacks.
4. Prismatic Bolt.
5. Arcane Orb if you are about to overcap.
6. Arcane Orb or Arcane Pulse if you need Arcane Charges.
7. Arcane Blast.

Spellslinger AoE

1. Prismatic Bolt if you do not have Clearcasting or if you have 6 stacks of Cumulative Power.
2. Arcane Orb on cooldown.
3. Arcane Barrage at 20 Arcane Salvo stacks or right after Arcane Surge.
4. Arcane Missiles if you have fewer than 15 Arcane Salvo stacks or 3 stacks of Clearcasting.
5. Prismatic Bolt.
6. Arcane Orb if you are about to overcap.
7. Arcane Orb or Arcane Pulse if you need Arcane Charges.
8. Arcane Blast.

Sunfury single target

1. Arcane Missiles if you have fewer than 12 Arcane Salvo stacks.
2. Arcane Barrage if Arcane Soul is up.
3. Prismatic Bolt if you have 8 stacks of Cumulative Power and Arcane Soul is not up.
4. Arcane Barrage at 25 Arcane Salvo stacks, or with Clearcasting and 12 or more stacks.
5. Prismatic Bolt.
6. Arcane Orb.
7. Arcane Blast.

Sunfury AoE

1. Arcane Missiles if you have fewer than 12 Arcane Salvo stacks.
2. Arcane Barrage if Arcane Soul is up.
3. Prismatic Bolt if you have 8 stacks of Cumulative Power and Arcane Soul is not up.
4. Arcane Barrage at 25 Arcane Salvo stacks, or with Clearcasting, Arcane Orb or Arcane Pulse and 12 or more stacks.
5. Prismatic Bolt.
6. Arcane Orb.
7. Arcane Blast.

Cooldowns and defensives

Always use Arcane Surge and Touch of the Magi together and on cooldown: Arcane Surge is on a 1.5-minute cooldown and Touch of the Magi on 45 seconds, which fits an extra Touch between each Surge. Players call the overlap the "Big Burn" and the standalone Touch the "Miniburn", and you never delay the Miniburn or your cooldowns desync.

Prismatic Barrier is the spammable Mage defensive, on a 30-second cooldown that Barrier Diffusion reduces by 5 seconds, and all Mage barriers sit on a shorter global cooldown in Midnight. Ice Cold grants 70% damage reduction, is off the global cooldown and lets you keep casting, on a 3-minute cooldown that Permafrost Bauble cuts to 2.5 minutes. Alter Time snapshots your location and health on the first press and restores both on the second. Refractive Images converts 10% of damage taken into damage over 8 seconds, raised to 30% for 15 seconds when you cast Mirror Image.

Gear, embellishments and enchants

Haste is the priority stat for Arcane Mages this season, and there is little difference between Sunfury and Spellslinger beyond it. Most of the best-in-slot list comes from raid, thanks to maximum item levels and a cantrip weapon effect.

Tier set and catalyst

The Primal Leywarden's Attire 2-piece makes Arcane Missiles fire 1 additional missile and deal 20% increased damage, and the 4-piece makes each Arcane Missiles wave increase the damage of your next Arcane Blast, Arcane Pulse or Prismatic Bolt by 5%, up to 40%. Aim to sync the 4-piece buff with Prismatic Bolt.

The Matrix Catalyst converts non-tier armor into tier pieces of the same type, and in Season 2 catalyzed items keep their stats so you can target specific pieces, but profession-crafted armor cannot be catalyzed.

Crafting and embellishments

Spark of Tides is a weekly-gated crafting resource, and early in the season you should craft a weapon first if you did not get a max item level one. The recommended early order is Aln'hara Cane with Hunter's Ritual Stone, then Aln'hara Lantern with Hunter's Ritual Stone, then replace your lowest item level pieces with Arcanoweave Lining. Late in the season the order becomes Aln'hara Lantern with Hunter's Ritual Stone, then Martyr's Bindings with Arcanoweave Lining. Do not craft the crafted trinkets, since delve trinkets are better.

The best embellishments are Aln'hara Lantern with Hunter's Ritual Stone and Martyr's Bindings with Arcanoweave Lining.

Upgrades and bonus rolls

Mistcrests upgrade and craft gear and have a weekly acquisition cap, so spend them carefully. The upgrade priority is weapon or offhand first, with a staff almost always cheaper, then trinkets, then chest, legs and head, then back and wrists.

Nebulous Voidcores let you bonus roll for specific equipment after Season 2 raid bosses, Mythic+ dungeons, Bountiful Delves and Nightmare Prey Hunts, rewarding an item level equal to Great Vault rewards from that content. The Omnium Folio is available for the rest of the Midnight expansion, upgrades weekly through a quest from Magister Umbric and Grand Magister Rommath, and can be changed outside of combat.

Consumables

Thalassian Phoenix Oil is the near-universal weapon buff at 93.1% popularity, and Light's Potential is the most used combat potion at 83.3%. Hearty Harandar Celebration is the top food buff at 71.5%, Flask of the Blood Knights the top flask at 39.5%, and Concentrated Silvermoon Health Potion the top health potion at 12.6%.

Macros and cooldown manager

Midnight's improved cooldown manager has ready-made import strings for Arcane, including Porom's Cooldown Manager Arcane, which works out of the box. Porom's Edit Mode is a matching edit mode setup focused on visibility of what you need most.

• Entering Touch: fires your trinkets, racials and weapon, then queues Arcane Barrage into Touch of the Magi, for use after Surge when your effects last under 20 seconds.
• Entering Surge: pops a trinket before Arcane Surge, for effects with a delayed buff or a 20-second duration.
• Surge into Touch: casts Touch of the Magi, a trinket and Arcane Blast in sequence when you have no Arcane Charges.
• Presence of Mind: casts Presence of Mind then Arcane Blast, using /cqs to cancel spellqueue so Presence of Mind always lands first.
• Slow Fall: puts Slow Fall on your mouseover or yourself, and a second press cancels it for faster world traversal.

Inside macros, slot 13 is your top trinket, 14 your bottom trinket, 16 your weapon, 6 your belt and 9 your bracers.

If you would rather have the gear side handled for you, Epiccarry's WoW BiS Gear Boost takes the farming off your hands.