Since i hate 0815 Speccs for my twink (main has to be 0815, because efficiency>fun =/ ) i specced arcane with 64 (specced it with 60 too, but AM only is really pain). I went Arcane/Frost with slow and improved nova etc (so just ABs, no FBs or sth) and i felt fine, shatter with imp. clearcast = nearly 100% crit and so on. It works nice if you dont go for mainstream speccs.

In a 48/13 spec after some playing tonight. I just couldnt really find a place for Arcane Missiles aside from clearcast. Sure, it was fun for AP+trinket, but is it right to think that going 41/19 or 40/20 is a far superior spec in all ways for damage? The thing was, I really liked the idea of 'being full arcane' and having all my points sunk deep into the arcane tree, but I cant see what benefit doing this has over 40/20ish. +15% fire dam from improved scorch and using fireballs/scorches in your rotation and just dropping AM completely. What do you think, Vontre? (You understand the maths behind all this alot better than I do :P)

It really looks like the strength of arcane tree builds (ironically) come heavily from the fire tree still. (bit strange, huh. When I was fire, the strength of deep fire still comes solely from the fire tree itself, whereas deep arcane lends itself heavily to fire still)

How do people handle Arcane missiles in arcane builds. Do you only use them on clearcasts? Do you not use them at all? If you got mana-to-burn, wouldnt you just want to throw the DPS into heavy AB spam cycles instead? Sure trinket+AP+missiles is fun, but is there a more compelling reason im overlooking to actually use the spell, rather than drop it completely and put the points in fire?

Would be funny if PoM made AM instant. Good chance of a nice followup from 5x proc chance on two "on spellhit" trinkets.

Actually, come to think of it, spellhaste effects will be fun for people who use AM, especially from procs so you have no control over the timing. Might mess up the rotation too much though =p

Scorches for debuff and 2*Fireball are definitely superior to AM+Scorch. Imo, the optimal build for this is 40/18/3.

The only time I'd recommend using AM+Scorch instead of Fire is if you are worried about aggro or if you want to get more of a pvp hybrid build.

AM will be an excellent use of spell-haste procs when it is effected. For the most part AM is a utility spell. The two biggest reasons to use it are clearcasting procs, and proc effects. You should try having 2 "proc on crit" trinkets as well as arcane potency and switch to that on a clearcast. Almost guaranteed proc chance for 250 spell damage from nexus-horn and whatever else from another trinket.

You can improve arcane missiles and scorch in the same build, but you have to give up improved arcane missiles. You don't generally need it anyway on raids. For pvp builds you take improved AM, for pve you take the +hit. Arcane Missiles can eat other casters alive if you know when to use it, especially warlocks. I haven't done this in ages though since it's really only a 1v1 tactic and I spec for arenas. Too much mana dumped in anything but a duel.

After I saw this I realized how much gear influences what spec is best. Even though I go in the other way, choosing gear that works best for my spec, it's still interesting to do a comparison. I'm not sure exactly which options you had enabled in the spreadsheet, but for my gear I get the following.

10/48/3 - 5x Fireball, 1x Scorch cycle - 837 dps, 8:26 time, 351,442 total damage.

17/0/44 - Frostbolt - 665 dps, 10:40 time, 279,290 total damage.
17/0/44 - Frostbolt and Water Elemental (averaged) - 744 dps, 10:40 time, 312,293 total damage.

43/18/0 - AM only - 700 dps, 6:15 time, 280,555 total damage.
48/18/0 - Fireball only - 790 dps, 7:13 time, 331,744 total damage.
48/18/0 - ABx4, Fireball, Scorch x2 - 860 dps, 7:00 time, 361,098 total damage.

61/0/0 - AM only - 818 dps, 5:38 time, 312,435 total damage.
61/0/0 - Fireball only - 636 dps, 9:45 time, 267,249 total damage.
61/0/0 - ABx3, AM, Scorch - 837 dps, 7:00 time, 351,356 total damage.

In shorter fights arcane builds will only pull ahead. The most obvious thing about my gear is that it's int heavy, but I guess there could be other factors also.

Interesting findings , but would be also good would be to know how well you're mana did ? did you have to pot up or evoc or use gems ?also what buffs ,

Sure. I levelled with a heavy arcane spec, just to see what it'd be like. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I tend to prefer group levelling over soloing, although there certainly was a lot of that going on.

Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so I can see how others would find it eye-clawingly slow. So, Mr Senator, it depends on the exact meaning of "viable".

Insofar as the viability of an arcane spec, my answer is "I don't know yet". My highest pre-BC experience was BWL; nowadays, my raiding alliance is working on Aran.

Those are numbers based on Vontre's spreadsheet. I used my gear (check in Armory to get an idea), no buffs other than shadow priest, 7 min fight.

I feel like you guys are missing out on some very important aspects of being an arcane mage. My spec is currently 50/11/0 (haven't heard anyone mention that particular one in this thread) And my general rotation is 3xAB, 1xAM (and maybe a scorch to keep time or push out some extra damage). I never use fireball, and only rarely if ever, use fireblast.

What you guys need to understand about arcane spec, is unlike the other ones, we only need 76 hit to reach the hit cap. Fire and frost builds are going to be looking for around 164 (with elemental precision).

First of all, to achieve what this build is really capable of, you need 2 piece T5. If you don't have that, then don't bother with this build, because you aren't going to do nearly as much damage as is possible. Also, I try to avoid using fire spells (except the occasional POM pyro) because my hit is really low and it has a great chance to get resisted.

So if you guys are using scorches, or fireballs, that means ether they are getting resisted often, or you are wearing too much hit. When you work with pure arcane spells, you free up almost 90 hit raiting for other stats. And thats amazing

Heres a link to my armory if you want to see the spec/gear I work with (I just got 4 piece T5 and I love it!!)

Binksy's Armory

EDIT: I forgot to mention, that when raiding, I use Mage Armor instead of Molten Armor for the mana regeneration, and also I use all 4 mana gems, and pop mana pots a lot too. It can cost a bit more to sustain this build, but the massive dps and never worrying about pulling aggro is well worth it.

The post you bumped is over 2 months old. There is a much more recent Arcane Mage thread found here: [Mage] How Can Arcane Damage Work?