World of Warcraft: Arcane Mage PvP / Mage Builds

Arcane is more powerful than ever in World of Warcraft these days. The days of choosing between only Fire or Frost for your Mage are over. The Arcane tree can compete with even the Best Frost of Fire specs of our time. I applaud Blizzard for finally giving Mages another option. Let's dive right and and find out how we're going to build this Arcane Mage!

Tier 1:

Arcane Stability is a must. You're going to be using a lot of Arcane Missiles during your play time in PvP. This eliminates any attacks from pushing back your spellcasting time while you're channeling it. This is a must have and any Arcane Mage that skips this talent in WoW will be wishing they hadn't. Crowd Control is a must for PvP. Arcane Subtlety (maxed at 2 points) will give you another 30% resistance to your spells being dispelled. This is a great thing as it counts for Slow, Frost Nova, Blast Wave, etc. When you put that crowd control or slowing spell on a target, it'll stick if you have this talent.

Tier 2:

Arcane Concentration is where you live in Tier 2. This gives you a 10% chance to enter a clearcasting state when you damage anyone with a spell. That makes the next spell you cast FREE. You can't beat that with a stick...err...staff.

Tier 3:

Magic Attunement gives you basically 50% more damage when you have Amplify Magic on your target. Badass. Spell Impact gives 6% more damage to some of your spells. Normally I don't take spells like this because they're generally only used for 1 or maybe 2 spells. I took this talent though, because it does it to essentially all of the spells you're going to be using the most. That 6% adds up when it's stacked on to every spell you'll be using.

Tier 4:

Arcane Shielding makes your Mana Shield take more damage. There's nothing wrong with that, especially because you're somewhat Vulnerable. You don't have Blazing Speed from the Fire tree, or Ice Barrier from Frost. Mana Shield is the best you've got, you might as well make it count. Improved Counterspell will make sure nobody casts a spell at all for 4 seconds after you Counter them. 4 seconds is a very long time in PvP. It's enough to give you some time to plan some moves, cast a long spell, etc. Torment the Weak gives you extra damage to players that are slowed or ensnared, which a lot of the time is going to be the case with you. Whether it's the chilled effect from your Ice Armor or Frost Nova, or even Roots from a druid, this will come in handy.

Tier 5:

Improved Blink makes you harded to hit after you use Blink. This is very useful considering you only ever use Blink when you're taking damage. This means it's efficient 100% of the time. Presence of Mind makes your next spell with a cast time under 10 seconds INSTANT. Think of all the things you can do with this. I'm not going to spoil the possiblities of this talent for you. Be original!

Tier 6:

Arcane Instability increases Spell Damage and Critical Strike Rating by 3% each. This is fairly self explanatory. Arcane Potency is going to give you a hell of a lot better chance to critically hit after you gain Clearcasting (above) or Presence of Mind (which you'll be using every time it's up). This means that if you get Pyroblast after you're done with the Arcane tree, you've got a 30% + Your natural crit rating on that instant Pyroblast after you pop Presence of Mind (Ok, Ok, so I spoiled the presence of mind possiblities!)

Tier 7:

Arcane Empowerment makes your Arcane Missiles a lot more potent. This isn't a bad thing since you'll be using them during EVERY FIGHT. Arcane Power makes you do more damage but your spells also cost more. Not a problem in PvP. Fights are short lived and if they go right, you shouldn't be out of mana at the end of them anyway.

Tier 8:

Mind Mastery boosts spellpower by 15% of your total intellect. Since Intellect is the Mage's main statistic, this will give you a great damage boost.

Tier 9:

Missile Barrage grants your other spells to increase the casting time of Arcane Missiles. Just like above, hell yes. You'll be using Arcane MIssiles a lot, why not buff them to their maximum Potential? Also grab Slow, this is great for just making your opponents wildly inefficient and unable to do much to stop you from battering them down.

Tier 10:

Netherwing Presence makes you faster (6% faster to be exact). Essentially, you now do 6% more damage. Hooray! Spell Power is a MUST HAVE. It gives your critical strike damage bonus 50% more damage, and for only 2 points. wowzers!

Tier 11:

Arcane Barrage does a buttload of Damage. End of Story! =)

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