This post is the first in a series of posts in which Wowgiggity will be providing guidance on spell and skill rotation for the various class and talent specializations. For today, I will be presenting the rotation for the Arcane Mage(57/3/11) and how to adjust the rotation for different situations.

The standard rotation is Arcane Blast four times (abx4) followed by Arcane Missles(am) which becomes Missle Barrage(mb) if that buff has proc’d from Arcane Blast. It is not garranteed that Missle Barrage will proc after four Arcane Blasts so, if you have a large mana pool, you should consider continuing to cast Arcane Blast until Missle Barrage procs. As a rule you should cast each consecutive Arcane Blast before the previous Arcane Blast ends. Doing this will load the spell in the ‘que’ to begin casting after the previous spell casting time has completed. Note that this only works once the casting time has passed the midpoint.

The following are various modifications to the rotation, for different circumstances:

Trash mobs: Depending on how many mobs are involved in the fight and the threat potential of your tank, you may wish to use Blizzard  instead of the standard rotation. A good rule of thumb is to use Blizzard for groups of 3 or more. The Icy Veins (iv) and Arcane Power (ap) cooldowns are a great way to maximize your dps with Blizzard so be sure to throw that in if your tank can handle the threat. My typical sequence for large groups (5 or more) is to cast Mirror Image (MirImg) for threat reduction, then Icy Veins, Arcane Power, and finishing with Blizzard for the duration of the fight. The best way to keep Blizzard up is to cast consecutive Blizzards right before the previous Blizzard ends, this ensures that there is little DPS gap between each spell. For those fights where it makes better sense to use the single target rotation realize that you may not have the opportunity to complete a full rotation. Always watch the targeted mob’s health bar, if it is getting low and dropping fast, then you should finish your rotation with an Arcane Barrage (Abarr). Arcane Barrage is an instant cast arcane spell that will take advantage of the arcane buff from Arcane Blast. Don’t forget to use your cooldowns even during trash clearing. If you time it right, these cooldowns should be available for the boss fights.

Boss fights: I always begin a boss fight by casting Mirror Image, and usually cast it right before the start. This allows me to open up with Icy Veins and Arcane Power going into the full standard rotation while the threat reduction is still in effect. By the time Mirror Image has finished, the tanks have built enough threat that my own threat should not be an issue. As soon as Icy Veins has faded, pop a mana gem and use your trinket cooldowns if they are available. Continue repeating the rotation using cooldowns as they become available and a Potion of Speed towards the end of the fight. Be sure to use Evocation (evoc) towards the end of the second Icy Veins duration. If you cast Evocation during the last second of Icy Veins, will we have a very short Evocation and DPS downtime.

Tier 10 Armor – set of 2: The 2 set bonus for tier 10 armor is a 5 second haste buff that procs at the end of Missle Barrage. It might be considered useful in this case to cast Missle Barrage as soon as it is available regardless of how many stacks of Arcane Blast are in effect. This should almost always be avoided considering that the meat of your DPS/mana conservation lies in casting Missle Barrage with that 4th stack of Arcane Blast.

Rotations Summarized

Standard Rotation: abx4,mb,abx4,mb…
Maximum DPS Rotation(large mana pool required): abspam
Bossfights: MirImg,iv,ap,abx4,mb,abx4,mb,managem,trinket,abx4,mb,abx4,mb…iv,abx4,mb,abx4,mb,evoc

These modifications to the standard are what work best for me, the important thing is to experiment with your own rotations to come up with what works for you.