Ten Ton Hammer's Class Guides - Mage | |
Arcane Talent Guide
This Arcane Talent Guide goes over each of the Arcane Talents in the Arcane Talent Tree. Currently under contstruction this guide covers tiers one through 5.
Return to the Mage Talent Guide. The Mage Talent guide contains the location to the Frost and Fire Talent guides along with resources to better help you understand Talents and the best ways to go about spending your Talent Points.
Tier 1Tier 1 is available at level ten, when your first talents open up. |
Arcane Subtlety |
Arcane Subtlety is a talent that gives spell penetration (Rank 1: 5, Rank 2: 10) and Arcane threat reduction (Rank 1: 20%, Rank 2: 40%). As a low level spell it is almost completely useless as there is nothing early on that requires spell penetration. However, the threat reduction is useful if you do group a lot – but still early on its not that important. However, at higher levels, this is a great talent all around. Arcane mages nearly require this in raids and the spell penetration is very helpful as it can increase DPS as much as 2.5% against some enemies. That becomes a lot of damage over an entire raid. The threat reduction is useful when Arcane Explosion is used in a situation where a Warrior or Paladin will hold aggro from a large group of enemies and then they will be killed with the Arcane Explosion AoE. However, it shouldn’t be obtained just for that. Obtain Arcane Subtlety if…
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Arcane Focus |
Arcane Focus reduces the chance that Arcane spells will be resisted by 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10% based on rank. This talent is nothing to write home about unless you plan on raiding as a full Arcane Mage or plan on attacking enemies above your level with Arcane spells. Obtain Arcane Focus if…
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Improved Arcane Missiles |
Improved Arcane Missiles gives you a 20%,40%,60%,80%,100% not to be interrupted by damage while casting Arcane Missiles. This means that while you are casting Arcane Missiles and have a 5 ranks of this skill then you will never be interrupted by damage. Things like Counterspell and Kick will, of course, interrupt this skill still. Obtain Improved Arcane Missiles if…
Avoid Improved Arcane Missiles if…
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Tier 2 |
Wand Specialization |
Increases your damage with wands by 13/25% based on rank. Do not get this talent. It’s only useful for some of the unique and interesting builds that involve Mages and melee or for the unique and highly powerful wands. Typically it is best to stay away from this talent. Do not obtain. |
Magic Absorption |
Increases all resistances by 2/4/6/8/10 and causes all spells you resist to restore 1%/2%/3%/4%/5% of your maximum mana based on rank. This talent used to be more useful back when raid encounters required massive amounts of resists. Low level enemies who you take resists from also count, so if you go to a low level instance with 5 ranks of this talent you will find your mana easily regened. Obtain Magic Absorption if…
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Arcane Concentration |
Arcane Concentration gives you a 2%/4%/6%/8%/10% (based on rank) to enter into a “Clearcasting” state after any damage spell hits a target. The next damage spell you cast within the next ten seconds will use no mana. This talent is excellent and one of the reasons for a Frost or Fire mage to dip into the Arcane tree. It’s an extremely good talent and will allow most Mages who obtain it to focus on spell damage and crit instead of mana regen. Obtain Arcane Concentration if…
Highly Recommended. |
Tier 3 |
Magic Attunement |
Magic Attunement is a talent that increases Amplify Magic and Dampen Magic by 25% per rank with a maximum of two ranks. This talent has little uses unless there is something specific you have in mind. Not Recommended |
Arcane Impact |
Arcane Impact increases the critical strike chance of Arcane Explosion and Arcane Blast by 2% per rank with 3 ranks. Nothing noteworthy to say, but 6% critical strike is a lot. Obtain Arcane Impact if…
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Arcane Fortitude |
Arcane Fortitude increases your armor by an amount equal to 50% of your Intellect. Just avoid this talent unless you’re going into some kind of battlemage like build. Not Recommended |
Tier 4 |
Improved Mana Shield |
Improved Mana Shield is a talent that will decrease the mana lost when damage is taken in by Mana Shield. Mana use is reduced 10% for the first rank and 20% for the second rank. Obtained Improved Mana Shield if…
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Improved Counterspell |
Improved Counterspell adds a 50% chance per rank (2 ranks) to add a 4 second silence to Counterspell, whether a spell was interrupted or not. This talent is considered to only be used in PvP situations. Obtain Improved Counterspell if…
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Arcane Meditation |
Arcane meditation is a talen that allows for a small percentage (5% per rank, 3 ranks) of mana to continue to regenerate while casting. Nearly useless at lower levels and PvP while really shining in longer endurance fights such as raids. Stacks with Mage Armor meaning you can get some serious regeneration to continue while casting. Obtain Arcane Meditation if…
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Tier 5 |
Presence of Mind |
Presence of Mind allows you to instantly cast anything with a casting time of less then ten seconds. So you can activate Presence of Mind then cast Pyroblast without waiting on the six second cast time. A common trick is to set PoM (what its short for) to an easily accessable key and press it then something like Pyroblast or Polymorph.
Obtain Presence of Mind if
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Arcane Mind |
Arcane Mind is a 5 point talent that will increase your intellect by 3% per rank. This is useful in that it works for ALL of your equipped gear and base intellect. Obtain Arcane Mind if
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Tier 6 |
Prismatic Cloak |
Prismatic Cloak reduces damage by 2% a rank for a maximum of 2 ranks. So at its maximum rank if you were to take 1000 damage it would be reduced by 4% or 40 damage. Obtain Prismatic Cloak if
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Arcane Instability |
Arcane Instability increases your spell damage and critical strike chance by 1% per rank for 3 ranks requiring Presence of Mind to activate. This talent affects all three trees while the spell bonus does include your total from gear. Obtain Arcane Instability if
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Arcane Potency |
Arcane Potency gives you 10% to get a critical strike with a spell while Clearcasting (Arcane Concentration) per rank for 3 ranks. Thats a 30% chance to get a critical strike with a spell while Clearcasting at its maximum level. Obtain Arcane Potency if
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Tier 7 |
Empowered Arcane Missiles |
Empowered Arcane Missiles gives you 15% additional spell damage and 2% additional mana cost per rank for 3 ranks. At its maximum rank youll get a bonus of 187% Arcane damage. Obtain Empowered Arcane Missiles if
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Arcane Power |
Arcane Power is an ability that allows you to do 30% more damage while spending 30% more mana during a 15 second interval with a cooldown three minutes. Does not stack with Power Infusion, of course, but it does stack with trinkets. So you can get a lot of spell damage buffs plus a spell damage trinket and then Arcane Power combined with say Presence of Mind then cast Pyroblast Instantly for a ton of damage while still getting in some more spells during the 15 seconds. A very good talent. Obtain Arcane Power if
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Spell Power |
Spell Power increases the critical strike bonus damage by 25% per rank for 2 ranks. This talent is extremely useful in that your critical strike bonus is applied to a lot of things including Ignite on Fireball. Obtain Spell Power if
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Tier 8 |
Mind Mastery |
Mind Mastery increases your spell damage by 5% of your intellect for 5 ranks. This is very significant amount of spell damage at higher levels especially as you gain more Intellect in your gear and you pick up the Arcane Mind talent. Obtain Mind Mastery if
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Tier 9 |
Slow |
Slow costs 28% of your base mana and will slow the movement speed, casting time, and time between ranged attacks by 50%. It has no cooldown but can only affect one target at a time. It is considered a spell and mage ability meaning that anything that removes snares or magical debuffs will remove Slow. It can be combined with Counterspell to disable any caster with its 50% increased casting time while it is extremely useful for kiting Warriors. Hunters will have a much harder time doing damage, but will still be able to hit you. Obtain Slow if
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