The War Within 11.2 Arcane Mage DPS Guide

Arcane Mage in The War Within 11.2 is a burst-focused caster that cycles between high-impact burn windows and efficient conserve phases. It brings excellent single-target damage, strong burst cleave, and reliable mobility and survivability tools that fit well in raids and Mythic Plus. This The War Within 11.2 Arcane Mage DPS Guide summarizes verified information from current Arcane Mage 11.2 sources and official notes. Last updated: August 2025 based on 11.2 content.

Why Play Arcane Mage In 11.2

Arcane offers top-tier burst, good consistent damage when played around cooldowns, and strong defensive and utility tools. It excels at funneling damage and doing priority damage on stacked targets. Weaknesses include dependence on cooldown timing, lower output outside major windows, and limited AoE when enemies are widely spread. The spec rewards precise cooldown usage and charge management.

Talents For Raids

In raids for 11.2, both hero talent trees are viable. Sunfury is generally preferred for single-target and light cleave due to its straightforward flow and strong cooldown package. Spellslinger lags slightly in pure single-target but remains a valid pick if you prefer that playstyle.

Core ideas for the main raid builds:

Sunfury single-target build

• Focus: Generate and spend Spellfire Spheres to power Arcane Phoenix and extend Arcane Soul. You play frequent, fast burn-conserve cycles centered on Arcane Surge into Touch of the Magi, then leverage Arcane Soul for mobility and extra Barrage value.
• Key spec nodes: Arcane Surge, Touch of the Magi, Aether Attunement, Leydrinker, Magi’s Spark, Arcane Harmony/Nether Precision interactions, and Arcane Orb support. You Barrage on Intuition or during Glorious Incandescence procs, and you clip Arcane Missiles except when Aether Attunement is active.
• What it enables: Long Arcane Soul windows, more mobility, and frequent Barrage windows with powerful charge refunding via Intuition and Sunfury’s Glorious Incandescence synergy.

Talents For Mythic Plus

For Mythic+ we’ll take any utility we need from the class tree, currently either hero spec works really.  Spellslinger builds can be found in the talent calculator, click the bottom left button! Or you go for the “crab build” as  Sunfury below.

Sunfury Mythic Plus build

• Focus: Frequent Barrage cleave with Arcing Cleave, leveraging Orb Barrage and Intuition to keep Arcane Charges flowing. The rotation is similar to the raid Sunfury build but prioritizes charge cycling and cleave windows more aggressively.
• Practical picks: Arcing Cleave, Orb Barrage, Aether Attunement, and the usual cooldown core. You still barrage on Intuition, Glorious Incandescence, or when Orb is ready to ensure quick recharge.

Class tree in dungeons:

• Baseline: Shifting Power remains very valuable after your burn windows. Shimmer solidifies mobility. Mass Barrier adds group survivability on pulls. Supernova and Blast Wave provide highly useful crowd control to help with interrupts and kiting.
• Flex: Add more control like Ring of Frost or Mass Slow when needed. Keep Spellsteal ready for emissary-style buff removals.

Stat Priority for The War Within 11.2 Arcane Mage DPS Guide

Follow this Arcane Mage 11.2 baseline priority:

• Intellect
• Haste
• Versatility
• Mastery
• Critical Strike

All secondaries are close in value, and the best mix varies with your current gear due to diminishing returns and talent interactions. Re-sim after upgrades. There are no special hard caps listed; simply avoid pushing a single secondary too far into diminishing returns when better-balanced choices are available.

Best In Slot Gear For The War Within 11.2 Arcane Mage DPS Guide

Overall Gear

Slot	Item	Source
Head	Augur’s Ephemeral Wide-Brim	Catalyst / Raid / Vault
Neck	Chrysalis of Sundered Souls	Soulbinder Naazindhri
Shoulders	Augur’s Ephemeral Orbs of Power	Catalyst / Raid / Vault
Cloak	Reshii Wraps	Patch 11.2 Questline
Chest	Augur’s Ephemeral Habiliments	Catalyst / Raid / Vault
Wrist	Consecrated Cuffs	Crafting
Gloves	Codebreaker’s Cunning Handwraps	Tazavesh: So’leah’s Gambit
Belt	Singularity Cincture	Dimensius
Belt	Durable Information Securing Container	Overcharged Delves – This is only 0.5% worse than max upgraded Myth track belt!
	ST –  Critical Chain | AoE –  Critical Chain
Legs	Augur’s Ephemeral Trousers	Catalyst / Raid / Vault
Boots	Interloper’s Silken Striders	The Soul Hunters
Ring	Band of the Shattered Soul	Dimensius
Ring	High Nerubian Signet	Dawnbreaker
Trinket	Astral Antenna	Loom’ithar
Trinket	Diamantine Voidcore	Fractillus
Weapon	Voidglass Sovereign’s Blade	Nexus-King Salhadaar
Off-hand	Vagabond’s Torch	Crafting

Best in Slot Gear for Raid

Slot	Item	Source
Head	Twilight Tyrant’s Veil	Nexus-King Salhadaar
Neck	Chrysalis of Sundered Souls	Soulbinder Naazindhri
Shoulders	Mounted Manacannons	Plexus Sentinel
Cloak	Reshii Wraps	Patch 11.2 Questline
Chest	Frock of Spirit’s Reunion	Soulbinder Naazindhri
Wrist	Conjoined Glass Bracers	Fractillus
Gloves	Bloodwrath’s Gnarled Claws	The Soul Hunters
Belt	Singularity Cincture	Dimensius
Legs	Stellar Navigation Slacks	Dimensius
Boots	Interloper’s Silken Striders	The Soul Hunters
Ring	Logic Gate: Omega	Forgeweaver Araz
Ring	Band of the Shattered Soul	Dimensius
Trinket	Astral Antenna	Loom’ithar
Trinket	Diamantine Voidcore	Fractillus
Weapon	Voidglass Sovereign’s Blade	Nexus-King Salhadaar
Off-hand	Fractillus’ Last Breath	Fractillus

Best in Slot Gear for M+

Slot	Item	Source
Head	Elysian Flame Crown	Priory of the Sacred Flame
Neck	Sin Stained Pendant	Halls of Atonement
Shoulders	Sinlight Shoulderpads	Halls of Atonement
Cloak	Reshii Wraps	Patch 11.2 Questline
Chest	Robes of Midnight Bargains	Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder
Wrist	Auctioneer’s Counting Bracers	Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder
Gloves	Cyphered Gloves	Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder
Belt	Pan-Dimensional Packing Cord	Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder
Legs	Hyperlight Leggings	Tazavesh: So’leah’s Gambit
Boots	Slippers of Leavened Station	Halls of Atonement
Ring	Radiant Necromancer’s Band	Priory of the Sacred Flame
Ring	High Nerubian Signet	Dawnbreaker
Trinket	Ara-Kara Sacbrood	Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
Trinket	Azhiccaran Parapodia	Eco-Dome Al’dani
Weapon	Soul-Scribe’s Tabiqa Dagger	Eco-Dome Al’dani
Off-hand	Acoustically Alluring Censer	Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder

Enchants

Follow your stat priority:

Slot	Raid	Dungeons/Delves
Weapon	Enchant Weapon – Authority of the Depths	Enchant Weapon – Authority of Radiant Power
Cloak	Enchant Cloak – Chant of Winged Grace	Enchant Cloak – Chant of Winged Grace
Chest	Enchant Chest – Crystalline Radiance	Enchant Chest – Crystalline Radiance
Bracers	Enchant Bracer – Chant of Armored Avoidance	Enchant Bracer – Chant of Armored Avoidance
Legs	Daybreak Spellthread	Sunset Spellthread
Boots	Enchant Boots – Defender’s March	Enchant Boots – Defender’s March
Ring – Regular	Enchant Ring – Radiant Haste	Enchant Ring – Radiant Versatility
Ring – Cursed	Enchant Ring – Cursed Haste	Enchant Ring – Cursed Versatility

Re-sim after adding or changing enchants and gems; small shifts in secondaries can change the best picks.

Consumables

Use current 11.2 caster consumables:

Type	Raid	Dungeons/Delves
Flask	Flask of Alchemical Chaos	Flask of Tempered Versatility
Combat Potion	Tempered Potion	Tempered Potion
Health Potion	Invigorating Healing Potion	Invigorating Healing Potion
Weapon Buff	Algari Mana Oil	Algari Mana Oil
Augment Rune	Ethereal Augment Rune/ Soulgorged Augment Rune/ Crystallized Augment Rune	Ethereal Augment Rune/ Soulgorged Augment Rune/ Crystallized Augment Rune
Food	The Sushi Special	The Sushi Special
Diamond	Culminating Blasphemite	Culminating Blasphemite
Other Gems	Versatile Emerald	Quick Sapphire

Validate phial and potion choices with a quick sim; options can be close.

Rotation And Cooldowns Overview for The War Within 11.2 Arcane Mage DPS Guide

Build around quick cooldown cycles, charge management, and timed Barrage windows. Press your cooldowns on time; sitting on them costs both damage and mana economy.

Opener

Use this sequence when Evocation, Arcane Surge, and Touch of the Magi are ready:

• Pre-cast Evocation a few seconds before pull to gain Clearcasting and an Intellect buff.
• Spend the Evocation Clearcasting with Arcane Missiles to gain Nether Precision.
• If you are below 2 charges on pull, cast Arcane Orb to build charges.
• Spend the next Clearcasting with Arcane Missiles to refresh Nether Precision and build charges via High Voltage.
• Activate on-use trinkets and racial stat buffs.
• Cast Arcane Surge.
• If you are already at 4 charges, Arcane Barrage.
• Cast Touch of the Magi. If you just cast Barrage, press Touch while Barrage is traveling so it registers before Barrage lands.
• Arcane Barrage again inside the Touch window if the sequence calls for it.

After this scripted sequence, follow the priority below. Repeat the cooldown sequence whenever Evocation, Arcane Surge, and Touch of the Magi are ready together.

Single Target Priority

• Start cooldown sequence when Evocation, Arcane Surge, and Touch of the Magi are all up.
• Shifting Power after major cooldowns expire, not during them.
• If Touch of the Magi is ready but Surge is still far off, you can run a Touch mini-window once per Surge cycle.
• During Arcane Soul (the buff after Arcane Surge ends), prioritize Arcane Barrage windows and handle Clearcasting carefully:
  • Barrage as your last global of Arcane Soul.
  • If you have 3 Clearcasting stacks, spend one with Arcane Missiles, but be ready to clip Missiles as soon as your GCD is up unless Aether Attunement is active on that channel.
• Use Presence of Mind to fit an extra Arcane Blast at the very end of a Touch of the Magi window, if talented.
• Arcane Barrage triggers:
  • On Intuition procs.
  • On Glorious Incandescence procs (Sunfury, post-Burden of Power).
  • When Arcane Orb is ready and you are at 4 charges with weak procs remaining.
  • If you are out of mana.
• Arcane Missiles:
  • Use on Clearcasting when you do not have Nether Precision, or when at 3 stacks of Clearcasting.
  • Clip channels early as soon as your GCD is up unless the channel is empowered by Aether Attunement.
• Arcane Orb when you have fewer than 3 charges.
• Arcane Blast is your filler at 4 charges; use Arcane Explosion only as a quick builder at very low charges.
• If Arcane Tempo would drop before your next cast finishes, Barrage to keep the cycle flowing.

AoE And Cleave Priority

On 2 or more targets, you generally do your cleave rotation because Barrage cleave and Harmony/Intuition interactions also maintain strong boss damage:

• Openers mirror single-target with the same Evocation into Surge into Touch structure. If you are already at 4 charges, Barrage and press Touch while Barrage travels to register inside Touch.
• Priority is similar but more aggressive on Barrage when you can instantly rebuild charges:
  • Barrage on Intuition.
  • Barrage with Arcane Orb ready at 4 charges.
  • Barrage at 4 charges on Glorious Incandescence procs.
  • Use Arcane Explosion only to quickly get to 3 charges if Arcane Blast would be too slow at low charges.
• Keep Shifting Power usage after your big windows.
• Keep clipping Missiles except when Aether Attunement is active.
• Always face Arcane Orb properly so it hits all targets and does not pull extra packs.

Cooldown Usage

• Line trinkets, racials, and potions with Arcane Surge windows. Do not sit on these; Arcane’s damage and mana economy depend on timely usage.
• Touch of the Magi alignment:
  • Use Touch with Surge. If Surge is far off, do one mini Touch window in-between Surge cycles.
  • Ensure Touch is up for heavy cleave or add waves when possible.
• Shifting Power:
  • Use it when major cooldowns are not running (after Surge/Touch), to bring everything back faster.

Utility And Defensive Tools

Arcane has a full slate of tools for raids and Mythic Plus:

• Alter Time: Movement and pre-positioning tool that doubles as a defensive. Use it to return after knockbacks or high movement mechanics.
• Ice Block and Greater Invisibility: Two of the strongest defensive options in the game for immuning major hits or reducing on-demand damage.
• Mirror Image: Defensive smoothing for tank busters and dangerous phases.
• Shimmer or Ice Floes: Shimmer is instant and off the GCD, allowing movement during casts; Ice Floes provides more frequent cast-while-moving windows.
• Spellsteal and Remove Curse: Mechanic-specific utility. Spellsteal can swing certain encounters or trash packs.
• Mass Barrier: Group shielding option that is helpful in dungeons and some raid mechanics.
• Supernova, Blast Wave, Ring of Frost: Flexible control for stopping casts and helping with kiting in Mythic Plus.
• Shifting Power: Cooldown reduction channel used after your burn to accelerate your next cycle.

Tips And Common Mistakes

• Do not delay Evocation into Arcane Surge windows. Your mana economy and damage suffer if you hold these.
• Cast Touch of the Magi as Arcane Barrage travels so it snapshots into Touch.
• Clip Arcane Missiles as soon as your GCD is up unless the channel is the Aether Attunement Missiles.
• Use Arcane Barrage on Intuition and Glorious Incandescence, and when Orb is ready at 4 charges.
• Keep 4 charges for your hard-hitting spells; use Barrage to reset charges only when it procs, when Orb is ready, or when out of mana.
• Do not overuse Arcane Explosion; it is a builder at low charges, not a main spender.
• Use Shifting Power outside your active burst windows to avoid cutting your cooldown power.
• Face Arcane Orb properly in AoE so you do not miss targets or pull unintended packs.

Recent Tuning And Update Notes

11.2 made meaningful changes that affect gameplay:

• Mastery: Savant was buffed, improving max mana, regen, and boosting Arcane Blast, Arcane Barrage, and overall damage scaling.
• Inspired Intellect increased to 6%.
• Intuition duration increased to 5 seconds, giving more time to spend empowered Barrages.
• Spellfrost Teachings no longer fires Arcane Orb automatically; direct Splinter hits reduce Orb cooldown instead. This increases player agency and makes Orb timing more consistent.
• Arcane Orb travel speed increased, making charge generation more responsive at range.
• Several talent placements and node effects were adjusted to streamline paths.
• The artifact cloak Reshii Wraps was introduced and is central to Season 3 gearing, with cloth Interloper’s Silken Striders and Band of the Shattered Soul offering powerful cloak synergies.

If multiple sources diverge on minor talent or trinket nuances, the common ground is to build around Sunfury or Spellslinger as outlined, keep your cloak and set bonuses current, and sim your character for trinket and secondary stat choices.

Conclusion

This The War Within 11.2 Arcane Mage DPS Guide gives you a clean blueprint for talents, stats, gearing, rotation, and utility so you can perform in raids and Mythic Plus. The spec rewards tight cooldown alignment, smart charge cycling, and precise Barrage windows. Numbers and item rankings can shift with hotfixes, so keep your sims current and revisit choices as you upgrade your cloak and set items. This guide reflects the listed 11.2 sources and avoids speculation.